Message For Brandon

Brandon,

I am very disappointed in you. I asked you to do so little for this project and showed you extraordinary patience and tolerance to your lackluster attitude and inability to attend most of the meetings. You had an opportunity to get an easy 'A' for doing so little; all you had to do was put together a little summary of our project (it was already written up!). I asked you to take the Power Point presentation, convert it to a PDF, add the images and information that is on the blog and drop site, and include information on our card game. What you made is completely unacceptable and distinctly inaccurate:

• mislabeled sketches
• missing images
• out-dated image for the world map
• inaccurate description for the map images
• incomplete sentences/poor grammar
  
• misspellings
• none of the web sketches are labeled
• referred to our project as a "game"
• used unapproved/inaccurate images (p6)
• poor description of MY digital illustration
• completely incorrect caption for the HUD image... just the background is from Fable 2, the HUD was designed by me and Laura
• disgraceful overall layout and design
  

Most importantly, though: YOU DID NOT INCLUDE ANY INFORMATION FROM THE DESIGN DOCUMENTS. Why do you think we spent all that time doing it? You contributed next to nothing for this project, which I would have let slide if you had done this one thing. You made your bed, now sleep in it.

Project Manager,
Chris Selig

BRANDON'S TO DO LIST

• PDF deliverable (add media: sketches, pics, illustrations) DUE THURSDAY
  
• change all references of Neo-Terra to Faralon in deliverable
• include info on RUSE in deliverable
  
• prepare for presentation: slides 9-14 & 21-22 DUE TOMORROW

market place

Pictures for stadium

House pictures

House for noob (above) and champion (below)

The Ranking System, A Distinct Motivator

To make up for the fact that there is no story to this world and players are free to do what they please, certain measures must be taken to ensure that players are both entertained and motivated. The primary motivator in this virtual world is the ranking system. A player can only go so far and do so much in this world without competing in matches and tournaments. The world is divided into realms, regions, and districts and some areas require the player to be a certain rank to enter. Likewise, some stores won't sell to lower ranked players. Also, the higher one raises their rank, the better the homes, furnishings, and outfits that will become available; grand champions are allowed to live in exclusive gated communities with unique amenities.

A player's rank is determined by their position on the leaderboards. Users can participate in matches, tournaments, invitationals, and quests. Each of these activities will have several leaderboards associated to them. For example, there are leaderboards for furthest distance traveled, most wins, rarest collection (based on a point system), and so on. The average of a player's leaderboard standings determines his/her rank.

upload or email please

would you guys (not laura) upload any images (concept or otherwise) to the blog or drop site so we can use it in the presentation. thanks

Concept HUD

Background taken From Fable 2, the HUD is our design. This is an apt representation of what the world of Neo-Terra will look like.

Artistic Sketches

Technical Sketches

Digital Illustration

I only had time to do one digital illustration... it's not perfect, but it might do.

There's our drop.io account.

http://drop.io/p3r3xbg


I posted up scanned sketches. This is also good for uploading files blogger can't.

5e

e. Society – Rules, Economy, Government, Judicial System, Safety System

The government of Neo-Terra (NT) exists as a shadow entity, influencing the flow of the world society and the games played within it. There will be a bureaucracy of administrators that will facilitate the economy, environment control, and policing the populous.

The rules of the virtual world are pretty straight forward. No griefing, but trash talking is allowed (within reason). Sexuality is tolerated, but not explicit or pornographic material. Violence is not an issue because there is no actual fighting in this game. Players may enter other people’s homes, but are not allowed to alter anything. Official matches are organized according to rank, but exhibition matches are free to any rank.

The economy is similar to that of Second Life. There will be an in-game currency (gold). Users will be able to exchange USD for in game currency. Players will start the game with 100g (and a starter deck for one game of their choosing) and receive a weekly allowance of 25g. Costs are as follows:

• single common card: 5-10g
• single uncommon card: 10-25g
• single rare card: 25-50g
• unique card: 100-500g
• standard pre- built deck: 50-100g
• custom built deck: (ranges by shop)
• clothing, accessories, & furnishings: (ranges by region & shop)

When it comes to the rights and safety of the players, there are several safeguards in place. Any players violating the terms of agreement will receive a warning and a time-out (in the underworld) from participation in matches. If the violations continue, that user will be banned from the world, not by username, but rather IP address and/or credit card.

TCG Title Suggestions

Just posting up my suggestions for the title for the TCG here:

1. Hands of Requiem
2. Cascade of Chains
   
3. Parte de Moarte (Romanian, "Hands of Death")
4. Drawn by Aggression
5. Tieria
   

TECH DISPLAY

SLURL for dislpay:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Tech%202/152/196/33

5d: Fun things to do.

There will be many fun things to do besides playing trading card games: minigames, hidden item secrets, and interacting with other users. Making a conscious decision to have the trading card games be the focal point of our world, this means we decided to only make quests restricted to special events (i.e. Halloween). Users who finish the special quests will receive in-game prizes: money, special cards, boosters, etc. Tournaments will play a large role in our TCG, prizes proportional to the size of the tournament will be given to winners and winners will also be displayed on a scoreboard.
Outside of the TCG area will be minigames, a minor distraction and break from playing tcgs. Some of the minigames envisioned in the area will be retro arcade games like 1941 and Pong. Since interacting can determine how well users will experience trading and playing, we’ve made clubs specifically for mingling and networking with other users. Certain areas, such as adult-oriented social zones will be designated for users 18 and over.
Aside from the TCGs within our world, users will be able to create their own TCG to showcase in our world, provided that they purchase our TCG Development package, much like XNA and Apple’s SDK, this will allow users to program to our system; streamlining content creation.
The environment will also be designed to optimized the TCG playing experience, but it will also include secret easter eggs. There will be clues within the environment to where hidden items are, but those will be constantly moved or changed to keep the users on their toes.

