Source: You’re not a ‘Hardcore’ Gamer!
For this week coding, I am focus on what in my mind is perhaps the single most important game asset in every game. While we implemented nicely, this element receives little to no credits for it function. As soon as it done poorly, everyone criticizes to it no end.. My project for the next few days will be the Camera Rig System.
Most of us don’t notice the “camera” in a game until it does something badly. Once the action is obscured or we wrestle with an objective because we can barely see it, the movement of the camera takes center stage. It’s almost always a horrible thing. A poorly design Camera System can take the “Perfect Game” and make it completely unplayable.
While Unity3d, the Game Engine I am using for my project, does come with a few built-in Camera Assets, they do not meet the full functionality I desire for the project. Therefore, I will be developing my own Camera System. Generally, all video game camera are composed of several of the 8 elements listed below.
1. Fixed Point: A fixed point camera neither moves, scrolls nor rotates. Many simple games like Tetris or Bejewelled use one fixed point. Larger games like Jet Set Willy use a series of fixed point cameras, one for each room. Adventure games like Blade Runner also use some fixed point cameras, but the perspective differs from scene to scene.
2. Rotating: A rotating camera is unable to move or scroll but it can turn. Adventure, platform and survival horror games sometimes use rotating cameras for especially grand rooms. An alternative use is for tight spaces in some otherwise tracking-based games (see below), or for special modes.
3. Scrolling: The game world is a flat two dimensional grid and the scrolling camera moves on a plane parallel to it. Scrolling cameras can move horizontally, vertically, or both depending on the game. Many 8-bit and 16-bit platform games use scrolling cameras, as do shooters.
4. Movable: Sim and strategy games often use a movable camera. The player looks down from overhead and moves the camera around the world using arrow keys or the mouse. Some games, like World of Goo or Angry Birds, use the same kind of camera but look from the side rather than above.
5. Floating: Floating cameras are movable cameras with no fixed orientation. The floating camera adds rotational control allowing full 3D navigation. The Total War games, Black and White and the Homeworld games use floating cameras.
6. Tracking: This camera tracks the doll along a pre-defined line in 3D space. It may rotate, speed up or slow down, fall behind or even move ahead of the doll as required but the player has little or no control over its movements. Tracking cameras are often used in linear action or platform games like God of War or the Kim Possible DS games.
7. Pushable: Pushable cameras occupy a default position (usually behind the doll) when not controlled, but the player can push them using a second thumb stick or mouse. The camera then rotates around the doll. This kind of camera is very common in modern games. Pushable and tracking cameras are often casually grouped as ‘third person’ perspective.
8. First Person: First person perspective combines the camera and the doll, which means the player sees through the doll’s eyes. He uses one set of controls to move the doll’s body and another to turn its head. One limited variant of first person perspective is the bonnet camera in some racing games. Another is sniper mode, where the player can aim but not move (or not move well).
The Camera system I will be working on is based off the article Third person camera design with free move zone by Yoann Pignole. You can find the details by read the article via previous links.
The dust has settled on E3, and we now know a lot more about how Microsoft hopes to revive its fortunes with the console formerly known as Scorpio. Like the PlayStation 4 Pro, the Xbox One X is a souped-up system laser-focused on displaying 4K images. You can argue over the degree to which either […]
via 4K is the wrong target for Xbox One X and PS4 Pro — Straylite Media
Several years back, an eager recent Engineering had an idealistic dream of starting a game development company. A nice way to do something I loved and make up for not being able to find a job at the time. Ultimately, the project failed a few times. But as I looked at the market and continue to gaming, I realize there is a need for Indie developers now more than ever. My view are most likely not for everyone and more than likely romanticized memories of past console generations. But due to current market trends, I feel as if I have nothing to play.
According to a Metacritic List, there are 114 FPS/TPS Shooters, 5 platformers, 11 Turn based, 67 role-playing, 8 of which are also shooters, are available for the Xbox One. The market is current over inundated with shooters. Every AAA company is attempting to release their answer to Destiny, Call of Duty, and Battlefield. Out of the 23 games Ubisoft has release for this generation of console, not including the Just Dance series, 9 are shooters. In comparison, the previous generation 28 of the 85 games are shooters. This identifies three major issue, at least at Ubisoft and possible others, in the this generation.
One- the rate at which games are being developed for the Xbox, PS4, and Switch are alarmingly slow. This might be just nostalgia and poor memory, with old age starting taking its toll on my mind. However I remember spending much of college days in Gamestop/Blockbuster stores picking up the last game for weekend runs while my roommates were heading home for the weekend. Currently, Sony and Microsoft claims to have around 900 games available for the their consoles, not including backward compatible games. In my opinion, this an inflated number to show off success and popularity of their platforms. No serious gamer is going to look at I am Bread, an Mobile game port to console, or Backgammon Blitz and count them as games. The lack of game is made even more evident when you look at the best game of each console. Launch and year 1 titles such as The Last of Us, GTA5, Destiny, and Tomb Raider are still listed as top 15 games 2 and 3 years after release.
