The pitch went really well, i hope. 5 minutes on the controller was hard, wasnt sure what to say but came up with a number of titles for which to talk before hand.
Why we needed the controller
The controller
The Technology
What the controller was made of.
The whole 20 minutes went amazingly well and everyone seemed really confident and we managed to pitch our game really well. In fact everyones pitches went well apart from the constant drilling from the building next door.
Thursday 9 December 2010
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Tidying up and Performance testing.
Andrew came through with some amazing textures and models, and the game is essentially finished, just spent the time revising the design document to a printable and slicable standard to give to all af the other developers in the group. The game looks great and plays well.
I was put in charge of performance testing for this game, using a variety of different specifications i was able to get a pretty accurate idea of the type of computer that would work as a minimum spec.
We left the day with the running order for the pitch and a vague idea of what to talk about, i was in charge of the controller and was going last in our pitch. 5 minutes on the controller, this will be fun.
I was put in charge of performance testing for this game, using a variety of different specifications i was able to get a pretty accurate idea of the type of computer that would work as a minimum spec.
We left the day with the running order for the pitch and a vague idea of what to talk about, i was in charge of the controller and was going last in our pitch. 5 minutes on the controller, this will be fun.
Saturday 20 November 2010
Sony visits
Well the big day, the team from sony came to view our game and the reviews were mixed but overall very good. They loved the game play and the idea, and watching them try the hardest platform puzzle in the game with the controller and hearing one of them shout in joy because she got past it where everyone else couldnt was pretty much what we were aiming for.
The main sticking point they had with the game at that point was that there is really only half a level, we tried to do too much in the small amount of time we had. Still the team left with good reviews and were interested with the concept and the gameplay. All in all a good review.
The main sticking point they had with the game at that point was that there is really only half a level, we tried to do too much in the small amount of time we had. Still the team left with good reviews and were interested with the concept and the gameplay. All in all a good review.
Wednesday 10 November 2010
It's Alive!! It's Alive!!
With the touch sensor and the acceleromter working in the game it was time for a little construction work.
As instructed Alex brought in enough lego for the Mark 1 prototype, as soon as everyone heard the clatter of lego on the table it was as if everyone was a child again and rushed to see what we were doing/ to play with the lego. First part was getting the accelerometer level in its own little module, i was able to get the phidget level to within a few decimal points which meant that the ball would be pretty stable while the controller was at rest.
The controller Mark 1 was to be honest ugly, but it housed all of the phidget tech and was suprisingly intuitive to use.
Shame i didnt get any pics of the Mk1 controller but here are some pics of the MkII controller:
As instructed Alex brought in enough lego for the Mark 1 prototype, as soon as everyone heard the clatter of lego on the table it was as if everyone was a child again and rushed to see what we were doing/ to play with the lego. First part was getting the accelerometer level in its own little module, i was able to get the phidget level to within a few decimal points which meant that the ball would be pretty stable while the controller was at rest.
The controller Mark 1 was to be honest ugly, but it housed all of the phidget tech and was suprisingly intuitive to use.
Shame i didnt get any pics of the Mk1 controller but here are some pics of the MkII controller:
Monday 1 November 2010
The Phidget
Week 6, had the phidget and the code finalised, now to test it with the system. Disaster strikes, the ball remains totaly impervious to the damn accelerometer. We arent sure if its the phidget of the ball. Our testing is short lived as the phidget system for Steves machine and another groups fall over at the same time and Steve removes the phidget from our use before we can spend some time with it. I decided to go and look back over the dll and cpp files for the phidget to make sure they are fine while Alex looks at whether its the ball in his set up thats the problem.
We then go back to looking at how the camera moves when the ball changes which wall its on. This is a little complicated trying to get a smooth movement and we look into creating an interim volume to make the transition smoother. I get to look over the design document areas that Josh and Andy have done so far and make sure i get their finished portions by week 7 to finalise it.
