Looking Into Game Mechanics On Current Board Games

This session was all about delving into the mechanics of a board game. We would look into games that currently existed and what made them a success in their field. The aim of the session was to play these games and pick out what makes these games enjoyable. It will also be very helpful as we could take aspects off of these games and apply it into our own.

We all bought board games in to the session, though we could only pick one to play as everyone had bought games in but most were 2-6 players. Me and a group of classmates had decided that in the end, we would play the board game "The Best of TV and Movies Logo Game". 

The Best of TV and Movies Logo Board Game.

The idea of the game was that you had to answer random trivia questions about TV and Movies, the more answers that you got right, the further that the player progressed. The game did not involve any die, it had a much more interesting system. The first question that you answered was orange. This meant that if you got the question right, you proceeded to that square. The same thing happened if you answered the Blue, Purple and Green squares as well. The counters are very simple, just to notify the player were they are on the board. Once the player gets to the very end, they have to answer a whole side on the card in order to win the game.

How the board looked while playing the game.

We started to play the game and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. This game tested our general knowledge and was great practise all round. It was simple to follow the rules and it was enjoyable. Even after a couple of hours, we didn't want to leave the game. This is something that I want to incorporate into our Winter Submission.

At the end neither of the teams won the game as we all could not answer a full side of a card, but that would not stop us enjoying ourselves. This was a great exercise and has definitely help, especially when it comes to picking that game apart adn discovering what makes a game succeed.

Creating a Paper Prototype and Our Own Board Game

We were told today that we were going to be looking into the idea of a paper prototype, what it is and actually making one ourselves. To start the session off, we had to grab a sheet of grid paper and construct our own  board game. As we were in our groups for the winter submission, we had to each discuss what game that we could construct and a set of rules that we had to follow.

In the end, we decided that the game that we would make would be a mix between Monopoly and Risk. The player had two separate boards, one being set for the player to advance round, where as the other had the players castles on. As the player advanced round the board, they would pick up items that would help their castles at different stages. These would be things such as arrows and boiling oil. The winner was the last castle standing.

Constructing our own board game.

The board was simple enough to construct, using grid paper to block out the board, which also was a simple square. The map in the middle was a few circles that were dotted around. You can see in the picture above that we wanted to use a combination of orange and green for the board squares. We also ended up making counters by drawing stick men and castles on.

The last thing that we were told to do with the game was to actually play it. So we managed to get hold of a dice and start to play. The game played quite well and it was enjoyable to play. In the time that we had to construct the game and come up with the rules, I felt that we did a good job with it

Mapping out the paper prototype.

The next thing that were told to do was make a paper prototype. This is when a developer will make a paper version of the game that they want to make, this will help them locate any errors, any mechanics that they wish to put into the game and find out if there is anything missing. 

This paper prototype that we were going to make had to be a shooter, so we had to construct a map from overhead view. This meant that we could move the counters evenly and not one person would have an advantage. When we made the map, we made it symmetrical on each side, this meant that there was no advantage to any player. We used a clicker on that our tutor had found on the internet to move the players, every time that we heard a click, we could move our player. If we were in sight of another player, we could shoot by shouting bang.

Playing our paper prototype.

This whole experiment was a fantastic way to test if the game could work. Just by doing this on the shooter, we found many different problems already. This is something that we will defiantly use when it comes to the winter submission game as it could reveal elements of the game that we are missing that we are not fully aware of. It will also tell us what we could add to the game to make it an overall much more enjoyable experience.

EGX - Birmingham Conference

We were fortunate enough to visit the EGX conference in Birmingham this weekend. This was quite important that we attended the event as it was a yearly show case which presented to the goers what new games were coming out. Not only this, but it also ran talks by game designers, such as Mike Bithell, the creator of Thomas was Alone. There was also a careers fair, which was most important that we had to visit.

Me Playing Total War Warhammer.

The first thing that we decided to do was head towards creative assembly booth, where the new game that they were working on, Warhammer Total War, was on display with a level in which you control a set of dwarfs, fighting Sevres goblins. After having several battles on the game, I really couldn't wait for it to come out. I was so impressed with the game I ended up talking with one of the staff members at creative, just talking about the game and the course that we partake in, where he directed us to the careers fair.