Two- The focus of the generation is only on shooters. Now do not get me wrong, I love Shooter as much as the next game. I have spent my fair share of time run accross the Cosmodrone, delivering headshots to an Fallen that should cross my Mida Mutli-Tool range, or in The Division taking down Rioters, Rikers, and Last Man Battalion. There’s nothing wrong with FPSs. There’s just too many generic ones. The FPS genre has become very stale, a decade ago it was already stale and now it’s beyond stale, it’s practically decomposing while still being pulled around on strings. The genre has been milked to death and needs to be either placed to the side for a while until actual new ideas are welcomed for once, or killed off completely and other genres given a chance.
There is nothing new that can be done with the FPS genre, especially the war themed sub-genre of it. As popular and profitable as it may be, developers who keep churning out FPS after FPS are flogging a very dead horse that has become a pathetic joke and rotted shadow of what it once was.
Three – The number of new original game is abysmal at best. Half of Ubisoft collection are sequels to previous games from the Tom Clancy, Assassin Creed, and Far Cry series. In today’s gaming industry, just about any successfully and financially successful game means a sequel isn’t too far behind. While that decision makes sense from a business point of view, it also means developers are expected to replicate success, and in some cases, catch lightning in a bottle yet again. As a gamer, I am tried of playing the same game year after year with only graphical and story changes. Players will eventually tire of the same formula being trotted out again and again. How many times can you go point a, shoot/hack enemy, and watch a cutscene before you died of boredom?
Developers are sticking with their winning formulas because they’re afraid of tanking by making something new. Which means that innovation is virtually zero at this point. I fear that games are going the same way as did Hollywood productions starting at the end of the 1980’s, early 1990’s with the likes of the Die Hard franchise, Jurassic Park and other Terminators. What I mean is, that Big Bucks took over in favor of good storytelling.
This is why we need Indie Game Developers now more then ever. By Indie, I do not mean these shell split companies that are tied publishers. I mean dreamers who have nothing to lose to and all the world to gain. Gamer and programmers who want to create a game that they want to play. The Video Game Market is waiting for an inject of fresh creative new ideas. This new and creative way doing thing is one reason the Nintendo Switch and Zelda BOTW has been so wildly successful. Nintendo Developers completely ignored the playbook of what a Zelda game should be and focused on creating a unique and enjoy fresh IP. Instead we see developers attempting to recreate games others have had success with, IE Bioware Anthem, an attempt to copy the sucess Bungie has had with Destiny.
Designing the Game play is one of the hardest and yet rewarding parts of game development. Perhaps of the most ambiguous parts of Project Rebirth is the Magic Based Game play intended for the project. In order to understand how we intend to use magic in game, we first have to understand the theory of magic Project Rebirth is based on. We draw our theory of Magic from the Manga Irregular at Magic High School, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. For those of you who haven’t read or watched this manga series, I suggest binge watching this on Netflix. So let drive into the new generation of magic head first.
For starters, gone are the wands, talismans, and incantations. Those who are able to use magic do so using Casting Assistant Device. This device incorporates synthetic materials (artificially manufactured Neurons) that convert Psion signals into electric signals, using the Psion from a magic ritual (sequence) to produce a collection of electronic magic — the Activation Sequence. CAD allows the processing of all the necessary components for magic in a single moment. In detail, these devices help accelerate the invocation of magic, as well as provide stability.There are CADs in different shapes or forms such as bracelet-shaped CADs, mobile terminal-shaped CADs, long and short gun-shaped CADs, rifle-shaped ones, and special weapons or ornaments that conceal a CAD.Although CADs show the superiority of modern magic, as it is a precise piece of machinery it requires regular maintenance involving the tuning of the machine to suit the traits of the user’s Psion waves. This is especially the case when dealing with the compatibility between the user’s Psion Wave Motions and the Receive-Release System. In this aspect, it is less useful than traditional mediums used in ancient magic. This makes it a requirement for the hardware and software of the CAD to be customized according to the user and its usage.
Modern Magic is categorized as systematic, non-systematic, outer-systematic, or sensory types. We farther divide this down into 4 System/8 Type magic,Speed, Weight”, “Movement, Vibration”, “Converge, Dissipate”, and “Absorb, Disperse”.
Speed Magic involves speeding up or slowing down the target, hence its name. A Magician can also use personal Speed Magic, allowing him to move at speeds surpassing human limits. Speed Magic directly alters the inertia of an object. Weight Magic involves the weight of objects, reducing or increasing it. It can help reduce the gravitational pull and allow for jumps that travel 100 yards.
Movement Magic involves altering an object’s velocity and path. Through Movement Magic, an object can change directions or completely stop in its tracks. The difference between Movement Magic and Speed Magic is that Movement Magic does not affect the inertia of an object. If an egg were subjected to only Movement magic, it would break itself apart because of the inertia inside the egg even though it has technically stopped moving.
