Sarah Fletcher
101685
http://studiomao.blogspot.com/search/label/BA4%20Project%201
Showing posts with label BA4 Project 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BA4 Project 1. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Zitella Olamic for Reform and Kinship.
As part of the narrative development for my game design, I've come up with a full name for the company of which Z.O.R.K is an acronym for.
Zitella Olamic for Reform and Kinship.
I started of with looking up words that began with the letter Z and matched in meaning with the company's principles. Z.O.R.K is a company which is researching and development new ways and places for human kind to live in as they were able to foresee the decline of Earths stability.
Words begining with Z that I listed for potential use:
Zabra - spanish sailing vessel
Zareba - An african enclosure made of bushes and/or stakes
Zayat - Burmese house of worship / public meeting hall.
Zendo - Hall for Zen Buddist meditation
Zenith - A high point
Zeta - A small room in a church
Zitella - Maiden
Zoetic - Living/vital.
Words beginning with O that I listed for potential use:
Objuration - binding by oath
Oblation - anything offered in worship
obsign - to seal or confirm
Obvert - to alter
Occlusion - closing of an opening or passage
Olamic - belonging to a vast eon
Office - A room, set of rooms, or building used as a place for commercial, professional, or bureaucratic work.
Omnify - to make large or universal
Operations -
Organisation - administration: the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something
I considered the following:
Zenith Office of Research and Kinship.
Zoetic (Vital) operations of research and kinship
Zoetic Office of Reform and Kinship
However I liked the idea of using Zitella ... then I could use a woman in the design ... woman - mother - rebirth sort of thing
I finalised with: Zitella Olamic for Reform and Kinship. The Maiden of rebirth for the future of mankind.
Zitella Olamic for Reform and Kinship.
I started of with looking up words that began with the letter Z and matched in meaning with the company's principles. Z.O.R.K is a company which is researching and development new ways and places for human kind to live in as they were able to foresee the decline of Earths stability.
Words begining with Z that I listed for potential use:
Zabra - spanish sailing vessel
Zareba - An african enclosure made of bushes and/or stakes
Zayat - Burmese house of worship / public meeting hall.
Zendo - Hall for Zen Buddist meditation
Zenith - A high point
Zeta - A small room in a church
Zitella - Maiden
Zoetic - Living/vital.
Words beginning with O that I listed for potential use:
Objuration - binding by oath
Oblation - anything offered in worship
obsign - to seal or confirm
Obvert - to alter
Occlusion - closing of an opening or passage
Olamic - belonging to a vast eon
Office - A room, set of rooms, or building used as a place for commercial, professional, or bureaucratic work.
Omnify - to make large or universal
Operations -
Organisation - administration: the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something
I considered the following:
Zenith Office of Research and Kinship.
Zoetic (Vital) operations of research and kinship
Zoetic Office of Reform and Kinship
However I liked the idea of using Zitella ... then I could use a woman in the design ... woman - mother - rebirth sort of thing
I finalised with: Zitella Olamic for Reform and Kinship. The Maiden of rebirth for the future of mankind.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Children of Zork (Working Title)
After talking with Mark the other week, I'm looking at making some changes and additions to the game design.
Originally I was thinking of the typical War-torn setting with civilisation still around but sparse. Now I'm looking at developing a near completely desolate planet and no mutated humans.
The first redeveloped idea was: Energy resources ran out while the player was in a cryogenic chamber with its own internal power source. Civilisation died out due to lack of power and a social decline. Eventually the power source for the player would run out and they'd awaken from their chamber and find themselves alone in the world (at first).
However, Mark also touched upon the idea of having an out world. So while the player has their set game to play through, when they are out on the street or online, they can play a multi player option.
So from exploring that idea more, I've developed my final idea.
ZORK is a global corporation that is researching methods of space colonisation due to the Earth becoming low on resources and less stable to live on. They've built space colonies that are orbiting the Earth and on the moon and are in the process of getting people ready to take them up there. In a number of ZORK facilities around the Earth there are a number of cryogenic pods. They contain people that put themselves forward for testing out being transported to the space colonies. However, before they were ready to be sent out, the Earth started erupting and a mass evacuation took place without the use of the pods.