5c

In this virtual space, players are encouraged to play the card game. This sounds obvious, but play is just the fundamental. Because of getting involved in playing the game, players must use online communication skills to trade/buy cards. And this also creates the virtual world economy and this point also tie back to our target audience, who are willing to spend money. On top of that, players must commit to the game by spending hours and hours of time to play the game, develop their own unique strategies (that gets to the creative aspect), and getting powerful cards. With that said, official/unofficial forums are there for players to share their experiences and strategies, or what kind of special cards are out there for the hunt. People can talk/debate about different aspect of the game.

Tournaments are set up frequently. Prizes could be money (virtual credit or real cash) or/and rare cards, and the size on the prize is proportional to the magnitude of the tournament. This creates an online economy, so the most skillful elite players can always make a living by just playing the game.

-Presentation Intro-

What players should expect:

In this virtual world, players will explore the world finding hidden areas and treasures while competing against AIs & PCs to expand their collection, learn new techniques & strategy, and increase their rank on the leaderboards. The higher one's rank, the better the tournaments one will be invited to. There will be regional and worldwide tournaments as well as special invitationals. Winning exhibition matches and tournaments yields rewards proportional to their difficulty and scope. Champions will be granted unique rewards and privileges, and have access to special regions/areas. Players will also be able to design and create their own avatars and living spaces and be able to share them with others around the world.

The world is divided into different regions and and sub-districts to allow players an easy way to navigate to where they need to go. The four primary regions are based on the four Trading Card Games (TCGs) that this virtual world has to offer. They are located around the central tournament district, or the Stadium District. This is where players go to participate in major world tournaments or special invitationals.

Secondary regions (Home, Marketplace, Social, Tutorial) exist to facilitate the player in ways to enhance the overall game experience. Upon entering the virtual world, the player will find him/herself in the Tutorial district. There, the player will be guided through the basics of the world such as navigation, interaction, collecting/trading, and competition.

This virtual world cannot be called a mere video game, it is much more than that. This is a place where people can go to play "old-school" style trading card games within a digital environment. People can network with like-minded individuals and make friends around the world. Whether one's motivations are social, creative, or competitive, this world all that and more to offer.

World Layout

General Layout for the world map

5b

b. Place – World Story, Navigation, Purpose, Ownership, Creativity and Expression, Impact. Description and visual design

The virtual world will be flat with definable natural boundaries. The world will be split up into different regions based on TCG association (Magic, Yu-gi-oh, pokemon, etc), with the center of the world containing a large stadium for special tournaments and occasions. There is no need for a back story because the focus of the world is not on the where you are, but what you can do there. Players will navigate through the world from a third person perspective (behind the back). The camera can be adjusted to other pre-programmed positions such as over the shoulder or first person. Players will also have the option of free-controlling the camera to look at their own avatar or focus on someone else (similar to second life). Navigation within an given area can be done via a mini-map overlay (players can control orientation and transparency). Worldwide navigation can be done through a map item (Far Cry 2).

The purpose of the world is to provide a bridge between real-life TCG’s and virtual community based games.

Users will have ownership rights of all cards, outfits, accessories, and home furnishings collected, but all in-game items are still subject to copyright laws. Users will be able to rent an in-world apartment or home and store their property there (PlayStation Home, Animal Crossing).

Using a separately released creator package, users can design and create their own in game property, such as custom card games, avatars, and animations (Valve Source).

This world will allow greater exposure of traditional TCG’s to a broader, more digital minded audience. It will also bridge the gap between virtual world enthusiasts, video gamers, TCG players and social networkers.

5a

5. World Design Feature Categories:
a. Self – Appearance, Expression, Communication, Connection to Others, Persona and Reputation. Describe in detail and visual design

Users will create 3d avatars using in-game design engine. At the start of play, users can choose to either “quick-start” with a random or pre-made avatar, or create a customized avatar using a system similar to Oblivion and Mass Effect.

Similar to Second life and WoW, the avatars will have at their disposal an extensive list of pre-made gestures (sound & animation) ranging from “waving hello” to “middle finger” expressions. (think Fable II).

Communication can be done through local chat, private chat, or third party voice chat (ventrillo). The game can monitor third party social networking sites (facebook, myspace) and alert users as to when their friends log online. Likewise, third party social networking sites will have access to our online users list and alert their users when friends log online.

Users will be free to create a persona that fits their wants and needs within the virtual world within the terms of agreement (offensive and explicit material discouraged).

There will be multiple ranking systems based on rarity of collection and win/loss ratio similar to xbox live’s leaderboard system. Players who work their way up the tournament circuits will be ranked according to wins, losses, and in-game skills (determined by time and strategy of battle). A separate leaderboard will display players who have the rarest collections based on rarity systems embedded within each card game. There can also be sub-leaderboards that track statistical information such as players who have walked the furthest, most outfits collected, most hours played, etc.

Teleport here for project.

Coordinates: 198, 175, 21 - DAI 627: Design of Virtual Worlds. (on Paradisiac)

FEEDBACK PLEASE

I was wondering where everyone was standing on their tasks?

Some tweaks..

I made the trading area be more of a lounging and trading area. There's also a winners area and its lighted with spot lights.

Not Finished Yet.

I've been working on the decorating. It's still unfinished. Just posting up progress.

Here is a sketch for the environment design:

Crunch Time

So we're presenting this week. I would like to see all assets done by tomorrow (Tue.) and a rough run through done on Wed. (we need to meet in the morning). Here is a reminder of who's doing what:

Steve/Brandon: Costumes and distribution

Chris/Laura: Environment design