Weekly Progress Update

There are only two weeks left to complete the game and much left to do. I finally got the models and textures to program in when there are only two weeks left. When I added them in lag became an issue and we are switching over to Devil to take care of the shaders and etc. on the video cards instead of using software mode. We also have to do blurring for the glow effect, powerup effects and time for the powerups, some more AI, Menu, Png images, Sound system (core completed), Tune up shaders, combine partical engine, Tune up Views, Core game modes.

Completeion Scale:

Programming: 7/10
Graphics: 5/10
Audio: 8.5/10

The programming side has been held back from the graphics side significantly.

Progress update

The game has been coming along pretty well, I'm the lead programmer The programmers are way ahead of the graphics and audio people.

Estimated Completion Scale
Scale from 1 to 10, 10 being complete and 1 being nothing done yet.

Programming: 6
shouldn't talk much longer to complete, we already have most of the source code to do the other stuff, just need to combine it them and add a couple more elements to the game.

Graphics: 2
They said they will start working heavily after the midterms. Programmers can't do some stuff because we rely on their parts.

Audio: 4
Audio is going pretty smoothly. Doesn't hurt to have more.

There are only a few weeks left! I've set up a meeting to talk to the group and I'm going to tell them they need to pickup their pace.

Weekly Post

This week, I decided to play singularity for the PC. You play as Captain Nathaniel Renko who is set off to Katorga-12 (an fictional island used by the Russians during the Cold War) with partner Captain James Devlin to investigate the island because of a sudden electromagnetic surge which damaged an American satellite. Near Katorga-12, another electromagnetic discharge causes the helicopter to crash separating Renko and Devlin. On the island you fight for survival from mutants and corrupted Russian soldiers and later fights to change the present time. Renko phases between 1955 and 2010 throughout the game and he learns more about the past and how he changed it when he saved Doctor Nikolai Demichev from the past during his time travel back to 1955 near the beginning of the game.

I personally thought the game was great. The sound and graphics really enhanced the game atmosphere. The gameplay was great, you get to use upgradable weapons and a kick ass time-manipulating device which can do many things, from repairing objects by converting them to the past to mutating a soldier. I wanted to keep playing to learn more about the story.

NOTE: The trailer is off, Renko doesn't arrive in a jet or start off with the time manipulation device, he arrives in a helicopter with Devlin and Renko finds the time manipulation device on the island.

GDW: I've stopped my holiday break mood and begun to work on our group game (wow five weeks in the semester, then again I don't worry much about my part, I have a lot of experience in programming), I'll start working heavily on the programming (been slowly brainstorming and designing in the past weeks, everyone group member's part must fit properly in the final game) and will try to get other group members to start earlier so I will have all the resources from them when I need it (previous year, much stress when I didn't get the other group members parts or when they were done very, VERY poorly. Unfortunately, they aren't in the program anymore).

First Assignment!

--1--

               Our first assignment, we have to talk about our first 10 minute experience with a game we haven’t played before. For this assignment, I chose the game “Milo Physics” on addictinggames.com.

               Just by looking at the game title and image, I could tell the game was a 2d physics-based puzzle game. Sounds exciting! I love many physics-based games and I was eager to try this one. After waiting for the game to load and starting a new game, I immediately noticed a feature that I dislike which was to drop the rigid bodies from a certain height in the 2d game, the player isn’t able to drop them at the exact point (which wouldn’t affect the game-play, just makes it more user friendly). The goal is to place objects down to help a ball collect all the stars in the level by making the ball hitting them. The score for each level is determined by how long it takes the player to collect all the stars. Already from the first level I had to keep clicking the restart key to reset (resets everything including the timer/score) and try to get the rectangle rigid body in the right spot because of having to drop the rectangle at such a high height (maybe they could use this minimum height limitation for later levels only where they don’t want the player to easily get an object somewhere). That was basically it throughout the game but further levels would have more tasks such as covering a hole to allow the ball to pass by or launching the ball by creating a seesaw and dropping something heavy on one end and etc.

               Overall I had a pleasant experience with this game, although at times it could get frustrating because of the height limitation which were unnecessary for many levels (especially for the ones where the player has to build a tower and are forced to restart when they mess up and want to maintain a good score).

Check out the game at: AddictingGames - Milo Physics

--2--

               Summon Night: Swordcraft Story for the Game Boy Advance was a game I loved, I’ve been a fan of their series ever since. The game is a Role-Playing game (RPG) a lot like final fantasy but the fighting system is real-time unlike Final Fantasy’s turned-based battle system. The game doesn’t feel repetitive at all even though they use the same game mechanics throughout the whole game. I’m guessing it is because of the new places I unlock every time and the story is continuously progressing. The player can forge their own weapons by using materials they found in the game (trying different combinations). The graphics and special effects were very cool and detailed. The sound and music matches the game style and isn’t annoying at all. The game is well balanced; the player gains new spells and partners later in the game and become stronger every time they level up. Bosses are challenging and fun to face. The user interface is very simple using mainly the A, B, and arrow buttons to move around and attack and defend. The other buttons are for the less often used functions such as the start button to get to the menu. Levels were easy to follow a long, I can usually tell where to go and only have to guess for the levels they want you to such as some caves (when your character is lost). The story is very well done, and I constantly wanted to keep playing to unlock more of the story. The character can choose what to say every so often and it changes the dialogue for a bit but it will always get to the same ending. The enemy AI is quite simple but it gets the job done. There are still many unique features in this game that I haven’t mentioned such as guardian beasts.

--3--

I found Miniclip's Stress Relief Paintball flash game very boring and not fun. There’s no story, very limited audio, game is repetitive, limited sprites. The goal of the game is to shoot all the smiley faces that appear randomly in the office environment game. You basically just click the smiley faces that come out and reload when you are out of ammo. There are a few levels but they are just different background pictures and different spawning points for the faces. There is a timer for each level that will bring you to a new room when time runs out. For every face hit, it adds to the total score. This game is very simple, there isn’t any AI, and it’s just shooting the face. The User interface is simple. There isn’t any flow to the game.

Check out the game at: Miniclip - Stress Relief Paintball