Thursday 29 October 2015

Pre-production techniques for the Creative Media industries.

Shay Wragg
Unit 1: Pre-production techniques for the creative media industries.
Start Date: 8/10/2015
Deadline: 29/10/2015
Tutor: James Tedder 


Pre-production and planning for a computer game.

The development process for a computer game requires a lot of thought and detailed planning. This includes getting hold of the required hardware/software, accessing a budget, publishing the game etc. One of the most important things to plan is the schedule of the development process.

Finance

Starting off any developer is going to need a budget, this can be loaned normally, self financed or it may be provided by the publisher the developer is working with, if any.

Finance is extremely important because developing a video game isn't cheap, lots of equipment and software is required as well as the rest of your development team must be paid etc. This is a list of things that a developers budget must cover.

Equipment 

For game development specific equipment is required, this can be obtained through funding if the developer has access to it. For independent game developers self-financing might be the only way to get hold of the resources, this includes:

  • Good spec computers
  • A game engine (This could be created or loaned)
  • Motion capture equipment
  • Audio equipment
  • A range of peripherals (Xbox's, PlayStation's etc)
  • Development Kits (Verified game developers get two of these free from Xbox if signed up for) 

Personnel 


The development cycle of a game will go much faster if the developer is working with a team of programmers, designers etc. To get personnel, developers could ask friends or other people they know if they’re familiar with the industry, if that’s not an option then posting on online forums and maybe creating a page on a social network is probably the best bet because these methods reach mass amounts of people at a time.

If a developer is independent, there is no need for extra personnel, although this would slow down development a great deal.

The personnel will have to be paid appropriate salaries, and it would also be a good idea to hire extra staff as a game development cycle can be an extremely weary process and the employees will be working strenuous hours to meet the development deadline. 

Timescales and deadlines

Finishing the development cycle before the deadline of a game is extremely important as most publishers require the game to be finished by a deadline or the game will have to be pushed back a certain amount of time.


Finishing before the deadline gives essentially time to run bug fixes and test the game before it’s released, this id to make sure everything is perfect for the consumer when it comes to release.

Choosing a deadline

When thinking about the deadline for a development process it is recommended to create extra space, this space should be used for, sorting out the publishing, any legal issues that may appear, getting the game reviewed for an age rating and in case of any delays. 

Time Management 

Managing the development process is easy if the developer is well organised and dedicated to the timetable.
Layout out the times from present day to the deadline, e.g. if the deadline is a year manage what you will do in each month, for example, do the coding for the game in the first month, in the second work on the graphics and in the third work on sound.
In my opinion when laying out objectives like this, the developer should have 2-3 months to spare for bug fixes, game testing and having time to deal with legal issues etc. 

Publishing 

Finally the game must be published, normally a developer would work with a publisher such as 2K, EA, Activision etc. But this comes with some rules like the publisher will share a percentage of the profits, they may even have input in the game itself, the advantages of having a publisher are that they will deal with all lawsuits and other legal issues, also they will often cover the development fund.

Console creators like Microsoft, Sony and Steam have there own self publishing service, this will often require verified developer status and a small fee but the developers could receive free development kits and publishing rights for that console.

Facilities 

After organizing everything thus far, you will have enough to now star using a facility. This is generally you and your teams work space, if an Indie developer is starting out they would have made their own facility. For example a facility is the office you and your staff will work in, therefore will contain individual work areas, test areas, recording booths, and if necessary a dedicated area to recording motion capture sequences. Facilities will often include refreshment areas and rest rooms if a developer is looking to create a company office.

The facilities i currently use are the classrooms at my college, this is where i work on the games for my assignments.

Materials 

Materials are essentially everything you will use during the development period. Things such as:

  • Computers (This includes monitors, mouse, keyboards etc.)
  • Peripherals for most platforms
  • Software such as Photoshop, Game Maker or specific engine etc.
  • Motion Capture equipment
  • Audio equipment
  • Development Kits.
Contributors 

These are the people and companies that aid you during the development cycle this includes: 
  • Staff
  • The company that helped provide the budget for the development of the game. (If any)
  • Publishers
  • Musicians that may of composed any music for the game (If any)
  • Voice Actors
  • Companies that allow you to use their game engine.
Codes of practice
 
This is an extremely important part of publishing. Games must follow rules and regulations set by certain companies, these rules help games hit a specific demographic for release.

