Simplified FPS - XB1000

The aim of this task is to take a First Person Shooter game and to simplify it and make it more accessible for new players that have little or no experience of these games. The game i chose to focus on is Battlefield 3 by Dice, as one of the most popular FPS games on the market it is always flooding with new players although in my experience there is very little help given to new players. I decided to focus on changing up the squad system that the game is famous for, i also changed the kill streak system that is used in many FPS games but is not utalised in Battlefield. Later after playing Battlefield for inspiration i decided to do a complete over-hall of the control system to make it more 'noob' friendly, this resulted in cutting down on all the non essential controls such as gadgets, spotting and proning (laying down).Battlefield 3 has a very complex GUI on screen system that displays the all the vital information that a player would ever need in game, such as health, mini-map, ammunition ect... but all of this information is not necessary for a player just wanting to enjoy the game and doesn't mind about the competitive aspects of the game, which those tools are primarily there for. So a simplified version is needed which would have to look the same but have less details on screen. This version should contain a large clear mini-map in the usual corner of the screen, the mini-map would also have to be partly transparent so large sections of the screen are not blocked out by the map. The ammunition and health of the player can be left unchanged as they are large and clear in the opposite corner to the mini-map, to make them stand out more to the player they are blue which is a contrast of the browns and greys that make up the ground that is usually the backdrop the player travels around in.

Chess with a twist - XB1000

Chess with a twist

I was recently tasked with editing the game of chess, with the aim of adding more chance into the game to attract more social gamers.

I made a number of changes to the game. Firstly I added a combat/capture system to the game, this involved using a d20 die to battle it out each time you want to capture another player. The d20 allows a lot more variety in possible outcomes than a smaller die e.g a d6. I also added some damage multipliers to the game for more powerful pieces such as the queen that has a +3 multiplier. Taking inspiration from Scrabble I added a random selection modifier, in Scrabble all the tiles are stored inside a bag, the players select tiles at random without being able to see in the bag. Using this idea as a base i developed a system where players random select pieces which they can then play on the board. Only the king starts on the board as it is needed to complete the game. I also fiddled with the movement of some pieces to put limiters on the distance that they can travel, e.g: Rooks, Bishops and Queens can normally move unlimited in there chosen direction but in my modified version a d8 is rolled (the board is 8x8 making the d8 the perfect size) what ever the number rolled is, is the cap that the piece can move.

Fantasy Shield - XB1134

Mood-Board and Concept Art 15th Nov 2012

Making of the Fantasy shield 16th - 18th Nov

Dagger - XB1134

Concept and Mood-Boards 12th Nov 2012

Building of the Dagger 14th - 16th Nov 2012 

Viking Shield - XB1134

Mood-Board and Concept Art      8th Nov 2012

Making of Viking Shield 8th - 10th Nov 2012 

DayZ Board Game - XB1000

For this project i have been tasked with taking an existing video game and making it into a board game. I chose to do DayZ, a popular mod for the Bohemia Interactive game ARMA 2. The resulting game is very close to the original mode players must fight to survive zombies, the elements and other players in a game of luck, chance and poker faces. In this game each player performs 3 different actions per turn. Firstly the player has the option to move their character, to do this they roll an 8 sided die depending on what they roll they can move up to that distance on the board, say for example if they roll a 6 they can move anywhere between 1 and 6 spaces. f the player has moved in their go they then have to roll the zombie die, this is a die that has all but 2 sides blacked out, if the player rolls a blacked out side they are fine but is they roll a side with a dot the player must pick up a Z card. A Z card has a number and a range on it, the number corresponds to the number of zombies that have seen you and the range indicates how far away they are. Players can then choose to attack or flee. The final move they can do is an action move, this allows the player to attack, loot or trade with near by survivors. As the game continues and more and more die the survivors must decide whether to band together or turn on their friends in order to win. 

Viking Hand Axe - XB1134

Mood-Board and Concept Art      7th Nov 2012

Making of the axe (3Ds Max)     8th - 10th Nov 2012 

Sword and the Shield - XB1134

Today i was given a prodject meaning to test the skills i have learnt so far in 3DS Max, i was tasked with doing a Treasure Chest (2 styles) under 300 tries each, a grandfather clock under 600 tris, an Old West Cart under 1000 tris, 2 Swords and Shields under 600 for each sword and shield set, a Forklift Car under 900 tris or a Kings throne under 900 tris. I decided to do the Swords and Shields sets as, although seemingly simple designs they allow me to test my lighting and texturing skills which i need to improve more.

After much researching I descided to do an Arabian Scimitar with a round shield from the same period and a Viking style hand axe which was also going to have a Viking round shield but that would mean that both shields would be similar in design so i desided to do a medieval kite shield although these werent technically around untill 1 or 2 century after the Vikings.  

