Red's Games & Designs

I am a young female university student, studying Game Design. This blog is dedicated to my crafts, work, gaming and other various forms of tinkering, art or play that I enjoy.

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A master post of the evolution of my groups senior project game character design. The images on the left either were final designs or color pallets at the time in comparison to the right images. The images toward the bottom were earlier designs of our playable character and towards the top are more finalized versions (even though it is title concept art and template art for 3d modeling).

During my next quarter I will be pushing out more art to fill up our website as well as advertise my teams game more.  Be on the look out for Project Zefeir!

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Color Theory Palette

Hey everyone! This is my final project that hopefully will evolve once more into a more final version as my senior cap stone!

I wanna give thanks to my boyfriend, Jose Z. , who helped me pull through during crunch time. He wasn’t even in this class but he still helped anyway.

 Contributions:

Programming:

Pilot: Jose Z (wanted to study my code from the midterm iteration).

Co Pilot: Myself

Images: Myself

Information: Myself and My partner Shoshana B.

Trailer: Myself.

Board:

Fabrication- Myself and Jose Z.

Wiring- Jose Z.

About Color Theory Palette:

An interactive game that goes through the rgb color spectrum but the colors chosen are not exactly recognizable nor easy colors. The goal is simply show that mixing colors of odd RGB values, such as the artist color wheel, are harder than colors with an easier point of reference for mixing (i.e. the secondary and tertiary of the light color wheel will have 0, 127, or 255 as value options). 

Rules + Hardware:

The rules are simple, there are three potentiometers that are defined to be the red, green or blue values. Simply twist them to change the color palette bubble in front of them, to match the three that are separated at the bottom of the image. Pressing the mix button, the yellow knob, will submit your guess. If you get it right, the next color will appear. Get them all right it will flash green and reset the game. But if the submit is wrong it will flash red, however you only have a minuet to guess all three before you start all over again with a fresh new preset palette.

Inspirations:

My inspiration for this controller is simply that I am fascinated with color and how each we see tells its own different story about how a world with out color would be nothing.

Games like Hue:

Is what my goal, but more on a theoretical level rather than just simply the change in hue. My inspiration comes from the additive and subtraction color theory and my hopes is to pair up this controller with a digital game like hue that expands on these theories in a more fun interface.

Creation Process+Iterations and Design:

Honestly the creation process was a bunch of artwork, sketches, painting, and conversation with my boyfriend.

He would draw images like the following while I tested it out on a more creative scale to bring it together as a presentation and the project with the RGB LEDs.

I looked up color theory and made star color wheels to show the difference between light and pigment, as well as designing animal images to show the difference.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Light^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Pigment^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Contrasting the color wheel is where we decided in the final design of a palette where you “mix” these colors to discover them and learn how hard it is with odd and untrue colors like the artist wheel.

Future Goals and Iterations:

In a future iteration it will just be the primary, secondary and tertiary colors for user’s to discover in digital game play. It will be the Light Color Wheel, but while you lose power it will become the subtractive theory and the skills are less powerful unless you add light to receive the true colors we see.

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Color Lock- A  Color Guessing Game

Pitch, Description, and Thanks

*** I need to thank my partner, Jose Z. , who helped me clean up my wiring and be my second pair of eyes when I was stumped on programming. He is not taking the alternative controller’s course with me, but he was willing to help me when I was having trouble***

This is a game where visual perception is your lock pick.

This game consists of guessing the right combination using a potentiometer  to find the right combination. Instead of guessing a number lock, you are guessing a color lock. 

Rules and Gameplay

To start, wait for one RGB LEDs to light up, it generates random RGB values between 0-255. This particular LED is the one you are trying to guess the RGB combination.There are three buttons to the left of the potentiometer where the left most button allows the user to select the red value, then the one to the right is the button for the green value, and the right most is the button for the blue value. It will not take in two or more buttons at the same time.

Once a button for the red/green/blue value is pressed, you twist the potentiometer and one of 3 RGB LEDs displaying the corisponding value will be dimmer or brighter. Once all color values are selected, another LED will show the colors you mixed.

If you are satisfied with your combination, to the right of the potentiometer is another button, this acts as the submit button. Once pressed, if you are between: 20 below or  20 above the random RGB values an LED will flash green and change the random LED color. If you are out of range of the random RGB values, an LED with flash red.

The win state is getting the right combination and moving. Could not really think of a losing state, due to the fact of what inspired me only has frustration of finding the perfect color and winning is finding that perfect color before looking for the next color.

Here is the Fritzing diagram with labels: 

Video of how it works:

(I got the combination wrong...)

Inspiration, Intent and Changes/Improvements

The inspiration for this is actually from Digital Art software. The game is to represent going through the color slider/mixer/picker (depends on the illustration software being used) and pick the color you need to use for your design.  

I made it as a guessing game, because the RGB LEDs barely show the difference between what is a yellow-green from a higher or lower mixed green value, or similarly a yellow from an orange. The intent of this game is to see the ranges of the RGB LED as a designer,  and as the user but I need to know if they can see the very settle difference in the light. If they can't then the, hopefully, future and final design won't work and I need to find appropriate LEDs for what I want this game to be as a controller.

