Final research- Done

I have finally finished my Final research. I have use ACM Report style to do my research. I have learned a lot from the research that I have done. This is a good to look at different type of games so that if I want to build a level I can take some reference from what I have research. I hope I got more time to research more into detail for it. May be I will do it at my own time. I feel happy that I have finally finish it. I have also hand in another file that contain my proposed schedule that the project is achievable. I have also submitted this blog to support my research.
Finally done... Happy.

Steampunk Games

Then I look into some steampunk games that is in the game industry. I have look into the most popular first person shooting steampunk games. Then look into the modern popular steampunk games.

The first game that I look into is the game call  The Eidolon. This is a game with full 3D panoramic graphics game. It is very popular in the 1980's.

Then in the end of 20th and beginning of 21st century more games have use the idea of steampunk and combining it with different genre such as futuristic and fantasy. 

Then I look into the world of warcraft and Final fantasy. These two games have some cities that powered by steam to it is a steampunk. 

Usefull Links: : http://www.mobygames.com/game/eidolon

Steam punk

After meeting with Shane I started to look into the history of steampunk. I read a few books from the two Authors H.G Wells and Jules Verne. Who are the grandfather of steampunk.
I read into The Time Machine, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea and also The War of The Worlds. This three books is about science fiction.

Useful Links:
(20000 Leagues Under the Sea): http://www.online-literature.com/verne/leaguesunder/
(The Time Machine): http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/timemachine/
(The War of The Worlds): http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/warworlds/

Meeting with Matt and Shane

I have email my supervisor Phil but Phil is not around so I email Nick to make a meeting with him to talk about my research ideas but he is on his vacation so his secretary forward the email to Salam. But Salam is not into games so she forward the email to Shane. Then Shane contact me and give me some general ideas of researching on my idea. Then I make up a meeting with him to talk to him about what to research into more deeply and what other things that I should include in my research. Before meeting with Nick I talk to my lecturer Matt who is teaching me Game Authoring. He is a level designer and he have work in a few companies in the game industry so I talk to him about my idea and he say that he is not so sure to make any comment on my idea because he is not incharge of it. So I went and meet Shane. 

Then Shane has tell me to may be look into where steampunk started, how did people get their inspiration from and also give some visual look for how my game will look like and feel like. Then look into some games. Shane also gives me some of the Author name who started Steampunk and for me to research into.

 

H.G.Wells and Jules Verne is the two author that are very popular for their steam punk novels.

H.G. Wells

Jules Verne

Useful Links:

http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/

http://www.online-literature.com/verne/

Victorian times

I have started to do some research about steampunk. Steampunk is set in the victorian times so I have research into some of the victorian times inventions and architecture in the victorian times. 

During victorian times there are a lot of inventions such as the first gasoline powered car, the light bulb that can burn for 1500 hours, telephones and more.

All this inventions makes our live more easier. During the victorian times they are just using  oil lamp and also steam powered stuff. 

The architecture during that times is based on Gothic and Italianate. The building style is very popular on that times they spread through every where in books and pictures. There are a lot of building is still keeping the style of it. 

Usefull web link : 

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians/inventions.htm

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/history/information/victorians/inventions/inventions_home.htm

http://www.victorianstation.com/inventions.htm

http://www.arlde.com/Inventions.htm

Project Objectives and Process of Projects

I have set the Project Objectives and Process of project for the final projects

Projects Objective

Objective One – History and Inspiration

Looking into the History of steampunk and look into where people get their inspiration from is one of the objectives for this project. Looking into different set of inspiration and history then get new ideas and thinking for steampunk.

Objective Two – Industry Context

By looking into the industry what kind of game that is base on the steampunk genre and look into the pipeline to produce a game level design in the industry. This is one of the main objectives of this project.

When looking into the game on the steampunk genre sees what kind of colour scheme is used, how the environment is like and how is the architecture of the cities. Then look into the history of the genre and see where and how they got the inspiration then come up with something different from what already exist. 

Objective Three – Applied Research

Then last objective for the project is to apply all the research that have been done here or further research into the main project and produce a good product out of it. This is also the main objective for the project.

