Because of being so busy during this past semester, I didn't keep up-to-date with posting some of my projects. I wanted to at least post all of my projects for DIG 3134 (Media Software Design). Here is the hub page where all the projects can be accessed: DIG 3134 Projects
Project 1: "Acey Ducey" – A low and high card are drawn from the deck, and players take turns betting on whether the third card will have a value between those of the other two cards.
Project 2: "Wheel of Fortune" – More like a game of Hangman, but with a Wheel of Fortune layout. Players take turns guessing the letters of a hidden phrase.
Project 3: "Battleship" – A simplified version of the board game by the same name.
Project 4: "Cowpies" – A projectile game. Players take turns entering an initial angle and velocity in attempt to hit one of two targets.
Finally, a Christmas greeting.I decided to do a quick Christmas cover for fun. I didn't have enough time to try to perfect much about it, but I haven't recorded anything in a while, so it was nice to get back to using Garage Band. Merry Christmas, everyone!
I have my first project for my Media Software Design class due tomorrow. For this class we are working with PHP and HTML. Project 1 was to program a game called "Acey-Ducey". Each round a high card and a low card are drawn at random, and the player may place a bet that the third card drawn will have a value between the high and low card, or they may pass. In my version, there are two teams, each beginning with $1000, and betting $100 each into the pot by default. Then, on each turn, one team may bet any amount, or pass. Players cannot bet more than they currently have, and they may not bet more than the current pot, but they may bet nothing (which is for all intents and purposes the same as passing). When one team runs out of money, the other team is declared the winner. My game does not play through a whole deck, but all the cards are of one suit, Hearts.
I seem to have forgotten about this blog for a stretch of time, but I'm back and bringing everything up to date. First, I updated the SoundCloud link in my previous post, so the player is linked to my current version of the song. Also, here are some other things I've done to keep myself busy over the summer, both for school and for fun:
Summer B 2011 Class Projects: DIG 3480C Project 1
This assignment was a "pig language converter" created in JavaScript. The basic idea is the user enters an English sentence, and the converter adds "-a" or "-oink" to the end of each word, depending on the word length. It then outputs the converted sentence. However, as per the specifications of the project, the converted sentence is printed to the console, rather than a pop-up window, so if you know how to open the debugging console in your browser, do that before launching the program.
This was a fun but annoying project. The assignment was to create a game using the Processing programming language. There were certain features that needed to be included, but we basically could create anything we wanted. I chose to create a game called "ParticleMan", inspired by the song by They Might Be Giants. All the player must do is navigate little ParticleMan with the arrow keys to get to the green powerup, while avoiding his arch-nemesis, TriangleMan. One note when launching the game is I've found that sometimes the controls freeze the first time, so the page needs to be refreshed. I have been told this is an issue with the browser running my script, rather than an actual bug in my code. It's a really simple game, but enjoy!
For this intro 3D modeling class, we basically had one model that we worked on for the entire semester, submitting our progress at certain benchmarks. The assignment was to model any household object as close to reality as possible, at the end adding some "damage" to the model to make it even more believable. At first I had a nightmare of a time getting started, because the models I chose were far too complex for my level. Finally I decided to model a wooden skate statue that was in my house. It may have been a little too simple, even for my level, but I decided it was better to let it be a little too simple and make a quality model rather than choose something too challenging and have an awful or unfinished product. I was right, and my model came out quite nicely, and my attempts at texturing were successful with barely any setbacks. It was hard to take my "perfect" model and make it look old and moldy, but in the end, I still think it looks very nice.
Other Personal Projects:
Invader Zim Model
Being initially discouraged at my first 3D modeling attempts, I decided to get some practice by creating a model that I would be more interested in. Thus my Zim model was born. I took a few shortcuts on the trickier sections of the model, and I doubt it's properly made enough to be rigged for animation, but at least it looks nice.
"Maybe I'm Amazed" Covers Competition
Paul McCartney held another covers competition this summer, this time with the song "Maybe I'm Amazed". The team running the contest also got it better organized, with a more concrete voting system (which actually worked against me because part of the reason I co-won the previous competition was due to a discrepancy in the voting system). But regardless, I was very pleased with how this song came out, and I know it's a vast improvement over my previous entry, so it's nice to see how my skills have grown.
