Assessment 2: 3 in one gaming - The making of "Invaders of Space"

BTEC National Diploma in Games Development
Unit number and title Unit 72 / 22
Start date: 15/2/16
Deadline: 29/2/16
Assessor name: Wayne Gallear
Student Name: Shay Wragg

Assessment 2: 3 in one gaming.

Task: You are an apprenticeship games designer working for a small games developer in the east midlands.

Your manager what’s you to create a 2D platform game to demonstrate your game development skills.

Option 2 - Space Invaders 

Invaders of Space 

Invaders of Space is a take on the classic arcade game Space Invaders. The aim of the game is to kill waves of enemies infinitely until they destroy your base, each wave get harder as the enemies get faster, increase in numbers and eventually increase in health. Invaders of Space has no plot as it is an arcade style game where the reward is bragging rights for getting the highest score.

Invaders of Space is NOT a finished game and is still a work in progress.

Target Audience 

Invaders of Space targets anyone that enjoys arcade games and mobile users. As the game is based around arcade game "Space Invaders" retro players would enjoy this game and for mobile players, it's quick to get started and it can go on for either a minute or an hour.

Production Process

First of all i created my walls. My walls are fairly simple just block colours created in the sprite editor.

The walls are to keep all of the moving sprites within the playing area for example, the enemy ships will only progress towards the player if they contact a wall, and the player can only move left and right within the walls.

Then i created my player, i first created the sprite. The dimensions of this sprite are 96x64 

Next i created the object for my sprite, the object consists of several events such as movements and shooting mechanics.

The player is meant to keep moving in a sliding motion no matter the direction, although there is a bug that when the player stops firing, they also stop moving.

Next i designed the sprites and objects for the bullets that fire from the players cannon.

I came across a bug that made the bullets shoot from the left side of the sprite instead of the centre. I did not have time to fix the bug do to time constraints, but it's either a problem with bullet positioning or the "spr_player" sprite. 

Also there's a bug where if the player was to hold down the space bar, the bullets would fire in a continuous line. 

When an the enemies are destroyed they're also meant to play an explosion animation.

 I did not find a way to make the "bases" destroy and lose health, so instead when the enemies shoot at the barriers, the barriers will just lose a block.

I created my bases using blocks that i designed in the sprite editor.

Finally i designed my background, the background is blue with a bit of shading. 

The reason i chose such a simple background is because i previously tried to used images of the galaxy and different space images, but due to the dimensions of the room they were all being stretched in one way or another.

After all of my sprites and objects were created, i the designed the room. I had to place enemies in a certain pattern as you can see within the picture, and also i had to place the barriers created these shapes. 

Full Bug Report

• Enemies do not advance.
• Player stops moving when not firing.
• Bullets are not balanced therefor shoot infinitely.
• Bullets do not fir exactly from the cannon making it impossible to kill enemies on the far right of the screen.
• Enemies do not fire.
• Bases cannot be destroyed. 

NOTE: Invaders of space is far from a completed game due to several time constraints.

Assignment 3: Understanding contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the games industry.

BTEC National Games Design

Assignment 3: Understand contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the games industry.

Unit 13: Understanding the games industry

Assessor: Caitlin McReynolds

Student: Shay Wragg

Case Study Negative Publicity: Manhunt

Manhunt is probably one of the most controversial games in history as the game is revolved around brutal murders. The aim of the game is to advance through the levels (scenes) and getting the highest score at the end of each scene, the player is scored on 'stars' one is for completing the scene, one to three is for the brutality of each 'executions' and the final one is for completing the scene within a time limit.

Manhunt is a stealth based game, the player has to sneak around using shadows as cover to hide from enemies. The player must catch enemies off guard to execute them. As the player is cored off of executions, there are three levels of execution, level 1 'hasty' are quick and not very bloody executions, level 2 'violent' are more gory executions and level 3 'gruesome' are over the top executions that kill enemies in extremely violent ways. 

The player can use a range of weapons through-out the game such as plastic bags,  baseball bats, crowbars, knives, shards of glass and other sharp objects as well as firearms. The player also can use painkillers to replenish health and has a stamina bar.

When developing the game some of the employees of Rockstar Games were hesitant about production as they were worried about the amount of violence within the game, a former Rockstar Games employee Jeff Williams said ''There was almost a mutiny at the company over that game''

The murder of Stefan Pakeerah 

On July 28th 2004, a boy named Stefan Pakeerah was murdered in Leicester, England by his friend Warren LeBlanc with a claw hammer. Authorities found a copy of Manhunt in Warrens room and some of his friends said he was obsessed with it. Experts say he played the game so much that ''it blurred lines between reality and the game for him''. The victims father also said "They were playing a game called Manhunt. The way Warren committed the murder this is how the game is set out, killing people using weapons like hammers and knives. There is some connection between the gake and what he has done." 

