As you may well see, it has been a while since I have done anything on here. Between college and other things it has become hard to get the time and motivation to update this and get on with a project of such magnitude.
However, I hope to get back on track soon, I am postponing the website development indefinitely as this blogger should be OK for a while.
I wish to concentrate on the project more than anything, but like I said, progress will be slow.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Friday, 30 September 2011
Project 2: Side-Bar Design
One of the most important parts of a website is the way in which it looks. I have an annoying ability to never be settled with a design I have created. In order to combat this, the best thing to do is just make one design and stick to it. Instead of trying to decide between many.
This is my design idea. I have loosely based it on Windows 8's Metro UI, in the sense that it has rectangular shapes that are separated from one another by small gaps. If an item is selected it is highlighted to the darker colour, as shown in the second image on the "Blog" tab.
Of course, in the final design the colour scheme may change. In addition, if I choose to go with this design, small elements may change. For example, the gaps between each "tab" may get bigger.
I will focus on the looks of each page next, trying to keep in line with the design that has been set by the side-bar.
This is my design idea. I have loosely based it on Windows 8's Metro UI, in the sense that it has rectangular shapes that are separated from one another by small gaps. If an item is selected it is highlighted to the darker colour, as shown in the second image on the "Blog" tab.
Of course, in the final design the colour scheme may change. In addition, if I choose to go with this design, small elements may change. For example, the gaps between each "tab" may get bigger.
I will focus on the looks of each page next, trying to keep in line with the design that has been set by the side-bar.
Monday, 26 September 2011
Project 2: Kysel Website
I've decided that I would like to have my own website, it's a bit more "free" than a blog (although I will still be having a blog on it). I will continue to update this blog until the site is completed, where I will then convert everything over.
The Plan
Well, I am going to start by using a free hosting site, X10 Hosting. Which is absolutely brilliant, they supply nearly everything you get from paid services. The only down-side being that I have to use one of their sub-domain addresses, at least until I can afford to buy my own domain name.
For now, I have settled on www.kysel.x10.mx, which isn't too bad i guess. Considering I'm paying nothing for it.
The Site
As for the site itself, it doesn't exactly need to be "content rich". The following will suffice:
- Home
Just your average home page, updates from all sections of the site with the occasional random thing (like thought of the day for example).
- Projects
A page dedicating to detailing each of my projects, which maybe branches off to each project having its own page.
- Blog
An embedded blog, much like the current one. This will probably be run on wordpress software as X10 Hosting has 1-click support. I might make my own them for it so it fits in better as well.
- Forum
A little forum where discussion can be had about my projects or just about anything that may be of interest. Projects are a lot more fun when you have people supporting you, I wouldn't say no to picking up some helpers either. After all, I'm sure that there are people I can learn a lot from.
- Contact
A contact page similar to the one here on the blog, but with added features, such as a CV download.
- About
A page dedicated to talking about myself and what I wish to achieve.
Later, I will discuss some design ideas for the website. This will include things such as layout and colour scheme. But for now, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
The Plan
Well, I am going to start by using a free hosting site, X10 Hosting. Which is absolutely brilliant, they supply nearly everything you get from paid services. The only down-side being that I have to use one of their sub-domain addresses, at least until I can afford to buy my own domain name.
For now, I have settled on www.kysel.x10.mx, which isn't too bad i guess. Considering I'm paying nothing for it.
The Site
As for the site itself, it doesn't exactly need to be "content rich". The following will suffice:
- Home
Just your average home page, updates from all sections of the site with the occasional random thing (like thought of the day for example).
- Projects
A page dedicating to detailing each of my projects, which maybe branches off to each project having its own page.
- Blog
An embedded blog, much like the current one. This will probably be run on wordpress software as X10 Hosting has 1-click support. I might make my own them for it so it fits in better as well.
- Forum
A little forum where discussion can be had about my projects or just about anything that may be of interest. Projects are a lot more fun when you have people supporting you, I wouldn't say no to picking up some helpers either. After all, I'm sure that there are people I can learn a lot from.
- Contact
A contact page similar to the one here on the blog, but with added features, such as a CV download.
- About
A page dedicated to talking about myself and what I wish to achieve.