Essay plan - DD1000

Bauhaus

The subject I have chosen for my essay is the Bauhaus school of design that operated in Germany between 1919 and 1933 when it closed due to pressure from the Nazi regime. Students of the Bauhaus worked under the rule of form follows function i.e. the aesthetics and looks of a product are not as important as making it practical, this resulted in very minimalist looking designs. One of the main aims of the Bauhaus was to mix art and technology, this meant that a lot of their work incorporated new technology such as steam-bending woods. The Bauhaus's students influenced design for decades after its closer in 1933, many of the students had fled or been exiled from Nazi Germany ending up scattered all over western Europe. In 2004 Tel Aviv was given world heritage status by the UN due to the large amount of Bauhaus styled buildings in the area.

 Areas I will be focusing will be split down into 3 time frames:

1919 until Walter Gropius resigned in 1928

1928 until the closure of the Bauhaus school in 1933

The effects the Bauhaus has had on design and the legacy it has left.

Book references: 

The ABCs of the Bauhaus: The Bauhaus and Design Theory

By Ellen Lupton and J.Abbot Miller

Publisher: Thames and Hudson (14th June 1993)

Bauhaus (World of Art)
By Frank Whitford 
Publisher: Thames and Hudson (14th May 1984)


Bauhaus 1919-1933
By Magdalena Droste with collaboration from the Bauhaus Archive
Publisher: Benedikt Taschen; 1st edition (1990) 

Puzzle Fun - XB1000

 For this project i have been tasked with making 3 different paper games with the theme of puzzles, one of these i was then to make from paper and play test in my next lesson.
Code Breaker - the player is given a simple riddle, this riddle relates to an eight letter answer which is spelled out across a board in a hidden code. The player is given a decoder wheel so they can code in the password and get safely across the board.

Combination Codes - A puzzle memory game where the player has to escape the dungeons to win the game.    The player starts at one end of a map, they then travel the map hunting for scraps, on which are letters of the pass-code which is needed to escape the dungeon.
Maze Mayham - Search and destroy is the aim of this game. This two player game has two teams one as a terrorist group guarding a bomb, the other a single counter terrorist solider attempting to disarm the bomb. the challenge is for the counter terrorist to maneuver his player around the enemy counters whilst the terrorists attempt to stop him, this sounds like an easy win for the terrorists but they have a slight handicap, only one of there pieces can be moved per turn meaning that the player must plan ahead to win. 

Choice of Movement - DD1000

German Modernism 

The subject i have chosen to research German Modernism for the subject of my essay. I think that this would be the best choice for the essay as when i researched for my 3 earlier blog posts i found that German Modernism interested me the most, this was due greatly to the smooth futuristic looks and the use of all the new technology and material that the German designers used in there works. 

Capture the Flag - XB1000

For my second assignment  was tasked with designing my own board game. I made a game called Capture the Flag, this game is a take on the popular FPS game mode by the same name. The aim of the game is to capture three enemy flags found around the map, meanwhile the enemy are attempting ot capture your teams flags. During the game teams may capture opponants pieces which are then removed from the game board. The game is won when all three of a teams flags are captured and removed from play.

 

Art Deco Mood-board - DD1000

German Modernism mood-board - DD1000

Machanics and Dynamics - XB1000

To start of my assignments, i have learnt what machanics and dynamics are in games and the roles that they play. Do apply what i learnt i performed reviewed two different games: Mincraft by Mojang and DayZ mod for ARMA 2 by Bohemia Interactive.

Minecraft is a free roaming sandbox PC game developed by indie games company Mojang. The game gives the player the ability to interact with their world, allowing them to edit the terrain whilst being able to craft and build with the resources they have collected, this was the first game to do this and is a unique selling point to Minecraft. Minecraft isn’t all just building and exploring; players also have to survive against hostile mobs that spawn in dark areas of the map and at night while also hunting or farming to keep themselves feed. The developers kept Minecraft on PC whilst in beta stages, this was as PC is easier to update games on than a console game, more recently now the game is out of beta and is a full release title Mojang have started to release Minecraft on Xbox360 and even a mobile version on IOS5 for the IPhone.

Dayz is a PC zombie survival mod that was originally added to combat simulator game ARMA2, and is soon to be released as a full standalone game in the next few months by Dean “Rocket” Hall, in conjunction with Bohemia Interactive (the makers of ARMA2). DayZ allows players to experience a real time zombie apocalypses situation with some of the most down to earth and realistic game play from any zombie shooter on the market. As well is battling zombies, survivors will also be fighting each other for food, weapons and medical supply’s all of which is needed to survive. DayZ is currently  PC only game as the developers thought that keyboard and mouse navigation would be easier to use and get though the in game GUI, although there is talk of a console release when the game goes standalone.

