NATIONALS LEVEL 1/2 CREATIVE

Transcription

1 Cambridge NATIONALS LEVEL 1/2 CREATIVE imedia Candidate Style Answers with commentary Unit R092: Developing digital games Version 1 ocr.org.uk/creativeimedia

2 CONTENTS Introduction 3 MB1 Learning Objective 1 Understand game creation hardware, software and peripherals 4 Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer 4 Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 4 Learning Objective 2 Be able to plan the creation of a digital game 5 Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer 5 Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 5 Learning Objective 3 Be able to create a digital game 6 Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer 8 Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 8 Learning Objective 4 Be able to review the creation of a digital game 9 Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer 9 Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 9 MB3 Learning Objective 1 Understand game creation hardware, software and peripherals 10 Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer 13 Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 13 Learning Objective 2 Be able to plan the creation of a digital game 14 Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer 19 Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 19 Learning Objective 3 Be able to create a digital game 20 Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer 39 Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 39 Learning Objective 4 Be able to review the creation of a digital game 40 Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer 41 Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 41 2

3 INTRODUCTION This resource has been written for teachers to help them mark work accurately and understand OCR s expectations. The guide contains candidate style answers for the learning outcomes of this unit, graded at Marking Band 1 (MB1) and Marking Band 3 (MB3). The accompanying commentary explains why each piece of work was awarded its grade. For MB1 graded work, additional guidance has been added to suggest improvements that could be made to make it an MB2 graded piece of work. For MB3 graded work, additional guidance has been added to explain why it was awarded that grade and not the lower grade of MB2. You MUST NOT allow your learners to copy the samples contained in this guide. OCR moderators have been advised to report any copying, in whole or in part. Misuse of these samples will lead to a malpractice investigation being conducted and would put all submitted learner work at risk of investigation. REPRODUCTION OF CANDIDATE S WORK The candidates work within this document is reproduced for free of charge distribution to teachers in order to help them prepare candidates for examinations. The work has been reproduced as submitted by the candidates. Some of the work may contain thirdparty material for which we are unaware of the source, the rights owner or the existence of any permission that the learner may have had to use the material. If you are the owner of any third-party material contained within this document, and you wish to question its use, please contact The Resources Team at OCR through resourcesfeedback@ocr.org.uk 3

4 Learning Objective 1 Understand game creation hardware, software and peripherals MB1 Game platforms The software to create a game could be either game maker or java. I could use java but it would need programming to make. Game maker is easier and I can share my game for people to play it and it will be much easier and faster. Programming will need a lot of time. Game maker is the best because it is easy to use and has sprites and commands to make it easy and it is quick. To create a digital game you would need hardware with a very high storage space because it would take a lot of storage to create the game because of the sprites and commands also it would need a fast processor because you need to be quick when making a game and when testing it so you get optimum results for the digital game. When testing the digital games you need a piece of hardware with a very large HDD and a very fast processor to make sure the game runs at optimum speed so you can get the best test results and bug fixes for the game if the game has some bugs or crashes a lot due to slow hardware. Also a high definition monitor would be used to test and make the games because you want to see the pixels you are working with and you would want to add very intricate details in the game for added realism on the levels and on the characters. Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer Two software examples are given, which is accepted as a limited range (throughout the qualification, three is a range and five or more is a wide range). There is limited evidence of the limitations and capabilities although what is stated is correct. Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 To gain MB2, three or four software applications would need to be discussed in more detail, identifying more specific limitations and capabilities. 4

5 Learning Objective 2 Be able to plan the creation of a digital game MB1 Planning I have been asked to create a game for a company called Mowve and it is aimed to be sold to people between the ages of 20 years and 50 years however, you can choose the game genre but you have to base it off other lawn mowing games. The platform should contain the following: In each garden area, you should have a stone ornament that loses you points and hitting two or more means that you restart the game, and other objects to avoid such as pets, which move away at speed with each one having a different speed to move along. The platform will be a maze game so it can give the intended target audience a nostalgic theme to the game and it takes into consideration that you will be navigating each level with a lawnmower so a maze layout would make sense and it must appeal to this target audience which is years and this type of layout suits the target audience because it brings back the originality and simplicity of games around their generation. I need to create the sprites and commands and put these in the maze so the player can be a lawn mower and play the game. The pathway will be through the maze avoiding the stone ornaments and pets. Commands are to move the mower and pets and avoid hitting things because then you have to start the game again. I will get my sprites from the software and store these in the game because they are safe in there and cannot be lost if I backup my game. Because my game is for educational use I can use anything copyright free. Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer For the planning, there is some evidence to address most of the descriptors in the marking criteria although these are limited to meet MB1. The interpretation of the client brief does not expand on the requirements of the game or target audience. There is no evidence of using knowledge, skills and understanding from other units in the specification, which are typically shown in the use of pre-production documents or detailed categorisation of target audience (from unit R081). The game creation processes are described in a fairly simplistic way but this lacks any detailed consideration or list of what needs to be done to create the game. There is no test plan included in the evidence for LO2 (or elsewhere in the unit submission). The structure of the game and different pathways is not contextualised in a suitable way for this unit although there is some evidence, which is accepted as limited. The sourcing and storing of assets is only described within the game rather than an external process prior to the creation of the game within the software application. For any unit, the consideration of legislation should not refer to educational use for marks to be credited any higher than mb1. The assignments clarify the expectations of this through the reference to commercial use, which is more consistent with the vocational nature of the qualification. Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 For this to be marked in MB2, more detailed consideration and evidence is needed for each of the marking descriptors, which is in a vocational context. Key elements would be some form of test plan and a sequence of activities needed for the game creation process. A mind map for the client requirements and/or game content would be a good approach to improve the marks in this planning strand. 5

