Portfolio Game Progress!

Today Luke started to try and create a system that collects the amount of kills you get in each level. Now, we have a system that awards the player a kill every time they kill an enemy. We initially came across an issue where the kill count would stick at 1 even after killing 2 enemies but it was quickly fixed by changing the int value to a static.

Our game is really starting to take shape and we are getting a lot of the initially planned mechanics we initially wanted in the demo. I am extremely proud of us all and I believe we can run with this game for quite some time.

Random Modelling…

Today I decided to try improving my modelling skills. So I decided to start a house project that I will keep everyone updated on. Below is the start of the house.

It is going to be a cartoon style of house with lots of colours and a lot of detail around the model in general. I am looking to add the following at a later date: A roof, windows, tiles and textures/materials. I am looking forward to how this will look in the end.

Fortnite Battle Royale – Game Review!

Have you ever wanted to take on one hundred online players around the world by building up the best fort to take an advantage against enemies and get a really satisfying and hard worked win? Now you can through Fortnite Battle Royale.

There are two main modes in the whole Fortnite game package. These are Fortnite: Save The World and Fortnite: Battle Royale. I have not yet played Save the World so I can’t review it but I have played around 50 hours of Battle Royale.

The “Save the World” mode is described as a co-op sandbox survival game and is about exploration, scavenging items, crafting weapons, building fortified structures, and fighting waves of encroaching monsters. Tim Sweeney, Epic’s founder, described the game as “Minecraft meets Left 4 Dead”.

On the other hand, Fortnite: Battle Royale is a free game that you can download and play across all platforms (I think that the fact that it is free is kind of killing off their other mode because that is not free).  Battle Royale is a massive multiplayer mode where you have a group of 95- 100 players trying to be the last man alive (you can play either: Solo, Duo or Squads).

You skydive and glide to a location on the map of your choosing and then the map gets increasingly smaller pushing you to a certain point on the map until everyone is dead but one. This is a clearly Hunger Games inspired like mode. You fight till you win or die. This is a cool game mode you have options to cut down trees and collect other resources like Bricks and Metal and create a fort and survive there until you are forced to move or you can be on the move constantly trying to find better gear to make yourself stronger and hopefully last longer.

In my opinion I prefer to play with friends in Duo or Squad mode because it is way more fun when compared to Solo mode but that is my personal preference and others have the right to say differently.

 

More Game Updates!

Today we had all day to work on our portfolio game. As you can see we have made a huge improvement to the game by doing and adding the following things: The snake that I made in Voxel, the door moving script, the key and door script, textures on the platform(s) and a temple structure that is the end goal of the levels. I feel as if we have made quite a lot of progress and I am happy with the direction the game is going and I can’t wait to see the final product!

Portfolio Game Updates

Quite a lot of things need to be added (since we have only started working on the game) including models such as debris and the sandstorm particle effect that will act as a timer that rushes the player along the level. I have already modelled a scorpion (as I previously blogged about) and I am starting work on a snake enemy also on voxel. One of my friends working on the game,  Luke, has been messing around with a lot of the coding in the game and worked us out a couple of scripts that could be very useful in the finished build of the game e.g. a script that allows us to aim with the mouse and fire at enemies. My other friend, Nathan, worked on a movement script and he got it working with public variables. Below are some screenshots of the game.

 

Differences Between GTA V and GTA IV

GTA is unlike most if not all game series’. The difference between GTA IV and GTA V are shocking to see. If you take a vastly popular game series like COD for example and put the two together they do not look half as different as GTA IV and GTA V are.

