Enjoy!

Enjoy! =]

Contextual Statement

Designated with the role of Lead Character designer within the JusPlay – Fired! Ipad Multiplayer Interactive group. Consequently possessing previous character design experiences equivalent to minimal roles, I eagerly volunteered with the mindset of testing the limitations of my personal design capabilities. Unfamiliarly treading the lead role, accustoming to conceiving main ideas with influential consequences over the project required time and steady exposure. This role encompassed physically expressing conceived ideas onto paper considering the implications of features, understanding the traits characters adopt in perspective to the gaming audience. Where claws as a feature would attract a male dominant demographic instead.

Presented with the task of locating a game theory present in multiplayer gaming a sufficient basis of knowledge was lacking being oblivious to the existence of theoretical consideration prior to game creation. Collectively with multiple gaming perspectives as a group a strong foundation of gaming ideas were present however, these concepts lacked theoretical engagement. Following the realization that only ideas were constantly juggled ‘Game Theory’ research was implicated where Nash Equilibrium revealed itself immediately. Nash Equilibrium stretched beyond individualistic play into strategies contained within the concepts of co-operative play. These strategies represent a gamer’s responsive thought process, outlining possible outcomes a player subconsciously approves favorable following actions and strategies made visible by fellow players. Comprehending gaming incentive there are several possible instances for Nash Equilibrium to occur during moments of multiple players achieving the highest possible payoffs. Nash Equilibrium encompasses outcomes influenced from gaming possibilities and explores the infrastructure behind co-operative strategy formulation. A theory that can be considered to conform to a socially adapting and evolving world conspicuously appealing to personal interests, being directly implicated within this world. Subsequently our statement was conceived upon this theory. “We are exploring the idea of Nash Equilibrium through a creative practice.”

Following the solidification on a steadily developing idea interest gradually diminished through the realizations of the lack of a theoretical approach. Fitted with the role of lead designer I constantly exposed myself to inspirational pictures before discovering a genre worth exploration, robots. The proposed game accommodated towards the guidelines of Nash Equilibrium demonstrating the necessity of its’ existence. During the conceptual stage of theoretical development we essentially moved towards the idea of the ‘stag hunt’, a theory contained within the realms of Nash Equilibrium with a stronger implication on multiple play. Suggesting player co-operation for the purposes of achieving maximum payoff where deviation results in an individual receiving reduced payoff. Through consideration of the theory a storyline was formulated in support. The storyline depicted the typical factory lifestyle with literal connotations with the game title ‘Fired!’ Workers are caged onto conveyor belts and sent to furnaces where the Conveyor belts and cages are the leading supporters of ‘Stag Hunt.’

Following the role of lead character designer the basis of my research pursued visual inspirations of pictures of previous games. Considering features that characters possessed and what qualities they radiated to gaming audiences. Our game was to outline ideas of cuteness and a slight comical style where consideration towards safe rounded shapes was applied. Sharp shapes and edges appear more fierce and dangerous compared the safety of spherical shapes which was a theme constantly expressed through the characters. While, the physics of motion in accordance with appropriate physical appearance was also a subject appropriately researched visually where I had to develop an understanding of the mechanics of robots. Also to compensate for the creation of both male and female characters a comprehension of the features that differentiate male and female robots was required. Understanding the significance of slimming and rugged features along with color schemes.

During the development of the game several constraints following time were evident resulting from the abrupt decision to alter games completely. While, the group was fixed with roles still unexplored with suitable depth suggesting only a limited skill level in game construction. In accordance to expectations the idea was to create three level game only to fall short to creating a single level game. Ambition was set high over-estimating both ability and time. Regardless of shortcomings I believe the idea of Nash Equilibrium and Stag Hunt is present which was our leading concern from the creation of this game. Although the decision to deviate from the original game resulted in a series of misfortunate happenings it was considered a necessity to create a game that accompanied Nash Equilibrium completely. Resulting from the entire Studio game creation process the existence and presence of gaming theories present in today gaming has been made clear compared to the prior obliviousness. Consequently I have created a stronger foundation for character development for game creation, understanding the necessary steps and methods to implicate before and during game creation, by following the necessary stages.

Last Day

Today is the final day before hand in where game finalization and journals, blogs and contextual statement are to be completed for tutors to mark. And with that, the studio will be complete following this entry.

Final Bits

Today was the final week before having everything done where today
was spent finalizing this journal and keeping the blog up to date while ensuring the gmae is completed.
This was when a lot of details of the game was accomplished.
We were able to create separate divisions in the game between player 1 and 2 on the in game screen.
There is a shooting function that will be replaced with waves for the magnets.
There are three lives shared between both players.
There is a random speed function of workers going into the furnace at randomized speeds.
Sounds a are implemented but only with tests sounds and can be edited when needed.
Background music will also follow this same pattern.
Tehre is collision when a bullet comes into contact with a worker making it disappear.
Once workers reach the ruance they disappear and a life is lost.
For now all that remains is a working score system, pause screen and replacing of correct images and sounds while there is a basic main menu.

