UI

The UI is looking really nice and functional so far, I'm pretty sure I'll need to tweak it a lot in the lab to get it looking right, so my plan is to do that Tuesday during the day before class. I'm using scaled numbers based on screen size but it's not an exact science, so some tweaking will be required. Shout out to Dom for the plethora of textures!

Updated scripts

I added the ability to color pipes that have water in them.  If you copy the PipePuzzle.cs file from the Updated Scripts folder from the drive, it will add a color picker in the Inspector tab in Unity when you click on a Puzzle object.  If you don't want it to color the pipes at all, set the color to white.  There are issues with the prefabs for T-intersections and 4-way pipes that cause the color not to appear.  The fix is easy but since prefabs can't be easily copied to other projects, I didn't bother uploading the project since we are likely going to go with Ellis' version of the project.  I'll just need a few minutes with the project to fix all of the prefab issues once we have the menus in.
I also uploaded to the same folder a fix for the camera moving.  In the fix, I made it so that if you are holding down the space bar, the camera will move like it currently does.  If you release space bar, the camera won't move.  If you get this updated script and the camera still won't move while holding space bar, make sure your MouseOrbit script is enabled on the main camera object.
Also, that dang issue with the mecanim fir tree or whatever was driving me crazy so I figured out how to fix it.  If you go to the Assets\Project Renew\Art\InGame\Downloaded folder in the Project explorer and select the tree1 object (there are two for some reason.  Select the one that isn't a blank page), click on the Rig tab in the Inspector window, change Animation Type to none, and click Apply.  It takes a little bit for the change to apply but once its done, you don't get that annoying spam message in the console.  Makes for debugging stuff much nicer.
Let me know if any of this (including the pipe coloring and/or the camera change) doesn't work for you.

Lots of progress

We have three levels completed, debris has models, the levels have more environment, there's sound effects, ambient sound, the camera moves...I'm going to try to get two more levels done by beta tonight.  I'm hoping someone can help me get it in a presentable state before class.  I at least want the levels going from one to the next and I don't remember how to do that.

- Alex

Sound Tutorials

Here they are:

#1

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLpjppAsW40

#2

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc1QQWYRMCo

So we want to be able to drag in sounds for these world actions (only if quick and easy):

• Pipe Rotate

• Pipe Move

• Pipe Failed Move

• Water Spilling

• Victory

And on these UI actions:

• Every button click

• On display of each menu

• On exit of each menu

I think that's about it really.  Let me know if you think of any others to add.

New Debris

Just uploaded a few more debris models, including the fabulous: Rock, Mound O Junk, and the amazing Cardboard Box! The can be found in the debris folder on google drive.

Dead computer

So my really old computer (and sadly the only one I have) crashed and burned beyond repair yesterday.  Hopefully I'll still be able to get everything done.  Guess that means more time on campus using those computers I love so much.  Any word on the texturing/usability of the debris models?

Menus (ELLIS)

Put up final menus on the drive Ellis, they are under "Menus (ELLIS)" folder. Let me know if there are any complications or if i need to do anything else (besides final buttons)

Sound Effects

Uploaded a bunch of sound effects onto the drive. I downloaded a big bundle of video game sound effects as well. I went through all of them and some were good, so I just uploaded the whole thing. Some of them are midi, but you can open them with any program that can play music.

I wouldn't suggest putting a sound effect on every little thing. Too many sound effects can get really annoying.

This stuff must be done by Beta!

Ellis:

* First Level Tutorial via pop-ups.

 - Introduce the players to the controllers,

           - Put in arrows to tell where the source and destinations are.

* Get the Story into some UI elements at the beginning and end of each level (Dom)

* Link the levels.  Have a flow from level to level

* Notify user of victory

Nate:

* Get the arrow models onto the prefabs

* Attach the debris models to the debris prefabs

* Make sure the pipes line up when they connect (Christina)

Dom:

* Work with Ellis on UI (make sure we have something figured out for final) 

Austin:

Find some sounds.

  -  Rushing Water

  -  Pipe Clinks
  -  Wind blowing
  -  Birds Chirping
  -  UI Chimes
  -  various weights of Metal Clunks for debris (moving junk car, junk bike, junk barrel)
  -  Victory Sound (An uplifting guitar riff or quick tune or chime)
  -  Anything else you can think of.

