Update/ retrospective 12/02/2016

It has been an interesting semester full of new programs, amazing new people, and two jobs to boot. It has been more of a challenge than i thought, time management is often difficult when you need to build props, work at two separate jobs, and balance your other classes on top of it. I'll look back at this semester and laugh; realizing that this semester was a lot easier than what is coming up. Its given me a taste of the upcoming years and I'm ready to move forward. I've found my niche in this major and i get a lot of enjoyment out of building props. Others are annoyed and irritated by creating objects in maya with textures and UV mapping, but I enjoy it. It is similar to what I strived to do with my engineering courses back in high school: Build, model, and create new objects and prototypes. As the semester ends and I get this lovely retrospective, I realize I've come a long way as an artist and a student since I first arrived here at ringing. Im ready to see where i go from here and i know what I'll do first with this break: get some sleep.

VdazioComercialFinal

After much blood, sweat, tears, and a dog attack, my final game commercial is done. Enjoy! The salvage yard life is for players 8+ and up to 4 players. Copyright Vincent Dazio November 2016

The Salvage Life Print and Play!

In-game Gameplay

I completed my PNP Game, check it out here!

With up to five possible players, the limits are endless! It is a simple and easy to learn game that can lead to a good time, some betrayal, and some crazy attack dogs! This game is for eight and up.

Game design! My Game concept

Underlying theme of the game:
The game of junk rides and rich steals! This game is a competitive game of collecting parts and scrap metal in order to create a complete car. The Parts and scrap are worth points and the player with the most points at the end of the game wins. The player can pick up specific cards to steal parts and scrap metal from other players. Its a game of rusty beat-up cars and some frustrating stealing of parts.

This game takes place in the Midwest United States, where the arid climate is ideal to have rusted vehicles scrapped due to low humidity. It is a more rural culture, as it takes place in the small town/industrial setting. The setting itself is a classical car Junkyard that specializes in the rebuilding of certain old cars for resale. It takes place in the modern time period where classic cars are coveted and worth more.

The art style is friendly and inviting, with bright colors and a slightly cartoonish appearance to appeal to children as well as adults. It will include a sillouette style of shading to create readable but also slightly whimsical designs. The designs themselves will be slightly cartoonish, this pertains more towards the boardgame in order to render it more readable. The shapes are simple but convey what they are and they feature a look similar to cell shading. Below are examples of the art style:

`The colors will be bright and vibrant. The desired audience is 8 and up and the use of bright, popping colors will make it visually interesting for the players both young and older. The color choices are chosen so that those with red-green color blindness will not have issues with the visuals of the game.

Update: 9/16/2016

Operant conditioning, a term I've heard before and found pretty fascinating. Its a way of transforming behavior through positive as well as negative stimuli. I first heard about Operant conditioning through the Military Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) program I was in for three years in high school. The military relies heavily on this system to condition and train large groups of troops (or cadets in this case) to cooperate and become a single, large, disciplined unit. I served as the S3, the Battalion Operations Officer for two years and reached the rank of First Lieutenant. I dealt with all of the the logistics and operations of the battalion and assumed control of the battalion in the absence of the Battalion Commander and Battalion Executive officer. In order to reinforce the good behavior  of the cadets, the positive reinforcement of rank and medals was given in accordance to those cadets whom completed their tasks and went above to get the job done as well as take care of their cadets. For some, this provided a largely positive incentive and these few cadets achieved the highest rank allowed for their year as well as six or more awards than the other cadets within their year. The positive reinforcement didn't end with the end of a year. It would continue on with positions of authority such as the Battalion staff, Company Commanders, Drill and Rifle team commanders, Platoon leaders, and Squad leaders. Cadets that achieved the highest positions of authority were those that had begun the program their freshman year and continued on into their junior and senior years, providing a follow through of positive reinforcement for those that chose to stay in the battalion for the longest amount of times. On the opposite side, there were the punishments. There were far more punishments than reinforcements, these being the simple pushups and physical training to the more complicated demotions and removal from the program. Cadets that refused to follow orders, cursed, showed up late, and caused issues for the battalion would experience noxious stimuli to try to correct the behaviors. This would start with embarrassment, push ups, and other forms of physical training. However, once this noxious stimuli was removed or had ended the cadets at times would avoid making the same actions to prevent the return of this punishment. This would also work for larger groups, such as entire companies . A company acting unruly would have a worse PT (physical training) day than those companies that had acted appropriate. This back and forth of positive and negative reinforcement and punishment worked well to condition the cadets of the program to work together and to at times stay out of trouble. This would lead to the principle of reinforcement escape as cadets would implement their own punishments on other cadets to try to avoid being punished as a whole. This is the same behavior conditioning employed by the military, minus the Bootcamp drill sergeants that would provide incredibly noxious stimuli. Its what makes a military unit cohesive and well balanced. Skinner's behavioral work on Operant Conditioning is what makes military training effective in building up strong, disciplined soldiers. Switching gears, for my game, I wanted a form of this system in the way of card stealing. My main focused idea is a game based around collecting parts of a car to have a completed car by the end of the game. The player would pick up cards as they progressed on the board with certain parts and scrap metal to repair their vehicle. However, they would pick up cards that would allow them to steal parts from fellow players, provided the players had parts they were looking for.

