Game Scene Week 5

For this project, we were to construct buildings and objects based on one of three games, which our group chose Spider-Man (2018) for the PS4. I have never played the game, however I chose a rather simple task of building Peter's apartment building.

My inspiration was generic apartment buildings found in major cities, most prominently New York, as that is where the games take place.

I used Maya, Photoshop, and Unity (for final presentation) to create my project.

I first started off by blocking out my scene. From there, I created a slightly more detailed version of it. My final building had some more design choices in it and was more polished. From there I began UVing my building, and soon enough I had my completely textured building.

Our group communicated a lot, however in class we mainly worked individually. We all worked at our own paces, but met deadlines and are on time with our project for the most part. I personally fell behind because of a week-long flu that completely disabled me from being able to work on anything, so I had to finish up in a few days. During that time, however, I continued to talk to my group to see how they were doing. Our leader, Alex, was organized and helped where he was needed.



This is my completed building. However looking simple, it was far from easy getting to this point.

My design choices were based off of various reference images of generic apartment buildings I've seen both in real life and ones that I had looked up for this project.

Most of the work this week consisted of finalizing the design for the building. Specifically, this consisted of textures and small details like the window sill shape.

The wood pattern i found was really light in color and was almost yellow, so I edited the color to be a nicer brown to match the aesthetic more. I then took that same texture and made it more of a red color to indicate Peter's room.

For the roof, I decided to keep it simple and added a simple shader to it and made it an off-white, similar to a basic rooftop found on most apartment buildings.

Midway through working on the building front, I realized the windows didn't have some kind of indicator of glass so I created a plane that was slightly transparent and shiny that would act as glass.

I also struggled to create a proper spiderweb like I had originally envisioned, but had I had more time, I would have been able to do it that way. I instead opted to just place a block with a spiderweb textured on it, with the brick wall under it on the texture file. It worked effectively enough for what I was going for.

Game Scene Week 4

This week I was out sick with the flu. No progress was made.

Game Scene Week 3

This week, I started detailing the building, as well as beginning to UV and texture it. These details included creating the window sills for the building, and beginning to create the fire escapes for the building.

Two textures I chose for the building

To create the window sills for the building, I found a few references online of real life New York apartment buildings and observed their window detailing. I discovered that many building’s windows have a trapezoid shaped top and bottom, with the bottom having a bit more of a lip. I mimicked this style with two prisms on the top and bottom, and flaring out the top and bottom faces and rotating the objects to create a flared windowsill. I added two columns, one to each side of the window to complete the windowsill.

Window Sill, generic

For the fire escape, I worried wouldn’t be able to figure out a way to create the object, however I was able to identify a way to create the base of it. For the bottom/floor of it, I took a cube and flattened it into a long rectangle, then took two cylinders and flattened those, and added one to each side of the rectangle to create an oblong shape of the fire escape. For the safety guard, I took a cube and made a column shape out of it, and then duplicated it and placed them around the edge of the base.

Fire Escape base and columns!

One big issue I’ve run into is creating a curved handrail for the top of the safety guard on the fire escape. I have an idea of how to do it, but due to the fact that I want it very exact, it may not work. I will be experimenting in class to try to find a good solution to my problem.

For next week, I will finish up these details, as well as detail the other objects on the building (roof access, fan, doors, inside peter’s room).

Game Scene Week 2

For this week, I began building my apartment building. I began to create some details in the building (windows, fire escape, details around Peter’s room), and also began to UV the building.

Front Side of Building

So far I feel like the fire escape is going to be one of the hardest things to model on my building since it is such an exact shape, but I think I will be able to do it. One other challenge I think I will face is making a “hole” where the window to Peter’s room will be. All the other windows in the building I will use a reflective material on so only Peter’s room is visible, and makes it stand out more.

Back Side of Building

I think the most successful thing out of this rough model is how easy it was to create the building. Each square on the grid represents about a story (or one floor-to-ceiling measurement), so I just used that to represent my rows and columns for my building. I then used edge loops to create a grid on the wall, and to make it easier to make modifications later. I used the grid to line up the windows, which in the future I plan on making more true to an apartment building (less even/patterned).

