Escape from Alcatraz! From your computer!

Mircea and I made a game over the weekend! The driving force was my Games Production class at the Academy, but wow - it's so much more than that to actually finish a project, no matter how small and hurried

Mircea did the more mathy elements and I worked on design and interface.

Known Bugs: Something weird is going on with the 'play again' function... Me and my history with 'play again' errors, huh? I didn't really have time to investigate fully and it's not crippling, so I posted anyway. Hopefully to be fixed in the future.

Aaannd I painted that Alcatraz picture!

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Back to Work

It feels good to make stuff again.

Models AND a brand new Unity showcase.

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3 Hour Water Balloons

Mircea and I found water balloons at Walgreens the other day... And then I made a mini game!
Completion time ~ 3hrs

Maybe I'll take it a little farther and put some art assets in it one of these days. HA.

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Living "The Dream"

My last blog post was 6 and a half months ago. Instead of blogging I was fervently working alongside JM and our team of 17 game design students to make AAU's first prototype game. The sum of our work can be found in the official, politically correct and gorgeously written postmortem here:

Adrift Prototype Postmortem

Apart from that I'll enjoy the liberty of my own webspace and say

HOLY CRAP.

This game really opened my eyes to the game production world, and sucked up a good portion of my total life energy in the process. Short and bitter-sweet, here are the things I learned:
-A good partner makes all the difference in the world. JM, thanks for the tag-teaming, the art lessons, the Subway sandwiches, and the perspective. I couldn't ask for a better Art Director, and I can't wait to see what we'll do next.
-Simple is never simple enough.
-Experience is irreplaceable.
-Bunches of stuff about modeling, rigging, animation, scripting, game engines, pipeline production... etc. 
-Being a leader is not pursuing glory; for yourself or for your team. It's pursuing your passion, and welcoming those who'd like to share the experience. So, I should probably chill out and enjoy the ride next time.

A rephrasing of my previous conclusion: Cheers to you, Island Game.We'll remember you alright, and it'll take quite a few more 'cheers' to remember you fondly.

To the team:
Jean-Marie Scheid
Robert Timberlake
Jacob Stove Lorentzen
Marquis Houghton
Gary Kullar
Eric Rissler
Alex Sudderth
Chris Edwards
David Li
Dan Cooprider
Joseph Chan
Leif Peterson
Luis Garza
Manjit Kattaria
Tim Woody
Sam Hum

And our supporters:

Christopher Schenck
David Goodwine

Mircea Marghidanu

Yva-Marie Scheid

Katie Anderson (soon-to-be Scheid!!! :D)

And my family!!

Dad, Mom & Lexi :) Love you guys!

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Website Remodel

Growing up

From the beginning, I realized that reading white text on a black background leads to bleeding eyeballs... But what can I say, I couldn't resist the sexy black & red color scheme :) In an attempt to redeem myself I've made some changes to the site's appearance. Enjoy!

/* Note: Post is a bit late. Whoops! */

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Tutorials in Prezi

Unity Tutorials in Prezi

So my buddy David Bull introduced me to a new presentation program called Prezi, and it's really fueled my desire to communicate with people (with shiny visual aids, of course). I'm pretty short on time these days so I'll leave you to explore on your own - I'll have the tutorials in my portfolio soon.

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Island Game: Update 01

Short and sweet.

New Features:

-Coconut Physics

-Level design progress

-Lockheed Electra ;)

-Temp sand texture

-Dodo spheres!

Obvious flaws:

-Multiple input error. Cannot walk forward, hold kick, and turn left at the same time

-It's still not a game...

On the Way:

-Optimization. Need it bad.

-Gameplay

-Menu Screen

-Style

-Cutscenes? Hopefully?

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Unite 09

This post took far too long to show up, but... better late than never right? Oct 27-30 was the third Unity conference here in San Francisco, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend! I learned a boatload about my favorite game development tool, made incredible new friends, partied like crazy with them, and gathered some of the most powerful motivation since... ever! It was one of the most amazing weeks of my life.

I'll try to keep this brief, and sum up what the conference really meant to me (because to try and tell the whole story in a blog post would be like... int pi = 3.14159265. explicit conversion error). Everything Unity does opens up game development to the little people. Flash web games have been around for what seems like forever, but let's be honest, no one really took them seriously. But now we have the chance to make professional level games... with very amateur level resources. This is a beautiful opportunity for me: a chance to make real, playable games just a year into pursuing my game design career. I intend to take full advantage of everything Unity gives me. I've rediscovered my love for coding, and I've been reminded that now is my time to push myself, learn new things, and have fun while doing it. 

