BlackJack: Game Documentation

BlackJack Game documentation


The sprites:
Throughout this game, there are a lot of sprite that are used. Without these sprites, the game would not function properly. The sprite creator / editor in GameMaker Studio has made it quite simple and easy to make the sprites. 

Main sprites including AI players:

sprite_main_player:

This sprite that I have made for the main playable person in the game is quite simple. The size of the sprite is 32 x 32 and it just consists of using the circle shape tool as well as the bucket tool to give it the colour. After making the sprites that size, I realized that they were too small, so I placed them in the game room and stretched them to make them bigger. Also with this sprite, I printed the letters "ME" in the middle of the sprite to indicate that, that is you playing.








sprite_ai_player_one, sprite_ai_player_two and sprite_ai_player three:

I made these sprites the same way I made the sprite_main_player, but the only thing different is that I printed the letters "AI" in the middle to let the players know that they are AI players. 

As you can see, I have also given the sprites a different colour each just so it stops the confusion of which AI player is having their go.

Again, if I had more time, I would have created better sprites rather than a plain circle with colour. By doing this, I think it would have made the game more appealing to other people. 

Another thing I should have done was to make a timetable and allocate myself to tasks and how long it takes to complete those tasks rather than spending too much time on one particular task, which for me was the coding. 
























This image shows the player sprites in their own individual folders to organize the game, just in case someone wants to edit the game in any way. I have also done this throughout the game. 


The cards:

For my cards in the game, I have split them into their own individual suits rather than having the cards load from one sprite using sub images. 

I found a set of playing cards on the internet that was bundled into one picture and I dedicated my time to split up the cards and save them in separate folders for the different suits to make it easier to import to GameMaker. This picture does not show all the cards because the list is too long but there are 52 cards in 4 suits. 

The resolution of the cards are 74 x 98. The cards can be scaled down to a smaller size if needed. 









Menu buttons:
In my game, I have created a simple menu with four buttons that have their own individual functions set either by code or drag & drop functions in GameMaker. 
In my game, this is where you can find the menu buttons. These can be edited or removed if needed. I didn't make these buttons by myself, I used a website on Google to make the buttons. I would have made the buttons, but because of the amount of time I have had to make the game, I didn't get enough time to make the buttons myself, even though I would have liked to. 



Functional buttons in the game:
In this picture, you can see the buttons that will be seen when playing game such as the stick button, twist, button and restart button. The busted button isn't really a button and I'm unsure of why I have called it that. That will display when either you or the AI player loses. 

The restart button deals a new deck of cards and also resets the game scores. The stick button, the twist button and the restart button are code based which was easier for me to edit if I needed to make any changes. 

Other sprites:
These really have no purpose of being in the game because they do nothing but display the name of the players. 

The reason I added this, is so that the player that is playing my game doesn't get confused with the players, even though the AI players have "AI" printed in the middle and the main playable character has "ME" printed in the middle. 

The coding side to the game:

My game runs off 90% of code and 10% drag and drop (roughly). I will explain what each script does in the game. 

game_setup:
This sets everything up for the game so things run the way they should. 

shuffled_deck:
This script shuffles the cards when the game starts. 

ai_setup:
This script initialises the AI players for when the game starts.

card_setup:
This script is for the cards. What this script does is, it assigns the card names to the correct suit of the cards, so when they drawn to each player, the game knows which cards each player has so it can't duplicate the card more than once.

Unit 73: Sound for Computer Games (P2 exercises)

Exercise 1:

The aims:

• Understand the methods and principles of sound design and production

Sound file formats:

Uncompressed: .wav .aiff .au .smp .voc

Lossy compression: .mp3 .ra .vox

This is a file format that is used for storing digital audio on a computer. There are different types of file formats and it also depends on what they are used for. The usage of these file formats can depend on the type of project you're working on.

For example; a mobile platform game wouldn't require uncompressed sound because the game wouldn't be that intense and the mobile platform may not even support it or even deal with it as well as a computer would. A mobile platform game would use files like .mp3 because it's small in file size

For example; if I was making a mobile game, it wouldn't be necessary for me to use uncompressed sound files, so the most suitable thing for this is to use compressed audio files such as .mp3 etc... 

For example; if I was making a console game, it would be necessary for me to use uncompressed sound files. The reason for this is to ensure that the person playing the game can experience good quality sound as well as the gameplay. The sound in a game is just as important as the graphics because the sound can tell the story of the game, make you feel what the characters are feeling etc... 


Audio sampling:

How can resolution and bit-depth constraint file size?
Well, the more content that is added to a file, the larger it gets. When the file size gets larger in size, it can tend to be more difficult to work with. 

Explain what the following words mean:

• Sample rate - The number of samples of audio carried per second. This is measured in Hz or kHz (1 kHz = 1,000 Hz)
• Mono - Sound is played through one audio channel, making the sound not so realistic
• Stereo - Sound is played through multiple audio channels, making it sound so realistic 
• Surround - Sound is played through multiple speakers that are placed around in the room to give it that three-dimensional effect 

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Exercise 2:

Audio Limitations of Games Platforms:

How can the following information limit the recording of sound?

• DSP (Digital Signal Processor) - This is called a microchip processor and the main purpose of this is to filter analogue signals. With this doing it's job, it can also reduce the quality of the sounds that have been filtered.
• RAM (Random Access Memory) - This is a vital piece of hardware, because this is where the sound is stored. Now, providing that you have enough RAM in your computer, saving audio files won't be an issue. 
• File format (eg .mp3, .wav, .aiff) - This all comes down to what file type you use for a project. For example; if you were to use the same sound and have them in both, .mp3 and .wav - you will find that the .wav file will be a higher quality sound than the .mp3, although the .wav file will be larger in size too. 

• Audio output - (e.g. Mono, Stereo, Surround)

Mono - This is a singular sound that is produced and intended to be heard as a single channel. 

Stereo - This can be heard as two channels. For example; some songs will use this. You may hear one part of a song through one speaker and a different part of a song through the other speaker. 

Surround - This is most likely found in cinemas or even at home if you have a 5.1 surround sound system or a 7.1 surround sound system. The whole idea of surround sound is to demonstrate a sense of a realism by having 5 or more speakers connected in different areas (front, back, sides, etc...) 

• PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) - This is another feature that is used for analogue signals. The purpose of this, is that it converts these analogue signals into digital signals. This is most likely found on computer systems, televisions and some other devices. 

Audio Recording Systems:
In what types of scenario may use the following audio recording equipment?:

For example; Multi-track recording, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), DAT (Digital Audio Tape), Analogue, Software Plug-ins, Software Sequencer

• Multi-track recording - This can be used for when putting a piece of music or song together. The reason for this is because it makes the editing process easier. For example; if you were to record everything all together on one track, the editing part becomes virtually and physically impossible. 

• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) - Some musical instruments such as a keyboard; they come with a MIDI input which allows you to connect the instrument to a computer system and allows you manipulate the software to create realistic music. This can be used to make sound effects for a game or even music. 

• DAT (Digital Audio Tape) - This is a tape that was used for storing analogue sound. 
• Software Sequencer - This allows you to input into a computer by using an external musical instrument (such as a keyboard), and this lets you recreate music in any way without the use of a real instrument (whether if you don't know how to play a real instrument or don't own / can't afford one). There is a wide variety of software out there that you can use (some maybe free whereas others can cost as little as £30 and onwards to £200+)