Aztec Dinosaur Alleyway Project: Final Stills

These are some stills from my Aztec Dinosaur Alleyway project. I think they came out pretty good. I'll be posting prop sheets later this week.

Aztec Dinosaur Alleyway Project: UDK Camera Move

In this video I learned how to create some simple camera moves in UDK. 

I didn't get as many done as I would have liked but hey what I did get looks pretty cool.

GA221: Aztec Dinosaur Level Set Dressing

 Quick update on some work I've done over the past week. I've been set dressing my level in UDK. Here are a couple of images of my progress. I'll be updating with a few more images tomorrow.

GA221: Set Dressing Update

Just wanted to make a quick post on how my set dressing is going. So far extremely slowly. I had to spend most of the day doing some unplanned re-optimizing so that ate a chunk out of my time. I did however get my bridge and some rocks in and I played around with some other configurations. I'm hoping tomorrow will be more successful.   

Status Update!

So today I decided to optimize my UDK packages to get the most out of as little space as I could. We're suppose to have a 50,000 kB package but mine turned out to be around 290,000 kB. To get this down I basicly had to reduce the file size of all my texture (and I have a lot of textures) so they would take up less space. I also combined my textures with their respective specualar maps by putting the speculars in the textures alpha channels and saving it as a targa file. The whole process was extremely repetitive but it gave me a lot of new space for my package. Anyways thats mostly what I worked on today. I played around with some set dressing but not enough to post a picture on here. I'll be posting my progress on that this coming week over the thanksgiving break.  

GA 221: Temple Kit!

A little update on my latest modeling project. All these temples where made from a modular kit I made in Maya. That kit consists of a wall, side trim, stairs, a stair wall, a floor mesh, and one texture (colored differently three times). Now these temple are suppose to only be seen from a fair distance so I didn't need a tone of detail on them. And some of my other classmates are working on iconography that can be placed on these guys. 

This next week I'll get to start set dressing my level for class. Can't wait!

Cult Clash!

First off if you would like to check out a downloadable PDF version of my game click HERE!

So over the course of a month I've been working on a board game that could theoretically be downloaded off the internet and be played in every home. This is what you would call the print and play board game. When I began to conceptualize what sort of game I wanted to make it didn't take very long for me to decide on creating a strategy war game. I find these types of games extremely interesting and challenging. The idea for the game play was inspired by D&D 4e and Magic the Gathering. Both games I really really enjoy.

As for the games theme I originally wanted to try making a military shooter like board game. However that theme never really clicked all that well for me. It wasn't until half way through working on the project that I decided to go in a fantastical direction with my theme. This is where the idea of Cult Clash really started to come together. This past year I've really started to take a liking to Lovecraftian lore and stories. So it was decided that my game would be about crazed Lovecraftian cults sacrificing each other to ancient gods. Sounds like a real family friendly idea!

Because I had so many different game pieces I decided it was best for me to keep my design fairly simple. So I opted to just use simple shapes when designing the look of everything. Honestly I broke that rule in a few places and used some fancy texture but I think the design comes together really well.

Close up view of the game in action!

A true gentalman's game.

The hardest part about this project for me was writing and balancing the rules of the game. The second hardest was keeping myself from continuously adding new game mechanics. 

It was also hard keeping myself from having to much fun making my games box.

The game box took much longer to construct than I had originally anticipated. On top of that I had the idea at the last possible moment and decided to act on it. I don't recommend acting on these impulses in the future as they tend to cause lack of sleep. 

I made the box out of an old leather jacket I got from Good Will for ten dollars. I cut it up and used the scrapes to wrap two small illustration boards. Then I glued these "book covers" to the box and added a few extra decorations. Then I aged some old printer paper with coffee and glued them to the side of the box. The project to an entire night, but it was worth it in the end. 

What I've learned from this experience is that it's best to try (if you can help it) to make your work load manageable for yourself and not over scope on a project. Because I tried adding so much to the game I didn't really have time to polish everything in the final product as much as I would have wanted to. 

So from now on I'm going to try and make sure I keep my head out of the clouds and focus on what's most important for my projects, or else I'll never sleep again.