Progress post. Film knowledge and the game art

The information that I have learned at Ringing has broadened my understanding of film and game design as a whole. I had no prior knowledge in film and a basic understanding of the principles and elements of design before attending here. I not only learned the different shots, but i also learned how to compositionally make a good shot. I had not known what a dutch angle shot was, nor the different shots that are created from varying the distance to the focal point. Its given way to a weird notice, I find myself studying photographs and movies more heavily now, looking for the underlying themes and messages. Just recently I went and saw the movie Lights Out, and found ,myself critiquing the movie as it progressed. It had some effective shots, but the story wasn't up to the same level. Game art in general is new as well as slightly familiar. I had taken Engineering design and development classes in high school and found that the software used was incredibly similar. A few of the software programs from both classes originated with the same family of products, in this case Autodesk.  This lead to an easier introduction to the program Maya, as I'd used a program called Inventor to do similar work. Also, it has a lot of the same design and development as engineering, broken down into phases of construction. It has been a new experience and i feel that the information that I've absorbed has strengthened me as an artist and as one in this major. I'm excited to see what new information I'll learn next and how i can use it to keep moving forward. I was curious to see some of the sessions taught for this major, I walked into it with an engineering background and I felt that even an art-technology major would be more foiled to engineering. I was wrong, but enthused to be wrong. It was more heavily art based than i had thought; at the same time it was a relief to not have to see truss-force calculations and pages upon pages of mathematical calculations for building materials. I feel more in-tune with this major, I'm an artist and it is pleasant to express that creativity to its fullest with this work. Its nice to have a set of skills, but the broader the skill set is, the more rounded and versatile one is.

20 Print and Play game ideas

1. Cat rancher- Heard the cats, multiply them, player with the most at the end of the game wins.

2. Zombie makeover- Take a grotesque member of the walking dead and try to make them look like a million bucks.

3. Hunt for the Sea Martyr- Mystery game on the hunt for a lost ship, discovers clues by landing on spaces with card- clues.

4. Turd shot- game based on how far a player can fling an object on a premade board, goal being a target

5.Horse Race- movement based off of the chance of dice, multiplier for movement with a second dice.

6.FBI vs Aliens- game of controlling territory with dice and predetermined territory.

7.Car junkyard- choose a beater car card, as the game progresses along a board grab car part cards to complete your wreck and win the game.

8.Naval fleet- ships on a large world board, chance of firing shots/movement controlled with dice.

9.Escape the city- use shoots and ladders mechanic of skipping parts of the board with a wormhole.

10. Virus- city map, timed game. How much of the map can you infect within a given time constraint.

11. Nukes everywhere- game of military strategy and shrinking space as game progresses.

12.Robot build- collect parts as the game goes on in order to build a strong fighting robot highest fight- percentage wins.

13.Robot war- create large armies of machines with resources populated on board.

