Game Report - Slaughterfield

Team
Group 19 - Gold Team
Cameron Wetzel Hillman: Lead Designer
Alicia Hill: Executive Producer

Game
Slaughterfield
Turn-based tactical combat and territory control. Two opposing commanders from the forces of man and hordes of monsters assemble a squad of specialized units to assault one another in order to conquer the land.
Caters to both hardcore and casual strategy game enthusiasts, aged 25-35.

Playtests
A core issue experienced through many playtest sessions was the speed of the game. Players took considerable time to fully comprehend the rule sheet, and after they started playing they didn't completely understand how the game functioned. The size of the game board was also much too large, not to mention that each player had 6 units to make decisions for each turn. It took upwards of 20 minutes for players to begin interacting with each other.

Solutions
The game board was cut down by at least 2/3rds, and instead of 4 control points across the board, there is now only one. Capturing that control point means victory for whichever player got it. Additionally, each player only controls 3 units instead of 6. The rules have also been greatly simplified to reduce reading time. As a whole, the speed of the game is improved, as well as the time needed to start playing.



For the Future
The team should have much quicker responses to failures in the playtest stage in order to have a better game sooner.

Game Scene - Final Post and Presentation

Here is our group's final submission for the project. It took a lot of time and effort. The scene contains four buildings. Three buildings are taken from a town called Lurelin in the video game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WIld. They have a somewhat tropical, beachside theme. My building is a generic stable for horses that is found in many spots around the game world, as there wasn't any other unique buildings I could create.

To create our models and UV meshes, our group used the Maya 3D software. I personally used Photoshop to make textures for the various parts of my structure, though I can't speak for my group members whether they only used Photoshop. After the completion of our group's work, we placed our individual pieces into a game scene in Unity to allow ourselves to 'physically' walk around and look at them fully rendered for any mistakes.

My original complete model had a lot of open spaces that I didn't fully realize would be completely see-through when placed into a game engine like Unity. I then had to go around and combine lots of vertices to close those spaces, as well as create new geometry where there was only a one-sided faces. I also made the horse structure a little less wide because I thought it was just too fat.

I had a tough time making textures for my model.The model it is based off of is quite complicated, and my limited poly count prevented me from representing many of the features present. Essentially, I had to swallow a big heaping of guilt at not getting things accurate and just get something done. I have 2 full complete texture maps, along with 2 bump maps and, though not used, 2 normal maps.

In the end, our group worked well. Each member did what was required, and turned in great material. Except for me, whose model didn't really fit the theme of the project and didn't have very good textures.

Game Scene - Update 3

At this time, our group is done with modeling and texturing, and we have moved onto the next phase. In this phase, we will be putting our complete models together into one all-encompassing Unity game scene. As a result, we have to export our models and materials into the appropriate file types. I have put quite a lot of effort into making my part of the scene, and as a result I am quite happy with what I have, even if it is crude-looking.

I have done the appropriate method of turning my separate pieces of my scene into one coherent model. My textures also have bump mapping, and are, as far as I am concerned, complete. I have given my group members a link to a Dropbox .ZIP file containing all my relevant files, such as my scene, materials, and the like.

I had much difficulty getting the right look for my textures. I am not an artist, and the complicated nature and limited polygon count prevented me from really getting something that looks nice. I hope that whatever I made is something that my group members like, or at least find acceptable.

All that is left for our group is to prepare the Unity scene, as well as the environmental details, like terrain and lighting. I trust that we can figure out the nuances of the Unity engine, as well work out any quirks with our exported models.

Game Scene - Update 2

My group members and I have reached the final stages of the project. We will be ready to apply our textures by the end of the week, and import our finished models into Unity to create an environment with them. As for my personal model, I still need to really delve into my textures. The limit is two separate 2k resolution texture images, so after making all my UVs look nice I had to spend some extra time individually fitting them all into two UV squares.

While unwrapping the various elements of my overall model project was not itself difficult, it was quite time-consuming. Additionally, needing to fit everything into limited space was very challenging. I didn't want to have to sacrifice the quality of my individual textures, though I suppose it's necessary to keep things simple for myself and my group when we eventually combine our work. Here, I showcase the two exported UVs that I have been using to create textures.

