Unit 73 - Sound for Computer Games

Unit 73
Morten Holland
Teacher: Joshua Rai
BTEC Games Design L3 Extended Diploma

Unit 73 - Sounds for My Computer Game

Plan

My game is called "The Greatest Maths Game There Has Ever Been or Will Be" and is themed heavily around maths and dodging enemies to get to the end of each level. My game uses lots of bright and vibrant colours which hopefully people will find appealing. I want to give the game an upbeat feel to it.

I have used a sound for when a red orb hits the wall, I have background music, a sound for when the switch is hit, and an explosion sound for when the spaceships are destroyed.

Some of the sounds such as the explosion and the 'flick' sound from the switch will repeat when the player touches the lever for longer times, which can be very annoying and loud. I couldn't fix this issue.

Music

The kind of music I wanted was an 8-bit slightly repetitive, positive piece to use in a maths-themed maze game. It needs to be upbeat, due to the play style of the game.

The other sounds had been recorded by me and a few classmates on college campus, using college equipment. This means I won't need anyone's permission to use the sounds or my music.

Sound Manipulation

The only thing I did to my sounds is I cut them so I only had the sound I wanted and not the background sounds. I didn't put any effects on the sounds because I didn't find it necessary to.

Here is the song that I have used as background music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLbFI9mZM-s&feature=youtu.be

Here is a video in which you can hear all the sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxxK_hCqu1k&feature=youtu.be

I realize the quality of this video is bad, so this is what the notes say:
This is a short video showing the sounds in my game.
I have disabled the music so you can hear the sounds easier.

First, you should be able to hear the sound of the enemies bouncing off the walls.
Only the horizontal enemies though, because I don't want too much noise coming from them.

Secondly, I have the 'flick' sound from the switches in the game.
Sadly, it repeats if I'm still touching the switch.

Thirdly, I have a sound for when the spaceships are destroyed which is an explosion.
This one is kind of loud, so you may want to turn the volume down.

Here's what they look like in-game.

My background music is called 'First (06)' and is a VLC file, but changes to a GameMaker file when put in the game. It is 1.40MBs and is a lossless, stereo file.

My sound for when the enemy orb hits the wall is called 'enemyBounce' and is a VLC file which also changes to a GameMaker file. This is 8KBs and is a lossy, stereo file.

My sound for a switch being hit is called 'sound_switch.sound' and is a GameMaker file, that is 1KB and is a lossy stereo file.

My explosion sound is called 'explosion_sound.sound'. It is a GameMaker file that is 1KB and is a lossy, stereo file.

Evaluation
Overall, I think it all worked out pretty good. The sounds are appropriate for what they are used for and its obvious what they are supposed to be replicating. I also think the music suits the gameplay very well in my opinion. The music wasn't too hard to make and was fun. Its quite simplistic, which works well with my game. Implementing it wasn't too hard either.

I do however, feel that I could have made some improvements. I would have liked to make the background music flow when it loops, almost seamlessly. I would like to have added more sounds too, but I don't think my game has enough content for me to do so. I'd also like to have made and added more music, perhaps each level has a different song. I'm pretty happy with the outcome, considering this is my first time doing this kind of work.

Assignment 3: Gaming Controversy: Manhunt and GTA

Morten Holland

Teacher: Caitlin McReynolds

Games Design L3 Extended Diploma

Unit 13: Understanding the gaming industry

Assignment 3: Understanding Contractual, legal and ethical obligations in the gaming industry

Ever since very early, the gaming industry has been looked at in a negative light, and has been argued in an everlasting debate whether video game violence corrupts the minds of young gamers. It has been a topic that has been brought up in many courthouses due to murders committed by people who play video games. 

By far, the most talked about company in the debate is 'Rockstar Games' due to their heavily violent games such as 'Manhunt' and the 'Grand Theft Auto' series. By far 2 of the most controversial games in gaming history.