One issue I ran into was when I was grouping. While I was grouping, my windows sides were joined with the wall behind it, so when I go back I will have to figure out how to separate them or perhaps redo it over again.

My plans for the next check in is to continue to UV the building and hopefully start on some texturing, create more details, and start building the inside of Peter’s room.

Game Scene Week 1

For this game scene project, our group chose Spider-Man for the PS4. I chose to create Peter Parker/Spider-man’s apartment building and a view of his room in his apartment.

Due to Maya not working on my laptop, I have sketched out a quick concept of what I want to create for this project:

For our story, we will be going around to different and iconic buildings within the game, one of the most prominent being Peter’s apartment, for obvious reasons. My plan is to create a similar apartment building commonly found in the game (as well as in real life New York City). One of the windows will be set slightly open to differentiate it from the other generic looking windows. On top of that, there will be spiderwebs that have been shot around the window as an obvious indicator of whose room it is.

Since you will be able to peek into Peter’s room, I will be recreating parts of his room that are visible to the camera to indicate it has been lived-in, instead of just a blank and barren room.

I will be creating a generic brick apartment building, with tan accents and red fire escapes. However, I will be trying to take the creative liberty of adding some graffiti on top of the roof as a sneaky little “Spider-Man” was here Easter egg.

Week 4 Living Room Assignment

For this week, I mainly focused on creating the feel I wanted from the scene. I wanted it to feel like my own living room, so I added a few objects that I picked out from my own real life living room at UV. I added a few magazines, a stack of coasters (since we’re sticklers about not staining/damaging our coffee table), and a remote (much like the remote we actually have for the TV). I was also focused on mainly creating new materials to make the objects in the scene match the feel I wanted, and was able to add very basic colors as placeholders for my final textures.



I ran into a huge problem while working on my scene. I am currently using a computer that isn’t mine to work on Maya (since my own won’t open), and for some reason Hypershade refuses to let me add a file as a texture for my objects. Since this was my main focus of this week, I was unable to make the progress I wished to, however I added placeholder materials to somewhat represent the idea I was going for.

Some of the textures I wanted to update were:

• Couch texture
• Lighten to add variety to the color of the room
• Table texture
• Wood color is too bright, adjust/change to fit the theme of the room
• TV Screen
• Nightmare Before Christmas should be playing on the screen
• Vase
• Fix material
• Magazines
• Add Nintendo Power covers to the fronts
• Lamp Shade
• Find and add a canvas/fabric  texture to shade

All of these shall be completed by the final project date, they just need to be executed.

Week 3 Living Room Assignment

For this week, I was able to build on my existing models and apply new textures and materials to my
objects. I also added a lamp as a visible light source, and a storage box to my scene, as well as added
dividers to the TV stand. One major improvement I made was fixing the UVs so I could properly texture
each object, and make sure the texture wasn’t oddly stretched across the model. 

Storage Box Texture

Storage Box Lid Texture

For next week, I hope to add a few more details such as magazines on the coffee table, and a few
items across the rest of the furniture to make the living room seem more lived-in. I also want to redo
some of the textures to fit a more sleek-modern theme to match my own living room (as I am heavily
referencing it). 

Some issues that I ran into while working on this included broken models and textures, as well as
some lighting issues. I was able to fix many of these problems by reloading either the files or the
project, however they were somewhat consistent and I eventually figured out a permanent solution.
I also referenced my old projects to help me figure out solutions to some minor road bumps, such as
optimizing UVs for some objects. 

CAGD 230 Midterm ePortfolio posts: Primitives, Marker, Table & Couch, Dinner Prep, and Grocery Shelf

Assignment #1: Primitives

For our first assignment in 230 we had to do a primitive scene where we only used primitive shapes. This assignment is meant to help us get used to Maya and learn the controls on how it works so that we can be ready for future projects for this semester.

In terms of composition, I think the focal point is clear, as it is brightly colored and right in the center of the scene. I was able to replicate the bright pink stage of the Love Live School Idol Festival, and visualize the 2D scene as 3D. The big yellow colored screen is mostly dark colors with the exception of the screen itself, and acts as a background to the focal point of the scene, since it doesn't distract from the main point.