Companies that make these rules are:
  • PEGI - Pan European Gaming Information - Set the age rating for games based on content they contain, for example when GTA: San Andreas was first released in 2004, Rockstar Games (The Developer) received an ''Adult Only'' rating on the game, and many countries do not allow these types of games which means Rockstar missed out on a lot of money. This was down to Rockstar hiding a certain feature in the game which was against the Codes of Practice. 
  • BBFC - Board of Film Classification - Provide annual reviews of content about to be released, they determine the age rating of games, films etc.

Going against these terms may result in lawsuits as well as the denial of publishing your game.

My Personal Experience

Recently i was tasked with creating a game using Game Maker, this was to help me get used to using the software and get a feel for creating simple games.

First off i followed the instructions from my tutor to create a game called 'Space Bear' this was a very straight forward process that took near to no planning. After this i was told to make a platformer, this took a little bit of planning like ideas for sprites, levels and different enemies etc. 

My Plan and targets

When i signed up for my course i initially wanted to create an FPS which is not an easy process, more recently as we have worked with Game Maker, it has made me want to create a platformer. My hope is for a simple game that is fun to play and will want gamer's to come back and play again.

The platformer would be a fast paced 'Shoot em up' with several levels and frequent bosses also the ability to upgrade the playable character.

I also would like to work with a group in creating a game to personally develop my team skills, this would benefit me because teamwork is one of the most important components of a development process and it is a vital skill to have in this industry. 

Tuesday 27 October 2015

P2: Be able to generate concept ideas for computer games.


Generate concept ideas for computer games.


What is a brief?

  • Client Brief - A client brief is essentially a 'To Do' list given by an employer, it would have and a initial objective and things they want to be implemented into the piece of work. For example they may ask for you to create a character, the character must be male, scary looking and wear something to cover his face. Sometimes a client may ask for several pieces of concept art so they have a choice of several different styles.
  • Own Brief -  An own brief is a creators personal objective, it could be a pre set task or an idea that they continue to alter and work on. 
  • Market Research - Market Research is looking into what gamer's want from upcoming games or looking at their attitudes towards current games, this is important to a development cycle as it can help show what other developers did right and wrong.


Ideas Generation

To create a good product the first thing any creator needs is an idea of what they're going to create, there are several ways to generate ideas, some of these are:
  • Brainstorming - A creator could jot down several ideas and elaborate on them until finally choosing the best one.
  • Mood Boards - A creator could gather images and materials and essentially make a collage of items that could spark new ideas.
  • Thumbnail Sketching - These are quick drawings of ideas the creator has, they're usually not extremely detailed. These ideas could either then be completely scrapped or altered and used.
  • Concept Art - Concept Art can be created from thumbnail sketching or from a brief. Pieces of concept art will be later changed slightly to fit the original idea, concept art does not always make it into the final product although it's part of the development process.
Legal and Ethical Considerations 

This is an extremely important part of creating a game as it could potentially ruin the progress a developer has made. If a game is too controversial, the game could receive an adult only rating, which would cause the developer to lose a significant amount of sales. The games could even be banned completely.

Some of the most important ones are: 
  • Copyright - Copyright is a law that was created that grants the creator of a piece of work exclusive rights for its use or distribution, in other words if someone else uses a copyrighted piece of work without the original creators consent, it's theft and they could be sued for a lot of money.
  • Libel - Libel is slander within video games, it could be ridiculing a rival company directly or attempting to attack their business. Some companies will implement very light slander into their games but nothing too offensive.
  • Females in video games - Through out video game history when a women has been placed into a video game they tended to be slightly sexualised which is straight away too much, some people accuse the Tomb Raider series of giving the protagonist Lara Croft larger breasts to get more sales, due to this the developers actually altered the character over the years. Women being sexualised is a lot rarer today rather than a decade ago. 