Christina:

* Models for End Pipes.   

 -  Look at the two levels that were ready for Alpha (I'll upload snapshots to the drive and provide a link in the comments under this post) and make some models that connect the end positions to the level  (Curve pipe down into the pond, straight pipe into the house, etc).

Kyle:

 * Give us a couple more debris models.

Alex:

 * Add 2 more levels.  One that's easier for the tutorial and one that's harder with more sources and/or more destinations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain on the drive

Hey, I uploaded a simple mountain model just now. It is done differently than the ones I had done before and the textures shouldn't look as funky on it. Let me know if it is what we are looking for or not, and if it can use anything else.

New Core Gameplay

Just uploaded another instance of the game with Christina's art in.  Also added code to remove arrows when a move in that direction is no longer valid and bring them back when the move becomes available.  Also, made it so that what you see is what you get with the arrows.  Clicking on any part of the arrow makes it move correctly now.  The camera/clicking bug is now fixed.  All of these changes really help the overall feel of the game.  The changes made are in the Core Gameplay with ArtClicking folder.
See you all in class later.

Story Elements

So i have uploaded a word file with text that will be used in text boxes at the start of the game, each level, and at the end of each level/the game. It's the story i kind of had in mind while designing each level. let me know what you think once you see it

Models up

Hey, just letting you guys know that I got 3 house models and a water plant model up. Hopefully they are all up to par and what not. If you read this Christina, they are ready to be textured.

-Kyle Pieper

Criticism

Here's some of the criticism we received:

Constructive Feedback:

- Moving the pipes were a hassle.

- When I originally played it, I thought every pipe had to be used.

- a grid system would help the puzzle look much cleaner and easier to deal with.

- the clicking bug! ;)

- more puzzles and harder challenges would be great!

- More puzzle combinations not just water?

- What are the walls possibly define better?

- More colors for different pipe types?

- Like how you rotate the pipes

- I would go with the idea of having grid behind the pipe pieces. It will make the board more clear

- Also would be nice to have some sort of visual feedback when you make an illegal move.

- I love timing my puzzles so it would be nice to have a clock on the side

Positive Feedback:

- New directions is great. Puzzle game idea is great

- love the gamplay of moving and rotating pieces. Clean and simple!

- I like the layout of the play area. It is organized and the pieces are just the right size!

Sunday Crunch

We are meeting this Sunday at 3:00 PM (yes, we really are) in WEB 130 (The CS Undergrad lab).  ALL team members are requested.  Your participation would help us make some great progress.  We are severely behind the other groups from every aspect.

Hope to see you there.

Updated GDD

I have uploaded an updated version of our GDD, i also deleted the old one as it is now obsolete. Take a look and if you notice anything that i forgot or may need to add, let me know.

To Do List

There is a To-Do List Spreadsheet in the Google Drive Folder.  Please check it out.  Everyone's current instruction will be in there.  As soon as you have completed a task, make the font "Strikethrough".  Things aren't looking great.  We have a lot to do in 5 weeks.  And by we I mean we.

- Alex

1st Playable

I've been working on the gameplay mechanic and have something close to functional.  The pipes can now be moved in addition to rotated.  I'll try to upload to the drive soon so everyone can play around and make sure we are going in the right direction.  I don't have victory condition checking yet.  Would something like that be required in the 1st playable?

Also, did he move the due date for 1st playable or is still Monday?

Ok so here are the level designs i came up with as well as an overhead map of the entire area. PROGRAMMERS quick question; might it be a good idea to use some sort of random function to set the pieces randomly at first across the board (minus the spaces taken up by terrain or rather "unusable spaces")? If we did that, im picturing us using moveable debris or worthless (but still moveable) objects (such as an oil drum, a big rock, a broken down car, etc... whatever we may come up) i foresee this making it easier to set a puzzle as everything is random, and it would add to the challenge as it would require the player to use only the pieces given. Let me know what yall are thinking about this idea

Basic Pipe Models

I've finished modeling the four main pipes for our game. They still need color and texturing, but aside from that, how do they look? The tile pieces below them can easily be taken out. It's just there so I could get the proportions right.

Sprint 3, Now through March 18th

The first playable is March 18th.  We have a lot of work to do.  Get up to speed on the Game Updates and begin your work as soon as possible.

