Script Idea for Storyboard

This isn't going to be notes on a reading, instead, I am going to post up the script I did that I am going to use for a storyboard. The story is about a creature called Bozz who is lonely and wants a friend, then a creature called Ch-Cheemo appears and Bozz suddenly has his friend (not going into more detail) .I was told that it'd be too long to storyboard all of it, so I will do a portion of what I feel could be good to storyboard, in the mean time, feel free to have a look, leave a comment if you want too and if you think a bit in particular would be good to storyboard then feel free.

Bozz and the Ch-Cheemo 

Act 1

The start of the story begins with a book floating around in a blank space in the universe. Then all of a sudden, a butterfly floats by, but this isn’t an ordinary butterfly, the appearance of one stayed the same, but that was as far as it went, he had a striped body, and looked like it was wearing sunglasses and something around it’s head that looks like headphones. He will serve as the narrator.

SOMEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE

              Narrator

       Welcome one and all!

       (Turns towards the screen – breaking the fourth wall)

What? (Sounding more serious) Never seen a butterfly like me before! You got a problem with that!? (Then goes surprisingly calm) Only kidding (then laughs). Back to business, I’m basically here to tell you about a character who has no friends, but then one day, that all changes…

The butterfly then ascends above the book and then suddenly, the book opens, and a weird glow appears from out of it.

INSIDE THE BOOK

The story in a small little meadow, in this meadow there is a giant tree that has a rock underneath it, on this rock, was a weird looking creature. He had a gut, big teeth, a longish neck along with something that could have been a beer belly, as well as eyes that seemed like they didn’t belong and could have probably been passed off as glasses.

Bozz was sitting on the rock, but not for the reason you’d like to think. He was hunched up, head looking down towards the ground, his eyes would have been happy but this time there was nothing but loneliness and sadness in those eyes, arms swaying at the side and his feet dangling. He sighed heavily, still retaining the same position he was originally in. Then, all of a sudden, a gust of wind blew viciously behind him. Bozz turns around...

...and he sees a creature standing there. Odd thing, Small head, a narrow egg like body with a strip around it, skinny arms and legs, antenna on its head, and a pair of wings that did not seem to belong. The creature then smiles.

           Bozz

(Stares at the creature, then asks in a questionable voice) Friend?

     Ch-Cheemo

(Smiles at Bozz) Friend!

          Bozz

(Big smile across his face and then jumps up and down. He then stops and introduces himself) I’m Bozz.

          Ch-Cheemo

Ch-Cheemo! (Ch-Cheemo extends his hand)

(Bozz looks at it as if it’s something not from this world, he then reciprocates with this action and the pair are now shaking hands – however, Bozz doesn’t notice the sinister look that Ch-Cheemo has on his face, not good!)

(Both creatures then decide to go and have some fun and proceed to walk down the path heading out of the meadow)

The Narrator then pops up as the characters are off in the distance

          Narrator

And so, Bozz and Ch-Cheemo have found each other and are now of to live happily ever after (chuckles for a bit) Yeah right, this isn’t one of those stories. Let us continue with this tale.

ACT 2

Bozz and Ch-Cheemo are running down the path, both with smiles on their faces

          Bozz

(They stop running after a little while, he turns to Ch-Cheemo) So, what we going to do?

Ch-Cheemo noticed a weird looking creature, it was a small thing, it looked like an eyeball but it had hands and feet and something that may have been hair, it was walking down another path completely carefree and happy.

           Ch-Cheemo

(Smiles) Wait here a second (and then flies off.)

Bozz stands around waiting; he looks around the environment for a little bit, looks like an open field, though everything is in weird and wonderful colours. He then hears a “What’s going on? Unhand me!”

Bozz turns his head and see’s Ch-Cheemo carrying the creature it had spotted earlier while flying into the air. The eyeball creature sounded frightened,

Bozz

(Looked on confused) Why are you doing that?

Ch-Cheemo is laughing and then proceeds to throw the little creature up and down while in the air who was now on the verge of tears. Bozz turns to walk away...

