Meeting No.4
Tom, Jason and Rory
(Sam absent)
Discussed the game outline thats due wednesday and started putting the document together.
Also reviewed jobs outlined goals for Tuesday Wednesday.
The Guardian
:::::::::
Storyline by Rory Rackham
Game design by Tom Revil, Samuel Kung, Jason Frost, Rory Rackham.
:::::::::
The game opens to a scene of stars dotting the sky. The camera rotates a few seconds, then suddenly the sky starts falling. Soon it becomes much lighter, the stars fade, the sun may enter view for a few seconds. Clouds start to appear, and a moment later the camera moves through them, obscuring vision. When the clouds pass, a city is visible below, London, and the view continues to plummet towards it. The view tips up, taking one last look at the sky, before buildings suddenly pass on either side of the camera, and the ground is hit with a thud.
Everything is black. A girls voice comes from the darkness: Are you all right, Mr. Angel?
The world fades into vision. An angel sits on a street corner, and a girl is bent kneeling down to talk to him. People walk past, but they do not even stop, and they seem almost transparent.
A conversation opens up with the girl. Depending what you choose, you find out that you are an angel, probably a guardian, and that angels that come to earth are here to protect and fight evil. If you question her further, you are lead to either a church or a house that has someone who is very possessed inside.
If you attempt to travel off the end of the street, a dark cloaked figure stops you, throwing you back and laughing at you. If you try multiple times, he says something like “You are persistent, yet as with your task, destined to fail”.
If you choose to travel to the church, you enter and discover that it is derilict. The pews are mostly collapsed, the windows are mostly broken, and the books are rotting away. However, at the very end of the church three stained glass windows remain. One shows an angel with a sword, another shows an angel covering himself with his wings, and the third shows an angel praying, and being showered in light. As you view each of these windows, a prompt appears telling you how to use your sword, shield yourself, and how to pray to restore your health and the health of those around you.
From now, if you die, you return to this church.
If you ignore the church and go directly to the possessed house, you enter to discover a very dark, outlined in red environment. Most of the floorboards are destroyed, the wall is rotten, and debris scatters the floor. As you progress through the building, a voice speaks to you. It tells you that you are weak, that you have no place on this world, that darkness will consume you etc. At the end of the corridor, you meet the possessed person, a woman who is floating, hung in the air like a puppet. You have a brief conversation with her, where she tells you that she shall destroy you etc..
If you have not visited the church and do not have your abilities, then you are defenseless against the demon. You are forced to retreat out of the building, as the floorboards splinter up behind you and damage you if you get to close.
If you have visited the church, you can fight back. At first, the floorboards will fly up and attack you, and you can shield yourself to protect yourself or attack them to get them out of the way. The demon will throw objects at you, if you shield yourself from them they are thrown back at her, and this leaves her open to attack for a few seconds, when you can run in and attack her. When she is on less than half health, she will start pulling up the floorboards as a shield, which damage you if you attack while they’re up. When she is very close to death, she will create a short typhoon of objects, which exhausts her and you can finish her off if you avoid the typhoon.
After defeating her, the demons leave her, and she returns to her normal self.
Game outline due next Wednesday.
Hi all
The pressure is on to get our game document in by next Wednesday.
We will meet on Sunday and try to get the game outline document done on this day. We will meet at 9:30 4th floor Wigan.
Please be there.
Try to get these jobs done before the meeting
Sam: some concept art done.
Jason: Find location and research free sounds for game (Please bring 3 or more sounds to meeting) .
Rory: another scenario planned out . i think we will try make the game in to a 3-4 scenario game.
Tom: Research on code and start writing game outline.
If you cant be there please email me ASAP.
Hope you all did well in project 2.
Project 2- INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS hand in
Environment Research
Grim fandango.
Grim Fandango is an adventure game developed by Lucas Arts in 1998. This game is one of my favourites of all time. This game also has the best art work that I have seen to date.