At this time, I have done mostly base colors to test out how things look with color and verify the positions of everything is correct. According to my references, I am going to be going for lots of cloth, wood, and rope features. More substantial work is planned, of course, so this is just to document everything done so far.

Game Scene - Update

As of now, I am complete with the structure of my building. From the last post, I had missed a different update that detailed such information, so I am including it now. All objects are UV'd, and I will begin making textures for them. The parameters of the project state that the building must be below 5000 triangles, and, not including the ground object, I am below that limit.

The full list of my objects includes:
- the giant horse head
- rings, straps, teeth, nostrils, and straw
- central support system for the tent and horse head
- roof with several posts holding it up
- surrounding posts to support the walls
- several layers of curtains and arches, with ropes attaching them to the posts
- horseshoes, banners, and hangers of some kind

To emulate the simple style of the game Breath of the Wild, I am most likely going to go for more flat textures with a bare minimum amount of detail, like parts I couldn't model for the sake of my tri count or baked shadows.

I will try to be bright and colorful, as the original objects are. Seen in these references, there are a few things that I missed in my modeling, like the flags that hang down from the horse's cheeks. If possible, I want to make them, since they create a nice visual flair for the otherwise empty space between the mouth and the ceiling.

I expect my model to be completed in the coming week, so I can combine it with my group members' models for the rest of the project.

Game Scene - Blocking

In this project, I am required to collaborate with other classmates to recreate a scene based on a selection of existing game properties. At this time, I do not actually have any group members to collaborate with, though in the next class period I expect to find some hidden in the wild. As a result, the scene I blocked out is limited in scope and incredibly likely to change entirely.

Of the game designs allotted, I chose to recreate assets from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The simple objects seen in these screenshots represent the prefab elements of enemy encampments found throughout the game world. That would include crates, weapons and weapon racks, fire pits, and towers with drawbridges.

As stated, the entire focus of my project is likely to be altered when and if I am admitted into a group and collaborate with its members. I hope the general structure remains intact, as I feel I am able to accurately and skillfully recreate the objects.

Game Report - Nuko

Nuko

Group 20 (Alexandra Valencia and Cameron Wetzel Hillman)

The asymmetrical battle game, between the lawful United Nations and evil Villain. The villain seeks to bring four nuclear components to their secret bases scattered across the globe by way of shipping, smuggling, and bribing their way through trade routes. The UN must delay the Villain by blocking, searching, and disrupting those trade routes long enough for the Villain to run out of money and shut the operation down. It is played by way of placing and playing cards along with moving pieces towards specific goal spaces. This game is intended for strategy game enthusiasts in their 30's.

Alexandra accomplished many tasks. She created the game board, printing out the map and attaching it to a board along with a plastic portion for writing with a dry erase marker.. She also printed out the final version of the game cards and pasted them to note cards to provide additional strength and survivability. I (Cameron) worked to design the board's layout, as well as the game's functions and various types of cards. Alexandra certainly did the brunt of labor towards creating the final game.

During playtesting, it was very difficult to get players to understand how the game was played. Only two actual playtests were done, as it took too long for the two players per game to get in flow. More playtests were done between the designers than anyone else.
In addition to those problems, the general rules had to be changed several times in order to rebalance and make the game actually fun.

Outside of playtesting, an issue I noticed was how there was little communication between I and Alexandra, due to limited class time interaction, and that she lives elsewhere which made scheduling work time together not possible.

For the future, I would certainly appreciate having more group members and easier contact, not to mention being able to work more than 4 hours a week in the same room. Me personally, only having one person to work with is unreasonable, even with such a small scale project.

Dining Scene - Final

A Beachside Restaurant at Dusk

Inspiration:

Being from San Diego, I have been taken to many eateries by my parents. That would include those located directly in view of the beach and ocean horizon. For my scene, I wanted something classy that overlooks some kind of oceanic thing. I started with the idea of eating on a ship deck, but the criteria of the assignment asked for an indoor scene, so I reluctantly added real walls and a ceiling. I personally believe a restaurant is classier when the layout is limited and the kitchen is hidden, though that's not usually the case in real life. I took elements of small hipster spots and combined them with the larger refined locations. Most of the objects were intended to fit in such a classy beach theme, but without properly remembering the exact look I was limited to stock images that came close.