Each ZORK facility holding room (known as the Ark) is buried deep underground with extensive security systems as the cryogenic pods are powered by a compound the scientists discovered which is as volatile as nuclear energy but not radio active and is more efficient, lasting longer. When the natural disasters started to occur, the Arks automatically shut off all entrances looking people out as well as in.
In each Ark there are 10 capsules consisting of 5 males and 5 females. Many years later (undisclosed but at least 50 years) the pods start to shut down and automatically open as the power ran out. The security system for the room has already stopped working and so the players first task is finding a way out of the room (through vents or wedging the door open).
Depending on the path the player took to leave the room, they'll end up in different places.
- Some areas of the facility will be flooded and the player can attempt to swim through it but if their oxygen runs out before they escape, they can die right away.
- There is a series of tunnels that connect to other buildings in the city which the company incorporated as a discrete entrances. A few of the tunnels lead to houses outside of the city so that player could end up walking for a long time and feel lost.
Throughout the facility and outside world, the player may come across skeletons.
there are some signs that other people from the pods may be around and have survived as when the player wakes up there are a few pods open already. This is to support the idea of an out-game mode.
The game will have multiplayer features and make use of the Nintendo Streetpass.
The other people players meet when out with the DS will appear every now and then in game as NPCs. If the player manages to find them, they can get a copy of a random item the passing player has on them (such as a copy of a weapon or clothes.)
When the players connect through wireless and the internet they enter eachothers games in a similar manner to Dark/Demon Souls and Journey. The players can choose to help each other or not with solving problems in a similar way to Portal 2 and Little Big Planet. They are able to trade items which can than be installed into their single player game. Maps in multiplayer worlds are random and contain better items such as food and ways of cooking foods but the more valuable items will only be reached with the co-operation of other players.
In the multiplayer world, only 1 other person will be in your world at a time but players do not have control of who it is.
For the iPhone and 3DS the system will make use of Meditated Reality.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Defining and re-imagining the game.
The key elements of Adventure / Zork are:
> Player having a sense of control through the choices available therefore becoming immersed in the world.
> Following a set story line similar to games like Dungeon and Dragons as well as J/RPGs such as Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy X-2 where there are multiple endings possible depending on actions and choices the player has made during the course of the game. Even more so with the Way of the Samurai games; players having the same level of choice to fight.
> Puzzle/Problem solving. For example, finding out how to get out of the maze or moving the dam gates (none of which I managed).
> Discovery. Looking through other text based adventure games on http://www.textadventures.co.uk/ I noticed at lot of the games revolved around the player discovering a world, why someone is missing, why someone is dead, finding a way home. Unlike RPGs, the drive of the story is not to defeat an evil.
Initial Ideas
As I see this style of game more suited to a Teen+ audience and I want to try and appeal to the western FPS market as well as the RPG market my first idea for re-imagining this game is survival in a post-apocalyptic city. Looking at TV adverts and in-store promotions, the most notable games are FPS set in war torn and decayed civilisations so I'm choosing this kind of environment to create a setting FPS players would be familiar in. However, my target audience would still predominantly be RPG players. It should have a similar sense to the Fallout series.
The hero (possibly called Zork, or the city/planet/location is named Zork) would wake up in a similar manner to Faye Valentine and Toole in the Japanese animes Cowboy Bebop and Origin: Spirits of the Past where the characters wake up after being cryogenically frozen. However, they would not have supporting characters helping them along.
Faye in her cryogenic chamber which she lay in suspended animation for 54 years.
Image sourced from animegalleries.
I've beta played ThatGameStudio's Journey and have been inspired a little by that along with the game Fist of the North Star and Lost in Blue
Journey (PS3): The player starts a top a sand dune and looks out across a desert with a few of what I assume to be graves plotted about. The player has no idea why they are there, they're simply the being that they are. The player moves about and discovers actions they are able to do and the game clearly hints that touching the red floating talismans is beneficial to the player. The player soon comes across a larger ruin and finds some of the talismans caged. There are also hidden items that further supports the player. It become evident that the player needs the talismans to further themselves in the game.
For the few levels I played, there is no narrative but there is a spiritual being that appears at the end of each level who displays pictures of what happens, uncovering the story of the world to the player. There are also other assets that do this but aren't vital to find in order to further the game.
