Finishing Date

Today was the last day in the creation of my project “Additional Pylons” this project was outlined to be a basic 3d projectile-based game. This game was effectively a third person tower defense game. Wherein the player must defend two control points from encroaching trolls. This was a project assigned to me in order to assist in my studies at SAE.

Throughout this project I ran into various problems mainly with the decisions on how to do things, for example I wasn’t sure if I wanted my enemies to use a NavMeshAgent or PatrolPoints. There was also the obvious problem of not knowing how to do complete some tasks. Overall I believe that this project turned out quite well given the amount of time that I have been making games.

The next project I have to complete is a project management game, this game should be something resembling Sim City or Starcraft, I plan to create something akin to Starcraft or Fire Emblem, exactly what I create depends highly on my confidence in creating games.

 

Tylah Kapa

Twitter: @JadeKapa

Phil Phishing

If you were thrown into the spotlight that is fame tomorrow morning, how would people react? If everything you said and did on the internet was suddenly under the world’s microscope, would you be confident in your appearance?

This is the case for Phil Fish, old news for those in the games industry, yet still a primary go to for a “don’t do this shit” guide on social media. In case you didn’t know Phil Fish is and indie developer that made his claim to fame in the wake of his hit game, Fez. This is a great video outlining Phil Fish and his situation.

After the release of Fez, Phil found himself submerged in reputation and expectations. So much so that the denizens of the internet would poke and prod all of his social media accounts, jumping on opportunities to defame Phil. To be honest, I don’t blame Phil for reacting in the ways that he did. What I do blame him for is not attempting to own up to the things that he’s said, or trying to be better in the future. Telling people to suck your dick, no matter your fame, is vile and should not be tolerated.

Though this doesn’t go to say that we as a society don’t hold Phil and the like up to high social standards, requiring that everyone with some miniscule level of global reputation should never strike back at those who hate them, or voice opinions that may be misconstrued as negative. Especially if these opinions come out of the blue. I definitely don’t blame Phil for saying the things he said, given that they were most likely a defense mechanism, if infused with some delusions of grandeur. Truth is, I don’t know who Phil is but I’m sure that all of the flak he gets for saying the things that he says isn’t all deserved.

I’m honestly quite scared of social media, though there isn’t much reason to be. As with anything that happens on the internet, news of it spreads fast, and dissipates faster. Though if I were to wake up tomorrow and find that a game that I own is suddenly in the spotlight of everyone and people are calling back to a tweet I sent our four weeks ago saying that Greedo didn’t shoot first is scary, even if unlikely. I’m relatively open about my opinion and my life, though I’m not sure of whether or not this fact will come back to bite me in the ass in the future.

 

Tylah Kapa

Twitter: @JadeKapa

Turn 7, Civilisation

Resource management is a common element in modern survival or strategy games. Take for example Civilisation V, or Starcraft II. These games both have their own completely different takes on resource management, but resource management management games they remain.

Civilisation V play

A new assignment brief has been given to me, outlining the creation of an isometric/top-down game that emphasises on strategy or resource management. This game could be in the same vein of City: Skylines and Roller Coaster Tycoon, or it could adapt a style akin to Age of Empires or Starcraft. Either of these styles are acceptable as long as it has an element of resource management and artificial intelligence to defend against or play with.  Because I have more experience with the latter games, I would like to take on a turn-based game the likes of Civilisation. This game focuses heavily on unit management and combat. It is a heavily mathematics based game that requires strategic foresight and knowledge of various mechanics to play.

However, I’m unsure of how I would be able to pull off a hex grid, I think that I would just have to stick to orthogonal grids. Fire Emblem, a turn-based strategy similar to Civ V without the strict resource management aspect, utilises an orthogonal grid and is quite complex in retrospect. Resources that must be managed in Fire Emblem include your squadron of units and their health along side the amount of the game board you control.

I haven’t previously worked with a grid game board in Unity, though I think that it would be interesting to explore, as making a strategy game is something that I wouldn’t be opposed to. My experiences with Fire Emblem and Civ V have been thoroughly enjoyable and I would love to leave that same kind of impression on other people.