I'd also like to give a shout out to all of the awesome people I got to meet and spend time with that week, Derek & Sean at WishB, Tom, Mircea & Jeff from Unity, Mauricio, Paul, Amilton, and so many more. You're all spectacular professionals, and you all know how to have a great time :) I'm honored to have had the privilege.

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'Island Game' Pre-Alpha

Pre-Alpha Release!!

I say that so I sound cool and like an actual game developer. This is the first legitimate Unity build of the island game.

These are the controls:

-Arrow keys to move

-Left ctrl to run (extra fast for testing purposes)

-Space to kick

Go play! Then come back and read.

Here are the highlights:

-The island is explorable! Yay!

-Animation is in place (Needs so much work though, spent 5 min on it)

-Awesome music by Arthur Ramazanov

-Ambient sound effects functional

-One kickable coconut tree! Yay again!

Here is the much larger list of things that need improvement or work in general:

-First and foremost, the file is huge. 12.42 Mb. To give you some comparison, Unity game Lego Star Wars Quest for R2D2 by Three Melons, a full length web game, is 11.5 Mb total. My new buddy Pato Jutard, Technology Orchestrator at Three Melons, gave us an awesome presentation on the optimization of that game though, so there is hope. I'll need to put a lot of my future efforts toward minimizing asset use.

-Animation fits in both. I realize it's terrible. Give me some slack. 5 min.

-Needs more level design.

-Possible bug? When running in tight circles, there's some sort of jittery lag... Need to look into it. Thanks to Mike for play testing and finding that :)

And here are the things on the way:

-More scenery, interactive objects

-Kickable object physics

-Further development of all assets

-Boss battle. Thanks to Mircea for the coding tips :)

-Cutscenes

-Dodos.

-And much much more. Stay tuned!

To all of you who read through all that, I appreciate it :) I'd mostly like to keep this stuff around to look back on when we're done with the game, but it's awesome to have you guys to show stuff to. Keeps me motivated. I'd love to hear questions, comments, suggestions... If you see something I should know about, or just a new perspective to offer, comment like crazy! Thanks guys :)

/*Personal notes: Pay attention to animation transitions when finalizing... Wonky (inconsistent) when returning from run to walk and idle. Walking backwards seems to fix the issue...? */

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Robot Dog Progress Showcase

Robot Dog (not really robotic yet)
3hrs

672 Polys

1310 Tris

/* Notes: This fella will be the playable character of the solo game I'm currently working on. I want him to exude strength and stability, but he should also be lovable. He is a caretaker. He'll need to be expressive, but within his limits of robotic movement and gesture. Finding the right balance of organic and robotic design elements will be crucial... and slightly difficult for me. 

Structure changes for upcoming progress updates should include:

-Major revisions to the general shape of the head and neck (he kind of looks like a mule from the front... something from Viva Pinata maybe... Not ok)

-A closer look at how the back legs of a dog are actually shaped. His are pretty chunky, and oddly angled.

-Addition of purposeful design to points such as the eyes, nose, jaw, ears, tail, joints.

My thanks to Micah Moore, my new Maya teacher for this semester, for his already helpful advice. I'll be designing Robot Dog throughout his class, so his input will likely have a pretty big influence on the game's feel. */

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For Good Measure

 

 The Website needed a little more shotgun.

 And just for fun, some AK too:

 

 This is how we play where I come from :)

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Movie Review: Gamer

So I just saw the movie Gamer, and I have to admit it was fun. I'm no film critic, and I have pretty low entertainment standards when it comes to movies (I own and enjoy Into the Blue), but I feel obligated to throw my thoughts up on the blog due to the related theme. First of all I'd like to note that although it is indeed titled 'Gamer' this movie was not made by gamers, anyone who actually knows a gamer, or anyone who cares about what gamers would like to see in a movie. There was a dissapointing lack of inside jokes, exclusive lingo, jackass comaradarie, or anything else that the gamer community thrives on. They did try a couple times - there was useage of the words 'teabag' and 'frag' - but it was pretty desperate. Which leads me to what the movie really was: a political statement on society and it's perverted pursuit of entertainment.

I don't think they were trying to attack video games in particular with the movie (or at least I prefer not to think so), but rather the general trend in popular entertainment toward 'reality' media, and the pleasure society seems to take in watching other people be glorified, challenged, humiliated or degraded. The argument was that people will go to any lengths to control others or give up control. We should all stand up for 'humanity', preserve our morality and sensibility as upstanding citizens, blah blah blah. I get it. Don't find joy in seeing real people demoralized or killed. (But by the way the government IS ok with it.)