Process of Projects

Research

In this part of the project it is to research on the areas that are set in the objectives. The research will be split into different parts, first is to research into steampunk looking into the history, and then is the inspiration from the novel. This is to look into different books that have been written and the movies that had been filmed based on novel. Third is to look into the Victorian times what is it like - the architecture and the technology. After that, is to look into different games that were based on this genre. The last thing to research is pipeline of level designing.

Modelling and Coding

Modelling and coding is the most important part of the project. After gathering the information and the knowledge on the research will start the modelling. The modelling will take contain environment modelling, assets modelling, and texturing. After the modelling is done the coding will come in. The first thing to do for coding is to set the collision box for all the asset and environment. Then is the coding for the physics, enemy and AI coding. This will make the game more realistic and alive.

Testing

After having coding and modelling done is to start the testing for the level design. Testing level is to confirm that the level is fully working with no errors. During the testing; will need to debug and fix errors. Other than that is to look into what can be change if there is more time left.

Documentation

When the level is done documentation will need to be written. This document will have the detail research that is done, the breakdown of process throughout building the level, and also reflect on what is done and what can be done better.

Task Two Result

I have got my result from Nick that I got 12 out of 20. It is not a good mark but is ok. I have got some feedback from Nick that I have not give a clear idea of what I am doing for the final year project. This have take up my mark a lot. So I speak to Nick about Level modelling. He ask me to look for a story and a settings for the game. After setting all thing will help me to get the level detail to make a game. Soon after He give me an idea of steampunk. It is a science fiction that was set in the victorian times when steam was the main power. This is an interesting idea. Then I set my idea to build steampunk first person shooter game. This is an iteresting idea. Soon I arrange a ameeting with my supervisor Phil Legard to talk about this idea.

Then after he replied my email I have a meeting to meet up with him. Then we talk about the steampunk idea. The part to research and things like that then soon I start to research into this idea.

Draft Report

Finally I have done the draft report is about 1459 word count and is in ACM format. It is a short research of games and production line. This will help on planning for building a game and know which part will I be more interested in the production team when working in the game industry.

Production Pipeline.

After research into the games I look into the production pipeline of the building a game. It is split into 4 part of the production line. (Concept, Pre-Production, Production, and Post- Production).

Concept

Concept is where the game designer starts to think of their idea which was called the concept idea. This can be very basic concept that have been existing then add some new unique things into the game or come up with a totally new games that have never been design or made. 

 Pre-Production

In pre-production is where the story board , character design, character development, scene development and coding.

Once the concept idea has come up then the production team will need to come up with a story and story board for the game showing the flows, the levels of the game and what will be happening on each scene.

As the storyline is being drawn and sketched out then the character design will be design majority of the character in high level detail.

The environment design it is the largest part of the whole creation. The scene is then design by the designer sketching out all the scene and what will be happening for the 3d artist to model 

 Production

In Production is to use the design from pre-production and make it to a product.

From the pre-production the character design will be pass to 3D artist for modelling according to the design. After the modelling a skeleton is to put and align in to the character. This will able the character to move when coding the game. Once the character is connected to the skeleton then is the texturing and the mapping of the character.

The environment that is sketch and design in pre-production stage is also passed to the 3D artist to model. The 3D artist will model the environment according to the scene story and design. After modelling the environment then is the texturing, and colour scheme, of different scene. Then the last thing to add to the scene will be the lighting.

After all modelling and setting up the scene the most important element is to create the game using coding. The coding team will code to put all the element together according to the storyline/storyboard and make it run as a game. 

 Post-Production

In post production the product will send to test and will hit the market for selling.

Once the game is developed it is handed over to the testing department for testing for bug and also final decision of what needs to be change in the game.

Then the bug will be handed back to the coding team to solve the debug and the final tweak of the game.

After the game has gone through the test then it will be start to produce and will be selling all over the world.

Research in Game 2

Last week I have look into the game Crysis. Then I futher research into Call of Duty Black Ops.
Back Ops have a different settings form Crysis. Black Ops is set in different cities suich as the Antarctic research station Kowloon Hong Kong and Berlin Wall and Stadium. These place is directly reflected from the real world.
The world in Black Ops is different from Crysis. In cities there are more buildings and more compact environment. So there the environment will be more smoky compared to Crysis because of the map is main on cities so the explosion is more compared to open world. And the world will be more blur and the vision of the player is much more nearer.
In Black Ops  they also placed some in games advertisement of the real world to make the game more reality.

