Senior Design Spring 2010 Milestone 1

General Project Info Team Members: – Lauren Bissett – Dan Maguire – Nicholas Woodfield Project Goals: – Expand Spark Engine (our 3D engine) – Develop a 3D Game that implements SE

Background Extension of last semester’s projectproject Established a Game Engine with a prototype game, included: – 3D Graphics Terrain (texture splattering) Collision Detection Basic model pipeline (integration of external animation software package) Scenegraph (data structure used for efficient updating and rendering) – Primitive Artificial Intelligence – 3D Audio

Background Development: – XNA Environment (C#) – Pre-existing conventions Code: – GoogleCode repository – Message board Limitations: – Sky’s the limit!

Goals & Motivation Want to further develop: – 3D Graphics Engine & Content Pipeline – Build complete, feature-rich, FUN game Why? – Games are fun! – Challenge: games are hard to make! – Encompass nearly all fields of CS Graphics Computational Physics Sound Processing Artificial Intelligence

Plan Of Action Each team member will have responsibilities based on traditional areas of game development – Art & Design Designer Animator – Development & Implementation Programmer Producer Tester

Nicholas Engine Architect Primary Responsibilities: – 3D Engine (Honors Thesis) 3D Engine General engine architecture Animation package Particle effects Lighting – Game Development Game architecture Integration of game with 3D engine

Nick’s Timeline FeatureJanuaryFebruaryMarchApril Engine Lighting Normal Mapping Content Pipeline Animation Research General Architecture Code Rewrites Documentation Animation Package Particle Effects System Specular mapping Parallax mapping (?) Environmental mapping Honors Thesis Lighting Per-pixel implementation Further development Optimization Portability Particle Effects Basic particle system Fire Dust Etc. Game-specific effects using system Continue Game Foundation More robust collision/physics Specific gameplay mechanics Stairs Continue

Lauren Technical Director Primary Responsibilities: – Art Development ( Video ) Video Modeling – Making 3D models Rigging – Creating skeletons to control movement and binding them to geometric models Animation – Animating the rigged character Content design and creation – Level Design Level architecture Staging – Setting up objects and lights in scene

Lauren’s Timeline FeatureJanuaryFebruaryMarchApril Design Floor plans Character design Content list More floor plans Modeling Playable character model based on character design Level building Prop building Level building Prop building Level building Prop building Rigging Generic skeleton Rig generic skeleton Tweak rig for playable character Animation Assist in content pipeline development and testing by providing custom animations Walk cycle Animate Game Lighting Staging Lighting Staging

Dan Production Engineer Primary Responsibilities: – Everything else Gameplay programming – Simple scenario: if the character is in front of a treasure chest, we need to write a proximity trigger, coordinate user input (e.g. user presses ‘A’ button) with scene entity so that it performs an action and/or plays an animation. Artificial Intelligence – Path finding – Line of sight – Decision making Sound Design – Background music – Sound effects – Voice acting

Dan’s Timeline FeatureJanuaryFebruaryMarchApril Game Puzzle design Character design Research Investigate game architecture Gameplay Inventory System UI Gameplay AI Review algorithms Research Path finding Line of sight Decision system Path finding Line of sight Decision system Audio Compile expected effects Sound effects Background music Voice acting Sound effects Background music Voice acting Sound effects Background music Voice acting

Gameplay / Setting Style – Third Person View – Action-Adventure Story – Egypt in 1918, closing months of WWI – Band of travelers uncover mysterious pyramid, the tomb of Egyptian demon Ammit the Destroyer, devourer of souls Harrowing passages, intricate puzzles, perilous traps Mummies, demons, other creatures of the underworld Invaluable treasures and amazing riches

Any questions or comments for me (Dan), Lauren or Nick?