  • Ethnicity and Diversity - Religion and race isn't a problem in video games, many games that include character creation offer the player to choose the race of a character but nothing offensive has occurred. 
Although religion is touched upon in certain games such as Assassins Creed, not many games choose to implement religion in to games, this is probably because if a developer was to do so they would be walking a very fine line as it could potentially be an extremely controversial subject.


  • Intellectual Property - This is a risky subject as it could go either way for a creator. If a creator was to design some concept art for a character and it was to 'Fall into the wrong hands' and had been stolen and used elsewhere, the creator could still sue. To do this they must have proper evidence of when they created it. For example they could hire lawyers to help them with the case or when the idea is first thought of and designed, the creator could actually make a copy, and mail it to themselves, this would put the date, address and a stamp to make it official proof of the idea of being theirs.


Tuesday 13 October 2015

What are computer game graphics?


There are many different elements when it comes to computer graphics. 
Here are some of the most important ones.

Print Media

Print media is all the physical graphics needed for advertising a game e.g. game posters, billboards, the game case graphics, manuals, strategy guides etc. This is extremely important for distribution purposes because the more people see these advertisements, the more potential purchases the game will get. Although people don't necessarily look at a poster and go purchase the game but it makes them aware of the product and they will most likely remember it.














In Game Graphics

The in game graphics consist of 

  • Texture Art
Texture art is essentially an in game surface, regular things that you see in games like floors, walls, doors and other props/objects are all applied textures to make them look real or how the developer wants them to look. In simpler games there are more 2D designs rather than 3D whereas in newer complex games to make a realistic looking texture both 2D and 3D designs are used.


  • HUD/in game interface
The in-game interface shows the player their health, radar, objective, ammunition/weapons, currency, XP bar etc. Some games' HUD stays on the screen throughout the whole game but in some games the HUD will appear in times of combat and vanish for key parts of the story. #


  • Background graphics 
Background graphics are used to create horizons, skies, or anything beyond the playable area in a game. Backgrounds tend to be 2D pictures as the player can only see the background and not access that area of the game.


In game graphics are generally everything you can visibly see in a computer game.

Concept Art

Concept art is the development of an initial idea. Developers would have brainstorming sessions and meetings to gather ideas from their teams and then would sketch them out and eventually re-design them on computers. If the design and idea is good enough it will be implemented into the game but at any point in the development cycle it can be altered or even taken back out of the game.

For example this is the concept art for the Suros Regime in Destiny. As you can see before the gun was put into the game it initially had a different look and name.

 Concept Art
Final Product










Graphics Specification

Graphics specification is vital for a creator to know what they're aiming for, most clients will always give the developer a brief or spec before they begin working

Client Needs

The client will most likely always give the creator/developer a client brief that includes everything that the client wants in that project e.g. if a designer was told to create a character they would be told what style the character should etc.

Audience

The client would also want everything in that project to target a certain audience, this is most likely due to the fact that a publisher would want a specific age rating for the game. An example of this would be if the publisher wanted a E for Everyone ESRB rating, the game couldn't contain blood, strong language etc.

Thumbnail Sketching

Thumbnail sketches are a series of ideas for certain things in the game like characters, backgrounds, cars etc. The client brief would sometimes ask for a certain amount of sketches, for example:

  • 2x Character Models
  • 1x Setting
  • 4x Weapons
  • 2 x Character specific vehicles.

These sketches will be altered and developed during the development process of the game. 
These are some thumbnail sketches for the Titan character class in Destiny.

Visual Style

The visual style is the art style used in a computer game, the client would usually specify what type of style they want the game to be or they may ask the creator to experiment with a few and compare and contrast them to find the best one. 

Composition

Composition is essentially the order of things seen in an image and the way certain things are placed. The rule of thirds is important when creating an image, it means placing objects in a certain way creates more interest for the viewer. for example, the rule of thirds splits an image in to nine sections with two equal vertical lines and two equal horizontal lines, if an object is place where the two lines meet it attracts the attention of the viewer. 