Here's the workflow for the next two weeks.  Take particular notice to how much others rely on your work and participation.  Everyone plays an important role. (pdf).

Game Update

The game is going to now take place in a makeshift place modeled from Harare, Zimbabwe.  Why Zimbabwe?  They are known for increasing problems related to their water crisis.  Zimbabwe water is becoming more and more contaminated as the country becomes more industrialized and urbanized.  Their population is growing and their authorities don’t have the infrastructure to sustain safe water filtration.  The location of Harare is a perfect storm.  Their urban water runoff leads straight to their drinking water resources. The water contamination has lead to Cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe and its neighboring countries claiming over 10 thousand lives in the region from 2008 to 2009.  

Our story...

Our town water infrastructure is inadequate and it’s killing our people, our crops, and our livestock. By adding a new adequate treatment facility and redesigning water runoffs and paths, we will ensure we have safe water practices.

The issues:

- Our water filtration is inadequate to sustain our population.

We’re going to build a new water treatment facility that is logically placed between our water resource and our city. We’ll build the pipe routes from the water resource to the facility and from the facility to the town.

- Our water runoff leads directly to our drinking water resources.

Let’s reroute the runoff to our treatment centers where water can be treated and disposed of responsibly.Let’s also build a route to distant uninhabited area.

- Our Industries are irresponsibly disposing of their liquid and solid wastes.

Let’s route systems from our industries to our water treatment centers.

Links:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-12-02-zimbabwe-cholera_N.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwean_cholera_outbreak

City Level

So this is for those that havnt seen the city yet, I put this together and added (the most recent) factory model into it. If any of you have suggestions or requests as to what to do to the model please let me know and I will get right on it.

We need a layout based on Water Pollution Issues

From my research, water reclamation isn't really an issue. It's a process.  I'm not really sure what we could do with water reclamation.  It's just the process of recycling waste water (sewage, or toxic water).

I drew this little dummy diagram up, I want to get this set in stone before we move to far forward.  Take a look at this Designers and think about the issues.  how we could layout the map and what the goal is along each path (this image is nothing official, it's made to inspire).

GDD Progress

Hey all! Sorry I missed the scrum yesterday, i was under the assumption since we weren't meeting in person the scrum wasn't happening either haha But! i did begin work on the GDD and made some pretty decent progress. I will upload it to Google Drive for you all to see, its just a simple word document with pictures. Take a look and see if there is anything else we need to add, I believe i covered pretty much everything, but there may have been an element i forgot to add in.

Scrum

I posted to the blog a couple things. I also commented on Nate's posts. I think we really do have our hands pretty full with just the one environment. It's going to take a lot of work from every aspect to complete the first level. Just adding a few things from the asset store today, when I looked at those objects, I remember how much work goes into not just modeling the structure, but texturing and mapping. I think if we put all our energy into one map, it would be a lot smarter. We could still do a landfill and/or water stuff in the same map, but nothing extravagant. We've got to think about all the work that goes into every asset.

Anyway, thanks to those who have been working hard, we only have about 7 weeks left. So we've really got to get rolling on this. 

Also, the GDD is due Thursday and we really don't have much for that. 

I think the goal this week with the GDD is going to be to get things set in stone. We've been too vague thus far and it's preventing us from being productive. 

-Alex

Assets

I downloaded a couple human packs today.  I also got steel bars, and concrete barriers for restricting traffic, a building. I'll save the unity folder to the Google Drive.

Also, there are some cheap, paid assets that we could use:

Fuel Truck: $2.00

Simple car pack: $2.00

I'll keep looking for more.  Check out the assets that are on the google drive.  I added some of them to the scene just to get feel for them.  It made me realize that Texturing is going to take forever probably.

Tech Demo

I have a working implementation of the cars as well as the lights problem in the same scene.  I have uploaded this to the google drive under the TechDemo folder.  Until we have a model for the city that we are going to use, there isn't much point in trying to make the worker car go someplace once its free from traffic.
Is this proof of concept and enough to complete the tech demo or do we need more?  Let me know what else we think we'd need.  I'd rather not have to meet up on Sunday if we can get it all done today.