Ch-Cheemo

(Noticeing this, drops the small creature and then flies towards Bozz) Where are you going?

Bozz

(Turns to Ch-Cheemo) Why was you doing that (hint of anger in his voice) he did nothing wrong!

Ch-Cheemo

(Stands with a blank look on his face, no answer for a little while, then sighs) Let’s do something else.

Bozz

(Stands in silence for a few seconds, then in a stern voice) Don’t do anything like that again! Or -

Ch-Cheemo

-   I promise

Though the sinister twinkle that was in Ch-Cheemo’s eye says otherwise, he weren’t prepared to take orders from anyone.

The duo continue to walk down the path until they come across a field, and then found a spot to relax for a while. Bozz is lying down, while Ch-Cheemo is sitting next to him – looking rather bored. Bozz eventually nods off.

IN AN OPEN FIELD – STILL INSIDE THE BOOK

The duo continues to walk down the path until they come across a field, and then found a spot to relax for a while. Bozz is lying down, while Ch-Cheemo is sitting next to him – looking rather bored. Bozz eventually nods off.

Ch-Cheemo looks around and notices a couple of other creatures, one similar to the eyeball creature from earlier only this one had a moustache and was slightly taller, while the other creature was rather small, he had a head with feet and a small tuft of hair on his head – like a pineapple...only not as appetising. The two creatures were happily walking, minding their own business, nothing should of happened to them. But, that’s not how Ch-Cheemo sees it – he’d thought hed have some ‘fun’.

ACT 3

IN AN OPEN FIELD – STILL INSIDE THE BOOK CONTINUED

Cheemo sprung up and flew towards them as quick as a dart and tackled the eyeball like creature, and then proceeded to do the same thing he did earlier to the previous creature.

The Little Head Creature

(In a child’s voice) Stop doing that you big bully!

Ch-Cheemo started to become more aggressive, he started to now shake the poor eye creature viciously, and even ripped off the poor creatures moustache out of pure cruelty. All that was heard was a loud scream of pain and agony. Bozz is woken up.

Ch-Cheemo

(Slaps the eye creature hard enough to knock it out, then starts to chuckle) This is fun! (Proceeds to start laughing)

The Little Head Creature

(Shaking out of pure anger towards this creature, and then it snaps) How can you find this fun!” and then continued to say “You are nothing but a bully! You –

(Ch-Cheemo had heard enough and kicked the little guy hard! A sharp pain shot through the little guy who started to cry)

Bozz

(In an angry voice) How could you!

(Ch-Cheemo turns out)

You promised you wouldn’t do this! (tears start to run down Bozz’s face) I don’t want to be your friend anymore!

With that, the sky turned pitch black, thunder and lightning began to occur in the sky. The thunder and lightning stop...but then, a pair of eyes appeared in the sky from out of nowhere...and they looked angry...

This is the part where Ginmoo appears.

Ginmoo

(He speaks in a deep, gruff and serious voice) I am Ginmoo! The creator of this world!(his sight was then set on Ch-Cheemo) and you are the one who has disturbed the peace and prosperity of our world!

(Ch-Cheemo was now frozen with fear, Bozz was more in shock than anything else)

Ch-Cheemo

(Stuttering as he was shaking in complete fear) I...I...I didn’t mean too –

Ginmoo

(Angrily interrupting) SILENCE! You will never change your ways and for all you have done, I banish thee from existence!

And with that, a pair of hands appeared near the eyes both of them opened and a typhoon appeared from them, aiming toward Ch-Cheemo. Ch-Cheemo began to fly as fast as his wings would carry him, but it was no use, the last thing that came out of his mouth was a scream, he was sucked into the typhoon, and he was gone. After a moments silence, the eyes and hands of Ginmoo disappeared as did the black sky and dark clouds, Bozz sighed, and began to walk back to the rock, back to where he was...alone, again.

