As I have taken Media Studies for A level, I already have a knowledge of searching for genre conventions of trailers, so ideas of what to include in my trailer came naturally; I was keen to have short bursts of action (old school pac-man eating his 3d incarnation, and facing off against gangstas), dramatic text between shots ('BUT THIS TIME'), and a one liner ('this punk be more like 2pac man!').
However, despite a growing trend towards imitating hollywood film trailers in the games industry, there remain many trailers that are old fashioned or completely off-the-wall; adding to this, my trailer was for a flash remakle of Pac-man, and therefore had to be created on flash. Therefore, a level of improvisation here was essential, especially considering a clear look and feel had not been picked out at the presentation, but rather a combination of all 3 look and feel ideas. This meant a larger degree of freedom but more thought needed to actually implement everything; as a result, the trailer has also ended up a little longer than 30 seconds. However, I believe the 30 second limit is detrimental to the aim of creating a trailer, considering most trailers I studied went on for a matter of minutes.
Creating the trailer footage on flash lead to some issues as well. Firstly, I realised after creating half of it that movie clips would not appear when it exported as an avi and had to go back and change each movie clip to frame by frame sequences, which was a very time-consuming task. To add to this, exporting as an avi rather than swf made the animation lower quality than I'd anticipated; I also had to export it another time simply because I didn't click to enable sound initially, which I'd assumed would have been something that worked by default. Everything stayed in sync and was lag-free, on the other hand, so it was not total failure.
Once imported to After Effects, the first thing to do was attempt to improve the quality in some sections; I therefore edited the opacity to improve this slightly. I also played around with positioning, enlarging, and shrinking the video for extra zoom effects and shaking effect on the eating scene. I also added a rotation spin on the end to add to the impact of the gunshot. After effects was annoying with rendering and exporting however... this could also have been due to the college computers. They continued to run out of disk space when rendering, but the movie worked when done as an export. I don't see how the changes made the file so much larger, that was unexpected as well.
Overall After Effects proved a handy tool, but I found no use in this project for its 3d capabilities. Had I been using 3ds max as well, it would have been a different story I imagine. If I were to use after effects more in the future, I would certainly look more into its 3d capabilities and other features. I'm not so keen on premiere, it seems overly fussy with files. As for my video, I'm fairly happy with how it's turned out; however, I hope the next flash fixes the problem where flashes refuse to export movie clips properly when exporting to avi format.
Thursday 28 February 2008
Tuesday 26 February 2008
Jazzy Jones game log
Alot of people would disagree, but I personally think this is the most charming flash game I have ever played. The gameplay is top-notch and addictive despite being simplistic, the graphics have charm in a simplistic way, and every spelling mistake adds to the childish charm. The character design is similarly wonderful, with such legendary characters as rainbow car, bomb guy, and of course jazzy jones himself. Everything about it makes me laugh as a flash animator... the badly done backgrounds, the overuse of default radial colour fills, continuity errors, etc. The creator was either the ultimate flash noobie, or a skilled flash artist with a great sense of humour. It is a fact this game made it into the newgrounds top 50, which is testament to its popularity. I think I have to give it 9/10. I'm also considering having some references to it in my flash game.
Monday 25 February 2008
quick update
I now have two FLAs saved, one with items and a score, one without. Also fixed the problem where health and score wouldn't appear on level 2; I simply needed to copy and paste a few lines of actionscript. However, the score and health is reset from the previous level.
Due to fixing this, I'll probably keep the version with the pickups and health. I've added in cat enemies within the level's ground to add an extra element of gameplay; previously travelling through the ground was a mere glitchy shortcut, but now it adds more depth, so this gitch has worked out to my advantage.
Benio's cat lamping adventure: update
I've been working on this alot over half term, experimenting with the code in places. I've successfully been capable of adjusting enemy speeds, jump speed, and gravity for falling from jumps. I've also started adding in new enemy types. This is the problem with using online flash tutorials... often they do not explain clearly how to adjust such things. As it was I had great difficulty attempting to make a pick up that sends you to the next scene upon contact, so I ended up adding a couple of buttons into the game that you have to click. The kitten's plea 'don't click on me' hints that is exactly what the player must do.
