BrainBox Documentation

Brain Box Documentation - Charlie Long 111659

Video Link - https://youtu.be/49dpbSbmKzI

Dads Review - Game works well and immerses the player to the game well, could of added a story screen so that it was clear what was going on, however besides that point it was a good game.

Sister Review - I enjoyed the easy controls and how well the 'hacking' level worked as a good challenge in order to get to the next level. The levels could be made harder, and have more levels to keep the players entertained more.

Unit 73 - Sound for computer games

Unit 73 - Sound for computer games

Pokemon Game music:

Pokemon utilizes up beat techno themes to create a fun and adventurous atmosphere. One sound effect that is well known throughout the Pokemon games is the bumping sound made when the character bumps into a wall or object that is solid. This sound was an indicator that was saying how the player could not go through that object.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzyeLIeiZbc

Dark Souls 2:

dark souls 2 has a dark and demonic soundtrack this gives us a depressing feel about the game putting you in the characters shoes i fell the music gives a strong sense of darkness which is what the game want you to feel .

Minecraft
Soft music sets a relaxing tone to the game, with a soft music overlay and a very heavy sound effects to aid the play through the game, such as footsteps dig sounds and pain sounds.

Fifa

Fifa uses music mainly on its title screens, but uses non diegetic sounds over the top of the games such as commentary which puts you into the action and adds realism to the game, which is like real football games.

star wars battlefront:

uses music from the films/series in order to add an atmosphere for fans. The sound effects are also linked with the films.

Foley: non diegetic sound added post of the creation to the film or game, sounds which could not be recorded or created at the creation of the game.

Timbre: The quality and difference in pitch and sound depending on a scene or character.


Jaws - Theme music
Star wars - lightsabre sounds
Game of thrones - Narration

Call of duty - speech is used through "comms" in order to give information, also a clicking sound when your gun is out of ammo. real war sounds and commands have been used to symbolise war and add realism
Mario - Theme iconic as it is well known, also the death sounds are iconic and are now used in games to allow players to know they have gone wrong and died.
Assasins creed - iconography - eagle sound for whenever a jump is made/to be made. Also on assasins creed 2, there is a theme for ezio, called ezios family. This becomes symbolic to the game and character, being played whenever a family scene occurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSVHx23ByhM


P1 - Exercise - Sources of Music/FX

1) List a range of music/FX sources

- Sound cloud
- Live Recording
- Band/Artist

2) Using at least 3 examples of your favorite games explain the purpose of game music.

- Arma 3- Towards the end of a mission or game a song starts to play in order to let you know that the game is nearly ending, however it is not always happy music for everyone as someone has to lose. Once the game ends with the song coming to an end the cutscene which tells you whether you have won or lost also has music which is either upbeat or sad setting the atmosphere which is relevant to your situation. E.G. Sad = Lost Upbeat = Won.
3) What are the legal considerations needed when obtaining or using music/FX?

- Copyright - If you use music from sites such as YouTube or "Free music Sharing" sites you can incur copyright claims, as you are practically stealing the right to use the music.
- Contract Agreement, with using a live band/Artist an agreement/contract is made that enables the music to be created and purchased for its purpose of being in the game, otherwise a legal battle can take place between the band and the company if terms laid out are not met.
- Plagiarism - Make sure that the content used is not currently a song or has elements from another artists work.

P2 Understand the methods and principles of sound design and production

 Research and explain when you would use the following sound formats and why?

Sound file formats

Uncompressed: eg wav, aiff, au, smp,voc. - For best quality sound, used on games for big consoles and such, or even movies for the theatres, this is because the file is not tampered with. For example a compressed sound file will lose some sound quality in order to reduce the file size.

lossy compression: eg mp3, ra and vox - For a basic game, or pc based game that is not too detailed. An mp3 file would mostly be used as a ringtone or ipod song file, as it is still a good quality however is small enough to go onto a phone or ipod.

Audio sampling

1) how can resolution and bit-depth constrain file size? Resolution refers to the quality of the sound, therefore the higher the sound quality the higher the file size, which would be fine for something used for a console game but not good for a sound file that is going onto an ipod or phone, which would benefit more from being compressed into an mp3 file so that it is not such a large file.

