Unit 73:

Why is music and sound fx so important within game development?

Metal Gear Solid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKt_-_wfSiY

The soundtrack for this game is very intense and engaging. This is good for the genre of game that it is because it keeps you hooked on the game play and can lead to a very important scene of the game and not take away from any music that is playing because it shifts over so easily. 

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQeIYVM3YBM

This open world RPG has a very calming and mellow track for the most part. This is good because you don't want loud irritating music throughout the whole game whilst travelling across the vastness of this world. the music would pickup or stop completely when facing a very high boss to help you focus on the fight.

The legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzwvItK3JPI

For the most part this game has happy and cheerful music throughout. This suits the game play perfectly because even though you are set out on challenging quests, Link manages to keep a good attitude and a different soundtrack would take away from the mood. The soundtrack is also a large reason as to why this game was so successful.

Portal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgny67NTtw0

The music for this game is very electronic. the game is set in a future where you can create portals at an instant so the catchy electronic music fits in very well with the game play and doesn't take anything away from the game. 

Wavelength

The wavelength of a wave is the distance between a point on one wave and the same point on the next wave.
Amplitude- as waves travel they make disturbance. The amplitude of a wave is the maximum Disturbance from an undisturbed position.
Frequency- The number of waves produced by something every second or the number of waves that pass a specific point each second.

Foley

Foley is sound effects added to the film after the shooting stops, basically it is artificial sound. This includes sounds such as footsteps, clothes rustling, doors opening and slamming, punches hitting etc.

Timbre

Timbre put simply is the quality of sound. It is what makes two different instruments sound different from each other when they're playing the same note.

Psychology of Sound

The Last Of Us- They convey speech by talking to each other. The speech in this game has somewhat become iconic as the game is known for its great story telling and you could say that this is quite symbolic.

Super Mario Bros.- Speech is not really used in this game unless it is visual. A lot of the sounds used in the game are seen as iconic and people still remember the original sounds to this day. a newer sound used would be when Mario collects the star and becomes faster and invincible. This speeds up the music and everyone instantly knows what is going on.

Jaws- of course the Jaw's films have speech in them and this gets the dialogue across throughout the films but this film also has one of the most iconic sound effects out there. The classic jaws theme tune is made up of a deep "basey" noise that speeds up after each time its played, this builds up tension as you know something is coming by the time the music stops.

Understand the methods and principles of sound design and production

Sound file formats

Uncompressed- This means that it has not been compressed into a smaller file format, therefor meaning it is still its original size.

Compressed- This is when a file gets put into a smaller size making it more efficient for transferring it and moving it around.

Audio sampling

How can resolution and bit-depth constrain file size?- if you have a 720p monitor and you try to watch a video at 1080p then obviously it isn't going to work and wont play the video at the right quality and this will constrain it.

Sample rate- the number of samples of audio carried per second, measured in Hz or kHz.

Mono- this means its output is just through one device, like one earphone or headphone.

Stereo- sound that is directed through two or more speakers so it seems to surround the listener and to come from more than one source.

Surround- a system involving three or more speakers surrounding the listener so it feels more realistic.

How can the following information limit the recording of sound

DSP – Digital Signal Processor
RAM – Random Access Memory
File format (eg Mp3, Wav, Aiff)
Audio output (eg Mono, Stereo, Surround).
PCM – Pulse Code Modulation

 In what types of scenario may you use the following audio recording equipment?

multi-track recording- it allows studio engineers to record all their instruments and vocals separately.

DAT (digital audio tape)- a signal recording and playback medium made by Sony

Analogue- this refers to audio recorded using methods that replicate the original sound waves

Story Telling- Unit 74

Elements:

.intro/middle/end

.characters

Big Trouble In Little China

Intro- a Chinese bus driver is being interrogated and performs sorcery. Wang and Jack go to the airport to pick up Wang’s fiance but she gets kidnapped. Wang and Jack go down the wrong alley as two Chinese gangs get into a street fight, it is interrupted by three sorcerers. Jack and Wang heard about where his fiance was being kept and they go to try and get her back, the sorcerers take her again. 