Finalization + Voice Over

Today was coming together to finish off as much of the game as possible. In order to help Daniel the programmer I opted to install Xcode and Cocos2d programs as well.
The cutscenes were further developed at this point as the idea to implicate voice-overs for the cutcscenes.

First scene:
Such a beautiful day to go to work, says the workers coming into the factory. Oh yes it was a beautiful day for some but for these workers… they are in for a treat.
Second Scene:
Tim our main character heading through the door like every other day that he walks through here.
Third Scene:
But on this day Tim sees one of the meeting doors opened. Little does he know what he is about to hear is going to change his world.
Fourth Scene:
Tim over hears the boss in a meeting with members of the board of faculty. “Keep firing everyone leave no one behind Gahahaha”. As scary as that sounded he thought to himself “I have to tell everyone the news!”
Fifth Scene:
Tim speedily runs through the corridor to tell everyone that everyone is getting fired.
Sixth Scene:
As he gets to the doors of the factory, he opens the door real quick and as the rays of light hits his eyes. Words could not explain the expression he felt when he opened those doors to see what has happened.
Seventh Scene:
Oh the horror he says as he sees his fellow co-workers in cages and tied up all on the conveyor belts heading into the furnace where they are getting fired!
Eight Scene:
Pick up arms with friends in hand and save those workers!

Simulated and Immersive Environments Finished

Today was the final day before handing in the two pages of a contextual/reflective statement for Simulated and Immersive Environments before finishing the paper completely. So today was spent finishing and writing the statement for hand in before twelve am and making two pages exactly with 1,112 words total. And with that, another paper was finished with hopefully high marks.

Simulated and Immersive Environments Work

To accommodate for the Simulated and Immersive Environments hand in approaching I spent today reading over the notes collected over the past nine Simulated lectures. This was to understand the work more and required re-reading all over the powerpoint lectures thus far. This required much time to make sure every word was understood.

Physical Computing Slotuino Extension Work

Due to difficulties, Julian Priest the physical computing lecturer added a needed extension until tomorrow for the project up to November 1st. Taking into consideration the outstanding difficulties that many faced with the project with many individuals, myself included unable to create a working model for the Arudino circuit.

Physical Computing Slotuino Project Week

October 24th 2011 (Monday) - October 28th 2011 (Friday)
With this project being quite difficult to grasp at first and requiring many trips to surplustronics for use of vast amounts of money this project needed to be done as soon as possible with as much effort as possible to ensure money wasn't wasted.

Functions and Features

Today was spent with the group deciding on and finalizing features of our game absolutely.
What we wanted was cages and workers going down at random speeds to work with the Nash Equilibrium forcing players to strategize together options. Realizing time constraints now together with other projects we are now aiming to only create a demon copy of level one.
The idea is to create particular sounds for specific situations as Amir Yousef our sounds designer is handing them to our programmer Daniel.
I have handed my cutscenes in to Ron for finalization and animation.
Jack Yang our Menu and Level designer has handed in the first level along with a main menu to Daniel.
Ron Quizon has handed in the character animations to Daniel as well with full color.
Currently for level one there need only be a single conveyor belt.
In this point in time we are still aiming for individuals scores between players.
Three lives total will also be shared between players.
The main menu will have a play option, credits option and a plain options page to the music on and off and sound effect on and off section.
A round is to last sixty second/one minute while every ten second interval the general speed of all cages will increase.
There will be cages that require two people to work together to break and individual workers that can be saved through solo efforts.
Also there will be background music for the game screen and starting up the game. While, a pause function will also be implicated.

Simulated and Immersive Environments Day

Simulated and Immersive Environments Work Again.

Unable to make substantial enough progress I had to adopt another day into Simulated and Immersive Environments on request with the group for the purposes of understanding c++ coding more and getting more used to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for the now larger project of game making as well.

Simulated and Immersive Environments Work

Compensating for the substantial progress required on Simulated and Immersive Environments I had to adopt more time into this today.

Cutscenes 8

Today was spent creating the last of the scenes after finishing the final Intellectual Innovative Entrepreneural presentation.

this is when players one and two meet together and pick up weapons to retaliate which is magnets in this case.
The idea between the arrows with p1 and p2 written inside was that a player is given the option to be either,. Player one can be the male or the female and the same for player 2.
This would be done through interacting with the cutscene and selecting the respective desired arrow through touch functions.
Pressing the p1 arrow on the top left would make you the male bot and , selecting p2 on the bottom right makes you the female character as player 2.

Intellectual Innovative Entrepreneural Final Presentation Week

October 10th 2011 (Monday) - October 14th 2011 (Friday)
With the approach of the final project for the entrepreneural paper it was important that we adopt time into this project to attain desired marks.

Intellectual Innovative Entrepreneural Final Presentation Week

October 10th 2011 (Monday) - October 14th 2011 (Friday)
With the approach of the final project for the entrepreneural paper it was important that we adopt time into this project to attain desired marks.