The game is set in the fictional world of the land of the dead. The main character is a man called Manny Calavera who works for the Department of Death (DOD). Manny is a travel agent who helps people (or souls) get to the Ninth Underworld. However the protagonist finds that the DOD is cheating people out of there travel packages to get to the Ninth Underworld. From here the story unfolds.
The design of the game is 1930’s Art Deco, something that sets it apart from most other games. The levels and the characters have lots of detail. This is quite an achievement considering that advanced three dimensional modelling was not available when the game was developed.
The camera is fixed at a particular point so when the player moves out of range it moves to a different position. Although this is not always the best option in video games Grim Fandango uses this to great effect as you notice more things about this environment.
The way the player interacts with the environment of this game is through items, objects or other characters that can be manipulated by the player. In the game the protagonist,s head moves in the direction of the aforementioned items when the player is near them. This avoids confusion and enables the player to know what they interacting with.
The items that you pick up can stored in your coat pocket so when you need to retrieve an item you don’t look though a menu or list, you literally look though the coat pocket.
Items in the game can be used with other objects or characters to complete various tasks that are needed to progress though the levels and hence the story.
The characters also provide clues that help you to get through the many of the game’s puzzles. Also music and sound play an important role in the game e.g. music that gets triggered when a puzzle is complete. So in other words the levels are objective based.
All this adds up to make the environment in Grim Fandango that is rich, interesting and fun.
Here are some screenshots from the game
(Click to enlarge)
A screenshot of the inventory.
(Click to enlarge)
A screenshot demonstrating the art deco look.
References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zPFfY-vskc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_Fandango
I took the Art Deco look as my inspiration
Side-scroller View
RIGHT=right | LEFT=left | UP=fly | CONTROL=lightning| SPACE BAR= Action|Please wait while game is loading…..
Click here to download the fla file
Top-down View
RIGHT=right | LEFT=left | UP=up |DOWN = down
Please wait while game is loading…..
Click here to download the fla file
Meeting No.3 agenda
Agenda for 28th august
-coding for project 2 and project 3.
-Review of total storyline.
-Starting to storyboard, review character design.
Meeting no.2 summary
Tom, Rory and Sam discussed
(Jason sick)
-Story
-Visuals
Sam showed us this video on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlsYPcUiBc
cut scenes will be windowed. when approching an inteactive chariter
We discussed the direction of the storyline, began ideas for character development, showed each other inspiration from various games, and looked at weaponry.
Chapter 1
The last fragments of the demon spin off and dissipate in the air. In place of the demon is a woman, collapsed on the floor/bed/chair. She is exhausted, but speaks to you:
Recently possessed woman
Thank you, angel, I owe you a great debt.
-
It was nothing >A
-
I didn’t even realize I was saving you. >B
A> I am glad, you’ll need far more strength than it took to purge the beast in me.
-
What for? >C
-
I hope I can do it… with only a young girl to help me! >D
B> Yet, save me you did, and you wouldn’t have risked your life if you did not have noble intent. That goodness of heart is your greatest gift.
-
Thank you, but I had some help from a little girl!>D
-
I was just trying to find why I am here >C
C> Whatever possessed me was weak, I’m not as strong willed as my daughter and her father. Far stronger forces took them, and if you want help finding who you are and fighting the demons, I’m afraid they’re the only ones I can point you to.
-
Where can I find them? >E
-
How am I supposed to fight them if they’re even stronger than what took you? >F
D> A little girl? No, it couldn’t be… my daughter and her father were possessed! Did she have >>insert girls features here<<? But I saw the demons take her!
-
I must find the girl before she can escape then! > Run out of the house
-
Her father too? Where can I find him? >Gives you directions to his house, you leave the house.
E> I do not know where they are, but I can tell you where he lives. You’ll recognize him from his distinctive scar on his face, and his daughter I last saw wearing a >>colour<< dress and she has >>features<<.
-
I have met that girl… I must find her before she escapes! > Run out of the house
-
Tell me where he lives, I’ll track him down. >Gives you directions to his house, you leave the house.
As you leave the house, you can follow her directions to the end of the street, and onto another street, which her father’s house is on. If not, turn the other way and come across the little girl.
