I LOVE CALLY

It's true.

Project 3: Gauntlet Clone, Enemy Creation

The first enemy that I wanted to create was an enemy that chases the player (like in the original game of gauntlet) so I quickly came up with a image to be used for the enemy;

The first thing I did to create my enemy was to add an empty game object to my scene. I then added a plane to the scene applied my enemy image and dragged it over the empty game object to make it it's child.
I then started on the coding for my enemy, I created a new javascript file and added the following code;


private var player:GameObject;

function Start() {
      player=GameObject.FindGameObjectWithTag("player");
      this.transform.position.z=player.transform.position.z;
}
function Update () {
      transform.LookAt(player.transform);
}

This code basically says the enemy should look for the game object with the tag 'player' which is the tag I gave to the player. Then it says when it has found the game object with that tag to look at it.
Upon testing the game the enemies look at the player but I want them to chase the player so I had to add some extra code.

If I want the agent to move towards the player then I'll have to find the Vector between the player and the agent. If I then set that to a magnitude of 1 it will allow me to set a constant translation value for the enemies. I then added the following 2 functions to my code;


function FixedUpdate() {
        var playerVector:Vector3=findVectorToPlayer();

       this.transform.Translate(playerVector.normalized*15*Time.deltaTime,Space.World);
}

function findVectorToPlayer():Vector3{
       return Vector3(player.transform.position.x-this.transform.position.x,
                         player.transform.position.y-this.transform.position.y,
                         0);
}


I then created a new script for the enemycollision


I wanted to go a bit different to gauntlet on the enemy front and instead of having enemies just chase you around I just wanted them to fire bullets at you (or in this case sim cards).
The first thing I did was create a simple sprite for my enemy;


and a simple bullet for them to fire;

I then created an enemy game object and applied the enemy image from above. I then made this into a prefab so that I was able to put more than one in my game.

The first bit of script that I added to the enemy was as follows;

To create the bullet I first created a cube and turned into a prefab as there will be more than one at any given time during the game play.

Project 3: Gauntlet Clone, Player Creation

The first thing I did to create my player was create a plane in Unity. As the game is going to be mainly 2D minus the 3D Walls I don't need to create a cube to represent my player, the game is going to be top down so this pretty much means the player is only going to be allowed to move along the x and y axis.
The first script that I entered for my player was a script to move it Left, Right, Up and Down,
Here it is;


function Update () {
if(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.UpArrow)) {
print("Up Pressed");
}i
f(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.DownArrow)) {
print("Down Pressed");
}i
f(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftArrow)) {
print("Left Pressed");
}i
f(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.RightArrow)) {
print("Right Pressed");
}
}


I don't feel the need to explain this code as it's pretty straight forward.
After applying this script to the player plane upon playing the game in the Unity Console (the console basically displays anything that's going on in the game window) it shows that the buttons are working.

I then modified the player script so that when the Left or Right arrow are pressed the player will rotate, when the up arrow is pressed the player moves forward and when the down arrow is pressed the player moves backwards. The new player script looks like this;

if(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.UpArrow)) {

this.transform.Translate(Vector3.forward*5*Time.deltaTime);

}i

f(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.DownArrow)) {

this.transform.Translate(-Vector3.forward*5*Time.deltaTime);

}

if(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftArrow)) {

this.transform.Rotate(-Vector3.up*15*Time.deltaTime);

}i

f(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.RightArrow)) {

this.transform.Rotate(Vector3.up*15*Time.deltaTime);

}

Now before I carried on with the rest of the script I created my sprite sheet for my character, as everything is going to be 2D in my game except from the walls I can create a sprite sheet. A sprite sheet is a number of 2D Images that make a moving 2D Animation when they are played at a certain time, here is an example sprite sheet from the original gauntlet game;

Here is the sprite sheet that I created using Photoshop;

I then created a new folder in my unity project where I stored my player sprite sheet, I then applied them to the play plane changed the Shader to Transparent/Diffuse and my player was successfully entered into my game.
My game window now looks like this;

Not that much different but the player character is now in the scene.

I then tagged my character as 'player' for future use with enemies.