Because designing an effective map is rather difficult, especially in a turn-based game, I believe that it would be more effective to simply procedurally generate a tile-based map. Using tiles as a measurement rather than simple distance may be challenging, though it should contribute to my experience as a programmer, and may even assist me in my other projects that are in progress at the same time as this one.

Tylah Kapa

Twitter @JadeKapa

GAM111: Survival

For me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of Call of Duty was always the zombies mode. A mode wherein up to four players were tasked with surviving the zombie apocalypse. Each zombie killed increased points to be spent on more weapons to wreak havoc on the flesh eaters, rinse and repeat.

That being said, I was given a base for my next brief, a framework for a survival shooter. The framework consists of quite a complex player controller alongside some hit scan weapon prefabs. Now this is troubling, because the framework uses it’s own physics rather than Unity’s in-built physics engine for some strange reason, however I believe that I should be able to work around it.

One of the work arounds I completed within a session was alter the explosion script that I have to also apply directional force to the player based on proximity, and the same for enemies, while also applying damage to them. This is a common mechanic in modern First-Person shooters involving explosives called rocket jumping.

I’m able to create near anything I could set my mind to with this framework, as long as it stuck within the confines of the brief. The game  must be a survival shooter, similar to the likes of Killing Floor or Devil Daggers. While accommodating physics based movements such as jump pads and rocket jumping. Primarily using a rocket launcher against the enemy.

I’m familiar with survival shooters, playing Call of Duty Zombies and Killing Floor extensively. I think that only using a rocket launcher is an interesting way to stave off waves of enemies. Looking at the ways I could manipulate the rocket launcher to make the game more interesting will be a fun challenge.

Tylah Kapa

The Axle

If you were a part of a car, what part would you consider yourself to be?

An example of a question that might be used to distract from the fact that I’m in an interview. Used to have me reveal my personality and traits. I believe that questions like these are interesting and when followed through with enough detail may give the leg up in the review process.

If I were a part of a car, I believe that I would be an axle. As a programmer I’d like to think that I’m the part of the car that makes the wheels spin. Not the engine, I’m not a leader, not the wheels, I’m not talented or creative enough to interact  with an audience in such a way that is appealing. I’m the axle, I spin and I hold the wheels parallel. As a programmer, I have the job of learning languages and processes and applying that to my tasks. As a programmer, if my code does not hold up, the game will go haywire. The axle is just a simple bar, it’s boring, hard and quite frankly it’s gloomy. However, it is an essential component of what makes the machine works.

Perhaps one day I will consider myself a different part of the machine, perhaps I will one day find myself playing the role of a different part of the machine. I’m always comfortable with playing my part and doing what I’m told to do. Yet I still can’t help but feel the need to make the most out of my experience with the gaming industry. Because I want to have fun with my career, games have been a large part of my life, and I would like to be as intimate with the process as I possibly can be. It might not be the best decision, it might be better to simply focus on one component. But I think I want to be the jack of all trades, master of none.

 

Tylah Kapa

Twitter: @JadeKapa

 

GAM111: Michael Bay Movies

This week was the final week for working on the SHMUP in our tutorial. We went through the steps of implementing area of effect damage or in the context if shoot ’em ups a screen clear. Screen clears are an integral mechanic of modern SHMUPs, well timed screen clears can maximise points whilst saving a life. Screen clears of this nature have been used in Geometry Wars.

I didn’t simply create a giant killbox, we created an explosion that counts for area of effect damage and manipulated its properties upon instantiating it. This one explosion can be used in multiple ways using this new instantiating technique. Instead of having the ship instantiate it I could have any of the projectiles instantiate it, manipulating the radius and damage dynamically.

The way this was done was by spawning an arbitrary game object as the explosion prefab in order to manipulate the properties of the prefab locally within the script. This is an extremely useful way of doing things. I could utilise this to then affect the explosion prefab’s size depending on the player’s current score or combo. I could also have enemies instantiate it, and manipulate the properties of the prefab to affect allies.

After the prefab is spawned, it will collect all game objects of any type if unspecified, calculate the distance between the center of the explosion and the object, and deal damage to it based on that distance and then the explosion will destroy itself. This method is used by many developers, it is simple to understand and can be adapted to various game mechanics easily.