Objects:

• Table (board, legs, and supports)
• Silverware (fork, knife, and spoon)
• Napkin (for silverware)
• Plate
• Drinking glasses (martini and whiskey)
• Pitcher filled with water
• Candle (candlestick, square jar, sand)
• Podium
• Painting
• Lights (hanging ceiling globes, wall-mounted cylinders)
• Structure (walls, ceiling, floor, and window)

Textures:

• Hardwood floor (Textures101)
• Silver – for silverware (DeviantArt – SweetSoulSister)
• Rubber – under table leg (Photos Public Domain)
• White wood – table legs and supports (Pintrest)
• Bamboo board – table board (Wikimedia Commons)
• Dark wood – chair legs, podium, ceiling light frame, painting frame (Pintrest)
• Purple paint – walls (Cameron Wetzel Hillman)
• Grey paint – ceiling (Pintrest)
• Brushed metal – wall light base (iStock)
• White glass – wall light glass (iStock)
• Abstract fabric – chair (TextureX)
• White fabric – cushion (Textures.com)
• Porcelain – plate (Walmart)
• Ocean sunset – background (Max Pixel)
• Sand (Inspiration Hut)
• Ceramic – ceiling light base (gen4congress.com)
• Nylon – ceiling light (Country Brook Petz)
• The Kramer – painting (artexpress.ws)

Problems and Solutions:

1. Time: I am a slow worker, especially with creative assignments. I spent an inordinate amount of time staring at nothing, or attempting to keep my mind occupied to not become too stressed about the deadlines. The nights before weekly ePortfolio checkups were quite difficult. I just had to sit for tens of hours and do nothing else.

2. Upon completing my scene, I noticed that I was at well over 80 thousand faces. I either needed to delete a lot of faces from a lot of objects, or delete several objects entirely. It was disheartening to see my scene lose detail.

3. I wanted to have more interesting textures, but the amount of time I spent on everything prevented anything cool. I chose to do no more than stock images found on the internet to drive a steam train through the pipeline, as I was not interested in wasting effort on simple elements no one would notice.

Time Frame:

• Planning 2 hours
• Modeling 15 hours
• Texturing 15 hours
• Layout 3 hours
• Lighting 5 hours
• Rendering 5 hours
• Total 45 hours

References:

Ambient Occlusion Set-up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75JFUwA5XL0

Dining Scene - Update 2

This next phase of my project has much of the final placement of objects. The purpose of this update is to showcase the lighting. There are 3 sources present. The main source is from the environment, namely the sun, which is present as a background texture. The other two sources are a series of hanging lights and wall lights across the room.

It is possible that the light values will be changed to accommodate texture work. That will be apparent when the textures are finalized, after which point the project will be ready for shipping. As it is, I think the way it is now is right.

The objects present are essentially complete. They all have UVs and are ready for texturing. Some other objects may be created to create additional visual interest. One object created is missing from the renders, a menu. I could not adequately decide where to place them at the moment, so I left them invisible.

While there is a decent amount of work left before completion, the project is on the right track. Here are two more renders to fully present the entirety of the scene.

Dining Scene -- Update 1

After much effort, two important models have been fully sculpted and unwrapped. I believe I am on track to have all objects finished by the end of this week. 

This table went through several revisions. I had two different references that I wanted to follow initially. After the blocking phase, I attempted to build both separately. The model you see here ended up being more visually interesting while being simpler to construct, having less polygons and no circles.




There are only three unique pieces, the leg, support beams, and counter. The leg is duplicated three times across the structure, and the support is duplicated twice. I intend to have dining sets and chairs placed in each of the slots between legs, and I can easily modify the amount of slots by adding or removing legs and supports.

This chair had more complexity and visual flair planned. There were arms with a bulbous design, and the cushion had a bow to tie it to the chair, both of which were based on my reference. They were decided against to save the effort and polygons.

For the texture, I plan to have a wicker style, though I foresee complications with seams. If I cannot solve it in a reasonable time frame, I will go for a soft fabric. The cushion will in both cases have a distinct cloth look to be clearly separate from the chair itself.