6 Learning Objective 3 Be able to create a digital game MB1 Creating my game Assets used 6

7 My game Saving files Candidate style answer 7

8 Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer In this unit submission, the actual game was submitted although this is omitted from the exemplar material. The marks that can be supported are based on a basic playable game being available. This learning outcome has a screenshot of a working folder that includes some assets, a screenshot of the finished game and files saved. The marking criteria are comprised of two strands. The first strand requires evidence of using geometric parameters, setting properties of objects and environments and importing assets into the game environment. There is no explicit evidence of this other than the spatial relationship between the player mower, grass and garden objects (cats) in the game screen. This shows that the scale is acceptable and that the game can be played, which enables some marks to be credited in MB1. The playing of the game supports some credit to be given for object properties in the form of interactions with grass and collisions with the cats. However, the top of MB1 could be supported where the basic functionality of the game is working. Even with some minor issues with the game play controls and interactions, the evidence would still support marks in MB1. However, if no game file was supplied and only the screenshots included as seen in this exemplar, the marks would be at the bottom of MB1. Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 To achieve MB2, some evidence of the game creation process would be needed to support the final playable game. Here, a suggestion would be to include one or two screenshots from the game development software and the tools/techniques used, such as showing the editing of object properties. 8

9 Learning Objective 4 Be able to review the creation of a digital game MB1 The game meets some of the client s requirements such as: you get 3 lives and lose lives if you hit a cat and if you mow down some blades of grass your score increases relatively by 1 and once you have mowed the grass then you win the game. However the game could be improved by adding a start screen and a choice of lawnmowers as the client requested and a time limit to increase the difficulty of the game. I think these improvements should be made to make the game more interactive and increase the difficulty. Marking commentary on MB1 candidate style answer The review of the game is quite short but makes some relevant points in terms of how it meets the client brief. Hence the understanding of what worked and what didn t is accepted as limited. There is no testing of the game, which would therefore be at the bottom of MB1 for that descriptor but the positive marking philosophy can still be applied to what evidence has been included. The areas for improvement are also brief but relevant and have some suitable explanation. Overall, this evidence would be in the lower half of MB1. Suggested improvements to progress candidate style answer to MB2 For MB2, the review would need to comment on the effectiveness of the final game and whether the player experience would be good or bad. This would then naturally introduce ideas for areas where the game could be improved. 9

10 Learning Objective 1 Understand game creation hardware, software and peripherals MB3 How do you use it? Capabilities Limitations Software requirements Game Maker Uses objects, sprites and code to create video games. Most of what is used has to be user created, meaning possibilities are huge. Can handle high framerates. Wide variety of features and platforms supported. Both 2D & 3D games supported. Not really user friendly, requires a good knowledge of the platform. Can have several graphical errors. 3D Games are really difficult to make. Windows XP or above. 512MB RAM. 128MB graphics. Screen resolution of Internet connection for some features. Unlimited size & complexity, as well as support for high resolution graphics. Advanced particle & script support. Scratch Uses code to create certain scenes. Associates code with keys or clicks. Sprites can be user chosen. Can be run in flash. Requires scratch to run any games. Games have to be small as there is no camera functions. Codes sometimes don t work. To run Scratch 2, you need a relatively recent web browser (Chrome 35 or later, Firefox 31 or later, or Internet Explorer 9 or later) with Adobe Flash Player version 10.2 or later installed. Scratch 2 is designed to support screen sizes 1024 x 768 or larger. If your computer doesn t meet these requirements, you can try Scratch version 1.4 Cyberix 3D Creates 3D games using pre-defined assets. Can use user assets, meaning design is limitless. High resolution engine, good quality. Makes certain aspects, i.e. camera and so on for you. Not user friendly at all. Difficult to create, requires a good knowledge of maths and code. Even when people do use it properly, the results are often unprofessional and not aesthetically pleasing. ONLINE no installation needed. 10

