DPS901 Cerebral Thought

Cerebral Thought

Project Marking Percentage

Group work:      xx%        (25 <= xx <= 50)
Individual work: xx% +      (50 <= xx <= 75) 
-------------------------
Total           100%

Repository

Repo path

svn://zenit.senecac.on.ca/dps901_103rep6

Trunk Status

free

Team Member Emails

Email All

Member Tasks

After meeting with the professor for the first time we have decided that it is most beneficial for the group for all group members to work on graphics at the beginning of the course. As we start getting later into the semester and start learning about sound and input we will select individual members to begin working on those tasks.

Organization of work is as follows :

Decided upon tasks:

Creation of UI
Collision Detection
Loop back in game world
Save and load state of game
Weather effects
Projectile Motion
Explosion effects
Improved GPU Textures
Physical object textures
360 camera angle with zoom in and out

Sub-Team #1: Jordan + Gerald

Sub-Team #2: Rick + Shayan

Priority of tasks are the same as the listed order.

Sub-Team #1 Tasks:

UI
Save and load state
Improved GPU Textures
Projectile motion
Physical Object Textures

Sub-Team #2 Tasks:

Collision Detection
Loop back
Explosion Effects
Camera control
Weather Effects

The function of the teams is not to isolate the two teams to their tasks but to concentrate members on tasks to improve productivity. As such, the tasks will be collaborative in that the Sub-teams will be able to help the other sub-team if it is needed.

Sound and Input goals to follow near the end of semester.

Formal Proposal

Game Name - Abstract Flyer

Goal

The focus of our game will not be in ‘gaming’ content (i.e. storyline, world map, leveling up, etc) but will be focused on the amount of technical features that we can incorporate into the game. As such our game is more of a showcase for the various technical aspects that we have incorporated into the game then a game that a user would have fun playing.

General Overview

The user will control a ‘ship’ and will be able to fly around in a three dimensional world that will be filled with floating ‘abstract’ objects. Some of these objects can be: rocks with plants on them and others might be furniture. In short, any object that we decide to incorporate into the game as an object in the users contextual field will be there. The user will be able to switch between different models for the ship (i.e. airplane, space ship, cow, etc). The user will also be able to shoot other objects and rotate the camera angle independent of velocity.

This game will be a showcase of the various technical aspects that we have incorporated into the game the user will be able to turn those feature on and off. For example, pressing the button W will turn the weather effects on and off while pressing the button P will turn physical textures on and off. In this way the user will be able to compare between the ‘off’ mode and the ‘on’ mode and will be able to see the effects of the technical additions we have made to the game.

In terms of sound, there will be sound for every event in the game. Events include: an object being “destroyed”, a weapon firing, and toggle events that change the environment such as weather. This game gives the user control of various features of the game. The sound and music will change in order to accommodate the user. User events that influence sound are: changing background music, changing the ship which uses different weapons, and the change in weather.There is sound for user interface mouse-over and button click events.

The graphic improvements will be weather patterning (rain, fog, sunshine, snow, etc.), collision detection, simple easy-to-use UI, and improvements on Texturing. For input we will support the XBox 360 plug in controller and the keyboard and mouse.

Team Notes

Game Description

Goal - Our game will attempt to focus more on the technical aspects of game development and less on story line and content. In this way we will seek to improve our understanding of DirectX and the techniques used in game programming.

Overview

The user will have control over a small spaceship that can fly in any direction.
The world will be populated by floating rocks and random objects.
The world will be 'unlimited' in space in that once the user reaches a certain point it will loop back to the other side of the map.
The user will be able to turn on and off features of the game that we have created. Such as textures, weather patterning, event driven sound, etc.
The user will be able to cycle between different models for their spaceship.
The user will be able to shoot at objects, use after burners to speed up the ship, zoom in and out the camera angle, and rotate the camera angle in any direction independent of velocity.
The user will be able to save and load the game.

Features

All features are tentative. Order of priority will precede from bullet point #1 as first, #2 as second, etc. We will do our best to incorporate all features listed here into the game. However, it is understood that game programming is hard and that features can be dropped or added at any time in accordance with the level of difficulty that we are experiencing.

Graphical

Weather patterning - rain, fog, clouds, lightning, lighting effects.
Improve Textures - optimize the texture usage in the GPU.
Physical Textures - rough, hard, smooth, fluffy, etc.
Custom UI - simple, intuitive, aesthetically pleasing.
Collision Detection - objects will not pass through each other, objects will affect other objects movement.

Sound

Background, rain, thunder etc..)

Interface sounds: sound if user hovers over a button or selects something or saves/loads the game.
Music: general background music
Event driven Sound : shooting, impact, thrust
Event driven Music: can change upon entering a new area or accomplishing something
Environment sound FX (e.g weather)

Input

Add support for mouse and keyboard
Add support for xbox 360 controller

Map of the World of the Game

Game Illustrations

Moderator's - Instructors Comments

Team Meeting Archive

Meeting: #01	Date/Time: 09/19/2010:9:50am
Question(s):	What type of features should a game have?
Outcome(s):	More Technical Features are required such as: different types of graphics, input and sound rather than gameplay
Future Plan(s)	Create a list of technical features to implement and arrange for another meeting on thursday after class(09/23/2010 at 9:50am)

Meeting: #02	Date/Time: 09/30/2010:11:00am
Question(s):	What features can we start working on right now? How will we divide up the work? Two teams of two working on different topics in Graphics? Or one team of four working on different methods?
Outcome(s):	Loop back on the game world - when the user reaches an edge of the game world he is teleported to the opposite end. Save the state of the game and load the state of any saved game from a list. Collision Detection soon, after 3D Math has been taught and learned to a reasonable degree. Decided that it would be more beneficial for everyone in the group to work on different topics in graphics until week 10 of the semester.
Future Plan(s)	Create an illustration for the in game UI for the game. Create a better illustration of the game world. Determine who is going to work on saving/loading the game and the game loop back features (teams of 2 have been suggested) Polish up the proposal. Finish the in class lab example and use it as a sandbox for implementing: loop-back, collision detection and load/save states.

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