Later, I will discuss some design ideas for the website. This will include things such as layout and colour scheme. But for now, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Project 1: GameDev - Planning - Facilities
Naturally, the first thing I was drawn to start planning on was the facilities. This is probably because the facilities will offer the basis for navigation within the game, with each facility having it's own page amongst other elements.
It makes sense to me that the facilities get split into 3 sections: Internal, external and the ones that could be considered as either.
Internal
For internal facilities, we have things that can only be supplied from within the company.
- Head Quarters
Will provide basic things to the company. I like to think of it as the "all-rounder" upgrade. I was thinking about the following "perks" to upgrading the HQ:
This is the location of where your game and application creating staff are working. Therefore, upgrades and such should apply to the employees and possibly the games and applications. Here are some ideas for perks:
As oppose to having the training facilities as a independent facility, it may well just be part of the employee options. Alternatively I could have it be both. Either way, it will be there to offer improvements to employees over time. You would have to think whether it will be more cost effective to get another employee or train another one. Improvements to a training facility would include:
External facilities are going to be places which are not controlled by the player, but will need to be visited for whatever service it provides.
- Bank
This is where the player can get a loan. I cant really think of another use for it. Maybe you could try and get better deals from different banks on interest rates and such. Obviously, this facility isn't upgradeable.
- Stock Exchange
In the stock exchange, players will be able buy and sell shares in companies, this would be an extra way to sell money. The possibility could also arise where you "buy-out" other developers, but the implementation of such a feature could be difficult. Would it be better for you to now have control of multiple companies? Or would it be better for them to morph into your primary company? Morphing them would add:
The recruitment facility is essentially where you search for employees to fill certain jobs within your company. It will offer a wide range of search criteria,so that you can tailor your search to your needs. This would also be non-upgradeable.
Either
"Either" facilities are locations that may start out life as an external facility, where you pay a premium for a service, but could later become internal, making them more cost-effective and controllable.
- Publishing
At the start of the game it would be rather overpowered to be able to publish yours and others' games, so in the beginning you will need to pay other publishers to release your games. This will come at large costs and with no "customization" of the release. However, when you first get a publishing facility, you will be able to publish your own games and ultimately, other company's games. Upgrades to the facility could result in:
- Factory
The factory is going to be the location where you create new hardware, this includes consoles and peripherals. Once you have first developed the hardware, it will then go into production via a factory. If you don't have a factory, it will cost a flat fee, plus extra for how advanced your console is etc. If you do own a factory, you will have to employ workers, but that flat fee will be abolished. Improvements to the factory could include:
Research is going to be the best way to forward your business. by researching new elements of hardware and software you can keep up and possibly overtake the competition. Hardware would include the research of components and peripherals, software would include the research of programming techniques on different hardware amongst other things. I also may include the art and sound studios within research, as they could count as a research based facility. On the other end of the stick, i could just split up hardware and software into "software engineering" and "hardware engineering". Upgrading could result in the following:
When you have created a great new game or made an awesomely powerful console, what good is it going to be if no-one knows about it. That's where the marketing department comes in. Before you own your own department you will need to pay a large premium for marketing tasks, afterwards, you will be able to customize them to your needs. This includes TV ads, previews, interviews etc.
By improving the marketing department you could:
This is yet another dodgy facility. It isn't exactly needed, but the idea is that anything you make has the option of going through a testing phase. The testing facility is your internal part of that (or you get a testing company to do it for you if you don't have the facilities). From that, you could also have public BETA's and demos. Improvements could lead to:
When you are shipping your creations, you need a means of storing them. You can pay for external storage, which will cost you a constant fee, dependent on storage size. Or you could get your own storage facilities around the world, where you pay one off for the storage. Upgrades would include:
This is definitely one of the more "unnecessary" facilities. The idea is that art studios will be used for the research of new art styles, because in my eyes, art styles in games are important. It is possible that this feature could be included within the research facility or as a standalone. Upgrades to the art studio could include:
- The ability to employ more artists.
- An increase in the speed of art style development.
- More art styles become available to develop.
- Overall increase in art quality and skills.
- Sound Labs
This is another one of the more unnecessary facilities. It could have a minor feature that is implemented within the game making process itself. However, I like the idea of getting contracts with big composers. Upgrades to a sound lab would include:
- Bigger sound production teams.
- The ability to "lure" in better composers.
- Cheaper costs.
- Better equipment = better quality sound production.
- Better production speeds.
