Category: games

Chickensaur – a new Jurassic creature created from a conversation in Major Studio 1. I drew the first version on the wall, but didn’t like the way it was mutant together. I did a few more sketches after the class. A mini-game of this creature ran for its life in doomsday is inevitable.

How to play:
Right gear shift or key 0-9: change to control different parts/function on Chickensaur
=====0: Energy: Waggle the steering wheel (or alternating ‘z’ and ‘x’ key on keyboard) to generate energy.
=====1: Sonic bolt: Use the steering wheel to tilt the head and honk (‘h’ key) to shoot a sonic bolt. Be mindful that each shot costs certain amount of energy.
=====2: Plasma shield: Press star button (‘s’ key) to shield Chickensaur with plasma, great protection against flaming meteor.
=====3: Show up after evolving to stage 2, Chickensaur gains the ability to fly. Steering wheel controls the heading; honk button flaps the wings; and star button spits fire

I used this slice-game as a demo to introduce the week long design-under-limitation excerise with the Adventure Explorer game controller a couple weeks later. Students used the game controller as an Universe creator, a virtual reality navigator, a sound only storytelling machine, and a shot gun – yes, a shot gun!

Pictures from the presentation day on Tumblr

Gabriel Gianordoli, Jamie Hong and Lucy Matchett’s Road Rage Controller:

Resources & Requirements:

• Internet connection
• a Google drive account
• Unity 4: I will be using this game creation tool for the dorkshop, but the backend will work with other web players such as FLASH. Yes, FLASH rules. (FLASH no more.)
• jQuery javascript Backend: The code is partially based on Mike Mikay’s google-spreadsheet-javascript example. Only needed for the Unity 3D Web Player.
• in-shop sample code: a Unity package.
• notepad
• some webspace.

Overview:

something, something level design
mini-game jam [live demo]

[Still compiling notes from the Dorkshop]

[ Part 1 ] Create and publish a Google spreadsheet
1. All we need is a Google spreadsheet, adding a form is just more fun and help us collecting data more easily.
2. Once the spreadsheet is up, publish it to the web.
3. The default output format is Web Page, change it to CSV (Comma-separated values)
4. Copy the link to the CSV file and save it for later.

[ Part 2 ] Unity 3D platformer in a flash:
I. Scene setup:
1. Go to Main Camera’s Inspector window. Change Projection to Orthographic, and Size to 4.0. (Main Camera and other newly created GameObjects can be found in the Hierarchy window.)
2. Create a Cube from Menu/GameObject/Create Other/, and rename it to “Player” in the Hierarchy window.
3. In the Inspector window, change Player’s Position to (-2, 2, 0) and Scale to (1, 1, 1).
4. In the same window, find the Box Collider component and remove it with the Remove Component option.
5. Create another Cube and named it “Platform”. In the Inspector window, change its Position to (0, -4, 0) and Scale to (8, 8, 3).

II. Import package files:
1. In the Project window, right-click on the Assets folder and go to Import Package/Character Control.
2. A pop-up window will show up, import PlatformInputController.js and CharacterMotor.js two files only.
3. Go back to the Player’s Inspector window. At the bottom of the window, click [Add Component]. In the drop-down menu, go to Character and add PlatformInputController.js and CharacterMotor.js to Player.
4. Now click the play button on the top. On the keyboard, press A to move left, D to move right, and space bar to jump. It should work like a magic!

You might not notice this due to the orthographic view, but the Player is still moving 3 dimensionally and will eventually roam off the platform on the Z-axis. To fix that, a few lines of code needed to be added to the CharacterMotor.js to eliminate the motion on the Z-axis.

5. Open CharacterMorot.js in MonoDevelop or other editors you prefer. Do a search (Command + f ) on “return velocity;” and replace both lines to:

return new Vector3(velocity.x, velocity.y, 0.0f);

[ Part 3 ] Data parsing
1. Import the Unity package file downloaded earlier. (Ok to all overwrites)
2. Create an empty GameObject and name it “lvlManager”
3. In the scripts folder under your Asset, add javaListener.js and javaParser.cs two scripts to the lvlManager.
4. Keep lvlManager opened in the Inspector window, go to the prefabs folder under your Asset, assign Platform and Marquee to javaParser’s Platform prefab and Text prefab.
5. The set-up we just did was designed to work with a web player, and you won’t be able to test it by the Unity itself.
6. Check the build type: go to file/Build Setting. Make sure the current build is on the Web Player. If not, select the Web Player and click on the build button.
7. Drag the filename.unity3d file from your build folder to our jQuery Javascript backend folder (download earlier and unzipped). Rename your file to dorkshop.unity3d for the purpose of testing (and awesome too.)