Cutscenes 7

I spent my time completing the second to last and seventh cutscene where it shows the fruition of the bosses orders in action with workers being sent to the furnaces on conveyor belts to be literally fired.
Some features were added to signify the importance of the scene and to detail the story more.

-There are employees in a safe glass room up top controlling the conveyor belts covered in shadows as well.
-Workers were placed in cages with sad expressions to show the sadness of the situation.
-I had two workers in the cages attempting to reach out for each other with their hands to exaggerate the sadness further.
-There is also a sign saying level two to show that after finishing this level you will be able to move on.

Simulated and Immersive Environments Day

Cutscenes 6

Today I completed the sixth cutscene of the player opening the door and allowing white light to seep through to build anticipation for what is to come in the next cutscene/image.

Cutscenes 5

Today was also spent creating the fifth cutscene of the eight where, the player is zooming through the corridor after having heard the contents of the secret meeting. The aim is to include a squeaky wheels sound effect during this moment.

Cutscenes 4

Despite today being a physical computing day it was clear more time needed to be spent on our project regardless so extra levels of work was applied to complete the fourth installment of the collection of cutscenes. Fortunately, today in physical computing it was only an introduction to our new project Slotunio where we were also notified of the extension until October 31st to finish. Allowing more time for studio and simulated.

In the fourth cutscene, the main boss is barking out orders and demands however, a shadow completely engulfs the boss minus his robotic arm for a mysterious aura.

Cutscenes 3

I spent today predominantly working on creating the third cutscene. This is where the player peeks through the slightly open door.
It will be from the perspective of the player so we can see the bot peeking through as opposed to seeing the meeting room which will be visible in the following cutscene regardless eliminating the need for showing it twice.

Simulated and Immersive Environments Day

From this day forward on Thursdays more time will need to be allocated into this class to accommodate for the workload increase to have to finish a game for the programming.

Cutscenes 2

Today I spent my efforts to create the 2nd cutscene in our story of the player inside a dark looming corridor with strong shadows for atmosphere. There is also the crack of light at the end of a tunnel in the form of an open door.

Presentation Day

Today was presentation day with tutor James Charlton where during the discussion he made it clear that we required a stronger depth of actual progress and development to base our work off.
It was also noted that the characters I drew weren't quite what he was looking for to suit the game and the ideas we explained.
According to time and where we were he made as strong point that we were greatly behind in our work after making the conscious decision to remodel our game into something new halfway.
Following the presentation and discussion the group believed that we lacked a stronger visual context as direct references as everything was still black and white. Therefore, I handed off all my character work to Ron Quizon who is out animator who will color in the characters and animate the motions before sending off to Daniel Lee our programmer for implication into the game.
Conequently after this, Ron Quizon finished adding in colors to the top Bird-Eye view animations of our characters as this was the view we outlines in the presentation. James spoke of creating a game in a different angle for more successful gameplay which could be compared to guitar hero.
In this basic guitar hero structure the image stretches out infinitely to the end scrolling.
However, in our game the neck of the guitar down the center is replaced by our conveyor belt that infinitely scrolls into a furnace at the end until time runs out or the stage is beaten.
Currently the male bot was presented in a dark blue and the female in a creamy pink.
Now, after having finished my character deigns and passing on the required work to the animator, I was now tasked with cutscenes creation completely.

Cutscenes

Thinking back to the first project there was a plan to implicate cutscenes to further develop the storyline in stronger clarity. Therefore it was decided by the group that we apply this method once more. So I was allocated with this job of finishing the cutscenes that would appropriately outline the game in a smooth chronological order.
1)Player enters the main building/factory.
2)The player is inside a dark looming corridor with strong shadows for atmosphere. There is a crack of light at the end of the corridor.
3)The player peeks through the crack which is a slightly open door.
4)The main boss is barking orders however, this boss is covered by a shadow to create mystery as only a robotic arm of him/her is visible.
5)The player frantically runs through he doorway on squeaky wheels after hearing the horrirfying orders.
6)A door with bright light appears as the player opens the door.
7)Door opens to a scene where workers are in cages being sent into the furnace on conveyor belts being literally fired.
8)In the horror the main player finds a friend and they work together using their weapons to retaliate and rescue their friends, magnets.

The idea was then prepare what to say for the second formative presentation tomorrow by allocating bullet points, speaking parts and creating a powerpoint for visual reference.
After the powerpoint was created and the roles were assigned we part ways as I quickly moved to create the first of eight cutscenes.

Intellectual Innovative Entrepreneural Dragon's Den Week

September 19th 2011 (Monday) - September 23rd 2011 (Friday)
Despite this being our designated study week we were also allocated with the task of finishing a dragon's den preparation for this paper that required us to work with different group members to create a new product worth selling. Therefore, having to do research for figures and needed background information and surveys this week was spent working on Entrepreneur.

Male & Female Bot Large Scale

For quicker direct referencing for the two main male and female protagonist bots I decided to create two large scale copies of them. Each facing forward and identical copies to the previous renditions of the characters in terms of features.