I get the last part of the control system from Steve, a touch sensor - this is either going to be a nightmare to code or pretty easy as unlike the accelerometer, it doesnt link directly to the computer. Ths sensor is Analog! I need to create the code for the interface kit which then uses the voltage signal from the sensor to work. This should be pretty interesting to work with. :)
The Alpha build with keyboard controls went smoothly and our game is starting to look pretty sweet.
We then go back to looking at how the camera moves when the ball changes which wall its on. This is a little complicated trying to get a smooth movement and we look into creating an interim volume to make the transition smoother. I get to look over the design document areas that Josh and Andy have done so far and make sure i get their finished portions by week 7 to finalise it.
I get the last part of the control system from Steve, a touch sensor - this is either going to be a nightmare to code or pretty easy as unlike the accelerometer, it doesnt link directly to the computer. Ths sensor is Analog! I need to create the code for the interface kit which then uses the voltage signal from the sensor to work. This should be pretty interesting to work with. :)
The Alpha build with keyboard controls went smoothly and our game is starting to look pretty sweet.
Phidgetsum Endjinn
For the last 2 weeks i have been working with the phidget coding to link the accelerometer to the ball, this was beset by a number of problems some to do with my systems and some to do with the phidget. Firstly my little old laptop couldnt even run UDK which meant i had to use my main computer to create the code, this gave me very little portability while i was working. Secondly i was using Visual Studio 2010 which has some backward compatibility issues just to make it a little more complicated (why did you have to do that Microsift, WHY???) this made it even more of a nightmare because only the dll file was portable not the whole project. :(
The other major problem ive encountered so far is with the Phidget, namely there isnt one spare. Im having to borrow the one from another group to work with, this is proving tricky and has given me the phidget for a grand total of 4 days in 2 weeks, this is not good, i cant properly test the system without it.
Hopefully something can be sorted out will have to talk to Steve.
The other major problem ive encountered so far is with the Phidget, namely there isnt one spare. Im having to borrow the one from another group to work with, this is proving tricky and has given me the phidget for a grand total of 4 days in 2 weeks, this is not good, i cant properly test the system without it.
Hopefully something can be sorted out will have to talk to Steve.
Consider Phidgets
From week 4 i got something interesting to put my teeth into, finally get the control system to develop!
For the game we want to use an accelerometer for moving the ball, this isnt vital to the game as we have been developing it for keyboard to start with. The code looks interesting and should be pretty fun to do.
Me and Alex managed to get the ball rolling! By setting the player inside the sphere we made sure the camera was focused at the right area, this was a massive breakthrough and we let out a massive cheer, there was only one slight problem: the camera rotated around the ball!
It lookd fun but was very disorientating to watch and you had no idea where you were going. Back to the drawing board with this one to figure out what to do. After a few hours i think we had a flash of genius and either me or Alex came up with the solution, we needed to fix one vector of the balls coordinates, this would mean that the camera would not be able to rotate with the ball but should still keep fixed on it. By stoping it moving on the Z axis we solved the problem and it looked beautiful.
For the game we want to use an accelerometer for moving the ball, this isnt vital to the game as we have been developing it for keyboard to start with. The code looks interesting and should be pretty fun to do.
Me and Alex managed to get the ball rolling! By setting the player inside the sphere we made sure the camera was focused at the right area, this was a massive breakthrough and we let out a massive cheer, there was only one slight problem: the camera rotated around the ball!
It lookd fun but was very disorientating to watch and you had no idea where you were going. Back to the drawing board with this one to figure out what to do. After a few hours i think we had a flash of genius and either me or Alex came up with the solution, we needed to fix one vector of the balls coordinates, this would mean that the camera would not be able to rotate with the ball but should still keep fixed on it. By stoping it moving on the Z axis we solved the problem and it looked beautiful.
Design Document
Weeks 2 and 3 where taken up by the initial generation of the Design Document, tried to be as comprehensive as i could (not enough yet!) managed to come up with about 6 pages of skeletal outline for the document, Steve's initial readthrough was promising and gave me some very good ideas as to how it would be fleshed out.