In the next post I will talk about how I entered enemies into my game.

Project 3: Gauntlet Clone

For this project I had to create a Gauntlet Clone with my own theme and ideas. Instead of going for the normal gauntlet theme of shooting ghosts and monsters I decided to have the game based in a phone shop where the player was a customer who was trying to escape without having to take out a contract.

The first thing for this project I did was start planning out the level of which the phone shop will be on, using the classic method of creating Tile sets this was pretty simple. Basically tile sets are number of tiles that can be placed together to create a number of different environments, games such as Metroid and Gauntlet it self seemed to use this method.

Here are a view examples of the tiles I created for my phone shop game, I thought of just creating a simple carpet and table environment as that's all phone shops really are! Plus if I want to add anything later then I can  do.

The next thing I learnt about was image mapping. Image maps are used to create materials and textures that can be applied to simple objects for use in an environment.
There different between an image map and a materiel is that you can't just apply an image map to a 3D Object, instead you use the Image Map to create a material which can then be applied to a simple 3D Object effectively.
3DS Max comes with a lot of built in materials but for this project I had to create my own to be able to apply to my level.
For my level the only 3D part are the walls, so therefore creating these in 3DS Max was pretty simple, here's a image of my completed 3D Wall with the texture upon it;

I only had to create 3 different wall shapes to create my level, just by simply copying and pasting the different walls and arranging them in a specific way allowed to to fully create my level.

I decided to full build my level in Unity itself (this is also where I will create the game play) by importing the different walls I was able to copy and paste them over and over to create my level. I also decided to add some basic detail to the tables to make it look more like a phone shop, here is an example in Unity;

After a lot cloning and moving around my level was completed;

In the next post I will talk about creating the player.

Project 2: Space Invaders Clone, Enemy

To create the enemy for our game the first thing we had to do was to create a sphere game object that would later on become our enemy, for the sphere to stand out I created a new material and gave it a bright red colour.
The first thing we had to do with the sphere was to move it off screen, sounds a bit odd I know! But it makes sense. We had to move it upwards along a straight Y Axis until it just went off screen, then I had to take a note of the Y position, then do the same but move it downwards along the Y axis. I have taken a note of both Y positions as they will be used in my script later on to make my Sphere (or enemy) scroll downwards.
Here's a quick view of my current game window;

(Please note, I have moved the sphere onto the game window just so you can see it)

I had to then create a new script that will be used for my enemy. To do this I had to create a new JavaScript and then enter this script, again I will vaguely explain what the code is doing in the double asterisk;

**The Enemy attack speed**
var enemySpeed: int = 5;

function Update ()
{
              **Enemy attack speed**
              AmtToMove = enemySpeed * Time.deltaTime;

              transform.Translate (Vector3.down * AmtToMove);

              **If the enemy has gone off screen**
              if (transform.position.y <= -4.5)
              {
                             **Position it at a random height between 7 and 9**
                             transform.position.y = Random.Range(7, 9);
                             **Position it at random X-Position anywhere across the game window**
                             transform.position.x = Random.Range (-6, 6);
              }
}

After applying this script to the enemy game object when played the enemy scrolls down the screen until vanishing then re-appearing at a random x point above the game window.
The next thing I had to do was to create a script for the player to destroy the enemy.
To do this I had to modify the bullet script so that when the bullet touches the enemy they both get destroyed, but really only the bullet object would be destroyed, the enemy would simply re-spawn at a random x position as previously stated.
Here is the bullet script with the newly added script highlighted in red;


var bulletSpeed: int = 10;

function Update ()
{
              amtToMove = bulletSpeed * Time.deltaTime;
              transform.Translate (Vector3.up *amtToMove);
    
              if( transform.position.y >= 7)
              {
                             Destroy (gameObject);
              }
}

function OnTriggerEnter (otherObject: Collider)

{
              if (otherObject.gameObject.tag == "enemy")
              {
                             otherObject.gameObject.transform.position.y = Random.Range (7, 9);
                             otherObject.gameObject.transform.position.x = Random.Range (-6, 6);
                             Destroy (gameObject);
              }
}


After testing the game the player can now shoot and destroy the enemy, woo!

