Category: Initial Concepts

Maxell Shaver

 

Project Objective:  An action game where the player moves along three horizontal parallel lines to limit movement so that I can quicken the speed of combat game play.

Why are you inspired by this idea?

• I like action games, which are fast-paced and progressive.  These games allow me to rush in and tackle the objective quickly.  I would like to develop my own game and build upon this ability.

In what way does your project represent your personal values and interests?

• I have always been very interested in video games, the design, the stories behind them and the people that build them.  I would like to imbibe them with all of the learnings I have gathered from being an avid game player over the years and layer in my creative side to tell the stories I want told in this format.

In what ways does it reflect your future aspirations?

• I want to get into creative work and I am really enjoying Unity and want to continue to build and employ by skills here.  

Why should anyone else be interest in my project?

• I think it is a novel idea, which will lead to fun and engaging gameplay.  

In what ways is your idea different/better than existing work in this area?

• It is different because the player has to juggle multiple planes while taking out hordes of enemies.

In what ways does your project extend existing knowledge rather than duplicate it?

• The multiple planes provides a grid like system which the player is thinking and playing within and I want to see if players can juggle thinking in a 3D environment with a typical faster pace of 2D game.  

How do you plan to implement your project technically?

• I plan to use Unity.

How do you plan to implement your project stylistically?

• I have been doing pixel art for several years and want to create as much of the art as possible.

Describe some possible prototypes – isolating specific elements of your project – that will allow you to confirm you are on the right track, both technically and stylistically.

• First, I will develop the ability for my characters to combat each other.
• I will then develop the ability for the characters to move from plane to plane.
• Finally, I will develop a game model, which will allow you to move from plane to plane and be able to combat an opponent.
• Through this process, I will develop my characters using the pixel art.

My first idea was to make a game that focused on building the world it takes place in. My original idea was it making a social commentary on the world as the player explores the world I made, trying to help people overcome their problems. I would use Unity and Maya to create the world and models for my thesis.

My second idea would focus on maybe creating a graphic novel, where I would write a story using art and coding to create something interesting. I do not fully understand what I would need to do for making an online story. But it interests me, since I am interested in writing.

My final idea would be making trying to make a character list of enemies to make a compendium of characters, using the models to make a story.

1 Open World, Exploratory RPG

I want to make an Open World game focused around exploration and story telling through the environment. It would be a dense urban environment cut up into sections for the player to explore.

Combat would either be like an Undertale as a mini-game or a turn based RPG. I want something to be gained by exploring the world. This project would also be a means to expand my Art Portfolio.

2 Edited DnD Podcast

I listen to a ton of DnD podcasts, but they’re hard to get into because even the edited versions are huge chunks of content that are intimidating for new viewers and listeners.

For the those who don’t know, the appeal of a DnD podcast is that because the players have control over their characters, there’s no telling what will happen.  They could even fail or die.

The video below is similar to what I want to do.  The difference with what I would do, the artwork would be more polished, there would audio from the players and would feature a self contained story.

3 Organized Beat’em Up

This last idea is based on a game I saw years ago and was fascinated by, Streets of Fury EX. Its a Beat’em Up where Vertical movement is limited to 3 lines. The Beat’em Up genre has fallen into a rut as of late. I believe this is because people are used to action games being faster than the Beat’em Up would allow in addition to local multiplayer becoming less common. What I want to do with this game is experiment with the line movement system and make a faster Beat’em up game.

 

• While considering my project ideas for Senior Thesis, I chose to view them as experiments instead of inventions. I know I won’t be creating something so cutting edge that it will land me on the cover of WIRED. My main goal is to take this time to reflect on everything I’ve done in IMM and how I’ve grown because of it. This leads to the strongest skills and interests I developed while taking classes:

– Strongest: 3D animation, design, photography

– Less strong but interested: programming, After Effects video editing

With these categories in mind, I’ve developed three potential project ideas.

1. Animated Physics Simulation in Maya

This project involves learning Maya Bifrost, a physics engine that I’ve briefly worked with in Animation II, even though it never carried through to my final project. It would ideally be around 20 seconds or less of simulation experimenting with particles, liquid, smoke, and morphing states of matter.

2. Photo Series Book

One of my favorite courses I’ve taken was a photography class to fulfill a liberal learning requirement. I absolutely loved the idea of developing a themed photo series and communicating symbolism through the images. For my midterm, I developed my first photo series called “Dirty Pennies” where I found and photographed ten pennies with odd characteristics. I have considered taking this project a step further and publishing a book on the series, and add even more photos to the collection. Then I’d make a 3D photograph of each penny and create an exhibit where people can see a 360 view of all the pennies.