That's all for the facilities at the moment, once I have detailed the other parts of the game in a similar manner to this, I will then start going through each of these in even more detail. Hopefully even getting their mechanics nailed down.
If there is anything really obvious that I've missed, please give me a buzz!
It makes sense to me that the facilities get split into 3 sections: Internal, external and the ones that could be considered as either.
Internal
For internal facilities, we have things that can only be supplied from within the company.
- Head Quarters
Will provide basic things to the company. I like to think of it as the "all-rounder" upgrade. I was thinking about the following "perks" to upgrading the HQ:
- Development Studios- Small increase in training speeds.
- Ability to open more development studios.
- Ability to take out larger loans.
- Skill points to assign to employees.
- Heightened reputation. Leads to easier employment of better employees.
- Small increase in research ability.
- Bigger HQ = ability to upgrade other facilities to higher levels.
This is the location of where your game and application creating staff are working. Therefore, upgrades and such should apply to the employees and possibly the games and applications. Here are some ideas for perks:
- Skill points that can be assigned to employees.- Training Facilities
- An increase in the amount of different teams of coders you have. (So you can work on more than 1 project at a time).
- The ability to open more development studios around the world. Allows you to make more of an impact in a different markets as well as have an increase in software output.
- Small increase in the amount of employees you can have in each team.
- Improvement in the equipment available which could lead to a better overall output to the teams working on projects.
As oppose to having the training facilities as a independent facility, it may well just be part of the employee options. Alternatively I could have it be both. Either way, it will be there to offer improvements to employees over time. You would have to think whether it will be more cost effective to get another employee or train another one. Improvements to a training facility would include:
- Training speed increases.External
- Training costs decreases.
- More methods of training could become available.
- The ability to train more employees at a time.
External facilities are going to be places which are not controlled by the player, but will need to be visited for whatever service it provides.
- Bank
This is where the player can get a loan. I cant really think of another use for it. Maybe you could try and get better deals from different banks on interest rates and such. Obviously, this facility isn't upgradeable.
- Stock Exchange
In the stock exchange, players will be able buy and sell shares in companies, this would be an extra way to sell money. The possibility could also arise where you "buy-out" other developers, but the implementation of such a feature could be difficult. Would it be better for you to now have control of multiple companies? Or would it be better for them to morph into your primary company? Morphing them would add:
- Their employees to your roster.- Recruitment
- Their bank balance to yours.
- Their released games to yours. (giving you all future profits from their games, as well as the franchise naming so that you inherit its fan base.
- Their facilities to yours. (Lets say that they have a facility that you don't, you now get it for free with no build time, or if they have a facility with a higher upgrade level than yours, you now inherit the upgrade).
The recruitment facility is essentially where you search for employees to fill certain jobs within your company. It will offer a wide range of search criteria,so that you can tailor your search to your needs. This would also be non-upgradeable.
Either
"Either" facilities are locations that may start out life as an external facility, where you pay a premium for a service, but could later become internal, making them more cost-effective and controllable.
- Publishing
At the start of the game it would be rather overpowered to be able to publish yours and others' games, so in the beginning you will need to pay other publishers to release your games. This will come at large costs and with no "customization" of the release. However, when you first get a publishing facility, you will be able to publish your own games and ultimately, other company's games. Upgrades to the facility could result in:
- Increase in the amount of workers you can have.I know that publishers and developers are often separate, but as you are starting at the beginning of video games as an industry, you have the opportunity to develop into a publisher. Just like real companies did.
- Increase in the quality of release. (colour instruction manuals, better box art etc).
- Increase in the amount of languages the game can be localized to.
- Increase in the output of games.
- Lower costs.
- Factory
The factory is going to be the location where you create new hardware, this includes consoles and peripherals. Once you have first developed the hardware, it will then go into production via a factory. If you don't have a factory, it will cost a flat fee, plus extra for how advanced your console is etc. If you do own a factory, you will have to employ workers, but that flat fee will be abolished. Improvements to the factory could include:
- More workers.- Research
- Lower costs.
- More production lines (increased output).
- Improved production speeds.
- More factories around the world. (overall lower shipping costs).
