Matching Items (7)
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- All Subjects: Video Games
- Creators: Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T
- Creators: School of Arts, Media and Engineering
- Status: Published
Description
Dale and Edna is a hybrid animated film and videogame experienced in virtual reality with dual storylines that increases in potential meanings through player interaction. Developed and played within Unreal Engine 4 using the HTC Vive, Oculus, or PlayStation VR, Dale and Edna allows for players to passively enjoy the film element of the project or partake in the active videogame portion. Exploration of the virtual story world yields more information about that world, which may or may not alter the audience’s perception of the world. The film portion of the project is a static narrative with a plot that cannot be altered by players within the virtual world. In the static plot, the characters Dale and Edna discover and subsequently combat an alien invasion that appears to have the objective of demolishing Dale’s prize pumpkin. However, the aliens in the film plot are merely projections created by AR headsets that are reflecting Jimmy’s gameplay on his tablet. The audience is thus invited to question their perception of reality through combined use of VR and AR. The game element is a dynamic narrative scaffold that does not unfold as a traditional narrative might. Instead, what a player observes and interacts with within the sandbox level will determine the meaning those players come away from this project with. Both elements of the project feature modular code construction so developers can return to both the film and game portions of the project and make additions. This paper will analyze the chronological development of the project along with the guiding philosophy that was revealed in the result.
Keywords: virtual reality, film, videogame, sandbox
Keywords: virtual reality, film, videogame, sandbox
ContributorsKemp, Adam Lee (Co-author) / Kemp, Bradley (Co-author) / Kemp, Claire (Co-author) / LiKamWa, Robert (Thesis director) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Committee member) / Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T (Contributor) / Thunderbird School of Global Management (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The action/adventure game Grad School: HGH is the final, extended version of a BME Prototyping class project in which the goal was to produce a zombie-themed game that teaches biomedical engineering concepts. The gameplay provides fast paced, exciting, and mildly addicting rooms that the player must battle and survive through, followed by an engineering puzzle that must be solved in order to advance to the next room. The objective of this project was to introduce the core concepts of BME to prospective students, rather than attempt to teach an entire BME curriculum. Based on user testing at various phases in the project, we concluded that the gameplay was engaging enough to keep most users' interest through the educational puzzles, and the potential for expanding this project to reach an even greater audience is vast.
ContributorsNitescu, George (Co-author) / Medawar, Alexandre (Co-author) / Spano, Mark (Thesis director) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Guiang, Kristoffer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The objective of this creative project was to gain experience in digital modeling, animation, coding, shader development and implementation, model integration techniques, and application of gaming principles and design through developing a professional educational game. The team collaborated with Glendale Community College (GCC) to produce an interactive product intended to supplement educational instructions regarding nutrition. The educational game developed, "Nutribots" features the player acting as a nutrition based nanobot sent to the small intestine to help the body. Throughout the game the player will be asked nutrition based questions to test their knowledge of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. If the player is unable to answer the question, they must use game mechanics to progress and receive the information as a reward. The level is completed as soon as the question is answered correctly. If the player answers the questions incorrectly twenty times within the entirety of the game, the team loses faith in the player, and the player must reset from title screen. This is to limit guessing and to make sure the player retains the information through repetition once it is demonstrated that they do not know the answers. The team was split into two different groups for the development of this game. The first part of the team developed models, animations, and textures using Autodesk Maya 2016 and Marvelous Designer. The second part of the team developed code and shaders, and implemented products from the first team using Unity and Visual Studio. Once a prototype of the game was developed, it was show-cased amongst peers to gain feedback. Upon receiving feedback, the team implemented the desired changes accordingly. Development for this project began on November 2015 and ended on April 2017. Special thanks to Laura Avila Department Chair and Jennifer Nolz from Glendale Community College Technology and Consumer Sciences, Food and Nutrition Department.
ContributorsNolz, Daisy (Co-author) / Martin, Austin (Co-author) / Quinio, Santiago (Co-author) / Armstrong, Jessica (Co-author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / Valderrama, Jamie (Committee member) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
With the increasing popularity of video games and the emergence of game streaming brought about by platforms such as Youtube and Twitch, combined with the multitude of ways to learn how to code from schools and online resources including Codecademy and Treehouse, game development has become incredibly approachable. Yet that does not mean it is simple. Developing a game requires a substantial amount of work, even before a design is considered worth making into a complete game. Over the course of this thesis, I created eight designs with accompanying prototypes. Only one was made into a fully functional release. I sought to make a game with a great design while increasing my understanding of game development and the code needed to finish a game. I came out realizing that I was in over my head. With the amount of work involved in creating an entire game, iteration is key to finding an idea that is capable of becoming a game that feels complete and enjoyable. A game's design must be fleshed out before technical work can truly begin, yet the design can take nearly as much time and effort as the code. In this thesis, each design is detailed and associated with why it seemed great and why it was replaced, with extra focus on the final design and how players felt about it. These designs are followed by what I learned about game development over the course of the thesis, including both the technical and emotional sides of developing a video game.