2) explain what the following words mean:

- sample rate - Sample rate is the number of samples of audio carried per second, measured in kHz or Hz. 

- Mono - Mono sound is singular sound that is produced, intended to be heard as a single channel of sound.

- Stereo - Stereo sound is sound that comes from two seperate channels, therefore you can hear either the same or different parts of the sound in different ears due to the two channels of sound that is produced.

- Surround - Surround sound is mainly found in cinemas and is used to build a more intense realistic atmosphere. As the name suggests Surround sound is sound that comes from multiple sources/outputs, normally from 5 or more speakers, allowing the listener to position the speakers (sound) in front, to the sides and behind them giving the feeling of being surrounded by the sound.

Exercise 2

Audio Limitations of Games Platforms

How can the following information limit the recording of sound?


DSP – Digital Signal Processor - This is a microchip processor which filters analogue signals. The issue with this is that the filtered signals may have a loss of quality to them, which in some cases where the quality of sound is the priority will be annoying to have it lost.
RAM – Random Access Memory - This is where the sound is to be stored, as long as you have enough RAM saving your audio files is simple.
File format (eg Mp3, Wav, Aiff) - Depending on the sound file you can get a difference in sound quality, for example a WAV file is going to have a much better sound quality than Mp3
Audio output (eg Mono, Stereo, Surround).
PCM – Pulse Code Modulation - Used for analogue signals, it samples them into digital signals, this is found in most pcs.

Audio Recording Systems

In what types of scenario may you use the following audio recording equipment?

For example, Multi-track recording, Midi – Multi Instrument Interface, DAT, Analogue, Software Plug-in’s, Software Sequencer.

MTR - Used when a band is recording a piece of music intended for a game or a song, where the individual instruments are recorded seperately, for example the drums, vocals and guitar would be recording seperately and placed into a group of all the sounds combined to make the song.

DAT - A tape which was used to store analogue sound.

Unit 73 - Sound for computer games

Pokemon Game music:

Pokemon utilizes up beat techno themes to create a fun and adventurous atmosphere. One sound effect that is well known throughout the Pokemon games is the bumping sound made when the character bumps into a wall or object that is solid. This sound was an indicator that was saying how the player could not go through that object.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzyeLIeiZbc

Dark Souls 2:

dark souls 2 has a dark and demonic soundtrack this gives us a depressing feel about the game putting you in the characters shoes i fell the music gives a strong sense of darkness which is what the game want you to feel .

Minecraft
Soft music sets a relaxing tone to the game, with a soft music overlay and a very heavy sound effects to aid the play through the game, such as footsteps dig sounds and pain sounds.

Fifa

Fifa uses music mainly on its title screens, but uses non diegetic sounds over the top of the games such as commentary which puts you into the action and adds realism to the game, which is like real football games.

star wars battlefront:

uses music from the films/series in order to add an atmosphere for fans. The sound effects are also linked with the films.

Foley: non diegetic sound added post of the creation to the film or game, sounds which could not be recorded or created at the creation of the game.

Timbre: The quality and difference in pitch and sound depending on a scene or character.


Jaws - Theme music
Star wars - lightsabre sounds
Game of thrones - Narration

Call of duty - speech is used through "comms" in order to give information, also a clicking sound when your gun is out of ammo. real war sounds and commands have been used to symbolise war and add realism
Mario - Theme iconic as it is well known, also the death sounds are iconic and are now used in games to allow players to know they have gone wrong and died.
Assasins creed - iconography - eagle sound for whenever a jump is made/to be made. Also on assasins creed 2, there is a theme for ezio, called ezios family. This becomes symbolic to the game and character, being played whenever a family scene occurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSVHx23ByhM


P1 - Exercise - Sources of Music/FX

1) List a range of music/FX sources

- Sound cloud
- Live Recording
- Band/Artist

2) Using at least 3 examples of your favorite games explain the purpose of game music.

- Arma 3- Towards the end of a mission or game a song starts to play in order to let you know that the game is nearly ending, however it is not always happy music for everyone as someone has to lose. Once the game ends with the song coming to an end the cutscene which tells you whether you have won or lost also has music which is either upbeat or sad setting the atmosphere which is relevant to your situation. E.G. Sad = Lost Upbeat = Won.
3) What are the legal considerations needed when obtaining or using music/FX?