GA227: Cult Clash Game Board

This is my game board for my print and play game Cult Clash. You take on the role of three mages belonging to one of four cult factions of the game. Your objective is to eliminate the other players mages before they do your's by casting spells and combining your mages attacks together. My inspiration for the gameplay came from D&D 4th edition and Magic the Gathering. However I'm trying to place a higher emphasis on using the environment to your advantage.

GA221: Temple Block-Out Ideas

The last prop I'll be working on is a modular temple kit for my classes Aztec Dinosaur level project. I'm working on this with one of my fellow class mates so it's going to look pretty awesome. Heres a quick look at two basic shapes for the temple in Maya.

There isn't any stairs or ornementation yet, but I really like shapes. Right now I'm thinking about working with the one on the left. I'll consult my partner on these next time we meet.

GA221: Cliff Faces

Here's a quick look at my medium difficulty prop model. I was tasked with making rocks and rock cliff faces. Looks like it cam out pretty well. still need to finish making smaller rocks to compliment it.

I made this by taking a texture and placing it on a flat plane. From there I extruded and modeled the plane along the cracks in the texture to give it a more 3D look.

GA227: My Print and Play Game Theme

Concept Statement: "Cull the weak and bring favor to the strong."

Theme: Players play as mages, warlocks, and witches who have come to the temple of the Old Gods to compete in ritualistic combat to win favor and to entertain the gods. Blood must be spilled to sate their hunger. Players will choose from one of the four ancient cult houses. The cults include the Knight Guardians, the Enlightened Ones, the Jade Serpent, and the Sphinx. Players then compete against each other in the arena by casting old magics on their enemies. Who ever defeats all the other teams mages wins the favor of the Old Gods and saves the world from destruction for another year.

GA227: Theme Research

Game of Thrones the board game utilizes theme extremely well. In the game you play as one of the many houses of Westeros and try to negotiate, bluff, move armies, and manage resources. Thats pretty much what happens in the books and TV series.The player who can do all of these the best will bring their house to victory.

GA 221: On the Rocks

For my next 3D assignment I've been given the task to model some rocks. He'res what I've got so far.

GA 221: Dinosaur Hides

I made some dinosaur hide cards as part of my easy prop assignment for my 3D class. There really simple to make. I placed textures on a flat plane and used the alpha channel in a Targa file to create the illusion that the skins are cut out. 

These are just a few of the skins I made for the project.

GA227: PnP Playtest Form Results

This week I've been playtesting my print and play game I've been working on. So far I've learned a lot about failure and learning from that. So far what I've learned that a player can have too many options and get frustrated. I've decided to limit these options just a little bit and see how well that works. I've also learned that I need to simplify the amount of dice needed for combat. At this moment a player may need to roll up to nine dice at once. Looking back on that its a little too much. So I've decided to use one twenty sided die for combat. Hopefully this will increase the speed of combat and hopefully wont frustrate players. These two problems came up the most durring play. I'm going to alter my rules in an attempt to fix them.

This is my playtest form. I had each of my playtesters fill one out and give me their opinions on the game. This one is from my friend Jen.

GA 221 Project 5: Easy Prop Model

These are some dinosaur hide textures I'm working on for my 3D game class. These are some of the better skins I've been working on. They'll look real cool once I get them loaded into UDK. 

I created the these textures by combining other animal skin textures in photoshop. I used Rhinos, Elephants, Crocodiles, and other lizards. All these textures I combined come from the great website CG Textures.

GA227: My Print and Play Game Rules Rough Draft

Tramcon

(Name in the works)

Play Time: 30-45min,
Num Players: 2-4
Goal: Hold the center point for 5 consecutive rounds or eliminate the enemy players units.
Brief back story
Two to four players battle for control over the centerpoint.

Game Components
Board: 28x28 grid
Unit Tokens
Wall Tokens
Dice

Printing Instructions:
 to come...

Setting up the game:
Laying out the game components: place the game board between the players. Then take the black wall tiles and place them on the board as indicated by the diagram below.

Diagram to come...

Players then take twenty cover tiles each. These are the grey rectangular tiles.

Determining who plays first: If players can’t decide for themselves allow the youngest player to go first. Then take turns clockwise around the board.

