Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Top 10 Art & Design & Games Websites I Usually Go To
1. www.huaban.com
2. www.scribd.com
It is the website for my graphic design course. We share our homework on this website.
3. www.17173.com
It is a website for news for games (mainly MMOGs) in China. I usually go to this website to check if there is any new games to play.
4. www.hxsd.com
It is a website for game art learners in China. There are many free tutorials for game art software such as 3Ds Max, Photoshop, etc. on this website, and also some news in the game industry. A new function is that hxsd.com is now a LinkedIn in game industry in China.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Wipe Up - My First Video Game
Wipe Up --- My first video game
Sitting at my table, trying to come up with any ideas for my first video game.
Something big, with dozens of mazes and puzzles? Not feasible...
Something fancy, with delicate artwork? Em, not enough time...
Lost in my daydreams, I suddenly recalled the scenes of my childhood. When I was playing alone in my room, as a little child, I would always 'give life' to the stuffs around me, and imagine the chess pieces as heros, the books as walls, the bottles as castles...
Then the tissue ball on my table attracted my attention. What if I 'give life' to it and give it an adventure in my room? It is actually what I have done years ago, when I was a child full of imagination. However I almost forget how to play with my daydreams after growing up...
After playing with all the stuffs in my room for an afternoon, I came up with my sketch for my first video game.
The hero of this game is the little ball of tissue. It can move round, jump, and interact with some of the stuffs in the scene. At the beginning, it knocked over a box of ink and split many ink dots. As a result, the adventure is to wipe up all the ink dots in different scenes.
I did some origami to create the actors of my game.
.jpg) |
| Cast I'm going to make them live in the game. |
With the sketch, I took several pictures of my table and photoshoped them.
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| Title Scene |
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| Tutorial Scene |
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| scene_01 The tissue ball is playing on my table :) |
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| scene_02 Flying on a sword --- one of my childhood dreams. |
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| scene_05 Imagining the floor as the sea -- one thing I used to do in my childhood. |
Here is the link in stencyl:
Monday, February 4, 2013
Course 1 Game
Course 1 Game
Here is the link:
http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1360041021 |
| Level 1 |
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| Level 2 |
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| Level 3 |
A traditional platform game. To enter next level, the player has to collect all the coins in each level, and then find out the connecting point to next level. There are 3 levels to explore.
Board Game -- Beijing Dream
Board Game Prototype
Name: Beijing Dream
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| Game Rules |
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| Map |
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| Game Bits |
Idea:
The idea behind designing this board game is to reveal the traffic problem in a big city. The map is designed based on the real subway system in Beijing. The mechanic of this game results in a difficult experience for the player to get to a specific location. Other players blocking your way is a simulation of the crowded subway system.Update:
After play testing, I have taken some suggestions to make some changes:
(1) The winning condition is proportional with the number of players.
2 Players: 5 stars
3 Players: 8 stars
4 Players: 11 stars
Changing reason: It takes so much time for two players to complete 12 stars.
Game Analysis--Braid
Game Title
Braid
Company or Author
Jonathan Blow
Type of game
Platform and puzzle
Price
$20
Goal
What is the object of the game?
To collect and assemble all the jigsaw puzzle pieces in six worlds, and to control the protagonist Tim to rescue the princess from a monster.
Allure
What makes the game fun?
The first thing that draws players’ attention is the delicate artwork of the game. The background and soundtrack at the beginning of the game could give players great sense pleasure. These features could serve as keeping players playing the game.
Also, the power of time manipulation is the most appealing feature of this game. Players can reverse time and rewind actions. Accordingly, there is no dying in Braid, players can always go back and undo the consequences. The time-based game mechanic in each game world is unique. Therefore, this feature could provide players with brand new experience and challenges.
In addition, this game constructs a mysterious atmosphere at the beginning. The plot makes players eager to discover how the story goes, where the princess is on earth. Unravelling the mystery step after step could satisfy players’ curiosity, thus making the narrative part of this game attractive.
Is it fun to replay? Why or why not?
It is not so fun to replay after having solved the puzzles. In many puzzles there is only one particular way to collect the jigsaw piece. Although many of these puzzles require crafty operations with high precision, replaying is merely repeating previous actions, and it does not give the players any new experience.
Hang-ups
What was not fun about the game?
There is so few tutorial and hints in the games that players might find it confusing and not know how to control. Also, in some hard puzzles, players might feel frustrated and give up after many failures.
What would correct this?
In this game players could move to next puzzle even if they haven’t solved the current puzzle yet, as long as they could reach the door connecting to next puzzle. This setting enables players to move on in the game, rather than making players stop at one puzzle.
User Actions and Control Mapping
How does the user interact with the game?
The player can control the protagonist Tim to move, jump, stomp on enemies, and operate levers by pressing direction keys and spacebar. Also, players can control time by pressing the action key. In the jigsaw puzzle play, players can use the keyboard or the mouse to move and assemble jigsaw pieces.
What actions are available and how are they executed?
Move left/right/up/down: Press Left/Right/Up/Down
Jump: Press Spacebar
Climb: Press Up
Stomp on an enemy: Jump over the enemy’ head
Operate lever: Press Up
Make time reverse: Press Shift
Get key: Move to key
Open locked door: Move to the door with the key
Assemble jigsaw: Click and drag the pieces, or press directions, hold shift button to drag
Challenges
What puzzles and hurdles are presented to the user?
In each puzzle, there are several jigsaw pieces scattered. Players have to find a way to collect these pieces, with the hurdles of locked doors, patrolling or actively attacking enemies. Players have to find the key to open a locked door, to operate the lever to get access to certain places, and to avoid or stomp on enemies to survive.
In many puzzles, some of the hurdles are designed to be solved with extremely precise time control. Players have to find the exact time point to take certain action. Interestingly, some items in the puzzles are not affected by time manipulation, accordingly, players have to make use of this characteristic to solve the puzzles.
Scoring / Rewards
What incentives does the game provide?
Collecting jigsaw pieces and discovering the plot of this game are two important incentives. Solving every jigsaw puzzle unravels the mysterious plot of the game. Therefore, players are motivated to continue the adventure in this game.
How is progress tracked?
In the startup interface, there are six rooms for the six game worlds, and for each world there is a board showing which jigsaw pieces the player has already collected. And in each world, for every small puzzle there is a door representing it, and the number on the door indicates how many jigsaw pieces are left to be collected in this small puzzle.
Strategies
What techniques are useful to improve your standing in the game?
Since it is a platform game, players have to be very good at operation. And players have to get familiar with the power of time manipulation in order to find the exact combination of operations as the only solution to the puzzles.
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