Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revision Previous revision
Next revision
Previous revision
research_report_groworld_dave [2010-02-22 14:17] davegriffithsresearch_report_groworld_dave [2010-02-22 14:41] (current) davegriffiths
Line 91: Line 91:
   * Building  a mockup of the game in Blender using bits of drawings and game prototypes we'd already made.   * Building  a mockup of the game in Blender using bits of drawings and game prototypes we'd already made.
    
-I was getting concerned with a technical aspect of the game, the multiplayer part. With it looking likely we were going to use fluxus more and more, and I had no experience of this area. It was time for yet another prototype - the [[groworld multiplayer prototype]]. This used jabber as it's communication protocol, which had the advantage that we would not need to maintain our own server. I also wanted to try a more developed world to put the game in, and had an idea of an old scrapyard being magically brought back to life by plants, so spent a few days learning blender and fixing bugs in the fluxus importer.+I was getting concerned with a technical aspect of the game, the multiplayer part. With it looking likely we were going to use fluxus more and more, and I had no experience of this area. It was time for yet another prototype - the [[groworld multiplayer prototype]]. This used jabber as it's communication protocol, which had the advantage that we would not need to maintain our own server. I also wanted to try a more developed world to put the game in, and had an idea of an old scrapyard being magically brought back to life by plants, so spent a few days learning blender and fixing bugs in the fluxus importer. I also had a chance to use the technique of shells rendering as used on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus|Shadow of the Colossus]] as a way of rendering grass and dense foliage.
  
 {{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gfx4-300x246.png}}{{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gfx3-300x246.png}}{{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gfx5-300x246.png}} {{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gfx4-300x246.png}}{{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gfx3-300x246.png}}{{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gfx5-300x246.png}}
Line 109: Line 109:
 The general idea was that you start of inside the seed of your seed. You can then grow outwards and down into the earth, in order to locate and absorb nutrients with your roots, or upward and out into the air and attract insects with flowers that grow on your branches. The general idea was that you start of inside the seed of your seed. You can then grow outwards and down into the earth, in order to locate and absorb nutrients with your roots, or upward and out into the air and attract insects with flowers that grow on your branches.
  
-I now had a period of intense work on this game. There were also now more and more inspirational drawings being worked on for the groworld almanac. Nik and I were also given the opportunity to look at an area which had been mostly put to one side so far - human-plant interfaces. We led a workshop on plant sensing in Berlin, in which we developed hardware to sense light, moisture and temperature from a plant's environment, and software for communicating it with the game world. We also investigated sensing of plant phenomena of a more mysterious and spiritual nature, involving onions - but our results were inconclusive. +I now had a period of intense work on this game. There were also now more and more inspirational drawings being worked on for the groworld almanac. Nik and I were also given the opportunity to look at an area which had been mostly put to one side so far - human-plant interfaces. We led a workshop on plant sensing in Berlin ([[http://www.sommercampworkstation.de/|Dock Sommercamp Workstation 2009]]), in which we developed hardware to sense light, moisture and temperature from a plant's environment, and software for communicating it with the game world. We also investigated sensing of plant phenomena of a more mysterious and spiritual nature, involving onions - but our results were inconclusive. 
  
 {{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/dsc00004-300x225.jpg}}{{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/dsc00010-300x225.jpg}}  {{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/dsc00004-300x225.jpg}}{{http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/dsc00010-300x225.jpg}} 
Line 184: Line 184:
 I am very pleased at what we have achieved, when discussing and showing groworld at talks at Futuresonic, Kitchen Budapest, Dorkbot London and OpenLab London there is a huge amount of interest in this area and a lot of excitement over what we have made. In conjunction with the wider groworld project the game prototypes represent very original ideas. I am very pleased at what we have achieved, when discussing and showing groworld at talks at Futuresonic, Kitchen Budapest, Dorkbot London and OpenLab London there is a huge amount of interest in this area and a lot of excitement over what we have made. In conjunction with the wider groworld project the game prototypes represent very original ideas.
  
 +==== References ====
  
 +Links:
 +
 +  * My ongoing groworld dev blog [[http://www.pawfal.org/dave/blog/category/groworld/]]
 +  * Patabotanical illustrations [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157610724467408/]]
 +  * Borrowed scenery pictures [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157614845571295/]]
 +  * Sommercamp pictures [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157622028639946/]]
 +  * Plant eyes on flickr [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave-griffiths/sets/72157622582313444/]]
 +  * More plant eyes on flickr [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/sets/72157622673327794/]]
 +  * Fluxus website [[http://www.pawfal.org/fluxus]]
 +  * Groworld git repository [[https://git.fo.am/?p=groworld/.git;a=tree]]
 +  * Executable versions of prototypes [[http://www.pawfal.org/groworld]]
 +
 +Existing Games:
 +
 +  * Noby Noby Boy [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noby_Noby_Boy]]
 +  * Flower [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_(video_game)]]
 +  * Shadow of the Colossus [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus]] 
 +  * Flow [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlOw]]
 +  * Pixeljunk Eden [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PixelJunk_Eden]]
  
  • research_report_groworld_dave.1266848248.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2010-02-22 14:17
  • by davegriffiths