The [dreaded] Intermediate Graphics

Well I can't say I'm overly...eager to get started on this course, but I am excited for it.  Anyone who denies how awesome shaders make games look must be crazy, because the intro lecture really opened up a world of ideas for me.

Like many others (I presume), I was under the impression that the way to make graphics better in games was to pump in more polygons with ever more advanced consoles and graphics card capabilities.  The idea that you could make a simple object look amazing with shaders was a new concept to me, and it really got me thinking about the games I play.

With and without normal mapping. (http://tinyurl.com/87a7ydm)

With this in mind, I hopped back on Skyrim for a little bit and was amazed at what I never noticed before.  A majority of the detail for humans and monsters came from the bump mapping itself and not from having a million polygons.  I also began to scrutinize the ways the lighting and environmental details worked.  With a little examination I could see tons of different shaders busy at work making the game look really pretty.

A scary (but quite nice) looking dragon in Skyrim. (http://tinyurl.com/74e5jjw)

Of course seeing shaders in action and actually implementing them aren't quite the same thing.  The homework list is up as of this post and I can't say it didn't originally scare me.  Well, it still does...but I'm working on a game plan here.  This weekend I'm going to get a solid framework done for the homework questions and brush up on all the OOP and Graphics/Animation concepts.

From there I'm going to delve into the Cg textbook and hopefully get some homework questions done before they are worth nothing.  Or at least survive the mosh-pit of the line-up that this counter system will create.  I don't quite agree with the system, mainly in regards to handing in the questions.  What if it becomes an all-out sprint to get to the classroom, and me being too busy working hard for exercise, the other five students get there ahead of me.  Will I get 0 exp because they handed in their question 30 seconds before me?  I think the work put in should reflect on the marks gotten, not how fast one can run to class.

Otherwise, I'm ready to dig my heels in and get working on the questions.  Programming isn't my strong point but I know I can pull it off, I always have before.  This concludes my first blog for Intermediate Graphics, hopefully I remain sane throughout the rest of the course. :)

A Life Story of Sorts

I'm not sure where to start on this, so I'll just begin.  Maybe it will even turn into a rant.  I've always enjoyed designing; I like to view myself as being on the creative side, with a fairly strong mathematical side backing it up.  I believe that words, conveyed with passion and meaning, can be more powerful than even pictures and sound.  Not to say that photos and videos aren't interesting, but when is the last time you were captivated by an engaging picture for hours on end?

Now lets take the potential of words and use them to create.  It really doesn't matter what; it could be a poem, a story, a description of a chair.  The idea is that words combined with inspired thought can become truly anything.  This is the essence of design: take an idea, and make it happen.  A single spark of thought can become an entire world like Middle Earth or Narnia.  Now lets get to the best part: designing games.

But wait!  Before I delve into it, lets get a little background going.  Somewhere in Grade 6 is where it all really started for me.  We had an assignment in English class to make up a story of whatever we wanted.  This was the birth of my character Zenith (formerly Blade).  He was strong, fast, and quickly learned Earth's ways, becoming a special unit in the military.  I used my own ideas combined with inspiration from various books and movies to make a totally awesome short story of Zenith.  I got a good mark, passed English, etc.  

Zenith drawing, courtesy of my long-time friend Kim.

The magic was that I enjoyed it so much, I continued on with the story and had a short trilogy before I knew it.  It was a work in progress over several years and looking back on the first story, I could see how much my writing had improved.  Despite this, the spirit of Zenith's saga remained just as powerful as when I first began to think him up.  Now lets fast-forward a few years, lets say to January 9th, 2012.

INFR2330U.  Game Design & Production 1.  I've been excited about this class ever since I saw it on the academic calendar roughly a year ago.  I found Dr. Nacke to be a very interesting individual and I personally quite enjoy his teaching style.  I can't explain in words how refreshing it was to not be sitting in a big lecture room, struggling to listen to a professor drone on for three hours straight.

But enough said, lets get to the games!  Our group of four played Infernal Contraption.  Its a zany card game where the objective is to be the last player remaining with the card in their 'parts pile'.  Each player is dealt an equal number of cards at the beginning, and the last player standing wins.  

The way to achieve victory is in how the player builds their 'machine'.  The machine is comprised of the cards a player places down; there are power sources, contraptions, consumables, upgrades, and a singular power core.  The cards must be linked together with the proper connections (colour-coded) to add to the machine.

The game play comes from adding contraptions to the machines.  Each turn, the player will 'activate' each contraption in their machine, each with its own effect, such as taking one card from the opponent's parts pile and putting it in their own.  Upgrades and consumable help with these endeavours, while power sources help convert different connection colours to useful ones for the player.

A fairly simple machine in Infernal Contraption.  1-5 are in the 'main line' while the vertically stacked cards are called 'sockets'.  Note each card is connected by the matching colours (purple is universal).

There is a steep learning curve to the game, but once figured out, we were rolling through and having a lot of fun.  As the game went on it became apparent that both which cards played, and their placement, had a big effect and certain strategies began to form.  My own strategy was to place lots of 'siphoning' contraptions, to keep my parts pile supply up.

That's it for now, I'm looking forward to really getting into the design course.  Every topic on the lecture list looks awesome, so I'm eager to get going.