Camera Drone Beta

My Camera Dron is mostly functional. Here's a screenshot:




Here's one with the older body style that I had to scrap.


At the moment, the drone follows it's owner at a set height and distance, and rotates to maintain a facing towards the owner. I would like to do add two principal functions. First, I would like to rewrite the following script so that it will randomly "adopt" a player within the match to follow for say, 10 seconds or so, and then "adopt" a new player. The second bit of functionality I want to add is for the energy shield to llpush on collision, so that balls that are bounced off of it gain energy.

The other items that need to be done, aside from adding additional functionality, are to add a rotating texture to replace the blades, skin the model, and provide some sound for it.

Arena Plot Layout

I propose that we set up the plots for the arena in this manner:

-Each space the arena is built within is a 50m cube.

-There will be four arena spaces that exist on the same level on the z-plane.
-That z coordinate will be someplace well above the height at which the ground is visible.

-Each arena cube will be arranged into a 2 arena by 2 arena square
-Each cube will have a 10-12 meter space in between each other cube, so as to allow spectator areas to be placed there.
-Each Spectator area will be enclosed, and will require teleport from the lobby.
-Spectator areas will be placed at various x,y, and z locations to allow multiple vantage points of each arena.

Level Props 2

I've been digging through example scripts on the SL Wiki, and I believe that some more level props that could be really cool could be possible. For example, I think a floating camera that follows random players might be possible. I've got a model built already, and I think that there are two possible routes that could be taken with it. In either case, we put a mostly transparent sphere around it (forcefield, or somesuch). In the first case, we can make it as unobtrusive as possible by making it a phantom object. In the second, we can make it a physical object that can actually be used by players (bounce a ball off the shield, possibly even bounce it into another player, as a piece of dynamic cover, etc.)

I've got the model already built for it. It would need texturing, animating, and scripting, but I think it could be a fun little dynamic element that fits nicely within the theme of the game.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Follower_%28script%29

I think it should be also possible that even if we can't actually show live shots of the action within the lobby that we can still have some dynamic element in the lobby related to action happening within the arenas.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Random_AV_Profile_Projector

With something built on this script, I think we could at least have profile images of the competitors pop up occasionally on screens within the lobby.

Level Props

At the moment, I'm trying to put together some level props, and some other items that may be useful to the people assembling levels.

So far, a few widgets, like

a torch with .gif flames,

a camera that may or may not be able to be animated (I can add a blinking red light though, but it'll require some Linden to do, because I'd have to upload a texture for it)

I'm going to see if I can put up a vendor of some sort, or something similar that will let people put their creations in them, so that everybody in the group can snag one when they come by.

I've got a small pressbox, and a small dodgeball court set up, and I'm working on a teleporter.

Other than that, ideas are the biggest thing I have at the moment.

Level Assembler

I've been looking at different scripts that allow the assembly of a complex object. (example, dropping a sphere assembles a snowman from a number of other prims) As far as I can tell, everything that is part of the assembly is placed within the contents of the assembler prim as a payload, and when the script is run, it essentially takes all of the payload and creates copies of it according to the instructions within the script. To the best of my knowledge, the items in the payload would have to be linked, but not necessarily in contact with each other, meaning that it should be possible to take a number of platforms, link them to some central item, and then have that central item be the assembler, around which everything is generated.

I also believe that it should be possible to build a rezzing terminal that will rezz the assembler prim when touched. And in doing my research, I came across another script which illustrated a way to make objects derez upon command whispered in a specific channel. If we set up a sensor (or something else) that could detect when a team was completely placed within the "eliminated" group, and after a certain interval had passed, would subsequently whisper the derez command to the rezzing terminal (or the assembly prim, at the moment I can't remember which it needs to be) , and the level would derezz. We need a similar sensor anyway, to determine when the match is over, and to start whatever victory candesence we will have (fireworks, flags waving, etc).

In this way, we could be a terminal that allows players to pick a level, which they will play on, and after the match ends, the level will clear after a certain amount of time, allowing a new level to be chosen for the next match.