For this project, I ran into plenty of issues due to my lack of knowledge of how to use Maya, and took full advantage of Google and my classmates. I also used my previous experience with Autodesk Fusion 360 and Blender to help guide me through using the program. I also ran into the issue of projecting Maya onto a larger screen to help me model this scene, so I learned how to setup autosave in order to compensate for the fact that Maya kept crashing. I learned that the Autodesk forums help out a lot and often times have 90% of the answers you are looking for.

Assignment #2: Marker

Our next assignment was the marker assignment and in this assignment we had to make our own marker with our name attached to it. The purpose of this assignment was to learn how the Insert Edge Loop tool Along with this we also had to create the UV map for this marker and apply a bump map. We learned how to create a texture in photoshop using UV snapshots, and how to apply them to the model.
We also learned how to edit materials to create the idea of different textures (i.e. rough vs smooth), and how to use lighting.

I ran into plenty of issues while modeling the marker. I had to redo my model several times, and took hours trying to follow the tutorial videos step by step to the best of my ability. Often times I would run into a problem that I could not trace back in my session history so I would just start over and start the videos back over. Eventually I had a classmate and Google help me through many of these problems. Even after all of that though, I still ran into many issues and ultimately figured out how to fix it through trial and error.

I actually really enjoyed this assignment despite the fact that I had many, many issues with it at the beginning, but I ultimately learned a lot about Maya and texturing through it.

Assignment #3: Table & Couch

The next assignment we had to create was to use primitives and create a table and couch out of it. While doing this project we learned how to use the measuring tool to make precise and large scale objects while applying a new type of material which are AIStandardSurface materials. We also learned how to apply physics to objects, and in this case used it to create couch cushions. This was also the project that we learned how to use the bevel tool and how to utilize it to create piping on the cushions.

 One of the issues I ran into while modeling this project was remembering to optimize the UVs before bevelling and/or modifying the model. I eventually made it a habit to always check the UVs before continuing to modify the original primitive object. The other issue I had was figuring out how to optimize the UVs, but I had help from classmates once again and it is now a regular part of modeling to me. The final issue I ran into in this project was the textures. Due to the fact that my renders turned out very dark for some reason, it isn't very obvious, but I had issues with the leather texture that I chose for my couch. Due to the fact that the images of the leather texture are uneven in terms of lighting, I had to go over all of it with a 10% opacity black soft brush to even out the tone so the entire texture was seamless.

Assignment #4: Dinner Prep

For this assignment we had to create three different items which were the wine bottle, pasta box, and pasta sauce. For each item it had its own process of how the object was supposed to be made. The wine bottle required to use the CV curve tool and to select certain faces and modify the material to appear like glass so it can look like an actual wine bottle. The pasta box we had to make it out of a planar and form a box out of it. Along with the pasta box we had to find our own textures and place them on the planar and form the box out of the texture. For the Pasta sauce bottle we had to use the CV curve tool and make a pasta jar and lid out of it. We also had to create the pasta sauce base and put in our own texture which we edited in photoshop and imported it into Maya, and replicate what we did for the wine bottle and create a glass texture for the jar.

 I ran into a couple issues while using the curve tool, and it would often times mess up the UVs for the pasta sauce jar and wine bottle. It took a bit of trial and error, but I eventually got it to work properly and create the jar and bottle. I ran into a bit of an issue with the label of the jar, but with a handful of adjustments in photoshop, eventually got to work.

Assignment #5: Grocery Shelf

For this assignment we hat to create a grocery shelf and include several different items which were 5 cardboard items, 3 glass items, and 1 plastic item. For this assignment I had a lot of difficulties in trying to start this project. Which is the main reason why I don't have any renders to show my work. Due to Maya beginning to fail me, and issues popping up left and right, I was not able to complete this assignment.