Female Worker Animation / Birdseye

Following an identical layout compared to the male protagonist bot I created a female protagonist bot animation sequence showing the turning motions and moving to the right alone. Ready for a horizontal flip when needed. Drawing remain sketchy to show conceptual development.To compensate for the possibility of having to fashion a game with a birds-eye top view I created a bird's-eye view animation for both male and female protagonists following the same pattern of motion as the previous copies moving to the right but on top instead now.
However, these animations outlines only the animations of the worker both with aerials instead of sirens. Both the main characters and worker bots are identical in constitution in terms of physical appearance. Excluding the aerial which can be replaced with a siren whenever needed for particular animations. It is also decided that they will vary slightly in color between worker bot and main characters according to time restraints.

Female Bot Re-Edit / Male Worker Animation

Taking on aboard the advice and recommendations from the team once again a re-edit of the female bot protagonist was conceived adding in features following their preferences.
Female Bot Re-Edit:
1)Hands have been changed to be more glove like for a stronger difference between male and female protagonists.
2)Head continues to remain slightly semi-spherical.
3)Feet remains a spherical ball.
4)Body is still semi-spherical and complex however, it is more spherical in appearance.
5)Sire is used to demonstrate the signs of being a main character in the game.Understanding time constraints after showing the male bot copy to people, the group decided it was okay to continue forward into drawing actual animations for it. I decided to animate turning motions from looking straight then moving to the right.
Using sketchy lines still to show signs of conceptual development. It is now showing completely all angles of the robot where it only requires horizontally flipping the image to get the left side of the robot and, the motion of the root moving left as well.

Female Bot / Male Bot Re-Edit

Taking into consideration group decisions and choices about both the female and male characters after showing the group images via Facebook I created re-edits for both characters.
Female Bot:
1)Hands remains as claws however it is slimmer to fit a female constitution.
2)Head remains slight semi-spherical.
3)Feet remains a spherical ball to differ from the male schematics.
4)Body is still spherical and shows more complexity compared to the male bot.
5)Siren is used at the top.

Male Bot Re-Edit:
1)Hands remain as claws however are larger in constitution to accommodate for being males.
2)Head remains the same with cylindrical bottom and semi-spherical top.
3)Feet remains a singular wheel as the team had preference to keep it the same.
4)Body is still spherical and simple to maintain safety.
5)IT is decided that from this picture onwards sirens will be fitted at the top of both female and male protagonists to separate from normal workers and, to signify being a main character for effect and differences that are noticeable.

Male Bot / Female Bot Prototype.

Today I spent time focusing on more character development after having gathered together everyone's opinions on what the characters should visually look like.
Male Bot:
1)Hands were changed to appear more claw-like.
2)Head has a cylindrical bottom with a semi-spherical top.
3)Feet has been changed into a circular wheel to appear more comical.
4)Body is spherical and simple.
5)Aerial is used at the top of the head.
Features are listed on the paper for easy direct referencing.

Female Bot Prototype:
1)Hands were changed to appear more claw-like.
2)Head is slightly semi-spherical in shape.
3)Feet has been changed into a spherical ball.
4)Body is spherical but more complicated than the male counterpart.
5)Siren is used at the top of the head.

Break Week

September 5th (Monday) - September 9th (Friday)
It was agreed to come back with a fresh mind for this project that we can take a quick break just to let loose and relax before coming back to full study.

Intellectual Innovative Entrepreneural Week

August 29th 2011 (Monday) - September 2nd 2011 (Friday)
This time will be spent attending the lectures and learning about what Intellectual Innovative Entrepreneural studies encompasses.

Conceptual Design Comments

After showing yesterday's conceptual designs after creating hem after simulated environments lecture today they decided on what features they wanted to officially keep and what not to as well. I noted down in pencil first for easy re-edit.
1)Hands needed to be more claw-like or glove-like similar to South Park.
2)Head is to be cylindrical like #1 in the picture while the possibility of rounding it off at the top with a semi-spherical shape is there.
3)Feet is to be like tank tracks or like a ball as shown in #2 and #5.
4)Body is to be kept spherical as a safe shape.
5)Aerial or siren? (To be decided eventually but can be easy to edit when needed.)

Robot Conceptual Designs #1

Being the character developer it was time to create more character conceptual designs. I attempted to maintain sketchiness and create quantity as earlier advices. I also now created varying versions with strongly different features to give the group choices of features with visual reference for ease.

