Entertainment Design
- "The aim of this Module is to provide the student with an understanding of the processes involved in designing and developing a piece of 2D interactive entertainment as part of a group." - Abertay.ac.uk
Throughout this unit I will type up my class notes which I can refer to any point.
Project Plan
| Deadlines | Week | Task | Completed | Completion Date |
| 08/09/2014 | Week 1 | Create a project plan | Yes | 08/09/2014 |
| 15/09/2014 | Week 2 | Watch Action script tutorials on Digital Tutors | Yes | 15/09/2014 |
| 22/09/2014 | Week 3 | Research other flash based games | Yes | 26/09/2014 |
| 29/09/2014 | Week 4 | Research my chosen theme (Pirates) | Yes | 29/09/2014 |
| Research other pirate themed games | Yes | 30/09/2014 | ||
| 06/10/2014 | Week 5 | Completed mood boards | Yes | 06/10/2014 |
| Character mood board (Ships) | Yes | 01/10/2014 | ||
| Environment mood board (sea) | Yes | 04/10/2014 | ||
| Pirate flag mood board | Yes | 04/10/2014 | ||
| Cannonball Mood Board | Yes | 06/10/2014 | ||
| Completed character research | Yes | 06/10/2014 | ||
| Completed environment research | Yes | 06/10/2014 | ||
| Completed user interface and controls research | Yes | 05/10/2014 | ||
| 13/10/2014 | Week 6 | Completed character designs | Yes | 06/10/2014 |
| Completed enemy ships character designs | Yes | 16/10/2014 | ||
| Completed environment designs | Yes | 10/10/2014 | ||
| Completed mock up artwork for final game design | Yes | 06/10/2014 | ||
| Source Music Bed | Yes | 06/10/2014 | ||
| Completed designs for ships cannonballs | Yes | 16/10/2014 | ||
| Source Sound Effects | Yes | |||
| 20/10/2014 | Week 7 | Feedback Week | Yes | |
| Completed Story Boards | Yes | 16/10/2014 | ||
| Player Ship Asset creation in Flash | Yes | 09/10/2014 | ||
| Enemy Ship Asset creation in Flash | Yes | 16/10/2014 | ||
| Environment Assets created in flash | Yes | 16/10/2014 | ||
| Implement working title screen with start button | Yes | 14/10/2014 | ||
| Implement working player health bar | Yes | 16/10/2014 | ||
| Implement player lose screen | Yes | 16/10/2014 | ||
| 27/10/2014 | Week 8 | Scripting | Yes | |
| 03/11/2014 | Week 9 | Scripting | Yes | |
| 10/11/2014 | Week 10 | Scripting | Yes | |
| 17/11/2014 | Week 11 | Scripting | Yes | |
| 24/11/2014 | Week 12 | Game testing | Yes | |
| 01/12/2014 | Week 13 | Submission of all files | Yes |
Lecture 001 - 08/09/2014 - Week 001
Entertainment design, an Adobe Flash based class in which I need to design and create a visually engaging, programmed and fully interactive game in semester 1 (60% overall grade) and work towards a similar goal as part of a group in semester 2. (40% overall grade) This module is worth 30 credits spread over two semesters.
Semester 1 Brief Notes.
Date of Issue - 8th September 2014
Date of Submission - 3rd December by 4 pm
Date of feedback -14th January 2015
Project Overview -
The following has been taken directly from the brief I was given.
"The aim of this module is to achieve an understanding of the processes involved in the design of interactive entertainment and to apply this knowledge in developing innovative and commercially viable solutions to a range of creative tasks."
Submissions are to be sent via Blackboard in a zipped file.
Task 1 - The game is worth 60% of the marks (.exe file, .swf file and other relevant files via electronic submission.)
Task 2 - The research and development is worth 40% of the marks (Project plans, story boards, character designs, environment designs and all relevant research via electronic submission.)
By the end of the semester I should have a reasonable grasp of Flash Actionscript programming skills.