My plan was to reuse my pasta sauce jar and create a marmalade jar, to go along with the pasta sauce as one of my glass items. I used the wine bottle as a base to create a coke bottle, beginning with adjusting the color of the glass and some attempts at creating the logo. My cardboard items would be my pasta box, a mac and cheese box, and a few cereal boxes. My last plastic item was still being determined.

Hyper-realism (Compositing)

For this assignment, we were to take a subject and photoshop them into a hyper-realistic setting. Some examples from the tutorials included photoshopping a stone lion into a mountain and a door onto a road.

I decided to go with something less dramatic, and simply photoshop my subject into the character she is cosplaying's typical setting. My friend is cosplaying Neko from the anime K Project. Neko is a cat-like girl (and can even transform into one). Neko has two different colored eyes, so that was the first thing I got to work on. Using the color balance tool, created two adjustment layers, both linked to my subject image, and then used the layer mask tool to focus the color change on her eyes. The next thing I did was fix her blemishes using the patch tool, and smoothed her skin out with the healing brush. I then took my background photo and perched her on one of the desks.

One of the biggest challenges presented was finding a background that fit the subject image. I was lucky and knew that Room 212 in Glenn had matching lighting and a very stereotypical school appearance with chalkboards and desks. Another challenge that was presented was the fact that part of my subject's skirt was concealed by the pole of the fence she is sitting on. In order to create the illusion that I captured the entire skirt, I copied portions of her visible skirt and placed them strategically that make it look like her skirt was hanging off the table. From far away it looks convincing, but up close it's quite obvious it was photoshopped in.

I believe I achieved the goal of this assignment. The only real issue was that it wasn't extreme; it was rather tame. However, if you know what the original images look like, you'll see that I've photoshopped her out of the strange location I shot her in (next to the trash bins) and put her in a more appropriate setting for her character.

Portrait

For this assignment, we were to take all the imformation we had learn about touching up portrait photos and apply them to portraits we took of people. We learned about the healing brush, spot healing tool, patch tool, and layer masks.

My final photo was this image I took of my friend Alex. He has plenty of blemishes, and the photo was prime for editing and making into a nice portrait.

I used the Camera Raw function to first fix the lighting in the photo. I then took it into photoshop and began editing away the blemishes on his face and fixing his glasses a little. Alex happens to have many skin conditions that end with his skin being quite blemished, so I had a lot to work with and a lot to fix.

The original image.

I think I achieved the end goal of this assignment. With a fully edited image that looked much better than the original, it completed that goal easily.
I kept the image simple with good lighting so it made editing easier. I also kept in mind composition rules: rule of thirds, and how much of the image the subject is taking up. As he is placed in the right third of the image and is taking up around 75% of the image, he is in prime position for this image.

One of the biggest issues I had with the image was figuring out what really looked good. To fix this, I talked to my subject and asked him what he wanted to do. With that, I was given new inspiration and incorporated composition rules to produce a good looking, interesting photo.

HDRI

For this assignment, we were to take 3-5 photos of the same image with different exposures. From there, we put them in photoshop and photoshopped them into one, High Dynamic Range Image, or HDRI.

For this photo I took 3 photos of this flower at different exposures. One that was almost overexposed, one that was nicely balanced as best as I could, and one that was underexposed. By blending the three images together, I was able to achieve the above result.

For this image, I kept in mind my composition rules, most notably the rule of thirds. Another element I used in this image was color. I chose a bright fuscc
ia flower and put it against a grey-green background. It contrasted nicely with the background and served as a good subject for this photo.

Underexposed

One big issue I found with taking these photos is getting the exact\same photo but with different exposures. So what I did was I propped my camera on my bag and only touched the shutter speed wheel and the shutter button to get the most consistent image possible.

I definitely feel I achieved the goal of this assignment and catching the viewer's eye. With all the composition elements, I was able to create an aesthetically appealing image that caught the reader's eye.
I used the camera raw plug in, and the HDR function on photoshop to achieve this image.
Side note: My files got deleted off my SD card and in the recovery process many ended up corrupted.