Controlling the Dwarfs.

At the careers fair, several companies had set up stalls, with many members of their teams talking to people interested in the game industries and the jobs that were offered. We ended up talking many different members of the Creative Assembly team. This was great as we managed to get an insight of what the industry was like and the people in it. They gave us many helpful tips when it came to creating a portfolio and what they, as a company, where looking for in a student when it came to employment.

After an hour and gathering as much information as we could, we decided that it would be best to move on, where we wanted to see what the current games industry is currently pushing out and developing, so we can see what sort of level we need to get to. There were many games on display that hadn't even come out yet, but the main ones that we picked out were Star Wars Battlefront, Tom Clancy's The Division and Assassins Creed Syndicate.

We decided that we wanted to attend one of the talks. In this one Mike Bithell was going to answer a Q and A from a speaker and fans. This was great as we got to see what had inspired him as a game designer and what, as upcoming game designers, to aim for, when it comes to being an indie designer. I managed to record the whole of the session, which I have added to the blog post, which was extremely interesting.

A to Scale Spider Queen.

After the session we walked around the whole of the complex and had a look at even more games. One interesting section was the Independent games that were on display. This is something that I am inspired because at certain stages, this is currently what we are, a bunch of people that want to make games. It was interesting watching people play these games as they were really getting stuck in, something that they really enjoyed, which is want I want to create.

The day as a whole was such a fantastic experience and I cant wait to go next year, but next time we will plan to go there, we will have to go there for several days, as the queues were many hours long. But overall the day was fantastic and I cant wait to go again.

Creating a Combat Knife in Maya

Starting off in ZBrush

In this session that we had with Robin, we were told that we were going to start some sessions on ZBrush. This is something that I had been looking forward to for a long time. ZBrush is very similar to Mudbox, a program that you sculpt, like clay. The reason as to why I am looking forward to using this program is it is used throughout the industry every day, where as when it comes to Mudbox, mostly indie developers use the program. In ZBrush you can produce much more detailed pieces of work using more tools. 

ZBrush Central, great website for ideas.

To start the lesson off, we were told to go onto ZBrush Central, a website that shows off pieces of work that have been made using ZBrush. This was a great eye-opener, as I could see how detailed the program was and what fantastic pieces of art could actually be created, using it wisely.

You can choose a template.

When you open the program, you get given the chance to select a template. These are just set so that if you have trouble constructing something like a body mesh in Maya, you can just select a template version and sculpt straight onto that model.  This is great for when you need help coming up with ideas, or if you are desperate to have a head start by having the model ready. Today though we are told that we are going to use a ready made head mesh sp we can see everything that ZBrush has to offer.

Importing a head mesh.

Importing the head mesh was not a hard thing to do. All we had to do was select "Import" button on the right side panel and click on the OBJ that was made in Maya. Once this was done I was given a brush that would produce a copy of this head. If I really wanted to, I could make hundreds of these just by clicking the mouse button, but today, I only wanted the one.

Applying different tones to the mesh.

I was told that the first thing that I was going to do was to change the color of the model itself, this means that if we were going to sculpt into the model, the features that we do sculpt are going to be a lot easier to see in a different tone. We don't want the tone to be too light, but at the same time, if the tone was too dark, it would be hard to see the shadows and depth that the features create when added to the model. In the end we had decided that we were going to go for the average color, which was a dark orange. We were told that this the perfect color for modeling as it fits the criteria perfectly.

Sculpting the Low Poly model.

I started to have a go at sculpting into the characters face, just to see the effect that it would have on a low poly model as this (about 2000). AS there is not much to work with, the brush pulls all of the faces, depending on the brush size, giving it a dramatic effect. This does not help if you are trying to create detail. This means that we have to up the poly's on the model, which gives us much more significant areas to work with, it does this by making them smaller and smaller, but increasing the poly count.

Increasing the Amount of polys to add detail.

The poly count has been increased slightly, but you can already tell the difference that I am getting from playing around with it. The model as a whole has become much more rounded, meaning that the faces are not visible, also if I started to sculpt we can put in a fair bit more detail, but at the moment not enough. If I concentrate on a area too much with the brush, it starts to become distorted. You can see on the neck and the shoulders you can differentiate the polys from the base model.