If you talk to the little girl, you start up this conversation:
Little Girl
Hello Mr Angel! Have you saved my mother from the demons?
-
You never told me she was your mother… >A
-
Silence demon! I know your true identity! >B
A> Father doesn’t like me calling her that… But I guess I haven’t seen him for a while.
-
Speaking of your father, I heard both of you were possessed… but that can’t be true. >C
-
Where is he now? Do you think he is still possessed? How come you’re not? >D
B> I’m not a demon silly! The nice men took the demon out of me, and went after my father… But I didn’t see them again…
-
You were possessed? How did they free you? >C
-
So your father is probably still posessed? Where is he now? >D
C> These men came and found me wandering the streets… they had a strange sigil, I think thats what let them free me… I assume it wasn’t strong enough to take on whatever was in my father, because they said they’d come back for me when they had him. Come on, lets go find him!
D> He’ll probably still be in his house, I don’t think the demons move once they have you… and perhaps that sigil the men used to free me can help you free him! Come on, I’ll show you where he lives!
She runs off in the direction of the father’s street.
At the end of the street, a hooded man with a dark visage is waiting for you… he tells you not to pass. If the girl isn’t with you, the mother appears at this point and pushes him aside, and drags you down the next street, and if the girl was with you she does the same thing instead.
Second Street
On this street, some randoms may be possessed demons, so its kinda like random encounters. You go to the house, which is all demony, and inside you see the father, who is all warped and twised. At first you can damage him, and when you do so an item drops from his hands. But when that item is dropped, he starts bringing up a shield or something, and you can’t get past it, and you are forced to retreat. Outside the mother or daughter are waiting for you, and you show them the item, which is a strange sigil. They say they have seen it before and lead you down another street, to a building.
Third Street
More random encounters can take place here, and you go into a house that has some men in it. These people are the Guardian Society, and they are dedicated to fighting off the demons. It turns out from them that they tried to free the father, but he was too strong, and many of them died, and their demon-banishing sigil was lost. You return it to them if you want, and whether you do or not plays a pivitol part in deciding a later event (I haven’t decided what yet) If you question about certain things, they take you to a stained glass window, or you might just find it yourself, and that teaches you a new ability, perhaps something that temporarily blinds your foe. This will allow you to fight the possessed father.
Back to Second Street
This time you fight the father again, and when you use your new ability it drops his shield and leaves him temporarily vulnerable. At the end of the fight, you can talk to the father.
End Chapter 1
Meeting No. 2
Meeting No. 2 is on Monday the 27th at 2:00 4th floor Wigan.
Infomation on and demons and angels.
Here are some links and information on demons.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28mythology%29
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_warfare
- http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04710a.htm
de·mon
n.
- An evil supernatural being; a devil.
- A persistently tormenting person, force, or passion: the demon of drug addiction.
- One who is extremely zealous, skillful, or diligent: worked away like a demon; a real demon at math.
From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/demons
demon
From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2007
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
demon supernatural being, generally malevolent in character. In general, the more civilized pagan societies came to consider demons as powerful, supernatural beings who lacked the dignity of gods and who, depending on the circumstance, might be either benevolent or malevolent in their dealings with men. Some demons, like the Greek Pan, were nature spirits; others were guardians of the home or fields or watchers over travelers; still others were spirits of disease and insanity or dream spirits. Some demons were considered to be intermediaries between men and the gods. It was not until the development of late Hebraic and Christian thinking that demons came to represent the unqualified malevolence so common in European demonology of the 16th and 17th cent. This period was a high point in the study of demons, in the speculation on their nature, number, and specific fiendishness. The list compiled in 1589 by a demonologist named Binsfield was considered to be highly authoritative; in it he listed the following major demons and their particular evils: Lucifer (pride), Mammon (avarice), Asmodeus or Ashmodai (lechery), Satan (anger), Beelzebub (gluttony), Leviathan (envy), and Belphegor (sloth). The widespread and ancient belief in demons is still a strong force in many regions of the world today. See spiritism ; witchcraft .