Level Work / New Idea Depth

After much previous discussion of ideas and with a new proposed game the decision to keep this new game was unanimous. Despite the lateness of things we believe it possible if we apply a higher working standard.
By bringing together our research and ideas it was obvious that Nash Equilibrium would work perfectly in this game.
In a stage depending on difficulty and actual stage in terms of game progression conveyor belt quantities would differ as well as speed of the cages containing the workers travelling down the belt.
The ipad interaction would be sliding player 1/player 2 up and down the stage to the desired position via magnet. One hand/magnet would stick to a bar on the side of the stages with moveable sections which they attach to. The other hand/magnet doe the push and pull to save the workers. However in terms of Nash Equilibrium some cages will move at varying speeds forcing players to work together changing polarity accordingly and applying strategy for a pushing effect or pulling based on preference.
(This is not the actual layout r interface but general idea)
Although players have individual scores there is incentive for player 1 and player 2 to have moments of working together and moments of solo gain for solo play.
Boxes with (1) move slowest and give the least points for easy saving.
However boxes with (1)) move fastest for more points.
Boxes with (+) require two players to work together with one pushing and the other pulling for enough force.
Therefore Nash Equilibrium is present where it is possible to have large point gains together or, it is still possible to win though independent means as well.
Howeve extra incenttive comes from life where if any worker is lost one heart is lost as well and lives are therefore conjoint between players.

New Game

After a long weekend and a mini break to recollect ideas I presented to and discussed with the group another idea of a game to fulfill our Nash Equilibrium needs.
Storyline: A worker of a robot factory stumbles upon a secret meeting where he overhears a plan to fire all the workers by literally sending them down to furnaces on ac conveyor belt. However with everybody being robots in this factory things run slightly differently. These robots do their job via magnets on their hands attached to their body closely by static.
The idea was that the hands would at all times glow one of the two colors red or blue. The colors represented ted the positive and negative push and pull attraction on a magnet but these robots use these to get the job done suggesting they push and pull with friends for quick jobs.

The worker robot in question who has heard this secret conversation moves to save his worker friends. However it is too late as he has arrived on a horrid scene with his workers being shifted to furnaces on a conveyor belt.
However in this moment he finds a friend as they then start to work together.

The group agreed upon this idea as it was proclaimed that further research on the application of Nash Equilibrium into this particular new game was needed.

Physical Computing Day

More Characters Again.

Following Gabe's advice I attempted to produce conceptual artworks following his set guidelines and personal preferences of professionalism. I focused predominantly upon the two main male and female protagonists today with minimal amounts of work on Pug Patty. Using the online JusPlay-Forum on Facebook as the primary outlet for the collection of ideas these features were applied to the characters.
1)Ready Ryan #1 is the first remaster of Tiny Tim. Designated to be ten years old the members of the group agreed that he was too big and tall to fit the criteria. However, this copy was preserved to show steps of development as Gabe recommended that all conceptual work should be kept.
2)Ready Ryan #2 is the official remaster of Tiny Tim. With sketchy lines and various angles of view Ready Ryan wears his favorite hoody at all times with his hair covering his eyes completely. However the nonchalant and aloof appearing character is ready at all times for action and adventure setting out to rescue Pug Patty without a single moments' hesitation.
3)Tantrum Tanya is the first remaster of Little Lily. With sketch lines and various angles of view Tantrum Tanya is always wearing her one-piece with thumb in mouth. While she never fails to keep blanky at her side this four year old tags along for the poor Pug Patty. As by her name however, meltdowns are her specialty so she is ready to burst letting her lungs loose on the unsuspecting world.
4)Just Pug Patty with sketchy lines and differnt angle.s However, as seen in this drawing it is still highly conceptual.

JusPlay-Forum Applications:
1)With the bowl cut fringe common to children although not quite baby-like it was to fit his age. In Pokemon the main character came with simple casual clothing worn everyday which I attempted to recreate.
The alfalfa sticking out was also another baby-like feature.
2)Follows the first version only shorter and smaller.
3)The complete basis of baby-like with thumb in her mouth, blanky at her side and the baby one-piece similar to Magi on the Simpsons. She too takes after the family hairstyle with the famous bowl-cut fringe covering the eyes. With a name associated to something baby-like.
4)Animal-like in every way, in different angles and still basically the same look.

More Characters.

Speaking with Gabe once again on our project once again it was clear a higher level of professional conceptual development was required even if our actual game idea was still simply floating around at this point.

1)Brave Brandon is a revised version of Tiny Tim equipped with a ready action backpack. He won't stop for nothing to save Pug Patty. He is the 10 years old older brother and male protagonist.
2)Kooky Karen is a revised version of Little Lily equipped with her favorite blanky, although a little too hyperactive and at times silly she is the 6 years old younger sister and female protagonist.
3)Just Pug Patty same as always, but slightly altered in physical appearance.
4)Happy Hannah is another possible dog breed strung up on balloons needing rescue. Even in danger this dog still manages to keep her tongue out and tail wagging.
5)Klutzy Ken is another possible dog breed strung up on balloons needing rescue. In danger or not this hairy fellow still manages to trip up into sticky situations.

The aforementioned concepts were crafted before meeting with Gabe where he clarified his personal perception and idea of a professional standard of conceptual framework.
-He asked that the characters be presented in various angles as opposed to the ismple single front on view of characters thus far.
-The drawings needed to be presented more sketchily with more overlapping lines as opposed to constant rubbing out. This would demonstrate immediately that it is conceptual work while the lines can show the particular pictures' personal development.
-Produce larger quantities of pictures instead of having constant discussions about ideas and to just do it whether it turns out wrong or right.