Art Deco - DD1000

Art Deco

Art Deco was a streamlining and modernist design movement from Paris in the early 1920's but spred around the world in the 1930's and throughout the second world war. At its best Art Deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity which resulted in large amount of streamlining and linear symmetry within there work, which as a great change from its predecessor Art Nouveau which embraced many of the styles from the 20th century as well as looking to nature to form flowing organic curves. Later near the end of its life Art Deco was hugely popular in American as it was around the time of the space race and everyone wanted smooth and sleek designs. 

Nash Ambassador Slipstream 4-door Sedan

The United States of America has some of the best remaining examples of Art Deco, Art Deco inspired buildings can be found in New York, Chicago and Detroit. These buildings are some of the most unique and noticeable in the whole country such as The Chrysler Building in New York, NY, The Foshay Tower in Minneapolis, Minnesota, down to The U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. 

The Foshay Tower in Manneapolis

Bauhaus Movement - DD1000

Bauhaus 

The Bauhaus was a German design school founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 with the aim of improving the way people thought of German design. It was the first design school that incorporated arts and craft with fine arts but still in a modernist style. The Bauhaus was closed down in 1933 under its own leadership due to pressure from the Nazi regime. The students of the Bauhaus worked under the rule of form follows function i.e. the aesthetics and looks of a product are not as important as making it practical, this resulted in very minimalist looking designs. One of the main aims of the Bauhaus was to mix art and technology, this meant that a lot of there work incorporated new technology such as steam-bending woods.

The Bauhaus Building in Dessau

(UNESCO World Heritage Site)

The Bauhaus's students influenced design for decades after its closer in 1933, many of the students had fled or been exiled from Nazi Germany ending up scattered all over western Europe. In 2004 Tel Aviv was given world heritage status by the UN due to the large amount of Bauhaus styled buildings in the area. 

One of the biggest and most noteworthy contributions to come from the Bauhaus was in the field on future design. Designer Marcel Breuer came up with some of the best examples of future design with his wassily chair. Made from tubular steel and leather the chair was a beacon of all the Bauhaus stood for, it was simple to make with only few parts and the manufacturers used new materials and manufacture techniques, inspired by the handlebars of a bicycle, to make it.

Wassily Chair Designed by Marcel Breuer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Chair

Cubism - DD1000

Cubism

  Cubism is an abstract art movement that started in the early twentieth century. It was founded by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso and French Painter George Braque between 1907 and 1914. The name 'Cubism' was given to the movement by French art critic Louis Vauxcelles after seeing some of the landscapes that George Braque painted in 1908. Picasso linked his piece Les Demoisellse d'Avignon (1907) to African artwork he had seen earlier in the year. The Futurism art movement formed the foundation for some of Cubism's main concepts. The Cubism painters believed that art shouldn't copy nature, or adopt traditional techniques, and instead, they wanted to show the two-dimensionality of the paper. This is why Cubism consisted mostly of fractured and misinformed geometric shapes.

 Femme En Pleurs (Picasso)

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter born October 25th 1881 and died April 8th 1973, he is well known as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. As well as co-founding the Cubism movement Picasso also invented constructed sculpture and co-invented collage. 

Violin and Candlestick

George Brague was a French painter and sculptor born 13th May 1882, died 31 August 1963. Braque believed that an artist experienced beauty "… in terms of volume, of line, of mass, of weight, and through that beauty interpret subjective impression...”

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubism

http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Braque

In a 3D modeling workshop today I experimented with lighting a basic scene in Autodesk 3DS Max. This was the best result showing a setting sun shining through a window. It has 3 lighting points in the image, a spot light outside the window with a slight orange tint, another spot light in the bottom left (just out of shot) pointing back and tinted a slight blue to make the orange lighting stand out more, and the 3rd light, a basic skylight to the bottom right (just out of shot) this brightens the entire image and makes it look like the suns rays are bouncing around the room.

Hello,
My name is Andrew Shuffleton and i am a games design student studying my first year at Futureworks University. This blog is a place where i can put down any ideas and designs I have, as well as anything interesting i learn during my time at Futureworks.
I have always been interested in design since early on in school and followed this up by doing A-levels in 3D design and Graphics. Doing these subjects i realized that my real my real love was in CAD (computer aided design) work, this coupled with my love of games pushed me towards game design. Although still early on in the course itself I'm thinking of specializing in ether 3D modelling or level design, but as i haven't have much of a chance to do any level design this early into the course so i want to leave my options open.