Here's a video of an early version of the first game prototype, built with my very own engine. It supports particle effects, untextured models and audio, which is more than enough for now.
First Prototype - Video 1
woensdag 14 mei 2008
zondag 11 mei 2008
About the model
Through the project and research I'm doing, I'm setting up a methodology for short single-iteration prototyping projects.
The properties are currently:
And has the following requirements:
The method is largely devided into three sections: Diverging, Converging and Constructing.
After attempting to construct a prototype through the use of what ideas I had of the convergence model, I've been able to refine it to a reasonable state. Currently, the process of convergence relies on taking the ideas from the divergent phase, which can be pretty abstract, and relating them to an abstract representation of games to ensure a game-structure quickly and easily emerges.
The model of games is split, for the time being, into the following parts:
Form deals with anything that is perceived by the player’s senses. This means anything visual, auditory, haptic, etc can be considered ‘form’. Especially visual game artists decribe two distinct versions of it: functional and fictional art. The distinction is that a functional description describes what something is or is doing, whereas a fictional description adds to the former a layer of representation. Note that this means the two are not mutually exclusive.
System contains everything that makes the game interactive. It accepts input from the player and provides output, which is described as form. Core Techniques and Algorithms for Game Design provided a very interesting distinction between elements found in the system. These are ‘passive’ and ‘active’ elements. I've chosed to define these as follows.
Passive elements are things that are in the game world, but don’t contribute directly to any interactivity. They may, however, influence other things that are active/passive.
Active elements are things that exhibit behavior. Usually it is these elements that cause the game to require input from the player. Take for instance pong, where the active ‘ball’ element threatens to leave the passive ‘field’ element. The player is required to react to this to prevent herself from losing.
Another fundamental part of the system in this model would be conditions. Conditions are descriptions of the ‘state of the game’ or any subset of it, which when met will elicit a response. This response can be valorized as either negative or positive to the player. As in the example earlier, when the ball leaves the field, the ball being outside of the field is a condition, which when met will elicit the response of points being awarded, either to the player or her opponent depending on where the ball leaves the field.
The properties are currently:
- Provide a situation in which the designer can judge the viability of an idea after a single prototype cycle. (ideal)
- Streamline creativity and allow for a faster concept & development cycle.
And has the following requirements:
- The method may not reduce the overall ‘depth’ of the creative process.
The method is largely devided into three sections: Diverging, Converging and Constructing.
After attempting to construct a prototype through the use of what ideas I had of the convergence model, I've been able to refine it to a reasonable state. Currently, the process of convergence relies on taking the ideas from the divergent phase, which can be pretty abstract, and relating them to an abstract representation of games to ensure a game-structure quickly and easily emerges.
The model of games is split, for the time being, into the following parts:
- Form
- Functional
- Fictional
- System
- Elements
- Active
- Passive
- Conditions & Responses
Form deals with anything that is perceived by the player’s senses. This means anything visual, auditory, haptic, etc can be considered ‘form’. Especially visual game artists decribe two distinct versions of it: functional and fictional art. The distinction is that a functional description describes what something is or is doing, whereas a fictional description adds to the former a layer of representation. Note that this means the two are not mutually exclusive.
System contains everything that makes the game interactive. It accepts input from the player and provides output, which is described as form. Core Techniques and Algorithms for Game Design provided a very interesting distinction between elements found in the system. These are ‘passive’ and ‘active’ elements. I've chosed to define these as follows.
Passive elements are things that are in the game world, but don’t contribute directly to any interactivity. They may, however, influence other things that are active/passive.
Active elements are things that exhibit behavior. Usually it is these elements that cause the game to require input from the player. Take for instance pong, where the active ‘ball’ element threatens to leave the passive ‘field’ element. The player is required to react to this to prevent herself from losing.
Another fundamental part of the system in this model would be conditions. Conditions are descriptions of the ‘state of the game’ or any subset of it, which when met will elicit a response. This response can be valorized as either negative or positive to the player. As in the example earlier, when the ball leaves the field, the ball being outside of the field is a condition, which when met will elicit the response of points being awarded, either to the player or her opponent depending on where the ball leaves the field.
maandag 5 mei 2008
I've been busy building a small engine for the prototypes over the last month, so I'll post some screenshots of the first prototype soon. I've used the first cycle mostly to define the exact parameters and how to evaluate a possible outcome.
Along the way I found a very interesting blog I think everybody should look at, which is the blog of Annakaisa Kultima, a (game) researcher at the university of Tampere.
AaKoo’s Game Lab
It contains a lot of interesting information on creativity, including the following presentation about creative techniques (held at the GDC)
Along the way I found a very interesting blog I think everybody should look at, which is the blog of Annakaisa Kultima, a (game) researcher at the university of Tampere.
AaKoo’s Game Lab
It contains a lot of interesting information on creativity, including the following presentation about creative techniques (held at the GDC)
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