Oscillation Magic involves the vibration of targets. Waves can be produced, controlled and dampened with this magic.Temperature change can also be achieved through this by forcibly increasing or reducing the vibration at the molecular level of the target.
Convergence Magic involves selectively isolating targets within a target area. It can create a space where carbon dioxide gathers in the center, while all other gasses are pushed out, for example.
Dispersion Systematic Type Magic is defined as magic that interferes with the movement and interaction of elementary and composite particles. Magic that manipulate gamma rays is categorized as Dispersal Type Magic because the magic interferes with light particles.
Absorb Systematic Magic affects the interaction between particles and energy. For example, absorption magic can affect how much light an object absorbs (can alter colors) or even how much oxygen iron absorbs to form rust.
Release Systematic Magic interferes with the movement and interaction of subatomic and composite particles.
I have probably bored half of you to death with these technical details but understanding this is key.So let break down a cast piece of magic that have been used in every rpg since Final Fantasy, Blizzard. The simple blizzard spell is broken down to 3 systematic magic skills, Spell , convergence, and release types. When magic tech cast blizzard, the first sequence converges all the water vapor in the air to create bullets. Next the release sequence slows the water vapor at atomic level creating ice. And final the speed system accelerates the ice bullets at the target.
So what does this mean for Project Rebirth? One of the feature we are working hard on implementing is CAD Programming mini-game. The goal is for players to be able to create their unique magic sequences tailor to their style of game play. By setting up sequences and different types of systematic magic, the player will be create anything from a flame sword to explosive trip mines.
Let know what you thinking of the possibility of procedural magic based attacks.
I just got the level back from the Alpha tester and looks like I will be spend a large span of time fixing a few bugs and updating Game Objects. For Starter here is the list of issue bugs identified.
GameObjects to be Updated
The final challenge for this Build is to a basic Enemy AI up and running. The original FSM system implemented has reached it limits and fixing the issues are costing more time then just cutting everything out and rewriting.
First and foremost, I must apologize for the long interruption between post. The struggles of day to day life took a dramatic turn for the worst. Love lost, Military Deployment, sleepless nights. But as Martin Luther King once said
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Ever had a week where you are busy as hell, but not seems to have gotten done? That’s what it has been like this week here at Dreamers Inc Studios. We are busy as bees but it seems like nothing got do. At least that’s how it appears on visual side at least. We have been hard at work Project Rebirth’s AI system. Thanks to Unity 5 Profiler, this new optimize FSM AI has increase frame by 20fps. The original script connect Mechanim to the NavMeshAgent cause a few hang up.
With the dramatic changes in Unity5 breaking a large portion of our project, with small errors, we took the opportunity to reshape the image of Project Rebirth. We packed away all of the old files and many of the old designs and create a fresh new setup. While we still have much to fill the game world of lavish scenery, I am proud to present quadrants 1 and 2 of the island nation of Cyprus.
Cyprus is an majestic island getaway where weary travelers come from all over to relax and rejuvenate. Unfortunately, rejuvenate will be the last thing on your own
Dreamer
-As I live, I dream-
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The last year has been a roller coaster ride oscillating between heaven and hell. Stresses of work, employment status, and relationship woes have taken their toll on my team and me. And for that I must apologize. We have not been able to maintain this blog and continue game development in the manner we should have. I look the drafts folder and see 7 several post waiting in queue, each at a different level of completion. With things finally working themselves out for better or worse, I can now return my passion back to Game development and getting Dreamers Inc. Studios back on track.
In the last few months, the gaming industry dramatically changed. For indie developer, like ourselves, there isn’t a better time to be in development. In the month of March alone Unity3D and Unreal have released full professional level to their game engines without any upfront cost. Unreal simple charge a 5% royal on developers who earn more than $3k a quarter. (SN: Apparently there are other options available to replace the royalty %) While Unity3d requires a pro license at $1.5kor $75 /month for games profiting more the $100k a quarter.
For our first project, Codenamed Project Rebirth, we have chosen to stick with Unity3d. Nothing against the Unreal engine, Unity just fits our style of development at this time. Our small staff is knowledgeable and comfortable with Unity. And Unity5 has a ton of great features available to us.
Two year ago when I start this blog, I intend for this to be a place that not only showcased our project but teach other to develop games. I now realized how difficult the task of developing my game and create useful tutorial really is. But I still want to help those who want to make an honest attempt at game development. Most of drafts in queue are Development Tutorials. So I am tweaking my approach at this point. I am also searching for tutorials and new approach to issues we run into with Project Rebirth and my plan is to repost what I find extremely helpful here. I already have a Finite State Machine system post in the works.
Last but not certainly not less, a Project Rebirth update. This will be the first full game by the Dreamers Inc. Studio team. With the release of Unity5, we have been full steam ahead pushing ourselves to the limits. Changes in the way Unity5 handles certain things versus Unity 4.6.3, has caused us to start the project over from scratch. But I can honestly say that more quality work have been done in the last 3 weeks then perhaps the entire course of the last version. We will be posting screenshots of the current development in the coming days.
Thank you for your support
Dreamer