This would be extremely useful for my current assignment. This current project entails using ballistics to simulate projectile motion in a tower-defense-esque game. The projectiles that the player can use must be able to impact with the ground or enemies, and explode upon impact, dealing damage to all enemies within proximity. With the use of this method of implementing explosives, half of the work is already done. Now that I have a reliable explosion script to use, I think that I will be able to make use of it for the foreseeable future.

 

Tylah Kapa

Twitter:  @JadeKapa

CIU111 Week 3: Copycat

So this week in CIU we discussed copyright. The various ways in which  creative artist’s original ideas are protected. Though I don’t so much want to talk about copyright, legal jargon and whatnot. I would like to primarily talk about the blog posts that were shown this week. To quickly preface, each week I and my tutorial group are expected to write a blog post on topics covered each week. Not necessarily in the lecture but in the tutorial as well. Each week some of the blogs are shared with the class and feedback is given for everyone to improve their own blogs.

This week I was met with a conundrum after my good friend Ismail Ghadban presented his blog to our tutorial group. Specifically the header of this blog, a beautifully animated picture that kind of resonates with the theme of the post. Upon seeing this, realising that he animated it made me stop in my tracks. I couldn’t help but think “He’s done something so well, and what have I done? What can I bring to the table to make my blogs be something other than simply a lost voice on the internet?”.

Which is when I realised that I don’t have much aside from my personality. I can’t draw well, I can’t animate things, I can, however google things which turns out to be infinitely easier. In the end a personality doesn’t amount to much, however I’d like to keep you reading for as long as I can. I hope to keep you interested in my journey in the creative industry, however there’s only so far a couple of gags will get me. I think that if I want to do anything, soon I’ll have to begin putting works on itch.io, or a site similar. Simply to attract outside audiences to works or such.

 

Tylah Kapa

Twitter: @JadeKapa

Hardcore Parkour!

So Mirror’s Edge Catalyst came out recently. I’ve haven’t seen many of the reviews for this game, however the general vibe I’ve gotten is that the game is disappointing, or isn’t satisfying. Though this might be due to some on release bugs or performance issues, which isn’t surprising. For me, Mirror’s Edge was a breath of fresh air. DICE introduced new concepts and mechanics to a market overrun by the bang bang shooty games that ruled the market at the time. I played Mirror’s Edge relatively late, though I was still intrigued by the game’s parkour mechanics. Needless to say, I’ve been anticipating Mirror’s Edge Catalyst for a while.

Although I had been anticipating the game, I intentionally failed to keep up with information about the game. Though this might be a stupid move on my part, as I’m unable to make an informed purchase of the game. I do the same with many other game sequels that I anticipate in order to keep an element of surprise or satisfaction when I encounter new mechanics or concepts that iterate on the previous game.

Which is why when I ran into Catalyst’s open world, I was pleasantly surprised. Mirror’s Edge was made primarily of closed courses wherein the player would run and jump from A to B. With the levels being separated and time trials being a separate game mode that take place on the same closed off courses much like Portal 2’s challenge mode. DICE have created a world which is somewhat akin to Skyrim. Story progression missions and side missions such as dead drops, and in-game/player created Dashes/time trials marked on the map. These missions take place in this open world, allowing the player to find the most efficient path across the city without the restrictions of a defined course.

One of the biggest changes from Mirror’s Edge were the skill unlocks. I’ll admit that when I saw that basic mechanics from the first game and combat moves/buffs were locked behind an experience wall I was kind of confused. Though there are some arguments for this kind of progression. Because of the game’s concept it is understandably difficult to make a meaningful progression other than locking off some parts of the city until adequate story progression is achieved. In addition it may be argued that this game is a prequel to Mirror’s Edge, and so canonically it wouldn’t make sense to have Faith automatically have this set of skills, even though she is established to be an experienced runner from the beginning of the game and some of the skills she may unlock are seemingly basic.

