Game Design and Semiotics -- Do they go together?

Seriously. Do they? I want to hear what you have to say about it so please leave me a comment about it.

Right now I'm attempting to bridge the gap between narrative design, level and environment design (not always the same thing), and game / game-play design using semiotics. Semiotics is a pretty good fit for this type of design challenge, as I can certainly apply some different types of analytic to it. So far I'm still trying to figure out which ones would really work best.

On a slight tangent in the research I've started looking at what my brother worked on with the subject on his thesis for his masters in architecture. The reading he pointed me to has been immensely helpful (Thank you, ed).

I have a handful of notes already, but I'm only a couple of days into this project. It's mountainous amount of work, but I can see that there will be some real formalisms at the end of it that will really help with game, level, and narrative design in the future.

Renderman Assignment

Here are my results for the renderman assignment. Kind of neat.
The first is just edited shaders that were provided.


This image is a little cooler. I modified and combined two shaders to create a ... wall of meat? Kind of gross but pretty cool result.

Assignment 7

Here are my completed images for Assignment 7.

Default (looks like assignment 6)

Reinhold's Tone Reproduction with an lMax of 1



Reinhold with lMax of 1,000

Reinhold with an lMax of 10,000


Ward's Tone Reproduction with lMax of 1


Ward with an lMax of 1,000

Ward with an lMax of 10,000

Assignment 6

I've completed transmission through my spheres.


I've altered the size of the floor to better accommodate seeing through the spheres and noticing the bending of the reflections. Also there seems to be a problem with my specular highlight on my transparent sphere ... hmmm ... I wonder what's causing that weird rim around the top right-hand corner?

Assignment 5

I have completed reflections on my spheres, as controlled by their kr value.



I had some problems with my vector math, but it all seems to be sorted out now. I also fixed my specular highlights, which were not actually being calculated properly at all. Next week: transmission! We're getting down to the end of this project now.

Crowd Flow Statistical Modeling in the Unreal Development Kit Mid-quarter Update

Crowd Flow Statistical Modeling in the Unreal Development Kit

Brian May and Eric Baker

Computer Graphics II; 4005-762

Prof. Reynold Bailey

http://bam1286.blogspot.com/

Project Objectives

To generate a statistical model that will project actor behavior in a given space based on heatmap data from previously generated data.

• Crowd behavior implemented, still needs tuning

Heatmap Generation

• Parser written, needs tuning to get the appropriate data for our crowd agents
  
• Heatmap not generated yet

Project Responsibilities

Brian: Parser and heatmap generation
Eric: Crowd behavior and UDK Environment implementation

Project Timeline -- Currently on track to complete the project in time

• Week 5 - setup environment
• Week 6 - Initial Algorithm implementation / Heatmap generation
• Week 7 - Refine and identify problems with algorithm and statistics gathering
• Week 8 - Finalize implementation and begin to gather data
• Week 9 - Present Findings

What has been done so far

• Crowd behaviors implemented and working as we will want them to.
  
• UnrealScript is supporting our data collection nicely with its native logging functions
  
• Logging crowd agent positions effectively
  
• The log is parsed pretty easily in a simple C program
  

An assessment of your (team's) progress
We're in good shape to have the project done before the end of the quarter. We only have a couple more steps to achieve our goal of producing a heatmap based on the data gathered. After that we will need to tune / refine / revise our implementation to actually make it into a useful tool.

Assignment 4

Here is my screenshot for my results of Assignment 4. The system is extensible to as many squares as you want to make the checkerboard out of. Pretty cool.

Project Proposal II

Crowd Flow Statistical Modeling in the Unreal Development Kit

Eric Baker and Brian May

Computer Graphics II; 4005-762

Reynold Bailey

http://bam1286.blogspot.com/

Summary: We plan to use the UDK to model crowd behavior in a given space. The system will use flocking and crowd AI algorithms to control actors inside of a pre-generated area. By tracking the path and interaction of the actors inside of the space, we can generate a "heat" map that will show where the highest densityof actor interaction occurs. To begin with, we will focus mainly on collisions as the actors attempt to navigate a number of obstacles.

Objectives: To generate a statistical model that will project actor behavior in a given space based on heatmap data from previously generated data.

System and Software: We plan to implement the system on the UDK in Windows 7.
A breakdown of project components: We will create an AI module for actors in Unreal that will implement specific flocking algorithms to allow them to navigate obstacles in a given space.

Project Responsibilities
Brian will implement heatmap generation based on actor interaction in the game world.
Eric will concentrate on implementing the flocking algorithms inside the engine.

Project Timeline

• Week 5 - setup environment
• Week 6 - Initial Algorithm implementation / Heatmap generation
• Week 7 - Refine and identify problems with algorithm and statistics gathering
• Week 8 - Finalize implementation and begin to gather data
• Week 9 - Present Findings

Final Presentation: We plan to demonstrate the system in real-time running on a machine in-class. Also we plan to have a short video / powerpoint that will present our findings and the implications of the system in terms of modeling spaces for future actor interactions.

Assignment 3

Here is my rendered image for Assignment 3. I changed around the colors again, as a course of testing. My phong illumination model is showing ambient, specular and diffuse properly now, after fighting with some floating point rounding errors.

Final Project Proposal

For our final project, we will be pursuing the following topic;

Fast Lattice Shape Matching Implemented in the Unreal Development Kit

Brian May and Eric Baker

Computer Graphics II; 4005-762-70

Professor Reynold Bailey

Summary: In this project we plan to implement FLSM (Fast Lattice Shape Matching), a soft body physics solver, in the UDK (Unreal Development Kit). We plan to create a ragdoll much like the ones seen in the demo video of FLSM, where it showed a limp penguin model bouncing off of pegs on a wall, inside of the UDK. The point of this is to prove that FLSM is an effective technique geared toward efficiently modeling soft bodies inside of a real-time rendering engine.

Project Objectives :
Implement FLSM using the sample materials provided
Extend the 2D example into 3D
Show that the technique is an efficient and effective soft body solver

System and Software: In terms of hardware, our test machine will be running an Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of memory, and a GeForce 9800 GT. The software used will be Windows 7, Directx inside of the UDK, and our implementation will be written in UnrealScript.

Components:
UI - Our UI will allow the user to add objects to the scene using simple mouse or keyboard input. Additionally, the UI will allow the user to interact with the objects added to the scene -- moving them around inside of the scene and seeing how they interact with objects in the space.

FLSM solver - Our Fast Lattice Shape Matching physics solver will allow objects in the scene to be specified as a soft body and to calculate their mesh deformations in real-time under the UDK.

An environment / world in the Unreal Engine in which the FLSM solver can be used.

Project Responsibilities: Brian will handle a lot of the algorithmic implementation. Eric will handle a lot more with the UI and world Setup and interaction with the UDK itself, as well as additional algorithm implementation.

Project Timeline:

• Week 4 - Setup environment
• Week 5 - Implement 2D FLSM in UDK
• Week 6 - Finalize implementation and polish UI to interact with the solver
• Week 7 - Finalize project plan for 3D implementation
• Week 8 - Initial 3D implemenation
• Week 9 - Refine 3D implementation
• Week 10 - Finalize and record results.

Final Presentation: We plan to either bring in a machine that can demonstrate the program while it is running, or to take a short video of the project while it is running to prove that the technology works under the UDK in Real-time.

Assignment 2

Here is my rendered image for assignment 2


The plane is not in the same position as in Assignment 1, because I wanted to show that the corner was not an infinite plane stretching into the background. Came out pretty well, and I think my setup will work well going forward.

Here is another image to show my visible surface determination working