My flash lab classes start as of next week. I am expected to be an independent learner and develop Flash skills on my own as the lab classes are only brief and not all encompassing however I was signed up to the Abertay Digital Tutors group which has hundreds of hours of online tutorials in various different programs such as Flash, Maya and Photoshop.
I have spent the evening today looking through some Adobe Flash tutorials on Digital Tutors to bring myself back up to scratch with animating in Flash. I will next look into the Actionscript programming side of flash at my earliest opportunity.
14/09/2014
Ideas and Notes
Flash games are almost always limited to 2 dimensions so my game will be a 2D game.
In a 2D environment I could think about producing games such as side-scrollers, top down camera view games etc.
Here are some of my ideas in note form:
Side-scrolling game
- Scrolling Backgrounds
- Collecting objects to gain points
- High score
- More points collected by picking up a bigger collectable.
- Last as long as possible without hitting the environment or enemies
- Speed boosts
- Invulnerability pick ups
- Possible projectile to attack enemies
Possible side-scrolling game ideas:
- Bumblebee collecting flowers
- Spaceship and asteroids
- Pirate collecting coins
- Bin collecting trash
Point and click and top down games
- Interactive story game
- Maze game
- Top down racing game
- Catch in a basket game
- Building component via drag and drop
- Sorting game
Lecture 002 - 15/09/2014 - Week 002
There will be 12 Flash Lab sessions this semester in which I will be expected to complete 9 different exercises.
My project can be an animation but needs some form of interactivity with the user.
As the University computers have Flash CS5 installed I will need to work in CS5 from home as it is not backwards compatible for newer versions.
Flash File - .FLA
Can export to .SWF, .EXE, .HTML etc.
The module
- The module is designed to give first hand experience in creating basic forms of content that is the backbone of most contemporary interactive media.
- Research
- Design
- Art
- Scripting
- Communications
The Lab sessions are designed to build familiarity and confidence to users of Flash which will help me with the technical side of building my project through weekly exercises.
- Build from a game design
- Creation of simple animations such as walk cycles
- Introduction to Actionscripting 3.0 (coding)
- Rudimentary interface (buttons, text boxes, meters)
- Sample of basic to intermediate games
The project work is to be completed in my own time, the Lab time I am assigned is for working through the exercises.
I must be prepared to discuss simpler versions of my ideas that will be achievable within the time scales. Find a balance between creativity and experience.
Planning
Don't jump right right into production, consider:-
- What does the user do?
- What will they see?
- How does the user interact?
- How are they rewarded for this interaction?
- How is this creative piece fun and engaging?
I must give myself a healthy amount of time for pre-production.
In my sketchbook and documentation I should include:
- Thought processes
- Problems that arise
- How I overcome them.
- Generally evidencing the evolution of ideas.
Select the right tool for the job and explain why. Poor choices can be costly, a waste of time and can give bad results.
Do small case studies for EVERYTHING!
For example, If I wanted there to be rain in my interactive piece, I must ask myself, how will this be implemented. I must do all the small bits of research and evidence the evolution of my ideas throughout the project.
Problem solving is a large part of entertainment design. The biggest challenge is converting my ideas into a functional piece. The Labs teach by step by step instructions and do not present problem solving for my project, however they may be useful for creating solutions.
I must look for similarities between my project and the exercises to maximise their effectiveness.
Actionscript Notes from Digital Tutors 15/09/2014
The following is a collection of notes I made whilst following the digital tutors tutorials regarding Actionscripting.
stop(); - Stops the timeline playback on this frame. This is useful if the playback needs to stop on a particular frame to await the users input. The shortcut is ESC, followed by the S key then the T key.
// - Add a comment
For example
//This is a comment
I should always try to annotate like this to make reading the code easier.
_visible = false;
_visible = true;
Set the visibility of a variable to on or off.
I should periodically check for syntax errors in my code by pressing the blue tick button to check the code for errors.
Using the cross-hair button allows me to insert a target path. Some targets may only show up if they are set to movie clip instead of graphic. I am asked to name each instance in case there is more than one of the same item in the scene.
24/09/2014 - Flash Workshop
My first flash game.
Click the balls away before time runs out.
26/09/2014 - Flash game research
Flash based games can be found all over the internet on hundreds of websites.