Research is going to be the best way to forward your business. by researching new elements of hardware and software you can keep up and possibly overtake the competition. Hardware would include the research of components and peripherals, software would include the research of programming techniques on different hardware amongst other things. I also may include the art and sound studios within research, as they could count as a research based facility. On the other end of the stick, i could just split up hardware and software into "software engineering" and "hardware engineering". Upgrading could result in the following:
- Larger amount of researchers.- Marketing
- More productive researchers.
- More research options to become available.
- Lower costs.
When you have created a great new game or made an awesomely powerful console, what good is it going to be if no-one knows about it. That's where the marketing department comes in. Before you own your own department you will need to pay a large premium for marketing tasks, afterwards, you will be able to customize them to your needs. This includes TV ads, previews, interviews etc.
By improving the marketing department you could:
- Employ more marketing advisers.- Testing
- Get access to better means of marketing.
- Have lower costs.
This is yet another dodgy facility. It isn't exactly needed, but the idea is that anything you make has the option of going through a testing phase. The testing facility is your internal part of that (or you get a testing company to do it for you if you don't have the facilities). From that, you could also have public BETA's and demos. Improvements could lead to:
- More internal testers.- Storage
- The ability to reach more external testers.
- More testing means being unlocked.
When you are shipping your creations, you need a means of storing them. You can pay for external storage, which will cost you a constant fee, dependent on storage size. Or you could get your own storage facilities around the world, where you pay one off for the storage. Upgrades would include:
- More storage facilities.- Art Studios
- Larger storage.
This is definitely one of the more "unnecessary" facilities. The idea is that art studios will be used for the research of new art styles, because in my eyes, art styles in games are important. It is possible that this feature could be included within the research facility or as a standalone. Upgrades to the art studio could include:
- The ability to employ more artists.
- An increase in the speed of art style development.
- More art styles become available to develop.
- Overall increase in art quality and skills.
- Sound Labs
This is another one of the more unnecessary facilities. It could have a minor feature that is implemented within the game making process itself. However, I like the idea of getting contracts with big composers. Upgrades to a sound lab would include:
- Bigger sound production teams.
- The ability to "lure" in better composers.
- Cheaper costs.
- Better equipment = better quality sound production.
- Better production speeds.
That's all for the facilities at the moment, once I have detailed the other parts of the game in a similar manner to this, I will then start going through each of these in even more detail. Hopefully even getting their mechanics nailed down.
If there is anything really obvious that I've missed, please give me a buzz!
Friday, 23 September 2011
Project 1: GameDev - Basic Ideas
Before looking at the functionality of GameDev and how things are going to work, I need to get as much information as I can surrounding the game industry and how it works. After all, I am trying to emulate that process.
The first thing I have done is collated a large selection of ideas, and tried to split them out into easier to deal with sections. The result was this brainstorm:
It doesn't cover each section in depth, but it gives me a basis to work with. I will try to go through each section in much higher depth in following posts, ultimately getting down to how each section will actually work within the program.
If there is anything I have missed (an important thing). Feel free to tell me!
The first thing I have done is collated a large selection of ideas, and tried to split them out into easier to deal with sections. The result was this brainstorm:
It doesn't cover each section in depth, but it gives me a basis to work with. I will try to go through each section in much higher depth in following posts, ultimately getting down to how each section will actually work within the program.
If there is anything I have missed (an important thing). Feel free to tell me!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Project 1: GameDev - Logo Design
Just thought I would have a little mess about with making a logo for the game. I think it looks pretty cool. I just tried emphasizing on the pixelated feel of it, as you are starting in a world full of pixelized games.
Any thoughts would be cool, I was thinking about morphing the image into a more futuristic look, the further you go to the right of the image, but for now. This will do.
Monday, 19 September 2011
Project 1: GameDev - Introduction
Introduction
After getting accustomed to all this blogging stuff. I've decided that I should start on my first project, and boy, this is going to be one long ride. I have an ultimate vision in my mind for where I want this to end up. Firstly, I don't think I have the skills and secondly, the scale of this is unimaginable. These are the perfect ingredients to improve my skills.
Throughout the documentation of this game I intend to format my blogs in an easy to understand way. By keeping each post's design consistent, I hope that you guys will be able to follow it easily. For the planning stage of the game, The format will largely consist of a subject or "object" of the game, which I will then try to dissect down to the smallest details that will need to be required. I think that if I get down "everything" that I want the game to have, I can build towards it by adding it all in piece by piece.