I've finished the first level; it differs from my initial idea for it. This is due to code limiting what I could do with it; the camera has been a pain in particular... however, I like it better now than what I had planned. Upon reaching the end of the level, you must backtrack to the start after a very brief cut scene showing the kitten boss escaping; the kitten hides at the starting point. Finding it there initiates a joke boss battle; you have control for half a second before Benio pummels the kitten in a cut scene. This clears the level, and you advance to the next level.
The second level is causing problems. One problem is that the score does not seem to carry on between scenes, making collecting the nike hoodies pointless. I could fix this by returning to gameplay on the same scene, but it would become very, very tiresome to have to trudge through the opening level each time I want to look at the second. I'm considering removing the score and collectable hoodies altogether; I think the logical thing would be to save separate FLAs, one with the score and collectables, one without.
Removing the score would also get rid of the glitch that spawns you back at the starting point when you fall off/hit a spike (it does get rid of it, I've tested it). This is beneficial to an extent, but at the moment the chase scene can be cheated by simply falling off the edge. I will get rid of it in a new FLA.
One final problem is one I have had for a long time with flash: lag causing sound to play (in some cases) much earlier than its designated keyframe. So far I have been putting sounds into movie clips to limit this, but this is a problem for synching new music into the second level... when I tested, it played halfway through the boss battle on level 1 instead. Perhaps this won't be as problematic on the college computers?
Thursday 14 February 2008
Powerpoint slides
I'm still unsure exactly how to structure the presentation, seeing as much of it is impossible without having the game finished. I'm thinking it would be most logical to structure it with similar points to my statement of intent, and include a rough walkthrough of the first level. I was thinking of splitting it into roughly 5 sections:
1: Working title, benio's cat lamping adventure
2: The competition itself, and an explanation of it for a few slides to demonstrate my understanding of the brief.
3: The idea for my game, which would also take a few slides, and explain how my game links to the competition. This could be explained with sketches of characters and levels, as well as other evidence of planning.
4: A brief summary of the games I researched/logged that influenced my game, for visuals, gameplay etc. In other words, more planning.
5: A walkthrough of the first level of my game. This would include talking through where problems were amended, why I included some features, etc. I would of course use screenshots of the actual game here. This would cover the making of the game including errors, the final game, and how I worked to make it to deadline.
6: Does this area interest me, how would it be useful at a later stage, how could the game be improved. Important question: does this have potential for the final major project?
1: Working title, benio's cat lamping adventure
2: The competition itself, and an explanation of it for a few slides to demonstrate my understanding of the brief.
3: The idea for my game, which would also take a few slides, and explain how my game links to the competition. This could be explained with sketches of characters and levels, as well as other evidence of planning.
4: A brief summary of the games I researched/logged that influenced my game, for visuals, gameplay etc. In other words, more planning.
5: A walkthrough of the first level of my game. This would include talking through where problems were amended, why I included some features, etc. I would of course use screenshots of the actual game here. This would cover the making of the game including errors, the final game, and how I worked to make it to deadline.
6: Does this area interest me, how would it be useful at a later stage, how could the game be improved. Important question: does this have potential for the final major project?
Tuesday 12 February 2008
game log: super smash bros melee (adventure mode)
I already have a game log for Super Smash bros Melee, but for this unit I should really go into a little more detail on a specific aspect of it: the adventure mode. I've already explained how good the fighting is: at first glance simple yet packed with hidden depth. But how does the adventure mode's 2d side scrolling platforming work?
Quite well, actually. Due to the nature of the game, it has been made largely easy, considering slower characters will have a harder time navigating the levels. Also, enemies can be dispatched either by jumping on their heads classic mario style or by attacking them with techniques, which makes them a small challenge; however, the platforming sections are broken up by encounters with enemy playable characters, who pose a much bigger threat.
The levels are also reasonably varied, with a simple left to right mario-themed stage, a labyrinthine zelda stage with a randomly spawning exit, and a rising ice climbers mountain. I'm aiming to make my game very similar to this, so it is certainly one of the more useful games I looked at.
That's not to say it works perfectly. Ways to improve it would be to add in more challenging regular enemies, for example the hammer bros from mario would have fit in perfectly, or adding more hazards into the levels. Of course, the sequel Super Smash bros Brawl is soon to be released with an apparently much-improved adventure mode, so whether these flaws have been addressed is a question that will be answered very soon.
