This document discusses experiments conducted for a video game project. It explores potential problems that could arise like losing project files or actors not showing up for recordings. Solutions discussed are backing up work to multiple drives and scheduling backup recording dates. Other experiments include soundproofing a recording space, using different audio recording and editing software, creating walk cycles and isometric textures in Photoshop, and evaluating game engines like OGRE. The document indicates most of these experiments, especially walk cycles and fundamental game elements, will be included in the final product.

1. Video Game FMP- Problem
Solving

2. Practical & Technical problems
Problems
Program no response
New Software
Incorrect software

3. Theoretical problems
The Problem:
I could lose my USB stick with my entire project saved on it. The USB could also get
corrupted.
How it will affect my production:
This will result in me losing all the work that I have made except for what I have already
uploaded to my website . This is generally a bad state that could possibly happen to my
project, especially if I am near the end.
Solutions or Alternatives:
I have created a backup storage place for my work. This is on my hard drive at home. Also a
hard drive at college. Whenever I make changes to my project, I will save it in all locations.
The implications of this:
Nothing because it is necessary that I do this because I need my work to be secure in case
of loss.
The Problem:
An voice actor may not be able to turn up to record for whatever reason.
How it will affect my production:
I will not be able record this important segment of my game then the project will be delayed.
Solutions or Alternatives:
I will have to arrange another day to do this. This will be a big inconvenience for me and for the
other cast. To reduce the chances of this problem occurring, I will make sure that everyone is
free on the day and that they can easily get to the location of recording.
The implications of this:
Re-arranging the recording session to a different day will delay the entire project. Trying to
prevent the problem happening in the first place is the best solutions.
The Problem:
The software may crash whilst I am editing.
How it will affect my production
This will cause me to lose the work that I was doing in that particular session. I will have to
redo it. This will delay production slightly.
Solutions or Alternatives:
I will save my work regularly so that I do not lose much work if anything crashes.
The implications of this:
I will have to remember to save my work regularly whilst I am editing otherwise I could
have a big loss on my hands.
The Problem:
I may be ill one day and not be able to turn up.
How it will affect my production
This will slow my creation process down and maybe I will have missed an important day where I
could have only done something particular on that day.
Solutions or Alternatives:
If I miss a day off then I will be doing work at home in my own time to recover from this and I
will always have to have a backup plan in case certain aspects don’t go my way.
The implications of this:
The preparation of this will allow me to be prepared for anything that can happen slightly in my
project, be it on schedule or a change in plans.

4. Audio
Having a carpeted floor will reduce the amount that sound bounces around in a room. Since it
can be expensive to carpet an entire room, placing rugs on the floor can do wonders to reduce
sound travel.
There are a handful of ways to prepare the walls in a room to dampen sound. One of the
cheapest ways is to hang thick blankets or tapestries along your walls. Egg cartons can be used
alongside these to redirect and thereby deaden sound getting rid of echoes and outside
sounds.
Neewer NW-800 Professional Studio
Broadcasting Recording Condenser
Microphone & NW- 35 Adjustable Recording
Microphone Suspension Scissor Arm Stand
with Shock Mount and Mounting Clamp Kit
Tascam audio recorder are the ones that York
college can provide me with but I still need to
eradicate other sounds from outside sources
such as background noise which Is why I
searched for soundproofing.
Price:£23.99
As
I could do voice recordings in to GarageBand. It has an option to do voices and you just speak into the
computer, after I can even edit it and change the tempo, etc. Plus it seems to be within range and not pick
up really any background noise.
Audio is a task which I have never focused on in my projects which is why I have looked at many different
options and ideas which I can go through. This is because music and voices are topics I want to focus on and
make to greater standard of quality then my previous projects.
I looked at audacity which I
am not experienced in and
these are the basic tools
which are required to edit
sounds. I could use this as
my end software because
it is rather simple to use
and I believe I can make
good audio.

