
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Character Attributes

Sunday, 24 April 2011
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Game research
- http://www.moresay.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/super-mario-brother-chess-board-game.jpg
- http://www.iguk.co.uk/ProductImages2/4509.jpg
- http://walyou.com/img/nintendo_monopoly_limited.jpg
- http://www.racketboy.com/roomplay/uploaded_images/Pic12-754711.jpg
- http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5024/5663107305_6f7dc6bbf0.jpg
- http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/RTM45/pacman%20board%20game.jpg
- http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/01/donkeykongboardgame.jpg
- http://www.sports-inter.com/en/educational-material/velcro-game-includes-3602.details.html
- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dart-Ball-Velcro-Game/dp/B001037WRU
- http://www.gidgit.co.uk/butt-head-velcro-ball-game-1027-p.asp
- http://www.inflatablesoftexas.com/games.html#
- http://www.childrenspartieskent.co.uk/pirate_party.htm
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_7gJ5oJB0s
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I4hXKSaHWE&feature=related
Thursday, 10 March 2011
The Concept


Physical Game Concept – Super Smash Bros
video game manual: http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/gameslist/manuals/Wii_Super_Smash_Brawl.pdf
The video Game (basic information)
In the game you play as a character of your choice from the Nintendo Universe such as Mario, Kirby, Link and Pikachu., and more recently Sonic the Hedgehog and Metal Gear Solid. You can play single player or up to four players. The game is a frantic fighting melee where players compete and do damage to each other, each player has a damage meter messaged as a percentage meter which can go up to a maximum of 300%. The higher the percentage the more likely you are to get knocked off the edge of the arena and lose a life. The game is for one or up to four players.
My physical game (1- 4 players)
How to play:
1. Choose game types (beginner, easy or normal) (single player or multiplayer) (team or free for all) (timed match or VS match).
2. Choose number of lives/rounds.
3. Choose character if applicable.
4. Battle.
5. Land as many attacks as you can, so your opponent will be more likely to get thrown off the stage and lose a life.
6. Calculate scores.
7. Discover winner, then play next round (start at number 4) If a winner is found (all other players have no lives), go to number 8.
8. End of Game, go back to number 1.
Information overview (how it works)
· You have a dice, cards, balls and Velcro pads to wear.
· Your throw balls at each other in an attempt to stick them to the opponent.
· The colours of the balls represent your team (red, blue, yellow and green).
· You can play single player, or multiplayer.
· Multiplayer can be all VS all or team match (just like in the game).
· So you can all throw ball at each other
· Balls represent different attacks (normal, special, smash, super smash). These are the attacks you can do in the game. The Super Smash attack is very rare and very difficult to hit the opponent with, so this will be represented by the smallest ball and there will only be one available. There will be 15 normal balls,15 special balls and 10 smash balls. Just one super smash ball which will be the smallest, so least likely to hit the opponent.
· Try to hit your opponent and dodge incoming attacks (just like in the game).
· Four different balls, different sizes, represent different attacks and worth different amounts of power. The bigger they are the less they are worth, in other words because they are easier to land the attack on the opponent you they won’t get damaged as much, just like in the game it is more difficult to land more powerful attacks on the opponent.
· Normal attacks worth: 5%, Special: 10%, Smash: 20%, Super Smash: 60%.
· In single player you can lay a matt down and aim the balls at it, you can set up a minimum distance and obstacles.
· Beginner play, balls are not worth different amounts. Easy play you don’t use player cards, Normal play you do.
· Beginner play is for younger gamers because it only involves counting up the balls at the end to see who wins or loses. Easy play involves counting up the balls and taking into account their individual value and using the dice roll, so some more luck and strategy come into play. Normal play is for older gamers who want more of a strategy experience and involves using the cards to affect your scores.
· This is the strategy aspect of the game like in the video game you choose the best character to suit you as a player.
· Each player has their own set of attributes, based on each attack type and speed.
· This affects the score at the end of the round.
· The score sheets where you work out your points at the end of each round are like the statistics you get at the end of a round in the video game.
· Each player card attributes are based on the in game characters abilities.
· You need to choose the number of lives you are going to use before you start, if you run out of lives you lose the match.
· To determine who loses a life you add up your score and then roll the dice, the score is multiplied by the number shown on the dice, the highest number loses a life. The highest number possible is 300% x 6 = 1800. Lowest is 0, if you did not get hit by any attacks.
· You can play a timed match or score match just like the video game, so you either play until the time runs out or until the balls run out.
· Each character has their own score sheet to make it easier for players to calculate scores at the end of a round.
· The game involves frantic battling but also, skill, luck and stragegy.
· Many possibilities to expand the game exist, with the possibilities of expansion packs including more characters/cards, more balls, new cards, such as item cards, and new instructions.
· On the cards the total number of stats is 6 areas filled in, but the jump attribute is worth 3 because this is the most powerful attribute.
· 1 circle is worth plus 10 points, 2 is plus 20 and 3 is plus 30. The speed squares are 1 filled in worth minus 20 points, 2 minus 30 and 3 worth minus 40. The super smash attribute if filled in is worth plus 20 points.