Now that my game works I can the apply 3D Spaceship that I have created over the current player (cube).
My game window now looks like this;

(I also changed the colour of my background to black)

After this I added a GUI Score so that when you destroy an enemy you gain 10 points, the game window in play mode now looks like this;

This is the end of my space invaders clone, but I would like to come back to this project to maybe add more enemies and also create individual spaceships for them.

Project 2: Space Invaders Clone, Game Play

To start to create the game play the first thing I had to do was create a new project in Unity and follow the guide lines set by our teacher of how big the game window should be, where the camera should be set to and the lighting etc...
The blank game window looks like this;

Our first task was to create a small cube which will later be the player of our game, here is what my unity window looks like so far.

I then had to start applying a script to the cube (or should I say player!). I will explain each bit of code to say basically what it's there to do.
The first bit of script I applied to the player is below and the text in the double Asterix's is a vague explanation of what the code is there for.

**Declare player default speed** 
var playerSpeed: int = 10;

function Update ()
{
              **This is the Amount to move or translate the player**
              AmtToMove = playerSpeed * Input.GetAxisRaw ("Horizontal") * Time.deltaTime;


              **Move/translate player**
              transform.Translate (Vector3.right * AmtToMove);


**This is to check if the player has touched the left boundary and if it has then to stop it from going any further left**
              if (transform.position.x < -6)
{
                             transform.position.x = -6;
              }


              if (transform.position.x > 6)
              {
                             transform.position.x = 6;
              }




}


After applying this script to the player object I was then able to move it left and right but also the boundary worked as I couldn't move the cube off screen.


Our next task was to create a bullet for the player to fire. To do this I used the Capsule unity game object.
I had to now create a script to shoot the bullet which meant creating a brand new script for the bullet but also adding a bit to the player script as that will be where the bullet will be fired from.
The first bit of script added to the newly created BulletScript  is as follows;


**This declares the speed of the bullet, this can be changed later**
var bulletSpeed: int = 10;


function Update ()
{
              **The amount to move the bullet**
              amtToMove = bulletSpeed * Time.deltaTime;
              transform.Translate (Vector3.up *amtToMove);

              **If the bullet goes off the screen destroy it**
              if( transform.position.y >= 7)
              {
                             Destroy (gameObject);
              }
}

After applying this script to my bullet upon playing the game the capsule appears but goes straight up until it goes off screen, this let me know that the bullet was doing what I have so far asked it to.
Here is an update of what my game screen looks like at the moment;

I then created a Prefab for my bullet. As the bullet is going to be fired from my player it wouldn't really make sense if whoever was playing the game if they could only shoot another bullet once the previous bullet has gone off screen and been destroyed, therefore by creating a prefab this allows the user to shoot multiple bullets. Now if I drag the Bullet game object over to the newly created bullet prefab it will have the same visual image as the object, so therefore I can now delete the Bullet Game Object as I have it in the prefab.
I now had to edit the player script so that it was able to fire a bullet when the space bar was pressed. The code I added is highlighted red.


var playerSpeed: int = 10;
var bullet: Rigidbody;
function Update ()
{
              AmtToMove = playerSpeed * Input.GetAxisRaw ("Horizontal") * Time.deltaTime;

              transform.Translate (Vector3.right * AmtToMove);

              if (transform.position.x < -6)
{
                             transform.position.x = -6;
              }

              if (transform.position.x > 6)
              {
                             transform.position.x = 6;
              }

              if (Input.GetKeyDown ("space"))
              {
                             var tempBullet: Rigidbody;
                             tempBullet = Instantiate (bullet, transform.position, transform.rotation);
              }

I then had to attach a rigid body to my Bullet Prefab. This basically allows me to both control my player and fire bullets.

In the next post I will talk about creating an enemy for my player to fire at.

Project 2: Space Invaders Clone, 3D Design

To create the spaceship for my game I used the program 3DS Max. As this was my first time using 3DS Max (for serious reasons, not just messing around) it was a bit confusing to start off with, but after literally fiddling around with the different tools on offer and of course being taught how to use the tools effectively it became quite a joy to use.
To start my spaceship I simply created a box and re-sized it to roughly how big I wanted my spaceship to be.

