Blender: First Impression + GE System

So today I wanted to take some time to understand Blender, because I've wondered what it could do for me and what kind of game ideas I can run by it. I guess it's an opportunity for me to filter out most of my either overambitious or lacking ideas by studying the possibilities and tools, so I'm not aiming too high or low.


At the start, the interface was really annoying especially when I started using the 3D viewer. Even when I changed it into perspective mode (definitely helpful), it's still the same controls to take a look around my scene and I can't really control it as well as I wanted to, maybe Mike will help me with that.

But then I started with the Game Engine (GE), it uses this "Logic" system and I was able to create an action that mapped my keyboard input to movement of a cube on my screen, and it worked instantly. Now that was really cool, and though it's a completely basic action, I totally understood the system of connecting the Sensor to the Controller and then the Actuator.

Though I'm not sure if I'll use this for the Game Engine, I'll have to invest more time into it, and then invest more time into understanding the modelling aspect that will be the essential elements to the game. Even if I don't use the GE, I think the modelling will be useful to me in some form or another.

Subspace Presentation

So as part of this module, I worked on an analysis for the still running massively multiplayer online 2D spaceship fighter game Continuum (formerly recognised as Subspace). The game was originally developed in 1995 as "Sniper", which was a project that utilised advanced (at that time) prediction algorithm(s) that reduced network overhead (lag), which in turn enabled a larger multiple player online game to be played over dial-up connections. This was the only real "online game" innovation it has had, but the game itself has had a huge influence on other sci-fi related videogames.


The game was released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment publicly as Subspace in 1997, but the servers were shut down after a few years. The game was originally developed by Burst, led by Jeff Peterson (aka Jeff P.) and Rod Humble, for the US branch of the now-defunct Virgin Interactive. Later on, Jeff Petersen would use SubSpace as inspiration for Sony Online Entertainment's Infantry and Cosmic Rift. This was when Estonian developer Priit Kasesalu (who later became head programmer developing Skype and Kazaa) developed an identical client and renamed it "Continuum". 




Games today strive for the kind of support from players with new mods and maps that this game has had for 13 years, and that is what interests me a hell of a lot. Also notably the well-structured functional chat system which accommodated the full spectrum of communication. It works simply and allows players to effectively communicate with each other efficiently, and I think that is part of the massively addictive quality that this game holds. The ability to customise and create your own maps and additions to the game is something that may appeal more to a different area of the gaming population, the ability to modify aspects of the game and have that control makes people want to share experiences fascinates me. This aspect also seems to contribute to the feeling of "community", as even relations between the playing population and the staff members that moderate the game. In fact, I was actually staff for a while myself, so I had the ability to host games, answer help calls, ban players who would make the general gaming experience less pleasant for others (cheaters, racists, spammers and other abusive individuals).


But anyway, I think I took a lot in from actually analysing this game, it has allowed me to take into account the gaming experience more than the technicalities and the physical aspects that make those experiences possible. I've looked into many areas of the game although that may not actually be reflected in my powerpoint slides, and I'm happy that I have taken enough into account so that I understand what kind of output I want for my game.

Mindmapping + General Direction

Okay, so I've taken the time to mindmap what I'm going to work on with this project by developing a mindmap that let me understand what's in my reach, what I should look into and just to generally see what I'd like to do. Here it is:

So now my mind is focused on a few points, relevant to what kind of outcome I want out of this and what targets I want to hit:

• User Experience - I want people to enjoy playing my game; It's probably a bit of a "Captain Obvious" thing to say, but I'm starting to realise that although I'm the one actually working on this project, it's not about me because I'm not designing the game so that I can enjoy it. That's pretty much number one on my mind.
• Audience - I want to identify with the people playing the game and develop a system that decides how my users will feel. Hopefully I can do this by reviewing a couple of games and their rules once I get some more defined concepts out of my next "idea" mindmap.
• Fluency - I may have a personal bias towards this, but I'm generally a sucker for really smooth gameplay, smooth animation. With that I normally see simple games with these great subtleties and though I may not have an idea yet, it would be nice to capture a similar experience.

Now looking over what I've just said, I know I have these thoughts in my head and it's quite tempting for me to go with it, but I want to maintain a very open mind. Some projects before, I could have done better and let inspiration hit me from every direction, so now seems like a good opportunity to let things take their natural course. My next update will have some general game ideas which I'll have to talk to Mike about, I haven't had a chance to so I should really get that out of the way so I don't fall in some massive disasterous pothole..

Hi!

Hey, this will be my update blog for my Games Design module at Northumbria University. I'll be updating this with little tidbits and interesting things, work, inspiration, ideas, and more.

I will update this later with my initial thoughts, plans, and maybe some other interesting things.