Over 3 million tris.

We have not got it up to its highest maximum value, which is 3 million polys. This is extreme when it comes to polys and will defiantly not be able to be used in the game, as it could crash the entire thing. The whole point in doing this is so we can get the detail and then bake it on to a low poly model, which will replicate the detail to look high poly. We want an extremely high poly model to sculpt into so we can create significant detail. As you can see in the picture above, the model itself is much more rounded out and looks exactly like a head. I started sculpting out circles, creating boils, just to see what effect this would have on the skin. At this amount of polys, creating detail is not a problem and doing something to one side of the face doesn't affect the other, which is something that we would like to see.

Changing the Alpha of the brush to create an imprint.

The last thing that we learned about was the use of the alphas. This was very important when it came to ZBrush as it was like a template that the brush. For example it we wanted a brick like texture, you would select the alpha that suited it. and apply it to the model. It was extremely easy to use and will come in much use over the rest of the course when it comes to doing detail in the model. On the image above I had used the rocky alpha on the top of the head, which looks very detailed.

I have had a lot of fun when playing around with ZBrush. It is ultimately something that I want to use in the future a lot more and this session has only encouraged me to use it a lot more. I will definitely find the time to use it, the most likely scenario being if I wanted to make in-depth detail, like scratching paint and dents and a metal object, then baking a high poly onto low poly, this will be the first place that I turn to.

The Idea of Game Mechanics

We had our first session with Andy Bosson, our new course leader. The idea of the lesson was that we were going to learn the originality of game mechanics, going all the way back to the first recorded board game. This was a great subject to look into as good game mechanics are key when creating games, if the game doesn't work and isn't fun, people aren't going to be playing it. Also many games have their own originally game mechanics which is a key selling point.


Early board games were around nearly 5000 years ago. One key game that stood out for me was the very first recorded board game called "Senet". In the game you have to get your characters all at the end while making an "S" shape around the board. This game developed and produce the idea of the game called " Backgammon", known all over the world and has many different interpretations, whether that be on the computer or on a board.

The Game of Senet.

Another game that we looked at was "The Royal Game of Ur". In the game the player had to reach the end, very much like the game of "Senet". It is officially classed as a racing game, where the player has to reach the board's end before the other players do. It was developed 4600 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia (Now known as modern day Iraq, Syria, Turkey). Again reincarnation of this game still exists and is play today.

The Royal Game of Ur.

Andy decided that we were going to be set a task, which was going to be analyzing a modern board game and the mechanics that the game has. We were also going to create a new set of rules that could be put into the game and add a new character skill, like what you would gave from being a certain character.

Analysis of Monopoly.

I worked with a partner and we decided that we were going to analyse the game of Monopoly. We were given a sheet to write down the rules of the game out. The basic rules are the players go round the board while buying properties and charging rent, In the end, the player who has the most money and is not bankrupt, wins the game. There were many different opportunities for us to explore in this game when making up our own rules. One of them was that we liked the idea of having a current events card. Draw this card and it affects the whole game, like the introduction of inflation and global warming. A character feature that could be introduced is the character having their own bonuses, like the hat having extra money to begin with or the car going around the board faster.

I really enjoyed looking into the subject of game mechanics, seeing how games work and play and the history behind many of the games that we play today. This is a subject that I would love to continue on, as I feel that it is important now for game designers to know the roots and backgrounds for the games we make today.

Summer Project (Creating a Cyborg) - Texturing a Shotgun Shell

We had to make sure that when we presented the model, we had some evidence of us attempting to texture a model. I wanted to make sure that the thing that I was texturing was a whole model, so Phil could see what it looked like as a full model and texture.

I decided that I was going to texture the shotgun shell that was on my characters shoulder pad. This meant that I managed to get the whole texture at complete to some standard. Texturing a model is something that I have always struggled with. This past year, we haven't really focused on the subject of U.V's so this is something that i'm not looking forward to.

Preparing the Shotgun Shell for Texturing.