To amplify this effect the artist can also use 'leading lines' to their advantage. 
Leading lines are essentially subliminal arrows pointing towards the object that the image focuses on.


Typography 

Typography is the fonts that are used within a game. Many designers are tasked with creating a font for a game, the font has to fit the style and feel of the game.

 
Technical Considerations

When creating components for a computer game, a developer must take care of of their designs and creations by managing them in an orderly fashion, this is important because losing files during a development process could be extremely damaging to a time schedule.

Also some images will be created with specific files due to optimizing reason, images such as sprites and backgrounds use JPEG's and BMP's.





Thursday 1 October 2015

Assignment 1: Researching Games

Student: Shay Wragg           
BTEC Extended Diploma in Games Design
Unit 22: Computer Games Design (IT)
Unit 72: Computer Games Design (Media)
Tutor: Wayne Gallear
Assessment 1: Researching Games



Researching Games 

Genres in games 

A genre is the type of game rather than the style of game, it's how the game plays not what it looks like. 


FPS 

First Person Shooters are played from the protagonist’s point of view which gives the illusion of the player aiming down the sights of the gun and essentially makes the player the protagonist. 

A Prime example of the FPS genre is the Call Of Duty franchise.
CoD games are developed by three different companies, Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer games, each developer bri8ngs out a game every year giving each game a 3 year development span. The CoD games are mad using the IW Engine, an engine first developed for Call of Duty that gets heavily modified every year to change graphical and technical aspects of each game.



CoD puts the player in the soldier’s boots in an action packed story within the campaign or against other players over the globe in multiplayer.



Another popular first person shooter is Battlefield that's developed by DICE using the Frostbite engine, Frostbite runs multiple genres of games like racing and real-time strategy games as well as FPS games. 

Frostbite was originally used to create FPS's and campaigns, Frostbite 2 introduced multiplayer and Frostbite 3 is an upgraded version of Frostbite 2.





Action 

Action games consist of missions or levels that the protagonist has to play through while fending off enemies with an array of weapons or attacks, traditionally at the end of the mission there would be a boss with a larger amount of health than the regular enemies. 

A good example of a recent action game would be Destiny.
Destiny was developed by Bungie using the Tiger engine, a version of the BLAM engine that was used to make the Halo games, modified to support multi-threading, cross platform and to support all advanced tech that was created afterwards.

Destiny has the player advance through story missions to earn better gear and frequently run into ‘boss-like’ enemies, although Destiny is an FPS as well as a role playing game, it’s still an Action game.



A game similar to Destiny is the Borderlands franchise that was developed by Gearbox Software using the Unreal Engine. 
Borderlands has the player complete story missions while killing enemies and bosses as well as earning loot. 



RPG 

Role Playing Games gives the player a fully customizable protagonists and tend to have a skill tree or multiple skill tress where the player has to complete quests to ear skill points and unlock new skills through the skill tree. RPG’s take a non-linear approach to the story as the player usually can choose what they say and do throughout the story line, shaping your out comes from the decision you make.


Skyrim is a popular RPG from The Elder Scrolls series created by Bethesda using The Creations Engine which is the engine behind Oblivion just modified to boost the AI behind the NPC’s, it lets the NPC’s react to the players actions for example if the player befriends an NPC the NPC could give the help throughout the game, The Creation Engine also added mills, farms and mines to NPC’s something to do. 

In Skyrim the player starts by choosing the protagonists race and by customising what their character looks like, and then sets out to complete quests to earn skill points. Skyrim uses 3 skill tree’s to progress the character to the players liking. The Mage skill tree progresses the protagonists Magic, The Warrior progresses combat associated skills and The Thief progresses agility and stealth based skills.


The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is also another popular RPG, it was developed by CD Projekt RED using the REDengine, which is used by CD Projekt Red to creat non linear games. The Witcher 3 follows the story of a Geralt, a Witcher, the player has to complete quests and hunt monsters to level up Geralt and his gear.