3. Interactive Spice Cabinet

So it’s probably no secret I love cooking at this point, and recently I’ve had some trouble finding the correct spices in my ever-growing spice cabinet. I came up with an idea to code a program where you can enter all the spices in your inventory so you always know what you have laying around. Whenever you cook something that calls for a floral or spicy flavor, the interactive spice rack with illuminate every spice that fits that specific profile. There could be custom settings too, for example if you make a meal and use the same spices every time for it, you can save them all to a group so next time you cook, it will be easy to find them all on the rack. For international cuisine, you can select a geographical region and there could be groups of spices that are frequently used in traditional cooking in that area that the chef can experiment with.

 

 

It took me a lot of brainstorming to come up with 2 ideas let alone three so the third isn’t as fleshed out as I’d like it to be. These are three ideas I had:

1. Constructing a 3D environment in VR that a person can interact with. I was thinking of retooling my animation final from last year (a small witch hut) and giving it more polish. People could move around the inside and possible interact with some objects.

2. An team based RPG I’ve had in the back of my mind for the past few years. This one would be the most technically challenging as I would require me to do a lot of coding in Unity and play testing. This one is a fun idea, but I think it works better as a side project for me to go back to every couple of months rather than a dedicated one.

3. Something to do with cooking? That’s all I could really think of for this one. I’m trying to think back to my project map and what I enjoy and cooking is up there. Maybe a sort of interactive cookbook? This idea still needs a lot of refinement, but it’s fun to think about.

Idea #1

INTERACTIVE SHORT FILM

My first idea would be to create a short film where the viewer has control over the storyline. Throughout the film viewers will be prompted to choose one of two options which will alter the story in two completely different ways. One way of allowing multiple people to interact at the same time is to create an app. This app will allow multiple people to interact with the film at the same time and inside the app the viewer will be able to choose what storyline they would like to start at.

Idea #2

TCNJ VR

My second idea is to create a VR of the TCNJ campus. Viewers will be able to explore the entire campus while standing in one spot whether they are on campus or not. This idea would be great to implement into freshman or transfer orientation. While walking around in the VR the viewer will be able to interact with different icons on the campus. By interacting with the icons the viewer will be able to learn different facts and information with whatever landmark they find themselves at. 

Idea #3

INTERACTIVE BASKETBALL TRAINING

My third idea is creating a method of basketball training while using digital media. There will be a screen that is connected to basketball hoop via bluetooth or WIFI and it will track the players stats. On the floor where they are playing at there will be sensors so the program will know where the player is shooting from so it will know how many points that shot is worth. Then there will also be sensors around the rim to detect if the ball successfully went in the basket. There will be different option players can choose that will make the program track the stats different. for instance a player can choose a timer option and see how many shots he or she can make in a certain amount of time of maybe they select a 3 point contest option and the player can only shoot from the 3 point line and it tracks your score.

 

1. Projection Mapped Résumé

For my first project idea, I’m considering taking my résumé and displaying it in a way that I hope is new and original (I haven’t thoroughly searched for other people who have attempted this). This idea excites me the most so of course I have many directions I want to take with it, one of which being a static approach, in which I build a model using the makerspace of something like a castle with a roller coaster and other small elements from places I have worked and places I aspire to work. The “show” would consist of a narration with images and video projection mapped onto the model to tell my professional and educational history. Some examples of which would be a whale jumping across the model, projected fire (and possibly real) covering/shooting out of the model, and an ode to Sesame Place where the whole model could possibly appear to be an image from a coloring book.

 

2. YouTube Channel

A friend of mine who a different thesis section suggested that we work together on a project that we had intended to begin to make over the summer. We would create YouTube videos of comedic sketches and include special effects both digital and practical to make our videos stand out from a standard comedy style channel. I’m not sure that this idea is elaborate enough for an entire thesis but I believe it could be built upon and improved with small things.

 

3. Christmas Lights

One of my passions is a hobby that eats up most of my free time is designing, programming, and building my yearly Christmas light display. Although this could help with my career being that lights are often incorporated throughout theme parks, I would more so be doing this just because I know how much fun I would have doing it. I would incorporate more elaborate elements in the display, such as animatronics and RGB curtain lighting. I would also hope to include projection mapping in the display. It sounds like a lot, I know, but that’s kind of my style when it comes to Christmas light displays (You can ask the police about 2013, they’ll remember). I feel that a display of lights, animatronics, projection mapped video and graphics, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff, all choreographed to music, would be a lot of fun to work on and to watch.

