Sandra Lopez

Here is a snapshot of my final game.

For my final I intended to have a Mario-like game where you enter a world and collect objects for points. I started off really good finding a tutorial to help me with this task when it turned out to be outdated. In trying to translate the outdated tutorial to an updated version, I found lots of little tricks in 3D Games Studio that would make the game more exciting. There was a lighted lift, smog, and short circuit that I used in my final game.

The effect that I focused most of my energy on was the level change. I searched all over the community online to find something that would be able to help me but since I am unfamiliar with most of the terminology and subjects, I did not understand what they were saying. I finally figured out how to make the level change through interpreting the HELP provided by the 3DGS.

As you can see above, this is what my game looks like when you are playing it. I chose this because I wanted to play with the lighting a bit and see how I can enhance the new effects that I learned. I made the game into a dream-like sequence where you start off in a dark smog-filled
room and make your way to find this lighted up box. When you finally reach it, you enter the box and its world. The level change happens as you enter the box.

Above all, I learned the program more and also as long as you keep playing with the program and start learning the terminology, the program will get a lot easier. The tutorials can only go so far if you are unfamiliar with the scripts. I think that if you really want to learn how to make awesome games with really nice features, the scripts are the best thing to be familiar with.

Attached is the zip file to all of the files that I used for the final.

Download file

My idea for my final is to create a game where the main character's task is to collect objects to gain points. The objects will be scattered around a maze and when they are all collected, the character wins.

This game takes place it seems in the near future in which a man is possessed and kills another man. Throughout the game, he tries to understand what is happening to him and why. At the same time there are two police officers that are trying to find him but only knowing that they are looking for a man's killer.

As the game progresses, the player gets to interchange between each of the main characters. Each decision affects what is happening to the storyline. For example, the whole point of playing the possesed man is to not get cought by the police. If a move is made that will bring suspicion or a clue that you are the killer, the game is over and you are arrested. When at play, there are times when two circular objects, like the ones above, pop up and light a certian color. Each color indicates a move that needs to be made by the player quickly. There are times that this part of the game determins your survival in the game. This is my favorite part of the game because it brings you that rush in the middle of a game that is mostly slow paced, which brings back the video game feel.

This game is by far one of my favorites now because of the level of interaction the player has witht the game. It is like a movie where things happen automatically but at the same time the storyline gets affected with the decisions made by the player. That makes it entertaining because the game follows a story and still lets the player investigate its surroundings and also decide where to go and what to do.

At times the best way to know the rules of the interaction is to just jump into it and start clicking. If the are rules that are needed to be defined at the beginning, then it would prepare you for what is to come but not really give you the same sense of what the interaction is like. The prepared interaction is still having an expectation of what it will be like but at the same time not knowing what it will be.

It could be compared to driving in the way of starting to learn how to do it. The study guide tells you what to do and tells you what you will interact with but will not give the same experience as actually driving in a car.

In fiction, like reading a book, there isn't a sense of what will happen next or knowing what needs to be payed attention to beforehand. the best way to figure that out is to go into it blindly and interact with it without knowing what the rules are.

This screen shot shows the status of what I have done to contribute to the cause that I chose. My improvement for this part of the game would be to insert a status bar or percentage of how far I am into my succession. One problem I have with the game is that I don't really know what is going on and by inserting how far into success I am, it might help with knowing if I am progressing or not.

In briefly researching serious games, I found that these games are based on real life situations and are used as a training or teaching tool. A game like the SIMS wouldn't be a serious game because it does not reflect on real life where the consequences are enforced. In thinking about what I would want a serious game to be as a teaching tool, a game that reflects the experience of living on your own. It would be targeted toward high schoolers to get them to have an idea of what they need to do to prepare for the real world. It would simulate different events that happen in everyday life. For example, they would need to apply for a job, then they would receive a paycheck. They would need to decide what they use the money for, new outfit or go grocery shopping. Depending on their decisions, the game would give reactions. Another example would be if they didn't pay their phone bill, and bought something else, their phone would be cut off.

I played this game yesterday and it is crazy!!! Watch it ...

Its interesting how the army used the "America's Army" game to promote recruits to join their forces. Touring around in hummers and passing out the game was a very interesting move on their part.

By passing out these games, the likelihood of the players to join the army I think are slim. When playing the game, you would be able to shoot someone or get shot an not have a reaction. You would just be able to restart the game and think nothing of it. If you get sick of it, just turn it off and go along with the rest of your day. In that way, when you use arms in real life, you wouldn't be able to turn it off or restart it.

With that said, I think that with video games that focus on combat and war, it would increase armed conflict because of the inability to differentiate real life and a video game. Although I know that people know the difference, there are still some that claim they didn't know the difference. It would give the mentality that armed combat is how you solve your problems. It isn't just that the game would do it because it is also the parents' job to teach the kids how to solve problems and not rely on what is shown through a screen.

This is really cool. There is this new wii pad that senses your movement from your feet. Unlike the regular pads and instead of being a big button like DDR, it is also motion sensored and measures when you shift your wieght. Check it out...

I am in the middle of playing Half Life 2 and the game started to pick up and at the same time started to creep me out and make me queasy. I played whatever I was supposed to and right now I am stuck here in this hole in between buildings. I am supposed to meet someone in a square but I can't figure out how to get through the door. Hopefully I get out to play the rest of the game 'cause right now it doesn't look like it.