Manhunt

Story

Released in November 2003, Manhunt swept the news due to its highly aggressive gameplay. The game follows 'James Earl Cash', a death row inmate that has been sentenced to lethal injection. Cash then wakes up in the night to a character known as 'The Director' talking to him on an earpiece, explaining to him that he will be given his freedom when he kills members of a gang. The Director had bribed the officials so he could keep Cash alive so he could star in The Director's snuff film and kill the people who had wronged him. Cash is then told to dispose of other gangs to earn is freedom. He is then wronged by The Director when he kills Cash's family members, which makes Cash furious, which then fuels him to find and kill The Director. 

The game involves very violent executions such as suffocaiting someone with a plastic bag, stabbing someone repeatedly or using a variety of blunt or heavy objects.

The Incident

Warren Leblanc and Stefan Pakeerah

On the 27th of February 2004, Warren Leblanc (17) repeatedly stabbed Stefan Pakeerah (14) in a park in Leicester. Warren was referred to in the article as "obsessed" with the game 'Manhunt', and the game was blamed for the murder. 

The victim had been lured to the park to meet two girls. The culprit was armed at the time with a knife and claw hammer. He confessed when caught moments later by the police, covered in blood. The following Wednesday, he pleaded guilty in Leicester Crown Court. 

The victim's mother was appalled and said:

"I can't believe that this sort of material is allowed in a society where anarchy is not that far removed. It should not be available and it should not be available to young people."

A spokesman for the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publisher's Association said: 

 "We sympathise enormously with the family and parents of Stefan Pakeerah. However, we reject any suggestion or association between the tragic events and the sale of the video game Manhunt. The game in question is classified 18 by the British Board of Film Classification and therefore should not be in the possession of a juvenile. Simply being in someone's possession does not and should not lead to the conclusion that a game is responsible for these tragic events."

The Pakeerah family sued 'Rockstar Games' and 'Sony' for £50 million over the 'Manhunt' incident. The game was also removed from stores and banned from being sold in New Zealand, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.

My opinion

I completely agree with the statement above from the ELSPA. I feel bad for the family but it isn't the game's fault. Warren clearly had very serious psychological problems, which means he should be the very last person to be playing an 18+ violent game. Not only is he not the right age to be playing it, but he's clearly in a very manic and unstable mindset. I think a small amount of blame should be put on the parents of Warren too, because they allowed him in his state to play an 18+ game, and took very little consideration to what the game was about or contained.

The 'Grand Theft Auto' Series

The first GTA game released in 1997-1999 (different regions) but didn't start off in the news. It was only when GTA 3, San Andreas and Vice City were released that they started making the news, because these games were the first of the series to put the player in a 3D environment. This made it much more immersive for the player. 

Story

In each installment of the series, you follow a different character who gets into a life of crime, however the newest installment of the game follows 3 characters. This consists of killing, carjackings, vandalism, drug dealing, etc.

San Andreas

In this particular installment, you follow Carl Johnson, born in Los Santos (Los Angeles) and second in command of the gang the 'Grove Street Families'.

This game was in the news for a deleted scene that was still in the code that a fan found and exposed to the news, causing 'Rockstar Games' and the father company 'Take Two Interactive' to change the rating to mature (M).

Grand Theft Auto III + Vice City

In this Vice City, you follow Tommy Vercetti, born in Liberty City but takes his role in Vice City. He's also a member of the Vercetti crime family, and a former member of the Forelli.

In GTA 3, you follow Claude (no known last name), and this game takes place in Liberty City (New York). He hasn't been known to be in any gangs, but nobody knows of his history before 1992.

These games were in the news because of a fan, Devin  Moore (now age 30), when he was convicted for shooting and killing 2 police officers and a dispatcher. He was in the police station for suspicion of stealing a car. These are both things that are heavily used in the games. He fled in a police car, but was caught soon after and was quoted saying:

"Life is a video game. Everybody's got to die sometime."  He then also confessed to the crimes. He was sentenced to lethal injection.

There's a television drama called 'The Gamechangers' which shows the legal battle Rockstar faced over the crimes of Devin Moore, and the development of some of the GTA games.

