Posts Tagged ‘scrum’

Simple Game Design through Polish, Appeal & Measures

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

A figure from my thesis summarizing the theorynicolaj.schweitz@gmail.com if you would like to read my thesis. Otherwise, read on and get an overview of my thoughts behind.

With a vantage point in the term Game Polish, I have proposed a simple method for designing games independently from any specific production methodologies.

The study was made in the spring of 2009 through correspondences with members of the International IGDA Game Design SIG and other forums dedicated to game design.

The main cornerstones of the study is Polish, Appeal, and Measures – all elaborated in the report.

The conclusion of the thesis proposes a simple methodology of designing games that is independent of software production methodologies.

(more…)

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Posted in Education, Game Design, Games | 2 Comments »

Game programmer on Exodroid

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

While doing my MSc in Medialogy, I took part in two productions at DADIU (Danish Academy for Digital Interactive Entertainment).

My second production was called Exodroid and was made in Unity3D using C# and Visual Studio Express. This production took place in March 2009 while I was writing my essay and master thesis , so these are somewhat interconnected.

As game programmer on this project, I gained experience using C# with Unity3D. Furthermore, I took an active part in developing the design and the production itself.

I participated in the project while writing my master thesis, therefore much of the discussion and conclusion is somewhat related to this project.

Official info and download page at dadiu.dk

Simple C# script to trigger theme music at certain points in the game:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public enum ThemeFader
{
FirstToSecond = 0,
SecondToThird = 1
}

// Put this script on the triggerbox that has to change the theme music
public class AudioThemeTrigger : MonoBehaviour
{
// enable these controls in the editor
public float fadeTime = 5.0f;
public ThemeFader themeFader;

private bool triggered = false;
private GameObject player;
private Transform AudioTheme1;
private Transform AudioTheme2;
private Transform AudioTheme3;

void Start()
{
player = GameObject.FindGameObjectWithTag("Player");
AudioTheme1 = Helper.getChildByName(player.transform, "AudioTheme1");
AudioTheme2 = Helper.getChildByName(player.transform, "AudioTheme2");
AudioTheme3 = Helper.getChildByName(player.transform, "AudioTheme3");

switch (themeFader)
{
case ThemeFader.FirstToSecond:
AudioTheme1.transform.audio.volume = 0.7f;
AudioTheme2.transform.audio.volume = 0.0f;
AudioTheme3.transform.audio.volume = 0.0f;
break;
case ThemeFader.SecondToThird:
AudioTheme2.transform.audio.volume = 0.7f;
AudioTheme3.transform.audio.volume = 0.0f;
break;
default:
break;
}
}

void Update()
{
if (triggered)
{
switch (themeFader)
{
case ThemeFader.FirstToSecond:
CrossfadeAudio(AudioTheme1,AudioTheme2);
break;
case ThemeFader.SecondToThird:
CrossfadeAudio(AudioTheme2,AudioTheme3);
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}

private void CrossfadeAudio(Transform t1, Transform t2)
{
if (t1.transform.audio.volume > t1.transform.audio.minVolume)
{
//fade out
t1.transform.audio.volume -= t1.transform.audio.maxVolume * Time.deltaTime / fadeTime;
}
else
{
t1.transform.audio.volume = 0.0f;
t1.transform.audio.Stop();
}
if (!t2.transform.audio.isPlaying)
{
//start the new sound if it is not allready running
t2.transform.audio.Play();

}
if (t2.transform.audio.volume < t2.transform.audio.maxVolume)
{
//fade in
t2.transform.audio.volume += t2.transform.audio.maxVolume * Time.deltaTime / fadeTime;
}
else if (t1.transform.audio.volume <= t1.transform.audio.minVolume) triggered = false;
}

void OnTriggerEnter(Collider collider)
{
if (collider.gameObject.tag == "Player")
{
triggered = true;
}
}
}

A little C# helper for some tedious tasks:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public static class Helper
{
static AudioClip lastClip;

// Get the first child transform with the speified name
public static Transform getChildByName(Transform transform, string name)
{
for (int i = 0; i < transform.GetChildCount(); i++)
{
if (transform.GetChild(i).name == name) return transform.GetChild(i);
}
throw new Exception("Cound not find child " + name + " in " + transform.name);
}

// Returns a random audio clip from the specified array of AudioClips
public static AudioClip getRandomAudioClip(AudioClip[] clips)
{
if (clips != null)
{
// Create a list with available clips
List<AudioClip> clipsToChoose = new List<AudioClip>(clips);

// Remove the previous clip from the list if it is there
if (lastClip != null)
{
for (int i = 0; i < clipsToChoose.Count; i++)
{
if (clipsToChoose[i].name == lastClip.name)
{
clipsToChoose.RemoveAt(i);
break;
}
}
}

if (clipsToChoose.Count > 0)
{
int randomNb = UnityEngine.Random.Range(0, clipsToChoose.Count);
lastClip = clipsToChoose[randomNb];
return clipsToChoose[randomNb];
}
else throw new Exception("At least one audioclip has to be passed");
}
else
{
throw new Exception("At least one audioclip has to be passed");
}
}

public static float adjustVolumeToDistance(GameObject soundSource, float distanceToZeroVol)
{
GameObject player = GameObject.FindGameObjectWithTag("Player");
//getting distance to camera
float distance = Vector3.Distance(soundSource.transform.position, player.transform.position);
//calculate newVolume
float newVol = 1 - (distance / distanceToZeroVol);
//scale according to maxVolume
newVol *= soundSource.audio.maxVolume;
//make sure volume is positive or zero
if (newVol > 0.0f) soundSource.audio.volume = newVol;
else newVol = 0.0f;
return newVol;
}

public static float adjustVolumeToDistance(GameObject soundSource)
{
return adjustVolumeToDistance(soundSource, 1000.0f);
}

// Sets layer for a given transform and for all its children recursively
public static void setLayer(Transform t, int layer)
{
t.gameObject.layer = layer;
for (int i = 0; i < t.GetChildCount(); i++)
setLayer(t.GetChild(i), layer);
}
}

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Posted in Education, Game Design, Games, work | No Comments »

Using Game Design Patterns in Casual Online Game Productions

Sunday, December 28th, 2008

9th Semester/Internship

Spending time in “the real world” was a great lesson for me. Besides the academic work, described below, I gained first hand experience in what it takes to deliver production quality flash games. Go see the cases Jul i Sonofonhuset and Tron – Light Cycles.

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Posted in Games | No Comments »

DADIU May 2007 – Hængerøv

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Hængerøv

The first production was called Hængerøv and was made in Source SDK using Lua, C++ and Visual Studio 2005. The production took place May 2008.Hængerøv poster

The game was a 3D platformer where you would play a young boy, that accidentally broke his sister’s new cell phone while secretly tampering with it in his tree house one night. The objective is to collect the missing buttons while evading the furious sister who threatens to embarrass you by showing a picture of your bare bottom to the entire school, but that is not all.

The dark garden is a treacherous place to sneak around. Garden gnomes have come to life and they yodel awfully loud when tripped over, and that is what your sister is waiting for, so she can find you and take your picture.

Your parents aren’t of much help as they are having a garden party. Empty wine bottles can also give up your position, and so can the (not-so-scary-almost-pathetic) ghosts that are haunting the garden.

Fortunately you are armed with your Bug Vacuum Gun, that can suck up the ghost. The downside of it is that it attracts your sister’s attention as well.

The only chance of avoiding total embarrassment is to return the fixed mobile to your sister before her boyfriend calls her.

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Posted in Education, Game Design, Games, Science, cph | No Comments »

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