11 Peripheral Uses in creating Uses in testing Capabilities Limitations Mouse You can move it around to navigate the game making software. Can be used as a control e.g. to look around the environment. A mouse is capable of easily navigating game making software. Not as capable as a joystick for precision or sensitivity in games such as a driving game. Monitor Keyboard Graphics tablet Used to visualise the coding and making screen. Used to input text into the game making software. Can be used to create and design images and art to be used in the game in software such as an image editing program. Used to view the game if it is being tested on a PC. A keyboard is usually used as a controller using WASD or the arrow keys to control the character. Joystick Can be used to control the direction that a character in game is moving. Headphones/ Speakers Game pad/ controller/ Wii remote Can be used to test game sounds if the game includes ambient noise, background music or if the characters make noises. Could be used to control a character or something in game using the controllers various buttons. Shows the game whilst playing. Can display high quality graphics and colours. A good form of controlling a game and is easy to understand and get used to. A brilliant device for designing graphics and images of a high quality on a computer. A simple and easy to understand controller for a game that only goes up, down, left and right. Can be used to listen to sounds that are played in game. Can be used in games where multiple actions are required at once. For example a Button mashing game such as a fighting game would require quick movements in a short space of time. Not all monitors are the same. The high quality resolution and vibrant colours may vary on the display being used by the user. If a left handed person were to play the game it would be hard for them to control the mouse and WASD keys all at once, this would mean they could have to change the controls just for them. Cannot be used as a keyboard replacement to type although can be used to draw text. Cannot be used to input text if required such as inputting a name into a game. Not all headphones are good quality and might not portray the quality of sound intended by the game developers. Can usually only be used on the console/device it is designed for e.g. you cannot use a PlayStation remote on an X-Box. 11

12 Peripheral Uses in creating Uses in testing Capabilities Limitations Virtual reality glasses Add-ons e.g. rackets, handguns Used as a monitor replacement to see the game environment around you. These glasses can also be used to look around. These are usually aesthetic add-ons which add to the feel of the game. For example a gun in a shooting game. Simulator If the game contains movements these can be turned into a real life simulator so you can feel the experience in real life. Target Platform Test Bed If the game is created to be used on a smartphone it would be used to test the game on the platform it was intended to be used. Immerse the player more into the game and give a surreal experience in your own home. Immerse the player by giving them a physical object to hold. Can immerse the player in a game. Can be used in games where multiple actions are required at once. For example a Button mashing game such as a fighting game would require quick movements in a short space of time. Can induce motion sickness after long periods of time. This can make players not want to return to the game after playing for long sessions. Not really used for much. They are mainly for visual purposes only. Usually used in theme parks or in amusement arcades so not practice for home use. Can usually only be used on the console/device it is designed for e.g. you cannot use a PlayStation remote on an X-Box. 12

13 Platform Description of platform Advantages Disadvantages Games console A video game console is a specialised computer system designed for interactive video gameplay and display. A video game console functions like a PC and is built with the same essential components, including a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) and random access memory (RAM). Specialised system for gaming means GPU is good for the cost of the overall system as it isn t used to search the internet or do work. You can t do other activities such as complete work or use it as a social media device. Requires mains power. Portable device (e.g. PSP) Similar to the games console and a smart phone mixed into one. This portable device is capable of playing high quality games at high FPS. Can be used on the go and do not require mains power all of the time. Graphics on portable devices are not the best, they can have awful frame drops and lag. Smart phone Can be used to play low quality games that are not graphic intensive. Can be played on the go and are quick and easy to pick up and put down. Does not require mains power. Contains lots of micro transactions for Pay to win. Cannot be used to play new and high quality games. Laggy with low FPS. PC or Mac PC s are very versatile when it comes to gaming, they can be custom built to suit your gaming needs and desires. High quality PC s can run graphic intensive games at high FPS. Macs however cannot be custom built and therefore cannot be catered for your needs. High FPS on games such as driving games, building games and shooters. They provide high quality graphics as well as smooth gameplay. Custom builds can be expensive. A PC with good graphics cards, RAM and CPU can cost over 800. Requires mains power. Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer The candidate summarises three software applications for creating games, which would be accepted as a range to meet the descriptor for MB2. The limitations, capabilities, software requirements and how it is used are shown in the table. This could be accepted as a sound understanding but would need more detail to justify MB3 (in particular using more thorough descriptions of the limitations and capabilities). The consideration of hardware has separate columns for creating and testing, which demonstrates a clear separation between these two processes of game creation. Overall, this could be accepted as just meeting MB3. Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 The first part of this investigation would be more appropriate in MB2 but the consideration of hardware and peripherals is stronger. However, note that this would be a borderline call between MB2 and MB3. 13