Quite well, actually. Due to the nature of the game, it has been made largely easy, considering slower characters will have a harder time navigating the levels. Also, enemies can be dispatched either by jumping on their heads classic mario style or by attacking them with techniques, which makes them a small challenge; however, the platforming sections are broken up by encounters with enemy playable characters, who pose a much bigger threat.
The levels are also reasonably varied, with a simple left to right mario-themed stage, a labyrinthine zelda stage with a randomly spawning exit, and a rising ice climbers mountain. I'm aiming to make my game very similar to this, so it is certainly one of the more useful games I looked at.
That's not to say it works perfectly. Ways to improve it would be to add in more challenging regular enemies, for example the hammer bros from mario would have fit in perfectly, or adding more hazards into the levels. Of course, the sequel Super Smash bros Brawl is soon to be released with an apparently much-improved adventure mode, so whether these flaws have been addressed is a question that will be answered very soon.
revised statement of intent
I'd like to ideally work alongside the jayisgames.com competition, in which the aim is to create a flash game roughly themed around the word 'upgrade'. Of course if it's preferable to keep the imagine cup theme of a sustainable environment, that can be incorporated into my idea as well.
The idea for my game is a comedy one: evil cats are dumping wase in the rivers and therefore polluting the environment (linking to the idea of a sustainable environment). Enter the protagonist Benio, champion cat-fighter, to save the day. he must set out to punish the evil cats and find the source of their malice in a side scrolling 2d beat em up. Bonus points are also awarded for picking up hoodies on the way through levels, as Benio must gain some extra profit for his efforts.
Tying to the theme of upgrades, the cats become progressively harder, until on the last level you're expected to take down a lion. However they are not the only enemies to receive upgrades: Benio also receives upgrades in his arsenal of hand to hand techniques, starting with a powerful uppercut with a small shockwave effect. Eventually he acquires a motorcycle to use in his techniques in order to fight the rising threat. I'm also thinking of incorporating a bonus level with the motorbike where you must hit cats in first person as you drive, but this may not be possible with time constraints.
I've based the protagonist Benio quite clearly around Nintendo's Wario, whose 2d platformers are quite similar to what I'm aiming for in this project; therefore, Benio's similar design is a homage to Wario. they are also similar in that they could be called anti-heroes. However if the design is deigned too similar, changes can be made in colour scheme etc.
I think this could make for a popular viral online flash game with its sense of humour and references to Nintendo platformers. it should especially appeal to males aged 13-20 who see the funny side in pummeling often-defenseless cats. I'd also have some blood in scraps to increase the appeal to that audience. Although some may complain about abuse to cats, the fact is it is a comedy game, and similarly there has been cat juggling in films in the past for comedy (for example 'The Jerk').
My action plan:
1. Research 2d side scrolling or 2d beat em up games (Viewtiful Joe/VJ2, Super Smash bros Melee, Streetfighter Alpha Anthology, Warioland 2)
2. Finish sketching rough outlines of the levels
3. Design characters and backgrounds to work with
4. Research actionscript necessary to complete the game (may overlap with further work)
5. Make character animations, put backgrounds together for the first level
6. Make the first level interactive using actionscript
7. If all the above have been covered, design more levels into the game
The idea for my game is a comedy one: evil cats are dumping wase in the rivers and therefore polluting the environment (linking to the idea of a sustainable environment). Enter the protagonist Benio, champion cat-fighter, to save the day. he must set out to punish the evil cats and find the source of their malice in a side scrolling 2d beat em up. Bonus points are also awarded for picking up hoodies on the way through levels, as Benio must gain some extra profit for his efforts.
Tying to the theme of upgrades, the cats become progressively harder, until on the last level you're expected to take down a lion. However they are not the only enemies to receive upgrades: Benio also receives upgrades in his arsenal of hand to hand techniques, starting with a powerful uppercut with a small shockwave effect. Eventually he acquires a motorcycle to use in his techniques in order to fight the rising threat. I'm also thinking of incorporating a bonus level with the motorbike where you must hit cats in first person as you drive, but this may not be possible with time constraints.