ContributorsCharnell, Zachary Andrew (Author) / Olson, Loren (Thesis director) / Amresh, Ashish (Committee member) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
This honors thesis project combines the research of regional marketing trends in international film posters and game packaging designs with a creative application of that research. The thesis consists of 4 main sections. The first section includes background research on film poster marketing design approaches and summary of international guidelines for game packaging standards. The second part contains an analysis of selected global film posters from all genres leading up to Disney/Pixar movies, and also a few popular video game packaging designs. The research is then be applied to 3 designs based on regional trends in the largest hubs of digital design in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Lastly, a survey will be conducted with international contacts to identify if the trends were correctly identified and which designs they personally preferred. The background research on video games includes 3 interviews. Diane Fornasier the current Vice President of Marketing at Immersive Play, and former VP of Marketing at Maximum Games, Sony and Sega talks about the evolution of packaging and packaging trends. Tom Kalinske, the former CEO of Mattel, Sega and Leapfrog details the emergence of the ESRB board in America and of the rating boards and guidelines from Asia, Europe. Al Nilsen, the former Director of Global Marketing at Sega explains international marketing and the character development of Sonic the Hedgehog. The case studies examine some film posters of all genres and some of the most successful international Pixar film posters to compare and contrast the different design elements in different regions, along with any outlying observations that cannot necessarily be allocated to a specific trend. The findings from the case studies are applied towards creating three film poster designs based on the most remarkable trends in the Americas, Europe and Asia that were observed. All of the film posters exhibit successful methods of engaging and appealing to their audiences based on cultural norms and values. Finding Dory, a film with a strong global appeal that showcases different regional design elements was a suitable option for the design concept. This will not only help understand the basic rules of international marketing when it comes to digital art, but it will also help us identify cultural norms and values that most of us might not be aware of when it comes to what can be publicized or not and what appeals to different target audiences.
ContributorsAdivikolanu, Harika Sruthi (Author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Viles, Rebecca (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
DescriptionDeath is a common mechanic in video games, but how does it relate to humanity's understanding of death? This thesis project seeks to understand the cultural dynamics of death within video games, as well as how death is approached and depicted within said games.
ContributorsYen, Jay (Author) / Bauer, Danielle (Thesis director) / de la Garza, Amira (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
Popular competitive fighting games such as Super Smash Brothers and Street Fighter have some of the steepest learning curves in the gaming industry. These incredibly technical games require the full attention of the player and often take years to master completely. This barrier of entry prevents newer players from enjoying the competitive social environment that such games offer, creating a rift between casual and competitive players. Learning the rules can sometimes be more difficult than playing the game itself. To truly master these concepts requires personal attention from someone who deeply understands the core mechanics that operate behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, machine learning is growing more advanced by the day. Online retailers like Amazon run complex algorithms to recommend future purchases and monitor price changes. Mobile phones use neural networks to interpret speech. GPS apps track anonymous motion data in smartphones to give real-time traffic estimates. Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly ubiquitous because of its versatility in analyzing and solving human problems; it follows, then, that a machine could learn how to teach humans skills and techniques. HelperBot is a platform fighting game project that employs this cutting-edge learning technology to close the skill gap between novice and veteran gamers as quickly and seamlessly as possible.
Meanwhile, machine learning is growing more advanced by the day. Online retailers like Amazon run complex algorithms to recommend future purchases and monitor price changes. Mobile phones use neural networks to interpret speech. GPS apps track anonymous motion data in smartphones to give real-time traffic estimates. Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly ubiquitous because of its versatility in analyzing and solving human problems; it follows, then, that a machine could learn how to teach humans skills and techniques. HelperBot is a platform fighting game project that employs this cutting-edge learning technology to close the skill gap between novice and veteran gamers as quickly and seamlessly as possible.
ContributorsPalermo, Seth Daniel (Author) / Olson, Loren (Thesis director) / Marinelli, Donald (Committee member) / Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05