14 Learning Objective 2 Be able to plan the creation of a digital game MB3 Interpretation of the brief The client has requested me to create a digital game for their company called Mowve that will promote their lawn mowers and garden equipment, allowing it to become more widely recognised by the public. The game is about a gardener that will mow the laws but will have to avoid things along the way. The game will be used to advertise the company s lawnmowers which could include; The Mowve Monster, The Mowve Mover and the Mowve mini. Each of these lawn mowers are designed for specific tasks and environments, this will be incorporated into the game as each mower will have its own special ability in game. The game must contain some of the given aspects such as obstacles such as ponds, rocks, flowers and household pets, these pets will move in a certain direction to add a challenge aspect to the game. The levels will also include a range of vases, these will break if collided with which will lose you money and destroying more than 2 of these vases will cause the players game to restart (or at least the level). The player will have a set time limit to complete the game in, this may vary between levels increasing the level of difficulty. This time limit will stop when all of the grass in the level has been removed, this will allow the player to advance to the next level. The game must have multiple levels which will include multiple obstacles. The game will have a consistent look and colour scheme throughout, this will reflect the company as it will use a purple that is known as The shade of Mowve, this will help the game stand out with its unique colour scheme. Target audience When creating my game I will take into account that my target audience will be 20 to 50 year olds. This user group will not be gender specific, this is due to 48% of women play video games meaning 52% of men play video games, this near 50/50 split means the game will not be aimed at a certain gender and so will use unisex colour that will please everyone. I will make sure the colours, fonts and style of the game as well as graphics used will appeal to that user group, I will use colours that are not too bright as this can look tacky. I will use colours that will match together well, these could include colours such as green and purple (The company s main colour) or red and blue. I will not use childish graphics for sprites such as the cats or dogs as this may put off the target audience. The font used will be between 15px and 25px and will all use the same font, Century Gothic (although this may be change in the final product). At the end of the game it will display a grey box indicating the player has completed the game. Game creation process These are the tasks that I will need to complete when creating my game: Task Identify assets needed Source assets Create game environment Place assets in game Check geometric sizes Edit properties of assets Create interactions Create test plan Set player start point Test game Debug game Save and publish game 14

15 Game visualisation diagram Key: Yellow-House Black-Wall Very light blue/grey-pets Pink-Vases Brown-Flowers Grey-Path Green-grass Light green-trees or Rocks Blue-Pond Red-Gnome 15

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17 Asset table Image Properties - Information on Scratch Source Description URL (Address) Date visited: Official site None Copyright Status - Information on Game maker com/gamemaker Date visited: Official site None - Information on Cyberix 3D gamemaker3d.com/ Date visited: Official site None The mowve mini.png Created by myself in an image editing program Date created: None The mowve mowver.png Created by myself in an image editing program Date created: None The mowve monster.png Created by myself in an image editing program Date created: None.psd/png deviantart.com Date visited: Official site None.psd/png deviantart.com Date visited: Official site None.psd/png deviantart.com Date visited: Official site None Cat-giffsheet Cat-giffsheet Fountainsheet Gnome-gifsheet.png deviantart.com Date visited: Official site None Small-tree.psd/png deviantart.com Date visited: Official site 17

18 Test plan Test What should happen What happens Corrections? Press up arrow The Lawn Mower should move and look up. Press down arrow The Lawn Mower should move and face down. Press left arrow The Lawn Mower should move and face left. Press right arrow The Lawn Mower should move and face right. Release up arrow Release down arrow Release left arrow Release right arrow Lawn Mower collides with grass Lawn Mower collides with Wall Pet collides with Wall The lawn mower will stop facing up without the grass particle. The lawn mower will stop facing down without the grass particle. The lawn mower will stop facing left without the grass particle. The lawn mower will stop facing right without the grass particle. When the lawnmower hits a piece of grass it will be destroyed and will add 30 to the score. Lose health and stop the mower. The pet reverses and sprite changes. Next level Lawn Mower collides with vase Lawn Mower collides with gnome Lawn Mower collides with pond Lawn Mower collides with flowers Lawn Mower collides with House Lawn Mower collides with Health Lawn Mower collides with Power surge Lawn Mower collides with lever Lawn Mower collides with Key Lawn Mower collides with Tiki monster When the player reaches a score of 5000 the next level appears. The player will lose 500 points and a life. Vase break noise plays. The player gains 250 points and the gnome disappears as well as plays a sound. Room restarts with player s health set to 75%. Pond splash sound plays. A different grass noise plays and the player loses 100 points. Flowers turn to dirt. The player stops moving. The player s health is increased by 15. Power up sound is played. Power up is removed. Sprinklers become electric and player moves faster. Power surge sound plays. Power up is removed. The lever turns off and the tiki monster stops moving. Click sound is played. The gate/chains are destroyed and so is the key. Chain noise plays. The level is restarted. Growl sound is played. 18

19 Test What should happen What happens Corrections? Lawn Mower collides with path Player can get through the path but slowly. Play menu button is clicked The player is taken to the mower select menu. Controls menu button is clicked The player is taken to the Controls page. Quit menu button is clicked The player is taken out of the game. Mower 1 button is clicked Mower 1 will be used in the game. Mower 2 button is clicked Mower 2 will be used in the game. Mower 3 button is clicked Mower 3 will be used in the game. Health bar decreases As the player loses health the health bar will decrease. Legal issues When considering legal restrictions of the content that will be on featured in the game there are several things that must be considered and it can be complicated as there are many loophole and laws that follow this subject. One of the main rules to do with copyright is that you must seek the owner of the contents permission before you use it in your game and release it to the public domain, the owner of the content may also restrict you to using the image or content on only ONE page, this can be a perimeter set by the resource owner. This information allows me to see what I can and cannot do with assets that I will obtain for my multipage website. As I am in school and I am creating this website as part of my GCSE coursework there are no restrictions as to what content I may use as this game will not be published in the public domain, although I will create an asset list to state where the images and graphics are sourced. This will be needed if my game is used in a commercial context. Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer The interpretation of the client requirements is good and expands on the detail in the brief. This would meet the MB3 descriptor. The categorisation of the target audience also introduces some knowledge from R081, since the detail is outside the scope of what would typically be covered in the unit content. There are three visualisation diagrams for the different levels (with a key to the colour coding) which demonstrate some complexity to planning the structure of the game. A detailed test plan is included which identifies a wide range of appropriate tests. Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 Using a best fit approach, MB3 is a better match even though the evidence meets parts of MB2 and MB3 in different places. The interpretation is good together with the test plan although there are opportunities for more detailed game planning. Overall, this is a borderline decision but just within MB3. 19