The screen moves back to where it began, in the universe with the book now closed and the Narrator now in focus

Narrator

And so, we come to end the tale, it’s a shame that Bozz didn’t get the friend he was looking for, maybe one day he’ll find a creature to call his friend, but that is a story for another time.

The butterfly then flies off.

THE END

Why Chance and Skill are important in Games

This was originally two readings that were set, but I have decided to kill two birds with one stone and put this post into one. So, this post will be about why chance and skill are important when it comes to games, I will also list the the tools that are available and how designers use them.


Let's begin with Chance. Games based on chance are games that are aimed at all the family, anyone at any skill level can play and it is fun. So games like Snakes and Ladders, Mouse Trap and so on are great examples of this as they are games that don't really need any skill involved and anybody can pick up and enjoy a good game or two.


Games with chance tend to be solvable, but at the same it is not always the case as it depends on the game space you have at your disposal. Which means once you've found the "winning formula" the game tends to lose it's appeal. Tic Tac Toe (or Naughts and Crosses depending) is a prime example, it only takes one player to find put that there is a way to guarantee a two way win and ofcourse after a while the game gets boring because eventually one is going to beat the other for not actually figuring out that there is a way to win. This is mainly due to the restriction of the game space the game takes place in, a 3x3 Grid. Whereas a game like Chess, even though it is another example of a solvable game has so many solutions to it (partly because of the bigger game space and the pieces on the board doing different things) that is does also add a bit of skill involved as the more skilled player out of the two will win. So in many ways, Chess, although solvable does indeed add Skill due to it's competitiveness of wanting to beat the other player. 


Dice an example for adding chance. Rolling one dice adds chance because the dice will land on a number that is 1 to x (x being the biggest number it goes up too). On the other hand, if the player has to roll two dice, then the whole thing of chance has gone out of the window as it is now all about probability: e.g. rolling two D6 dice, the number that has the most probability to come up will be a 7.


Cards can be included. Though more versatile of the game elements. They can be shuffled, randomizing in the order they come. They can either be played face-up or face-down (if face down, the player who put it face-down then has hidden information), which means players have their own previlledged information. The card game, Yu-Gi-Oh! is an example here. Players have cards in their hand only they can see, and when one player players a monster face down in defense mode - opposing player has no idea on how many defensive points that monster may have let alone if that face down monster has a special ability.


Hidden Information is when nonrandom information is concealed from both players. Cluedo can be used here as an example, as none of the players know who exactly committed the crime and have actually go through a series of queries before the information becomes visible to them.


That's covered Chance, now let move onto Skill. Skill allows players to choose, if a game is purely random then the game becomes unfair, which leads to boredom, fustration and no control.


One of the things I picked up on was Obvious Decisions, as im sure you all know, the obvious decision is - stating the obvious. And to show how it's used in an example....Highest Number Game, Player 1 says a number - Player 2 says a higher number - PLAYER 2 WINS! Moving on.


Meaningless Decisions is a choice that there is no right or wrong answer, so whatever one you pick doesn't affect the outcome of the game. One example that comes to mind comes from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, remember the part of the game where you first meet Princess Zelda for the first time, you realise that whatever happens, you have to answer yes to when she asks if you have the Kokiri Emerald and if you can keep this secret she is about to tell you. Answering with no will only get you the same questions being asked over and over until you oblige.


Blind Decisions - a bet. There is no obvious answer or a meaningless one.


Tradeoffs - when a player doesn't have enough resources to accomplish all of their goals. A player hasn't got enough money in the game to get the item they want in a game can be used as an example, to solve this they have to come up with a way to make the money.

Dilemmas is another component. In some ways they are similar to tradeoff, but occurs when all choices will harm the player. Legend of Zelda can be used as another example: player encounters a room where they had to pay money or permanently lower their health.


Well, that concludes the end of this blogpost. I actually found the articles interesting, but enjoyed the one on why chance is important, mainly because the points made were relevant, no disrespect to the article on why skill is important, it was enjoyable, but one example (the main gripe being Obvious Decision example) I just thought wasn't worth putting in. It's Obvious, it's in the name. Anyway, hope you enjoy the read, they'll be more to come soon.