· The jump attribute is worth the final sub total divided by 2. The score sheet will make things a bit clearer.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Drake Duck
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Super Smash Bros.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Software
- Gimp/Photoshop/Inkscape/Paint - Create the art for game (cards).
- Blender - Character modelling, rigging and animation.
- Windows Movie Maker/After Effects - Edit the video footage.
- MS Word for the write up.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Research and Discussion
I have always enjoyed video games and board/card games. I think games that are more about skill rather than luck are more fun, but some luck is also important I think especially in board games because you usually use a dice, and some luck aspects make the game more exciting and not so thought out, the situation is always changing for example in monopoly you cant always predict your next best moves because it depends on how much money you will have unlike something like chess where the are strategies and moves that can be very planned out. In this case I think using a dice would be very appropriate for my game.
Card games like Pokemon cards are exciting because so many cards are available which is the case in many card games and it means so many future possibilities and also continuous income for the company. This is another aspect Sony talked about, how game can release new ideas that alter the rules of their games slightly and people will pay money in order to get new game pieces and rules that will change the playing environment. This is also relevant to Super Smash Bros because there are different fighting arenas in the game. Of late similar ideas have been applied to video games in the form of DLC (downloadable content) this is where you download extra parts for a game such as more maps to play on often for an additional cost, DLC has proved a very clever way of making even more money from games.
The video game and physical game markets are both very large, the video game market still continues to grow, but the board game market seems to have stagnated. Board games and card games still sell very well especially classic ones; they are still very popular, and new updated versions such as Trivial Pursuit 21st anniversary addition, and completely different versions such as Monopoly Nintendo addition are released all the time.
There are not many board game based on video games though. Pokemon cards was a very popular kids television series that also had many different types of games, they all did vary, but the basic premise was usually Pokemon battles, they also battled in arenas and is even more related to my game because there playable Pokemon characters, Pokemon items and arenas. I can look at the trading card game and others for inspiration. Card games are and have been very popular, the first successful battle card game was Magic the Gathering, but they all have similar concepts of battling and damaging your enemies health level until you defeat them.
The key difference between board/card games and video game is they tend to be more sociable, “usually the fun part of older board games was the player interaction, not the game play itself.” (Yehuda, 2008). So if you combine the exciting game play mechanics of a video game and the interaction of a board game you should have the elements for a very fun game.
It was pointed out to me that my game sounds very similar to a board game called Marvel Heroes, so I will have to look more into that game and maybe draw some inspiration from it.
Week 3
In our first lecture for this module, instead of having an ordinary lecture we had an interesting presentation given to us from a representative of Sony.
The presentation was about what game designers actually do and the industry itself. Which was relevant to the optional task they then set us, which was to design a physical game based on an existing video game.
I was very excited and keen to pursue this idea, I discussed it with my 3D character animation teacher (Steven Harris) and he seemed to like the idea, so I started to plan it out in note form. I then later discovered after chatting to my Portfolio lecturer it was possible to use this project for this assignment. Which would be killing two birds with one stone, which I was pleased about. But designing the game and researching the market may not be enough, so I may also create a short animation to promote the game.
I plan to create a physical game (e.g. board or card game) based around the popular Nintendo game Super Smash Bros.
The key to the design of the game is to capture the essence of the video game and put it across in the board game, if this is successful then the board game should be very likeable just like the video game is.
- I must research the area of physical games.
- I must create a finished concepts of all parts of the game.
- The game must represent parts of the video game style and mechanics.
- A log of my work must be kept.
- Like always the game must be tested during development and the final product by me and others to see if it works.
- Care will be taken in the design of the game play as well as the game imagery but the game play is the most important aspect.
- Other than the board game concept work and art, other things that can be implemented to support this project are animations which can be created from the help of such software as, Blender, After Effects, Photoshop and Windows Movie Maker. This will develop my skills in these areas and with these software packages.
- An animation to demonstrate how the game works could be created, or an animation of an advert for the game could be created.
- In order to promote the game further, my own original character could be created to be used in the animation and in the game concepts, this will also help avoid more copyright issues than necessary and will mean a proper character animation could be created without having to copy or find a Nintendo character model.
- I can use the Disney style character I am also developing for my 3D character animation module.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Skills
- Learn about physical games and how to create them.
- Learn about game play mechanics and how they can be represented in different ways.
- Improve my modelling and animation skills.
- Improve my video editing skills.
- Learn how to combine the use of programs.
- Learn more about marketing.
- Learn more about game design.
- Improve my design skills.
Week 2
Monday, 24 January 2011
Week 1
In this module I will produce a professional piece relevant to my Gaming and Animation degree that will straight into my portfolio. I will go about it as a professional would and demonstrate attainment in technical, profesional and market knowledge.
- Research
- Specification
- Design documentation
- Development
- Evaluation
WEEK 5 - 21/02/11 - Ass1) Initial Research, Outline Plan and lift pitch.
Week 16 - 16/05/11 - Ass3) Presentation.
WEEK 17 - 20/05/11 - Ass2) Skills Development and Professional Issues (Blog/Logbook).
WEEK 17 - 00/05/11 - Ass3) Product, Report, and Evaluation.

