BALL BEARING VIDEO GAME (ANDROID APP) Student: John Connolly – (Multimedia & Computer Games Development) Supervisor: Dr. Patrick Healy

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Navigating ball bearings through mazes were once popular toys The goal of this project is to develop an android version of these Examples: Teeter, iCube

TEETER

ICUBE

MY VISION The game will be of a similar concept to that of Teeter Analysis of Teeter type game vs. iCube type game Reasons for choosing Teeter type game: Timescale Scale of the project Complexity

MY VISION (CONT’D) Levels Maze style levels with an end point to reach It will contain obstructions and areas where balls can fall of the grid causing a fail state Contemplating random generation of the levels Pros: Learning and experience, impressive feature (more research needed) Cons: Restricts control of level difficulty as you cannot predict the generation of the level, therefore hard to provide game rewards justifiable to the difficulty completed

MY VISION (CONT’D) Levels (cont’d) Have different zones split into 3-5 levels like in Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario This helps to vary the game graphically to keep it vibrant and interesting instead of dull and boring

MY VISION (CONT’D) What I am talking about!

MY VISION (CONT’D) Rewards 3 stars in total can be received for each level 1 for completion, 1 for collecting all objects and 1 for completing the level within a certain amount of time These stars will be used to unlock levels to increase difficulty of progression

ENVIRONMENT & TOOLS Language: Java, some XML Development Environment: Eclipse with ADT plugin (Android Development Tool) Choice between Eclipse and Google Android Studio Chose Eclipse – ‘Better the devil you know’ so to speak Google Android Studio is relatively new and can be prone to being buggy GAS – probably the future of Android development……

ENVIRONMENT & TOOLS (CONT’D) Unity: Will use this as the tool to create the game and the levels It’s free and multiplatform from Android to PS3 to iOS to Xbox AAA quality and performance Again ‘Better the devil you know’. It’s a program I have used before

ENVIRONMENT & TOOLS (CONT’D) Stagelight: I will use this for music production and creation for my game Professional tool created by Open Labs in conjunction with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park Very cheap at $15 for a professional tool Blender: To model all the objects in the game Again it’s a free, high quality popular tool

ENVIRONMENT & TOOLS (CONT’D) API Guides: Will be using the Android API Guides to manipulate the motion sensors in the android phones here:

Timeline

Research Mock Ups Game Objects/Models FYP Report Product Development & Coding Level Design Working Tilt Mechanism A Fully Working Level 2013 SepOctNovDec Jan 2014 FebMarApr 2014 Today Cut-off Date for both Report and Product 24/4/2014 Final FYP Report Submission Date 17/4/2014 Final Product Submission Date 7/4/2014 Demo Days 2/4/2014 Draft Report 13/3/2014 Interim Report 2/1/2014 Deadline Agreement Form 14/11/2013 Supervisor Marking Scheme 14/11/2013 FYP Presentation 18/10/2013 Project Proposal Deadline 23/9/ SepOctNovDec Jan 2014 FebMarApr 2014 Today Cut-off Date for both Report and Product 24/4/2014 Final FYP Report Submission Date 17/4/2014 Final Product Submission Date 7/4/2014 Demo Days 2/4/2014 Draft Report 13/3/2014 Interim Report 2/1/2014 Deadline Agreement Form 14/11/2013 Supervisor Marking Scheme 14/11/2013 FYP Presentation 18/10/2013 Project Proposal Deadline 23/9/ /11/ /2/ /11/ /2/ /11/ /1/2014 Product Testing & Debugging 24/3/ /4/ /11/ /4/ /11/ /4/ /10/ /11/ /9/ /11/2013

Chronology Table

Milestone(s) DateDescription 23/9/2013Project Proposal Deadline 18/10/2013FYP Presentation 14/11/2013Supervisor Marking Scheme 14/11/2013Deadline Agreement Form 2/1/2014Interim Report 13/3/2014Draft Report 2/4/2014Demo Days 7/4/2014Final Product Submission Date 17/4/2014Final FYP Report Submission Date 24/4/2014Cut-off Date for both Report and Product Timeline: 23/09/ /04/2014

Task(s) Duration (Days) Start DateEnd DateDescription 6823/9/201329/11/2013Research 3724/10/201329/11/2013Mock Ups 3724/10/201329/11/2013Game Objects/Models 14524/11/201317/4/2014FYP Report 14811/11/20137/4/2014Product Development & Coding 1524/3/20147/4/2014Product Testing & Debugging 6411/11/201313/1/2014Level Design 8511/11/20133/2/2014Working Tilt Mechanism 9911/11/201317/2/2014A Fully Working Level

Thanks for listening Any Questions?