Bibliography - Harvard Style

Well, this will be a different blog post instead of the readings I have been posting. Instead, what I will be blogging will be a task, a task to create a short bibliography. One of our lecturer's, Eddie, has been going on about a program called Zotero, for those who don't know, Zotero is a software that can help make a bibliography easier (apprently), it can be downloaded as a stand-alone download, an add-on for Firefox or an add-on for Google Chrome (though it's a tester so it may have a few problems), I downloaded the stand-alone version. So, for this task, I had to compile a bibliography of 6 items: 2 books, 2 articles and 2 contributions. Took some doing, but here is my list:


Alphra, K. 2006 -  The Business and Culture of Digital Games; Gamework/Gameplay, Sage Publications Ltd.


Adams, E. 2009 - Fundamentals of game design 2nd ed, New Riders.


Politi, G. 2001 - Flash Art International Ed, 


Jacobson, J. Hwang, Z. -Unreal Tournament For Immersive Interactive Theater Volume 45(1), pg 39 - 42, 3p


Caillois, R. 2006. "The Definition of Play. The Classification of Games". Salen. K and Zimmermann.E.The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. London. 122-155.


Kaminka, G.A. et al., 2002. GAMEBOTS: A FLEXIBLE TEST BED FOR MULTIAGENT TEAM RESEARCH. Communications of the ACM, 45(1), pg 43-45.


To end this post, I will give you my honest opinion of Zotero...I didn't like it. Though that was mainly because I didn't know how to use it properly (maybe I might change my mind if I get to grips with the software, always a possibility). That being said, if you decide to use this software - get the plug-in for Firefox (even if you don't like Firefox) it's less hassle. On that note, till the next time.

FADT

Alongside the second chapter of Challenges for Computer Games Designers, there was another text that was set for us this week, it was an article by Doug Church from Garmasutra. There was a a quote we had to take notes on in the article:


"games are not books, games are not movies. In those media, the tools used...are used to manipulate the viewers or readers to make them feel or react exactly the way the director or author wants them to. I believe the challenge of computer games design is that our most important tools are the ones that enpower players to make their own decisions".


But before I give my views on it all, I shall put up what I took notes on.


Church mentions something called FADT which stands for Formal Abstract Design Tools. These "tools" are used to help designers design games. As the name suggest you can't really do anything else with them but use them. I will break it down to what the letters and that stand for:


Formal - implying precise definition and ability to explain it to someone.


Abstract - to emphasize the focus on underlying ideas.


Design - as in, yeah the people using these tools are designers.


Tools - since they'll form a common vocabulary we want to create.


So, now you know what FADT stands for, I shall commence.


Intention: making an implement plan of one's own creation in response to the current situation in the game and one's understanding of the gameplay options.


Perceivable Consequence: A clear reaction from the game world to the action of the player. Used in RPGs mainly - either with the plot or the character development. In other words, seeing as X happened, Y will happen. Chrono Trigger can be used as an example here, at the start of the game, you find yourself at the town fair, you have the oppurtunity to go around the town and do things like: take a guy's sandwich when he isn't looking. Then once you've done a few other bits and bobs, you get taken to court, when asked if you have ever stole (and you respond with no) then they'll say that you took a guy's lunch (and show you actually doing that) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYEgyMJdv7Y there is a link to the point I am making, just skip to 4:27 to see the scene in the court room.

Story: the thread (be it player-driven or designer driven) that fuses events together and drives the player towards completion of the game. 


Well, the article I thought brought up some interesting points that has made me think of ways I can use these "tools" for when I make my own games, but that being said, I personally think that the games industry, and the movie industry are very similar in the respect it's all entertainment, maybe because I am thinking of it all more as a fan than a designer, or maybe it's just my view on the whole thing. Still, hope you enjoy the read and enjoy looking to hear about your thoughts.