Surveys Continued.

JusPlay-Forum added questions:

7)How much time do you usually spend on Ipad, Iphone and PC?
More than 1 hour, Less than 30 minutes, 1 hour or 30 minutes.
8)What is the first thing you focus on when you play a game?
To finish it, Usually the graphics then gameplay, Get the highest score or To get all the achievements and trophies.
9)For the girls! What defines a cute character?
Animal-like, Baby-like, Big eyes, Big head and Small Body or Sound effects.
10)Why would you play a game?
Boredom, To enjoy and share with friends, Getting high score, Having Dragons, Defeating Enemies, Free to play, Gameplay is good, Epic music, Good graphics, Friend recommended it, Good story, To win.

Surveys

With various clashing ideas it was proven too difficult to determine which path to truly follow. However eventually the idea to create an online forum asking the questions we needed to act as a survey was conceived. The main questions that required answering were uploaded onto our Facebook forum by the name of JusPlay-Forum where each of us in the group invited our friends to ask what needed answering.
1)What is a good game?
Interactive play, Challenging, Versus play, Co-operative play, Engaging, Playful, Simple/Short or Rugby Challenge Official Game.
2)What is your favorite Ipad Game?
Fruit Ninja, Plants vs. Zombies, Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Infinity Blade, Flight Control, Mega Jump, Doodle Jump, Max and the Magic Marker, Zombieville or Monster Dash.
3)What type of feelings would you like to feel when playing a game?
Excitement, Anticipation, Happy, Confusion, Empathy, Angry, Cute, Scary or Sad.
4)What would yo like to see on an Ipad Game?
Vibrant Colors, Modern Scenery, Weaponry, Originality, Cute Characters, High FPS rate or Animal Characters.
5) What is your favorite Character?
Pokemon, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja or Yu-Gi-Oh.
6)2d, 2.5d or 3d Graphics?
2.5-Dimensional, 3-Dimesional, 2-Dimensional or ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Understanding that before we could decide on genuine game creation actions we would need to give the forum at least 2-3 days to collect a suitable number of people answering as our source.

Physical Computing Day

Shooter + Theory = ?

After having received the visually written feedback from our first formative presentation and discussion it was clear that there was strong confusion circulating our primary Nash Equilibrium concept. Predominantly the purposes of it in a shooting game where both players could simply target the most pointworthy target throughout the whole game without hesitation and, ignore the lesser pointworthy targets. To ensure completion of each level without any challenge at all.
Currently as a result to revise the main idea it was required that we take the weekend to refine our idea and concept where if the decision to recreate the game entirely come to, there would need to be a basic idea at the least to change to.

Faces

After a quick chat about our project with lecturer Gabriel Teo it was clear we had an incorrect order of priorities. It was key that character development which was my job to be quickly developed before the cutscenes. As the story is flexible towards the characters contained within. As he requested we deliver a more professional approach and work ethics with the mindset of not a project but instead a genuine job worth monetary gain. Understanding this, I switched to focus largely on character development. Gabe made it clear that as everything is still in developmental phases it wasn't necessary to decide indefinitely that the characters would be dogs, location or that there were humans. Therefore I played with character concepts demonstrated on the following page. I played with the idea of varying animals first before modifying the characters in any way.

Cutscene Allocation

1)Overview of the 'peaceful' neighborhood. It is early in the morning with the sun up.
2)A small portion of an airballoon/airship stats coming into view leaving a large shadow covering some houses below.
3)A black screen with a single red balloon will come in to view showing that it is strung up to something but, as it is close up it doesn't show what yet. This will be the only moving image where as you scroll with touch interaction it will gradually lift he balloon. Once the entire balloon is in view a dog whelping or whimper sound will be made before moving on. It is Pug Patty.
4)Two children wake up to see Dog Catcher Joe just sending off Pug Patty into the air.
5)Grabbing the closest weapon on the table next to them the two children Tiny Tim and Little Lily chases after the now fleeing Dog Catcher Joe.
6)A chases image of the two children chasing Dog Catcher Joe Down the Street ensues.

AT THIS POINT LEVEL ONE STARTS.
This is a quick game where there will be one image of a scrolling street as the three characters run up it.
The mini game will be similar to the above picture continuously scrolling down.
A certain time limit will be allocated for a possible game over while a required amount of points is needed to move onto the next cutscenes and into the next level.
Points are awarded by hitting Dog Catcher Joe as you run down the street.

Cutscenes

Accommodating for the verbal feedback received at the presentation/discussion it was clear we needed to define the story in stronger detail. Therefore as a group the idea to fashion key cutscenes was outlined.
The idea was to use the common comic strip style presentation of cutscenes similar to cartoons to emphasize ideas of safety.
Understanding that this idea will be implicated into an Ipad/Iphone system interaction will be implemented to scroll through cutscenes or skip them.
Following this further story development to determine what would be in each scene, chronological order and reasoning of integration took place. As well as ideas for sounds in gameplay, pause menu and during cutscenes.