20 Learning Objective 3 Be able to pitch a proposal to an audience MB3 Importing Sprites 20

21 Editing audio clips Using an audio editing programme called Audacity I clipped the sound files down to a few seconds or less and exported the audio as a WAV file, this is because in game maker you can play as many WAV files as you want at once although you may only play 1 MP3 file at once. This conversion allowed me to play many sounds at once without breaking up the noise. 21

22 Importing audio Importing audio into your game is very simple, all you have to do is press the button that says create sound. You are then met with a very simple GUI, in this you can turn the volume of your sound up or down, change which ear you want your sound to play through and change the type of file e.g. Normal sound or background sound. In my case nearly all of my sounds were normal apart from the end_music and the background_music, these were both classed as background music as they played in the back. I imported all of my audio this way. Creating backgrounds Home screen 22

23 I began by creating a new canvas in my image editing software, this had to be 640px x 480px with a dpi of 300, and this was so it could fit into the room. I then imported the background image for the background, this was the coloured triangles, I then changed the hue and saturation of the image as the colours did not reflect the game so I change it to greens and oranges. I then imported letters for the word Mowve individually and arranged them how I wanted, after that I imported the text the game underneath, this all slotted in well together. I finally added a grass silhouette to the base although I wanted a brighter colour than black so I went for the same purple used in the font. Controls screen I created the controls screen in a similar way to the home screen. I began by copying the home screen into the same sized canvas and then removed the heading. I then changed the colours slightly so the user could easily tell they were on a different page. I did this by changing the colour balance and making the colours lighter and vibrant, I also changed the colour of the grass to a light purple. I then added a new heading controls and added information on how to play the game, I repeated the same steps for all 4 controls pages. I left spaces next to each line of information so i could insert the object in there later in game maker. Creating the grass I started by creating a new canvas 640px x 480px with 300 dpi. I drew out dark green boxes with gaps in-between and then created a new layer below the boxes. I filled this layer with a lighter green so the overall appearance of the background looked like cut grass. I then added a grass texture over the top and a block of light green colouring with a low opacity of 35%. I then selected the dark green boxes and added a new layer of brightness and contrast, this created dark lines over the natural overlay. This overall composition made the grass look lighter and more natural. 23

24 Creating the end screen I began by copying the grass background into a new canvas 640 x 480. I then added text over the top in the font Century gothic. The text displays a well done header and some information about the players score which is false. This is due to me not knowing how to actually implement statistics into the game, this could be fixed however in further development. Creating paths for gnomes I began creating a path for my gnomes by selecting create path. This showed me a menu with a large grid, I proceeded to press in random areas of the grid to give the gnomes a large area to run around in making it harder for the player to know where the gnome would be going next. I repeated this for all of the 5 gnome paths. Adding a font 24

25 In my game I only used one font, this was century gothic. To add a font to your game all you have to do is press create a font and you are met again, with another simple GUI. You can set a name for your font as well as choose the font you want to use. I set my font size to 15 which is a little larger than the default 12. I wanted my font to be bold so i ticked the bold box and set the character range from 32 to 127 which is the default. I used the default character set as this is English and my game is in English. Creating objects Creating an object is simple. All you have to do is select Create and object which is a blue ball. You are then met with a large box. In this box you can name your object and add events as well as actions to go along with this event. You can also assign a sprite to the object. This is the simple basis of how to create an object. Creating the wall object For each side of wall and corner i created a new object, assigning sprites to each one. Each separate side of wall allowed me to reverse the direction of other objects. Each of these had not actions so I do not need to show you them. Creating the terrain I simply created objects for each piece of terrain (grass, dirt, flowers, and path). Each of these had not actions so I do not need to show you them. 25

26 Creating start menu buttons All of the menu buttons are the same. They use a different sprite for each button e.g. Play. Each button has a different action on left button click, the play button will take you to the next room, the quit button will exit the game, the next button will take you to the next room, the menu button will take you back to the menu and the controls button will take you to the controls menu. Each time you left click on a menu button it will Ding as it plays the sound MenuSelect. As the mouse enters the sprite is changed to a white version of the text, this lets the player know that they are hovering over the button. When the mouse is moved away the original sprite is placed back. Objects for the mower select menu In the mower select menu there is an object that has no actions, this object is only used to display text in the room. The mower select buttons are all basically the same. It has a mouse enter event; this changes the sprite to a white overlay with some information about each lawnmower. The mouse leave changes the sprite back to its original state. The left button plays the Ding sound as well as takes you to the next room. The only difference with each mower select button is the execute code. On each select button the code has a different number to tell the game which lawnmower has been selected. Obj_0 sets the global.menuselect to 0, this prevents the game getting confused. 26

