Saturday, October 30, 2010
Testons NtN
Je viens tout juste de terminé mon prototype de maîtrise, il s'appel NtN. Si vous êtes intéressé à tester le jeu vous pouvez.
TESTONS LE JEU
Si vous êtes du genre à vouloir comprendre le jeu vous pouvez lire le tutoriel. Et vous pouvez visionner un vidéo tutoriel aussi qui explique en profondeur le jeu.
LISONS LE TUTORIEL
SUPER VIDÉO QUI EXPLIQUE EN PROFONDEUR
Et maintenant, si vous êtes vraiment gentils, vous pourriez remplir un petit questionnaire sur le jeu afin de m'aider dans à terminer ma maîtrise.
QUESTIONNAIRE VRAIMENT TROP GENTILS
Merci encore
----------------
Hello everyone.
I just finished my little prototype for my master's, it's called NtN and if you would like to test it you are more than welcome.
LET'S TRY THE GAME
There is a little tutorial to learn more about the game.
LET'S READ IT
Since, you are really nice and you want to help with my research, you could complete a little survey about the game.
LITTLE SURVEY
Thank you
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Summer break is over now!
After spending a month in Nice France and an other month coming back to Canada. I am ready to continue my work on the sequel of Number to Number Combat. So far I like to use the code name NtN as Number to Number. It is kind of lame name but well it is a code name. Since I have been back, I worked on a new article for a journal, it is half done. I find it really hard to focus on the work when you can go outside and play in the sun. Although, this new article is about my new approach to Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA), as discussed in the last post, my last approach did not work the way I was expecting in Number to Number Combat. So I have been thinking about a new cheap (as easy) way to approach the problem of DDA. I saw a lot of model that were really complicated to implement and design. I want something easy enough to be design on any kind of games.
So how can I achieved that? well I think I found a good approach, but I still have to work on the algorithms to control some variables. So I will introduce the model in a couple weeks.
Meanwhile, I was going to implement NtN using GameMaker, but I changed my mind recently. As a sequel I think I have to use Flash again, more for the game's result than for the platform. I am designing NtN based on the comment I got on Newgrounds for Number to Numer Combat. My DDA system is important for my research at the university, so I have to make sure the result of the sequel are from the same kind of player. So that is the first reason why I changed my development from game maker to as3.
Number to Number Combat was implemented using Flash and FlashDevelop, I really liked to worked with actionScript 3 but not really when it is embedded with Flash. The only strong side I can see working with flash and flashdevelop is when you are more an artist than a developer. It is really easy to modify your art and see the result in the game. But it is a pain in the a.. to program, because you always have to come back to flash for all the little thing existing in the game. For example, if I want to had a little text in the top corner to see the value of a certain variable. Well I have to go to flash add a little piece of text, put it dynamic, give it a variable name that I can program and link it to a class. That little class is actually an empty class, so at the end of your project you have a million of empty classes that you need in order to control your game. I did like that approach, so I decided to keep working with ac3 but I changed the platform a little bit, I am now using Flex, which is open source and free. So far, it is really good, it is code-oriented and easier to debug than using Flash.
So far I finished a little tutorial that is really good : Tutorial. It was really interesting and easy to follow, I really like that the guy is using advance programming structure to implement the game. By the end you have more than just a little program, you will have a structure that cool be used with any kind of games. So if you are looking to learn ac3, you should check it out.
Hopefully you all having a wonderful summer.
John
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The making of Number to Number Combat
I was really inspired by DDA back in 2009, so when I made Number to Number combat, I thought it will be great if the game had DDA, it would be more playable. So I was looking for a model that will always give a good challenge to the player. For example, if the player is strong, the AI will be stronger and if he is weak, the AI will be weaker. I wanted to combine the player experience with a great challenge.
The model uses the player's health after a combat, based on the level, the next NPC will have a certain level of difficulty : Low -> Easy : Normal -> Normal : High -> Hard (Health level - difficulty). In general the experience should always be interesting for the player.
So if you have played the game you can tell that the model fails monumentally at it's job. The game is not harder or easier for the player, the challenge is always about the same level and the player gets pretty bored after 10 or 15 combats. So what is the problem here? How can we fix it?
In general there are some mistakes with the DDA system and design issues. The DDA system does not use enough player data. For example, the system should use the time spent on a combat, number of good/bad answers, time spent answering, etc. By using more data it is possible to have a better knowledge of the type of player we are dealing with.
On the design side, the game has good basic game mechanics, but really poor decision making and narration. For any kind of proper game, these are essential for longer lasting fun. In light of this argument, Number to Number combat is not a proper game it is more of a prototype.
For the next few months I will work on a remake of Number to Number combat using classic adventure game mechanics and basic RPG systems. I will post more information about my design process soon.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
No game for this month
Hello,
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Cradboard Animation for Phono Alliance
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
DeForest
Be the first one to dominate the nature of this world. Be the mankind's best architect.
Here the constructions : House (H), Industry (I), Mall (M), Hospital (O), Mine (N), Fuel Pump (P), Tractor Industry (T) and Farm (F). Reset (R)
I made this game in a couple of days, like 5 days. It is my first game using GameMaker v 8.0. It was a real treat to use. At first I got really confused with the drag drop, but when I found I could use code inside the drag and drop, everything started to be easier. Well I recommend GameMaker to everyone that would like to make a game and have it pretty easy. I really like that I spend as much time designing as coding the game. Usually I spend a lot more time coding then designing the game.
This game is not met to be hard, but to be joyful while you are dominating the environment and putting your houses/industries down. The mechanics of the game are based on expending the human world over the fragile nature. The game represents the euphoria that human have when they start to be in control of a situation and have a lot of gain. In other words, at first the game is slow, you have to wait to earn money, but you stay patient. When you have enough industries, the flow of the game accelerates to a paste where it is hard for you to keep up with the constructions compare to the income. Then you get really into the power you have over the environment, you are in control...
For the music, I had a super idea for a song with a guitar, but I do not have any guitar with me in
J Tremblay
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Live from Paris
Hello everyone,
It's been a crazy month, I just moved to Paris for the semester. I spend a lot more time in finding a place to live than I originally planned (took us 1 week and half). After that I had to start school. So I was not able to make a game for this month theme on experimental gameplay project.
I had a good idea and I will probably do it next month. It is my goal. I was thinking about a sort of mix of simcity meet a beautiful forest. The background is from my week in Toronto, I was in richmond hill. I was talking with my girlfriend's mum, she was saying how everything here and there used to be beautiful forest and now its full of townhouses. I am not use to that, where I am from the development is so little, that the forest is still everywhere. I was concern about the lost of the forest, well i like the forest. So I though that would be a good idea for a game, you start with 100 squares of forest, the goal is to fill up all the forests' square with human constructions. For now I will go play with blender/python a little.
PS life in Paris is crazy as hell, super cold and super crownded.
PSS I am from Canada, but cold is so different here.