Sound!

I've got some great sounds added to the game.  I'm going to see what the group thinks about the music and sound effects and just assume these are placeholders until then.  If we keep them, great.  If not, it'll be easy to swap it out.

I've got the code working pretty flawlessly with the sound so that if we decide to change it, we'll just have to make a new sound and save it in the folder with the same name as the sound we want replaced.  Simple.

Music:
Game Splash Screen
Level Music

Sound Effects
Jump
Sunscreen Pickup
Umbrella (Savepoint)

MiniScrum

So we've started our Mini Scrum and we're working on the sprint.

I gave the task of working on the visual element of the sun.  This is something that I'm going to be working on with the artists to make sure that the artists and coders won't put too much stress on the other.  Visually, we need to make sure that the sun is something that the player wants to avoid.

The easiest way to make the sun (programming wise) is just making a light and a "sun flare" from within unity.  This shouldn't be too hard.  The larger aspect of this is going to be creating the shadows.

From an artist standpoint, we want it to be clear where the sunlight is going as well as showing the player that when he/she is in sunlight that the player is being hurt.  I was thinking something along the lines here:

Skin Cancer

Long shadows will be a great art style that will not only show intensity, but also help the player get through the level.

I see game style as similar to paperboy.  Going in a linear path, but finding things that can keep you from being attacked by the sun.

What is the audience?  Who would our main character best mimic?

Is the sun the enemy? Is he a boss?

How will time of day affect players and gameplay?

Is this Earth or is the sun different? 2 suns?

What items can you use? 

Will there be weapons?

Multi-player

Core mechanics:

Player controls

Sensing sun -- this could be hard.

Scrolling levels

Player animations

Enemies - AI

Team play?

Voting on Games

I took notes, don't you worry.  These are in the order that were on the original post on the class blog.  --- to +++ are how much I liked the game idea.  Clicking on it will enlarge the image.

Homework for February 1

The PowerPoint document can be downloaded here.

Homework for January 20

There were two items that stood out on my list of interests:

Kiva.org (a non-profit doing micro loans)
Android OS (an open-source OS for mobile phones)

I was having a lot of trouble picking between the two.  When it comes to making a videogame though, I feel like Kiva would be the "greater cause" because it is something that I have been interested in a long time.  I heard about Kiva from watching TV on hulu.com.  They had ads for the non-profit constantly and I decided to take a look.  After looking into the program, I thought it was such a great thing that I could contribute a fairly small amount of money ($25) and loan it to someone.  When the money is paid back, I can get the money back in my pocket, or loan it to someone else.  And since that time, I'm up to five loans already.

One
Two
Three
Four
Five

I would have two agendas when it comes to making a video game based on Kiva's efforts.  The first is an educational standpoint.  People from around the world are in need but we can help.  It doesn't take very much from an individual to really help those in the countries that Kiva helps.  This game could focus on how little it takes to change someone's life and that through a simple micro loan, you can help someone get out of poverty and be able to support themselves.

The second agenda would deal more with mere advertising for this organization.  Because this foundation only works when an individual joins the cause and begins to loan to people in need, without the support of a large number of people, this organization could lose funding or not have the stability to remain going.  And although this is a "free" service where your money is loaned out and then given back to you, Kiva still needs money to pay its employees and maintain their websites, etc.  This could be a great opportunity to make a game that could promote the cause and possibly show how the money you donate (as apposed to loaning) is used to help promote, and maintain the cause.

Homework for January 13

The McDonald's Video Game    [Link]

Agenda

This game was designed by people who are angry about the way that big corporations like McDonald's seem to be doing immoral things to simply increase profit.  First, the farm is set next to a rain-forest and indigenous village that you have to destroy to create more farm land.  Second, the cows are simply being picked up like they are in a claw game and others that are sick are just "destroyed." This list goes on as it tries to show the player how little the consumer knows about where their food comes from.  

Success/Improvements

From the beginning, the player has to make morally bad decisions just to survive, the message is conveyed clearly they they have a distaste for McDonald's and their agendas.  But the game is too complicated and most of the negative information was written in long paragraphs which no player would want to read.  It shows the player these horrible acts, like killing the mad cows, but because the game is hard, players don't want to sit and figure it out.  The message is lost when the player has to work hard to just win.  If the game were easier and could simply press a button to pay employees less and make more of a profit, the player could play this game and soak in all of the behind-closed-doors actions that McDonald's is supposedly doing.

Airport Security   [Link]

Agenda

Because airport security has become something of a sore subject, this game pokes fun at the seemingly absurd things that airport security seems to be taking away.  Instead of the simple water bottles, players are taking away cow skulls and head-dresses.  While this is going on, the player has limited amounts of time before people start getting angry and the line gets too long so the player will lose. 

Success/Improvements

As the game goes on, the player can simply let things through so that the line doesn't cause a game over.  This game did a great job in portraying the frustration of going through an airport as well as how lax, yet absurdly picky security is thought to be compared to what the developers think is safe.  The developers did a great job is showing their thoughts rather than telling the player like in the McDonald's game.  The game started quickly, the player didn't have to read a lot and the message was still clear.

Border Patrol   [Link]

Agenda

Obviously and overtly racist, the message is very clear that they want to say that Mexicans in our country are nothing but horrible people.  The three different types of people that you are keeping from crossing the border are Mexican nationalists, drug smugglers, and obese women carrying multiple children called "breeders."  The point of the game is simply to shoot as many as you can before they cross, but the game is rigged so that even the fastest person couldn't kill more than are able to cross.  

Success/Improvements

This game could not be redeemed.  It is offensive to most anyone that would play it unless they already felt negatively against Mexicans.  Because of the graphics, this game would be appealing to young teens (for the violence).  I think that no one would really be persuaded by this game, but would merely be for those who already believe in bigotry and want to amuse themselves.  Had the game been more realistic, such as catching people rather than shooting them, this game would have been able to appeal to more people, but the offensive labels, I can't see this as being appealing to anyone wider than the group that made it.