However, the game seems rather linear as, from what I've experienced, there is only one route (although the levels seem rather expansive and there's a lot to explore).
The sense of motive/direction in the game is through the massive mountain in the far distance with a beacon of light at the top. There are also different shaped talismans that guide you a little and a star falls (sometimes throwing you of course to a dead end).
Fist of the North Star: The Japanese comic, animation and game is based in a post-apocalyptic world where food and water is sparse. Brutal groups capture weaker people and use them as slaves as well as take over/pillage establishing societies trying to survive. It takes place if different locations from ruined, modern city to mountains. Although this story has a "defeat the tyrant" plot to it, it also has people trying to find ways to survive by making use of what they have and hunting for new resources.
Lost in Blue (DS): For the first play through of this game, the player takes the role of a young boy who has survived a storm at sea and found himself washed up on shore. Their first task is to seek out food, water and shelter as should the players hunger/thirst/stamina gages reach 0%, they can no longer operate and need to recover before their health reaches 0% and they die. As the player progresses they meet another character and discover things about the unknown and seemingly abandoned island. Depending on their actions the player can either find ways off of the island and back home or make the Island their new home. there are plenty of resources about the island such as animals, fish, safe drinking water, fruits, wood and vines. The player actually has to complete actions themselves. eg. If they want to cook, they have to gather and choose the ingredients themselves and then using the stylus, go through each step of the cooking process such as cutting, frying and stirring.
The players stats screen is usually on the top screen of the DS unless map is up (if chose to help the girl, her stats will also be on there). The player hunts, having to aim for themselves with a bow & arrow they made. Using the shoulder buttons and mic, the player has to start a fire in order to cook food and have a good nights rest.
Images sourced from Digital Entertainment News and Nintendo Spin.
> Player having a sense of control through the choices available therefore becoming immersed in the world.
> Following a set story line similar to games like Dungeon and Dragons as well as J/RPGs such as Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy X-2 where there are multiple endings possible depending on actions and choices the player has made during the course of the game. Even more so with the Way of the Samurai games; players having the same level of choice to fight.
> Puzzle/Problem solving. For example, finding out how to get out of the maze or moving the dam gates (none of which I managed).
> Discovery. Looking through other text based adventure games on http://www.textadventures.co.uk/ I noticed at lot of the games revolved around the player discovering a world, why someone is missing, why someone is dead, finding a way home. Unlike RPGs, the drive of the story is not to defeat an evil.
Initial Ideas
As I see this style of game more suited to a Teen+ audience and I want to try and appeal to the western FPS market as well as the RPG market my first idea for re-imagining this game is survival in a post-apocalyptic city. Looking at TV adverts and in-store promotions, the most notable games are FPS set in war torn and decayed civilisations so I'm choosing this kind of environment to create a setting FPS players would be familiar in. However, my target audience would still predominantly be RPG players. It should have a similar sense to the Fallout series.
The hero (possibly called Zork, or the city/planet/location is named Zork) would wake up in a similar manner to Faye Valentine and Toole in the Japanese animes Cowboy Bebop and Origin: Spirits of the Past where the characters wake up after being cryogenically frozen. However, they would not have supporting characters helping them along.
Faye in her cryogenic chamber which she lay in suspended animation for 54 years.Image sourced from animegalleries.
I've beta played ThatGameStudio's Journey and have been inspired a little by that along with the game Fist of the North Star and Lost in Blue
Journey (PS3): The player starts a top a sand dune and looks out across a desert with a few of what I assume to be graves plotted about. The player has no idea why they are there, they're simply the being that they are. The player moves about and discovers actions they are able to do and the game clearly hints that touching the red floating talismans is beneficial to the player. The player soon comes across a larger ruin and finds some of the talismans caged. There are also hidden items that further supports the player. It become evident that the player needs the talismans to further themselves in the game.
For the few levels I played, there is no narrative but there is a spiritual being that appears at the end of each level who displays pictures of what happens, uncovering the story of the world to the player. There are also other assets that do this but aren't vital to find in order to further the game.
However, the game seems rather linear as, from what I've experienced, there is only one route (although the levels seem rather expansive and there's a lot to explore).