Grand Theft Auto games are all about attention to detail. A million little things come together to form the massive simulations we’ve come to know and love. I am about to list the little attention to detail points in GTA IV that make it better than GTA V:

1. The police in GTA IV aren’t automatically hostile to your mere existence
2. In GTA IV, you can get into more involved fistfights with NPCs. NPCs also have more tolerance, period.
3. In GTA IV, NPCs react dynamically to where, specifically, they are shot.
4. The car physics are more realistic in GTA IV in terms of handling, and also in terms of how the cars crash.
5. NPCs aren’t giant assholes to you just because in GTA IV.
6. You can shoot guns out of people’s hands in GTA IV—and, in general, knock things out of people’s hands.
7. You can carjack by pointing a gun at someone in GTA IV more easily.
8. You can pick up random junk in GTA IV and actually use it in some way—it’s not just decoration.
9. People in GTA IV react to cars trying to run them over in more ways.
10. You can climb things in GTA IV.
11. The environment in GTA IV is more reactive to explosions, scratches, etc.
12. The water physics are more detailed in GTA IV.
13. Your character reacts to the weather in GTA IV.
14. Cops stop crimes without actually murdering anyone in GTA IV.
15. There are way more interiors in GTA IV.

It’s quite obvious that GTA V is a much better game as a whole but I like the little attention to detail that the developers do in their games. I hope that this allows anyone that reads this the ability to recognise these little attention to details in a seemingly smaller game that do not exist in the bigger game of GTA V.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Game Review

Blogmas!

December 5th Game Review: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is an action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published for PlayStation 4 on May 10, 2016. Following Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, it is the final Uncharted game to feature protagonist Nathan Drake.

All good things must come to an end but rarely does one end on such a strong note. Often times a company will sacrifice the purity of a franchise by dragging it on for far too long to get the most money out of the fans of the franchise but if there’s one message that Uncharted 4 conveys, it’s that there are things more important than riches and most likely you must choose between one or the other. I have the utmost respect for both Naughty Dog and Sony for choosing to honour the series and it’s fans with a dignified well-deserved send off rather than strain every penny out of it until it’s lost all its meaning.

The visuals in Uncharted 4 are unrivalled. I don’t know how they can manage such an embellished environment, explosive action, and smooth frame rate at the same time but the amazing people at Naughty Dog made it work. Simply Gorgeous. And you know, from my previous review on Horizon Zero Dawn, I love stunning visuals in games.

Uncharted 4 puts on full display the new standard of excellence in game design and writing. The graphics and story are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition and while some games may approach or maybe even surpass one of these elements alone, Uncharted 4 is the complete package.

In the end I found Uncharted 4 to be a masterpiece from start to finish. From the cutting edge graphics to the intelligent storytelling to the intuitive gameplay, there isn’t one aspect of the game that I found to be short of amazing. It’s the perfect end to a landmark franchise that treats the characters and fans with dignity.

Simply putting this whole review… I. LOVE. THIS. GAME.

 

Horizon Zero Dawn – Game Review

Blogmas!

December 4th Game Review: Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Zero Dawn is an action role-playing video game developed by Guerrilla Games and published for PlayStation 4 and released in early 2017.

Before I get into anything else I just have to say…this game is marvellous! Interesting narratives. Beautifully crafted scenery. Amazing gameplay. This is exactly what Horizon delivers.

The plot revolves around an outcast hunter, named Aloy, living in a world in the distant future overrun by robots. Having been an outcast her whole life and being treat differently and looked down on by members of the tribe, she sets out to discover the dangers that she was sheltered from. The character uses various weapons to deal with the enemies in which she encounters like: A spear, a number of bows (Normal and long range) and her own abilities like stealth and acrobatically taking down enemies from above. She can learn new abilities as she levels up from the skill tree, like the stealth and takedowns as mentioned before.  The game features an open world environment for Aloy to explore, divided into tribes that hold side quests to undertake, while the main story guides her across the entire map.

Visuals: 10/10

A visual masterpiece. I often found myself stunned by beautiful scenery, taking screenshots in photo mode constantly.  The art direction is consistently impressive across the world (which is impressively large) and the attention to detail throughout the whole game is so fascinating.

And of course I have to mention the main focus of the game, the machines. The machines are amazingly similar to real life animals but just mechanised. The attention to detail from the armour of the various machines to the wiring that are classed as “weaknesses” that deal more damage when hit.