- Copyright - If you use music from sites such as YouTube or "Free music Sharing" sites you can incur copyright claims, as you are practically stealing the right to use the music.
- Contract Agreement, with using a live band/Artist an agreement/contract is made that enables the music to be created and purchased for its purpose of being in the game, otherwise a legal battle can take place between the band and the company if terms laid out are not met.
- Plagiarism - Make sure that the content used is not currently a song or has elements from another artists work.

Shape-man assignment Documentation

Shape-man documentation

My Game run through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA3-NuxkTRg

Glitches:
- When you hit into the blue shape at close proximity to the wall the player can become stuck inside the wall and unable to move, this rendering that game useless and requiring a restart.

User Manual

Controls: < - Left

                > - Right

                ^ - Up

                \/ - Down

Point system: In order to gain enough points to advance to the next level you have to eat not only all of the pills, but also the enemies. In order to eat enemies you have to be the same shape as them, otherwise the enemies can eat you.
There are no lives in Shapeman, if you get eaten by an enemy shape the game will restart and you will have to start again, so strategy is key.
In the middle is a rotating timer of shapes, giving you the shape that will come next in the sequence allowing for you to predict what is coming next.
Be careful, the enemy shapes change every so often making it a challenge to navigate around the level safely without being eaten.

Mothers Feedback:
I don't usually play video games, however i remember playing the old PAC-Man game when i was younger and remember that being fun. This game is similar and has elements of PAC-Man such as the way the shapes move and how you progress. I like how you can change your shape into other shapes and then can eat the enemies, however i dislike how fast the shapes change as it catches me off guard and kills me. Although i did enjoy the game and think it holds the perfect mix of challenge and fun.

L3 Games Design Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games (josh 2)

Charlie Long

L3 Games Design

Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Client Brief

Create a 2D platform game consisting of an animated character throughout 5 levels. The game has room for creativity and flair, with a loose brief that only has a core rule to stick to.

Own Brief

I aim to produce a game which follows these features, with the 5 levels i aim to produce levels which range in length and how in depth they go. For example i aim for my first level to allow users to get to grips with the game, providing them a challenge that is not too hard to overcome. My art style will be pixelated, and will have animated characters to make the game look smoother. I will aim to have 2 collectibles, both giving a score at the top for the character as he collects them in order to let the player know how much they have progressed through the game.

Brainstorming

Idea: The Lost Pirate

I want to try make a game like Indiana Jones, an explorer of some sorts has to try and escape a location, with bad guys involved. Maybe it could be Indiana Jones Son Mud, as seen in the 4th installment of the films. However i also like the concept of a thief of sorts, who is in fact a poor thief who can not accomplish his task. Set in the pirate times, this man has to try steal in order to make his living, being a filthy pirate himself. Whilst playing the game you attempt to collect all the jewels and gold you can get your hands on, as well avoiding all the guards stationed in this place and one day making it back to your ship and crew. As you feel you are getting closer to getting back to your ship, the greed of the character throws you back into turmoil. Each level the goal is to not only evade capture of the guards, but to also collect all the gold before progressing onto the next level. Each level will increase in difficulty, this could range from either more guards or gold in tricky places. As you are an incompetent pirate you have no weapons, so therefore you will have to run/jump past the guards and run for your life, or face the gallows which occurs when you are hit by a guard. Starting in the jail cells you luckily have a chance to escape when your cell is left open, so you take it and make a breakaway. Each level will be elongated in width just like super Mario in the day was, this means there will be less levels, also starting with 3 health points.

What Sprites do i need?

Player - Pirate Bootleg

Enemies - Jailer Guards - If you collide with them they will capture you, forcing you to play an escape level at the gallows.

Enemies - Regular Guard - This guard will harm you and attempt to knock you out, once this happens the game will restart after all lives are lost.

Enemies - Guard Captain - Has the ability to shoot you, this will be a boss however and can be defeated on the final level when you get a weapon for yourself.

Walls - Wooden - These will act as floor for multiple story levels, or levels that take place inside a housing area.

Walls - Stone - These will be used for basement type areas, including the starting jail cells and streets.

Collectables - Jewel - Jewels add up, and are required for you to leave the level in most cases.

