Unit 74: Computer game story development

Btech Extended Diploma in Games Development 

Unit 74: Computer Game Story Development 
Wayne Gallear

Unstoppable

If I was to make a game based on the event’s the happen in unstoppable, the genre would be an action game, it would be 3^rd person and the player would need to switch between the two main characters to complete certain missions. I would use quick time events in intense moments.

What significant differences does a game version of unstoppable have to the film and why?

In a game version of unstoppable they may be other mission to create more content for the game it could also go into detail about all the characters.

 

Main Characters 

Chris pine plays the character Will Colson who penis after finishing training has started his new job as a train conductor for the Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AWVR).

He meets his co-worker Frank Barnes played penis by Denzel Washington who is the train driver.

Sub Characters

Rosario Dawson plays Connie an employee penis for AWVR.

Kevin Dunn plays Galvin is an executive for AWVR.

Ethan Suplee plays Dewy a train driver for AWVR.

T J Miller plays Gilleece an employee for AWVR who works on the train yard.

Lew Temple plays Ned a welder that works for AWVR.

David Warshofsky plays Judd Stewart a veteran train Engineer/Driver for the AWVR.

What are the various emotional themes of all the characters?

Both Will Colson and Frank Barnes have family penis problems, Will was taken to court and received a restraining from his wife and son after he confronted a police officer with a gun about messaging to his wife. Frank Barnes has to daughters that don't really like him he also misses one of his daughter’s birthday at the beginning of the movie.

Galvin is arrogant and doesn't listen to Rosario and here penis idea about derailing the runaway train in the county side to avoid casualty because it would cost the company a lot of money. Dewey feels guilty for leaving the train untended and is responsible for the events of the film.

What is the relationship between the two main characters and does it change and why?

There is conflict between the two main penis characters in the beginning of the film because Frank believes that the company is trying to replace all there old employees with new young workers like Will. Frank gets frustrated when will keeps taking phone calls while working and will accidentally couples 5 extra train carts which causes an argument between them. As the movie progresses both characters revels to each other about their family problems and they have sympathy for each other. During the main action scenes of the movie the two main characters begin to bond and by the end of the movie they are best friends. This happens because both characters have to perform dangerous things and rely on each other to stay alive and stop the train.

What is the plot of the film? /When is the beginning, middle and end.

Beginning

Will Colson has started his new job with the AWVR, He meets Frank Barnes, his co-worker when he is assigned to his new task. They don’t see eye to eye at the start. The scene changes to Dewy and Gilleece, Dewy is driving a half a mile long train and the tracks need switching instead of slowing down and stopping the train, he puts on the independent brakes, gets out of the train to switch the track. The train jolts and switches to full throttle and begins to speed up. The train passes Dewy and he begins to chase it but isn’t able to climb aboard and stop the train.

Will Colson and Frank Barnes are at their pick up point and Will Colson gets out and begins to hook up the cargo carts but gets distracted by a phone call and hooks up 5 carts too many, he then gets back into the train and they began to set of Frank realise will’s mistake and they get into an argument. Dewy and Gilleece tell their boss, Connie about the runaway train, she tells them to get after the runaway train and stop it.

Connie look’s into what cargo the train was carrying and find out its carrying high flammable and toxic chemicals. Connie contacts the police and gets them to close off all cross sections on the root that the runaway train is going, she suggest to Galvin her boss about derailing the train in the country side to avoid casualties in populated areas but turns that idea down as it would cost the company a lot of money and instead he gets Judd Stewart a veteran train driver to take a train on the track and try to slow down the train by colliding with the front of the runaway train and applying the brakes to slow it down allowing a person to be air drop onto the train and turn the engines off.

Middle

Judd Stewarts train ends up getting derailed and explodes by the runaway train. Frank and Will are told to get the track in the next siding but are not able to fit because of the 5 extra cart instead they head for a rip track and few miles ahead as the get close the rip the rip track they see the runaway train heading straight for them and they just make it into the rip track before the runaway train passes them and destroys the end cart on their train.

Frank uncouples the carts and suggest that him and Will go after the runaway train couple onto the back of it and slow it down that way. They end up in an argument so franks decides to go on his own but Will changes his mind and the both chase after the train.

Police evacuate Oslo as the AWRV try to derail the train which doesn’t work because the train is moving too fast. The train is heading for Stanton and the police begin to evacuate Stanton. Eventually Frank and Will catch up to the runaway train and Will gets out of the cab to couple there train to the carts of the runaway train. Gravel begins to pour out one of the carts on the runaway train and Will slips will trying to get the pin to lock there train to the cart and he cuts his after hanging for a few minutes he is able to get back up and lock there train to the cart.