Physical Computing Day

Presentation Day

Unfortunately because of traffic related reasons I arrived to the meeting late but in time to present our project and clarify our idea to people. At the moment the use of our theory appears unnecessary to Daniel for the particular game however, the peer groups are fond of the actual game idea. But, now to wait for feedback.

Characters

In preparation for the upcoming formative presentation following the discussion of ideas shared from previous days, the aforementioned character features were applied. Allocated with the primary task of being the character designer and modeller I was now able to practically engage with the job using the collective decisions of the team as a basis. In terms of characters there will be three breeds of normal dog that will be seen constantly throughout the game for varying point rewards. Consequently there will also be one main dog for the two main boy and girl protagonists which will be a pug. Acting as enemies there will be one boss, the dog catcher with his henchman where the boss will only be truly battled on the final stage.
Character List:
1)Tiny Tim is the main male protagonist that can be selected for play with a slingshot as his designated weapon for balloon popping. Tim is the 9 years old older brother.2)Little Lily is the main female protagonist that can be selected for play wit h a slingshot as her designated weapon fro balloon popping. Lily is the 7 years old younger sister.3)Dog Catcher Joe is the main villain that takes to the skies as refuge while executing his plans through tying the dogs onto strings attached to balloons.
4)Henchman Harry is the sidekick/Right hand man for Dog Catcher Joe fulfilling his commands without hesitation. Timid by character but aggressive in work.
5)Pug Patty is the main dog in question that Tim and Lily are looking to retrieve from Dog Catcher Joe's grasps. A pug dog breed and puppy as well.
6)Jumpy Jeffrey is one of three dog breeds captured and prepped for airborne slingshot rescue. A golden retriever breed and active by nature.
7)Messy Max is one of three dog breeds captures and prepped for airborne slingshot rescue. A new breed of dog made for the game and enjoys creating a mess and dirt.
8)Silly Sally is one of three dog breeds captured and prepped for airborne slingshot rescue. A husky breed and is goofy at heart around people.

The aforementioned storyline implicated features of a child-like cuteness playing on minimalistic violence originating from a single character as the source. Adopting the typical good vs evil as a basis of the storyline. An evil dog-cathcer has it out for dogs and two kids looking to save their dog. Along with the neighborhood dogs on the way there. However in an attempt to appeal to the female demographic graphically both background and characters alike will continue to adopt a cute child-like style.
The idea will be to recreate characters such as Super Slobber Dog. The dog features rounded characteristics, big eyes and symmetry to safely appeal to the aesthetic standards and preferences of the general audience.

The features are things we will be looking out for in creating our character:
- Overlapping skin or wrinkles for cuteness.
-Cute eyes looking up to the screen or owner for general cuteness factors.
-Freckles for cuteness.
-Nose rounded off.
-Tongue sticking out to show playfulness.
-Long drooping and rounded ears for ideas of safety.
-Cheeks coming out for cuteness.
-Rounded tips for hair instead of spikes.

The following background will be an idea of what we are after in our game from the iphone game 'GOIN NUTTY'.

Storyline Development

Today through discussion we determined a possible storyline that accommodates for Nash Equilibrium while appealing to society's current market appeal. So we believed the best path to follow was indeed a game incorporating a 2.5-Dimensional graphics with a cartoon like animation style. This could e something like Max and the Magic Marker.
As shown in the example, this game is done in varying layers which is also a format we want to follow where, the character will walk on one layer and then here will be a background layer following.

However, as a possible storyline we visited what would be the most attractive as a game for people to want to play. What we discovered as an unknown market was a game being designed for girls which is an area with limited exploration thus far. This would of course prove to be a unique and interesting perspective to explore a game from in our case. So at this point we asked ourselves how do we appeal to the female market and of course out initial idea became 'cuteness'. So we needed to create something simple and cute along the lines of cut the rope.
Therefore we now needed a storyline that could incorporate the idea of cuteness in a game. So along these lines we determined that a possible storyline could be one that focuses on dogs.

Storyline synopsis:
One day an evil dogcatcher schemes to kidnap the dogs within the neighborhood for his personal benefit. However, during his visit to one particular house with a particular kidnap attempt he was caught in the cat by two children. He swiftly takes their dog and make a run for it where a chase ensues with the two children having a slingshot in hand. Stringing dogs onto balloons the dogcatcher sends the dogs to his airship where slingshots are their only weapons to save the dogs of their neighborhood and their own dog.

Physical Computing Day

Nash Equilibrium

Nash Equilibrium is our chosen strategy to explore.
In definition it is a strategy implemented in games that maps down a players decision theoritically in Multiplay. It focuses on the available strategies that are possible through assessing the situation to gather which option has the most payoff and incentive to follow through with. Typically this is compacted within a matrix.

		PLAYER 2
		Option 2	Option 1
PLAYER 1	Option 2	3, 3	0, 2
	Option 1	2, 0	1, 1

What happens here is the numbers represent the achieved result. The higher the number, the stronger the payoff and incentive. Therefore this matrix is a direct strategy in comparison to determine which strategy would be the most successful to use.