14.Sieges of the castles- build up resources and capture strategic points to control the board, players able to destroy castles to remove strategic points.

15.backyard grill off- game of chance with card strength numbers influencing turn payout. Best griller at end of game wins.

16. Pirate head off- two ships in standoff, fight, repair damage, and keep crew alive.

17. race of fire- car race on a board, players can accumulate cards that can be used to hinder other players’ progress, use of turbo cards.

18. Quest for the fountain of youth- game with mystery spots- some may be traps, some may be precious loot.

19. reactor meltdown- mechanic: threat level meter on side of game, as certain spaces are landed on it increases threat level until game ends or top is reached. In this case game loss.

20. Colosus- build a base by collecting resources, take on an enemy and isolate the home base, only one option is allowed per turn (ex. Movement, upgrade, etc)

Favorite videogame trailer

For this project, my favorite video-game trailer is Deliever Hope from Halo Reach.
Halo: Reach - "Deliver Hope (Extended)" Live Action Trailer [HD]

Deconstruction of a Print n' play

Choose Game: The stick figure abuse game.
Game Link:http://stonesoupentertainments.com/?q=content/stick-figure-abuse-game
First Mechanic: Space.
This game is a two-dimensional game, with the space being a flat game board with objects placed on top. The"spaces" of the game are individual tiles that line up evenly next to each other, creating a play field that is 5 spaces by 11 spaces for a total of 55 spaces. There is also a start and finish, which is accessible from five spaces at start and at end. The game is discrete, it only allows for certain movement and through a certain field of play. Each space has a pictograph as well as a number, each number corresponding to a specific pictograph. There are five possible pictographs to land on, and they are repeated throughout the game board, pictured below:
The playable space is within the tiles, which the player uses to move through the space of this game.The movement through the space is linear, and players can only move through the center of the spaces.

Mechanic 2: Objects.
There are a variety of objects in the game, including game pieces, cards, quarters, a die, pennies, and a nickel. It is an odd assortment of objects, each with their own purpose. To start, there are the pieces for the players, which in the case of this game we borrowed a couple of game pieces from a Mass Effect Risk game. These pawns are the movable object for the player, signifying their space on the game board. These pieces are dynamic. To indicate a turn, a nickel is used in place of the pawn. It is a dynamic piece that changes hands with each new turn. The next object happens to be a selection of pennies.  As the player moves through spaces, they have to mark each space with a penny. The penny indicates what space the player has passed through in completing their trail. A later step in the game requires this knowledge. There are quarters, which represent the death of a player on the board. In the even the player does not have a card that a fellow player contests, they die and the place is marked with this quarter. It is an object that blocks a spot on the board and renders the spot unplayable. There is a die, which represents the amount of pennies or spaces a player can take up on the board at time. The last object is the deck of cards. These cards are action for and against the active player in the game. They can save a player being challenged, or offer to halt a players progress if they lack the card. The cards are static in the game.

Mechanic 3: Actions.
Operative actions:
Players can take several actions in this game, The largest action being movement. The player can move in a linear fashion around the board. They may move left, right, straightforward, or diagonal, as long as the path they choose is clear. Players may not move backward in any fashion voluntarily.
Resultant actions:
The resulting actions are a little more complex, being that a players movement is captured through the pennies, and these moves can be halted by the challenging of another player. This can hinder a players ability to move, as well as the cards. The resultant answer of the cards played can indicate if a player dies where they are, or if they are allowed to progress further on the board. Also, the resultant action of a death can result in hindering all players playing, as the spot becomes unusable.