I spent an evening researching these websites to get a taste of what was out there.
The purpose of this research was to familiarise myself with what Flash games generally look like, to get some inspiration in regards to genre and also to gather research on the user interface of various Flash based games.
The first website I travelled to was called Miniclip
This website features a range of different types of online games that are not solely created in Flash, however there was an extensive library to browse through.
The first game I clicked on was a space shooter called Black Sun, which as it turned out was not actually a Flash game, but a top down 3d space shooter created in Unity
Black Sun - Title Screen - Miniclip.com
Black Sun - Gameplay - Miniclip.com
The player holds down the mouse button to fire the lasers and moves the mouse around to aim. The arrow keys are used to control the movement of the ship.
Although this is a great platform to base a 2D game on (There is no real need for 3D graphics here in my opinion) it was not using Flash, so I looked on at other games.
My next choice from the hundreds of games on offer was called Road of Fury.
Road of Fury - Title Screen - Miniclip.com
This was a flash based game and showcased a cool loading screen in which a leather clad roadster man walked over and fitted a tyre to his car. This was a pretty good example of a walk cycle in Flash.
Road of Fury - Action - Miniclip.com
The bulk of the gameplay involves moving the mouse to aim the gun attached to the vehicle to destroy other enemy vehicles. It is a very simple design but is very user friendly.
Next, on my childrens advice, I visited the Cbeebies website. There are a surprising amount of flash games present for children to play and as a tool to aid learning.
I loaded up Andy's Dinosaur Adventures
Andy's Dinosaur Adventures - Loading Screen - BBC.co.uk/cbeebies
This education game with a target audience for younger gamers focuses on guiding a flash animated man through various screens using clickable arows at the edge of each area.
Andy's Dinosaur Adventures - Gameplay - BBC.co.uk/cbeebies
There are clickable focus points which give information about various dinosaurs and how they lived. Players are also rewarded with collectable badges for each find.
Also on the cbeebies website I came across a pirate game called Swashbucklers Pirate Cannons.
Swashbucklers Pirate Cannons - Loading Screen - BBC.co.uk/cbeebies
The aim of the game is to shoot down various sea monsters whilst the pirates attempt to block you before the time runs out. The player must simply click at a monster on the screen when it emerges from the water and the cannon fires a green cannonball at it. This game is reminiscent of an old sideshow game you would normally find at a carnival.
Swashbucklers Pirate Cannons - Gameplay - BBC.co.uk/cbeebies
I switched websites again and next explored a flash games site called Neopets.com. Again, primarily aimed at children, this site offers points and collectibles for completing various Flash games.
I started with a sidescrolling survival game called Turmac Roll.
http://www.neopets.com/games/turmacroll
Turmac Roll - Title Screen - Neopets.com
The game involves guiding a reptilian hero through a hilly environment using the arrow keys to collect fruit whilst avoiding tree stumps.
Turmac Roll - Action - Neopets.com
This game is a good example of using scrolling backgrounds to create the illusion of motion.
Lastly, I had a good look at a game called Dubloon Disaster, also on the Neopets website.
http://www.neopets.com/games/dubloondisaster
Dubloon Disaster - Title Screen - Neopets.com
This game turned out to be my favourite of the lot. The gameplay involves rowing around the screen in a rowboat using the arrow keys. The purpose of the game is to collect as much of the floating loot as possible before you are blown up by randomly spawning mines which gravitate towards you.
Dubloon Disaster - Action - Neopets.com
Lecture 004 - 29/09/2014 - Week 004
Establishing a concept.
The following is a collection of my notes from the week 4 lecture.
Use themes and constraints as inspiration.
What am I interested in?
What do I find fun and entertaining?
Use other media - Films, books etc.
Can be inspired by hardware and mechanics
I can take a classic game and make it my own.
I should write up a concept document detailing the title, genre, category/comparison, synopsis, key features, plot, target audience and visual style.
29/09/2014 - Starting pre-production.
Looking through my research and taking the advice of the week 4 lecture, I am going to create a flash based pirate game in a similar style of the Neopets game, Dubloon Disaster.
