Presentation (DD1000)

Here is the the first page of the Power Point I have made for Ben's presentation! I surrounded the background with different social games and logo's to give a look that they are scattered across the desk. I have also used some nice transitions between slides that are subtle and flow nicely!

Traditional Social Games - Poster (DD1000)

Here is my third of the poster presentation, We will join all our parts together to create the final piece. I need to alter the text to a bigger size so that its easier to read.

Traditional Social Games - Key Points (DD1000)

Here I have included a summary of the information used in the poster presentation so it is all in one place:

Senet

·         One of the oldest known board games in the world – competitive, 2 players

·         Sticks were used instead of dice

·         Winners were supposedly under the protection of gods

Chess

·         One of the world’s most popular games – Turn based strategy

·         Played in social clubs, by correspondence, tournaments, schools

·         Originated in India in the 9^th Century with some differences but the modern game mostly stays true to the original

Warhammer

·         Miniature war gaming is a recreational hobby using miniature models of characters and scenery to play out battles

·         Offers more freedom of play and more aesthetically pleasing scenery

·         Painting the miniatures is a hobby in itself

·         Social interaction as games can consist of teams with up to five players on each side, working together and discussing tactics

·         Turn based strategy like Chess

·         The first game was in the form of a Rulebook written by H.G. Wells named Little Wars in 1913. This was to be used with toy soldier figurines.

Dungeons and Dragons

·         Role-playing game – players take the role of a fictional character in a fictional world

·         Game follows basic guidelines and rules but players can make their own decisions and bring up ideas

·         Table top RPG’s are a matter of discussion.

·         Players take an individual role of a single character while one player is the game master who acts as a referee for all other aspects of the game

·         The first commercial game was Dungeons and Dragons which was published in 1974

Commercial Board Games

·         Commercial board games are created and sold under a brand name as opposed to traditional games which nobody owns the rights too

·         Examples of this are Monopoly, Sorry and Scrabble

Trading Card Games

·         Trading cards have been around for over 100 years (some of the first found in cigarette packets) and were generally used for collecting.

·         Magic: The Gathering was the first game of this platform, designed by Richard Garfield in 1993 and published by Wizards of the Coast

·         Tournaments are held around the world for card and cash prizes

·         Japanese TCG’s like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon have spawned several videogames TV series

Tactics - The First Wargame (DD1000)

Looking at early board games I came across Tactics, a war simulator game that was designed by a genuine infantry officer. Below I have found an exert that explains the game in detail and also some interesting facts!

Tactics is a landmark game in that it was the first cardboard-counter commercial board wargame that was intended (albeit with limited success) to accurately simulate warfare and command.
The game was self-published by infantryman Charles S. Roberts, who would go on to found of Avalon Hill Games. The original edition of Tactics was published by the Avalon Game company, with a print run of approximately 2000. Roberts sold Tactics by mail order out of a garage in Avalon, Maryland.
The game portrayed a modern day strategic conflict between the forces of two hypothetical countries. The opposing units included infantry, armor, and airborne forces. The game was played on a mapboard which used a square grid rather than the hex-based style map which would later became preferred in the board wargaming industry. However, many of the conventions and mechanics established in Tactics still live on, in one form or another, in many of the wargames published today.
Based on his success with Tactics, Roberts decided to expand his operation and in 1958 he formed Avalon Hill Games. The initial line-up of games from Avalon Hill included Tactics II, a revised version of Roberts' original wargame. Avalon Hill would go on to publish a 25th Anniversary edition of Tactics in 1983, which represented a modified version of the original game in that it used a prototype mapboard which had not previously been released.
Other than a few graphical changes there are some functional changes from the Tactics map to the Tactics II map:
Going over the 1954 Tactics and 1958 Tactics II boards square by square the only functional changes are:
- The squares around the edge of the map for 1958 now have numbers 1 to 43 from North to South and 1 to 55 West to East.
- Cities for 1958 had unique numbers added.
No numbers are present on the 1954 board in the cities or the grid.
- There is no map compass on the mapboard label like there is in Tactics II
- The mountain pass in the large mountain range on the board label edge is not present on the 1954 map. Also there is only one single clear square, same place as in Tactics II, 7 squares in from the Blue coastal city near the map label in that mountain range. There are none of those longer dead end corridors in the big mountain range like on the Tactics II map.

Final Three Artstyle Pieces (DD1101)

Here are my final three artstyle pieces for Mark based on Sean Galloway's, Ashley Wood's and Marek Okon's artstyles.

Game Design Document - Game Mode Exert (XB1000)

Here is a small exert from mine and Sam's game design document for Fall of Erabus!

