Well its early morning and I don't exactly have the energy to think of an interesting blog post, so I'll just recant you with a woeful tale of triumph and loss. Thus begins the Animation Chronicles (part 1 of 1).
Last year this Animation class scared me a lot, and not because of the math or 3D modelling. When Professor Hogue gave us the list of homework questions my brain shut down for a minute or two. But all was not lost. I slowly worked through the first couple easy questions on interpolation and managed to get it working. I started all my homework questions from scratch so I really got to know the proper steps in beginning an OpenGL project.
As I went through some of the easy questions I gained more confidence and was always very proud when I managed to accomplish things I never thought I would figure out. Time goes on and I get some more questions done. Then inevitably I run out of time at the end because lets be serious; I'm not that great at programming. I have to put a lot of time into simple programs just to get them working, and my OOP skills are awful.
Yet I somehow managed to get the 40exp by the end and write the exam. Now I wish I knew what mark I received on it, because I felt pretty good with the exam. Not great, but good. And then a meteorite (metaphorical, don't worry) hits and my GDW gets hammered for our graphics not working in our game. I kind of wish it was marked based on more than the visual because all the code was there for our animation etc.
Nonetheless between a mediocre exam mark (I guess?) and virtually getting 0 on the GDW 25%, here I am in Animation again. It is a prerequisite for Game Engines in Year 3 which is a prerequisite for nearly every course in the rest of this program.
Complaining aside, I'm going to totally kick butt this time around. I have nothing left to lose really. My GDW group is split up, I had to take a bunch of electives because there were no other Game Dev courses without Animation as a prerequisite, and I suppose I need the credits.
So here's to another semester with Animation: Algorithms and Techniques, this time with blogs. Cheers.
Friday, September 21
Thursday, September 20
Noopsie Ball
Today I was part of team B and we designed (Extreme) Human Foosball. The idea began to formulate when team members were discussing limiting movement for players in the game. This combined with the idea that you could only hit the ball and not catch it, was the basis for our game.
Team A came up with Chaos Ball, which at first seemed a little dangerous. Risk of physical injury aside, their approach used the level design well by creating chair obstacles. It seemed to be a bit more low-key than Human Foosball but was similar in simplicity and movement constraints.
The rules for Human Foosball are as follows: two teams have 2 rows of offense and a row of defense. The goal is to score/keep the other team from scoring in the plastic bin. The players are only allowed one step the side in each direction and may not turn out. The ball cannot be caught; it must be bounced off the player. If the ball hits the ground or goes out of bounds, the player which dropped it must throw it to the other team to get the action started again. The team with the highest number of goals after a specified time limit is the winner.
In the diagram below, the green team's wants the ball to go to the right and thus they can only face to the right. This means the offense wants to get the ball in the goal (grey box) while the row of defense wants to hit it away from the goal to prevent the opposing team from scoring. The principal is the same for the blue team, except they face to the left.
Human Foosball takes advantage of the players as part of its level design. Originally we considered having 6 players per row but that would lead to players further out never getting a chance to play, as move of the action is centered around the plastic bin goal. With 6 rows of 4 players, the 'level' was evenly distributed so that each player would have an opportunity to attack/defend.
The advantage of having the players define the level boundary is that Human Foosball can be played virtually anywhere there is enough room; it does not have to be in a classroom with tables and chairs.
In Chaos Ball each team had a set number of players distributed throughout the classroom. They had to remain on the tables and never touch the floor. To make a successful pass to a team-mate, the player must bounce the ball off an object at least once before it reaches its destination. Each ball pass, every player is allowed a maximum of 3 steps on top of the tables. To score, a player must throw the ball into the plastic bin goal; this is unique in that it does not require a bounce first. The players are allowed to block shots made by the opposing team.
The level design in Chaos Ball is constructed randomly:at the start of the match each player in the game gets to set a chair on a table anywhere on the playing area. This creates a maze-like level and can lead to certain strategies being formed by the teams. For example, they could coordinate where their chairs are placed to effectively block off a certain area from play.
The advantages of Chaos Ball are its strategic depth (placement of chairs) and that you may never play the same game twice. The fluidity of the level design gives players constant new opportunities to try new tactics and maneuvers. This gives it elements of both strategy and skill and can potentially be more emotionally rewarding to play than Human Foosball.
Team A came up with Chaos Ball, which at first seemed a little dangerous. Risk of physical injury aside, their approach used the level design well by creating chair obstacles. It seemed to be a bit more low-key than Human Foosball but was similar in simplicity and movement constraints.
The rules for Human Foosball are as follows: two teams have 2 rows of offense and a row of defense. The goal is to score/keep the other team from scoring in the plastic bin. The players are only allowed one step the side in each direction and may not turn out. The ball cannot be caught; it must be bounced off the player. If the ball hits the ground or goes out of bounds, the player which dropped it must throw it to the other team to get the action started again. The team with the highest number of goals after a specified time limit is the winner.
In the diagram below, the green team's wants the ball to go to the right and thus they can only face to the right. This means the offense wants to get the ball in the goal (grey box) while the row of defense wants to hit it away from the goal to prevent the opposing team from scoring. The principal is the same for the blue team, except they face to the left.
Human Foosball takes advantage of the players as part of its level design. Originally we considered having 6 players per row but that would lead to players further out never getting a chance to play, as move of the action is centered around the plastic bin goal. With 6 rows of 4 players, the 'level' was evenly distributed so that each player would have an opportunity to attack/defend.
The advantage of having the players define the level boundary is that Human Foosball can be played virtually anywhere there is enough room; it does not have to be in a classroom with tables and chairs.
In Chaos Ball each team had a set number of players distributed throughout the classroom. They had to remain on the tables and never touch the floor. To make a successful pass to a team-mate, the player must bounce the ball off an object at least once before it reaches its destination. Each ball pass, every player is allowed a maximum of 3 steps on top of the tables. To score, a player must throw the ball into the plastic bin goal; this is unique in that it does not require a bounce first. The players are allowed to block shots made by the opposing team.
The level design in Chaos Ball is constructed randomly:at the start of the match each player in the game gets to set a chair on a table anywhere on the playing area. This creates a maze-like level and can lead to certain strategies being formed by the teams. For example, they could coordinate where their chairs are placed to effectively block off a certain area from play.
The advantages of Chaos Ball are its strategic depth (placement of chairs) and that you may never play the same game twice. The fluidity of the level design gives players constant new opportunities to try new tactics and maneuvers. This gives it elements of both strategy and skill and can potentially be more emotionally rewarding to play than Human Foosball.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)