I want to take elements from there and merge this with elements from other action games to create a good pirate experience that can be played in a web browser.
So, I think a good place to start is to begin with researching pirates...
29/09/2014 - Pirates Research
A quick search for the term pirate on a search engine brought me straight away to a website called Pirateinfo. http://www.piratesinfo.com/
I moved to a tab called the history of piracy and read up on my pirate general history.
"The Greek historian Plutarch, writing in about 100 A.D., gave the oldest clear definition of piracy. He described pirates as those who attack without legal authority not only ships, but also maritime cities."
http://www.piratesinfo.com/cpi_pirate_history_of_pirates_piracy_510.asp
I discovered that pirates were not limited to the scruffy buccaneers from the 17th century Caribbean as is commonly thought. Pirates have been sailing around the oceans for thousands of years, examples of which are the Vikings and now more modernly, present day raiding parties in areas such as the Mediterranean and off the African coasts.
I learned that the contemporary image of pirates is mostly incorrect. The term pirate relates to an unlawful act of violence or theft at sea that doesn't have the consent of the government. Those who do have the consent to plunder other vessels with a written marque of approval are called privateers. Except for that, there is generally little difference.
Pirates - "Pirates are men and women who attack ships or coastal towns in an attempt to rob them or capture prisoners for ransom. Essentially, they are thieves with a boat. " Minster, C. - latinamericanhistory.about.com
Privateers - "Privateers were private ships encouraged to attack enemy ships, ports and interests. They had the official sanction and protection of the sponsoring nation and had to share a portion of the plunder." Minster, C. - latinamericanhistory.about.com
Sources :
Britanicca.com - Privateer, [Online] - Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/477348/privateer - Accessed 29/09/2014
Minster, C. - Pirates, Privateers, Buccaneers and Corsairs, [Online] Available at: http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/Pirates/a/Pirates-Privateers-Buccaneers-And-Corsairs.htm Accessed 29/09/2014
Wilczynski, k. Introduction to piracy - [Online] - Available at http://www.piratesinfo.com/cpi_pirate_history_of_pirates_piracy_510.asp Accessed 29/09/2014
30/09/2014 - Other Pirate Games
I took the direction of my research to look at other successful pirate based games.
I thought back to pirate games I have played myself.
The first that came to mind was Lego Pirates of the Carribean.
http://videogames.lego.com/en-gb/lego-pirates-of-the-caribbean/about/screenshots
Lego Pirates - Action - Videogames.Lego.com
This is a 3D video game with a target audience of children (although some adults have been known to really enjoy the series). The player takes control of several characters throughout Disney's Pirates of the Carribean universe.
Lego Pirates - Action - Videogames.Lego.com
Another good example of a pirate naval warfare title come in the form of the Ubisoft game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-GB/games/assassins-creed-black-flag.aspx
Black Flag - Poster - Ubisoft.com
This game merges the popular Assassin's Creed franchise with the world of piracy, to great effect.
Black Flag Ship Screens - Ubisoft.com
Apart from the usual free running, assassination action, the player can also take control of a fully sailable pirate ship called the Jackdaw and meet famous pirates such as Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts.
Assassin's Creed Black Flag Trailer - Ubisoft.com
Bethesda and Disney published a game back in 2003 called simply "Pirates of the Caribbean".
Pirates of the Caribbean game - Game cover - Gamefaqs.com
This game centres around the character of Nathaniel Hawk and has very little to do with the Disney movie franchise of the same game (except of course for the pirates)
Pirates of the Caribbean game - http://img.gawkerassets.com/
Again this game features both land and sea battles with other pirates and privateers, Spanish, English, French and other fleets.
Sid Meier, the designer of the Civilization series also brought out a game called Pirates which has had several iterations over the years on platforms such as the original Xbox, PSP and now even on Ipad.
http://www.2kgames.com/pirates
Pirates - Gameplay - 2kgames.com
Featuring gameplay similar to the Disney Pirates of the Caribbean game, the player controls both a pirate during battles and also naval battles at sea.