As dramatic and political as they made it, there's definitely plenty to think about in their story. After all, millions of people (myself included) who play CoD4 and Halo play against other people, real people, slaughtering them by the dozens and then humping their dead bodies. Represented with polygons or no, isn't that wrong? Shouldn't our morals say that it is bad? Honestly I had to contemplate my answer  for a long time, and I'm not even sure what I have to say is a solid retort, but here it is.

I am not a gamer because I want to see the death of others. I am a gamer because I enjoy victory, and glory, and that feeling of pure mutual awesome when my Dad gets 23 wingman medals for every one of my kills with the Puma (lol). It really is just a game, and at least personally I do not associate it with murder or death. Maybe a little domination and superiority, but what's a little ego boost now and again? I can't speak for the entire world of gamers when I say this. And I can't argue that playing Halo is morally defensible. But art life, life art. Games, like movies, books, and paintings, no matter what their subject, are defined and created from existing ideas. Given power by their audience, they may gain influence, but it all must stem from people and their ideas. As a game designer, I will have to accept that my games may eventually influence the way some people think. Following my beliefs, I will avoid gameplay involving violence or subversion of other people. But I'm still gonna play Halo.

Regardless of all this deep psychological contemplation, I really did enjoy the movie. I like explosions, awesome music in surround sound, firefights, futuristic gaming platforms, and Gerard Butler kicking ass as much as the next girl. The acting was sweet, the visual effects were intense and actually well tuned to the style of the games they portrayed. Did I mention that Gerard Butler kicks some serious ass? A little bit of Sparta made the movie totally worth it :)

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Game Review: Tag

Don't judge a game by it's cover... That being said, Tag is a pretty nifty game. It was made by a four student team at DigiPen Institute of technology and was included in the Indie Games Festival at the 2009 GDC. That right there is quite an accomplishment. Not to mention they had to create the engine themselves - everything was done in C++. I've programmed in C++ before... Even 2D dynamics are hard to grasp in such a stark code environment. The game is physics based with paint being the main mechanic. There are three colors, each with a different effect when you step on them. Green paint makes you jump, red paint makes you speed up, and blue paint makes you stick to a surface. It's an impressively creative idea, and they pulled it off with technical near-perfection. The visual presentation could be a little more intentional... And the actual feel of playing the game is a bit reminiscent of GoldenEye's slippery 20th century physics. But the premise is solid, and I think if you gave these kids a design team and a publisher they'd have a DLC sensation on their hands.

"It was a design choice for us to go with the art style, but even if it wasn't we really couldn't pull off a more realistic looking art style; we're mainly four programmers! We can do boxes really well, but anything apart from that is kind of not cool" says Tejeev Kohli, the engine programmer and spokesman for the team. And on the color scheme, every color in the game world is useable, not unlike Mirror's Edge, therefore the grayscale environment is implemented to clearly differentiate between interactive areas and backdrops. I'd like to say here that I was not at all a fan of Mirror's Edge... or its visual design choices. But I do agree that there is beauty in simplicity, and if they actually put some work into designing the look (or signed on an artist to do it for them) I think it could be pretty intriguing. I am sad to say that there is a token female standing in front of the 4-man team in the interview who was responsible for the cover art and 'some textures' - if she was their visual guru why didn't she speak up and get some cool stuff going? Oh well. I shouldn't judge.


YouTube video here includes game footage and an interview with the team at 5:40.

Go to:

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The Newest Model: Lil Fuzzy Dude

 

 Concept for the newest character. His requirements were that he were little and fuzzy and a male creature. Hence his name in all files to date: LilFuzzyDude

  

LilFuzzyDude in snazzy 3D
3hrs
1018 Polys

  

 Ellie, no longer horribly sunburned. Textured in a style after JM's design of Main Character, seen below

 

JM's impressive work on the playable character and some environment modeling

So I think it's time to explain why I'm modeling a naked chick. In case any of you were nervously wondering. JM and I are planning on entering the Indie Games Challenge sponsored by GameStop, the GuildHall at SMU, and the Academy of Interactive Arthttp://www.deciel.net/s and Sciences. (And no. I do not attend either of those schools. Maybe I should? Last time I entered something awesome to a contest sponsored by MY school, we spent several weeks waiting and pestering the organizers of said contest as to what was going on, with no response. Absolutely. None. But anyway.) The game is set on an island in the Bermuda Triangle, there is a dude, a chick, and a smallish saber-toothed tiger... thing. That's all you get for now. If you're as excited as we are about this, stay tuned to both of our blogs!