Light Puzzle

Has anyone actually tried to complete the light puzzle currently designed?  Maybe it's simple and I'm just dumb but I can't figure it out.  I have been working on creating it in Unity and have a pretty good start.  Its fully playable but doesn't have victory conditions yet.  In my opinion, its good enough for the tech demo due Monday.  I just uploaded it to google drive (its in the LightPuzzle folder).  I'd really love to get feedback on it soon so I can try to finish it today.
I'm going to move on the coding the cars problem for now.  I'm hoping to get much done on these two puzzles today as possible.  I'll keep everyone updated on the progress and hopefully some of you will have a little time here and there throughout the day to provide feedback on what I've got going so far.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday...

Don't forget that we're meeting in the Mariott Library Sunday at 1:00.  It'd be good for everyone to be there.  We plan to work for a few hours on the rapid prototype.  We will need designers working on the GDD, we will need people hunting down Unity assets or modeling unique assets.  It'd be awesome if you can make, I think if we're all together working for a few hours, we could make some good progress.

We will also be doing our Scrum at 1:30 on Sunday, so if you're there, that simplifies the communication.

Level Design

I tried to list all the level ideas we had over the past few weeks, whether we plan to use them or not. You guys can also add a level or change one if I described it wrong. Of course, none of this is finalized, and can be changed at any time.



Number of Levels:

• 3 levels, each with a few stages within.
• None of the levels have NPCs or enemies.
• The pace of the levels is set by the player. However long it takes them to finish the puzzles and tasks.

Level 1: Air Pollution

• Stage 1 / Traffic: The player will have to solve a puzzle by changing traffic lanes to improve traffic flow for automobiles, thus helping lower carbon emissions
• Objects: assortment of automobiles, highways, roads, buildings in background, construction
• Stage 2 / Outside Factory: The player will solve puzzles that help improve the factory, and make it more environmentally safe.
• Objects: factory, factory equipment, gas emission effects, pipes, factory automobiles

Level 2: Water Pollution

• Stage 1 / Oil Leak: A pipe transporting oil from an oil rig out at sea has burst, contaminating an ocean reef. The player must interact with ocean wildlife and objects to help plug up the oil leak.
• Objects: ocean wildlife, water, other oceany things, pipes
• Stage 2 / Oil Rig: The oil rig isn't working properly. The player will have to reconfigure the oil rig's parts to get it working properly again.
• Objects: oil rig workers, pipes, oil rig parts
• Stage 3 / Animal Treatment: Many animals were covered with oil because of the leak, and need to be cleaned. There are specific ways to clean the animals depending on their type: bird, reptile, mammal, etc. Yet, because the animals are covered in so much oil, it's hard to tell what animal is what. The player will have to look for key identifiers or characteristics in the animals to tell which type of animal it is, and give it the proper treatment. The player fails it they guess wrong to many times.
• Objects: different animals, oil, cleaning equipment

Level 3: Waste Disposal

• Stage 1 / Landfill: The landfill's leachate pipes are all messed up. The player has to fix the landfill's leachate system by solving a pipeline puzzle.
• Objects: Waste, pipes, grass, trees, dirt
• Stage 2 / Recycling Center: There are four recycling bins, each labeled with a different material. The materials are plastic, paper, metal, and glass, and each material is represented by the number 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the keyboard. Objects will be shown to the player, and they have a second to press the number that corresponds to the type of material the object is. The player can get only so many wrong before they fail.
• Objects: waste bins, glass objects, metal objects, paper objects, plastic objects, conveyor belt
• Pace: This task is fast paced.

Due tonight - Character & Level Design

I haven't seen any updates for Character and Level design? Has anyone been working on these?  We have outlines due on this stuff by midnight tonight.

- Alex

Audio Design

I am going to start a list on this post of noises that we need. I am going to try to organize them by level and have a general overview of what we should be looking for.