Gameplay: 10/10

Horizon’s gameplay is one of the core strengths that makes it unique and better than its peers. Taking down machines is challenging but not necessarily in the controller smashing kind of way. It’s the challenge of figuring out how to progressively dismantle these mechanical beasts where you’ll find the sense of accomplishment comes from.

My Personal Rating: 10/10

Definitely a contender for game of the year and arguably one of the top games on the PS4. One of the most enjoyable and beautiful games I’ve played in a long time. So far my favourite game since the PS2 era of games.

Dying Light – Game Review!

Blogmas!

December 3rd Game Review: Dying Light

Dying Light is an open world first person survival horror action-adventure video game developed by Techland. It was released in January 2015 for Microsoft Windows, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Story

The game revolves around an undercover agent named Kyle Crane who is sent to infiltrate a quarantine zone in a city called Harran. It features an enemy-infested, open-world city with a dynamic day and night cycle. The day-night cycle changes the game drastically, as enemies become more aggressive and more difficult to deal with during night time. The gameplay is focused on weapons-based combat and parkour. The game also features an asymmetrical multiplayer mode  and a four-player, co-operative multiplayer mode.

The game was seen as something brand new in the world of gaming because it combined games like 7 Days To Die and DayZ with the parkour style of Mirrors Edge. Players can perform action such as drop-kicking when engaging combat with enemies. A grappling hook is also featured in the game, allowing players to climb up buildings and travel between places quickly.

Dying Light is one of very few zombie survival games to have a story aspect to it as well as a multiplayer aspect. However, in this case, (in my opinion) the story mode open world part of the game was miles better than the multiplayer mode. However the developers at Techland were smart and combined the two by allowing players to play a 4 player co-op story mode with friends this definitely was a major part of the game’s success.

 

Rust – Game Review!

Blogmas!

December 2nd Game Review: Rust

Rust is a survival video game in development by Facepunch Studios for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Rust pits players against each other in a harsh, open world environment with the sole goal being to survive. Animals, such as wolves and bears, represent a threat to new players, but the primary danger comes from other players. The player vs player combat is accomplished with bows, melee weapons and craftable guns. Bullets and other projectiles travel via a ballistic trajectory. There are multiple different types of bullets for each gun.

At the very early stage of development, Rust was just a clone of the very popular ARMA 2 mod, DayZ. The CEO of Facepunch Studios said about the game that “Rust started off as a DayZ clone. But then we decided that we are sick of fighting zombies. And can’t compete with the Arma island in terms of landmarks and towns”.

Following its alpha launch, regular updates were released daily adding new content to enjoy like new mechanics such as animals, armour and new guns etc. The main changes to the game occurred when the whole way to play the game changed not to long ago. The developers decided to change the whole thing up by adding a level system so the players couldn’t just craft items when they have the resources they would have to put time into the game and level up to unlock the items before crafting it. Shortly after this “level system” a new system was put into place called the component system which made the players have to find components in barrels and crates scattered around the giant randomly generated map. The final system that was put in place was the blueprint system. The blueprint system required players to find/make blueprints to “learn” how to make certain items. There were different levels of rarity in the forms of the blueprints which include: common, uncommon, rare and very rare.

Within the first few weeks of Rust’s alpha release it sold over 150,000 copies and compared to the very popular game Gary’s Mod which sold only 34,000 copies in the same amount of time that is quite a good turnout for two weeks into the alpha stage. The game also allows players to create skins that can be sold on the Steam Workshop and used in-game. The fact that Rust has this much connection with the audience is a major boost on their sales of the game and their popularity amongst the gaming community.

Rust has received mixed reviews through its alpha release, with many referring the unfinished state of the game (which I, as a player of Rust, strongly disagree with). In particular a writer for the magazine PC Gamer said “Rust was a great use of Early Access and even though, it’s far from finished, it’s ready to be played.” It was claimed to be “riddled with bugs” which, in Rust’s defence, is exactly what is to be expected in a game that is in the Alpha stage.