Today's in class exercises - based on Chapter 5 of Ernest Adams

Today's workshop

part 1:

Go to:

Hero Machine - make your own hero

In class exercise number 1 - create three different kinds of hero for an imaginary videogame - e.g. RPG, MMORPG, FPS, etc. Consider scale, gender, body type for each of the three and try to vary them as much as possible.

RPG - Zaibatsu

     Zaibatsu is a Japanese term that refers to the businesses in the Empire Of Japan that controlled a significant share of the national economy before the end of World War II. A newly created street gang has taken the title Zaibatsu to warn rivals of their power and their destined future. This RPG places you into the shoes of a up and coming member as you climb the gang's ranks and make your name known in the criminal underworld.

Source Code: http://www.ugo.com/games/heromachine-ordinary-joe-edition?txtName=Kai&varLoadString=CEA66B,d,F7EBE7,b,FF0000,m,00B2F0,b,FFFFFF,0,AC8ABC,n,FFFFFF,0,FFFFFF,d,00B2F0,0,FFFFFF,v,FFFFFF,d,333333,0,333333,a,00B2F0,a,000000,h,AAAAAA,m,

Kai: Kai has several meanings in Japanese: change, the action to correct, taker and receiver. Kai lost her family to a tragic building fire. With no other family she was picked off the streets and raised by Zaibatsu members. As the game's story starts she is given her first assignment to prove her loyalty to the gang and their cause.

Cosmetic Attributes: Shirt
Functional Attributes: Shoes (modifies movement speed), skirt (modifies agility), coat (modifies defense), bandanna (modifies stealth), sword (modifies melee damage)

Players can modify the character through her cloths and choice of weaponry.

• Shoes mainly determine player movement speed in the game. The player might pickup different types of shoes to use in the game. Heavy boots provide a defense boost, but also restrict speed. Wearing high-heeled shoes boost kick damage during combat. Players might find special shoes that allow silent movement that draw less attention to the player during assignments.
• Bottoms mainly effect the agility of the player, the allowable amount of actions per turn in combat. Choosing a skirt instead of pants allows more actions per turn, but reduce defense compared to pants.
• Outerwear mainly determines defense stats and inventory. Wearing a large trench coat allows for more hidden weapons to beat carried, but having too many weapons encumbers the player and effects movement speed. Leather jackets greatly effect defense in combat.
• Bandannas are used to modify stealth. Wearing a bandanna during assignments reduces the chance that rival gang members will recognize the player out of combat and start a fight on the streets. On the other hand, wearing a bandanna out on the street will attract the attention of police.
• The choices of weaponry are numerous and modify the amount of damage dealt. Players can chose different martial arts styles. There are several types of katanas and knives. Shurikens are available for more distance stealth kills. For more modern geared players there are various guns, some with silencers or some without for times when damage is preferable over stealth.
• Tattoos later play an important customizable aspect in the game. As the player rises the ranks in the Zaibatsu organization they are given their own crew. The markings that you chose to wear identify your crew within the organization furthers player choice and creativity.

MMORPG - Patient Zero

Zed

Cosmetic Attributes: Slacks, hoodie
Functional Attributes: Body damage (modifies fear), evil monkey (massive attack boost / modifies awesome)

FPS - Corporate

Lake

Cosmetic Attributes: hair (modifies visual awesome stat)
Functional Attributes: boots (modifies movement speed), pants (modifies defense), belt (modifies total ammo), top (modifies defense), shoulder tech (modifies tech augmentation), sunglasses (modifies enhanced reality tactics), left hand weapon (modifies attack), right hand weapon (modifies attack)

Post the pictures to your blog with a brief written description of each character and those attributes the player can modify. Explain very clearly how these modifications assist in the gameplay.



Part 2

Think of an idea for a game that permits the player to construct something you
have not seen in commercial games (no cities, buildings, or vehicles). Assume that
you will constrain the player’s abilities via an economy but allow him to earn new
tools and features for his construction over time. Design a set of elementary parts
from which the item may be constructed, and specify a price for each part. Include
a number of upgrades—more expensive parts that replace cheaper versions. Write a short blog entry explaining the domain in which the player will be creating, and supply your list of parts, giving them in the order in which the player will earn the ability to buy them (cheapest to most expensive). Also indicate in a general way how the player can use the item s/he constructs to earn money.

The scope of the exercise - limit yourself to the iPhone/iPad online 'app store' type casual game for this job.

Go to the apple store for ideas.