Bibliography: See R. H. Robbins, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (1959); H. A. Relly, The Devil, Demonology, and Witchcraft (1968); F. Gettings, Dictionary of Demons (1988).
From http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-demon.html
Here are some links and information on angels.
Angels
Spirits who live in heaven with God; also the devils of hell, who are angels fallen from goodness. In the Bible, angels are often sent to Earth, sometimes with a human appearance, to bring the messages of God to people, to guide and protect them, or to execute God’s punishments. (See Abraham and Isaac, Annunciation, cherubim, Daniel in the lions’ den, Gabriel, Jacob’s ladder, Lot’s wife, Lucifer, Michael, Passover, plagues of Egypt, Satan, and Sodom and Gomorrah.)
From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/angels
Angel (Greek angelos,”messenger”), celestial being believed to be a messenger, or intermediary, between God, or the gods, and humankind. All religions are concerned with the relationship human beings have or may have with the supernatural realm. In ancient Greek religion, in Judaism and Christianity, and in Islam this relationship is thought to involve angels—divine messengers sent to humans to instruct, inform, or command them. An angel can function also as a protective guardian, as a heavenly warrior, and even as a cosmic power. Moreover, the line between a good angel and a bad angel, or demon, is sometimes unclear. Hence, angels can be broadly described as personified powers mediating between the divine and the human.
Even in its commitment to monotheism—the worship of one God—ancient Israel was able to embrace the image of a council of gods by turning all but one of them into angels who serve the one God, much as earthly courtiers serve one king. This acceptance of a belief in angels was a development made relatively easy because both lesser gods and angels could be called sons of God. In traditional Israelite thought, angels were assumed to have the form of human males, and as a consequence they were sometimes mistaken for men.
After the period of Israel’s Babylonian exile (597-538 bc), Jewish thought about angels was considerably altered and enriched. Drawing on Mesopotamian iconography, artists and writers began to provide wings even for anthropomorphic angels, and an interest developed in the angels’ garments, names, and relative ranks. In addition to the Mesopotamian influence, the Persian dualistic tradition (see Zoroastrianism) added another dimension to the Jewish conception of angels by positing hostile and destructive angels who are rebellious against God. The Jewish Qumr?n sect, or Essenes, for example, saw the world as a battleground, the scene of a struggle between the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Wickedness, the latter an angelic power opposed to God called Belial (see Devil).
Later developments in both Judaism and Christianity show a remarkable growth of angelic folklore, in part as the result of continuing the ancient practice of absorbing the gods of polytheistic religions by turning them into angels. Although belief in angels is amply attested in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, many biblical scholars nevertheless suggest that the concept was adopted not only as a literary device to personify the divine presence but also as a means of subordinating the gods of polytheistic religions.
From http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761565749/Angel.html
Meeting summary
Tom, Sam, Rory and Jason
We discussed game progression
Story elements
by next time
Tom: Research on art style, give to sam, info on demons and angels, give to Rory
Sam: Character design for stage 1
Jason: Research on London and architecture, find a map of our location
Rory: Writing stage 1 of the game, finalising introduction stage, concept for stage 2
Story Ideas – Tom Revill.
-Endings.
*Good ending you become an angel.
*Normal ending become a mortal.
*Bad you become a Demon.
-Could end on uncertainty not sure what course it will take.
-There should only six levels but they must be open ended enough to warrant replaying
-First level should be a tutorial level.
-One of his companions turns evil.
-Oswald Mosley becomes a fully fledged demon at the very end.
-One of the levels the “The angel” could be just flying .
-The artifacts could change depending on what ending you got.
-The “The angel” could be from another world.
-The boss level could be either at the top of Big Ben or in another realm.
The Guardian Meeting + email.
Hi Guys
Sent out an email today.
please remember the meeting is on Friday the 24th at 2:00 4th floor Wigan.
The Guardian Update Number 1.
Hi all
this is how i propose we organize our time.
Mid term brake - Timeline Story.
-Mid term brake ends-
Week 1 and 2 – Start and Finnish Coding.
