13/12/2011

We successfully completed the presentation and were awarded a B1, the only problem that occurred was that we did not have enough time to print out  copies of the handouts.

06/12/2011

After meeting with The group, we discussed the presentation and that we can paractice on Friday, i am more confident that the presenrtation will be successfull than before.

05/12/11

iv rearranged my presentation into a Q&A style, i think the group will require more time other than the assigned, to finish our design document and practice our pitch. i am confident that we can finish the presentation for tomorrow. I have given my teammates access to all m documents on Google doc. There is little else to do (add more slides to my part of presentation) until i know what my team mates are doing.

29/11/2011

I slept in, but got to the class late around 11.50AM. i inquired about the progress Jordan and Ashley has made. However Richy was absent.

Jordan left during lunch break. Me and Ashley discussed the problems that have risen of being disorganized and the lack of communication, it was decided that we should just continue our presentation as the Design document will derive from this.

I have added a slide justifying the location the game is set in, which will overlap with Ashley's work. As to not "jumble" the pitch of he game,
I will refer to Ashley when i am talking about the visual aspect's and layout of the game.
I will also refer to Jordan should I need to reveal some of the story.
I will not go into detail on the subject's that are handled by my teammates as they will know more of their individual parts than me.

However the main problem is that i do not know the progress Richy has made and what element of the game he is in charge of.

28/11/2011

After last weeks feedback, iv been doing my part and remove the call of duty slide and added a condensed form of it. I've also added more to the background of zombies.

22/11/2011

Over the past week I have made parts of the presentation for the intro.
We have discussed the final boss fight having stages and i handed in my part of the presentation although it had to be editited. Richy has assigned parts of the presentation to each member. I am responsible for the "Background" This is for example Why are zombies popular?, Where did the first zombie idea originate?

This is basically like my previous hand-ins except more detail put into it.
I also discussed Zombie horde formations with Jordan which led to me removing my Formation leveling up system. This will allow the player to have full formations at the start of the game and make it simpler to use.

21/11/2011

iv been trying to think of any details that may have been missed over the weeks, over than cut scenes i cant think of any. i will try start a presentation for tomorrow.

14/11/2011

i have already achieved my "Goals" for this week, and decided to invest more of my time into aspects of the game that was only a little discussed. i made some cutscene moves with crude drawings of stickmen which i will present to the group. I will also try to add some parts to the presentation.

08/11/11

After the meeting, we discussed the game's status. I decided too add another ability and upgrade my diagram to show information of the ability's upgrade effect, I also told the group my idea how the menu for upgrades should appear as. This is because most games have a simple structure of clicking the button and the upgrade is done, i want to show the effect of the upgrade. I also added different meters e.g health, suspicion,fury, infection. I also inquired how the level upgrade should be unlocked to which Jordan came up with bosses to defeat to achieve them.

the end boss fight is still in talks, although Jordan made key bosses to fight (e.g tank commander, helicopter commander) although he may or may not pursue this.

Richy has made an excellent cover art through out this, by incorporated a heartbeat monitor sign wave to read "Z" and displaying the name around it.

i have made basic stickmen actions to give a basic idea on some of the attacks Zed can use.

07/11/11

there is not much to do as i have finished the task i was assigned (add upgrade section) i will need to verify this with the team on tue. the only issue with this is the power bar e.g mana/fury/rage, basically how the abilities usage will be restricted. If this is unchecked, this will make the game tto easy.

I have also been thinking of  prologues
1 without killing civilians (good path)
perhaps zed can cure himself at the end

after the events of the destruction of the "bad guys"
zed looks at a t.v and sees news footage live in the E.U of an outbreak of zombies who command their  own horde and is spreading (possible sequel) and goes to help the humans

1 killing all the enemies
 perhaps zed can find a virus to make himself more powerful


after the events of the destruction of the "bad guys"
zed looks at a t.v and sees news footage live in the E.U of an outbreak of zombies who command their  own horde and is spreading (possible sequel) and goes to kill the zombies/human to become the greatest zombie

02/11/2011

just updated the upgrade section and wrote my suggestions in the shared doc file, i'v also included a pimp hat and a pimp cane in the diagram for the lols, although im sure my team mates will remove it.

01/11/2011

 have just created another google doc's diagram so that my team mates can view my abilities section online.
We have reviewed our idea's to see if any changes are required, after a discussion i asked about the personal upgrade section which it emerged that i will do (this is diffrent from abilities).

abilties will subtract from a mana/fury bar.

31/10/2011

I'v just completed batman  arkham city (scored 9/10 on Gamespot and 9.5 on IGN), this has given me views on why i thought the game was incredible as was "hooked" to it for the past week.