3D Game Level 2 Feedback | 5/6/19

For this assignment, I have created a new and improved level, starting off with the base lobby of my first level. It’s long and challenging enough to give the average player about 15 minutes of playtime. There are plenty of enemies, surprise and not, platforming, and puzzles. There are now bosses (larger, more powerful versions of the regular enemies), so it adds an element of challenge to the level. Overall, from both my playtesters and I, this was a successful level, minus the minor glitches created by Unity.

For this level, it was nice and long, giving the player plenty of time for this level. My playtesters enjoyed the adventure with the extra rooms and forks in the road. For each of these rooms, the reward was a health pack, and although this was the only award I could give them, my playtesters still enjoyed finding them. I scaled a select few of the enemies and upped their HP to create bosses varying in difficulty. Some are mini bosses, others are final bosses. This added another level of challenge to the level, and mixed it up from all the platforming. This new level also had a lot more platforming than my previous levels. From previous feedback, I was told to add more platforming, so I decided to create more complex platforming sections, and also added acid pools. This created some more difficult sections for players, and varied in difficulty. However, due to the assets being slightly glitchy, this created some issues.

Map Overview

I think I was a little ambitious with this map. I think this was definitely the downfall of this map. Had I given myself more time, I think I would have definitely been able to work out all the glitches. For example, the two enemies located in the second room that were supposed to guard the switch died instantly as the level began. One of the moving platforms did not move the player as it moved, and my playtesters found it frustrating to have to keep themselves on this platform. Some improvements I would make to this map is adjusting some of the enemy's hit points. One of the final bosses was a little too hard to beat, although some beat it after a few attempts. There was also this section of platforming that was extremely difficult due to the nature of Unity’s box colliders, and was nearly impossible to clear unless you knew how Unity’s colliders worked. The platforms were also far too small. In order to improve this, playtesters requested larger platforms, like 1x2 blocks instead of 1x1 blocks. This part for many was the most frustrating part of the level.

Through these improvements, I think this level can be more successful and fun to play. While it can be difficult and frustrating, with the right tweaks it will be more fun and challenging. Many of these tweaks that need to be made are simply fixes for Unity’s errors, so it should be fairly easy to make a more enjoyable game. 

Switch concept

This is a good “Hard” level for a 3D action platformer. There is enough difficulty to the platforming, enemies, and puzzles to challenge the player enough and give a lot of playtime. Aside from the glitches, the puzzles provided enough challenge to make the players think rather than force their way through the level by beating many enemies. 

The critical path was obvious, with a few dead ends dedicated for adventurous players. One of the playtesters noted that it really piqued their adventurous side with some of the “dead end” rooms. Aside from the level branching out in the second to last room, there really wasn’t anywhere else to go in the level, so it is very straight forward. 

Each room, along with its hallways, acted as the path. Each room led into the other, some with a small landing area to give players a moment to observe the obstacles ahead. The long hallways at the end of the level acted as loading zones to build anticipation and excitement for the final boss(es). Each one of these elements came together to form a fun and enjoyable level.

Overall, I think this level was a success. The enemies were well balanced, the platforming was enjoyable and challenging, and the level was long and had enough to be explored for the adventurous players. 

3D Game Level 1 Feedback 2 | 4/30/19

For the second iteration of my introductory level, I added more platforming, improved the enemies, and added acid. Previously, the level I had was extremely short, and took a minute or two to complete. However, with the addition of new enemies and the new platorming section, this level took around 5 minutes to complete.

This new improved map has a new platforming section at the end of the original level. These floating platforms are placed strategically to make the player carefully guess how to jump between them. Should they fall, they die and must restart from the checkpoint. These platforms are all above a river of acid. This teaches the player the danger of the neon green-yellow acid, and also teaches platforming. With an increase of enemies, players thought it was a good challenge for an introduction level. Previous playtesters said that the level was more fun with the new platforms, and still kept the difficulty at an introductory level.