SoundCloud Projects
I added more songs to SoundCloud, including the audio for my "Maybe I'm Amazed" cover. I also uploaded two different versions of my "Calico Skies" cover, one "acoustic", and one with a full band.
So I have discovered the awesome SoundCloud and created an account. I uploaded my latest project there, and it comes in the convenient little widget below. Also you can go to my account page by clicking on my account name, "Sweet Banana", below the widget.
I've finished my Interactive Design project. It's due on Friday, 4/22, but I've uploaded it already. I might tweak a few things if I find any bugs, but for now, here is the finished website.
Here is my third Milestone in my Interactive Design class--a game! The point of this assignment is a brief introduction to ActionScript 3.0 in Flash. The object of the game, as outlined by the project requirements, is:
The success scenario of the game is for the player to navigate the "rooms" to reach the "treasure room", gain the "treasure", and return to the entrance to exit the space.
Also, the losing scenario is for the player to enter the "monster room". One requirement of the game is that the "paths" to the "treasure" and the "monster" are already predetermined. That is, the professor told us exactly which path should go to the "treasure room", and which should go to the "monster room". I won't reveal that, however, because I would like people to play it for themselves! To try out my game, go here:
Oh, this wasn't a requirement, but I decided to have my game match the theme of my website, because I want to try to add the game as a feature of my final product.
The assignment isn't due until Friday, so I'd love some feedback! Thanks!
I'm turning in my second Interactive Design Milestone tomorrow and I think it's finally done! The basic assignment was to get the layout done for the entire website, but nothing is active yet (no buttons, no links, etc.), so right now it's basically and animated slide show. Also none of the items are up long enough to read all of the text, because the focus of this stage is the buttons and actually having different sections, not the rest of the content. NOTE: Part of the assignment was to show the buttons in all of their states (i.e. the different ways they look when you mouse-over, click, etc.). The result is a bunch of images all flashing at once and it looks crazy and seizure-inducing! If you get dizzy or sick easily, you may not want to watch this for too long...
This past Friday I turned in my second Interactive Design assignment -- the Interaction Design Document (IDD). This is essentially my blueprint for what I hope to accomplish for this website project. There are already a few things I thought to add to it since turning it in, so we'll see if I can learn enough about Flash in time to achieve everything I want.
Also, for my next Milestone, I have to start designing the actual interface of the website. I've started the Home Page in an attempt to establish an overall "look" for the website -- nothing is active yet, it's still just a "shell". Here is a screen shot from Flash showing what it looks like so far (click the image for a full-size view):
For my Interactive Design class we are required to design a website in Flash over the course of the semester. The project is divided into milestones that we must complete roughly every two weeks. The theme of the website must be a movie (either real or of our own creation). To ensure that I would give this project the interest and care it deserves, I chose as my movie the Beatles' "Help!"
Milestone 1, due this Friday, Feb. 4th, is a "splash page", the introductory video clip that appears when you first enter the website. For those of you familiar with Flash CS4 or CS5, the technical requirements of this project are:
the stage must be 960 x 589 pixels
the animation must be at least 15 seconds at 30fps
the majority of the graphics used must be vector graphics
the following are the minimum animation requirements:
two shape tweens
one motion tween
one path animation
two classic tweens
In the first part of my clip, the text that appears was inspired by the 1965 and 2007 trailers which used the tagline: "Stop worrying! 'Help!' is on the way". The second part is an animation in which I try to emphasize the main conflict of the movie by showing cartoony silhouettes of the Beatles fleeing from the villain, Clang. I included Ringo's sacrificial ring--the item which makes him Clang's central target. At the very end I display my replication of the Beatles logo and the "Help!" logo, and beneath I created an "Enter" button for the website. But I'm not certain if I want to keep the button, since I can't yet make it "active". Any thoughts or advice on this would be greatly appreciated!
Anyway, here is a Quicktime video of my project as it currently stands. Enjoy!