Game Goal
Hold center-point for five rounds without losing control or opponent runs out of soldiers

Solider Types

Trooper: The trooper is the most basic of soliders.
Stats: 2 AD (attack dice) / 3 DD (defense dice)
Movement: 6 squares
Attack Range: 12 squares

Sniper: A lightweight soldier the sniper can move very fast and cover more ground than most other soldiers. Most effective long range soldier. Attack is very high but defense is very low.
Stats: 5 AD / 1 DD
Movement: 8 squares
Attack Range: 24 squares

Demo: Equip with a rocket launcher this soldier uses explosives to get the job done.
Stats: 1 AD in a four square area / 3 DD
Movement: 6 squares
Attack Range: 12 squares
Special Action: Demos can choose to spend 2 action points to destroy cover. They can also do the same to a wall but only if they are adjacent to it.

Phyro: These soldiers are the scourge of the battlefield. Able to attack multiple targets in a strait line they are not to be taken lightly.
Stats: 2 AD / 3 DD
Movement: 4 squares
Attack Range: 6 squares (Roll damage for every unit in this range

Heavy Tank: Can act as a wall to keep your soldiers safe.
Stats: No AD / 10 DD
Movement: can only move 4 squares at a time. Must move in the direction the arrow on the Heavy Tank Tile is pointing. To turn the player must spend a move action and rotate the tank 90 degrees.

Turn Order

First Phase:

Each turn you can take 2 actions.
-move
-attack
-place cover
You may take the same action twice.
End Turn
Next player to your lefts turn. (Clockwise)

Combat

When a player chooses to attack they must roll a number of six sided dice equal to the attacking unit's AD (Attack Dice). The defending player must roll a number of six sided dice equal to the defending unit's DD (Defense Dice).

When the attacker rolls their dice.
If the attacker rolls a 1, 2, or 3 on a die. That die is considered a miss.
If the attacker rolls a 4, 5, or 6 on a die. That die is considered a hit.
The attacker then adds their hits together into a attack score.

When a defender rolls their dice.
If the defender rolls a 4, 5, or 6 on a die. That die is considered a block.
Anything lower that 4 does not block the incoming attack.
The defender then adds their blocks together into a defense score.

Whoever has the higher score in the end wins the combat.
Ex: Attacker gets a total of 3 on their attack score. The defender gets a total of 2 on their defense score. The defenders dies and is removed from play.

Print and Play Game Idea Brainstorm

For my GA227 game concept class I need to brainstorm some ideas for a board game I'll be creating. Here's twenty ideas I've come up with so far. My inspiration for some of the might be real obvious.

1. A checkers like strategy war game where the spaces on the game board are hexagonal instead of square.

2. A chess like strategy war game where the spaces on the game board are hexagonal instead of square.

3. Strategy war game where you build walls and cover to protect your troops from enemy fire while trying to take control of a center point.

4. Strategy war game where player must cross enemy lines to connect enemy nodes to a center point to win.

5. Strategy game where you try to connect nodes together creating a direct path from yourself to an enemy player.

6. Strategy card game where players summon minions to the game board to do battle.

7. Strategy card game where the cards your play alter the layout of the game board in front of you.

8. Path finding game (like the way or the path) where the players must discover a path to the finish line while dodging roaming monsters.

9. Team based path finding game where each member of the team has a separate job they need to use (like rotating or moving tiles) to get to the end of the map.

10. Racing game where you travel around in a circle three times before the other players while using power ups that allow them to advance faster or hinder opponents.

11. Co-operative team racing game where players need to work together to beat the other teams.

12. Co-operative survival game where the player must work together to survive some sort of threat.

13. Competitive survival game where the players must survive a nonplayer threat as well as other players.

14. Chess like wall and platform game where players are allowed to alter the game board as they try and capture enemy pieces.

15. A game where players work together to clear out an infestation of creatures on the game board.

16. A tile based game where players try and take over as much territory as possible to win.

17. A tile based game where creating certain patterns gives you points needed to win.

18. Risk like game where you try to conquer nodes and connect them to an enemy players main node.

19. Collection game where you try and gather more resources (points) than the other players before time runs out.

20. Tiled maze game where players move through a labyrinth trying to get to the center first. 

Deconstruction: The Mini Quest

For class I had to deconstruct a print and play game from the internet. I came across this little game and decided I'd give it a shot.

The Mini Quest

Mini Quest is miniaturized adventure RPG created by Jason Sondoh and Robertson Sondoh, Jr.