Strategy

Strategy games require thought and tend to be slower paced games, the player must command forces to defeat enemies and the player with more power wins. 

Command and Conquer was developed by Westwood Studios using the SAGE Engine which allows for more realistic environments also adding function that when a large event or drastic change in the game takes place the camera will pause the action and pan around the explosion or event showing off the detail put into the environment and debris.

The Command And Conquer series puts the player in control of an army and the object is to weaken enemy forces until they retreat or are wiped out. 

Simulator


Simulation games are made to simulate reality or fictional events. Some of these are War Simulators, Pilot Simulators, Life Simulators etc. Simulators can be used to teach people real skills such as driving or flying aircraft.

The Sims is developed by Maxis and The Sims Studio using The Sims Engine which ‘’Uses 2D and 3D graphics, with Sim models being of a high polygon count while objects are pre rendered’’.

Each base game uses an improved Sim engine which improves aspects of each game.

The Sims is a Life Simulator where the player creates a ‘Sim’ which is a fictional character that can build a house, create relationships with other Sims, go to school/work etc.


Surgeon Simulator is another simulation game developed by Bossa Studios using Unity. 

Surgeon Simulator starts the player in an operating theater in front of a patient and is given an objective which is to perform an organ transplant. The player must do this without the patient losing a certain amount of blood.



Puzzle

Puzzle games are made to get the player thinking and makes the player solve puzzles to progress through levels. The puzzles require basic skills like logic, patter recognition, sequence solving and word completion.

Portal is developed by Valve using the Source engine that has been used in games such as Counter-Strike and Half-Life. 

Portal has the player progress through levels solving puzzles with the 'Portal Gun' which lets you shoot the beginning of a portal and the end of one to throw objects through and put them in the right place. 





Tetris is a classic example of a puzzle game, created by a man called Alexey Pajitnov. 

Tetris puts the player in control of falling blocks, the player must place the blocks together to delete them and gain points, if the player fails to delete the blocks, they will stack to the top of the screen and then it's game over.




Sports

Sports games let the player play virtual sports like football, rugby, hockey etc. The rules are the same and the player can play the story modes or online against other players. They're are often tournaments or divisions the player can progress through.

FIFA is one of the most popular sports games, created by EA Sports using the Ignite engine that was developed to make sports games look as realistic as possible. 



Another popular sports game is NBA. NBA is developed by Visual Concepts using the Eco-Motion engine, an engine that focuses on detail, realistic materials, lighting and facial expressions. 



Racing

Racing games put the player behind the wheel in a racing tournament or league, whether it's street racing or professional racing such as Formula 1 etc. Racing games are played in first person or third person and normally do not allow the player to exit the vehicle. 

The Forza series a hugely popular franchise. It is developed by Turn 10 Studios using different engine every game e.g. Forza Motorsport 5 used the Forza 5 Engine that was upgraded for Forza Horizon 2. Turn 10 Studios created a brand new engine called ForzaTech for Forza Motorsport 6. 

The Forza engine focuses on all round realism, things like the day and night cycle, different types of weather such as rain and wind, how the cars drive and how different modifications change the cars properties. 

The Forza series focuses on modded cars aswell as racing cars and has a series of tournaments the player can progress through. 


Forza's rival is Gran Turismo which is a Playstation exclusive. Gran Tursimo is developed by Polyphony Studios allegedly using the 'PD Engine', little is know about the PD Engine but it makes Gran Turismo look extremely realistic.

The aim of the Gran Turismo series is to simulate real driving experiences and the performance of real cars. 

Survival Horror

The survival horror genre puts the player in a traditional horror fiction scenario. These games are made to make the player feel vulnerable and contain jump scares and all round eerie atmospheres as the aim of the game is to scare the player. 

A good example of a survival horror is Until Dawn which was developed by Supermassive Games. 

Until Dawn has the player play as eight different characters in a series of scenarios, the player has to choose between things to say, look for clues/helpful items, has to make a choice between different actions and has to successfully perform quick time events. 