Game Concept

I'm finding the challenge of coming up with a concept for this course a bit difficult. While the prototype we build doesn't necessarily have to be an RPG/Adventure game, it would be good if it were. But how does one create a compelling story based game in an engine like Second Life? I don't think we could pull off a good fantasy game that relied on melee combat to any degree. Perhaps some kind of wizard duel based game could be interesting, maybe even with the avatars rezzing objects temporarily (summoning) ala MTG.

However, the idea that gets me more excited is some kind of cyberpunk/dystopian themed game that doesn't feature combat in the direct traditional sense. Perhaps it wouldn't feature combat at all. Tension could either be achieved through use of techno-horror style elements, conspiracy style elements, or both. Perhaps the protagonist may be given some kind of defense, but no actual method of attack (You hold off your attackers until you can make your escape, but you lack the means to actually destroy them). Setting, story and such I honestly have no ideas about yet, but I believe that could come easily enough in a brainstorming session.

Edit: A brief concept is as follows:
The player is a hacker trying to gather information of X_____. Gameplay consists of reaching "nodes" and hacking into them through some manner of minigame to be rewarded with a piece of information. At the point in time the player hacks a node, several "antibodies" will be spawned that seek to attack the player. The player must evade the antibodies rather than destroy them, and possesses only token defenses against the antibodies (being slightly faster than them and having some manner of short lived shield for emergencies). When the player has avoided the antibodies for a long enough period of time, they deactivate, and the player is free to make his way to the next node. In between nodes, some form of environmental puzzle will exist to make the transit time interesting, perhaps with lesser hackable items needed to open pathways.

The twist is that the player will only have the opportunity to grab certain bits of the information available, and will not get all of the information available in the game. In addition, the antibodies will spawn as soon as the node is hacked, limiting the player's time to pick and choose which bit of information they want to take. Only at the end of the game will the player be able to peruse the information that they retrieved, in the order that they retrieved it in. The order in which the player accesses this information will affect the way they interpret it (as in Hopscotch). This way, each player in theory will have a unique play experience, and some replay value will be assured.

The actual levels take place in a virtual environment ala the Matrix of the Shadowrun setting (Not the movie) or Tron. Representation of the player would have to be appealing, if not necessarily humanoid. The environment itself will be somewhat evocative of Tron, etc, with a minimalistic glowing motif. Antibodies would be some sort of abstract shape, but if abstract and menacing can be combined in some way, it would be ideal.

Second Life

Our end product will be a game prototype built in Second Life. To that end, we need accounts and avatars with which to do our work.

This is my Avatar, Shae Mumfuzz. When I was
signing up for my account, the name Mumfuzz
popped out at me, and I decided that it was both
silly enough to work, and that it sounded like a
halfling sort of name, so I tried to take the halfling idea and run with it. Most of what I initially did was slider work, but when I started playing with prims, first the hat, and then the pipe emerged. The pipe I really like, because it has a simple script that produces particles, leaving a cloud of smoke around his head. It still needs to be tweaked before I'm really happy with it, but then again, my avatar does too. I'd really like to skin a better looking jacket and pair of pants for him, but I haven't had time to do that yet.

First Thing's First

First thing's first, I suppose. This blog is meant to be part of a course in the basics of game design and development, and will serve for me as both a means of keeping myself on track, and as a place for my random thoughts that somehow relate to game design.

Obviously, my interest in game design comes from being a gamer. For a long time, I was primarily a PC gamer, but I have since come to appreciate console titles as well.

It'd be a bit pretentious to try list every single game I've played, but I'll list some of my favorites.

Mechcommander:

This was the first title I got to play on my own computer, and remains one of my favorites to this day.

Warren Spector/Looking Glass/Irrational Titles titles:

The Thief titles, Deus Ex titles, System Shock 2, etc...

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Games:

Fallout Series, Arcanum

Infinity Engine Games:

Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale Series, Planescape: Torment

Half-Life Series

Half-Life, Half Life 2, Gunman Chronicles, They Hunger

Unreal Gold/UT

Blizzard Games