Overworld Map:

• People chattering
• Car noises (revving, braking, etc.), Sirens
• Construction noises (Cranes, back up siren, objects dropping/hitting each other, hammering, sawing, etc.)
• General water noises, swamp noises (for ambient to give a gross water feel), fog horns, bells on buoys
• People Coughing

Level 1, The Big Smog:

• Refineries (fire, molten lava, hissing steam)
• Construction noises (see above)
• Traffic noises (see cars, horns, sirens, screeching breaks, acceleration, etc.)
• Billowing smoke from smoke stacks and what not
• Bus noises 
• Saws (cutting, spinning, grinding)
• trees falling (Deforestation?)
• Clanging, industrial conveyor belts, other industry type noises
• Coughing 

Level 2, Without a Paddle:

• General water noises
• Sludge (dense plopping)
• Dripping
• Fog horns abound
• Spilling noises
• Boat/ship noises
• Dumping noises

Level 3, Waste:

• Dumping of dense materials
• Dumping in general
• Crunching
• Shattering
• Materials being thrown
• Plastic bins
• Tractor noises
• Flies 
• Crumpling (Paper, foil, etc.)

The list so far is very general just to get an idea of what might be needed for each level. It would be cool to have distinct sound profiles for each level, giving them each a unique feel. 

Feel free to add to and suggest other ideas. 

Sprint 2

Sprint 2 Plan  ::  February 14th - February 28th

Notable dates:

Paper Prototype:
{     Due Tuesday, Feb. 19     }

Level Walkthrough:
{ Due Thursday, Feb. 21    }

1st Rapid Prototype:
{ Due Monday, Feb. 25      }

The Game Design Document:
{ Due Wednesday, Feb. 27 }



Designers

• An overview of Level Design.    {    Due Monday Feb. 18    }

• Write the portion of the GDD addressing level design.

• Be very descriptive.  Include images and references to deliver the intended message.

• For each level, Talk about each puzzle.  How does it work? What are the possible outcomes?  What is the message from the puzzle?  

• Discuss the pace of the puzzles and the levels as a whole.

• Work with artists to determine the layout of the levels.

• Make a level walkthrough to portray the flow of each level.  {  Due Thursday, Feb. 21  }

Artists

• Explain the look and feel of the level.  How does the mood change throughout?

• Explain assets of every level.  Why are we using these assets? What is the asset's purpose?  Does this asset have a message?  How might the message influence the look of the object?

• What is the player hearing?  How do we influence their feelings with art and sound.

• Work with designers to determine the layout of each level.

• Make an overhead map of each level with important features noted.

• Get a few more models for programmers to utilize in Unity.

Programmers

• Get a rough prototype of the gameplay.  1st Rapid Prototype. {Due Monday, Feb 25th}

• Get various interactable objects into Unity. 

• Try to get some sort of puzzle ready for the tech demo.

* Note this all relies on more models from Artists.

Tasks Through Monday

Level Design:

If I remember correctly, this task was divvied to Dom and Austin:  You two communicate on these points.  I don't know if we need artists to help on the overheads of Maps.  If you guys would like Christina/Kyle to jump on that, please announce that to me or on the blog as soon as possible.

Here are the key things to submit for level design:

number of levels

what the player experience is for each level

NPCs, enemies and other interactive objects contained in the level

general plan for pacing through the level

overhead map of the level with important features noted

Character and Audio assets:

Christina is going to head up on character and object assets.  If anyone has any idea how we can add character to key objects as to send a certain message, post those ideas here.  I think the key elements will be that we make the objects that are broken or that are causing the bad voodoo, make them ugly, rusty, dirty, dark/drab tones, etc.  The objects we use to make things cleaner and prettier, make those things shiny, colorful, etc.  We should also outline mechanics of these objects.  And answer these questions: What does this object do for the puzzle? Why is this object used in this map? Why is it used for this puzzle?  

Audio: Kyle is going to head up on that.  I'll list things as I think of them, too.  Mostly what we're looking for is good ambient noises for background noise depending on what you're looking at.  If we're at the zoomed out level of the industrial city, we should hear the construction, the traffic, etc.  If we zoom on the traffic jam, the traffic should be noisier, you should be able to hear the hum of engines and people yelling, etc.  Then we need to think about sounds that are specific to puzzles and objects.  If I drop a big metal beam, there should be a good thud or clang.  This might also need to depend upon what the objects come into contact with.

Then we have to have the following laid out for our Sprint 2 (Feb 14 - 28).  We need to progress in these categories:

• Level Design
• Audio Design
• Character Design
• Game Design Document
• Tech Demo/1st Rapid Prototype

I'll get the sprint laid out and posted here with people's duties hopefully by this Thursday.

Reeeaaadyyyyy....Break!