27 The health bar The health bar was complicated at first but as soon as I had done one I had done them all. The health bar is a cartoon image version of a text health, this looked better than having the health displayed in the top corner of the game in text. Each event has the same actions, it just tests the health whenever the player presses one of the keys and is also implemented into the timer so is tested every second. It simply tests If the health is smaller than... then it will change the sprite to that amount of health which is pretty simple, it just looks complicated. If the health equals 0 it changes the sprite of the health bar, sets the menu select to 0, sets the health back to 100 and the score to 0 then stops the music and displays a message saying you broke your mower and then restarts the game. Health bar check is used in rooms after the start room. It checks the health of the player and then set it to that health. It is only used so the player does not think they lose a lot of health at the start of the level. 27

28 Room controller The room controller is an object that does what it says on the tin. It controls the room. The alarm sets the seconds to -1 every time the alarm goes off (which is every second) it also tests if the seconds are equal to 0, if so it says that the player ran out of time and restarts the whole game, otherwise it resets the alarm. The alarm event also tests for the health bar (the same as in the slide before) as well as testing the score to change the pile of money in the HUD, if the money reaches 5000 it moves onto the next room and stops the background music. The alarm also tests if the lives are equal to 0, if so it restarts the game. 28

29 On game start, the room controller sets the health to 100. On room start it set the score to 0, the room speed to 30, the seconds to 85, the alarm to room_speed, it plays the background music and sets the lives to 3. The draw event draws the score in the top right corner as well as the seconds in the centre. It also draws the lives on the top as well as setting the font colour to purple and the font to century_gothic. End sound The end sound is an object that is played in the end screen room. It plays music when the room starts. Pets All of the pets are pretty similar. They all have a create event where they start moving in a direction, this may be up, down, left or right. The dogs move at a speed of 3 and the cats a speed of 5. If the pets collide with a wall they reverse their direction and have their sprite changed into the opposite direction. 29

30 The gnomes are also very simple. They follow a set path as they spawn. They move at a speed of 7 and follow a different path each. When they finish at the end of their path they continue from the start. All of the houses are objects. They do not have any events. Each different house represents a difficulty level. 30

31 Creating the lawn mowers Ok so first things first, we have to check which lawnmower the player has selected before we can actually code the lawnmowers. This object is placed in every room instead of where a lawnmower might be placed. The code basically checks which lawnmower has been selected by testing if the menu select number is 1, 2 or 3. This way it can then choose which lawnmower it will place in each room. The true tag says that it will perform the events of the selected lawnmower. 31

32 Interactions - Hitting pets, tombstones and the wall In the game when you hit any of the 4 pets you will lose 5 health and the pet will turn into a tombstone, this will let the player know they have hit a pet. Hitting a pet will also reduce the score by 500 and take the player back to the start position. If you hit a tombstone you will not be able to move through it. Hitting a wall with your lawnmower will reduce your health by 1 as this is not a major event although it will still damage the mower. Hitting a wall will also prevent you from going through it. Collecting grass Collecting a piece of grass by hitting it will add 30 points to your score and also remove it from the room by destroying it. It will test if the grass sound is playing before playing so that the sounds will not overlap. This is done with a simple piece of code. If you drive into a pond it will play the sound splash as well as telling the player that they went for a swim. It will set the score to 0 and the health back to 80. The current room will then restart. If you hit a vase you will destroy the vase and reduce the score by 500 and lose a life, It will also play the vase break sound if grass1 is not already playing. All of the flower and carrot patches are the same. If you hit them the score will be reduced by 100 and it will play a different grass break noise. It will also change the patch into a patch of dirt and reduce the players health by 5 When you hit a gnome it changes its sprite and then plays the gnome_gone sound. It then adds 250 to your score and destroys the gnome. Hitting rocks and trees causes significant damage to the lawnmowers as you can get stuck inside them. Hitting a rock or tree stops the player from moving and also reduces the health by 10 or 1. You collect health by colliding with it. A health boost will increase your health by 15 and will also play the power up noise. The health boost will also be destroyed so you cannot pick it up again. Collecting a power surge power up will play the power surge noise as well as destroying the power up so you cannot pick it up again. It will also start the power surge timeline. 32

33 Player controls - Moving with the Keys When you press an arrow key the lawnmower will move in that direction. It will also change the sprite to face the direction the key is pressed. Each mower goes at different speeds. When an arrow key is released the sprite is changed to the non-moving sprite. The faster variant of each lawn mower has its speed increased by 3. The amount of score gained by mowing grass is decreased by 10 down to 20. Driving over electrified sprinklers will nearly destroy your lawnmower. I created the other lawn mowers by first duplicating the base mower which was the mowver. I then changed the initial sprite to the mini mower and increased the speed and what sprite it changed to when the arrow keys were pressed. It was very simple. I repeated the same process to get the Monster Mower. Creating rooms 33