I've based the protagonist Benio quite clearly around Nintendo's Wario, whose 2d platformers are quite similar to what I'm aiming for in this project; therefore, Benio's similar design is a homage to Wario. they are also similar in that they could be called anti-heroes. However if the design is deigned too similar, changes can be made in colour scheme etc.
I think this could make for a popular viral online flash game with its sense of humour and references to Nintendo platformers. it should especially appeal to males aged 13-20 who see the funny side in pummeling often-defenseless cats. I'd also have some blood in scraps to increase the appeal to that audience. Although some may complain about abuse to cats, the fact is it is a comedy game, and similarly there has been cat juggling in films in the past for comedy (for example 'The Jerk').
My action plan:
1. Research 2d side scrolling or 2d beat em up games (Viewtiful Joe/VJ2, Super Smash bros Melee, Streetfighter Alpha Anthology, Warioland 2)
2. Finish sketching rough outlines of the levels
3. Design characters and backgrounds to work with
4. Research actionscript necessary to complete the game (may overlap with further work)
5. Make character animations, put backgrounds together for the first level
6. Make the first level interactive using actionscript
7. If all the above have been covered, design more levels into the game
Saturday 9 February 2008
game trailers...
Encountered a time consuming setback. I'm creating the trailer on flash first, before exporting it as an avi into premiere and after effects for further editing. However, I discovered movie clips don't play when it is in avi format. I've therefore had to go back and change all the movie clips into frame by frame sections... thankfully I've done all the important ones. There are a few left over that I haven't edited, but they were simple and unimpressive to begin with, and I'd be better off concentrating my time on the rest of the trailer.
Sunday 3 February 2008
Streetfighter Alpha Anthology
As the name suggests, this is a collection of the streetfighter alpha series: streetfighter alpha, alpha 2, alpha 2 gold, alpha 3, as well as Super Gem Fighters. Now this is certainly nice to get a grip on how the series has evolved... but that is its fatal flaw. Streetfighter alpha 3 has the most characters, the most polished gameplay, the most involving (if still limited) arcade storylines, and is the most fun out of all the alpha games. Once you've tried them all, you'll only want to play the third one. Now it does succeed in showing evolution this way at least... with one exception. Alpha 2 gold is absolutely pointless. As far as I can tell it's just Alpha 2 with a gold tint on the title screen and different default colours for every character. Oh, and don't get me started on Super Gem Fighters, as far as I'm concerned it never existed.
However vitriol aside, streetfighter alpha 3 is a great fighter, one of the best 2d beat-em-ups out there. Varied characters, great fighting system, and dated but still stylish graphics. And Alpha 1 and Alpha 2, though clearly inferior, are still good fighters.
Overall I have to give the game a 7 both for myself and the target audience of 12+, as criticisms aside it is very decent. Just not fantastic.
However vitriol aside, streetfighter alpha 3 is a great fighter, one of the best 2d beat-em-ups out there. Varied characters, great fighting system, and dated but still stylish graphics. And Alpha 1 and Alpha 2, though clearly inferior, are still good fighters.
Overall I have to give the game a 7 both for myself and the target audience of 12+, as criticisms aside it is very decent. Just not fantastic.
Warioland 2
A platform game for the Game Boy, Warioland 2's narrative follows Wario's quest to retrieve the treasure stolen from him, while amassing plenty of new treasure along the way. Since his motivation is greed, he should really be seen as an anti-hero... differentiating it from Mario games which have similar gameplay. The adventure is also less linear than 2d mario levels, with 5 separate paths through the game and plenty of detours on each level for additional treasure, giving the game impressive scope for replay value. The graphics are unimpressive by today's standards, but consideirng it is for the old Game Boy this is irrelevant; it has to be judged on gameplay. However, one flaw with the game is its difficulty, which is largely quite easy due to the fact Wario cannot actually die. That said, the difficulty lies more in platforming and puzzles, and boss battles are a reasonable challenge as they often have an area effect where if you mess up you are ejected from the battleground. This is also a positive to avoid frustrating younger players, who are definitely the game's target audience. That said, I still find it fun shoulder barging hapless creatures to their doom... perhaps it's just nostalgia.
Overall I'd give the game a personal 6... but an 8 for its target audience, especially as I spent hours on it as a kid.
Overall I'd give the game a personal 6... but an 8 for its target audience, especially as I spent hours on it as a kid.
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