This includes a darker story than the normal superhero games (mixing the story formula), different approach to occupy the player on challenges (riddler puzzles), diffrent side missions, each with their own story, a large upgrade choice, enemies adapt over the game (similar to what we want to include in our game)

i will give my views to my team members tomorrow

27/10/2011

Jordan suggested using a different approach on part of the upgrade system he dubbed as "Unique Minds" This will unlock an ability e.g disguise (not upgrade the ability e.g. master disguise).This change has done little affect to my abilities upgrades. As this makes the ability upgrade menu more complex, i used Microsoft visio to create a diagram of the abilities and their requirements  to use, However iv yet to add a description on each of the abilities. Jordan also suggested using BP to upgrade the home base for which is recommended to occupy.

I asked about  Fog of War elements and it was discussed and decided that the player can only see his/her own area. However, using BP, you can construct unique buildings e.g watchtower which increases you sight of the map.
I also suggested that Sen Sikida should have multiple encouinters woth your player as to make more boss fights.
Enemies will also upgrade as you upgrade to make the game more challenging.

I also asked the group about the respawn system to which the group were uncertain off.

25/10/2011

For this meeting, Ashley was absent. We started designing the "looks" of the game cover. Richy was creating a game cover and Jordan was creating a Protech logo. I spent my time looking for pictures and websites to assist, although it was little use. I however discussed the upgrade section with Jordan to be assured that i understood how the group has decided upon the upgrade feature. Jordan and Myself started to add more detailed question and answers in the Google Docs shared within the group. This will ensure that the group members will understand the "view" of the game/ how the game will appear. I also began color coding my questions and answers red. Jordan assigned colors to the group members as to allow easier communication as we know who asks and answer's each question. I have also added my suggestions and "tidied" the document.

24/0ctober/2011

Our team is already ahead compared to others in the course, so there was little to do for now until the meetings. i came up with different abilities however, these inclusions would make the game campaign easier. An example of this was bone Armour, this reduces damage to zombie. This will make the game a lot easier and the player will complete the game in less time.

18th tuesday october 2011

I have given my  suggestions from the week to the group,
It has been decided
check point system or respawn. save at any point and after missions.

weather conditions? e.g raining only visual

F.O.W - can you see entire map? do you need to explore areas? can you see enemy movements. you can see, butt only to a range.

add temporary powerup?sidemissions only.

add female zombie option? the female will apply to sand box mode, your horde  can be mixed.

random military ambushes later on in the game? throughout  game.

Jordan has written more of the story, i will give my handwritten abilities in the next meeting. the group has approved of my ability layout.

14 october 2011 progress

For this week i have been given the responsibility of creating more abilities of the zombie and a upgrade system, i have incorporated my previous suggestions of the main players zombie's abilities and have created a upgrade structure. i have given this sheet of paper to Richy Lennox for his suggestions. He has suggested that we should work together through Skype as he has the responsibility of creating abilities for the horde. i have given him my mobile number as i check it often check it for text messages or calls. This will allow us to set times of meetings to confer on our ideas. I will give my other team mates my Skype details should they also require my attention.
Skype will make it easier  and faster to explain our ideas to each other.

14 october 2011

 On Tuesday, it was decided that new member will join out group who's name is Ashley Smith. The group gave as much information about our ideas and he approved of them, and also suggesting changes himself. We exchanged contact details and it was decided to split parts of the game (story, upgrade system, graphics, etc) amongst each of the group members. The members will try to make their part of the game to the best of their ability, although on Tuesday 18th October, the group may decide to edit the changes depending on each the group members suggestions. This is to allow a different perspective which will improve the game, this has already been implemented. When i gave my ideas, my teammates omitted some of the flaws i did not realize i'v created  at the time.
It was suggested by one of the group members that the civilians should play a part in the creation of the zombie horde. e.g Policeman may have a higher attack or could have a specific mutation..
It was also suggested to give the main zombie a health meter on each part of the body. e.g if the arm meter is 0% then the arm will fall off. The player can "heal" or "regrow" the arm by taking a civilian's or taking it from your ally/horde.
a scenario will be made should you have no allies and no arms.

Tuesday 11/10/2011

I have given my team the suggestions that i have written in my notepad, they liked the upgrading the zombie horde aspect but pointed out a flaw which we decided to remove, as for the zombie's health, a similar idea from my suggestion was decided.

As for the abilities of the player, i have been given the role of creatng this for the brainstorming session.
A story, location and timeline has been decided. I am just waiting for my team members to return.

Monday oct 10 2011

Throughout the week, iv had a notepad close at hand to write down my ideas for game improvements. I'v mostly wrote about diffrent type of abilities the upgrade system can incoporate. A suggestion is that their should be an ability tree along with a character improvement meter.
The ability tree will benefit the external parts of the zombie i.e your zombie horde, civilian reaction, army meter etc.
The character improvement will benefit the player him/her self, e.g improving legs will increase speed, improve head will decrease infection time.
Another thought of improvement is to add a "evolution" to the zombie, this will give individual zombies in a horde different benefits and effects. I have written more on the subject which i will show my team members at tomorrows meeting.