Disclaimer, I’m writing this from Houston, Texas with the power of the last two brain cells I have left after a nonstop day at the conference. I’ve had less time than I’d like to think of my ideas, so these are very general and will need much refining in the future (of may be changed altogether…I’ll think on it more when I can actually keep my eyes open)

1. An app that reads business cards and automatically finds the person on LinkedIn, Instagram, stores the email as a contact…etc. Combines computer vision, app development, and UI/UX. I feel like this has been done already and it seems a bit difficult, but I’ll do more research.
2. Light generating object. There was this amazing keynote talk at the conference by a woman who created a soccer ball that stores the kinetic energy generated by kicking the ball and then used it to give off light in communities with issues with power accessibility. I have no idea what object it will be yet, and I have no experience in physical computing, but I still think it’s a cool concept.
3. Oh geez I really don’t know…giant holograms? Is that a thing? I think it’s a thing. I’ve seen videos where people make tiny ones with cd cases and iPhones.

 

Thesis; Initial Concepts

Prof. Ault

 

09/27/2018

 

Primary Skills: Video Editing, Filming, Script Writing, and Voice Acting

 

Secondary Skills: Graphic Design, Music Production

 

Lesser Skills: Computer Coding

 

Idea #1 “Magic The Gathering Interactive Video RPG Series”

 

For my first I idea I wanted to take the popular card game Magic The Gathering and place it in a role-playing element. The card game itself often pits two players (planeswalkers) in a duel to see who can summon enough creatures and cast enough spells to reduce the others life total down to zero. It is a fun experience to challenge friends and family alike as you trade and collect an assortment of different cards to make your deck stronger than ever before. However I wanted to create a story intensive experience where you go on a journey and explore the many worlds of the game’s universe. You would be able to utilize your own custom deck as you encounter a number of wild creatures and unscrupulous characters who wish to see your downfall. I would probably need to utilize or create art to symbolically represent locales in such a world, write an immersive yet engaging script, and create house rules that fundamentally differ from the core game itself for a smooth experience.

 

Idea #2: “Spyhunter Interactive Scavenge”

 

I always enjoyed playing a game of tag while I was a kid but I wanted to take this in a much more immersive direction with an interactive Spy Scavenger Hunt. Basically a video will play on a computer almost akin to a spy in a movie receiving intelligence, only you will first start as a random civilian. Your actions will then align you with one of three agencies in which you will then receive texts from said agency you align with. There would be a number of undercover players within a space who over a length of time will also receive texted information that will either hinder or eliminate you from the game. One would need to be wary as the people you are working with cooperatively may either be friend or foe. I would probably need to film obscure footage, implement espionage esque music, work out rulings, and develop a story with coherent objectives which all take place in a limited space.

 

Idea #3 “Competitive Gaming Interactive Coaching Series”

 

I have some what been following certain competitive gaming circles for quite some time now. Something that has always bothered me and a few others is how little direction there is given for new players to up their game in an interactive, convenient, and easy way. A way in which they do not need to directly hire someone to coach them or watch a thirty minute lecture by someone far above their skill level. I was looking to create a series that determined play-styles of said viewers and judged how well they could make effective decisions at certain points of a match to maximize their effectiveness and output. Just in a modest way to get them thinking about their overall approach, how they play, and how to identify their own mistakes. There will be a heavy emphasis on simulations with character composition and playstyle being a factor in how well you score by the end of the interactive experience.

Idea #1

My first idea involves a collaboration with Andrew Clarke. We are in a class about the legendary Fred Rogers and we were inspired by his work to create this idea. It is an app that would help children overcome their fear of the dark and “the monsters in the closets”. We were thinking about creating a dark room environment that had certain creepy elements in it like just blinking eyes that kids might find scary but the cursor would be a flashlight that when shined on the element would actually be something cute and harmless like a funny looking creature that just wants a friend. It would involve 2D and 3D animations and we would put it on a mobile platform and on the computer. However if possible we would like to put it on the VR platform as well as that would be very engaging.

Idea #2

My second idea involves Virtual Reality and I would have to do more research in order to see if it would actually be executed. It is a VR rhythm game that includes instrumentals I would be making myself. A game that inspired me would be beat saber where the user has two light sabers that cut through boxes that are floating towards them. It would have elements floating towards the user as the try to dodge them by moving slightly to the left or right or by knocking them out of the way. Another way to implement this rhythm idea would be to have the user be a moving object on a platform with a demarcated path and have them turn left or right at the right time in order to not fall off the platform. Of course all this is contingent on me being able to actually create a VR environment within the time given to us.

Idea #3

This idea is something that is kind of a reach and I wouldn’t know how to go about it but again it would involve Virtual Reality. It would be a game/app that helps performers create their sets and practice their shows before they actually have to perform. It would be targeted towards music performers and give them options to recreate their stage and have a virtual audience that increases or decreases it’s reaction depending on whether or not the performer is on cue with the songs that they are performing. The user could design and plan lighting and sound effects to how they want it in real life for their show and then try to implement that onto their actual set if they have resources available to do so. Ultimately the app would be used to make rough plans for shows/performances before they actually have to plan them and for the average user it could be like a virtual karoake performance.