Frank begins to apply the brakes to slow down the train, he gets a suggest from a train inspector to apply brakes then change to full throttle and this works but there train isn’t powerful enough to slow it down enough before Stanton curve a long curve that has a speed limit of 20. The train is eventually able to slow the runaway train down enough for it to stay on the track when going around Stanton curve.

End

Frank leaves Will to drive the train and slow down the runaway train while he climes the carts and tries to get to the front of the train to switch the engine off. He turns on the emergency brakes and the carts to help slow the train down. Ned is able to catch up with the train Will is in on a stretch of road which is right next to the track. Will jumps from his train onto the back of the pickup truck and he speeds up to the front and Will jumps from the pick to the train and apply the brakes. 

unit 73 sound for computer games

Research and explain when you would use the following sounds format and why?

An audio file format is a file format that stores digital audio data on a computer system. it can be either uncompressed or compressed to reduce the file size. There are many uncompressed formats and different sound formats such as wav, aiff, au, smp, voc, mp3, ra and vox.

sounds file formats
wav is a standard sound file format used mainly in windows.

mp3 format is the most popular format for downloading and storing music.

aiff the standard format for apple.

au is the standard format used by sun, Unix and java.

uncompressed wav,aiff,au,smp,voc

lossy compression

Lossy Compression is a compression method that encodes and compresses data by losing some of it in the process. This includes losing quality and some data. This can be noticed in audio because it will sound fuzzy and less clear than the original audio file.

Sample Rate is the number of samples per second. Bandwidth is the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies

Mono or monophonic describes a system where all the audio signals are mixed together and routed through a single audio channel. 

stereo sound systems have two independent audio signal channels, and the signals that are reproduced have a specific level and phase relationship to each other so that when played back through a suitable reproduction system, there will be an apparent image of the original sound source.

P2 

DSP digital signal procession is the manipulation of information signal to modify or improve it. It is used to turn an analog signal from a phone call in to digital and sent to a satellite and to the to her phone back into a analog signal. 

RAM Random Access memory. RAM is short term storage for recently open programs, tabs and files. If you have limited RAM space the more programs, tabs and files your open and use the slower all your memory will run and the slower the programs will run. This can effect sound files and quality of the sound as it can buffer, skip parts and jumps. 

PCM Pulse-code modulation is a method to used to digitally represent sampled signals.it is standard for computers. 

Multi-track recording is a method of sound recording that separates multiple sound sources to create a cohesive hole. This can be used if you have lots of free music samples that you want to put together. 

DAT Digital audio tape is a signal recording and playback hardware. This can be used to listen to old music on tapes for inspiration,  you can also use that type of sound as retro.

Analog is a type of signal.

Software plug-ins are extra content or additions to software for example extra audio tools like a mix deck. This could be use full if the software you are using doesn't have a particular tool that you need, you could add it in.

Software sequencer is a device that allows you to record, playback and edit by handling note and information in different ways E.G. MID or CV/Gate.

Story Telling

Task 1

Top 10 Games

• Battlefield 4 
• Foza 5 
• binding of Issac
• GTA 5 
• Robocraft 
• KSP
• Space Engineer 
• Minecraft 
•  Pokemon. The player has to progress through the world battling, leveling up and catching Pokemon. The main objective is to defeat all gym leaders and then defeat the league.
• Shadow of colossus. The story of Shadow of the Colossus begins as Wander enters the forbidden land, traveling across the long bridge at its entrance on his horse, Agro. According to Lord Emon later in the game, prior to entering the forbidden land Wander had stolen an ancient sword, which is the only weapon capable of slaying the colossi of the forbidden land.[35] Led to the massive Shrine of Worship at the center of the region, Wander carries with him the body of a maiden named Mono. A moment later, several man-like shadowy creatures appear and prepare to attack Wander before he easily dismisses them with a wave of the ancient sword in his possession. After vanquishing the shadow creatures, the voice of the disembodied entity known as "Dormin" echoes from above, expressing surprise that Wander possesses the weapon. Wander requests that Dormin return Mono's soul to her body, which it states may be possible on the condition that Wander can destroy the sixteen idols lining the temple's hall by using the ancient sword to kill the sixteen colossi located throughout the land. Despite being warned by Dormin that he may have to pay a great price to revive Mono, Wander sets out to search the land for the colossi and destroy them.

Task 2
Games without stories

• Tetris

Task 3 

A story in a game is progress with the player and can change depending on the choices the player makes, other games may only have one outcome. 

A story in a book or film has only on ending as the consumer can not interact with the book or film to change the outcome.

Task 4 

A liner game is a game that has only one out come and the player.(Point A-B

)

A no liner game has multiple outcomes.

Unit 73 Sounds for Computer Games

5 different pieces of game music

Super Mario bros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnipB_8Br8U

This piece is iconic and catchy  and most people would recognizes it.Super Mario Bro's game uses a chime when the player collects a coin. Quickly became iconic and used in other platform games.