I also suggest allowing the player to choose the main zombies gender, this could also be followed by allowing you to customize your main zombie and possibly its horde's appearance.

Tuesday 04 2011 pt 2

After much discussion, the group decided to go with the zombie FPS theme, however a entirely new game system was decided. The new game system is that the player is the first zombie, they have to infect and spread the zombie viru's thus creating their horde. the map will be the size of Hamilton, and will feature buildings such as police stations. The game campaign is to take over the city/town. This will be in a third person style. You can explore the city and face computer generated civilians/enemies.

YOU as the zombie will have more health than the members of the horde,  you have the ability to disguise yourself as a human (this will require you to harvest human skin) An upgrade system is still in works, however as you gain strength you will have more abilities. If you are using a mouse, the movements of it followed by a left click will start an attack.

The Zombie Horde can be used to convert humans to zombies, as the individual zombies in the horde become stronger they can be upgraded e.g more health, damage, speed and may even evolve into a stronger type of zombie. I f you tell your horde to wait in a specific area, the lower level zombies will randomly die or leave the horde.

ENEMY
The enemy will be rival police officers that will  appear who can suspect you as a zombie, as you gain strength so will the enemies. Eventually army units will appear which they will use weapons, tanks, helicopters. e.t.c

MAP
The map will be split into grids featuring main buildings such as police station (taking this over will reduce police officers in the game) etc.
Army units will spawn opposite of the zombies
Sun and moon. The sun will provide army advantage (more units, random raids to kill horde) tanks will also patrol streets, more people will walk the streets.
The moon will give the zombies a benefit, less people on streets, no tanks. However helicopter will patrol.

Tuesday 04/10/2011

Today was a brainstorming session. This was to pick diffrent genres of games and find out if their is something the group will like more than "Pirate vs Ninjas". I have chosen to create a FPS which i called Patient Z.
The outline of the story is that The player is the first zombie experiment. he is in a underground research facility, unconcious,  within a city. He has supernatural powers received by a experiment, however the other research subject have become zombies and have broken out the facility and into the city. The player then breaks out the facility and has to survive and find a way to escape the city.

This game will be similar to Bioshock 2's combat system. the user can use a pistol in one hand and shoot his various powers at the same time with the other hand. As the game progress's the player can upgrade his skill tree.
The multiplayer aspect will focus on FFA or team deathmatch.
this will incorprate a health and Power meter.
The zombie will not be the only enemy, Special units will hunt the player making the game more challenging.
I will discuss my game layout with my team and discuss whither to progress with "Patient Z" or decide on a game aspect together.

monday 03 oct

There is little to do until tomorrows meeting, i have been trying to come up with more ideas for the game, however it is best to discuss my current ideas first before proceeding.

Thursday, 29 September 2011

I have created a basic layout of the game "Pirates Vs Ninjas".
during the construction of this layout, i began to think of more attributes the game will require. an example of this is the victory conditions over each of the terrains, should it be in turns?

I have also thought of adding additional units such as famous hero's that can be included, such as captain Blackbeard as the Pirates hero.

I have also considered if the units should be broken down. an example of this is Ninja unit- Assassin, Spy, Sabatour.

I have also considered that units should have special abilities.

More information will be provided in written form about my suggestion which i will put forward to Richy and Jordan for their opinions.

Tuesday 27th september 2011

I have been place in a group with Jordan McGuirk and Richy Lennox.
We discussed our goal of designing a game and rules the group will have to follow. Although the task seems daunting, Richy proposed selecting a group name as a starting point. After suggesting a few names, we decided to call the group "Protech" (taken from the game Deus Ex) which Richy suggested and the group agreed upon.
I offered to contribute to the group by creating a written format of the groups suggestions and ideas.
After creating rule's for the team, a member of the group was required to be an informant to Gerry Crechan so that he will be aware about our progress. Jordan McGuirk and myself nominated Richy Lennox.
I personally voted for Richy as i felt that he was the most confident of the group.
We gave Richy Lennox our contact details which he will later email to the group members email accounts. This saved the group time to consider the course "goal".
Jordan suggested a Real time strategy defense genre which Richy agreed upon.
As i have experienced these types of games i also agreed, Also i decided should we decide to change the genre, we will have plenty of time as this is only the starting stage.
it was decided that the game will be called "Pirates Vs Ninjas"  which will feature, as the name suggests, Pirates and Ninjas. These characters are often referred in popular culture and on sites such as memebase, Reddit, 4Chan, etc.
The game was outlined and the "skeleton" of the game was decided upon.

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