Door Concept Art

For this iteration, there were still plenty of improvements I could make. For one, the ending could have a bit more than just a few enemies. I also hadn’t improved the initial platforms in the first room, so that became another improvement for the next iteration. My players liked the quick puzzle at the beginning of the level, however they wanted to see more of the puzzles. This iteration of my map still needs improvement with the enemies, however it was still an upgrade from my first map. I think adding more enemies in more strategic locations throughout the map would make it more enjoyable. Players also wanted to see a variety of enemies (of the two kinds we were given in the asset package). I only used the chomper enemy, however playtesters liked the idea of having the spitters as more of a challenge enemy and to help teach more combat skills to the player.

I believe these improvements could help make my level more enjoyable. By adding a variety of enemies, I think it will make for a much more interesting experience. I like the idea of possibly adding pressure pads to a few of the platforms to unlock a door further on in the level. As I said with my last iteration, having enemies that are not just puppy guarding switches and pressure pads would definitely make the level more interesting to play.

This level is a good level as an introductory level.The enemies are not too strong, and have a good difficulty to defeat for a first time player. Their range of sight and attack strength aren’t too overpowering for the player, so they do not just kill the player upon contact. The platforming was a little challenging, however was extremely doable for any player. The puzzle was still extremely easy, but definitely helped introduce the mechanic to players.

The critical path of the level was extremely obvious. In the second room, the level branches out, however if you just look around enough there’s almost no way to get lost. The flow was good, with areas of rest between the two groups of enemies I had placed in the level. Doors served as loading zones to prepare the player for the next room of the level.

The two main rooms acted as the main path for this level, with the first room leading straight towards the next room, and the second acting as a split in the path. Both had areas that acted as resting points to prepare for the next set of enemies. The doors were loading zones, giving the players some time to observe and rest. This level was very straightforward and easy to play.

3D Game Level 1 Feedback | 4/22/19

For this introductory level, I had a total of 3 doors with a small handful of enemies blocking one of the switches and one of the pressure pads. There were 4 total rooms, the first room having one pressure pad, and one switch. The next room had a second switch and two doors. The third room had a pressure pad in it. The fourth room was the final room. It had a very simple puzzle built into it, and was extremely straightforward.

A lot of things went right with this level. It was an easy level, as to introduce the game to the player. Enemies were not difficult, so learning the combat mechanic was easy. The puzzle just consisted of understanding the first switch in the first room was connected to the second one in the next room. There was a small bit of platforming involved in order to hit the first switch which players found fun and a bit challenging.

Overall Level

My level also had plenty of flaws. Unity’s asset package was not fully complete so certain blocks allowed players to pass through them, however a little bit of knowledge of Unity fixed the problem quickly. My level was extremely short, so players were able to finish the level in a couple minutes. This could be considered good for a quick introduction, however my level was far too simple. The puzzle was quite simple, however many players thought having more intricate puzzles (still on an introductory level) would make it more interesting. Having more rooms with more platforming was something many players wanted to see, so adding obstacles such as high drops or acid pools to new rooms would be a good addition. The inclusion of enemies close to where you spawn guarding the pressure pad was not a good idea to the players, as it presented too much of an immediate sense of danger. However, it is still a good inclusion, and only needs to be moved. The last thing people noted was the invisible barriers I had to put on the tops of the walls so that players couldn’t get outside of the map. One playtester noted just having another wall stacked on top would be better.

Level Concept

There are many improvements I want to make to this level. For one, the length is the first thing I would change. Adding more rooms with new puzzles will allow players to enjoy the introductory level much more, and having more platforming in these rooms will add to the challenge. Another improvement I want to make is the enemies. There were a few, however the level could use more to add to the challenge. I also forgot to make them move around, so adding movement would make the game more immersive, as to not just have guard dogs puppy guarding the switches.
 I think the difficulty of the level was good as an introductory level. The enemies died at a maximum of 3 hits and had a reasonable sight and attack range. Their attacks were not very strong nor very frequent, so defeating them was relatively easy. The puzzle was extremely easy as to not confuse the player, but enough to give the player an idea of the type of game they are about to dive into. The platforming was a little challenging, but nothing so difficult that people would give up playing because of it.

The critical path of the level was extremely obvious. In the second room, the level branches out, however if you just look around enough there’s almost no way to get lost. The flow was good, with areas of rest between the two groups of enemies I had placed in the level. Doors served as loading zones to prepare the player for the next room of the level.