[ Part 4 ] Javascript
Find the following code block in the dorkshopEmbedded.html and replace the highlighted values with yours:

Replace Value 1 = link your Google CSV file
Replace Value 2 = The name of the GameObject in the Hierarchy window that has the javaListener script attached.

function myFunction()
{
     localStorage.clear();
     var sample_url = "Replace Value 1";
     var url_parameter = document.location.search.split(/\?url=/)[1]
     var url = url_parameter || sample_url;
     var googleSpreadsheet = new GoogleSpreadsheet();
     googleSpreadsheet.url(url);
     googleSpreadsheet.save();
     googleSpreadsheet.load(function(result) {u.getUnity().SendMessage("Replace Value 2", "GiveID", cdata);
                                              url = result.data; $('#results').html(JSON.stringify(result.data).replace(/,/g,",\n"));});
}

[ Part 5 ] test it All together
Now save the HTML file and open it in a browser. After the unity web player is fully loaded, click on the “Update level” button. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ Magic moment! If not, make sure all the steps are done correctly, check for typos and casing. Good luck! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[ Update ] 4/30/2014 The new Google drive, the option to publish .csv is no longer visible, however, the function is still there. Go to the share screen of your spreadsheet and copy the key and replace it in the following link and you are all set!

CSV file : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d//export?format=csv

basic guidelines:

1. Understand the genre
In our demo game, the main character “cube” can only move left or right and jump. The character doesn’t grow stronger over time, doesn’t level up, and doesn’t have any massive destructive weapons available in-game. There are tons of game characters like ours throughout the history of video games. In fact, the cube is not the weakest, Spelunker is – click the image to find out different ways the main character in Spelunker can die. However, from the point of view of play experience, the weaker it gets, the greater the satisfaction is after beating a difficult level.

Cabbage patch kids MSX (83′)	Spelunker (83′)
Little Big Planet 1 (08′)	Spelunky (08′)

2. Be Experimental
Understand every one of your game elements and different ways they can work together to create new gameplays, build game levels for those elements and combos to thrive. Check out this link on the 4 step level design in Super Mario 3D world that covers onboarding, habit-building, and mastery in building a fun and challenging player journey.

3. Offering options and keeping secrets
Get players involved in making choices. Even tho only 1 door leads to the next level, let’s give them 5 doors to choose from.

4. Keep them focus
Mix and match your game elements to create different Immediate Goal (combo gameplay) e.g. Exploration = traversal + stomping + exterior. Doing so will give limited game mechanics a fresh spin.

1. Immediate Goal: Exploration, Defending, Puzzle Solving, …
2. Mechanics: Traversal, Stomping, Brawling, Flying kicking, …
3. Environment: interior/exterior, weather condition, urban/rural, …

5. Alternation:

6. Break your rules in case of fun!
“Rational game design repeats rational gameplay.” and “Irrational game design lead to new experiences.” – If Sol LeWitt designs games.

[MATTEL, 2001] Mysterious and magical adventures await you at Hogwarts Castle! Secure your Hogwarts letter, collect your money from Gringott’s, buy school supplies in Diagon Alley, then board the Hogwarts Express. Once there, you’ll try to out-wizard your opponents as you journey through 11 magical rooms on your quest to capture the Sorcerer’s Stone! DESCRIPTION Players travel through a 3-D version of Hogwarts Castle as they search for the Sorcerer’s Stone. There are eleven rooms to explore. Electronic sounds and lights enhance the game play. The “castle” rotates so that players have easy access to their pawns. Players can cast spells to slow down their competition. The first player to capture the Sorcerer’s Stone wins.

CONTENTS: 1 Electronic game base 1 Entrance hall arch 1 2-Piece plastic center column 4 Vertical walls 7 Floor panels 4 Outer board sections 1 Roof 26 Cardboard tokens 4 House tokens 10 Broom tokens 4 Caldron tokens 4 Owl tokens 4 Wand tokens 24 Coin tokens 8 Galleons 8 Sickles 8 Knuts 30 Spell book cards 4 Plastic movers 1 Standard 6-sided die Rules

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12823/harry-potter-adventures-through-hogwarts-electroni