FMP Game Engines

This is a list of websites and information I have researched while trying to decide and understand what engine I want to use and what engine will be the best to use. From what I have learned I think that any of the code heavy engines is a no go since I don't want to get bogged down trying to learn an entire new way of developing games when I have most of the necessary skills already at hand. At least a small amount of coding will be necessary no matter what programs I end up deciding to use, so it was good practice for me to read up on and learn a little about.

http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/lounge/38613/ - is making a game engine hard?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_XNA - XNA Windows game engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MonoGame - Cross platform engine conversion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B - C++ Programming Language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Sharp_(programming_language) - C# Programming Language

https://developer.apple.com/technologies/tools/whats-new.html - Apple App making software

http://www.unrealengine.com/udk/ - Other Game engine software

http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/11440/how-do-i-make-a-2d-game-in-unity3d.html - Making a 2D game in Unity

Also an example of what coding can look like, scary.

Some of the more important things I looked at relating to the direction of engine I am thinking of using are;

https://developer.apple.com/technologies/tools/whats-new.html

Unity

Gamemakers

Stencil

FMP 2D V 3D Pros and Cons

This is my graph, there are many like it but this one is mine. I basically made a simple pros and cons table trying to decide what exactly I want to create in this project. 2D seemed like the clear option for a while until I actually tried downloading templates and looking at tutorials for the creation of a 2D game.  The video below is of the indie game Bastion, I thought this was the kind of game I wanted to create and that it would be easier than 3D modelling and rigging and everything that comes with that kind of game. It turns out I know not a lot about 2D coding so I decided to stick to what I'm good at and will be creating a 3D game possibly with a fixed camera to make the job a little easier.

Turns out that it's not a combination of 2D and 3D; the main character and enemies were created, colored and animated in 3D and then the animations were exported into a series of PNG image files. The PNG files were then sequenced together into the game engine to create the animations. Any color adjustments that had to be made meant that they would have to go back into the 3D base, re-export the PNG files and re-implement them into the game. The reason why they went this route was to keep the whole game running within a 2D engine and to avoid developing the game with a 3D engine which often proves to be a gigantic chore for game developers that don't have an incredibly huge staff. 

- http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/supergiant_games_bastion

I included this part of an article about the game Bastion because it interested me, the creative problem solving looks to be one of the reasons the game ended up like it did and was so unique and interesting. Something I think I should keep in mind.

FMP Meeting 1

I had a meeting the other day with the two people I am working with to realise this game, we discussed how it would work and in what context as well as timeframes and practical experience and how we will accomplish what I submitted as a proposal form. Here are the notes I took during our meet.

So looking at the notes taken in the first meeting, I needed to do some research, decide wether I wanted to make a 2D or 3D game, and look at what engines support the 2D or 3D aspect of creating the game. These tasks will show up in my coming blog posts and work.

FMP Rough Timetable

I decided to make a very rough timetable as early as I could just to see how things would work in the timeframe given, I think by setting myself short deadlines a lot more can be achieved than just doing it as it comes. Here is my rough timetable before I add more things to it which I will be doing when I find out what they are. I am also writing a short description of when I have done after I have done it so this timetable will be updated constantly.

FMP (Final Major Project)

Now that I have submitted my final major project proposal form all thats left to do is work for 4 months. I knew that I wanted to make a game (since the day I started DFGA) and now is the perfect time to do it, I have complete creative freedom to make anything I want, or can make, as long as I outline the exact things I will be doing as part of this project. The things that I will be doing in this project are a lot of concept art, 3D modelling, project managing, team leading, coding, and game testing. There are currently 3 of us making this 'game' and currently we are at the design stage.

The things we have looked at are 2D and 3D platform games and what can be achievable in the short 4 months we have to do this project, some of the things that have been ruled out are huge scale fantasy 3D worlds like Skyrim, and Mass Effect, because that is simply not possible. Realistically though we have realised that a short segment of well refined gameplay and visuals would be better than an over ambitious half finished glitchy game.

After a meeting we had initially about the project we have decided that the game will have to be some sort of platform based gameplay, the undecided part being wether it should use 2D frames to animate movement or use 3D models in a 2D platform based environment. The research I have been doing in these first few weeks of the project look at the pros and cons of both types of game development and which ones work more than others. I will be posting my results and timetable shortly as deadlines have been set as making a game requires a certain level of management if it is to be successful in any small way.

Some pictures of the games I have researched.

CoP 3 Development 5

These images are referenced again in my dissertation, they are later images as they were done towards the end of my work. They reflect the later chapters of my essay also, the chapters 4 and 5 are named, 'The progression of Archetype' and 'The Emotional journey' the work I have done relating to these chapters is based on the differing clothing and mental states that a character goes through during the course of the mono myth, I think this is reflected to a good extent in the images below.

After reading the deadline handin requirements I have changed the images so they appear on Artboards, which I have not actually used before. Now its CoP 3 module over, I dont know what all the fuss was about!

CoP 3 Questionnaire and Results

I handed out my questionnaire during the event at Thought Bubble, as I have mentioned in my essay, I concluded that this was the best time and the best audience to do my questionnaire. I would have liked to have gotten more results, but the results that I did get, proved useful in the end. Here are the results for questions 2-5.

The results show that most people choose their characters based on their appearance, this contradicts the older reasons as to why myths and stories were popular, but reflects modern ideals and how superficial society is currently.

CoP 3 Development 4

This post contains a lot of the practical development I have done based on what I have done in my dissertation, it explains the exact context of my work in the essay but simplified, the work I have done here is based on the work done in the academic book 'The Skillful Huntsman' the students had to draw and elaborte on their own interpretations of the book, exploring silhouettes, archetypes, landscape, progressions and basically everything my essay entails, this is exactly why I thought it would be a good idea for me to study the same book from the perspactive of the student. The results speak for themselves I think, showing how many interpretations of the same character can vary hugely but still portray the fundementals of of a specific character archetype. I am happy with the speed at which the work was done also, managing to fill a full sketchbook of work up in about a week or two. Anyway here are many but not all of the sketches I worked on as part of 'The Skillful Huntsman' book and in turn my essay dissertation.