Asset List

Level 1:

Overall:

- smog

- buildings

- smoke stacks

Car Puzzle:

- Cars

- Busses

- roads

- construction signs

- gas station

- bicycle station

- fuel truck

Factory:

- machinery

- machine parts

- steam

- coal

- wind mills

- solar panels

Construction yard:

- steel bars

- crane

- steel containers

- various construction vehicles

Level 2:

Overall:

- Nasty Water

- Oil rigs

- litter

- Sludge lines

 Possible things:

- dead sea life

- coral reef

Level 3:

- piles of waste

- conveyor belts

- factory

- recyclables - cardboard, plastic bottles, etc

Maybe these things:
- people
- fire

Air pollution notes

Notable facts:

- Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulates, and biological matter into the atmosphere that cause harm to living organisms or damage the natural environment.

- Air pollution has become so great that Earth's natural cleaning process is inadequate to fully cleanse itself.

- The biggest contributing factor to air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels.  It's a part of nearly every human's life.

- China leads the world in air pollution emissions.

What you can do...

Driving:

- Take public transportation as frequently as possible.

- If you do drive, plan all your stops so they coincide with your trip.

- Ease into acceleration. Gunning it burns much more fuel.

Home:

- Use less warm water.  Wash clothes on cold settings, wash your dishes with cool water.  Warming water is very expensive in energy consumption.

- Turn off your lights when you don't need them.

- If your power company supports renewable energy, find out how you can consume and encourage renewable energy.  Rocky Mountain Power provides customer's with the option to buy into their Blue Sky Renewable Energy Program. The blue sky program uses renewable energies such as wind farms and solar power instead of abrasive energies like burning fossil fuels.

- Reduce your lawn size. Having less lawn that needs to be weekly maintained with watering and mowing will do a great deal.

- Don't have more than two children.  The biggest contributor to air pollution is man.  Every single person contributes a great amount to the problem.

Proposed Efforts:

- Klaus Lackner at Columbia University devised a system called Air Capture that uses membranes that bind CO2.  They are sometimes referred to as "artificial tree" because they do the job of a tree by breaking down CO2, only artificially  do it 1000 times more efficiently.

Scrum Meeting tomorrow at 3:00PM

Everyone try to be available tomorrow at 3:00PM for a scrum meeting via Google Hangout.  We need to discuss what we've done and what to do through this next week.  

-Alex

Without A Paddle - Basic Puzzle Ideas

So I've been trying to think of some good puzzles we could use for this level, and I've come up with a few fairly basic ones. Are we still striving to make this like a Rube Goldberg Machine, though? Because all I could think of were tracking down the items you needed in the other sections.

That aside, I've sketched up two quick references:

 

So the layout I've thought of was to make this big area, which has 3 different sections. (to make it easier to think of) Section A will address an oil spill, B will be an inhabited area with a ton of litter, and C will have sludge line(s). We could probably just have ducks and maybe fish to simulate how bad water pollution is, assuming our players couldn't tell that from how horrible this water will probably look considering how it's just a slab of land/water that they'll actually see.

 

Section A:
I thought of two things we could do for this one. One of the most prominent images you see when oil spills happen are ducks that are covered in oil. So maybe a puzzle that involves washing them off?
Aside from that, I also thought about maybe tracking down the floaters used to help contain oil spills (or maybe tying together netting, empty bottles and stuff).

Section B:
Items that you would use in the level could be found here, since it's all just miscellaneous litter.
And as you use the stuff here to help the other sections, it helps clean it?

Section C:
All I could think of was to plug it up. We could have a timer on it so the plug would spit back out, and while it was plugged, you have to find a way to turn it off?

- Christina

Water Pollution

Ways water gets polluted and solutions to different types of water pollution:

Reducing Water Pollution At Home, Domestic Sewage and Agricultural Wastewater:

Decreasing solid surfaces around your home will allow for less water runoff, the excess water can seep into soil and gardens, helping reduce runoff polution.

Use native plants, they require less water and are more tolerant. You can even create your own compost to reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer required by your plants and will prevent chemicals from getting into water systems.

Water lawns and gardens efficiently, don't over water. The less we use the more we conserve.