Pirates - Gameplay - 2kgames.com
I was discussing my project with a fellow student and he recommended I check out a Flash game called Pirateers. He sent me the link to the game.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/LabuGames/pirateers
Pirateers - Title Screen - Kongregate.com
This game is almost exactly the game I was envisioning in my head at this time. A top down seafaring game, you control a pirate ship that has to attack other ships with the ship mounted cannons.
Pirateers - Action - Kongregate.com
I believe a similar type of game with my own twists should be possible to make within the timescales.
01/10/2014 - Flash Lab
Today I created a simple walk cycle in Flash using the provided tutorial.
A nice cartoonised image of a pirate and his ship.
Pirate duvet aimed at young children
Pirate skull mask for kids.
Pirate arts and crafts.
Cannonballs?
Cartoon pirate ship from a Peter Pan activity pack.
01/10/2014 - Mood Boards
Character board
Since it is my intention for the player controlled character to be a ship, I collected images of pirate ships to take inspiration from for when I design my character.
Image Sources:
how-to-draw-a-pirate-ship
- http://imgs.tuts.dragoart.com/how-to-draw-a-pirate-ship_1_000000001308_5.jpg
marleybone-ship-purple
- https://edgecast.pirate101.com/image/free/Pirate/Images/Ships/marleybone-ship-purple.gif?v=4
how-to-draw-boats-1
- http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/how-to-draw-boats-1.jpg
pirate-ship
- http://sj.sjgames.com/pirate-ship.gif
vh3txd - http://i45.tinypic.com/vh3txd.png
2 ships top
- https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/891/639/2c124dce1557c7cf160aff8dae756c6d_large.jpg?1378391519
Environment Board
Image Sources:
Water 004 - https://d2ujflorbtfzji.cloudfront.net/package-screenshot/5b532a20-1f3b-4940-a8ae-f3d9d2253a0d_scaled.jpg
Water 007 - http://pad3.whstatic.com/images/thumb/2/2f/Draw-Waves-Step-8.jpg/670px-Draw-Waves-Step-8.jpg
Water 011 - http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/sea-wave-16188186.jpg
Pirate Flag Mood Board
Image Sources:
Flag 002 - http://www.theflagshop.co.uk/ekmps/shops/speed/images/black-skull-cross-sabres-pirate-flag-324-p.gif
Flag 010 - http://www.vanillaunderground.com/media/product/91/m45631-urzednik-motorhead-shiver-me-timbers-koszulka-meska-13.jpg
Image Sources:
06/10/2014 - Cannonball and paintball mood board
Cannonball 001
– http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/MonsMeg.JPG
Cannonball
002 - http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium/the-cannonballs-at-the-battery-in-charleston-sc-susanne-van-hulst.jpg
Cannonball
003 - http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Wallpaper/Rust-Images/images/pile_of_rusted_cannonballs.jpg
Cannonball
004 - http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/new-super-mario-bros-u/thumb/a/a9/Cannon_and_Cannonball.png/228px-Cannon_and_Cannonball.png
Cannonball
005 - http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/lenm/lenm1110/lenm111000129/10901628-3d-illustration-of-a-cannon-and-cannon-balls.jpg
Splat 002 - http://www.yorkshiredales-stay.co.uk/uploads/images/properties/large/paintball_ma_20120723083635.jpg
Splat 004 - http://pichost.me/1700824/
04/10/2014 - Pirate research at a store
Today I went to the crafts section of a shop called the range and took a selection of photographs as primary research for my pirate game.
Very nice childrens ship. Note the very stylised water.
04/10/2014 - Drawings
Research drawings for the ship.
04/10/2014 - Water research
I cut up a few sheets of tissue paper and layered them to create this nice wave effect. This should look much better in Flash.
05/10/2014
User Interface
I compared whether a top down or a side scrolling game would be more beneficial to my project. I chose a side scrolling game because not only would it be an easier game to pick up and play, it would be much more aesthetically pleasing as more of the landscape can be seen.