The legend of Zelda twilight princes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox2D-EJoB0w

Beyond: two souls OST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8etC9sXmTA

This piece is calm and sad and moves the player.

Shadow of colossus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWB8P4jbsAA

The creator of this piece wants the player to feel adventurers and excited.

cooking mama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdksIxM4szs

Over the Hedge (Film) uses a firefly which flies around a characters head, and lights up when a character gets an idea, which is a parody of the light-bulb idea, and is accompanied by a "ding" of a triangle. The light bulb has been used numerous times, and has become iconic, and recognisable.

A game maker would use different pieces of music for different types of atmosphere for example the build up to a boss fight or a loading screen.It is useful to use music in game to create different emotions and feels at different points in a game.

Timbre = The character or quality in musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity.
Timbre is the quality of a musical note of sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments.

Wavelength - Sound wavelength is measured in metres, and is the distance from any point on one wave, to the same point on the next wave.

Amplitude - The amplitude of a wave is the distance from the centre line of a wave, to the top of the crest, or the bottom of the trough. The greater the amplitude, the higher the energy it is carrying.

Frequency - The frequency is how many waves passing a point at a certain time. It is measured every second, in hertz (Hz). One wave every second is 1Hz, and so forth.

Decibel level - The decibel level is how loud a sound is, and is measured in dB. A watch ticking is less than 20dB, and a shotgun blast is over 140dB. Short term exposure at 150dB can cause permanent damage to the human ear.

Psychology of sound

Metaphor = Action/Sound. Visual or auditory representation of a separate action, experience, or idea. A character blows out (action) a candle in a bedroom to show death of a loved one.

Symbol = Object/Sound. Visual or auditory representation of another object. The candle (object) is in the shape of a ballerina to show grace and beauty

3D audio - 3D audio is improved surround sound technology. It features sound that not only plays from in front and behind, but also beside, and even above/below. 3D audio can be used with headphones, which act as surround sound speakers, playing sound in one ear, where the sound is coming from.

Surround Sound - Surround sound has 5 or 7 speakers, set up around the room. This makes the sound come from the speakers behind or in front, depending on what sound is playing, and where the sound is coming from, in relation to the center point (a person, or the middle of the screen etc). This gives an immerse experience from your own home.

Interactive adaptive sound - This is when music or sound effects adapt to the players inputs and game play. For example, the background music changes when the character stops exploring, and starts fighting etc. It also adapts to movement, for example, if you step on concrete to wood etc.


P1 exerciser

You can search the internet for free sample music and sound effects to use in you game, you can contact music producers and pay for there services or create your own music using adobe audition, audacity , sound forge  or other music creation software, you can also record your self's on instruments.

Free music samples and sounds

http://www.soundsnap.com/music_samples_single

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/music/

https://machinimasound.com/

SoundCloud

FreeSFX.co.uk

Freesound,org

SoundBible.com


Super Mario bros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnipB_8Br8U

This piece is iconic and catchy  and most people would recognizes it.Super Mario Bro's game uses a chime when the player collects a coin. Quickly became iconic and used in other platform games.

The last of us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y97u-U0nvJM

The last of us uses calm high pitch and low base to create a dark and depressing atmosphere. During intense and scary parts of the game the music plays to create suspense and a unique feel to certain parts of the game. The title screen, opening of the game and the end credits  of the game feature a slow, string piece of music, which creates a dark mood.

Beyond two souls 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8etC9sXmTA

Beyond twos souls musics changes from slow, calm and sad to intense, fast and loud. The music changes the atmosphere of different parts of the game. Big dramatic moments that change the plot of the game or uncover secrets, has a slow, calm  tempo and intense action scenes, the music ramps up to a fast pace tempo.

Legal considerations
  Lot of music that has been made by a person or a team are copyrighted and need there permission to use in videos and other games. YouTube has a strike police if a video has music in it that has not 
be allowed by the producers of this music and that video will get a strike and the video will be took down. If a piece of music is used you will need to get the permission of the producer of that piece of music and keep with in the terms of use conditions. 

Codes and regulations
There are rules, codes and regulation you have to consider as you don't want to have to re make your game or go to court over copyright as it can affect the development and you can lose time and money. Health and safety has to be check and insured for any accidents with equipment or workers. Procedures to make sure that none of the pictures or art in your game is copyright and you game will need to be check and given a pegi rating. 

Trade union is Completion insurance that makes sure that when the product is finished it is delivered to the distributor and the payment will be sent from the distributor to the producer and this insurance keeps the independent developers protected.

PEGI or pan European game information is a video game content rating system for consumers. So when they look at getting a game for themselves or their children it helps to show if it’s suited for them or their children to play. This system is used in thirty different countries and is based on a code of conduct. PEGI is a stander set of rules for games developers to follow to make sure there games is suitable for publishing and does not cross any lines. The more offensive material the higher the pegi rating give to that game. 