Mechanic 4: Rules
This game had incredibly weak rules upon playing it, it left out a lot of information and had a vague feeling. It feels as if it were a much stronger game but it had been copied and pasted, thus the full rules being lost in the process. Playing this game we learned what the missing rules were and recorded them, by the end of the first play-through we had deciphered the vague rules of the game in a way that made it playable as well as fun. The goal of the game is to reach the finish first, from the "start here" to the "end here" spot on the board. It explains what the objects are and how they are supposed to work, but that is where the rules tend to end. It is an open source game: it provided enough information to get started, with a majority of the rules being determined as the players got a feel for how the game played. The behaviors of the pieces became evident as the game began, and the rules themselves would begin to appear in detail as one would begin making actions on the board. For instance, there was no mention of how many spaces a player could move, but we determined it was through the die roll. If one rolled a five, you could move a possible five spaces and mark them down with the penny. Also, there was no distinct rule about deaths and where to place them. We had determined that the death occurred at the first available card that could not be contested. It was a major headache for a game that felt cut and dry once we read over the basic information for it. It felt as if it were a game of Russian Backgammon, the players determined the rules and constrains of the game once they had started it.
Mechanic 5: Skill
This game does not require a great amount of skill, more so a great amount of luck. The physical skill required for this game is minimal, with only needing the player to be able to roll dice, select cards, and move a piece around the board. The mental skill required is more, as player can lay down a path that works best for continuing to the end, but this is up to chance as well. Also, it requires some willpower to learn and determine what the vague rules of the game mean and to determine what constitutes as a good rule to follow and what needs a small revilement. Social skills are important, it is an important part of the game to socialize with other players, as this calls out actions for the cards and which spaces are being challenged.

Mechanic 6: Chance
Chance is the basis of this game. In order to determine who goes first, the player with the worst scar (I kid you not, its in the official rules) or a dice roll determine whom goes first. The order of moving is also a game of chance, as the roll of the die determines how many spaces can be placed down at any given time. The cards of the game are recycled and re-distributed every turn, so the chances of moving as well as hindering movement are completely determined by the new assortment of cards picked up. If you happen to have terrible luck in this game, you will suffer a lot due to the amount chance factors into every aspect of the game.
Conclusion: This is a fun and quick play that anyone over the age of 11 could pick up, figure out, and enjoy for some good laughs. We had a wonderful time playing the game once we determined what the rules mean and this game gets the recommendation to play and enjoy as a hurricane passes by.

Analysis of Print and Play game: Micropul

Vincent Dazio
Due 30 August 2016
Game Design 1

Analysis: Micropul

Link to game: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/10660/micropul
Micropul is a Print and Play game featured on many sites and has become an actual produced game. It is a strategy game with the purpose of extracting micropul matter (combinations of symbols) from an energy core(the stack of cards used by players) to create new forms of matter (nominations of like symbols). This "matter" is created by combining cards with similar symbols until they form groups of elements. The game itself features no board to play on, it is a simple card game. Each card has a printed combination of elements on it, featuring filled in circles, non-filled in circles, smaller circles in clusters of two, and pluses. The smaller circles and pluses are considered These different shapes have specific meanings and they can match accordingly. With this said, cards with different patterned elements cannot match, such as a non filled in circle cannot match up next to a filled in circle.

The game has an easy to follow direction, as the game progresses, the field of play increases as more cards are added. The gameplay mechanics play similar to a traditional domino game. It is more complicated with more rules and symbols, but it uses the principle of matching with identical symbols. This game comes in two separate forms: single player, and two player. Single player plays similar to a classic game of solitaire, while the multiplayer version is more competitive. To place pieces on the board, the tiles must have similar shapes adjacent to the sides being placed. For instance, cards that have mid-size circles can only make connections with those circles. The cards themselves are tiles, small square pieces that have individual circle patterns on it. As the game progresses, repetitive patterns soon appear in the game. These patterns are large groups of the same symbol and they can be claimed by a player. The goal for these groups is to expand them to the largest size possible. The size will affect the final game score and the larger the groups and if the groups are closed, the final score will increase. Once one understands how the game logically progresses, it is a quick and easy play.

The game design is incredibly simplistic, the standard game is in black and white. The symbols themselves are simple, it features a lot of repetition of circles. The one unique symbol would be a simple cross that appears on certain pieces. It is not a visually stunning game unless a "mod pack" is downloaded, which redesigns the symbols and tiles themselves.

Senior FX Artist Presentation

This is the final project on what I've learned about Senior Effects Artists, both with an interview and a research.
Senior Effects Artist

Comic Con Cosplay- Homemade Halo Spartan Armor

Freshman Year Art Work