One of the greatest quips with Mirror’s Edge is the combat system. Though I didn’t personally have a problem with it, I did see how people perceived the combat as clunky and unsatisfying. Which is why I was also pleasantly surprised that Catalyst decided to make combat a central part of of the game. The tutorial of Catalyst outlined that Faith is able to light attack and heavy attack with each attack having pros and cons. The light attacks are primarily for quickly dispatching weak enemies or for quickly escaping the vicinity when used in conjunction with a ‘traversal movement’. Whilst heavy attacks are purposed for confrontation, with heavy attacks being used to knock enemies into the environment or other enemies to gain a time and positional advantage.

These are the greatest changes from Mirror’s Edge, I must say that even only having played a sliver of the game, I am satisfied with Catalyst. These new combat mechanics are welcome additions and I am glad that DICE chose to make it clear that the combat has improved upon it. The open world is definitely a welcome addition, being able to establish my own route from A to B while completing a plethora of community made courses calls for praise. The only real problems I have faced with Catalyst are the spontaneous on release bugs. Other than this I think that Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is a worthy prequel to what is, in my eyes, a classic title.

 

Tylah Kapa

Twitter: @JadeKapa

GAM111: Parenthood

Week two in scripting 2, a continuation of our SHMUP. Throughout this second lesson, we outlined the creation of more weapons for the player and a simple enemy with a simple movement pattern.

Both of these additions emphasised using inheritance to ease the creation of a game. Inheritance simply allows a parent script to provide functions and values to a child script, which then may be manipulated within the child. This allows for most of, if not all functions to be set up in the parent, and have all children manipulate the function at will. This would be most evident in the different enemies in many games. For example in a SHMUP, there are different enemies utilising different weapons or moving in unique ways. These enemies will likely have inherited from a base enemy script to be manipulated in the enemy’s class.

Dark Souls is an excellent example of inheritance, wherein every living being in the world of Dark Souls holds the same base properties as the player. That is, they have a set amount of health, they are able to take damage and they are able to die. It would not surprise me if FromSoft had a base script with these properties and applied them to all creatures that they have made.

Utilising inheritance is an extremely useful skill in scripting/programming. It provides a plethora of options,  a customisation of each enemy class in the least amount of code. I know that I will be using inheritance extensively throughout my career,  and plan to use it in this SHMUP multiple times.

Again, from last week I plan to implement pick-ups and enemy spawning. I simply don’t want to get ahead, or implement a feature that isn’t compatible with what we complete in class. With various assignments looming in the back of my mind, I don’t doubt that I will be under stress for the majority of this trimester. Because of this, I will likely have to put these class projects on the back-burner. Hopefully, I will be able to come back to these frameworks at the end of the trimester and maybe smash out a couple of these briefs for myself to put on my portfolio.

Tylah Kapa

Twitter: @JadeKapa

GAM111: Start ’em Up

Friday marks the beginning of Scripting 2, Gam111. Throughout this first particular lesson, we started by outlining the course assignments and class work. Promptly diving into the creation of the first game of the course, the SHMUP. If you don’t don’t know what a SHMUP is, it’s simple slang for Shoot ‘Em Up. SHMUP’s are arguably where the ‘action’ genre of games began. Games such as Galaxian, Space Invaders, Galaga and Ikaruga are a handful of SHMUP examples.

In this class, we laid down the basic framework for a SHMUP, this means the player, a projectile, the game board and a static target.  This is a great framework to lay down early on, as it allows for easy inheritance further along the track.

Once I acquired my own copy of the framework, I tinkered around with trying to get other projectiles/weapons to play around with. Which turned out unsuccessful, as I don’t know how to create a laser beam. After next week, I plan to have implemented an enemy spawn and pick-ups for the player to gain health/ammo or damage increases, just various buffs that I will have to test.

I think that if I were to implement a box prefab that instantiates in front of the player for as long as the left mouse button is held down, dealing damage when an enemy enters a trigger and continuously deals damage if the enemy is still within the bounds of the box collider. There are extra features that could be added onto this, for example the beam could start as a certain size and then grow the longer it is held down or the more enemies that is killed with it.

I think that pick-ups are a large part of modern SHMUPs as it supports longer, more addictive play sessions. Early SHMUPS didn’t have many pick-ups if any, though this is likely cause by the arcade mentality of short, addictive game play. Though creating pick-ups is not a priority and I should not attempt to create them until at least next week.

 

Tylah Kapa

Twitter: @JadeKapa