Don't flush non-degradable products and dispose of all pet waste properly. (out of storm drains and water supplies)

Dispose of all chemical waste properly. (keep paints, oil, cleaning solvents, polishes, pool chemicals, insecticides and other hazardous household chemicals out of drains, sinks and toilets)

Recycle used motor oil, don't pour it down drains. 1 quart of motor oil that seeps into groundwater can pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water.

In the Ocean, Industrial Wastewater

Plastics producers must be held accountable. Plastics account for 70% of marine litter. Find ways to stop using plastics in your day to day routine. Recycle all plastic you use. Clean up plastics off of beaches.

Ocean acidification. CO2 emissions are a huge problem for marine life. The acidity level of the oceans is causing coral reefs to die off and the underwater climate to change. Finding ways to reduce use of CO2 emissions is crucial to helping slow this process.

Redirect urban runoff away from the oceans and watch what chemicals and waste is being routed into runoff.

a good general pollution resource

http://www.nrdc.org

Waste Issues

"If properly designed and well managed, landfill can provide a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of waste disposal. On the other hand, poorly designed or poorly managed landfill sites can create wind blown litter, attract vermin and allow contamination to leach into the soil. In addition as the waste breaks down methane and carbon dioxide are produced, which are greenhouse gases and can cause odor problems and kill surface vegetation." 
"Each year the UK produces 100 million tonnes of waste suitable for anaerobic digestion. Most of this, 80 to 90 million tonnes, is made up of manures and slurries, but 12 to 20 million tonnes is food waste."
http://www.earthtimes.org/encyclopaedia/environmental-issues/waste/

"Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"--about 4.6 pounds per person per day. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills. With a little forethought, we could reuse or recycle more than 70 percent of the landfilled waste, which includes valuable materials such as glass, metal, and paper. This would reduce the demand on virgin sources of these materials and eliminate potentially severe environmental, economic, and public health problems."
http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/solidwaste.html


Municipalities generate approximately 154 million metric tons of waste each year but they are
not the only sources of solid waste in the US. The primary sources of solid waste are split
between livestock (39%), extraction and processing ore minerals (38%), crops (14%),
municipalities (5%), and industry (3%), totaling over 4 BILLION tons of solid waste each year.
The vast (> 90%) majority is linked to mining and agricultural activities.

The ~50 million metric tons of solid industrial wastes
each year are categorized by their impact on the environment, by law, into toxic, corrosive,
ignitable or otherwise hazardous material categories.


Municipal waste disposal is an
environmental problem that costs users
billions of dollars each year. The EPA
reported that the typical composition,
before recycling, includes paper, yard
wastes, food wastes, plastics, metals,
rubber, leather & textiles, wood, glass, and
other materials including disposable diapers

Muncipal Waste Stream (2007)
254 million tons before recycling
paper 32.7%
yard wastes 12.8%
food wastes 12.5%
plastics 12.1%
metals 8.2%
wood 5.6%
glass 5.3%
other 3.2%
rubber, leather & textiles 7.6%




http://people.hws.edu/halfman/Data/PublicInterestArticles/Landfills.pdf

Level Aesthetics

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Initial Research

Ok, so like I said, i made a few categories of what I believed were the top issues, what society viewed as the top issues, and what were the top political issues. Here is what I came up with:

My Issues:
1. Renewable Energy
2. Renewable Resources
3. Resource Effeciency
4. Air/Water Pollution
5. Overpopulation and its effect on Climate

Political Issues:
1. Clean Energy
2. Climate Change
3. Water Quality
4. Biofuels
5. Waste/Consumption (Disposable Society)

Popular Issues:
1. Climate Change
2. Energy (Clean/Renewable)
3. Waste/Consumption
4. Clean Water
5. Food (Famine)

Here are some links (in no particular order):

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080428212142AA78iF0

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2008/08/18/most-important-environmental-issues-of-today/

http://srel.uga.edu/ecoviews/ecoview060326.htm

http://news.yahoo.com/top-five-environmental-issues-2012-election-173600279.html

Level 1 Research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/
http://www.universetoday.com/81977/causes-of-air-pollution/
http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/scientia/interview-father-global-warming
http://www.universetoday.com/52392/air-pollution-pictures/

Kyle's sample level

Looks like a good start to me.  My first thought on it is that we might want to make the points of interested larger.  We might even want to greatly exaggerated the smoke stacks and things like that to make them easier to see as the target for the player to see from a distance.  I am certainly no artist however so maybe we don't want to go this route.  Just figured I'd put it out there since I was thinking it.
Also, can we get an FBX export of whatever you currently have so the programming team can start trying to set actual level geometry in the holodeck?