I started off by selecting the model that I wanted to texture, the shotgun shell. This model was fairly simple and did not have a lot of parts to it. First I decided that I needed to map it, so I selected the automatic mapping and then went to the U.V texture editor. By automatic mapping the U.V's , this meant that when it came to texturing them, they would be neat and not on top of each other. This can work with small items such as the shell, but if I was to do this with anything else, then I would cut the U.V's myself and scale them accordingly.

The U.V's in the U.V Editor. 

Inside the U.V editor, we get an image or all the U.V's and poly lined up neatly. This is because we selected them to have automatic mapping. The next thing we need to do is select the U.V snapshot so we can texture it in Photoshop and select the right settings accordingly, using the power of two to select the aspect ratio.

The U.V Snapshot.

This is the U.V snapshot that we are left with and when we open up Photoshop. The next task that we were left with, was to add the color and texture that we wanted. I created a new layer on Photoshop, painting the top part of the shell with a gold and the long barrel and end with a dark read. I then obtained a texture, which was rust and applied it over the top of the U.V's. I then made sure that the settings were on multiply, so it faded through the colors and gave it an aging effect.

The Textured Targa Page.

This was the final result that I was left. The next thing that I needed to do was to save the file as Targa. By doing this, it meant that I could apply it as a material and it wouldn't look like a set of U.V's. I went back onto Maya and applied a material to the shell, this was blinn. I then selected the Targa file that contained the U.V's that were textured. Simple as that the model was textured all the way round. If I had the time, I would continue this for the rest of the model. The last thing I wanted to do was get a render of the model, so the texture could be shown off.

A Rendered image of the Shell.

After altering the lighting to suit the render, I set the quality as high and started to do the render. I was actually pretty amazed with the result that I got with this bullet and texture, especially seeming that the idea of texturing a model is something that hasn't really appealed to me. I also like the way that the shell is shiny, seeing the rest of the table in the reflection. Next time I would leave myself a lot more time, meaning that I could texture the rest, but now that I have had a go, it was alot easy than I seem to remember it.

I look forward to starting the new year, especially now that I have got a grip on how to apply the textures and what the U.V's do.

Summer Project (Creating a Cyborg) - Backstory of the Character

For the character, we have to create a backstory, as to why the character has cybernetics and its origins.

This person goes by the name of Labon(which is Latin for Labour). Original scowering the Post Apocalyptic wasteland that used to be Japan, Labon had picked up many different injuries during her journeys.

Being raised by a single parent was tough, with her father being the only person in her life, her provider, her healer, her everything, that when he disappeared one day, she was completely dependent on him. This meant that she had to learn the hard way.

It was several months before she came in contact with anyone and those months had not been kind to her. It was a trial by fire, in which she was thrown into the deep end. Her first thought before even thinking about looking for her dad was survival. She had no food, no water, everything was gone along with her father, she needed supplies. Hunting and gathering was her only option, so off into the new world she descended.

Things were going well, she started to understand the ways of the hunter, taking only what she needed and also discovered an untouched forest, the fruit was plentiful. One day, she had a particularly good morning, two ravens and a rabbit, then came the beast. It could smell the blood of the hunt. Within a flash it took Labon's right hand and leg. Squealing in pain and in utter confusion to the events that had unfolded and the blood loss, she was expecting the end. But that wasn't her time, the beast fled and a dark figure picked Labon up before she blacked out.

Waking up on a operation table, the dark figure bounced up from the corner of the room to great her, she was more than lucky that day, a hunter of a scavenger community had found her and scared away the beast, though her two right limbs were taken from her.

This community had contained several highly intelligent cybernetic engineers who were keen to put their old skills to work and set to work. after many grueling hours of surgery, these implants were attached to her body. After surviving the surgery, It took several months for Labon to get used to her new implants, it was like learning how to walk all over again. Though she made sure that she contributed to the community, earning her place.

She still thinks about her father and thoughts often come into her head about going after him, though her desire to survive keeps these thoughts at bay.

A Menacing Look.

Summer Project (Creating a Cyborg) - Creating the final model

I decided that with my final character I was going to use a combination of many different ideas that I had got from my concept stage. There are many different things from the concepts that I took and then I collaborated them together to get a final result.