Goal of the Game:

The main goal of the game is for the players to race to defeat the final boss.

Core Mechanics: Players must take turns move their character tokens across the map so that they can gain gold to buy better equipment so that they can defeat the final boss and win the game.

Space of the Game:

The space for the game takes place on a 2-demensional board made of individual hexagonal spaces. Each space represents a different area or region. Varying from forests, deserts, mountains, villages, and cities. 

Objects, Attributes, and States:

Objects:

·      Area tiles

·      Player character tokens

·      Player character sheets

·      Monster encounter tokens

·      Quest tokens

·      End boss tokens

Attributes and States:

Area Tiles:

Area tiles are the spaces the player’s place their character tokens. Each space has one attribute assigned to it. Most of these spaces represent a type of area like a forest, deserts, or mountain. Each of these areas can spawn a different monster depending on the monsters area type.

These spaces have two states. The first is undestroyed and it acts as according to the rules. The second is destroyed and it can no longer be accessed by anyone.

There are two city spaces and two village spaces in the game. The cities attributes include services provided to the player(s) that occupy the space. These include healing up to full health for a GP fee, buying things from the market, and starting a quest or resolving one.  Village attributes include different services. Such as  Just like the area spaces these can be destroyed as well.

Player Character Tokens:

Player character tokens are use to represent the player on the game board. Their main attribute is that they can move one space in and direction into another space.

These pieces have two states. In the first state they can move one space in any direction. After a player upgrades their character with a magic item like the GPS Watch or Jetpack they can add another space to their movement.

Player Character Sheets:

Player character sheets have three attributes. First is the player’s hit points or HP. The player has 10 HP to start with. The second attribute is the player’s action points or AP. Each player starts with 2 AP. The third attribute is the amount of gold they have. Each player starts with 0 gold.

First a player’s health has three states. The first is at full health (10HP). The second is less than full health but not 0. And the last is if the player drops to 0 HP. If this happens the player is forced to return to the kingdom and loose half their gold. The players AP can be upgraded with magical items to increase their effectiveness in combat. This can only go up to 5 however.

Quest Tokens:

Quest tokens have one attribute. The letter on the token corresponds to a letter on the quest list in on the rules page. This list explains to the player what quest they’re on and how to complete it.

Quest tokens have three states. The first is in the quest token pile. The second is the player working on the quest. The third is the player completing the quest and receiving their reward.

Monster Encounter Tokens:

Monster encounter tokens have seven attributes. First they have the amount of gold the player receives when the monster is defeated. The second attribute is the weight that decides how easy it is to escape from that monster. The third attribute is a monster area space that decides where the monster can spawn. The fourth attribute is a hit point number that describes how much health they have left. The fifth attribute is the monster Ability Points which tells the player how many times that monster rolls dice against them in combat. The sixth attribute is the monsters magical elemental weakness that increases the amount of damage done to the monster if the player attacks with that element. The seventh and final attribute is the monsters name.

The monster encounter token has four states. The first is out of play in the monster encounter token pile. The second is in the monster stack pile. The third is in combat with the player. The forth is that the monster is dead.

Boss Token:

The boss token has three attributes. He has 10 hit points, 6 action points, and a movement of one space.

The boss has has four states. The first is not in play at all. The second is in play moving from area to area destroying each space he lands on. The third is in combat with a player. The forth is dead and the last player to hit him wins.

Actions: Players can choose to do three things on their turn. They may set up camp and restore 2 HP if their outside a city or 4 HP inside a city, they can move to an adjacent space, and they can finish a quest if they’ve completed it.

Rules:

Behavioral Rules: Player should be good sports with one another even when they're loosing.

Advisory Rules: Players should try and gather enough gold to buy one of the elemental rings from the merchant as early as possible. These will allow you to kill monster quickly and reduce the chance of you taking a lot of damage. Later down the road when the boss is getting ready to spawn its advisable for you to spend your gold on a movement upgrade. That way you can get to the  boss as quickly as possible and give you the edge on defeating him first.

Skills Players Learn: Players learn how to manage their recourses and when they should take risks. Once the player learns how to manage their resources like HP, AP, and Gold they can easily dominate the game. 

Pictures of a game in progress!