Week 3 and 4 – Start and Finnish Visuals.
Week 5 and 6 – Finalizing.
Storyline – Rory
First, stars flying past at great speed, slowly sky becomes lighter, clouds take the place of stars… perhaps credits roll? cityline appears for a few seconds, big ben flys past, then hit the ground, everything goes black…
The game enters its side scrolling perspective. You get to your feet, and then you can control your character. You can move either left or right, but have no control over jumping etc.
You encounter NICs (Non interacting characters) who simply pass you by, and travel down the street until you encounter:
Young Girl
You can enter conversation.
Girl: Wow! A real angel! Have you come to save us?
-
Angel? >A
-
Save you? >B
A> You don’t even know what you are! How odd! Well, you’re an angel, a protector of heaven and destroyer of evil… Ring any bells?
- I don’t know what you’re talking about! >C
- I see… what kind of evil am I supposed to fight? >D
B> Yeah, from all the evil in the world! Demons and things! They’re all around us!
- I don’t see any… >D
- How am I supposed to do that? >C
C> Hmm Perhaps someone at the church can explain! They always have answers, though not many people listen…
- Lead the way! > End conversation, girl runs off.
- I don’t know, I think I’ll find out for myself. > End conversation, girl stays still, if you talk to her again then >E
D> There are demons living on this very street! Number 7… look for the ravens, unholy aura and stench of evil, you can’t miss it!
- Lead the way! > End conversation, girl runs off.
- I don’t know, I think I’ll just look around myself. > End conversation, girl stays still, if you talk to her again then >E
E> Found anything yet? I’ll show you to the church if you want!
- Please do! > Run off in direction of church
- Can you show me where this evil you talk about is? >Run off in direction of Number 7
End conversation.
At this point you start running rather than just walking.
If you run to the left, you come to number 7. which is all possessed and evil looking. If you run to the right, you come to the church.
Number 7, Starting Street.
As you enter the house, an unholy aura grips you. The walls shift, everything is dark and scary. Floorboards creak as you walk, and when you get to the very end, a demon appears.
First Demon Encounter
Start> Ha! Who are you who enters this house of darkness? Do you not value your soul?
- I am an angel, come to destroy you! >A
- Whoops, wrong door, my mistake. >B
A> You are weak and unarmed! Your soul is mine!
End conversation
B> You are a fool to trifle with me! Your ignorance will season your innocence nicely!
End conversation.
The demon runs at you, and floorboards start to fly up and shatter behind you. You are forced to run from the demon, and it throws you back if you try to resist, damaging you.
Church
The church is very derilict. It has a few NICs, but they are transparent and fade when you get close. If we enable something like interacting with objects, then the bibles you pick up and read are all blank. All the stained glass windows in the church are broken, except for 3 at the end. As you approach them, light shines from them upon you. A picture of an angel with a sword is on one, a picture of an angel shielding itself from evil is on another, and a picture of some other move you learn is on the next. Ideas might be a dash or a stun attack like a blinding light. ( Some bosses might be immune to your sword unless you blind them first).
After visiting the church, you can go back to number 7 and fight the demon.
Ideas for the demon fight!
Perhaps he breathes fire at you, you have to use the wing shield to avoid it.
Job Roles
Holiday work
Rory – Story design and character interaction coding.
Sam – Character & Visual design.
Jason – Visual & All round design.
Tom – All round, Keep track of everyone.
For the finale of the storyline, each of the people will create their own ending, and depending on how character interaction takes place, the ending will change.
Research on project 2.
Do day i got out some books on Art Deco so i can study on how to make a better level design in project 2.
Concept for flash game.
Genre: Adventure / Action.
Plot synopsis:
In the 1930s an old garret in London a figure that looked human but he has wings and Slits for nostrils. The figure wakes up unsure of who he is but he has a three Items in his pocket a map of an unknown castle, a ring, a sword and scroll with these words
On it “war is coming and you are the 20th guardian of the moral world”.
Game Features:
-Art deco inspired graphics.
-Integrated action and adventure elements.
-Save anyware.
-Upgradeable powers.