Middle- Wang takes Jack to his restaurant where they meet up with Gracie Law, Eddie Lee and Egg Shen. The group infiltrate a brothel where they think Miao yin is being held. All is going well until the Storms fly in and take Miao Yin away to their master, Lo Pan. Jack and Wang manage to sneak past the main guards to gain access to their facility but quickly get captured by Rain. They get tied and beaten but finally meet Lo Pan who is now a crippled old man and tells them that he needs to marry a green eyed woman to remove a curse, hense the reason for kidnapping Miao Yin. Jack and Wang's friend come to save them but also get captured them selves. Lo Pan realises that Gracie Law also has green eyes so he intends to sacrifice Gracie to appease the emperor and marry Miao as intended. Jack and Wang manage to escape, freeing captured women on the way. Whilst Gracie is also trying to escape she gets recaptured by a horrid beast.

End- Wang and Jack meet up with Egg Shen and the Chang Sing, a gang who agree to help them defeat Lo Pan. They go to an underground cavern to get to Lo Pan's headquarters. As Lo Pan is trying to marry Miao Yin a battle starts between the two sides. Jack knocks himself at the very start of the fight and gets trapped under a large suit of armour. Jack, Wang and Gracie group up to chase Lo Pan who is now in his human form. They thought all was lost until Jack catches a knife being thrown at him and hits Lo Pan in the forehead with it, killing him. Thunder eventually returns to see his dead master and explodes because he feels like he has dishonoured him. Thunder tries to trap them all by collapsing the place but they get rescued by Egg who also drops a statue on thunder which kills him. The group all meet up and celebrate their victory.

Characters- 

Egg Shen is a sub character but the main characters of the film probably wouldn't have as much information on Lo Pan as they did if Egg Chen wasn't there for them.

. Jack Burton is the main focus of the film. He thinks everything will go his way and that he's great in all situations but in reality he cant even handle himself in a fight.

. Wang Chi is basically Jack's Sidekick but ends up doing most of the work. He's a main character because we follow both Jack and Wang throughout the whole film and none of it would have happened if they didn't go to pick up his wife from the airport.

. David Lo Pan is the main bad guy of the whole film, he is the reason for all of this happening so you couldn't have the film without him. He is an ancient wizard who was cursed to live as an immortal form and must marry a green eyed woman to gain his human form again.

. Gracie Law is a sub-character. She starts of helping our main protagonists but ends up being captured her self.

. The three storms are sub characters that work for Lo Pan, stopping Jack in his tracks wherever they meet. They only became the storms because of Lo Pan and have worked for him for many years.

. Miao Yin is Wang's wife. She is the one who originally gets kidnapped at the airport by The Lords of Death. None of the film would of happened if she wasn't originally captured. Lo Pan needs her because he must marry someone with green eyes to regain his human form. 

Plot- Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) wins a bet with his friend Wang Chi and accompanies him to the airport to pick up Wang's fiancé Miao Yin to make sure he honours the payment. A Chinese street gang, the Lords of Death, tries to kidnap another Chinese girl at the airport who is being met by her friend Gracie Law, intending to sell her as a sex slave. After Jack intervenes, they take Miao Yin instead. In Jack's truck, he and Wang track the Lords of Death to the back alleys of Chinatown, where they find a funeral procession that quickly erupts into a street fight between the Chang Sing and Wing Kong, two ancient Chinese societies. When "The Three Storms" - Thunder, Rain, and Lightning, mighty warriors with weather-themed powers - appear, slaughtering the Chang Sing, Jack tries to escape but runs over Lo Pan, a powerful and legendary sorcerer and the leader of the Wing Kong. Horrified, Jack exits his truck, but finds Lo Pan completely fine. Wang guides Jack through the alleys; the two escape the carnage and mayhem, but Jack's truck is stolen. They each spend the rest of the film trying to get Wang's fiance back and jack's truck back. they each face different problems on the way.