05/10/2014
Painting of a ship at sea
Painting of a ships at sea
Model of a ship
Model of a ship
Model of a tug boat
Model of an old ferry
Model of an ocean liner
Toy pirate ship
Ship model kit
The Discovery Ship Dundee
Some concept drawing of the sea that will be ever present throughout the game. I chose I variety of different styles using my mood boards and primary research as inspiration. There will be at least two layers in the scene file that the ship will be between to give the illusion that the ship is partially immersed in the water.
This will open up the games aesthetic style options, thus making the game more colourful as the ships are splashed with colour.
Fore mounted paint ball cannon allows the ship to fire forwards. This is useful, since it is a side scrolling game.
A mock up image made in photoshop. This is very roughly what the game could look like before any action starts.
05/10/2014
Further primary research of ships at the McManus Galleries Museum
06/10/2014 -Things I need the game to do in actionscript:
- Move the boat left
- Move the boat right
- Spawn enemy ships
- Move the enemy ships towards the player ship
- Fire the cannon (Originating at player ship towards the enemy on the right of the screen)
- Detect collisions with enemy and cannon ball
- If enemy and cannonball collision is detected then destroy enemy ship.
- Detect collision with enemy and player ship.
- If collision between player ship and enemy ship then damage player ship
- If player ship damaged more than 3 times (lives) then game over
06/10/2014 - Character Concepts - The Ships
Some concept drawings for some of the ships that may be present in the game. These drawings were made using inspiration from my primary research and mood board images.
06/10/2014 - Environment Concepts - The Sea
Paintball Pirates
I want to take my project into a more quirky child friendly environment, so I will be replacing traditional pirate cannonballs with colourful paint balls.This will open up the games aesthetic style options, thus making the game more colourful as the ships are splashed with colour.
06/10/2014 - Character Design
06/10/2014 - Environment with ship mock up image
07/10/2014 Actionscripting the ball to move using the keyboard
First click on the stage to activate the game, then use the arrow keys to move the ball around.
08/10/2014 - Flash Lab - Castle Defence Tutorial - Part 1
Today I scripted the first part of a two part tutorial. The cat character now moves across the screen and incrementally destroys the castle.
09/10/2014 - Apply scripting to pirate ship for ship movement
Today I decided I would try to break into the scripting aspect of my project. Using some online tutorials and the information provided to me in the flash labs, I managed to get the ship to move around the stage without leaving the stage.
Also note that the ship can move in more than one direction at once, unlike the green ball movement test I created earlier.
My environment design. This is where the bulk of the game will take place. The waves will scroll to the left. The waves at the front will scroll faster than the waves at the back to give the illusion of movement.
Also note that the ship can move in more than one direction at once, unlike the green ball movement test I created earlier.
10/10/2014 - Final Environment Designs
10/10/2014 - Animated Background Rough Test
Here I tried out an idea for scrolling background waves and a basic water wake for the ships.
14/10/2014 - Title Screen and Start Button Implemented
Today I created a simple title screen on the first frame of the project. I added a x marks the spot button which when pressed, passes the user to the next frame and right into the game.
The enemy ships in the game. I took a design I had already thought about when creating the player ship. I think it fits better to have several smaller boats attacking the large pirate player ship.
Story boards for the action in the game.
16/10/2014 - Further conceptual art
This image is my development of what the ships cannonballs/paint balls could look like.
16/10/2014 - StoryBoards for Action
16/10/2014 - Implemented full scrolling backgrounds, music, enemy ship spawning and x axis movement
I have implemented full scrolling backgrounds for the waves in the sea and a music bed that plays on repeat throughout the game. I also coded in the enemy ship to spawn towards the right of the screen when the game starts and gave it movement on its -x axis (Towards the player).
Finally, at this stage I have also implemented a hit function so that the game recognises when the enemy hits the player, though there is no effect from this yet in the preview above.
Finally, at this stage I have also implemented a hit function so that the game recognises when the enemy hits the player, though there is no effect from this yet in the preview above.
16/10/2014 - Implemented working player health bar and lose screen.
I added a lose screen on a separate frame in the project then I coded the player's health bar to react to being hit by the enemy. If the players health is < = 0 then the playhead skips to the lose screen.
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