MDDN 243 - Settings Page

So the settings page had to be redone because of the change to the style and the change of size (from 640x640 to 1280x720) This size change is fantastic, makes everything bigger haha. So the settings is relatively the same design, with a couple of differences. The 5 sprites for the volume are  now a hue from yellow to red so that they don't confuse the user with the cursor. Cool Beans.

MDDN 243 - Voodude Drop Shadows

So above are all of the voodude sprites that Scott produced. My job for these however, was to add the cool little drop shadow on each frame. Because the light of the background is in the center, the drop shadow is spreading out in front of Voodude. I added perspective to the shadow by decreasing the size of the feet of the shadow and increasing the side of the head so it appears as if the shadow was getting bigger the closer it got to the outer edge of the screen. With the animated background Chris produced, the opacity of the shadows play off the light flickers on the lanes which look absolutely amazing! Each shadow is a duplicate of the voodude shape, which is then flipped to be the opposite. Also, when the character jumps, the shadow reduces in size until its just a simple dot on the ground, then grows bigger again as the character lands. Fancy stuff yo.

MDDN 243 - Loading Screen

Though it is unnecessary because the game loads quickly enough, the need for this is to allow the player to know all the controls. The loading screen has each motion when a button is pressed (space to jump, up to teleport, left and right to dash). These are all displayed with moving sprites on the loading screen. It will be set to show this screen for five to ten seconds and then move onto the real game.

MDDN 243 - LOSE Screen

Were getting so close to completion now. Were just fleshing out the left over necessities such as a Pause screen and a Lose screen! The player loses when they get hit by an obstacle while having no souls. When this happens, the player will see this screen. It is based around the same layout as the Paused screen menu, having the 'You Lose' slide out from the side of the screen. Creating this was a lot easier since i already had the base from the Paused sprites. All that needed to happen was changing the text. Simple!

MDDN 243 - Pause Screen!

There is a pause screen needed, just in case the player needs to take a small break or something like that. This screen just dims the display, so its obvious that nothing can be moving but you can still see the beauty that is going on behind it. On this screen, the stained glass window has been used to create a background for each of the words. Paused appears in the top in big letters, which slides out from the side then pulses, and RESUME and MENU appear at the side, both pulsing as well. The sprites for each of these appearing are just below, then an image of what the final screen would look like.

MDDN 243 - Main Menu

The main menu of the game has been completed! First off, the Voodude mask was used because it is unique, and blown up like that with the yellow glowing eyes creates a dark, but really cool effect. To fill the other space, Chris created a stained glass window with Voodude and the spider on it. I photoshopped it to fill the space while Chris finished the lane animations, and then created his own more detailed one. Obviously what i created didn't fit his vision. No matter, his window does look fantastic! Anyway, without any further ado, here is the Main Menu Screen!

The controls used to navigate the menu are the same basic controls that are used int he game. To move the cursor up and down between 'Start Game' and 'Settings' the player must press up and down. Then to select the option the player must press spacebar. Looking at it now i realise that this should be displayed somewhere on the menu, else no one will know..

MDDN 243 - Music update

So the upload of the sound track didn't work. I have no idea how to upload music onto a blog properly.. To review the music files properly in the right context the game must really be played. But just in case, below are the screenshots of the files in the dropbox, just to show how many different sort of sound effects and music tracks we are actually having. The first screenshot is of sound effects. These were collected from free to use websites and then each one is edited in audacity to make them better suit the style that we are going for. They are broken up into two categories. The first is the sound effects that relate to the boss, such as piston arm movements and landing impacts. Then there are the sound effects that are related to Voodude. The hurt and jump sound effect were recorded with high quality equipment at Jarrod Bakker's house. These were then edited in Audacity to create a more abstract, nearly demonic sounding voice that would suit Voodude.

The below image is of the music. The Main menu tune is an ambient synth chord sounding tune that was recorded on the in-program keyboard on garageband. This is supposed to make the menu screen seem aerie and spectral almost. The files names 'Boss Boom','Full' and 'Fullv2' were the original works of in game music. These are developed further to V2 and V3 in the next image.

The four files below the folders in the below image are drum beats that were recorded with Jarrod as well. We used a plastic container thing with a towel draped over it to get a light drumbeat, which was then edited slightly to make it sound less plastic-ey and add a bit more bass to create a war drum feel.

That is what has been taking up my time for the past couple of weeks. Editing and fiddling with the in-level music and boss fight music has been my number one priority, to create a feeling that was intense and quick, but does have a bridge so the player isnt blasted with noise constantly.. Cool.

MDDN 211 - Interview

So i have been absolutely horrid at updating my work on the blog for this whole paper in general. So here's a sort of recap on what ive been doing for the past assignment!

First off ill start by uploading the storyboard for the assignment. I intended to interview a club of people called the Company of the Dragon. They do medieval reenactment and western martial arts (SWORD FIGHTING!) Before anyone asks or thinks it, NO it is NOT like LARPING. Seriously, those nuts give us bad names! The Company of the Dragon use real metal weapons and though they practice the art as safely as possible, some serious injuries can still happen. The members wear armour that can range from 15 kg to 25kg full plate, wearing full faced helms and carrying steel weapons that weigh approximately 2-4kg each. This is no joke (unlike LARPING, which is a joke in everyone's eyes). I decided to interview this group because i was a member of a similar club in my hometown of Palmerston North, where i participated in Medieval Reenactment for about 7 years.
Storyboard:

I got the film (with the help of Josh Hargreaves) of the Company of the Dragon all in one sweep. I had about an hour and a half of footage to sift through and sort out so that the audio files from the recording device matched up with the video files. That was a fun fun fun job... took a long time and i have a few audio files left over that i cant seem to pair with any of the video.. But i have what i needed. The interview, once put together in Premiere will be just shy of three minutes, because im interviewing a group of people about a common hobby, rather than a single person (which seems to be a big theme). Somehow i feel like my interview will be easier to make longer because i talked to about 4 or 5 different people and got lots of different footage from the questions i asked.

MDDN 243 - Background music!

It's been a long time since my last post.. ive been working on the sound effects and music since most of the vanity stuff has been cut out! So above is the main music that is in the background of the game. We want to keep the tribal sorta theme on the game so the music mainly consists of bongos and drums etc with a bit of shakers and the fantastic VIBRASLAP! The name is fantastic.. There's also a cowbell thrown in there. I have met up with Jarrod (one of Scotts friends) who helped me to record a few voice effects for the character and some drums using a plastic container. Kiwi ingenuity! Anyway, when the music slows down for four beats is when the game will move on to the boss fight music. The part before that can just be looped for the level duration!