The sense of motive/direction in the game is through the massive mountain in the far distance with a beacon of light at the top. There are also different shaped talismans that guide you a little and a star falls (sometimes throwing you of course to a dead end).
The 2nd level in Journey. In the background you can see the mountain.
Image sourced from ThatGameCompany.
Image sourced from ThatGameCompany.
Fist of the North Star: The Japanese comic, animation and game is based in a post-apocalyptic world where food and water is sparse. Brutal groups capture weaker people and use them as slaves as well as take over/pillage establishing societies trying to survive. It takes place if different locations from ruined, modern city to mountains. Although this story has a "defeat the tyrant" plot to it, it also has people trying to find ways to survive by making use of what they have and hunting for new resources.
Lost in Blue (DS): For the first play through of this game, the player takes the role of a young boy who has survived a storm at sea and found himself washed up on shore. Their first task is to seek out food, water and shelter as should the players hunger/thirst/stamina gages reach 0%, they can no longer operate and need to recover before their health reaches 0% and they die. As the player progresses they meet another character and discover things about the unknown and seemingly abandoned island. Depending on their actions the player can either find ways off of the island and back home or make the Island their new home. there are plenty of resources about the island such as animals, fish, safe drinking water, fruits, wood and vines. The player actually has to complete actions themselves. eg. If they want to cook, they have to gather and choose the ingredients themselves and then using the stylus, go through each step of the cooking process such as cutting, frying and stirring.
The players stats screen is usually on the top screen of the DS unless map is up (if chose to help the girl, her stats will also be on there). The player hunts, having to aim for themselves with a bow & arrow they made. Using the shoulder buttons and mic, the player has to start a fire in order to cook food and have a good nights rest.Images sourced from Digital Entertainment News and Nintendo Spin.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Adventure / Zork
After a very long summer I'm back at NUCA and all set with the new project. Over the summer I was working on some personal ideas so I'm excited for this project as I believe I'll be able to incorporate those ideas into the work.
The task for Project 1 is to re-imagine and redefine the game Zork for a modern day audience. It's a text based adventure/discovery game with absolutely no images and requires players to type in commands.
Here are some details about the game sourced from http://www.infocom-if.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
I played through the game a little last night and soon found myself very frustrated.
On my first try, I entered a maze after obtaining an Axe, Elvish sword and a bag of food. I soon lost my bag of food to a thief and then ended up killing myself. I literally wandered the maze for about an hour and felt like the game was just trolling/playing around me.
I tried hitting the wall with my axe only to be asked: "What wall would you like to hit. The Granite Wall or the Surrounding Wall?" I chose to hit the surrounding wall and got this response: "I've known some strange people but fighting a surrounding wall?" so I tried hitting the granite wall only to be told that there was no Granite Wall. (Well why then ask if I want to hit it?!). Eventually I committed suicide and was given another chance to play the game. Lost the items I had though, except for the lantern which was back at the place I found it.
During the new life I came across a Platinum Bar. I tried to pick it up and just got "bar bar..." as my response. I tried to look at it some more to just get "bar bar..." as my response. I got that response for a few other actions I tried. At that point I just quit.
With Zork, you need to be quite specific with your commands and wording. For example, during another attempt I died very early into the game because I just used the command "attack" instead of specifying that I wanted to attack with my sword. Even though the game knew I had a sword and a knife, the script had me fighting with my bare hands. Which is somewhat annoying as usually, the game asks what you want to complete an action with if you have more than one item relating to it.
Playing Zork somewhat reminded me of the games from Neutral where the player is for some unknown reason trapped in a locked room and has to find their way out of it.
Items are laid out in plain sight as well as concealed with hints to their whereaboutes. The player relies a lot on their observational skills and paying attention to the smallest details a lot like in Zork, I believe. They also may end up restarting the game a lot and back tracking. It is as an immersive game as Zork because you truely feel trapped and helpless in the room.
http://neutralxe.net/esc/index.html
Zork also reminded me of the old Encarta Encyclopedia game; Mindmaze in the sense of it is also a trial and error game (if you dont know the answers to the questions). In Zork you have the option to attack something or not, enter a room or not and so forth as you try and go further into the underground empire and each option you pick leads to a different result and even death. In Mindmaze you have some of the same options and items laid out in the room to help you (pntings, treasure chests, people).
