Game Review: The Best Amendment

In class, we played an interesting shooting game: The Best Amendment.

At the first sight, this game is not different from other shooting games. The player moves the avatar with WASD and shoots by clicking the mouse in corresponding directions. And there is typical game mechanics: time pressure, collecting starts as goals, score keeping, leader board...

However, after several levels, we start to figure out the rules. In each level, the enemies are actually the recording of the player's previous moves, which means the player is playing against the past him/herself! The use of factors of time, which is also a key element in 'Braid', is innovative and exciting to contemporary players because it opened up playing with a new dimension.

Also, it should be noted that how this game succeeded to be entertaining and educative. The meaning of this game is to make people reflect on gun control policy. When a good guy with a gun turns into a bad guy... The message at the beginning of the game hints the main theme to the player. After several rounds of playing, the player would probably start to reflect on the boundary between the good and the evil.

Pile Up - A Pocket Game.

In the first class of AD372, we were working in groups to design a pocket game.

In our group, Tram, Patrick, Oliver and I came up with an idea by discussion, that is, to pile up all the stuff from our pockets. In this way, we were changing our stuff in to building blocks.

2 Versions of Logo

Instructions 

Players: 2-5

Goal: Collect the most points!

Materials: A stable surface (you can add some challenge by using a slope!). 

     Everything in your pockets that you are willing to risk.

Setup: Players place all donated pocket items to a central “pot” and sit in a circle.  

Rules:

1. The player who donates the most items goes first;(or the player with the “best” item in a tie)

-The starting player selects an item from the “pot” and places it on the playing surface. 

-This is setting the “foundation” piece for the pile. The starting players turn is over.  

2. Turns continue in a clockwise fashion, players select an item from the “pot” and add it to the pile. 

-When the players hands leave the item, their turn ends;

3. Play continues until any item other than the “foundation” touches the playing surface. 

-At this point the pile has “fallen” and the round ends. 

-The previous player collects all items used in the pile and claim them as points. 

-The claimed items are then removed from play.

4. Player who ended the round then places a new “foundation” to start the next round.

5. The game ends when there are no remaining items in the pot.

-Player who have got the most points wins.

-If there is a tie then the tied players share victory.

Great Illustration by Patrick

iOS Casual Game (Block Game)

A Practice for making iOS game.

Game Mechanics:
Limited moves: The shovel in the top left is a counter for player's moves. One the player clears one block, the number of shovels is reduced by one.

Take time to move: The smaller blocks are rotating all the time. They rotate within a loop of one circle in clockwise and then another circle in counterclockwise. The player has to seize the best time to make the move in order to make use of the current rotating direction to change main actor's route.

Here is the link to this practice:
http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/17819

A Serious Game ------ Stop Staring at Your Phone

A Serious Game ------ Stop Staring at Your Phone

Project Description:
Make a “Serious Game” that deals with a specific aspect of the manufacture and promotion of mobile phone/tablet device culture.

One interesting condition of this project is that all of us have to build this game with no more than 5 colors!

Apr. 15
Idea Generated

As usual, in order to find my inspiration for this project, I went to the http://huaban.com/boards/310091/
(Home page: huaban.com). The interesting condition of this project made me start from building a color palette first. When browsing color palette, I was struck by the beauty in these natural colors. All of a sudden, I realized that I am actually looking into a screen instead of viewing those scenes in reality.

The Color Palette that Inspired me.

My Color Palette

Color Palette for Monotonous World

In modern society, we human beings are sometimes lost in the convenient technology. On the bus, most passengers are playing with their phones, busy with playing mobile games, refreshing social network, reading news, etc. We often miss the scenery we are passing through. As a result, my idea for this project was born:

     "Sitting in a bus, you are playing with your cellphone. The world seems monotonous and dull. Without looking up, all you focus on is the small screen in your hands. After playing several games, updating social networking, reading some news, checking messages and emails...., you are tired of all those flooding new notifications and messages. Suddenly, a pedal with color fells on your screen. Then your view finally leaves the screen and find out the beautiful and colorful scene outside the window..."

Different from previous game project, this time I am working from a subtle experience rather than the game mechanics. Based on the experience I want to convey to players, I have an initial game mechanics in mind.

Updated Apr. 30th:

Some artwork:

People Staring at their Phones on the Bus

Scenery Outside the Bus Window

Staring at My Phone

Music:
The background music for the staring part is made by Ableton Live. I composed a simple piece of looped motif. For the ending part, the music is from a Japanese animation 'Natsume's Book of Friends'. This song is one of the inspiration of the whole idea of this game. One day I was listening to this song on a bus, and then suddenly discovered the beautiful scenery outside the bus.

Problem:
When I tried to publish the game, there were some problems about the format of the audio files...Still trying to fix it.
So here is the link to the version without sounds:
http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/18790

My First iOS Game -- YinYang

After the iOS maze game research, I have decided to use the concept from traditional Chinese maze. In the puzzle, there is a black ball ---Yang, and a white ball --- Yin. They move in the same direction together unless there is something that blocks its way. Players tries to make two balls meet together, that is, balancing between Yin and Yang.

