Game Development Update - 27/02/2019

GAME DEVELOPMENT UPDATE - 27/02/2019
It's that time again where I become more active with my blog. I have been quiet recently due to work and a project that I have been working on. It is now time to reveal what this project is... A HARRY POTTER RPG!

I have been a huge Harry Potter fan since I was 2, and I grew up reading the books, watching the films, and playing the games. That is when this idea came to me. Why not have a huge Harry Potter RPG based on all 7 books. That is when I set myself a challenge to build said game. So in my spare time, I have installed Unreal Engine 4 and given myself the challenge to build the game. About 2-3 months in, this is what I have:

It may be a bit hard to make out what the pictures are, but I'll explain them. The top picture is of Privet Drive at night where the game will start with a cutscene of Harry's arrival. I'm still attempting to establish the shots for the cutscene, but it is a working progress.

The second image is that of the zoo Harry visits for Dudley's birthday. This is still a working progress with many more enclosures and buildings to be appearing. This will be the first level that the player will be able to wander around in.

I have built all of the buildings myself, along with the road for Privet Drive and the enclosures for the zoo, with the exception of using some of the starter content Unreal provide.

That does it for today's blog post, hope you liked it with something a bit different, and leave your thoughts on the game and what you would like to see.

So until next time,
Peace Out - Geekette

History of First Generation Consoles

HISTORY OF FIRST GENERATION CONSOLES

I’m back for the new year with a whole load of new plans for posts. To kick start stuff off, we will be talking about first generation consoles. These consoles first came into play in 1972. 

The idea for a home console first came into play when a television engineer, called Ralph Baer was developing the ‘Brown Box’. This was basically his idea of creating an interactive television when he was creating a TV set. Baer created a two-player game, that was simple called Chase. This is a game where two dots chased each other around a screen. After the company director of R&D saw this, he gave the project a green light. In 1967, Bill Harrison was brought into the project and a light gun was constructed (from a toy rifle) that was aimed at a target moved by another player.

Bill Rusch joined the project, and the three soon created a Ping Pong game. Baer wanted to promote the console and sell it, so he went to various U.S. Television Manufacturers about selling the project. All but one turned the project down, and Magnavox eventually signed the deal in 1969. Magnavox altered a lot of different things to the Brown Box and eventually released the console in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey. 

The Odyssey is a digital console, and like all consoles up to the sixth generation, it uses analog circuitry for the output to match the TVs of the era. It also uses analog controllers. This is the main reason why many people thought the Odyssey console is a analog console. This is false, as it uses digital consoles.

This is also the first involvement of Nintendo in Video Games, as they had just begun their market research for home consoles, as they were still in the toy market. They did have an alliance with Magnavox to develop and produce guns that would work with consoles, (gun controllers) for the Odyssey mainly.

The Odyssey was not as successful as they hoped, however, companies with similar products such as Atari, had to pay a licensing fee for some time. This is where they had a strong point in them.

In 1975, Epoch released Japan’s first console called the TV Tennis Electrotennis, which is their version of Pong. With the widespread popularity of Pong, it sparked many clones. Japan’s most successful console was the Nintendo Color-TV, which sold 3 million units and was the most successful first generation console.

That sums up today’s history of. Join us next time for the history of second generation consoles.

So until next time,

Peace Out - Geekette

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone PS2 Part 6 - Spongify Challenge

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone PS2 Part 6 - Spongify Challenge
Here is the long awaited next episode of my Harry Potter walkthrough!

https://youtu.be/7CeDuluArG4

Retro Game of the Week - 12/09/2018

RETRO GAME OF THE WEEK - 12/08/2018
SPYRO THE DRAGON
This week's Retro Game is Spyro the Dragon.

Released on the 10th September 1998 (yes 20 years ago!) on the PlayStation. The game featured a purple dragon called Spyro who had to go and rescue his friends who had been frozen in time by the evil Gnorc.

There is also a dragonfly who also helps Spyro called Sparx. He is cute. Spyro has always been one of my favourite characters since playing the game Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. He was one of the figurines that came with the game.






That sums up this week's retro game of the week. Hope you all enjoyed it!
So until next time,
Peace Out - Geekette

Game of the Week - 09/09/2018

GAME OF THE WEEK 09/09/2018
LEGO HARRY POTTER YEARS 1-4
This week's game of the week is Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4.

A game that truly represented my childhood (sort of). Released in 2011, Lego HP was a game for all HP fans, including myself. I use to have the game on DS many years ago when it was first released, but now own it on my Xbox 360. It was also released on the Wii (I think I have that copy lying around somewhere), PS3, iOS, Android, PSP, Mac OS X and Windows. A revamped version of the game was released on PS4 called Lego Harry Potter: The Collection. It is soon coming to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.



The aim of this game is like any other Lego game. You run around shooting bad guys and collecting the studs. What's not to like? The only difference is that in this game you attend classes like Charms and Potions, and you earn new spells and other abilities that can be used against the bad guys.

My favourite part of this game is that the cutscenes are still priceless. I know majority of people do not like the classic Lego cutscenes with no talking in as they are annoying, but for myself, as long as I could remember, I played the Lego games with no talking in the cutscenes. This is why I always have and will find them funny.

That's it for this week's game of the week and thanks for reading.
So until next time,
Peace Out - Geekette

Retro Game of the Week - 09/09/2018

RETRO GAME OF THE WEEK - 09/09/2018
STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
This week's retro game goes to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

This game was released in 2003 for the Xbox, but has recently became available for backwards compatibility with the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It was also released on Windows, Android, Mac OS X and iOS.

The game itself is set 3,000 years before A New Hope and is a RPG game. You can customise your character to suit your needs. I have recently started to play this game myself and I have chosen to be a Female Soldier. You start off on a Republic Ship which has been taken over by the Sith. There your actions and choices affect whether you are on the light side or on the dark side.



Another fun bit about the game is that you can choose attributes to suit your needs. My attributes are computer use, demolitions and stealth.

That does it for this week's retro game. I thoroughly enjoy playing this game, even though the graphics kinda give me nightmares!

So until next time,
Peace Out - Geekette

Game Soundtrack of the Week - 30/08/2018

GAME SOUNDTRACK OF THE WEEK - 30/08/2018
MEDAL OF HONOR GAME SOUNDTRACK
You join me today with the next installment of Game Soundtrack of the week. This week's Game Soundtrack is Medal of Honor.



The game itself is a first-person shooter set during WW2. You play an OSS soldier who is tasked with infiltrating different enemy positions and destroying them. It is mainly targeted at the Nazi's (enemy-wise). The game itself was released in 1999 in the EU for the PlayStation.

The soundtrack was composed by Michael Giacchino, who recently composed the Rogue One soundtrack. The soundtrack is composed of 20 tracks which can be heard throughout the game. My favourite track is 'Rescuing the G3 officer'. This is because it was my favourite level of the game.

You can have a little listen here: https://youtu.be/C3dYiawUXJA

So that does it for this short but sweet game soundtrack of the week. Join us next time for another Potter walkthrough :).

So until next time,
Peace Out - Geekette