Before collapsing my box into an editable poly (explained later) I changed the amount of segments the square has. Basically the more segments (Poly's) the more detail that can be added, but it also increases the size of the file and therefore if you have a lot of Poly's the game that you are using the 3D object in might not be able to run it as efficiently as hoped. Below is the perspective  view of my square with extra segments.

I now felt confident enough to start to manipulate the square to create my spaceship. To do this I collapsed the square into an editable Poly, this basically means that the object can be manipulated to really whatever you wish. After some time I finally created my spaceship and I was very happy with the outcome. 

Here is the perspective view of my final spaceship and also the front, side and top view.

Here is a view of my rendered spaceship.

Now that I have finished the model of my spaceship the next thing I had to do was to apply a texture to it. The method I used for doing this is called UV Mapping. Basically what UV Mapping allows you to do is to flatten your 3D Model into a number of 2D sheets for texturing, then you basically wrap those 2D sheets back around your 3D Model meaning that it now has your texture on it.

When you first start to unwrap your 3D model things can look very confusing as I will show you in a screenshot below, but I will then show you how it can be really east to do (and quite fun in my opinion!).

It may be really hard to see in the image above but the very feint green lines are my 3D Model flattened out, obviously I cannot just texture this UV Map as it's very confusing and wouldn't be anywhere near accurate, so what you have to do is separate the green lines into recognisable parts of the 3D Model, therefore when you open the file in a program such as Photoshop you will be able to tell what each part is and be able to accurately texture your 3D Model.

To select individual parts of the UV Map to group together I find to do the selection process on your actual 3D Model, then this allowed me to be exact as shown in the screen shot below.

As you can see in the screen shot I have selected the front panel of my spaceship, this has been highlighted on both my perspective view of my spaceship and the UV Map, all I had to do then is move that part aside and repeat the process for the rest of the ship, keeping in mind to try and select parts that make sense to put together, such as the base of the ship, the cockpit and wings etc...
In the end this is what my UV Map looked like;

Then after I textured the UV Map in Photoshop this is what it then looked like

You may now be able to see the different parts of my ship better than the un-textured UV Map. I then applied this texture back to my 3D Model and this was the result;

In the next post I will talk through creating the game in Unity using this space ship design.

Project 2: Space Invaders Clone

The first task of this project was to get some inspiration for our spaceship and to gather images of different spaceships of which we will base our model on. I got most of my ideas from 2 specific spaceships, one from the TV Series: Battlestar Galactica and another from the racing game: F-Zero. Below are the two images.

I was interested by the long front end of the first spaceship image and I really wanted to create a ship with a similar design. I then came across the White Cat 2 ship from F-Zero, I really liked what looks to be wings coming off the front of the ship and I wanted to add something similar to my spaceship. Instead of sketching out my spaceship design which was recommended I decided to build it out of Lego as personally I thought this would give me a better idea of what the finished space ship would look like in 3D. Below is my finished spaceship built out of Lego from different angels to give me a better perspective. 

(Perspective)

(Front)

(Back)

(Side)

(Top)

In the next post I will show how I have created my spaceship using the program 3DS Max.

Project 1: Skinning

For this task we were asked to re-skin a game that has been created by our tutor. This was a very simple task as most of us in the class were very new to computer game design and had to start from the basics.
The game we had to skin was a side scrolling spaceship shooter, pretty basic but fun game!
The screenshot below is what the original game looked like before it was re-skinned.

The first thing I had to do was to think of a new theme that the game could be based on, after hearing a few ideas from other people I decided to go for quite an unusual theme. My theme was based around a hot dog, the player played the as a sausage and shot at flying bread buns, tomato's and other food items which made up a completed hot dog. (The aim of the game was to not become a complete hot dog.) Below is the screenshot of my game after skinning over the game objects. Also I changed the backdrop from a space image to the inside of a fridge.

Summary: Overall this task was pretty straight forward but still enjoyable, it taught me the basic skills of skinning within Unity, meaning that in later projects if I'm not happy with something I don't have to start from scratch I can simply edit the thing I am not too happy about.