Final Pitch To Client - Friday 5th December 2008

This was the arranged meeting with Alex Counsell, that took place in the Eldon Basement at 12.30pm

Here is what we discussed so we can get a written
agreement:

There are limited results with the Motionbuilder 2009 edition and collision
detection. Once Alex has found that it is all in working order, he will let us
know. In the meantime, we cannot use Motionbuilder for that function. He
did mention that we could get booked into the MOCAP room to learn the other
aspects of Motionbuilder.

Testing will need to be carried out to achieve the 25 frames per second.

5 Levels must be created instead of the 3, as the group last year made 3.
Each of the levels should be different and interesting. There must be
diversity between the levels. The levels must contain some kind of puzzle
aspect, instead of just simple controlling to get through the maze. Maybe
puzzles used in the Nintendo Zelda games? This will need to be researched.

Audience Interaction - Maybe the audience can control perils that happen,
that the actor does not know about, with a button release. Such things as
boulders being released, or swinging axes etc. If the audience can outwit
the actor, then it'll make the performance more interesting, and funnier.

We will research 'THE ADVENTURE GAME' BBC TV program from late 70's, and try
base our ideas around that.

Fran suggested a fight sequence at the end of the game, where one audience
member fights another audience member, to win back the daughter at the end.
This could be a possible idea. An idea arised of having 2 separate
characters, and 2 audience members would control these. Maybe battling
against each other?

Movie lighting could be used, and particle effects can be used on the
environment - thus making the most out of Motionbuilder's functions. A
possible idea would be picking up a torch and carrying it to create light.
Real-time fog could be an idea?

We must make the most out of Motionbuilder, and use such things as real-time
shadows, real-time particles, real-time light, bump matting and use of
textures etc. Relations in Motionbuilder must also be researched.

Meeting Six - Monday 1st December 2008

Everyone was present at the meeting. The meeting was again at
12.30pm as me and Hel had filming to do for our other unit, and this
was a brief meeting.
I had arranged a meeting with MOCAP guy (Alex Counsell) for friday 5th
december at 12.30pm. Fran had said that because she has to go home
because of personal reasons in the next couple of days, she may not be
able to make that meeting, or a group meeting with Andy Bain. Because
interviews were starting this week, Fran wanted the group to get the
interview out of the way, but because we wern't prepared with all our
work for this day, then it wouldn't be possible. It was decided that
Fran would just go to the interview with Andy Bain by herself.
Hel had been thinking of pages for the website, and she will type
these up soon, and work on the website. She has been working on flash
buttons for the website and getting everything to work properly.
Jack and Alex had uploaded their 3D model images to the files section,
and these were looking good. Fran said they were too detailed, but I
think they were pretty good, and would be good to use them. Alex said
it had taken him a while to work on the torso, but because he had been
working as well, it gave him little time to work on it. He would
upload the torso soon, meaning the character would be taking shape!
Fran had come with yet more sketches of the characters, because she
wanted something to take with her to the interview. She had also come
up with level designs. I don't think this was discussed with Simon,
but Fran showed us how she thought the levels should look like. We
thought a 3rd person view, (birds eye view) of the levels should be
shown, and not a 1st person view like we originally thought. This way
the whole of the maze is shown, and you can still see the 3D
obstacles. Fran will scan and upload these to the files section, so
that Simon can get to work on the environments in his program
Simon's software had finally come, and now that Fran had these
designs, Simon could now work on them using the full software. Once
done these can easily be exported to 3D Studio Max. We had a
discussion whether the environments had to be made in Motionbuilder,
but because the 2 softwares (Max and Motionbuilder) are made by the
same company, they could easily be switched from one to another.
I had finally been sent the flash images and would work on an
animation soon.
Our roles for this week were:

Hel - Write down pages needed for the website, and upload these to the
group, so the group will know what will go on each page. She will look
up a tutorial for a scroll bar in flash, so the content can be
uploaded. She will bring in the website design, and other work that
she has done to the meeting with MOCAP guy (Alex Counsell) on friday.
She will contact Andy Bain to arrange the meeting, but apparently we
just need to turn up.

Jack + Alex - Jack will send all his models to Alex so that the model
could be pieced together. If this would not be possible, or the model
would not look right, they will just print out their models, and bring
them in on Friday. Jack had finished his models and was waiting for
Alex. Alex will work on the legs and torso, then the model would be
complete. He would try and finish it by friday, if not, he'd print off
what he'd done.

Fran - Work on the storyboarding for the intro animation. Also, upload
the images of level designs to the google group, so Simon can work on
environments

Simon - Work on the level designs/environments in his full software,
Vue Extreme. He found out that no roof was needed, because the
audience need to see what's going on. Also only 2 walls would be
shown. It has also been discovered that there is a tutorial to make an
animated lava pit in 3D Studio Max, and this would be used for the
Volcano level. Both Alex and Simon have books on lighting, and these
would be used as well.

Me - Write down list of requirements for proposal to Alex Counsell on
friday. This would include such things as collision detection and
animation etc. The handbook would help with this. Work on the intro
animation using Flash. Continue Project Process.

We decided that we should have our interview with Andy Bain on Monday
8th December, as it would give us time to prepare, and would suit us
all.
We wondered who was going to control our character in the game,
whether it'd be someone in the audience or Andy Bain himself, and we
would ask that at our meeting with him next week. Our next meeting may
be without Fran.