Character motivation-
Jack- Throughout the whole film Jack says he is only helping so he can get his truck back from the gang that stole it. Whilst watching the film you can see that he has feelings for Gracie Law so that may of helped convince him but even at the end of the film he doesn't even stay for her.

Wang Chi- Wang's Fiance is who gets captured by the Lords of Death at the airport and swears that he will get her back

David Lo Pan is motivated to marry Miao Yin because it's the only way he can get his human body back.

The Three Storms are motivated because they have to serve Lo Pan due to also being cursed.


Jack and Wang start the film off as friends who have known each other for many years. They play card games every so often. Their friendship grows as the film goes on, eventually becoming better friends.

Emotional themes- Jack's emotions are anger and loss. At the start of the film, him and Wang are forced to abandon his truck in the middle of a gang fight and he spends the rest of the film trying to get his truck back.

Wang feels loss due to his fiance being kidnapped. He will do whatever it takes to get her back, killing many enemies throughout without feeling any remorse. 

Unit 78- Digital Graphics for Computer Games
Aims- Be able to generate concept ideas for computer game graphics


Print Media Graphics, In-game graphics, Concept art graphics- see previous exercises for P1


Client needs- The client needs are what your client wants from the game you're making, such as genre and art style for example, once the client has given their brief i will create my own for my slef to improve upon the given work and make it as good as possible

Audience- This is who your game will be targeted at and who will hopefully be buying your game.                    




Thumbnail sketching- You do these to make sure every aspect can be perfect, just small sketches to get an idea of how you want things to look

Visual Style- see previous exercises for P1

Composition- Positioning of objects within a frame, what this tells the audience and what it makes them feel


Typography- This is what fonts you are using and which ones will be the most effective for you and for certain aspects of a game, so the font will mimic the mood








Technical Considerations- see previous exercises for P1

Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Concept Art

Level 3 games design- understanding hardware technologies for game platforms
Unit 20
Task A

1. Introduce and explain what HCI(human computer interface) in the context of gaming is.

2. List and explain the following interface devices: controllers, joysticks, keyboard, mouse, wheel&pedals, motion sensing input device, motion controller, voice controller

. Include examples and references

1. gaming HCI's:
.keyboard&mouse- these are used for pc gaming and precise aiming in games. they can be used for other tasks on the computer aswell.

.xbox one controller&xbox 360 controller- althought each controller has a slightly different design from eachother they still do the same things to navigate you through each consoles menus and control you in the games you play

.ps3 controller&ps4 controller- these controllers follow the same concept as the xbox controllers, they have the same functions but have been slightly adapted through the years

.wii remote&wii u remote- the controllers for the Nintendo wii are actually motion sensor controllers and follow your movement through the motion sensors, the wii u has another controller with a built in screen to do extra activities following the main game

2. controllers- these are the way you move about menus and games for almost every console











Joysticks- A specialised controller designed for games like flight simulators and so-on, things that need 360 degree movement









mouse and keyboard- generally used for all computers whether it be browsing the web or playing games

wheel and pedals- specifically designed for driving or racing games so you can get the most realis
tic feeling








motion sensing input device- this device basically turns you into the controller, it senses your movements and uses that to browse the menus and play the games




motion controller- for this you need the controller and a sensor near the controller to detect your hand movements and so you have extra buttons on the controller to get more movement









voice controller- the xbox one for example has voice control built in to the headset to you can use it to turn it off/on, start games and so on







Task B- understanding hardware and technologies for game platforms



NES controller                                                                                                 PS4 controller

Unit 78: Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Aims: Understand theory and application of digital graphics used for computer games

Image resolution- If you take an image you can then transfer it over to Photoshop. From here you can look at the pixel dimensions and see how many pixels there are from top to bottom and left to right

Image quality- Basically the resolution of the image is the quality of the image. It's just the number of dots in any given space. the more pixels you have in an image the higher quality it will be. The image to the right is from the original mega-man. As you can see the individual pixels are quite easy to see compared to the game below (fez) which has much more pixels on the screen, creating a clearer image.

Intensity- Each pixel inside an image has a number that determines how bright it is and/or what colour it should be.