34 I started the mower select room by setting the background colour to white and inserting all of the objects, remembering to insert obj_0. I placed some objects between the grid by holding down alt at the same time as left clicking. 34

35 Creating the levels I began creating the first level by changing the background to grass. I then added all of the wall around the edges making sure each corner was in the correct place. I then filled the centre with grass and added the HUD with the clock, money, health bar and controller. Finally added the other objects to the room to make the level playable. I repeated this process until i had created all 5 levels. 35

36 Creating the final room I started making the end screen by changing the rooms background to end screen. I then built a wall around the edge of the room to represent the garden. I finally added all of the sprites including the end_sound so that music played at the end of the level. 36

37 Exporting - Creating a.exe To make the game a.exe file so that it is playable outside of game maker I need to go to file, create executable. Due to network restrictions I am unable to do this therefore my teacher will do it for me but I have shown that I know how to do this. TESTING Test What should happen What happens Corrections? Press up arrow The Lawn Mower should move and look up Lawn Mower moves and faces up Press down arrow The Lawn Mower should move and face down Lawn Mower moves and faces down Press left arrow The Lawn Mower should move and face left Lawn Mower moves and looks left Press right arrow The Lawn Mower should move and face right Lawn Mower moves and looks right Release up arrow Release down arrow Release left arrow Release right arrow The lawn mower will stop facing up without the grass particle The lawn mower will stop facing down without the grass particle The lawn mower will stop facing left without the grass particle The lawn mower will stop facing right without the grass particle The lawn mower stops and faces up The lawn mower stops and faces down The lawn mower stops and faces left The lawn mower stops and faces right 37

38 Test What should happen What happens Corrections? Lawn Mower collides with grass Lawn Mower collides with Wall Pet collides with Wall Next level Lawn Mower collides with vase Lawn Mower collides with gnome Lawn Mower collides with pond Lawn Mower collides with flowers Lawn Mower collides with House Lawn Mower collides with Health Lawn Mower collides with Power surge Lawn Mower collides with lever Lawn Mower collides with Key Lawn Mower collides with Tiki monster Lawn Mower collides with path Play menu button is clicked Controls menu button is clicked Quit menu button is clicked When the lawnmower hits a piece of grass it will be destroyed and will add 30 to the score Grass disappears and the score is increased by 30 Lose health and stop the mower The mower will stop and 1 health will be removed. The pet reverses and sprite changes When the player reaches a score of 5000 the next level appears. The player will lose 500 points and a life. Vase break noise plays. The player gains 250 points and the gnome disappears as well as plays a sound. Room restarts with player s health set to 75%. Pond splash sound plays A different grass noise plays and the player loses 100 points. Flowers turn to dirt. The player stops moving. The player s health is increased by 15. Power up sound is played. Power up is removed. Sprinklers become electric and player moves faster. Power surge sound plays. Power up is removed. The lever turns off and the tiki monster stops moving. Click sound is played The gate/chains are destroyed and so is the key. Chain noise plays. The level is restarted. Growl sound is played. Player can get through the path but slowly. The pet reverses and the sprite is changed to the pat facing the other way The next level appears 500 points is removed but a life is not removed. Breaking noise plays. The player receives 350 points and the gnome disappears. The sound Is played Rooms is restarted and the health is reduced. The sound plays. The flowers turn to grass and the player loses points and the grass sound plays. The player stops moving but glitches into house. Health is increased. Sound played. Power up is removed. Sprinklers change and player moves faster. The sound plays. Power up is removed. Lever is turned off and the tiki comes to a halt. Sound plays. Chains are broken and key is removed. Sound plays. Level restarts and sound is played. Player can travel across path slowly. The player is taken to the mower select menu Mower select menu appears The player is taken to the Controls page The controls room appears The player is taken out of the game The game closes I implemented a lives system to fix the issue, this works fine. This could not be fixed. 38

39 Test What should happen What happens Corrections? Mower 1 button is clicked Mower 2 button is clicked Mower 3 button is clicked Health bar decreases Mower 1 will be used in the game Mower 1 is used in the game Mower 2 will be used in the game Mower 2 is used in the game Mower 3 will be used in the game Mower 3 is used in the game As the player loses health the health bar will decrease. The health bar decreases. Asset Table My game files Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer In this unit submission, the actual game was submitted although this is omitted from the exemplar material. The marks that can be supported are based on a good playable game being available, with selectable mowers that have different characteristics. The write up for the creation of the game is very extensive and in many ways, more than what is needed or expected in this qualification. Although a number of selected screenshots that are taken from the game development environment would be good practice, this would only need to cover the marking criteria that are not explicit from viewing and playing the final game. However, for the purposes of the exemplar material the evidence provided gives a good indication of the detail that has gone into creating the game. For both strands of the marking criteria in this LO, the evidence (which includes the final game) would be safely within MB3. Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 It is difficult to say how much more would be needed or expected for this strand, given that a highly playable game is included with an extensive write up. Therefore this is well within MB3. 39