-The use of wings shields.
-Three forms of attack sword, magic and wings.
-No health packs your health is rechargeable when you take cover.
-Other character interaction.
-Text based dialog between other characters.
-No traditional Hud Gameplay is integrated.
-Power ups range from increased lightning to flying higher .
-Storyline has three endings deepening on your actions in game.
Locations include
-London.
-Germany.
-Scotland.
Characters
-“The angel”: The main Character unsure of who he was or why he was chosen.
-Watson: the “The angels” the angles closest companion used to be a monk but is now a priest.
-Gabriel: the “The angels” unconscious guardian.
-Oswald Mosley: A Nazi supporter and is search of artifact of unknown origin.
Enemies
-Un-dead: The protectors of the artifact.
-Black solders: Oswald Mosley personal Henchmen.
-Oswald Mosley: A Nazi supporter and is search of artifact of unknown origin.
Jobs
-Project lead.
-Story lead.
-Coding lead.
-Level designer.
-Character designer.
This is how it could Possibly look.
(click to enlarge)
Environment Research Project 2
Grim fandango.
Grim Fandango is an adventure game developed by Lucas Arts in 1998. This game is one of my favourites of all time. This game also has the best art work that I have seen to date.
The game is set in the fictional world of the land of the dead. The main character is a man called Manny Calavera who works for the Department of Death (DOD). Manny is a travel agent who helps people (or souls) get to the Ninth Underworld. However the protagonist finds that the DOD is cheating people out of there travel packages to get to the Ninth Underworld. From here the story unfolds.
The design of the game is 1930’s Art Deco, something that sets it apart from most other games. The levels and the characters have lots of detail. This is quite an achievement considering that advanced three dimensional modelling was not available when the game was developed.
The camera is fixed at a particular point so when the player moves out of range it moves to a different position. Although this is not always the best option in video games Grim Fandango uses this to great effect as you notice more things about this environment.
The way the player interacts with the environment of this game is through items, objects or other characters that can be manipulated by the player. In the game the protagonist,s head moves in the direction of the aforementioned items when the player is near them. This avoids confusion and enables the player to know what they interacting with.
The items that you pick up can stored in your coat pocket so when you need to retrieve an item you don’t look though a menu or list, you literally look though the coat pocket.
Items in the game can be used with other objects or characters to complete various tasks that are needed to progress though the levels and hence the story.
The characters also provide clues that help you to get through the many of the game’s puzzles. Also music and sound play an important role in the game e.g. music that gets triggered when a puzzle is complete. So in other words the levels are objective based.
All this adds up to make the environment in Grim Fandango that is rich, interesting and fun.
Here are some screenshots from the game
(Click to enlarge)
A screenshot of the inventory.
(Click to enlarge)
A screenshot demonstrating the art deco look.
References:
Lycanthrope Character Description with Picture, Sketch and Sprite sheet
Concept
My character will be half dove and half human. The reason why I decided to use this combination is because a dove is the personification of peace and hope. I want this character to give the impression of an angel from heaven. The character will have wings, black eyes and simple slits for nostrils . This hand drawn angel has a mythical quality that is complimented by a gothic setting. There is a sense of the super hero or comic book character that has hidden unknown qualities about it. At the same time the naïve drawing enhances the idea of an uncomplicated angel.
(click for larger view)
(click for larger view)
(click for larger view)
Research
Wings:
When i was researching wings i found that wings have two states contacted and expanded as can be seen in these pictures below.
(click for larger view)
From
http://static.flickr.com/52/148077112_7794fd671a.jpg
(click for larger view)
From
http://www.alicia-logic.com/capsimages01/const_214ReevesSwinton.jpg
(click for larger view)
From http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/fiction/fourthworlder-wings.jpeg
Flash Animation
(please wait while loading………)
Controls
Arrow keys | RIGHT=right | LEFT=left | UP=fly | CONTROL=lightning
Click here to download the FLA file
DESN 285 | GAME DESIGN
Hi all
This part of my blog is devoted to the recording the steps in my Game Design Projects.