Technology

Technology

The three axis gyroscope

Gyroscope- the technology which allows the tilt function.

The mechanics of it uses basically a spinning wheel which the axle can motion to any direction. Measures along orthogonal axes; the centre of gravity of a rotor is in a fixed position.

Three axis (Pitch, roll and yaw)

The applications that make use of the gyroscope is gaming , image stabilization; pointing devices, enhanced GPS and motion controls in robotics. 

http://www.iphonedownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/three-axis-gyroscope.jpg (accessed 28th nov 2010)

Polar animals research

I had planned to have a whale in my game concept for a few weeks now and had only sketched out two different designs for it. The two designs were a humpback whale and a sperm whale; I wanted to have an extreme contrast in the food chain and size wise so wanted the biggest breed of whale as possible. (I had also gotten the two mixed up when labelling what they were, showing my amazing knowledge on whales). I realised that if I wanted these animals in my game, I’d need to look into their habitats and so forth I case I plopped a more tropical animal into the polar waters.

Whales- Humpback Whale: Grows up to 12-16 metres in length; their habitat isn’t in either on the poles, however they do feed there – Antarctica to be more specific; very fitting for my game’s objective and a likely candidate to be the character.

My other choice of whale, the sperm whale, can also grow up to 16 metres in length; however they are not native to polar waters nor do they even go to feed there, in short they have nothing to do with the Arctic or Antarctic, leaving me with the Humpback whale.

Penguins- The most obvious Penguin that I knew lived in the South Pole were the King and Emperor penguins; the problem is though is that I had already drawn out a fair few designs as this will be my main character- who is just black and white, no yellow crest around where the black meets the white, however that can be easily added if needs be. I looked into different kinds of penguins that stick to a plain black and white colour scheme as I want the monochromatic feel like ‘The Godfather’ or any kind of mafia inspired theme. I looked up virtually all varieties of penguin only to find one that fit the bill spot on; the Adílíe Penguin, a smaller breed of penguin from the King and Emperor; it’s coat is all black and white and most importantly is that it lives in the south pole.

The Polar Bear really didn’t need any research of breeds and habitat as it’s pretty obvious that this POLAR ursine lives in the polar regions.

Game title ideas

Sleeping with the fishes

Break the ice (Good cod these are terrible puns)

Wrangling

Fish fingers

More game play ideas

You are a part of the highly renowned Polar mafia, treating all of our polar family fairly; The Polar Bear Godfather calls all the shots over the family, You; his right paw man-penguin: Pen G.Wen are entrusted with the task of taking care of the rising enemy; the fisherman. There was no problem with them taking some fish from there waters to feed themselves, plenty to go around. But now. Now they’ve been taking the fathers kindness too far, by taking more every time; at this rate your family will barely last the next few years. It is your job to put them back in their rightful place and take back what’s yours; if they resist: you will make sure that they never even think of coming back to your waters.

The whale’s purpose in the game is as the method of travel and also ‘the saboteur’ He will persist in rocking the fisherman’s boats to shake the fish out for you to collect. He brings you to your objective area and take you back with the fish once time has expired; The Godfather dislikes his sons to be late, or not doing what he asks; this disrespect will not be dealt with kindly.

Level system, given a set time and a minimum amount of fish required to catch in each level. At the end of each level the Godfather’s pet Whale scoops you and your haul up, making a quick get away to report to the father. As they progress the levels gradually get harder and harder and new obstacles or bonuses appear. Obstacles being crabs or fishing hooks/ nets; catching a crab will cause Pen G. Wen to drop as many as 10 fish; Getting caught on a fishing hook will stop his movement for a brief period and getting stuck in a net will temporarily slow his movement. There is only one kind of bonus you can acquire during levels and is a rarity; which is oysters. These are actually dropped by the fishermen/ boats if you’re lucky enough; collecting enough of these for the Godfather unlocks bonus levels in the game.

Bonus level ideas

Playing as the whale, using the gyroscope again for the controls. You will be swimming under the fleets of ships bumping into them as much as you can, knocking the fish over board and trying to bump them off course as much as possible from the hotspots with the most fish. The bumping motion will be the same as the jump capability when playing as Pen G. Wen, jolting the iPod will make him ram into the boats.

Penguins in Media

Looking into how penguins are designed in the varieties of films and games; more often than not are seen as almost waiter-like due to their tuxedo like coat, that or quite suspicious characters. An example of the shifty penguin concept is Aardaman’s ‘Wallace and Gromit: The wrong trousers’. Feathers McGraw, who is a jewel thief; but disguises himself, albeit badly as a chicken when stealing. What made him such an intimidating character for me was the fact that he never spoke a word; Gromit doesn’t speak either but has a more comical appeal as his words are spoken through his expressions, whereas Feathers simply stares wither those little beady eyes, impassive. His body shape is overall quite rounded which is usually used for more welcoming, happier characters; though there a limitations with using play dough. Personally I think his bowling pin shape makes him look more comical, the tiny head suits his tiny eyes.

Another penguin design I drew most of my inspiration from was the Dreamworks film ‘Madagascar’, the military style penguins have a more box like shape to them unlike the ‘Wallace and Gromit’ penguin. The threatening image of the marine like penguins is eased up as they still have their bird like properties, like sliding on their stomachs for sneaking around a cargo ship as they try to take it over.  The fact they were so organized and such a force to be reckoned with made them so popular; so much so they had their own series or episodes revolving around them.

The 3^rd kind of penguins that I looked into are the ‘Prinnys’ from NIS america’s ‘Disgea’ series, both games and animated series. Similar to Aardman’s penguin, the Prinny has a much fatter bowling pin shape. Though they fit the waiter stereotype more so than the other penguins I have looked into, being the lowest of the low, they are virtually slaves; disposable ones- ie. When thrown they explode on impact.  They have a somewhat shifty image about them, but they’re restrained to do what there told so their harmless. Again the design for the Prinnys has a humorous appeal to the audience, along with their catchphrase ‘Dood’.

Storyline idea

Games ‘Story’

The main character you play as is a member of the ‘Polar mafia’- The polar bear God Father’s right hand penguin. There have been far too many fisherman as of late, and it’s leaving the ‘family’ with little food for themselves; they’re taking it too far. The Godfather wants you to sabotage there catches before it gets onto the deck, by snatching back the fish. Your aim is to prevent the fisherman from taking too much fish, without notice (hence the sliding on the blocks of ice around the ship); by intervening every fishing boat and lessening their catches.

Originally I wanted the main character to be a polar bear but moved very quickly to a seal then penguin. How they slide so much better on ice and how penguins have such a formal appearance.
Hence the mafia style to it was born.

Penguin development designs

Godfather sketches and simple level design

Anatagonist, scene conept, pet whale and points designs

Mechanics, ideas

Games mechanics

-You control the penguin on the ice, using the gyroscope; the more you tilt the iPod, the more you tilt the faster he’ll go in that direction

-jumping the iPod makes the penguin jump on the ice. Or just have a jump button available in the corner of the touch screen.

-Given a set time to complete a level until the fisherman notice.

-Given a set amount of fish at the least to gather, if you don’t reach the objective, God father slaps you back to re-do the level or if you don’t choose to retry- game over ‘Sleeping with the fishes’