ACSS InfoTech 2014-15 Day: 75 - Year End Recap

Since we are know heading down to the last few days of the course, it is time for a year end review. Going into this class, I was really excited and was looking forward to working with new programs and also exploring more in-depth with programs I have used in the past. In one of my first blog posts, I stated that I wanted to focus on Photoshop, 3D modelling, and creating a game.

I sort of worked on both Photoshop and 3D modelling at the same time which was sort of neat because I was also able to learn how to move PSD files into Cinema 4D and vice-versa. I learned that these programs were able to compliment each other so well. In Photoshop, I basically worked with lighting, colour correction, stocks and .png files. In Cinema 4D, I worked with the camera control, C4D materials, animating, and most of the basics of Cinema 4D in general.

I was also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work two motivated and creative thinkers (Justin and Ty) on an RPG game using the program Game Maker. It was really interesting to see all these types of things you could make in this program. The game itself made a huge ton of progress and overall looks very well done for 3 high school students despite not reaching a few of the goals we had set for ourselves in the beginning. I also worked on a side project which basically represents all the stuff I have learned in Game Maker. At first, the program (for me) was really tough to use mostly due to the fact that I had no idea what I was doing half the time. But over the course of the semester, I got really familiar with the program by watching tutorials and seeing how other's were able to make their own games. I feel that I can at least say that I am half decent at using Game Maker now.

                https://www.dropbox.com/s/z1wrrpme02u0jvo/Block%20Jumper.exe?dl=0

                                       *The main RPG project can be found on Ty's blog.*

ACSS InfoTech 2014-15 Day: 74

Today I worked on making a simple win screen the for mini-project since it is pretty much done. I used Photoshop CS6 to get this complete and also used a font called "8-Bit Party" to create a video game like text. After adding the win screen background to Game Maker, I set a collision script to the main sprite. So when the main sprite reaches the end of the room, the win screen shows up. I also made it so that the background music is put to a stop when the game is complete.

After all this was done with, I went to file > Create Application so it exports as a playable program on my desktop.

The game was then uploaded to Dropbox under this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z1wrrpme02u0jvo/Block%20Jumper.exe?dl=0

Basically the controls are the arrow keys to navigate around. 

ACSS InfoTech 2014-15 Day: 73

Since it's nearing the end of the course, I decided to close up on the projects I currently am working on. With the main RPG game being finished up with, I decided to also finish up on the Game Maker project I had also worked on individually. Basically, I created this as a side-project in which all the things I've learned in Game Maker is put into this mini project, and used this to really explore and look more into what the program has to offer. Some of the stuff I found out how to make gets put into the RPG game that Justin and Ty also helped create. With that being said, I decided to find out how to export the game so anyone with a computer can access it. This video was pretty much what I was looking for and is very straight forward:

ACSS InfoTech 2014-15 Day: 72

Today I finished up on the current house models for the Game Maker project. I can also create different colour schemes for the house. What I plan to do now is export the houses into a .png file and from there get it into Game Maker. It's also nearing the end of the Info Tech course so I also plan to finish up on the current projects and create a semester-end recap of the projects I have created/contributed in.

ACSS InfoTech 2014-15 Day: 71

So as of right now, I got started with working on some house sprites for the game. I decided to use Photoshop CS6 instead of the Game Maker sprite editor as I find that I am more familiar with the tools on Photoshop. The resources I needed to acquire were textures (roof, brick, stone) in which I create a clipping mask for them. In the next class, I plan to create different styles of houses in terms of their structure (roof, texture, etc.)

ACSS InfoTech 2014-15 Day: 70

Today, I was looking for things to add to the RPG game as we near the end of the semester. What I did to look for some ideas, was look at some videos on Youtube of other game developers working on RPG games. I found this really helpful as they focus on every little detail of what to add to a good game. Something to note is that many of these game developers take their time to make a good game.

After looking at a few of these types of videos, I decided to start working on creating house/building sprites to populate the map a bit of the RPG game. 

ACSS InfoTech 2014-15 Day: 69

Today I got working on animating character sprites. At first, it was a bit difficult to think of how to get this to work. By creating multiple frames of the same pose and slightly changing the height or position of the character creates a movement that can be seen in the game. I thought this was a neat addition when beginning working with animating sprites. A simple adjustment to the sprite prevents it from just staying in one position.