The task for Project 1 is to re-imagine and redefine the game Zork for a modern day audience. It's a text based adventure/discovery game with absolutely no images and requires players to type in commands.
Here are some details about the game sourced from http://www.infocom-if.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Welcome to ZORK! You are about to experience a classic interactive fantasy, set in a magical universe. The ZORK trilogy takes place in the ruins of an ancient empire lying far underground. You, a dauntless treasure-hunter, are venturing into this dangerous land in search of wealth and adventure. Because each part of the ZORK saga is a completely independent story, you can explore them in any order. However, since ZORK I is the least difficult, it is usually the best place to begin.
Many strange tales have been told of the fabulous treasures, exotic creatures and diabolical puzzles in the Great Underground Empire. As an aspiring adventurer you will undoubtedly want to locate the treasures and deposit them in your trophy case. You'd better equip yourself with a source of light (for the caverns are dark) and weapons (for some of the inhabitants are unfriendly - especially the thief, a skilled pickpocket and ruthless opponent.
Commands
In the Zork games, the player is not limited to verb-noun commands, such as "take lamp", "open mailbox", and so forth. Instead, the parser supports more sophisticated sentences such as "put the lamp and sword in the case", "look under the rug", and "drop all except lantern". The game understands many common verbs, including "take", "drop", "examine", "attack", "climb", "open", "close", "count", and many more. The games also support commands to the game directly (rather than taking actions within the fictional setting of the game) such as "save" and "restore", "script" and "unscript" (which begin and end a text transcript of the game text), "restart", and "quit".
In all of the Zork text adventures, the following commands apply:
> n, s, e, w
Short for "go north", "go south", etc.
> nw, ne, sw, se
Short for "go northwest", "go southwest", etc.
> u and d
Short for "go up" and "go down"
> i
Reveals a player's inventory
> verbose
Gives full descriptions after each command (rather than omitting details already given to the player)
> score
Displays the player's current score, number of moves, and ranking
I played through the game a little last night and soon found myself very frustrated.
On my first try, I entered a maze after obtaining an Axe, Elvish sword and a bag of food. I soon lost my bag of food to a thief and then ended up killing myself. I literally wandered the maze for about an hour and felt like the game was just trolling/playing around me.
I tried hitting the wall with my axe only to be asked: "What wall would you like to hit. The Granite Wall or the Surrounding Wall?" I chose to hit the surrounding wall and got this response: "I've known some strange people but fighting a surrounding wall?" so I tried hitting the granite wall only to be told that there was no Granite Wall. (Well why then ask if I want to hit it?!). Eventually I committed suicide and was given another chance to play the game. Lost the items I had though, except for the lantern which was back at the place I found it.
During the new life I came across a Platinum Bar. I tried to pick it up and just got "bar bar..." as my response. I tried to look at it some more to just get "bar bar..." as my response. I got that response for a few other actions I tried. At that point I just quit.
With Zork, you need to be quite specific with your commands and wording. For example, during another attempt I died very early into the game because I just used the command "attack" instead of specifying that I wanted to attack with my sword. Even though the game knew I had a sword and a knife, the script had me fighting with my bare hands. Which is somewhat annoying as usually, the game asks what you want to complete an action with if you have more than one item relating to it.
Playing Zork somewhat reminded me of the games from Neutral where the player is for some unknown reason trapped in a locked room and has to find their way out of it.
Items are laid out in plain sight as well as concealed with hints to their whereaboutes. The player relies a lot on their observational skills and paying attention to the smallest details a lot like in Zork, I believe. They also may end up restarting the game a lot and back tracking. It is as an immersive game as Zork because you truely feel trapped and helpless in the room.
http://neutralxe.net/esc/index.html
Zork also reminded me of the old Encarta Encyclopedia game; Mindmaze in the sense of it is also a trial and error game (if you dont know the answers to the questions). In Zork you have the option to attack something or not, enter a room or not and so forth as you try and go further into the underground empire and each option you pick leads to a different result and even death. In Mindmaze you have some of the same options and items laid out in the room to help you (pntings, treasure chests, people).
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