What is GameDev?
By now, you are probably wandering, "What is GameDev?". Well, GameDev is an idea I came across whilst playing a wonderful little game called GameBiz (give it a try!!!). In reality, I will be creating the same sort of game as GameBiz, but I think I can make it so much better.
The aim of GameDev will be to create a game where the user works their way through from the beginning of game development(1980's or so), to the future (2030 +). As a game developer. At first, you will start with next to nothing. In order to progress you will have to employ, create game engines, games, consoles, publish games and in general, build up your company.
As if this wasn't already a difficult enough task. I will need to implement as many companies, games and consoles into the game as possible, complete with release dates and how successful they are. This will create a basis for the AI.
And Finally...
So, that's all for the introduction. In the coming weeks I will try to detail each and every part of the game. Ensuring that the foundation is nailed down. If you have any ideas or If you would even like to be a part of this project, feel free to contact me.
After getting accustomed to all this blogging stuff. I've decided that I should start on my first project, and boy, this is going to be one long ride. I have an ultimate vision in my mind for where I want this to end up. Firstly, I don't think I have the skills and secondly, the scale of this is unimaginable. These are the perfect ingredients to improve my skills.
Throughout the documentation of this game I intend to format my blogs in an easy to understand way. By keeping each post's design consistent, I hope that you guys will be able to follow it easily. For the planning stage of the game, The format will largely consist of a subject or "object" of the game, which I will then try to dissect down to the smallest details that will need to be required. I think that if I get down "everything" that I want the game to have, I can build towards it by adding it all in piece by piece.
What is GameDev?
By now, you are probably wandering, "What is GameDev?". Well, GameDev is an idea I came across whilst playing a wonderful little game called GameBiz (give it a try!!!). In reality, I will be creating the same sort of game as GameBiz, but I think I can make it so much better.
The aim of GameDev will be to create a game where the user works their way through from the beginning of game development(1980's or so), to the future (2030 +). As a game developer. At first, you will start with next to nothing. In order to progress you will have to employ, create game engines, games, consoles, publish games and in general, build up your company.
As if this wasn't already a difficult enough task. I will need to implement as many companies, games and consoles into the game as possible, complete with release dates and how successful they are. This will create a basis for the AI.
And Finally...
So, that's all for the introduction. In the coming weeks I will try to detail each and every part of the game. Ensuring that the foundation is nailed down. If you have any ideas or If you would even like to be a part of this project, feel free to contact me.
Welcome!
Hello! And welcome to my game and software development blog.
I would like to give out a little background on myself, explain the reasoning for this blog and what I intend to use it for.
First things first, my name is Kyle Selman, I am currently 18 years of age from a small town called Weston-super-Mare, located in the south-west of England. I am currently studying my second year Level 3 IT Practitioners at Weston College, where I hope to progress onto university and train to become a programmer.
In my spare time, I try to mess around with a bit of coding and learn what I can. Unfortunately, my lack of drive to complete things has led to many projects fading into my recycle bin. I hope that by documenting my projects and my development that not only will I have a reason to finish my projects, but I will have a valuable resource to show employers in the future.
I intend to create several little games and applications which I will document with a series of blog posts. In the beginning, the basis of the posts will be on planning and trying to find the right way in which I want to do things. Coding and graphics will come later on in development.
Any help and feedback would be appreciated along this process. I am not exactly an experienced programmer, so I am sure that there is lots I can learn!
I would like to give out a little background on myself, explain the reasoning for this blog and what I intend to use it for.
First things first, my name is Kyle Selman, I am currently 18 years of age from a small town called Weston-super-Mare, located in the south-west of England. I am currently studying my second year Level 3 IT Practitioners at Weston College, where I hope to progress onto university and train to become a programmer.
In my spare time, I try to mess around with a bit of coding and learn what I can. Unfortunately, my lack of drive to complete things has led to many projects fading into my recycle bin. I hope that by documenting my projects and my development that not only will I have a reason to finish my projects, but I will have a valuable resource to show employers in the future.
I intend to create several little games and applications which I will document with a series of blog posts. In the beginning, the basis of the posts will be on planning and trying to find the right way in which I want to do things. Coding and graphics will come later on in development.
Any help and feedback would be appreciated along this process. I am not exactly an experienced programmer, so I am sure that there is lots I can learn!
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