40 Learning Objective 4 Be able to review the creation of a digital game MB3 Review The overall finish of the game I have created for the clients brief meets all of the requirements. The overall art style of the game was colourful but smart and neat where it was required. The games aesthetics in terms of the sprites, layout and heads up display provide the user with a user friendly feel with warm and bright colours as well as crisp and smooth sprites that have been edited to look professional and cartoon like at the same time. A downside to the sprites was that many of them were from different viewing angles, for example; the house sprites were 3D but the grass, dirt and other terrain sprites were 2D from a birds eye view, this at first glance looks a little odd but this does not look bad after a while and adds a unique style to the games format. The colour scheme and use of images would defiantly be suitable for the clients target audience which was 20 to 50. The simplicity of the maze style game allows the user to easily grasp the concepts of the game as well as the controls such as moving the lawnmower with the arrow keys and dodging cats, dogs and watching out for plants while at the same time making sure that you mow enough grass to make enough money for the day before being transported to the next level, all of this information is available to the player on the Menu where you can look at controls or just dive into the game where you are able to select one of three lawn mowers by using a simple code where by it sets the global variable. The game included a wide range of assets including, images, sound files, text, headings and information on the game. Many of the assets in the game were repurposed to be a smaller size, in the case of sprites this was 32px x 32px and all of the sound files were changed from mp3 to wav as the game making software that I used to create the game did not like this file type and would not play more than one mp3 sound at the same time. In the game you can play as one of three different type of lawnmower and your job is to mow different people s lawn where you have to watch out for expensive ornaments such as vases and making sure you do not kill any of the family pets. The 3 lawn mowers you can play as are the Mowve Mini; A fast mower that is smaller, the Mowve Mowver; a medium sized mower that goes at a good speed and the Mowve Monster, a large mower that is very slow, implementing each of these lawnmowers meets the clients brief. In each level there are many obstacles, these include flowers that can be curt but will lose you money. Each background for each level and the control screens were also repurposed to be 640px x 480px to fit the size of each room. The file type used for the sprites was.png as this did not save the image with a white background and this would have looked tacky and unprofessional. The use of white space in the game was used well, even in the mower select screen where the background is plain white it looks effective as each image has a border and when the image is hovered over it creates a white overlay which displays the information about each lawnmower. In the final game I have kept to the original game designs that I drew up on templates as these designs and layouts for each rooms were a good difficulty that progressed slowly. The 2 power-ups that were implemented into the game worked well, the health boost increasing the health of the lawnmower worked properly and the power surge power up worked well on its timer system lasting for only 20 seconds, reducing the amount of money gained, increasing the mower speed and electrifying the sprinklers. The health bar decreases in increments of 10 and displays a darker colour each time, this indicates to the player the amount of health they have left. The HUD of the amount of money made also changes, when you reach $1000 the sprite changes to a larger pile of money and the same with $4000. The game also has a lives system which I had to implement whilst doing my test plan, this was due to not meeting the clients requirements of losing lives when you hit a vase/pot, this system works well and even displays hearts at the top of the screen. The time in the game lasts for 85 seconds which may be changed as personally I thing that this time limit is rather long, the background music also follows this time length as it increases in volume as the time goes on, this is followed by an abrupt alarm noise if the player runs out of time although this did not work very well as it is a little out of time. All of the sound effects work well and reflect the action well e.g. a glass breaking noise plays when you crash into a plant pot. After reviewing my game I think the colour scheme of the greens with the blacks and greys went well together and suited the overall composition of the game by complimenting the overall theme of the outdoors and gardening as well as giving it an all-round professional look as the colours suit each other well. On the mower select page I used white boxes over the images when layering the text, this made the text easier to read and made the images look nicer when hovering, this allowed the players to clearly see what they were hovering over, although on this screen there is a lot of white empty space which is not a good use of white empty and could be improved in the future by adding extra images or extra content to the page to fill up the empty space, although did look effective with the borders. 40

41 Improvements If I were to recreate the game I might have used images that are all from the same perspective, for example all images that are top view rather than a 3D side view, and this would have made the game look better. I would create more levels to my game as there are only 5 and actual game would have many more, although I could not do this in the time given to me as this game is for my GCSE coursework. These levels could be developed further by increasing the room sizes, making rooms that move along with the player as well as extra features such as more power-ups, household pets, enemies and garden obstacles, this would add new gameplay features to the game as well as increase the difficulty. Some of the images I used were of a very low resolution, this could reduce the resolution of the game making it look pixelated and poor quality. This could be changed by making the rooms in the game larger to allow for bigger sprites that would be of a higher quality, therefore making the game look more appealing to the user of the game. If I were to develop the game further I would code the majority of the game instead of using the premade game maker controls as this would be easier to create and allow for a more detailed game as well as more options for game play. Marking commentary on MB3 candidate style answer The final review makes some good and appropriate comments on the finished game, which is a good match for the requirements of the marking criteria. Note that a review of the creation process and techniques is not required and would not support high marks in this strand. The list of improvements is detailed and reasons are given for the possible changes that could be made. Overall, this review for LO4 is seen as well within MB3. Why it was awarded MB3 not MB2 The review of the game, its testing and potential improvements is thoughtful and relevant, demonstrating a thorough understanding, as opposed to sound 41

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