Rockstar Games, Take Two interactive and several companies involved such as The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers' Association (ELSPA) argued against cases towards the game by saying "We sympathize enormously with the family and parents of Stefan Pakeerah. However, we reject any suggestion or association between tragic events and the sale of the video game Manhunt. The game in question is classified 18 by the British Board of Film Classification and therefore should not be in the possession of a juvenile. Simply being in someone's possession does not and should not lead to the conclusion that a game is responsible for these tragic events. 

Despite this, the Pakeerah family hired a lawyer named Jack Thompson (who previously feuded with Rockstar Games over the Grand Theft Auto series) and sued Rockstar Games and Sony for £50 million with a wrongful death claim and ultimately Manhunt banned and removed from shelves in New Zealand, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Personally i understand that Manhunt contains extreme violence and graphic content and it's very tragic that things like this happen but i completely agree that the developer, the game is not to blame. The game is clearly age rated 18 and is meant for maturer audiences, as well as the fact that the only evidence pointing towards the game is that it was found in the murderers possession. For someone to be so easily influenced by a game and to actually go out a commit any crime "because of the game" must of had either a mental condition or are extremely immature and therefor obviously cannot be trusted with and 18+ video game. 

Conditions on video game publishing

After a game is developed, it is sent to companies that are responsible for rating the game. Companies like The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) and PEGI (Pan European Game Information)rate video games and clearly label on the case of the game what kind of images are in the game, some of these are:

• Violence 
• Bad Language 
• Fear - Scenes that may scare some
• Nudity, sexual behavior or references
• Drugs - Game refers to or depicts drug use
• Discrimination - Game contains depictions or materials that encourage discrimination
• Gambling - Game depicts or teaches gambling
• Online game

They also give the game an overall age rating.

On the companies website they also state: "Most games (49%) are suitable for players of all ages there are many that are only suitable for older children and young teenagers. There are also some games (4%) that are made for adults only (over the age of 18).  The BBFC also have a say in this decision.

Source: http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/23

So clearly Manhunt has to meet these expectations and therefor should of not been banned in the first place.

Another argument against video games is that a lot of professionals, parents and researchers agree that video games increase violence among children. A study in 2014 published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture revealed that 90% of pediatricians, 67% of parents agreed that video games influence children to be more violent. Also "Over 1,000 studies including reports from the Surgeons General Office, the National Institute of Mental Health and studies conducting by leading figures within our medical and public health organisations - our own members - point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children."

Source: http://videogames.procon.org/ 

My argument for these facts is the fact that the CHILDREN should NOT be playing violent video games, this whole 'study' is irrelevant due to the fact that there are companies dedicated to telling parents that "This game contains mature content" as they're actually purchasing the game, and in actual fact if the child is young or the parent is aware that there child is easily influenced then it comes down to bad parenting. 

And in my opinion if my child is an appropriate age and i trusted them to play these types of games without committing murder then by all means i would let them.

Case Study Positive Publicity: Grand Theft Auto V

Despite the controversy from the Grand Theft Auto Series nobody can say that it has been unsuccessful. The Series has accumulated millions of fans through-out the years as well as millions, even billions. The Latest installment, Grand Theft Auto V was probably the most popular with around 2-3 years of hype. 

The game was announced with a trailer in 2011, this sent gamer's all over the globe into a frenzy and everyone was talking about GTA V. A couple of year's later GTA V was about to be released and the game was being advertised everywhere, on billboards, transport even in times square in New York City. By release the game had 3.5 million pre-orders in the US alone.

In the first 24 hours of GTA V being on the shelves it made over $800 million in sales which was record breaking.

In 2014 the game had generated $1.98 billion in revenue. The game was also released on next-gen consoles and PC causing even more excitement and shipping 10 million more copies. As of the 3rd of February 2016 the game had shipped over 60 million copies across all platforms.

Some things that made GTA V special were: 

• Online Multiplayer
• Heist Missions
• The realism and graphics of the game
• A groundbreaking three different playable protagonist story line
• It was based in the fictional city of Los Santos (Los Angeles)
• It was another Grand Theft Auto game.
• GTA Online: Heists as well as free content updates

Here are a list of awards the game has one:

• 31st Golden Joystick Award
• 5th Annual Inside Gaming Award
• Spike VGX 2013 Award
• Slant Magazine Award
• Time Magazine Award
• Best Xbox Game (By several reviewers)
• Rockstar Games and Rockstar North were named best developer by Edge
• BAFTA: Academy Fellowship Award
• 10th British Academy Video Game Award

Although there has been some controversy with the game due to graphic scenes or sexist references and even a stabbing over a copy of the game, it has reached an extreme amount of success and has pleased millions of people worldwide and set a new standard for video games forever.

