Games Portfolio - Project Objectives

Here are five main objectives to accomplish by the end of the unit. Although being shallow, these objectives will give a basic overview of what was needed to be done for the unit and will be constantly referred to during production.

[1] Develop a unique game idea and pitch it in the form of a three minute Adobe Premiere video.

[2] Model several units using 3Ds Max and scale them to that of the existing Supreme Commander units found in the game files.

[3] Develop terrain for use in the official Supreme Commander map editor based around my initial idea.

[4] Produce two further videos, a five minute product showcase and a three minute developer insight into the production process.

[5] Log all project activity using an online Blog, posting weekly developer diary entries discussing what has been worked on that week, what has been learnt and how work has been produced.

Games Portfolio - Journal (Week 2) - Planning Process

Project Journal - Week 2

Every week I will post up a journal entry concerning work completed for the 'Games Portfolio' unit. These journal entries will sum up progress made in the Supreme Commander tool set so far and what I plan on achieving the following week. These journals will help keep a record of what work was completed and when, as well as help to push the project along further, leading up to the final hand in on the 29th of May, 2009. All journals are separate to other posts uploaded in the week concerning the unit and will go towards my final mark at the end of the unit.

Project activity for the week of 16/02/09 (Week 2):

Ideas for the project pitch to be handed in on the 6th of March were brainstormed. Several ideas were thought about and realistic thinking as to what is possible to create in the Supreme Commander tool set was taken into consideration. A 'Pitch Ideas' post was uploaded to the blog discussing my final idea for the game and what it will involve.

During lesson time this week I spent the majority of the time getting to grips with the 'Adobe Premiere' and 'Adobe Photoshop' programs to aid the creation of my pitch video and mood boards. In lesson, I made a test trailer using already existing video footage from the Internet and a nature themed mood board using images from the Google search engine.

For next week, I plan to start the creation of my final pitch video and by the 29th of February have the production of the pitch well under way. A script must be written and voice acting recorded to go with my video, of which will consist of mood board images, design ideas, related images videos to help visualise my idea and royalty free sound located to play in the background.

To see all posts concerning this unit, click the 'Games Portfolio' tag below. To see all project journals, click the 'Journal' tag.

Games Portfolio - Pitch Ideas

The deadline for my pitch involving an idea in 'Supreme Commander' containing 'Technology and Nature' is the 6th of March 2009, the week after next. I have already had several ideas regarding the pitch, and after going through what I think will be most possible to create in the editor than others have decided to stick with one solid idea.

For my pitch, I have decided to go with the theme of a protest. Several protesters are fighting against construction workers and police in an attempt to protect a forest. Being no ordinary forest, it is said that the nature contained inside it holds possession to some very powerful magic. The council, fearing this power, is attempting to destroy the forest and be rid of the, as seen by them, 'potential threat' once and for all.

Due to the rumours surrounding the forest, a cult of followers has formed with people living within the trees and greenery of the forest, of whom aren't going to lose their so called 'home' without a fight. Although the storyline sounds generic, the premise of my idea fits perfectly with the theme of the brief, Technology and Nature.

When developing my game it would be interesting to see if I can add in the following features:

- Customised Character Models (protesters holding picket signs)

- Customised Textures (for the picket signs, machinery, character clothing.)

- Modified Machinery (for bulldozers, diggers etc.)

- Modified Terrain (Interesting surfaces, large forest areas.)

- Customised Weapons - (Basic weaponry such as sticks, rocks, police batons etc.)

For my pitch I plan on explaining this idea via the video, showcasing a series of images and mood boards to help visualize my idea and explain what I plan on doing in Supreme Commander (such as creating character models, weapons etc.) All of my video footage will be cut and created using Adobe Premier for Windows.

I will post up work for this unit as it progresses sometime during next week.

To see all posts concerning this unit, click the 'Games Portfolio' tag below.

Team Project - Virtual Fire House Team Blog

Upon starting the unit 'Team Project', me and my team of four have been asked to create a blog on the Internet to showcase current work progress, individual team journals and lists of ideas all involved with the production of our virtual fire simulation game.

All work found on the blog has either been created by myself or another member of the team, of which is named 'Team Bowchickabowow Industries.' Each post made on the blog will be labelled and named correctly.

Link: Team Bowchickabowow Industries blog.

To see all posts concerning this unit, click the 'Team Project' tag below.

Games Design 2 - Hammer Editor (First Impressions)

After spending some hands-on time with Valve's 'Hammer Editor' I am confident that working with the program will be both fun and challenging. After doing the majority of previous level design working with Unreal Ed, the step over to Hammer was a worry at first- as the editor builds objects and rooms in very different ways to that of Unreal. Following online tutorials however and listening to Brain is class has helped boost confidence, with the Hammer Editor appearing to be a huge deal more flexible than Unreal in terms of what the user can do and also a much higher ease of use with search functions when looking for textures or Entity's.

During the course of this unit I hope to upload work completed using the Hammer tool set to this blog account and keep up to date with work using journals and project reports. I hope to spend this weekend playing with the Hammer Editor and to have some basic level design work uploaded by early next week!

To see all posts concerning this unit, click the 'Games Design 2' tag below.

Games Portfolio - Journal (Week 1) - Supreme Commander

Project Journal - Week 1

This blog will now also be used for posting work concerning the second year 'Games Portfolio' unit. In this unit I will be utilising the 'Supreme Commander' tool set creating a range of different terrains, scenarios, skins, armies and design ideas.

This week I plan to get used to the Supreme Commander tool set, following tutorials online and having a good play through the single player campaigns! The theme of our finished product for the assignment must be 'The crossover between Technology and Nature.' The final artefact must consist of a five minute maximum video showcasing the product and another behind the scenes 'making of' video showing how the item was produced.

Already I have been thinking up ideas for what my final pieces could consist of, ranging from nature being produced artificially on a far distant planet to a simple dispute between protesters wanting to save nature and workers wanting to create a motorway.

I will update this blog periodically with work on my piece and the processes used to develop it.

To see all posts concerning this unit, click the 'Games Portfolio' tag below. To see all project journals, click the 'Journal' tag.