5. Audio Recorder Audit Form
Today I looked at the audio recorders that college provide and from doing this I have learned
now what I will be doing for
After finishing the form I now feel confident and believe that I can do a great standard of
audio recording.

6. Walk Cycles
For movements I need walk cycles that are efficient and run smoothly in game, this is a design of walk cycle that I made
last year for a previous game course. I will utilise this walk cycle by including it in my new game but designing it around
my new character which I will create.
Walk cycles can be broken up into 4 Key Frames, namely Forward Contact Point, Passing Pose1, Back Contact
Point and Passing Pose 2. Frames that are drawn between these key poses (traditionally known as in-
betweens/inbetweening are either hand-drawn or using computer software to interpolate them. When drawing mine I
used Photoshop and created them using pixel brushes.
To start off the walk cycle I made a simple silhouette of a
character, just because I could make this in a quick
amount of time. The silhouette had around 8 different leg
movements and this was so the character would look like
it could walk when I animated the many layers but I
changed this, making use of only 7 because the last one is
a set position pose. To make sure it went correctly I had to
be careful and place each different movement on its own
layer otherwise my animation cycle would have
overlapped and completely failed. After all of this was
done then I went onto animating, to start this of I went
into the options bar window and selected timeline, this
brought up a bar at the bottom. Once this bar is open
then I went and pressed the three boxes in a line and this
opened up the timeline tool that I needed for my
experiment. I then added a new timeframe and hid all the
layers apart from the one I needed on each frame to make
the character look like they were walking.

7. Software
As I plan my project out I have been experimenting with game engines, ogre is one of these game engines and I have read up on the forums and dug into the engine. Object-Oriented Graphics
Rendering Engine (OGRE) is a scene-oriented, real time, 3D rendering engine. The software is open-source. The first version of the software was released in February 2005.The software is
written in C++

8. Isometric
Isometric is an element that I might want to include in my video game, this is why I have created some isometric shapes that could be placed as
architectectural objects in a game, for example a stone pavement.
1. Drawing basic
shapes
2. CMD + U change
hue saturation
3. Colour overlay and
opacity for shaders.
1. To start the process I just watched the tutorial once and then just followed as best as I could. Firstly I
opened up Photoshop, I have used this software before and I am fairly experienced at this.
2.The next step I took forward was deciding on a document size, because this was a small experiment
project I made this fairly small and because it was isometric I made a square of 10x10 pixels but in my final
production I will make my project larger by a few 100 more pixels.
4.I then drew a diamond shape to start off the first isometric shape and I learned from this that if you untick
anti-alias then the colour doesn’t go outside the lines, so I ended up with this finished diamond which I
filled in with the colour grey.
3. I made my own grid and then exported it in to another document making it a suitable size to the scale
that I'm working for.

9. Graphics tablet
Huion H420 USB Graphics Drawing Tablet
Experimentation
For part of my project I want to do concept art and this requires me to do drawing. A method of doing this drawing is through a graphics tablet. The tablet itself is very
hard to use and get used too when drawing, I believe that when generating my project I will use a pencil because it creates more of a fine line which I can then scan in.

10. Summary
What elements of your experiments will you include in your final product?
From the experiments I will be taking the ideas of the most of them, mainly because they were all useful to me and will use them in my project. The parts that I would like to take in to my final
production are the aspects of the video game such as the walk and talk cycle animation mainly because these will always be included in a video game and they are very important to me to get as
best a grade as possible due to being fundamental.

11. Bibliography
CryEngine(2004)Available: https://www.cryengine.com/. Last accessed 11th February 2019.
Knoder, J. (.). How To Soundproof a Room on a Budget. Available:
https://www.toptenreviews.com/software/articles/how-to-soundproof-a-room-on-a-budget/. Last
accessed 13th February.
(2005) Available: https://www.ogre3d.org/. Last accessed 14th Febuary 2019.
Flow Graphics. (2015). Isometric Game Art | Photoshop Tutorial | Flow Graphics. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ31nDYWf9A. Last accessed 18th February 2019.