File Extensions- A file extension is what we use to identify and change the way we save files for different editing software and so on. For example a tiff file can be used for mobile games because it compresses images without losing the quality. I used this image because this is the standard icon to show jpeg file extensions and how you will be saving something.







Compression- Simply, this is when you make a file as small as possible while also trying to lose as little quality from it as possible. Going back to my previous example, tiff files will compress images but will keep the previous quality.










Image Capture- This is when you use different methods to capture an image whether it be with a photo, screen recording software, screenshot, scanning, etc. I used this image as an example of screenshotting, if you press the PrtScn button you can capture anything that is on the screen and then go on to save it to your computer.




Optimising- To make something as effective, perfect, or useful as possible. It can also be said that you write or re-write something to maximise efficiency and speed in the retrieval, storage or execution of it.



Storage of Image Assets- This is a very useful way to tore things like textures, graphics and text styles so you can easily access them. It is important to correctly name the file so you can find it at a later date, for example if you have the texture for a tree in a certain level then you could name it "tree level one" or something like that, this stops you getting confused between different textures for different levels. You also need to bare in mind the size of the file, if a file is too big it can cause problems when you try to transfer it. I used the image above because as you can see the person has got several different versions of thee same thing but each one has been named differently.

killer Klowns from outer space

Ice-cream men try to sell ice cream to couples who are at a drive-in but get boo'd away.

A comet flies across all of them and then over a farmers house who gets excited

The farmer goes searching in the darkness and finds a circus in the forest, an arm reaches out the side and takes his dog from behind his back.

Two teenagers get arrested for being "drunk and disorderly" and the police man becomes very violent towards them

A couple from the drive-in goes searching and finds the circus

The couple are sucked into an elevator and come across a giant room with a large electrical device in it

The next room they go to they see lots of pods hanging down and they open one to see a face inside

A clown walks in and they accidentally drop something so the clown chases them, they get into the car and more clowns come after them

The couple go to the police station and start to tell their story but sound ridiculous to them.

The clowns go around the town and start capturing people in these cocoon sort of things

One of the policemen takes the couple to where they saw the circus but wouldn't let the woman go

A clown rides to a biker bar and they start to destroy the clowns bike, the clown then punches the mans head off

The policeman and the man(mike) go to the drive-in and find a car filled with the cotton candy stuff used to cocoon people and someones glasses

The police station is getting distress calls from everyone in town but refuses to believe them

The woman at home starts to undress for her shower, the popcorn that was shot at them when they were originally chased falls from her clothes and starts to move

A clown puts on a shadow puppet show at the bus stop and the shadow eats them when the policeman see them this time

One of the clowns shows up at the police station and starts messing the policeman who doesn't want to help people about. the clown murders everyone in the station and the good policeman comes and ends up seeing all of it

The bad policeman is used as a puppet to tell Dave what the clowns want to do, which is to kill everyone

A group of clowns show up at the female antagonists house (debbie) and capture her in a giant bubble

The group chase the clowns to an amusement park where they kill a man with acid pies

They enter the circus and come to a door, whilst turned around the two ice cream men fall into a ball pit and disappear from the others

Mike and Dave go through the same door as earlier to the room full of the cocooned people but there's more now, they find Debbie and break her out of the balloon.

They were found by the clowns and chased until they end up on a giant podium, surrounded by clowns.

The ice cream men then crash through the wall and start speaking through their megaphone and the clowns think that they are some sort of leader and move aside for Mike, Dave and Debbie to get past.

The group get to the truck but it wont start, then a giant monster clown is lowered from the ceiling and Dave distracts the monster until they manage to escape.

Whilst the group are outside Dave is being chased by the monster and runs out of ammo for his pistol, the monster grabs him and lifts him up. Dave then take his badge and stabs the clown's nose

The monster then drops Dave and explodes, this blows the circus spaceship up as its trying to take off.

Everyone outside see's this happen and assume that Dave is dead

A clown car drops from the sky, almost completely destroyed from the explosion, everyone is prepared for a clown to emerge but it ends up being Dave.