The game uses a system called 'The Butterfly Effect' which means every single thing the player chooses will contribute to a different outcome, e.g. the player may make a choice that might lead to the death of another character. 

The story can end with no survivors, all eight survivors alive or a random number alive, which means the outcome of the game is completely down to the player.


Dying Light is also a recent survival horror developed by Techland using the Chrome Engine 6 which focuses on map design, character animations, dynamic weather cycles and NPC AI. 

Dying Light is an open world, enemy infested game. The player is sent into a quarantine zone that has been overthrown by infected (Zombies) and the player is given missions by other survivors in order to gain supplies and help the situation and must use parkour skills and homemade weapons to fend off the undead. 


MMOG

Massive Multiplayer Online Games are games traditionally with one game world that holds a large capacity of players. Players have to progress their characters by doing missions cooperatively with friends or other online players. 

One of the most played MMOG's is World Of Warcraft or 'WoW'. 

WoW is developed by Blizzard Entertainment using the Warcraft Engine that focuses on character progression and smooth melee combat experiences. 

WoW has the player progress their characters by doing quests cooperatively and finding/crafting better items for themselves. 

Players have to fight fictional enemies such as Orcs, Griphons, Dragons, Elves etc. 



A more recent MMOG is The Elder Scrolls Online which is developed by ZeniMax Online Studios using the HeroEngine which was developed to increase the graphical detail of the game as well to use developer concept art in the game. 

ESO generates random quests for the player to complete and progress their character with other players online. The player creates a character from scratch using a similar character creation system used in Skyrim. 




Ethics In Gaming

Video games have been known to have certain effects on gamers that play for an extensive amount of time, these things can have social and psychological effects on the player. 

The bad that gaming brings.

These are just a few of the things playing video games can do, gaming can hurt a person psychologically, socially and financially if abused. 

Excess playing time

Playing games for an excessive amount of time can cause many health or social problems such as anxiety, depression or ignoring responsibilities for example in 2012 a 23 year-old man from China died in an internet café after 10 straight hours of playing World of Warcraft, the other gamers in the café thought the man was sleeping. 


Social Isolation

When someone plays video games they tend to be in a room alone, this can cause problems over a long period of time. For example if someone didn’t come out of there room for a week straight because they were ‘grinding’ a video game could result in friends wondering where said gamer was for the last week, this extended for an even longer period of time could affect the gamers social skills and they would become more anti-social.


Cost

Playing video games casually may relatively cheap, but for some gamers it can be extremely expensive. For example an Xbox One is around £300 which is relatively the same as a PS4, to purchase a good spec gaming PC could cost up to £700-£800, in some cases even higher, some people have all three which would total to around £1500. This along with TV’s, Broadband and electricity bills can become extremely expensive. 



Separation from reality

Playing video games for too long could potentially harm a person mental health, one example of this is a murder that took place in Leicester in 2004 when a 17 year old boy murdered his friend with a claw hammer after playing too much Manhunt, a game developed by Rockstar North where killing is the objective and to earn a higher score means to kill a victim in a more brutal manner, the boys friends said that he was obsessed with the game which led the court to believe that the boys mental health had been affected by too much playing time. ‘’If he was obsessed with it, it could well be that the boundaries for him became quite hazy’’ 



The good gaming brings. 
These are some of the things gaming can bring for people that play games responsibly.

Benefits

Video games do also hold many benefits for players, one of the most well-known is that gaming improves hand-eye co-ordination. Some examples are that some Simulation games have realistic environments that are used to train drivers and pilots, it also helps that games can track progress which can show how much the driver or pilot has improved over a certain amount of time. 



Thinking and strategy skills

In 2013 scientists from the Queen Mary University of London and University College London recruited 72 volunteered to research whether video games actually improve hand-eye co-ordination or not. 40 hours over six to eight weeks the volunteers played StarCraft (A more fast paced strategic war game) and The Sims (A more laid back day to day simulation) the participants were tested before and after the experiment, the tests revealed that after the experiment the StarCraft players were in fact quicker and more accurate in performing cognitive flexibility tasks (The mental ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts and to think about multiple concepts simultaneously. In other words more fast paced games improve the mental ability of gamers.