Collectables - Gold - Pockets of gold will be collected also, this will be more of a choice however as you only need to collect all of the jewels in order to progress, the gold just adds to your score, but also gives you the opportunity to bypass certain things.

Health - Health icons will be placed scarcely around throughout different levels, however this will vary on the difficulty of the level.

My concept art here is for my game, it shows a rough idea of the sprites, and has one basic level drawing shown to give an idea of how this platform game will look. It also includes the collectables within the game in which the player can get,

Unit 1: Pre-Production Techniques For The Creative Media Industries (james assignment)

Charlie Long

Unit 1: Pre-Production Techniques For The Creative Media Industries

When creating a game there is a lot of work to be considered before starting. For my game i aim to create an isometric 2D game that has a similar look to Pokemon. My game takes place in the current year, located in the Nevada desert at a military base, however this information is only found out at the end of the game upon completion. The game follows the story of an 18 year old boy and girl. Devan, a strong willed leader, and Lara, an intelligent lover who are believed to be the sole survivors of a planet in another solar system called phantasia. Sent to earth as babies, their true form was hidden so that they could blend in to the human race. On their 17th birthdays they awoke with what is known as burning eyes, where the eye turns completely fluorescent gold, glowing in the dark. They also found that their hair had a streak of white/silver running through it, startled and fearful of what people would think of them they went into hiding, where they learnt the full extent to their true alien nature. Both showed special capabilities, such as producing a golden form of energy from their bodies and using it to fire out of their hands/feet. Along with this, they could also teleport a short distance, making them very elusive. Strength, stamina and intelligence was also above the normal human average, making them keen targets for the military.

A year since their "first incident" as they called it and they had control of their abilities, until they were taken from hiding and placed into a military test facility. Once there, they quickly learned that humans could never be an ally, and that all they wanted was to use them for military projects across the globe. In an act of rebellion Devan, the older of the two attempted to fight his way out, before both were restrained and held for sedated experiments. The bond of love between the two was strong, and therefore kept them alive throughout the brutal and horrifying tests that were carried out on them while comatose.

Game play

Upon the start of the game you awake as Devan, and immediately notice in the bed beside you Lara, however she is still in her comatose state and cannot awake, while avoiding the military guards and finding out clues, the aim is to find a serum made in the military facility that will not only wake her up, but restore your memory through flashbacks. Along the way you will bump into helpful characters, and those such as  Cpt. Titan who wish to lock you away and experiment on you, being a boss character he is harder to kill with higher health and attack damage.

Creation

In order to create a game like this a lot of elements need to be taken into consideration, one of them for will be the financing of it. If i was to use other images or sprites that had been created i would have to contact the creator of those sprites and either pay for them or come to some sort of deal about them, along with this i would also have to consider hiring a team/workforce in order to help create the game, which also costs money. Therefore start up costs may be rather high, this will be something i will have to take into consideration before creating my game, and i will clearly have to identify what needs to be worked on and when it has to be finished for. This is another area that needs to be thought out before the production of a game, time. If each part of the game has clear timescales for when that segment is to be completed, the creation process is much easier. For example in my game, the character sprites fully animated could be given up to two weeks on. This lets everyone know at either the company or me as the creator that by the end of 2 weeks i should have this done, by that time i can then start on the next step. This time scaling can also help for announcing a release date of the game that is accurate.

However without the initial start up finances, especially with the prices of hardware (a good computer or dev kit) being close to 400 pounds + there is funding options that will need to be considered. One form of financing could be a "fund me", which is where you have a donation page allowing people or fans of your project to donate. For me, this option isnt too viable as there isnt too much of a buzz for the game that could create enough money in order to fund it. This can be a common problem which stops games. For my game, it is possible to create it on game maker, which is free, and the paid version allowing distribution and exporting of the game can be bought cheaply in deals that game maker has from time to time. This will save money, however i feel that a game which is as in-depth as mine seems to be will take a long time to complete with just one person. This requires my game to have some initial start up costs which will be crucial to the games creation in a reasonable amount of time. Another method of funding can be either sponsors or contributors, many games do this and either use product placement throughout games.

