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