Battle Mode

This mode allows players to compete against and cooperate with a number of A.I/human players or both. A variety of game settings are available which allows players to customise the game to their own preferences, make a game more fast paced or simply more of a challenge. 

·         Skirmish – The standard game mode where 2 or more players have one simple objective; annihilate all enemies! (free for all and team options available)

·         Conquest – This ‘capture the objective’ based game consists of key locations on the map that must be captured and held by the players units. Points are gained overtime for each location held and the player who reaches the maximum score wins the match!

·         Tug of War – This exciting game mode has players building units within a select area which are then brought onto the battlefield every 30 seconds in a wave. Choosing what units to create to counter the enemies is the key. If a player loses their main base building to the enemy then they lose!

The Arena

This unique mode allows players to choose a hero unit and fight one on one with other human heroes to earn experience and upgrade their unit with new abilities and spells. This single unit is controlled just like any regular unit but with an array of spells and attacks to unleash on rivals. Players can also team up to take on waves of enemies with boss levels spread in-between for a fun and exciting cooperative experience.

Game Design Document (XB1000)

For Stephen's final assignment, me and a fellow classmate must create a game design document and give a selling pitch to the class. I have been playing a number of different strategy games recently to get some good ideas for game features. An interesting one that I came across was while playing Starcraft 2. This game mode uses the arcade game bejeweled to score points for players to spend on units to send to an opponents base, so effectively you are playing to games at once. I found it interesting and very fun to play as you are required to move very quickly between both games.

Our game is more like Starcraft meets Naruto meets Total War. It has identical mechanics to starcraft's gameplay, characters, units and abilities are similar to the action packed manga Naruto and the campaign map is similar to the Total War/Civilization series.

Card Game Variants - Collectable Trading Cards (DD1000)

Trading cards have been around for over 100 years (some of the first found in cigarette packets) and were generally used for collecting. These tend to be based around sports such as baseball (although non sports card were manufactured) where each player on a team will have his/her own card, maybe with a signature or some sort of personal addition along with some kind of statistics.

Actual trading card games are different in that they combine the collecting of regular trading cards with strategic game play. These games use sets of specially designed cards that can be used in conjunction with that specific games rule set. 

These games are generally more competitive and tournaments are held worldwide to win a variety of prizes which could be cash or a special card of some sort.The very first TCG (Trading Card Game) is Magic: The Gathering which was first released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. This is probably the best TCG in my opinion although I haven't played it recently. There is also a digital version of the game which is released annually that takes many existing cards from the actual game so it is more convenient for players to find rivals online.

Other popular games include the Japanese titles Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh which have spawned their own set of video games and anime series.

Card Game Variants - Top Trumps (DD1000)

Top Trumps is a comparing card game where each card includes a number of statistics for the item on the card and then compares the selected value with another player in order to try and win/trump their card. The winner is the player who manages to take all of the opponents cards.

I used to play this game in my childhood and a large variety of subjects were available to choose from including super cars  different film titles and prehistoric creatures.

It was first introduced in the 1970's and was mainly targeted at young children, mainly boys and grew to be a popular playground game. Packs were in a low price range so that they were affordable after a few weeks pocket money. In 1999, The game was relaunched for the modern era and has since included a much larger variety of subjects when compared to its previous first release. It is still currently in production.

Final Presentation (XB1134)

Below is the final presentation sheet that I will hand into James. I have included the Specular, Normal and Diffuse maps which are all used for texturing and then I downloaded Marmoset Toolbag to get some nice screenshots by using bloom effects and lighting. Overall I am quite happy with the outcome.

Normal Map (XB1134)

After completeing both the low poly and high poly models for my revolver, I used the baking process to project the definition from my high poly to my low poly model so that they look identical without exceeding 6000 tris.

Below is the normal map which was produced from the baking process.

Ashley Wood Style (DD1101)

The finished version of my attempt at drawing in Ashley Wood's art style

Sean Galloway and Ashley Wood (DD1101)

Sean Galloway (left) and Ashley Wood (right, unfinished) influenced drawings, examples on the bottom

Social Games: Card Games (DD1000)

After looking at several early boardgames including Backgammon, Chess, Senet and Go which lead to the hundreds of commercial board games now available, I will move on to card games which are another type of game that has existed for many years.

The origin of playing cards are shrouded in mystery as no evidence can be found to pinpoint when they first came to use. It is simply said that playing cards emerged at different times in different cultures across the ages. This was the 14th century for Europe where Tarot decks were used. You may be more familiar with these card when I say that they were later used in divination to determine the mental and spiritual pathways of individuals.

The traditional playing cards that are used to this day that consist of four suits had a few design changes with the French design of Hearts, Diamonds, Spades and Clubs being the most recent. Moving ahead in time, playing cards branched out and are being used in different types of games.