My Space Invaders Game

Morten Holland

Games Design L3 Extended Diploma 

Teacher: Wayne Gallear

My Space Invaders Game

I chose to create a Space Invaders type game instead of a Blackjack game. I didn't feel comfortable writing lots of advanced scripts and AI. Also, I like Space Invaders a lot more than card games. You can also be a lot more creative with a Space Invaders game.

I called my game 'Space Invaders Remake' just so I wouldn't waste time making a good name, and because I couldn't think of a name.

The brief I was given said to "Create a space invaders clone. You can make it as close to the original OR make your own version. Create the game so it gets progressively harder and faster." 

Sprites

I started by making my sprites. I didn't actually make that many sprites surprisingly. The sprites are The player, the enemy, the shield square, the broken shield, the wall, and the bullet.

Background

I then found a space background to go with my game and its theme.

Objects

I then made all my sprites into objects and gave them Game Maker commands so my game would function like Space Invaders.

Player

I gave the player's object some movement controls and a shoot button which when pressed creates a bullet, and a collision with the wall to keep the player inside the map.

Enemy

I gave the enemy a move command with a create event which should make the enemies sometimes shoot, but this didn't work.

I also gave the enemy a collision event which makes them bounce of the walls and come slightly closer to the player. 

Shield

The shield has a collision command with the bullet so when shot, it changes into a broken shield, which then when shot should disappear, but strangely it doesn't.

The bullet only has two commands, which are to destroy the enemy when it collides with the bullet, and to make the shield turn into a broken shield.

Rooms

I only made 1 room and this is what it looks like.

Bugs

My game has two main bugs. One is that the player shoots a stream of bullets instead of one bullet, making the game very easy. The other bug is that the destructible sprites that are damaged by shots (the shields) do not disappear when they should. They change from normal shield to broken shield, but do not disappear.

My Maths Game

Morten Holland
Games Design L3 Extended Diploma
Teacher: Wayne Gallear

 My Maths Game:

Target Audience: 16+ Students
Theme: Maths
Game Type: Maze/Top-Down

I called my maths game 'The Greatest Maths Game There Has Ever Been or Ever Will Be'. I really didn't know what to call it so i just named it this so i could start working without wasting time.

The brief i was given said to "Create a maze game for the students to play that also helps develop their mathematics skills. Each level should show a different maths problem and the level of the maths problem should be GCSE grade C mathematics. You will be doing 5 levels all getting progressively harder."

Sprites

First, I made a few of my sprites. The player looking in each direction, the wall, a doorway, an enemy, a lever, and spikes.

This is the player's sprite. The direction you push on the keyboard is the direction the sprite will face.

This is the enemy's sprite. I later on made multiple versions so i could make them go up and down, and travel at different speeds.

This is the wall sprite which keeps the player in the game.

This is the doorway sprite, which when touched lets the player travel to the next level. I also made a door way which has been rotated 180 degrees.

This is the sprite for my lever. When touched by the player, it will either tell you that you got the wrong answer to a question, or it will unlock a new part of the level, which will conclude with a doorway to the next level.

I added a spike sprite so there was another way to die in the game to make it more entertaining.

Backgrounds

I then decided to make some backgrounds for my level, so it wouldn't look plain or empty. I used a different background for each level.

Objects

I started to create objects out of my sprites so i could put them into the game. I gave them the relevant tasks operate how i wanted. I didn't use any code for my objects, surprisingly. I made the following objects: the player, enemy, spike(each direction), wall, vanishing wall,and wall exit. Then, i started creating the questions to put in the game to make the game about maths. I made 7 questions, and 25 answers to pick from. This got very tedious. The extra objects you may see I talk about later in the 'Last Level' section.

Rooms

I started to create my rooms one by one, adding a higher difficulty to each map progressively. Here's what the finished products looked like. The blue dots will be the questions and the answers.

Last Level

Just before making the last level, I had the idea to make the last room look like space invaders. Kind of. so I made a spaceship sprite, an explosion sprite, a bullet and a cannon. When the question is answered correctly, the spaceships turn into the explosion sprite. I couldn't figure out how to make the bullet shoot out the cannon and create the explosion. When they are destroyed, 2 walls will vanish, revealing the exit which when touched by the player will display a message saying "You completed the game!".