The two main rooms acted as the main path for this level, with the first room leading straight towards the next room, and the second acting as a split in the path. Both had areas that acted as resting points to prepare for the next set of enemies. The doors were loading zones, giving the players some time to observe and rest. This level was very straightforward and easy to play.

I think my level was a success as a very quick introductory level. For my next iterations I will definitely be expanding on my ideas, as my players enjoyed what I had and wanted to see more from it. I enjoyed building this level and look forward to continuing to build on it.

Mega Man Level 2 Feedback | 4/18/19

For this more intermediate level, I further expanded the length of my level. I added more screens, more enemies, and new mechanics. I added two new weapons, the Nado and the Super Arrow. I also added weapon blocks, which requires the player to find the respective weapon capsule to break the block in order to progress. With the added enemies, obstacles, and length, I think I built a relatively successful level.

I think this level was a good intermediate level. There was an increase in the amount of enemies, as well as the variety. This presented more of a challenge for the players, but also made it more fun with more things to attack and figure out how to defeat them. I also included the Nado and Super Arrow. In order to utilize the super arrow, as the weapon block did not break when shot with the super arrow, i created a wall with a platform on top that was too high to reach by jumping normally. By shooting a super arrow at the wall, it created a platform that the player could jump on and from there jump onto the platform. One of the more prominent features I put into the level was the footholder that travelled above a row of spikes. I think this definitely added to the challenge of the level.

The majority of this level went pretty smoothly. My playtesters said the level was fun, and had a good amount of enemies. They enjoyed the water aspect, mixing it up from the usual platforms and ladders. However, there were still some aspects that weren’t perfect.

"This part seemed like a death drop"

One of the more common notes was that having two enemies in the first screen was too much for an initial screen. Another thing that was noted was that the health powerups were a bit too easy to obtain in the level. By either placing less or strategizing where I placed health powerups, I think it could make the level a little more challenging, while also making it more fun.

For my next iteration of this level, I’d add more screens as I feel that there could be more obstacles utilizing more enemies and the weapons of choice. For example, having more platforms that required the use of the super arrow would make it seem less useless. I really liked the addition of the footholder being utilized as a moving platform above obstacles. I think it could also be used to create hidden rooms with bonus powerups. I definitely want to add more puzzles to my level as well.

I think this level was perfectly balanced to be an intermediate level for a first time player. It has a good variety of enemies, different obstacles, and puzzles. The enemies are not too difficult to defeat, and the obstacles are challenging to overcome. The puzzles are pretty straightforward, but still offered a little bit of a challenge for first time players.

The critical path for my level was very obvious and straightforward. The flow of the level was smooth, with the ladders serving as loading zones for players to prepare themselves between the first, second, and third rows of screens. There were no hidden rooms for players to find, as to not confuse the players.

The circulation elements mainly consisted of the ladders, which acted as loading zones, checkpoints, and platforms. The ladders leading from row to row acted as a loading zone, to give the players a bit of rest from all the action. The lobbies gave players time to prepare for the upcoming fights between them and the enemy. The rooms acted as the path, as it led straight through the level to the end.

I think this iteration of an intermediate level was successful. With the right combination of enemies, obstacles, elements, and puzzles, it created a nice challenging level for first time players. I can definitely improve on this level, as well as expand on it, and make it a more enjoyable level.

Mega Man Level 1 Version 2 Feedback | 4/1/19

My level was still a fairly simple introductory level for new Mega Man players. It contained twice as many screens for a total of 20 screens, more enemies, spikes, ladders, health powerups, and an energy element to end the level. The level was straight forward with no hidden areas or over complicated puzzles.

I think this level was a good introductory level. I created a level that I thought I would enjoy as a first level, as I am creating a level from the perspective of an inexperienced player myself. The enemies only took 1-3 hits to defeat, to keep it simple. I added a variety of enemies demonstrate some of the kinds of enemies one might encounter in a Mega Man Game. I included ladders to demonstrate the climbing mechanism, and to also demonstrate to the players how they can use height to their advantage. Spikes were put into place to demonstrate jumping. I scattered health powerups throughout the level to keep the players alive as they played though the level.