Mar. 25th Prototype Done

Prototype

The prototype includes the basic game mechanic. The coding part for how the ball moves, how do they meet, and switching between scenes is done at this stage. 

Mar. 27th Music Added

It was a sunny afternoon. I sat in front of my digital piano and was in a mood for music. I used my phone to record the sound effect and background music. I improvised two pieces of background music and found the initial recording surprising satisfying. The style of the songs is intended to imitate traditional Chinese songs, corresponding to the culture of this game.

Apr. 1st Art Work Updated

Several placeholder pictures are replaced by drawing.

Back Button

Retry Button

Black Ball

White Ball

Tile

Also, a counter is added to count players' moves in each level. If the number exceeds three, it falls in the same category "余", which means redundant moves. According to the moves in each level, different windows would appear after winning.

Apr. 3rd Player Data Recorder Added

A new function added is to record player's moves for each level. They could view if they have completed a level, and whether they have completed it with the best possible moves.

Apr. 8th Finally Works on Device
With the help of Professor Kenyon, I finally make it work on device.
I change the actor behavior to use the swipe gesture embedded in Stencyl, rather than using the complex calculated vector made by the initial touch and release.

Maze Game Research

Maze is an important genre of game. From the simple lines and squares inside children's maze books, to the complex mazes that block our way to further plots in a RPG game, maze is common and popular.

First, let's look closer at maze. Wikipedia's definition for maze is:

    "A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must     find a route."

(To clear the confusion with labyrinth, labyrinth has only a single route with more twists and turns without branches.)

There is a long history about maze. The oldest known maze is the Cretan labyrinth in Knossos. In ancient China, maze was used in military and fishing. There is even a small town named Mihunzhen (Chinese: 迷魂阵, means maze) in Shandong because it was the ancient battlefield for the famous fight when Sun Bin defeated Pang Juan in 342 B.C.. The street of the town was built with specific angles in order to make people inside confused both about space and time. The town was built according to the Eight-Diagram tactics.

Eight Diagram Tactics

To make an iOS maze game, the first thing came to me is to search for available maze game in iTunes.

Maze games in iTunes

In addition to iTunes, there are tons of maze games online for other platforms such as maze games on computers.

According to the different features of these games, there are several categories as following:

1. Action:

• Tilt

The accelerometer of the iOS device has enabled one unique operating way for the players: tilt to move.  This type of operating contributes to making iOS games more engaging than those played on other device.

Example: Labyrinth

It is a vivid simulation of a real labyrinth with a marble steel ball and wood board. The players tilt the device to move the steel ball and avoid falling in to the wholes.

Labyrinth in iTunes

• Race of time

One kind of maze game is the race of time. The time pressure is the main game mechanic.

Example: Super Maze 3D Race

A game in 3D. More graphically attractive. It could also be categorized as racing game.

3D Maze Race

• Accurate Move

One kind of maze game requires players making accurate moves.

Example: Scary Maze Game

http://themazegame.org/
It is a flash game. The map is easy at the first sight, but to get through it is very hard. Players control the avatar by moving the mouse inside the maze. If the avatar touch the wall, the players will lose. And a scary lose scene with a ghost face and loud sound would pop out, as a punishment of losing.

Don't touch the wall...

2. Logic Puzzle:

Another kind of maze game is a tease for players' logical thinking. The player is informed of the goal and current state of the game, he/she needs to make a series choices to reach the goal state of the game, that is, the winning conditions, although different in each game, all reachable by correct combinations of decisions in common.

Example: Rail Maze

In this game, the player control the directions of trails to make the train reach the destination. This one could also be categorized as puzzle game.

Rail Maze in iTunes

Example: Cycle Maze

In this game, players have to tilt to send all three balls to the destination.

Cycle Maze in iTunes

3. Adventure

Unlike the games that require players to use logical thinking to solve, adventure maze games have more randomness. Players have to explore the maze by luck, and the result of each decision is unknown.

Examples: Minotaur

http://www.freeonlinepcgames.net/play/minotaur-explore-the-minotaur-s-dungeon-mazes-f/flash-game/
It is a flash game online. Players explore the maze with many possibilities, such as encountering enemies, collecting weapons, losing a life...

Minotaur --- a flash game

4. Derivative (or Other)

Another kind of maze game may not look like a maze from the first sight. It could be some implicit elements of the game that ask the players to find the way out.

Example: Façade
In the AD372 class on 18th, Mar, we played the game Façade. It could be a derivative maze game in that players explore the plot branches by typing sentences to communicate with the NPCs.
http://www.interactivestory.net/#facade

Façade

Invader Course Practice

Space Invader Practice

http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1361370031

The practice of space invader shooting game in the class.