Kyle's potential level model.

So I spent some time yesterday and today kinda getting some level design stuff down since we are supposed to get that stuff moving. I started drawing concept art and then decided that it wasnt a great idea to do that with how little time we actually have. Instead, I started making a model for a potential factory background that can be used in a level. It is a pretty low level model currently, with very basic shapes and no textures. If you guys like the idea though, I can improve it and we can use it for the game.
Please give me feed back!

Added a crane and base to a metal structure... looks kinda shitty, can make it look better some other time.

Team Pitch - Project: Renew

view pdf

Game Name:  

Project: Renew

Category:  Educational / Environmental

High Concept:  

Solve various puzzles by interacting with many objects to reduce the global carbon footprint.  Reduce pollution, traffic, waste, and various actions that harm the environment.  Puzzles may rely on other puzzles within the current map in order to be completed.  Be wise in choosing how to solve the overall puzzle.

Target Audience:  

10 - 20 year olds.

Overall Description:

Come up with solutions to solving environment-renewal-themed Rube Goldberg Machines.  Each map will be made up of dozens of objects that make up a puzzle.  The map will have one major puzzle that is reliant on several smaller puzzles.  Each puzzle will reduce the carbon footprint and the world will grow progressively cleaner.

As the player interacts with each map, key points will pop up educating the player on how that action reduces the carbon footprint, why it’s a problem, and what they can do to be a part of the global effort.

Fantasy Fulfillment:

The fantasy is to transform the world from a crummy, dying, polluted planet into a colorful, lively, prosperous one.  This will be displayed by making colors dark and environments drab at the beginning and introducing a little more color and liveliness as they progress through the levels.

Gameplay features: 

There’s no single entity to control.  There are various objects the player interacts with by clicking and dragging and dropping.  It’s fun for the player to be able to interact with the whole environment around them instead of just with one key character.

Similar Games: 

The Incredible Machine, another cool game Dom mentioned...it eludes me.

Similar Entertainment Products:  

The Films “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Wall•E,”  and “The 11^th Hour.”

Vote Results

Here are the results for the votes. 1st ranked votes were worth 5, 2nd worth 3.  If you didn't elaborate I used a simple algorithm to randomize between the ones you mentioned.

The game we are doing is based on Nate's pitch.  Everyone please make sure you are familiar with the idea.  I am going to write up a pitch tonight.  We will elaborate on the recycling idea as we progress.

Tomorrow, we are going to discuss communication and get started on our Scrum meetings.  Try to be there.

Skyways Pitch

Name: Ellis Weiner

Game Name: Skyways

Category: Racing/Flying-Driving Simulation/Sci-fi

High Concept: A futuristic racing game built to model the highways of the future called Skyways. Race around a futuristic world, getting a feel for what it might be like to live in a world of flying cars while learning about the challenges and possibilities that come with planning for such a dangerous world. It's a concept game that can be used to model and propose the idea of implementing flying cars into the world.

Target Audience: Ages 16-21

Overall Description: Feel the rush of piloting your very own flying car. This world has been designed to model a real world simulation of floating highways and urban inclusion of this exciting technology. Race through cities high above the ground, getting a feel for the different obstacles and challenges that come into play when considering the general population flying through the air at hundreds of miles per hour. Customize your ships and show them off as you progress through the game. There will always be more challenges to earn and items to earn in this sci-fi adventure that could be our near future!

Fantasy Fulfillment: The player will be able to experience flying a car and racing it through cities and other exciting terrains. They can customize their experience through picking up and purchasing new parts and upgrades for their ships.

Gameplay Features: Customization will be a large portion of the game, letting players design their ships and add on to them. It will be an open world racer, where you aren't completely stuck to a set track, that way the player can make mistakes and learn about the dangers of piloting flying cars.

Similar Games: Wipeout, Need for Speed

It could even be like a funny "learning to drive in the future" kind of simulator with a computer voice guide (think portal) that will be both hypothetically educational and fun.