Then in the game the lighting is darket compared to Cysis because the world is cover with smoke from the explosion has coverd the sky but the base colour of the sky is blue but is covered with grey smoke. The two games have the same concept. The different between them is that they set it in different time and different play make the game different playing feel to each other.

Research on games

I have research into two different first person shooting games. First one is Crysis and second one is the Call of Duty Black Ops
I have look into the color scheme of the two games and how is the environment set and how is  it compared to the real world.

Crysis game have a few different lighting in the games most of it was the sky colour lighting that we have in the real world. There is also some dawn lighting and also night all of this lighting is different for the dawn is yellowish and for the night is the light from the city and the moon. All this lighting makes the game more reallity and more similar to the real world so that they can attract player to play the game and draw the playing into the same situation and let the player feel it. Then in the game the environment of the game is set to foggy to make it more reality. For example during the war there will be a lot of shooting and bombing around so there will be smoke around. This smoke also limit the player vision so that the computer don't need to load all the environment at once because this will kill the computer speed. When it is in the building lighting will be different some is the light reflected from the sky and some is from the computer screen.

As from the pictures above one is the real world jungle and one is in the game. Games developer usually use the real world as a reference when they build the world of the game. This can make the game look more like real world and also this can get the player to think that they are at the same situation doing the things. That is why some of the people get addicted to play some games because they enjoy to get in the situation and also they can do things that they cannot do in the real world. So they can get satisfication from the game.

This game is set in the jungle so the game developer need to go out to look for some reference of the jungle. They also look at the colour of the jungle and the light in the jungle as refence as well. So looking at reference is a good way to start to  build a game.

Meeting with Nick & Ideas

After last week discussion about getting ideas to be finalize. I am very confuse on the which one to choose so I make an appointment with Nick to talk about the ideas. I told him that I am thinking of a first person shooter games level in UDK and what kind of research I got to do.
He ask me about the settings of the games like where is the game going to be set, what time, when, and more. I have no idea about it. He also told me that a first person shooter is a very common game genre in the game industry all the game have the same type of idea, walk around a world shooting and saving. All first person shooting game is base on this idea and he ask me to think more. Look into different genre and look at what is that I am going to do, What kind of selling point if I am going to build a first person shooter, what is it different from others, what unique point that i have in my game that others don't have.
But I was very unsure so he ask me to look into different types of first person shooting game and see what the lighting of the game is set. Then look into the building and places how is it compared to the real world and get some picture of the game and real world and compare them. And also look into the production line of the games. This will help to know how a game company production line is working and how is it flow. Like which section of the projects go first, the Initial idea, then to pre-production and so on.
I have take down all this idea. After the meeting I start to look for some popular game of first person shooting games and research into it.

Post 8 - ACM Draft Report

This week session we are focussing on task two draft report. Each of us speak to Salam or Nick and talk about what kind of research and ideas for the final year project. But at this point I am still very lost of what kind of things I will be doing after the master. I am thinking to get into a game company. I have come up with a few ideas but not confirm which one i am going to choose.

These is my idea:

1. Game Level design
This will be using UDK to build playable game level

2. Modelling
This will include using 3D max to model and animate

3. Character design
This will be to design a character for a game

These three ideas have come out of my head but I am not sure which one to choose. I am more on the game level design because this is what I came in for the master course. But i also like to model using 3D max this a section that can draw my attention. I am doing a Game Authoring course which will be using UDK to build level. So i will still keep my ideas open till I can get what I wanted to do.

Mile stone 1

After all feedback and the research I have complete the task one research. This research will include some of the research that I have done for my other module and also some areas that I am interested in. This will guide me of with what I will looking forward to for my final part of the research.
Additional research that I have not added to this blog is also in my mind map that I have done it in prezi. All the research that I use for my task one is also reference.



Prezi Link:https://prezi.com/secure/a5fc1055d610e15d9c715aa4c9d899b195d6d246/