Here is the next-gen launch trailer.

Assessment 2: 3 in one gaming - The making of Maths Machine (Option 1)

BTEC National Diploma in Games Development
Unit number and title Unit 72 / 22
Start date: 15/2/16
Deadline: 29/2/16
Assessor name: Wayne Gallear
Student Name: Shay Wragg

Assessment 2: 3 in one gaming.

Task: You are an apprenticeship games designer working for a small games developer in the east midlands.

Your manager what’s you to create a 2D platform game to demonstrate your game development skills.

Option 1 - Maths Maze Game

Maths Machine

Maths Machine has no plot,the aim of the game is to progress through rooms and solve an GCSE C Grade maths question, the game isn't necessarily hard but meets the assignment criteria. Note the Maths Machine is NOT a finished game and is a work in progress.

Target Audience 

Maths Machine is aimed at aimed at C Grade GCSE Students or anyone that enjoys maths.

Process

First off i worked on my protagonist the ''Maths Machine'', i started by creating the sprite for him. 

The sprite is 32x32.

I also designed a walking animation for the character but i ran into a bug that mixed up all of the sub images and therefor chose to scrap the animation. This was the first bug i ran into.

I then created the object for this sprite, i added collision events with the walls and key press events so i the player could maneuver the sprite.

NOTE: When creating the game i designed most of my sprites BEFORE the objects, i have put the sprites and objects together for reader convenience. 

Next i designed my wall which again was 32x32.

Then i created the wall's object which had no events but was made a solid, so the player would not walk through it.

I then went on to create several walls and objects for them walls as each room was going to be a different theme.

I then designed my first enemy sprite.

I then created several different enemies for different levels.

Each enemy had similar objects to the others, the only differences are the walls they interact with and the movement styles.

Next i created backgrounds, they're fairly simple as i used plain colours but added shading using the shading tool within Game Maker.

Finally I created the first main room.

The idea of the game is that the player starts in the main room and has to progress through other rooms to complete the game. In each room the player must navigate the room without getting killed by the enemies, there will be a door leading to the problem room of that level which contains a C Grade maths question that once completed they will be take back to the main room but in another section.

When the player completes the problem room he is spawned back in the main room, only this time the previous door is blocked off and the player is spawned in the next room.

To do this i created several 'MAIN Rooms' and in each one the player spawns in a different location. 

In the problem room there are 'portals' with answers next to them, the player must enter the portal next to the correct answer which will take them to the next level of the main room, if the player chooses the wrong answer and enters the wrong portal they will die.

I also created doors for each level, for example ''spr_door_3'' takes the player to the third room, ''spr_problem_3'' takes the player to the problem room of the third room and ''spr_MAIN_3'' gives the player the choice to turn back and return to the main room.

When creating the question for each room i created four objects, "obj_percentage'' is the question itself and the ''obj_answers'' are the correct and incorrect answers.

For the questions object, i created a draw event, drawn the text and then set the colour, the x and y coordinates are for where the question is placed. 

Eventually i got around to creating world interactions for example, i created a switch that opens double doors and a detonator that blows up a bomb. I also created various explosions.

Here are the explosions i created and what they look like in game. 

BUG REPORT/MAJOR CHANGES

• The Players running animation played continuously - FIX = I removed the animation.
• The explosions also played continuously - NO FIX
• On the first room when returning to the main room the player was presented with an error message that crashed the game. - NO FIX
• The Player sprite has been enlarged.
• The player can move left and down, right and down but not left and up or right and up - NO FIX

Unit 73: Sound for computer games. Assignment 1

Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma in Games Development
Unit 73: Sound for Computer Games
Assignment 1: Understanding the use of music within games and the methodology of recording and production. 
Student: Shay Wragg
Tutor: Josh Rai

Assignment 1 - Understanding the use of music within games and the methodology of recording and production. 

Introduction

Sound has been used in video games for many years and each year it gets better. Some of the very first games consoles had no sound at all, some later consoles had a more retro simple soundtrack such as Super Mario, but now we have extremely well composed music tracks with amazing quality of sound. 

Sound can effect the gamer intensely during a play through of a video game, music alone gives the listener all types of emotions but along with a great story line and an all round good game, it's an experience that matches no other.

