NEXT-GEN Nescot week 12 - Animation (kick)

During week 13, we were tasked in teams to animate a word acting out the action that it says. For the task I was paired with James.

To create this small animation, we used hand drawn cut-outs and positioned them underneath a camera. I drew the different letters and actions of the "i" using a H.B pencil whitest often showing and asking James about desired designs and designs I had made. I also gave the "i" an eye to allow it to have a sense of emotion. 

James then volunteered to do the positioning and editing because most of the drawings I made were not used in the final creation. Firstly, James attempted to use adobe-Fireworks to make the animation, however the blog website I use did not allow the GIF to be shown due to the large file size and therefore used Adobe-Animate to create the GIF.

In order to do this, James lowered the size of each of the images and reduced the amount of time each image would appear on screen.

Unlike other animations on my blog, this animation did not need to be tracked because all the frames were already created after taking the images and only needed to be placed in order.

(Animation that was created can be seen below, sorry for the flash effect in the frames)

Over all I believe that we did well on this assignment because me and James worked well together in a group with good co-ordination to produce our final image. However, if I could re-do this assignment I would re-take the images for the GIF to get rid of the flashing effect of the lighting and to increase the number of frames to make it move more smoothly.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 13 - Walking Animation

During week 13 we were tasked with animating a running/walking man move across the screen.

To create this small animation, I used the program Adobe Animate. I used this to position and edit the animation by using the pen tool to angle and draw the ark of each leg and arm stride. Once I was done I created another layer to hold the body and another for the head.

To create the head, I used the sphere tool whilst shift-clicking to make the created object symmetrical. Afterwards, I began creating the body by using the square tool and painting over it to make the body look more smooth.

Then I began making a large amount of key-frames holding copies of the head and body at different positions.

Underneath each foot I created small shadows to show the ground underneath the moving character.

Once again the way I tracked the previous placements of the character was by using the 'onion' feature which allowed me to see what came before that frame (in blue) and what came after (if it was there it would be shown in green).

(Animation I created can be seen below)

Over all I believe that I did well on this assignment because I think that the animation I made flows well and realistically runs. However, if I could re-do this assignment I would make the legs of the character thinner because the size of them is more eye catching than the arms or upper body.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 12 - Animation (bouncing ball)

To create this small animation, I used the program Adobe Animate. I used this to position and edit the animation by, firstly, creating an archway using the pen tool to angle and draw the steepness or shallowness of the arches. Once I was done with this I decided to create another layer to hold the ball and its movements.

To create the ball, I used the sphere tool whilst shift-clicking to make the created object symmetrical. Afterwards, I began creating a large amount of key-frames holding copies of the sphere at different positions. When the ball would be expressed as falling fast I would distort the sphere into an elongated shape for a brief second to make the frames blend better together.

Also, whenever the ball hit the floor I would flatten the ball to emphasize the landing and launching of the ball.

The way I tracked the previous placements of the ball was by using the 'onion' feature which allowed me to see what came before that frame (in blue) and what came after (if it was there it would be shown in green).

(Animation I created can be seen below)

Over all I believe that I did well on this assignment because I think that the animation I made is rather smooth and flows well. However, if I could re-do this assignment I would make the animation slower by using more frames and I would make the ball roll towards the end of the page.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 12 - Essay: game buyer/ player types (500 words)

Within Gamer psychology there is what is known as "The Four Bartle Types" (The Bartle taxonomy of player types classifying video-game players (Gamers) based on a 1996 article made by Richard Bartle which references their preferred actions within a game).

These four Bartle types are referenced as:

Killers: The players that prefer to interfere with the functioning of the game world or play with the experiences of other players

Achievers: (actively or inactively) Attempt to accumulate status tokens (achievements) by beating rule-based challenges the game world presents.

Explorers: Discover (or control) the systems governing the operation of the game world, frequently attempt to find everything the game world has to offer or differentiate from the story of the game world and continue on their own path.

Socialisers: Form relationships with other players throughout encounters within or outside of the game world's story.

Personally, I believe that I fall under a mix of the killer, socialiser and explorer categories because I like to play exploratory (open world) games while choosing my own path within the game. Games that I like to play in this category include (but are not limited to): Skyrim, Oblivion, Middle Earth and many more.
I also play lots of first person shooters such as Rainbow Six Siege, Battlefield and Call of Duty which most likely would fall under the "killer" category as-well.
The reason I also believe that I fit within the socialiser category is that I play lots of games with friends and make friends with others online whilst doing so.

Alongside the four Bartle types, there is another system to determine player/ buyer types, This is called "The Four Keirsey Temperaments".

These Temperaments include:

Artisan: (Sensing + Perceiving): these player/ buyer types tend to play realistic (or realistically in) games while using tactical and manipulative (of things or people) ways to win or advance. These players can also be described as; pragmatic, impulsive, action-focused and sensation-seeking.

Guardian: (Sensing + Judging): these player/ buyer types usually play practically and logistically, while also trying to be organized within the game. These players can be described as: hierarchical, detail-oriented, possessive, process-focused, security-seeking as-well.

Rational: (Intuition + Thinking): these player/ buyer types often play in innovative, strategic and logical ways. These these players can also be described as: scientific/technological, future-oriented, result-focused, knowledge-seeking.

Idealist: (Intuition + Feeling): these player/ buyer types play imaginatively while using diplomatic approaches. These these players can be described as: emotional, relationship-oriented, dramatic, person-focused, identity-seeking as well.

These two separate types of defining player and buyer types interconnect with each-other to determine the genres that the different sets of player types most likely want to play. 

For example: 

A killer/artisan player type would most likely want the power to be free to act at will on other people or things within the game.

An achiever/guardian player type would want the security of possessions obtained by following the game rules.

An explorer/rational player type would want the satisfaction of understanding how things work and to have the ability to explore a larger world.

A socialiser/idealist would want people to have the ability to cooperate toward a goal.

Below is a diagram showing the different player/buyer types

taken from: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6474/personality_and_play_styles_a_.php?print=1

Genre types compared to player types.

Genres	Examples	Core Player types
FPS	Call of Duty	Killer, Achiever
CRPG	Fallout 1/2	Achiever, Explorer
FPS-CRPG	BioShock	Achiever, Explorer, Killer
Open-world CRPG	The Elder Scrolls (skyrim)	Achiever, Explorer
MMORPG	World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Guild Wars	Achiever, Explorer, Socialiser
MMOG	Unreal Tournament, Team Fortress 1/2 (any FPS multiplayer mode)	Killer, Achiever
Adventure	King's Quest	Socialiser, Explorer
Action	Tomb Raider, Uncharted	Killer, Achiever
Survival-Horror	Resident Evil, Dead Space, Amnesia	Killer, Achiever
Turn-based Strategy	Civilization	Explorer
Physics Puzzler	Half-Life 1/2, Portal 1/2	Killer, Explorer
Real-time Strategy	Age of Empires	Achiever, Killer
Flight Simulator	Falcon 4.0, Microsoft Flight Simulator X	Killer, Explorer
Space Shooter	Wing Commander	Achiever, Killer
Music	Rock Band, Guitar Hero	Killer, Socialiser
Simulation	SimCity, Railroad Tycoon	Explorer
Social	FarmVille	Socialiser, Achiever
Online Gambling	Blackjack, Texas Hold-Em Poker	Killer, Achiever