PLAYER 2 Option 2 PLAYER 1 Option 2 '3','3' Option 1 2, 0

In this particular case if player two chooses 'option 2' player 1 should also choose 'option 2' as '3' provides a greater payoff than 2.

		PLAYER 2
			Option 1
PLAYER 1	Option 2		0, 2
	Option 1		'1', '1'

However, in this situation if player 2 chooses 'option 1' player 1 should 'option 1' as well because '1' gives a greater payoff than 0.

Therefore, this speaks of where players choose strategies where they believe they are better off at times compared to the opposing player in the game.
Solidified Definition:
- Nash Equilibrium occurs when no player in the game has incentive to deviate from his strategy given the strategies all other player are playing.
- That is, everyone is playing their own "best response" to what all other players are doing in terms of strategies.
-At least one Nash Equilibrium exists in all finite games.

So by examining the given matrix we can determine if Nash Equilibrium exists.

		PLAYER 2 Option 2	Option 1
PLAYER 1	Option 2	'3', '3'	0, 2
	Option 1	2, 0	1, 1

At this point player 1 benefits more from 'option 2' with a payoff of '3' as opposed to choosing 'option 1' only to receive a payoff of 2. Therefore, Player 1 would not change strategies from 'option 2' provided player 2 initially chooses 'option 2'.
Should Player 1 initiate with 'option 2' player 2 would then remain on 'option 2' as well as it has a payoff of '3' compared to a payoff of 2 from option 1. Thus, player 2 would want to maintain this same strategy.
*This means that 'option 2' to 'option 2' is a Nash Equilibrium however, there is always a possibility of more than one Nash Equilibrium present in a game therefore, exploration is necessary to a further extent.

		PLAYER 2
		Option 2	Option 1
PLAYER 1	Option 2	3, 3	0, 2
	Option 1	2, '0'	1, 1

In the case that player two uses 'option 2' and player 1 uses 'option 1' it is necessary to assess if a strategy change is required purely based on what the opposing player chooses as their strategy. For player 2, choosing 'option 2' when player 1 initially decides on 'option 1' will give player 2 the lower payoff of '0', therefore player 2 should and will deviate to picking 'option 1' as well to receive a better payoff of 1 so a strategy change will occur here. This suggests that 'option 1' to 'option 2' is not a Nash Equilibrium.

		PLAYER 2
		Option 2	Option 1
PLAYER 1	Option 2	3, 3	'0', '2'
	Option 1	2, o	1, 1

Now we visit the strategy play of 'option 2' to 'option 1'. Therefore if player 2 initially chooses to follow through with 'option 1' player 1 would want to deviate and choose 'option 1' as well as 'option 2' would only provide a payoff of '0'in this particular case compared to the payoff of 1 received from choosing 'option 1'. This immediately declares that 'option 2' to 'option 1' is of course not a Nash Equilibrium.

		PLAYER 2
		Option 2	Option 1
PLAYER 1	Option 2	3, 3	0, 2
	Option 1	2, 0	'1', '1'

Now, it is the final combination of 'option 1' to 'option 1'. As demonstrated through previous assessments of the past outcomes should any player choose 'option 1' as the initial choice no plaer would demonstrate any incentive to deviate and change strategies as 'option 1' in this case will always have the highest payoff of '1'compared to the alternative of 0. Therefore, this is also a Nash Equilibrium.

Therefore from the matrix we can gather that this game has two existent Nash Equilibrium. However, of course option 2's payoff of 3 is dominant over 'option 1's' payoff of 1. But should any player begin with 'option 1' it is obvious no change should take place.

Upon discussion despite considering the fact that conflict was definitely a valid theory confined within gaming in Ipad/Iphone games. Some areas demonstrated difficulties and limitations. Although Ipads and Iphones are a current boom on the market it doesn't distract consumers from the fact that it is still expensive regardless. Therefore it's more than clear that not everyone would own either Ipad or Iphone which immediately suggests that the possible social issues we are delivering attention onto is constrained to a somewhat richer market of people. Therefore, limiting the social concerns present to a smaller demographic. Also due to the Iphone and Ipad market primarily focusing on Monetary gain it can be deduced that the games created weren't entirely designed or dedicated to addressing any such social concern or conflict. Also, a main pivotal fact presented in the idea of social concerns and conflict is that it plays largely on simultaneous large pools of player all at one time which requires a leading talent in networking and the understanding of it. Typically multiplay through Ipads and Iphones is limited to perhaps wi-fi through neighboring players, using the same Ipad and Iphone or a direct internet connection where unlike the internet of the PC games, Ipad and Iphone games have yet to reach the standard where within social interaction the entire multitude of players are visible to players. Therefore as a group based on these findings it was decided that conflict in games although valid, had many cons visible to us in comparison to Nash Equilibrium in games.

Research:
Game theory 101: Stag hunt and Pure Strategy Nash Equilibrium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85jOlRt_88