Here I will provide the reference materials that inspired my objects.

These references are generally what I hope to emulate with my completed scene, with the silverware, location, and knick knacks on the table.

Dining Scene - Blocking

For this project, I will be creating a deck overlooking an ocean scene with a few tables, chairs, and restauraunt materials. The deck will be hardwood, like a ship's deck, and its barrier will resemble a ship's barrier. The barrier will also have glass panes between the posts, and decorative lighting along it. Tables will be a rustic wooden material with potentially wicker chairs. Plates, drinking glasses, utensils, and decorative elements will have an oceanic/nautical theme.

Items:
Wood tables
Wicker chairs
Silver dining utensiles
Glass plates and drinks
Cloth napkins, tablecloths, and seat covers
Hardwood flooring
Metal railing with posts and glass panes
Decorative hanging lights

Grocery Shelf

This project features several different objects, most with unique textures, and more or less specifically designed per object. There are 8 different objects. 4 objects are boxes filled with various goods. The other 4 are containers are glass or metal containers filled with various liquids. These objects are placed on a shelf. The shelf has two levels, a base, two diagonal sides, and a back.

Some objects were designed to have a theme. One theme was soup in objects that are increasingly unsuitable to hold soup. I took care to make these objects distinctly different in their structure, even if I reused elements of the texture.

To flesh out the shelf space, I duplicated the objects and placed them in what I thought was a natural-looking manner. The project called for certain minimums of object types, but the act of creating them felt cheap, so I attempted to touch in some creative element. Unfortunately that cut into other, more important design elements.

Game Report -- Mad Lyrics

Mad Lyrics

Group 19

Cameron Wetzel Hillman and Danielle Tishkun

Mad Lyrics is a simple card game. It is played between two players. The goal is to use cards, which have song lyrics on them, to gradually build a complete song. Each player plays one card for their turn, and most cards have a special function that can affect their opponent, themselves, or both players. Certain cards, with "Sing-It" printed on them, provide a secondary goal, which is to not have the most at the end of the game. Players will accumulate and force their opponent to take these cards, as whoever has the most will be the one to sing the song after the game ends.

The game was designed for young adults between the ages of 15 and 21. Within that particular age group, the game will ideally appeal to those with interests in the process of songwriting and perhaps music in general. It works very well as an icebreaker for gatherings of young people, but realistically it could be enjoyed by anyone.

The game came about within about an hour of discussion. We wanted to ensure a steady flow to the gameplay, so every card contributes to the creation of the song. We also wanted players to experience risk by the potential of drawing or taking from their opponent a Sing-It card, which could happen whenever they play a card. The nature of the game involves player choice and modification, so even with random card draws, players still have a strong sense of personal agency.

Over 60 songs were chosen, and inside of those 60, a small portion was chosen from each song to put on the cards. One deck consists of verses, with one or two lines, and are the main cards for regularly playing the game. The other deck is entirely made up of choruses. Only one chorus card is chosen at the beginning of a game, which is used to complete the song after the game is over. Two more cards have the descriptions of the special ability cards, as a quick reference for players during a game.

The work was divided evenly. One person searched for and chose the songs for verses and choruses, and the other person printed and prepared the cards, as well as performed the playtesting. Communication within the group was done very well. The only glaring issue was a lack of personal involvement by both group members into the project itself. As a result, the relatively simple development process was delayed by a significant amount.

Two days of playtesting took place. In the two days of playtesting, there were 4 different people who played the game (not including the group members who made the game), and the game was played at least 8 separate times. The gameplay was not found to be confusing by people who had just been introduced to it. After the game would start, players very quickly became accustomed to the general flow and rules of play.

A big problem, or at least a problem, was that special cards were too rare. Players easily completed the game without playing many of them, and the game did not have any twists or turns. One other issue was that the 12-turn limit did not allow for players to really get settled. To remedy these issues, more special cards were created in the verse deck, and the game was set to be last longer than 20 turns to allow a more compelling experience.

Future projects would be better suited with better in-person communication between group members, as well as a more interesting premise and a much larger budget.