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S.E.E.K. - Kids & Robots

 

Training Tomorrow's Technicians

This summer I had the privilege of working with my dad, Ed Olson, in a program called S.E.E.K. (Summer Educational Experiences for Kids) to teach kids about robotics. We had two classes of about 16 kids each; the younger class at 7-9 years old and the older kids at 10-12 years. The task of the younger class was to make wall-hugging robot mice that used a two-way electronic switch to navigate it's way along a wall, the older class got to use Lego Mindstorms robot kits to design and program their own robot to make it through an obstacle course. It was an amazing experience that taught both me and the kids a lot - we helped them understand how robots really function and what their real-life purpose is, and encouraged them to have fun learning some useful (and might I add awesome) technical skills. Now if I can incorporate our teaching method into a game sometime in the near future...

My dad is, not to brag or anything, but probably the coolest dad ever. He is a retired rocket scientist (no kidding), now working as the program manager for the Integrated Systems Training Center at Cheyenne's local college. In his 'spare' time he, as seen here, teaches kids how to build robots, provides essential college life support for his oldest daughter (me),  coaches his youngest daughter through life as a 4th grader, pwns n00bs in CoD4, and attacks the unending project of home improvement. You rock Dad.

Here one of our kids watches hopefully as his robot does it's best to maneuver the obstacle course. There was a lot of trial and error involved, and it was inspiring and chuckle-inducing to see that "I've got it!" moment in their eyes every time they solved a new setback.

As a coder at heart, my biggest task with the older kids naturally fell to helping them program their robots. The Mindstorms development kit has a pretty sweet programming set-up. The GUI is made of blocks (following lego tradition) that the kids can connect in order to give their robot autonomous capabilities. They got to learn about some pretty advanced coding concepts like if statements and loops, and they took to it like SCV's to a mineral pile. Kids are smart.

Bonus!! I got to make robots. Way cool. 

Add to the geek repertoire that I've made a circuit board.

/**
@JM


**/

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Finally, A Worthy Showcase

Unity Demo

The dream comes true!

Since first dabbling with Unity last semester, I've desperately wanted to use it to showcase my models - it seems silly to have 2D pictures of 3D art in my portfolio. Well I bit the wallet last week and bought the Unity license, and I'm sure it'll be well worth it.

Since we're on the subject, I'd like to thank Tom Higgins at Unity for helping me out. I only exchanged a few emails with him, but he's an awesome guy and exemplifies the fun but down-to-business attitude I've gotten from all my experiences with the Unity team. So check out the new raptor walk cycle and look forward to future Unity showcases.

/** Coding note: The animation is, unfortunately, not as it was keyed in Maya... There was an inconsistency in the way I animated the model and how Unity reads animations, resulting in a loss of the raptors vertical and side-to-side motion. I ghetto-rigged it to look fairly decent for now, but I will continue to look into the problem. **/

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Look! Up in the blog! It's something academic

Game Reviews.
And man do they look awesome.

This is something I've been wanting to do for a reeeally long time. But it's a lot of work. Which is why it took a reeeally long time. A new link has gone up on the nav menu, and with it another facet of my pursuit of becoming a game designer appears on the site. With each review I'd like to look at the things that I can take from the game, whether it's a blockbuster or a flop, and synthesize those qualities into my ability to design. They will also be an opportunity to brag about how many games I've played.

I will be writing the reviews within the blog for personal convenience, but they will be linked to the reviews page with spiffy presentation. Hopefully I can post a review with some regularity. Over the next week or so I'll be filling in the reviews I have completed up to this point. Fingers crossed, because there are a lot...

Disclaimer: My reviews are candidly biased according to what I like to see in a game, and I don't have the obligation to protect the developer's feelings, so I'll call a game horse poop if that's what I think it is. If you disagree, please state your educated opinion within the comments section :)

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Game Review: Dog's Life

Going through life as a dog certainly sounds like fun - eat, sleep, play. Sounds great, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I don't think this game really captured the playful carefree spirit of a dog's life. They turned it into a collaboration of prepubescent fart jokes one after another. Parts of it were well done; the transition to the pause screen was very fluid. Other than that, I didn't spot much. Final thoughts are that it would probably capture the minds of children easily with its simple goals and bright colors, but their parents would hate it. As for all the other gamers out there, its only use is to laugh at.

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Game Review: Crayon Physics

Bright idea, nice presentation, poor follow-through. Crayon Physics looks like it should be the most awesome indie game ever. Well, maybe second most awesome after World of Goo. But unfortunately, it just doesn't have the merit to hold attention. A world where you can draw reality with crayons is every child's dream, but the dream falls flat with limited possibilities and mechanics that are too simple for the vast possibilities of a world drawn in crayon. I wanted to see a version of The Incredible Machine (remember that old relic?) in which I could draw my own gadgets and see the contraption come to life, but instead I got to draw... a box. And then a line. Then a pivot point, which was kinda cool - and then another box.  So while the crayon world could have been brought to life, it lies limp and dull as a flat canvas.

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