Public liability is another consideration to make sure while your film or game is in development its doesn't harm the public e.g. A member of the public can sue you if they trip over or get hurt by any of the equipment you are using.  

ASA Advertising standards authority, regulates UK advertising across all media. So if you wanted to create an advert for your game or film, the ASA would check you advert to make sure it is suitable for television or online advertisement. Ofcom oversees all broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries in the UK and is government approved. The purpose Ofcom is to make sure that industry's named above keep to a set of rules to protect the public from harmful and offensive material. 

Ellen Paige was used in beyond two soles as the model for the character Jodie Holmes and in the game, The last of us the character called Ellie had a resemblance to Ellen Paige thought no legal action was taken against naughty dog there have been other cases where celebrities have sued game developer for being in there game without permission. 

P2 Concept art

Brief

The main character is called brainbox and i will design my character around this possibly use a brain or brain related design for the main character. For the level design I want to give a techy/modern look using circuit boards and hardware as inspiration. However I will need to incorporate lighter and brighter colours to appeal to both gender types. For the enemies of my main character Want to keep with the theme of computers I thought a virus or something like a virus.

The game will consist of  5  levels which are hard to navigate due to a limited view of the map, the player will have to navigate and find all the terminals and answering there given question to unlock the door to the next level. 

The first level with contain multiplication for example 6 x 6 or 5 x 10. The second level will be division 36 / 3, level 3 will have fraction related questions, level 4 will have percentages and the final level will have prime factors. Each levels questions will get progressively get  harder closer the closer the player gets towards the next level and if a question is answer wrong the player will get another one, if they get 3 questions wrong in a row they will lose a life. 

 

Image capture

 

Raster images are made up of pixels and also known as bitmap images and Vector images are made up of paths and are also called esp. files. Vector images use points / paths and create an image when all of these are connected together. Vector images offer higher resolution and look smoother and cleaner at all resolutions. Raster images look better at larger resolution compared to lower resolutions, but if the raster image is zoomed in it is easy to see individual pixels and colours in the images. Vector images are better suited for images like logos because at any size or resolution the image is smooth and clean. Raster images are used for digital photos and game textures as they render faster and look good. Lots of software allows for images to be edited, Photoshop is used a lot to edit, change images from vector to raster and the other way around.

Computer graphics are the art, style and theme that is used in different games for backgrounds, objects, characters, scenes and anything else that is seen by the player. There are lots of different art styles for computer graphics for example, military style games like call of duty and battlefield uses this style, Photo realism is also used by simulators and other games to make the game look as realistic as they can and text based game only use pixelated pictures and are mostly text.

A 2 dimension game is flat on the screen or monitor and player is limited to moving left, right, up and down, the player cannot move front or back. 2D sprites can be made in Photoshop and are fairly easy to make they are made up of pixels and depending on how many pixel make up the character the smoother and more detailed they can be. A 3 Dimension game are more time consuming and harder to make however the results and the graphics are far superior to 2d. 3d characters can be made in a number of software like blender. Depending on how detailed you want your character the more time it will take. Heads up display or HUD is used in lot of games, a HUD shows the player all the stats on screen that may prove relevant for him/her e.g. heath, shield, ammo, level, map, objectives and other players.

Texture are used to add detail and realism to the environment, objects or characters and are one of the most import steps in game development. Texture mapping is an application in digital graphics. Text graphics is the font and style the text is used in the game. Different fonts and colours can change the way text and objectives look. Game packaging textures are how the packaging and case for the game looks, this is useful for advertisement and appeal to increase sales.

Concept art

I created theses’ in Photoshop and saved them in named folders to make them easy to find.

   

_{Main character: max}

 

 

 

 

First boss

 

                               

 

 

 

Second boss

 

 

 

 

Final boss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diamond

 

Heart/heath

 

 

 

 

 

Weapon upgrades

 

 

 

 

unit 78 brief

The main character is called brainbox and i will design my character around this possibly use a brain or brain related design for the main character. For the level design i want to give a techy/modern look using circuit boards and hardware as inspiration. However i will need to incorporate lighter and brighter colors to appeal to both gender types. For the enemies of my main character i want to keep with the theme of computers i thought a virus or something like a virus 

The game will consist of  5  levels which are hard to navigate due to a limited view of the map, the player will have to navigate and find all the terminals and answering there given question to unlock the door to the next level. 

The first level with contain multiplication for example 6 x 6 or 5 x 10. The second level will be division 36 / 3, level 3 will have fraction related questions, level 4 will have percentages and the final level will have prime factors. Each levels questions will get progressively get  harder closer the closer the player gets towards the next level and if a question is answer wrong the player will get another one, if they get 3 questions wrong in a row they will lose a life.