Level Start

I think this time around my playtesters enjoyed my level significantly more. With more than twice the amount of screens as my last level, it was longer and much more fun to play. I introduced new enemies, all with different abilities and ranging difficulties. There are more spikes in the level, which not only introduces jumping, but also provides a bit of a challenge for the players. I noticed in my previous playthroughs that you can just run through the level and just shoot and you could probably get through a lot of the level by just doing that. By adding new enemies and obstacles, this issue is easily resolved and makes the player slow down a little and observe. 

My new level definitely still needs work. After playing it so many times I noticed it was still relatively short, so in my next iteration, I will definitely be extending the level and making it more difficult with new obstacles and enemies. Due to the assignment's limit on the enemies and weapons we can choose from, I will need to get creative and be more strategic about the placement and frequency of enemies and obstacles. I think that a water element will help slow the level down and add a new element to the level. 

I think this level was challenging, but not too challenging, for new players. I had fun designing and playing my own level. With the addition of new screens and more strategic placement of enemies, I think new players will no longer feel rushed or overwhelmed with enemies, but rather a steady pace so they can learn the controls and world of Mega Man.

The critical path for my level was very obvious and straightforward. The flow of the level was smooth, with the ladders serving as loading zones for players to prepare themselves between the first, second, and third rows of screens. There were no hidden rooms for players to find, as to not confuse the players.

Level End

The circulation elements mainly consisted of the ladders, which acted as loading zones, and lobbies, or “safe” zones, where enemies could not see or hurt the player. The ladders leading from row to row acted as a loading zone, to give the players a bit of rest from all the action. The lobbies gave players time to prepare for the upcoming fights between them and the enemy.

I think this second iteration was much more successful than the first one. It got much closer to the 10 minute mark and the level was more fun to play. There were new enemies, new obstacles, and a more satisfying ending. 

Panorama

 

Photos before stitching

For this assignment, we were to take 4-6 frames for a panorama, and manually stitch the photos together to form a panorama. I took a 4-frame panorama of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Presidio in San Francisco. I took this at around 7:20 PM, so golden hour had already passed, and thus the sunset was quite dark at the time. 

The Golden Gate bridge was placed in the panorama so that it was about a third of the way in, and while not intentional, made for an aesthetically pleasing photo. 

The lighting made stitching the photo together very difficult, as each frame got darker and darker as it continued to pan to the right. However, with just a little exposure adjustment, the panorama came together more seamlessly. To stitch them together, I used layer masks to create a seamless panorama.

I think had I gotten to that location earlier, the panorama would have turned out better and with more even lighting.

Panorama after stitching.

On the Edge

Original Image

For this image, I decided to head over to Bidwell mansion and use the mansion as the subject of my photo. The assignment was to take a photo of a subject on the edge of the frame. I used Bidwell Mansion and took a photo of it with it slightly off the frame.
For my edits, I changed the image to black and white to enhance the eeriness of the mansion at 5PM with an overcast sky. Once I changed it to black and white, however, because there was not a huge amount of contrast between colors or in the sky, I used the dodge and burn tools to create more contrast between different portions of the photo.
I think had I gone a little earlier, I could have gotten a better contrast in order for the black and white to be more effective. With a brighter sky and more shadows being cast, it would have definitely given a better effect.

Final Image

Things

Original Image

For this assignment, we were to take closeup shots of various objects. In this we learned how to focus on a subject (in this case, an object), and have a aesthetically pleasing background, that is also out of focus. 

In my photo, I used the rule of thirds to place the subject in a aesthetically pleasing position. When I went in to edit it, I fixed the little bit of over exposure from the sun on the right side, and used the dodge and burn tools to darken the shadows of the photo and lighten the highlights of it. Through this I was able to make a nicely saturated and defined photo. 

Golden Hour is one of my favorite times to do shoots at (for my cosplay photos, in which I model), and being able to take that opportunity for myself and shoot my favorite figures during that hour was really fun and I really impressed myself with what I could do. 

Final Image