The quality of some games' soundtracks are that good that they are sometimes released separately to the game, or in some sort of special edition. For example developer Rockstar Games released a vinyl edition of Grand Theft Auto V's soundtrack called 'The Music of Grand Theft Auto V' Reviewers had commented on the soundtrack and said that "The music had been appropriated effectively for gameplay''.

The Music of Grand Theft Auto V Here:

Comparison 

I have analysed two entirely different games' soundtracks and i'm going to tell you the differences and similarities.

The Last of Us Soundtrack - Main Theme by Gustavo Santaolalla

The Last of Us follows a protagonist named Joel who is trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world. Joel lost his his young daughter at the start of the outbreak and is essentially alone. He is eventually paired up with a young girl called Ellie that is immune to the virus and throughout the game they both are trying to survive mutated cannibals and a world with nothing left to offer. 

The game is known for it's amazing storyline that gripped gamers all over the world, this is partly because of the games soundtrack as it suited the game tremendously.

The soundtrack is an original development composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, a musician known for his musical expertise and knowledge for Nuevo Tango music. Neuvo Tango music is elegant and tends to be quite sad and depressing.

I imagine Sony had written up a contract for Gustavo Santaolalla for copyright reasons.

The soundtrack is a somewhat heartbreaking piece of music that portrays the tragedy of the main story of the game, it can also increase suspense dramatically at times. It sounds as if Timbre is used in the music to propel the sounds of the Charango (an instrument similar to the Lute), these sounds are accompanied by guitars and drums and it works perfectly.

The games scenery symbolizes an old western type of film as it is almost derelict, nothing but a wasteland. This is why Sony got Gustavo Santaolalla to compose the soundtrack because his style is similar to a spaghetti western style of music, and they seem so alike in many ways.

Some of the gameplay even replicates a western, things from the protagonists voice, Joel speaks with a southern accent and sounds like a stereo typical cowboy, there is also some scenes in the game where he rides horseback.

This is a screenshot from the section of the game where Joel is on horseback riding through the woods, this particular screenshot reminds me of Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption which is revolved around the western outlaw genre. 

As you can see the two screenshots look extremely similar but are from two completely different games.

Naughty Dog most likely went for a surround sound composition as they had an extremely large budget for this game, if playing with a headset the sounds of the game can be heard from all directions which captivates the player and gives an all round immersive experience.

Finally i think the developers edited the score on a apple Mac OS, which means the file format they used would be AIFF. Although usually the original audio file would be optimized to fit the consoles limitations and this would mean compressing the file and potentially losing quality, but i think as the PS4 is a high spec console, the file may not have been compressed.

Here is a video of Gustavo Santaolalla and the game team talking about the development of The Last of Us' score.

The Last of Us Main Theme

Halo 2 Soundtrack - Main Theme MJOLNIR Mix

Halo 2's soundtrack is the complete opposite of The Last of Us, it starts out with a hymn like choir singing but soon after the sound of two electric guitars emerge, at this point in the piece timbre is used to project the sound of the guitars over the choir and violins, the soundtrack was MJOLNIR Mix was composed by Bungie's Martin O'Donnel and Micheal Salvatori along with a musician called Steve Vai, Grammy award winning guitarist.

Bungie most likely contracted Steve Vai after searching and coming across his massive achievements in the music industry, and as he only featured in the MJOLNIR Mix it's likely he was on a short contract and was paid rather that him keeping the rights to the track.

I think the song represents action, as the game is based warfare in outer space and the choice of an electric guitar suits that. The electric guitars are also used for a somewhat dramatic experience, almost like something important is about to happen. 

The electric guitar and the charango used in The Last of Us score are two completely different instruments played in two completely different genres, The Last of Us score is extremely story driven as really captivates the player in the moment, where as the Halo 2 score gets the player excited and ready to play at a quick pace. i personally think this is what Bungie wanted the player to feel when they created the mix.

Here are two screenshots showing the difference of the two games.

The MJOLNIR Mix was created for a teaser trailer at E3 2007, which indicates to me that the song would maybe play while the credits roll or towards the end of the game, possibly even in the title screen.

As the games is extremely old and released for the Original Xbox, the chances are the MJOLNIR Mix was composed via either mono or stereo audio sampling, edited with a computer running windows and my guess was compressed with a lossy method into an MP3 file to meet the Original Xbox Limitations.

Here is the Halo 2 Soundtrack - Main Theme MJOLNIR Mix

So finally as you can see these are two massively different soundtracks from different games and generations, The Last of Us' main theme is a lot crisper, sadder and even used older fashioned instruments where as Halo 2's MJOLNIR Mix used newer instruments, was a lot more exciting but the quality obviously wasn't up to this generations standard. Never the less, they both are two iconic soundtracks.