I used a pre-made explosion because I didn't like any of the ones I was making.

Sounds

I have only used 2 sounds. 1 being my background music, and the other an explosion sound for when the last correct switch is touched by the player. Both sounds were from royalty-free websites and i had the rights to use them.

Text

I used the same text throughout the whole game, for all my questions and answers. The font was'OCR A Std' at a size of 12 and a black color. 

Bugs

There aren't too many bugs in my game, surprisingly. The first one is that the explosion sprite keeps playing and i never found a way to stop it. The other bug is that the explosion sound keeps playing until the player stops touching the switch. The last one is that the background music keeps playing after each level which is normal, but after each level, it will play another song as well which means there will be 2 songs playing, then 3, etc. 

Understanding the use of music within games

Games Design L3
Teacher: Josh Rai
Morten Holland
Unit 73

Task 1 + 2 Understanding the use of music within games and the methodology of recording and production. 

Compare and contrast the following game soundtracks:

The Last of Us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y97u-U0nvJM

Set in the post-apocalyptic United States, the game tells the story of survivors Joe and Ellie as they work together to survive their westward journey across what remains of the country to find a possible cure for the modern fungal plague that has nearly decimated the entire human race.

I would say that the main theme for 'The Last of Us' suits the game very well, due to the fact that very few instruments are used. This creates a very emotional and bare feeling to the soundtrack, which compliments the game very well because the game is set in an apocalyptic environment and many scenes are very emotional. The use of spanish guitar creates a hollow and depressed feeling, in my opinion. It sounds very similar to a spaghetti western piece of music which helps the game out a lot because the characters come across many western themed moments in the game. I also think that the song portrays the characters' feelings too, which may be depressed, desolated and lost. The song also uses Foley sounds such as someone walking on grass at 0:38. I think the creator of this song/piece of music tried very hard to create the post apocalyptic atmosphere that is in the song, and i think its the most emotional song I've ever heard. The creator really wanted us to have an experience playing this game and his soundtrack really helped it do so. I think this song used a few digital sounds to add greater depth.

"Less is more. Strip all that away. Then when a sound hits, it's really impactful."

 -http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/23/4457258/naughty-dog-discusses-sound-and-music-in-the-last-of-us

Halo 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCxv2daOwjQ

Fun Fact: The Halo 2 Mjolnir Mix was a playable song on Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.

The beginning of the Halo 2 Mjolnir Mix gave me feelings of Skyrim, due to the choir singing at the start. At this point, the song is slow paced, calm and not so intense.  I would describe it as ancient and holy, but when the electric guitar and drums came into play, it gave the song a theme of war, in my opinion. This goes well with the game too because the game is about alien races in an ongoing war against humanity. The song then descends into a metal rock song, which is a huge change of pace and rhythm. The song's intensity also dramatically changes. This all happens when the electric guitar and the drums enter the song. The electric guitar in the song made me think of a 'Drangonforce' (a heavy metal band) song called "Through the Fire and the Flames". I think this song may have used some digital sounds to accompany the instruments.

I think that the 2 songs are wildly different. The Halo 2 song will have released on an older console so it will be more compressed so it can fit better on the console, whereas The Last Of Us released on a very recent console, which means it will be a lot more detailed and and won't be as compressed and will have a higher bit depth than the Halo 2 song. The Last of Us will also have been on a Blu-ray disk and i think it would be categorized as surround sound. It will also have took up a lot more RAM and a higher file size because of the amount of detail in the song, compared to the Halo 2 song. I think that The Last of Us's song will be a PCM file type due to its high quality, and the Halo 2 song will be a WAV file type due to it coming out on an outdated console.

Both songs or pieces will be copywritten or trade marked by Microsoft (Halo 2) and Sony (The Last of Us) and the music won't be legally usable on anything other than the game, unless the companies give permission to do so.