The skeletal document was given to the other members of the team for them to add their parts, then i can go over it again and finish it off when i get it back, looking forward to reading the finished document :)
Feel a little lost on the project as only have the design document to do, have been helping Alex with creating and debugging the movement system, no idea why it doesnt work at the moment, but we will get there.
The skeletal document was given to the other members of the team for them to add their parts, then i can go over it again and finish it off when i get it back, looking forward to reading the finished document :)
Feel a little lost on the project as only have the design document to do, have been helping Alex with creating and debugging the movement system, no idea why it doesnt work at the moment, but we will get there.
Monday 27 September 2010
3rd Person Camera
This was surpisingly easy to set up, once the map had been created and set up, a camera actor was placed in the right place in correlation to the player start and attached to the player using kismet, as seen below:
The camera placed in UDK.
The kismet attaching the camera to the player.
This means that the camera will remain a certain distance above the player at all times. Removing the HUD was also reasonably easy once i had found a tutorial video for it, this little peice of kismet forces the game into a cinematic mode essentially, removing the hud entirely, by altering the cinematic mode settings you can keep all the gameplay apart from the hud in place.
The tutorial videos are on youtube and you can follow these links to them:
3rd Person Camera tutorial
Tutorial for removing the HUD
The camera placed in UDK.
This means that the camera will remain a certain distance above the player at all times. Removing the HUD was also reasonably easy once i had found a tutorial video for it, this little peice of kismet forces the game into a cinematic mode essentially, removing the hud entirely, by altering the cinematic mode settings you can keep all the gameplay apart from the hud in place.
The tutorial videos are on youtube and you can follow these links to them:
3rd Person Camera tutorial
Tutorial for removing the HUD
The CUBE of Death!
Now that the idea has been set, Josh is busy making a physical prototype for the cube which will help us figure out how it links before we design it in UDK, Alex and Andrew are busy trying to break the laws of physics and stick two fingers up at gravity, which leaves me working on the perspective. Im also coming up with a backstory to work out why the hell a beachball will be there in the first place which will kick of the design document.
Heres what i have so far as a basic backstory:
Its as good a name as any at the moment, now to come up with some traps for the level.
Heres what i have so far as a basic backstory:
Spaceball and the Cube of DEATH!!!
Backstory:
As a beachball, Norm has has very few worries in life, bouncing around the beach, being thrown by kids, sometimes floating in the ocean, all in all life was good until that fateful day...
It started like any other, being thrown around by a few kids, generally having fun when a big very square shadow crept across the beach. Norm was dropped and left under this expanding shadow as all the people ran away from the giant cube that appeared to be floating harmlessly in the sky. Norm felt the air around him warming up and then ZZZZAAAPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When Norm regains awareness he realises that he is no longer on his warm sunny beach, he is somewhere else entirely the inside of the Cube!
“Must get out of here.” thought Norm as all he could hear was cold maniacal laughter echoing around the cube.
“This way looks good.”
Tuesday 21 September 2010
CTF Gaming
Thats the name of the group for this project. Teamed up with Alex Vincent, Josh Croft and Andrew Dama.
Two outlines for games using phidgets, a flight sim and a labyrinth puzzle game which also combines the original theme of the Cube.
The cube puzzle will be going ahead, the player will be controlling a beachball inside a cube navigating around the puzzles on each side to get to the finishing point on the roof of the cube. This should be lots of fun to work out. The team will be attempting to create a tech demo to show hoe the players ball will move from the floor to the wall.
Two outlines for games using phidgets, a flight sim and a labyrinth puzzle game which also combines the original theme of the Cube.
The cube puzzle will be going ahead, the player will be controlling a beachball inside a cube navigating around the puzzles on each side to get to the finishing point on the roof of the cube. This should be lots of fun to work out. The team will be attempting to create a tech demo to show hoe the players ball will move from the floor to the wall.
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