The improvements for specifically this design, is there needs to be one more LED that flickers if you are close to the value of the random RGB LED or have a  GUI with a split screen that takes in the RGB values of the random LED displaying it’s appropriate color on one side of the screen, similarly for the user input as it changes on the  other side of the screen before submitting.

As for the changes, especially with what I hope to do, I want to use touch sensors, where you are given 3 starting colors. Touching one color, then drawing with a stylus (touching) on a designated area will display the element it is associated with + an Animal. If you touch two colors then draw --it will discover a new color/animal and a new light will appear on the controller. This more simplified version of alchemist and will go through the Primary, Secondary and tertiary colors of the Artist color wheel. The LEDS in this sense just serves as a visual cue, that you obtained a new color/animal. I want the controller to be interacted with like it is painter’s palette, the drawing area will be the empty space that painters use to mix colors.  The rest of this design, specifically the game this controller will be used for, will be saved for CMPM 170 series as I don't want to leak the entirety of my ideas on the internet.

Here is a sketch Example of how I want the controller to look and the primary colors + animal:

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Rhythm Tracking Game- Understanding Senors

All from scratch, only using lesson base code, I made a rather basic rhythm tacker, when you tap to a beat of a song. I highly recommend listing to Lucio’s song “We Move Together As One (Nexus Remix)”, which you can click here to open. Tapping to this song give a nice responsive feedback to make the LEDs light up different colors to their set peak value. The goal is to tap with the beat at the same amount of pressure, which should hopefully make the peak value be the median and make the designated RBG Led blink Green.

Here is the Fritzing diagram to have a visual of the components used.

Considering how this could be used digitally AND physically, I personally really want to--maybe not as a rhythm game but an application to cosplay/alternative game play controller-- make a functioning weapon replica to the game it originates from.

Imagine cosplaying lucio and having his weapon as a controller for just for fun and perhaps novelty reasons but being able to track his skills with sensors on the replica.

Instead of playing on the keyboard or the controller for consoles, you have a replica of your favorite character’s weapon as the controller instead. This also pairs up as a cool and functioning cosplaying piece.

Perhaps in the near future and a lot more sensor practice, this could be a fesable thing for my own cosplays of favorite video game characters that works as a controller for my comfort.

This idea will most likely be tested with my own possible game pitch for the UCSC Game Design 170 series other wise it would be something to do in my own time. I first however need to flesh out the little stuff of sensitivity, what can it be used with, does it work under layers of fabric, what would be the best arduino board, considerations like this will need to be prototyped. I know, this is a big idea merging the physical-ness of cosplay with the digital interactions of a game, but if you can key bind any Xbox or PlayStation controller to the CPU version of a game, you can make your own working prop piece with that same game.

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3D Case for Adafruit Circuit Play Ground

My task for my research was to make a wearable case for our circuit play grounds. Thought Id share the link I found, it served as a base design and where I created the first modified version for my research. The photos are the current version--More iterations will follow. We just needed something to showcase for the dean this weekend.

Base Case: [Link]

My Modification:

*The front has not been modified from the base link in this iteration but there will be pieces to mount on the buttons and switch.

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Prototyping with a Simple LED Game

This prototype is of a simple Simon Says game, using the led colors Red, Green and Blue. A simple game where you race against reactionary time to input the color sequence before the span of reaction runs out. Being rusty with my programming in arduino--I had help from this post in the arduino project hub. I had to change some of the circuitry on its fritzing example and some of the code to accommodate 3 LEDs vs 4 LEDS. This code was really buggy and the order of hierarchy was a little off, so initially the lights consistently would flash non-stop. Eventually after rearranging the code, making sure the logic is right and fixing the placement of the circuitry the game works--sometimes (I blame the delicate breadboard that this kit comes with). 

The rules are just like any other Simon game, press the colors in sequence it was displayed--get it wrong you start over. There is a twist as I was looking over and editing the code, the time allowed for a normal game of Simon is constant  it doesn’t change. This game ,and edits, the time allowed for your input is about the time your action reflexes react. This game is a mind working with matter instead of mind over matter. 

There are four buttons for the input, three for color and one on the far right is starting a new game after you get the sequence wrong. If you don’t accidentally touch the wires, the input and light output is as intended for a Simon game. However there will be moments where you start a game and see nothing--ultimately press any of the LEDs (unless you get the first sequence right buy guessing) it will reset the randomization and the new game will light up accordingly. Again I really do blame the bread board, need to get a better one.

There was a method to this simple choice but did not have time to implement. Honestly I had the full intention where the RGB LED was smart and took on the color or a mixed color of the previous sequence and displayed it as part of the sequence, but I didn’t have the time to play with the RGB LED. So the simple and reduction of a Simon game took this in place. Hopefully in a future iteration of this game--I’ll have time to figure out the RGB LED and get more of them in order to make a controller where its like an artist pallet. Getting the basic colors then mixing colors gives you a new color that will light up on the pallet controller.

I will be posting more on projects later! 

For now peace.