I really liked the way that the female character came out at the concept stage, so I really wanted to have this character incorporated into the design. I also thought that the idea of like a Japanese element to the design, so this was also going to be included in the final.

Front View of my Model.

I also had to add in the cyborg element into the character. The problem with concept designs was that they did not have enough cybernetics on the characters, so throughout this model, I have tried to add as many parts to the character as possible. This is something that helps me achieve the brief.

Side View of my Model.

As you can see on the model, the right arm and leg are complete cybernetics, with minimal flesh present on those characters features. Looking back at inspiration, I felt that the cybernetics need to be different compared to the body parts and not blend in.

Back View of my Model.

The hardest part of the character was to achieve a realistic looking body and make it seem as if the cybernetics were actually connected to the body. It was good though to come back to Maya after such a long period out. I have learnt a lot coming back to this program and doing the project and am looking forward to using it again. For a first attempt at coming back, I'm fairly pleased with the way that it has gone/going so far, but there are quite a few things I need learn. I also need to make sure that I have the right version as at the moment I'm currently running on Maya 2013.

Summer Project (Creating a Cyborg) - Concept Stage

The aim of the project was to create a cyborg character based on everything that we had learned this year. The first thing that we had to do was to go through the concept stage of creating several different ideas and picking out the aspects that we liked the most. I started of this stage by creating six different silhouettes. We had learnt about silhouettes a while  ago and was keen to improve upon what I felt was a nightmare.

I started off by doing some research, looking into key cyborgs and seeing what are their main characteristics.

The definition of a cyborg is a cyber organism, which creates a combination of the word. The idea is that it is a being that has parts electrical parts that do not belong to it helping the character in some aspect. I decided that I would find and draw some famous examples to prepare for the project.

"Cyborg"

Cyborg is a character that appears in the "Teen Titians" comic book and show. He is widely admired by comic book fans. Noticing his appearance is key when developing a decent looking cyborg. All of the abnormalities on his body all look very similar and work well as its separates the character from the implants that are helping him.

'Darth Vader'

Another famous Cyborg is Darth Vader. He is a character widely known in the Star Wars universe as being the main antagonist. Although he has not many features on the outside of the character which make you believe he is a cyborg, its the inside where he has many robotic replicas to help him.

Once I had the silhouettes drawn the next plan was to adding different shades of grey in order to get an idea of what the character will look like. These are the results that I came up with.

Three characters in one image.

A Zombie Cyborg.

I first started off with a zombie styled cyborg, I gave the silhouette big arms and this was the pose that i felt most comfortable with. I was really happy with the muscles ripping effect that I got on the skin and would defiantly use this technique more often. This leans more to the direction of us being a slave to technology, we wont go without it.

A CCTV Cyborg.

I was massively inspired by the street artist Banksy for this piece. I have also been under the notion that we were one nation under CCTV, so what happens when you run out of space to put cameras? you put them in people.

A Dancing Cyborg.

Here I wanted to use what I had learnt in life drawing and apply to a character. I started to draw the female figure and really liked the way that it was coming out, so I continued to draw until I had reached the legs. I was particularly happy with how the face had come out, as that was something that had always plagued me.

Another Three Characters in a second image.

A Samurai Cyborg.

Another thing that I had struggled with was fabrics on a character, so I thought that I would get some practice in and designed this character. I really liked the idea of steam punk Japan, much like that of the T.V show Samurai Jack. In the end this character came out very well. You can already see the improvement I have from the first picture, to this picture.

A Ceremonial Cyborg.

 Still on the idea of a Steam Punk Japan, I tried to draw a new character. With this one though, I tried to go with a more armored idea, plus his cybernetics are more visible than that of the previous character. I'm quite proud of this piece because of the amount of detail that has gone in.

A Post-Apocalyptic Cyborg.

My last character that I drew was a Post-Apocalyptic Cyborg. I wanted to practice with coats, something that I wasn't particularly great at, but I must say, the end result was something I have never done before. So Far during this task, my skills in drawing, have come a far way. I f I can just continue to keep this mentality, Then I'm sure that the final design will be a great one.

I now need to choose a design that I'm happy with and begin to model it in Maya.

Final ScreenShot of Our Game