As you can see here the pizza company has paid for their adverts to be placed into games. This is more common in indie games or apps, such as Flappy bird which was actually a free game that made its money off of the heavy advertisement. This could be a viable option for money making, but in the case of my game which does not already have a large amount of interest to be a marketable game for large companies, it does not seem like something which is possible.

As for the cost of publishing the game, luckily there is whats called Steam Greenlight, which is an open platform run by Steam that is used to help developers create their and publish their game for minimal costs. When publishing with Steam Greenlight the game is tested by the public, and based off of the like to dislike ratio the game is then considered for sale on Steam. A cut of the profits are taken by Steam, with a possible initial sale price like an uploaders fee found on eBay. This is much cheaper than self marketing, especially for my game. Another method of publishing can be to contact and provide the idea of the game to a gaming company such as Ubisoft, in hopes they will create the game for you or alongside you. This will be a much easier process for advertisement, and most costs will be handled by the company. However the downside of this is that elements will be altered, and depending on how involved you are with the game you may not be credited to its creation, rather its idea. This can be a problem for creators who want to see their own product that they have created, and not just an altered version of the idea that you have produced. This is why for my game i would go down the self publishing onto Steam Greenlight route which will be easier and benefit me more in the long run.

A problem with being a self publisher is that along with handling nearly everything, cost wise and work wise yourself, you also have to sort out the use of equipment, sounds and imagery for the game. All this can become stressful and could lead to elements of the game taking longer, due to equipment taking a while to be free, or for when you go to get an age rating approved. Again this is why Steam Greenlight can be the answer, as they take into consideration the age ratings and most of the time either contact someone for you, or come up with a rating for you. This saves you time, and allows you to focus on other elements in the game.

Finally, legal and ethical factors need to be taken into consideration. Firstly the game should be created without the intention or accidental offence to anyone or any race, this can prove to be a problem. Times have occured where games have not thought about the translations of their games, and how in other languages they can be offence. This is something i will look into, also copyright can play a factor, If i was to "steal" a sprite off of the internet, i could one day be contacted by a creator of that sprite and be told about how i have stolen his intellectual property, this violating the copyright act. With my game however i plan to create my own sprites, with a pixel/isometric art style, therefor bypassing the copyright issue. However i will have to check the name, and the plot of the game in order to make sure the game does not already exist in some form. Once all these issues are laid out, the game creation can be started. 

In conclusion my game will hopefully cost a reasonable amount, around 500 pounds initial start without the help of a team, being a solo project saving the cost of a team. Along with this, i will use Game Maker which is free, and then publish my game onto Steam Greenlight which isnt too much. I believe the game could be created off of this small budget, as equipment can be found cheaper, this may cause the game to lack quality however, which is a worry however this cheap method will cause the game to take a much longer time to be finished as it is only being created by one person.

What is a Brief? (josh)

Stimulus

A Brief is a set criteria given when anything is to be created. It can vary depending on the needs and wants of those that it is designed for. A client brief tells you what is needed in order to please the games audience. Your own brief speaks about the requirements you need in the game, for example the sprites and artwork needed for the game. The market research element is used to let you know what your audience is wanting, and how best to please them.

Ideas Generation

Idea Generation is where you can let loose your creative energies to come up with an idea for the game, however following the briefs criteria and clients wants.

What would you do next?

- Brainstorming - to get all ideas out on what sort of game to make, based off of the criteria given in your briefs.

- Mood Boards - also like a brainstorm is a way of getting ideas out on to paper so they are clear and can be worked on.

- Thumbnail sketching - will help with the creation of characters and sprites in the game, can also be where the artistic style is realized.

- Concept drawings - can be then used to flush out all ideas of a character and give a proper look to the game, also can be used for advertisement.

Legal & Ethical Considerations

Copyright law - speaks about how you cannot copy someone else's work, either being intellectual or physical property. Established in 1988 the copyright act stops the stealing and copying of intellectual and physical property on the internet.

Libel - https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/libel - Libel is a method of defamation that is expressed in media, that embodies a physical form to a person that is injurious.

Female characters are generally sexualised in games, recently games such as Tomb Raider have dulled down the sexualised look of the character.

Intellectual property is property that is not in a physical presence, like a song or an idea that you have got either a patent or claim to, therefore it cannot be copied or stolen by someone else.