Future Impact

Gaming has come a long way since the creation of the first video games console in 1972 with the release of Magnavox Odyssey, 8 generations of video game platforms have been released to the public each defying the expectations of the technology used to make them. At E3 2015 Microsoft revealed a new project called Microsoft HoloLens which is ‘’The first fully untethered, see-through, holographic computer.’’ It essentially allows the user to literally create holograms in the real world. The HoloLens was showcased using Minecraft, this is an example of how games are helping create new technology. 



The 'hologram' is shown at 2:25.


Gaming has gone from individuals playing games alone or with friends to thousands even millions watching someone play through a game. The trend of people recording themselves playing games and posting it online has blew up over the past decade as it now has the possibility to earn money from it and turn it into a career. 

A great example of this is a YouTuber called Pewdiepie, he has accumulated over 30 million subscribers and is suspected to be a millionaire, and he made this success because of video games. 

The money is from ad revenue from the advertisements companies pay YouTube to put on videos, and the more views a channel gets, the more money they earn. 

Competitive Games

Competitive gaming is also now an huge part of the gaming industry, there is a company called Major League Gaming (MLG) that hosts tournaments in many different games, one of the most well know is Call of Duty where pro teams will go head to head for a certain amount of prize money, for example, CoD XP 2011 was a tournament on Modern Warfare 3 to win $1,000,000.





My game idea.


In lesson we were tasked with thinking of a game of the top our heads and draw a sketch of the content of the game, this is what i came up with.

Name: Advanced Artificial Intelligence 

Plot:  A private military contractor called Covert Inc. have tasked their development labs to create mechanical soldiers to fight alongside trained combat militants in covert operations against the U.S. 

The scientists and engineers in the lab have discovered that to create an intelligent 'Robot' to think strategically about about a battle scenario it must first learn to live and act like a human being. To do this they have created a prototype for the 'Advanced Artificial Intelligence' scheme and placed it in a household simulation, with the new programming in the AAI chip that has been implemented into the prototype, it should act like a regular human being by cleaning, watching television in a leisurely fashion and recharge itself. 

Little did they know that the AAI they had programmed still contained Combat Scenario Code they mistakenly left on the chip and the AAI was so advanced it taught itself how to live at a much faster rate than the engineers had expected. The Prototype recognized that the household it was placed in was a simulation and mistook it for a Hostage Situation. 

The scientists deployed the guard bots they called ''Murder-Bots'' to destroy The Prototype.

The Prototype must now break free of the simulation, fight off the Murder-bots and see who's behind the Advanced Artificial Intelligence Scheme.

Gameplay: First Level

To kill Murder-bots the player must get hold of a wrench which is held by one of the NPC's, each bot drops a gun and after the player picks up 3 guns they can create the 'mini-gun' at the end of the level. 

The mini-gun will help the player progress through the next level and defeat the boss. 

In the first room the player can pick up objects to throw, they must kill the scientists to receive objects.

The Prototype







Enemies
  • Scientist - Drops Wrench - Drops Keycard


  • Murderbot - Drops Gun

Props - First Level 

  • Wrench - Melee Weapon




  • Gun - Firearm - Three Guns can be used to upgrade to Machine Gun




  • Mini-gun




  • Key-card - Used to access elevator 






  • Toaster - Throw-able Object





  • Fruit bowl - Throw-able Object







First Level - Escape The Lab








Final level - Fall of Covert Inc.








Gameplay - Final Level 


The player must advance to the enemy boss but also has the option to pick up six pieces of metal from enemies to create the shield. 

To kill the boss the player must use their mini gun to damage him and their shield to block his attacks. 


Props


  • Shield












Materials


  • Piece of metal 





  • Final Boss - Mad Scientist 





After the boss is killed it's game over.

Summary 

In short, my game starts the player out with nothing, they then must gather materials from enemies they have killed to advance through the levels and make weapons to destroy the final boss.