Ideas

Human Monopoly Board

Our idea for this is to have a giant monopoly board drawn somehow on the street with various gold-painted people (like the little characters in the game) and a giant dice on the side. We would get members of the public to roll the dice maybe and get the characters to move around the board.

The main components needed for this are:

-Giant monopoly board (chalked, pasted, drawn somehow)

-A variation of different characters/people dressed in gold (therefore standing out from everyone and looking like they belong in the game)

-A giant dice that's made of light material so people can roll it but not too light so the wind cannot blow it away.

Edit|| Through some more lateral thinking we came up with a more complicated design for this idea. We would have mapped out, the shops in Plymouth (basically a particular area), people dressed as the characters to stand in particular locations and have the whole thing recorded onto the big Plymouth TV. In the classroom we shall play the board game and have the people move around the town by our instructions via walky-talky.

We would also have this showing on the TV and have a row of seats so people can watch. Obviously people who just see the characters wouldn't know what was going on which would make it funny :P

Giant Scrabble

This idea is a take from the monopoly - taking another giant board to put on the street and having people 'play ' it; using scrabble as the new variable. I was thinking about the design for giant scrabble pieces (the letters) and having two or three people actually play the game whilst the public are walking by. The whole idea is to make it seem normal and simple as if it were the original, except it's on a bigger sized scale which would make it funny to watch :D

Ludo

The game ludo is not so popular but is still a good game. I think this one would be great expanded. A drawn out ludo board on the street whilst 4 people dressed in the corresponding colours would make it interesting and silly.

And instead of a dice, the colours can move 1 space when they see someone wearing a corresponding colour :)

As for something interactive, maybe on screen you press a button that generates a random colour (of the four selected of course) and then the counters can move whenever their colour appears.

Chess

Another idea I had was to have a human sized version of chess except instead of someone actually playing the game, it's 2 groups of the chess pieces dressed as the corresponding pieces and standing in the correct places on the board and actually looking like they're in some kind of battle.

However I also thought if it was going more along the lines of the actual game, there could be someone sat in a room with a microphone and have speakers set up so the people can give the pieces instructions like "bishop move to b4" or whatever.

Evolution of board games

Evolution of board games

Board Games have existed in our world since times immemorial. Perhaps, the origin of Board Games is as old as civilization itself. There are many archaeological sites, artifacts and historical texts that provide some evidence of the earliest board games in human history. 

At a time when paper, wooden board or ink was not even invented, the earliest board games were played on a slab of stone, or on the ground itself. "Senet" is recognized as probably the most ancient board game in the world. It belongs to the pre-dynastic Egyptian civilization, dating approximately 3500 B.C., that is, about 5500 years ago. 

Patolli is another board game that was played during the reign of the Mayan civilization. An ancient variant of the Backgammon board game, it was discovered in the Iranian excavations dating nearly 5000 years ago. 

Ancient Chinese civilization also appears to have given rise to several board games in its time. Most of them were strategic games requiring forethought and exceptional mind skills. 

Nearly three thousand years ago, during the time of the Buddha, there were several types of board games in existence. There is a mention of these games in the ancient Buddhist texts. Some of these games included making pictures on the ground, and using men in place of game pieces. 

Around the same time, in the ancient Indian text of Mahabharata, there is a mention of Chaupad or Chaturaji. It was a game played with the roll of a dice, and involved a factor of luck and chance. It is said that the ancient princes of Mahabharata lost their kingdom in this game. This reference gives rise to the view that gambling was a popular sport during that era, and board games were used for the purpose. 

In recent history, Snakes and Ladders became a popular game all over the world. This game also involved the rolling of a dice to gain points, and there is a luck and chance factor involved too. 

In the early 20th century, Monopoly rose in popularity as a board game and went through various transformations, before settling in its current form in 1930s. It is perhaps the most popular board game in modern history. 

Traditionally, Monopoly is played with artificial cash paper notes. But in recent years, an electronic version of the game has also been introduced called "Electronic Monopoly". This version uses artificial Credit Cards instead of paper currency. Children all over the world have taken great fancy to the electronic version as well. 

In its most recent forms, board games have gone online, with the advent of Internet. Many people play board games on the computer. The Internet has made it possible for two players sitting in different parts of the world to play against each other in real time. 

SUMMARY: Board Games are one of the oldest forms of recreation known to man. Along with the evolution of technology, the board games have also evolved, though the essence of these games have remained the same as ever.

5 Best Traditional Board Games

5 Best Traditional Board Games

Monopoly This business game has been played for the longest time and has had numerous variations ranging from sports to states. The game is an economic simulation that has coined many phrases. If you do not enjoy this traditional board game, go straight to jail, don’t pass go and do not collect $200.

Scrabble This word game has been a favourite of the general public since 1938. Its longevity has made it a staple of traditional board games. Scrabble has been a game that has captured the minds of the old and young alike.

Clue This murder mystery has some of the most famous characters of all board games. It is such a popular board game that it even has a movie adaptation.

Risk This war strategy game is one of the most famous traditional board games that have gotten people to look at the world in a whole new way. Risk will give players a feeling of triumph as their armies capture the world.

Candy Land One of the best and most memorable board games. Candy Land is a traditional, nostalgic children's board game. It is sure to bring back memories and is fun for young and older crowds alike.

Top 10 best family board games

Top 10 best family board games

Scrabble Scrabble is one of the best family board games ever created. Two to four players score points in this word game by forming words with lettered tiles on a square grid. Scrabble is recommended for children eight-years-old and up.

Clue Clue is another classic board game for the whole family. Players strategically move around the game board as one of the game’s characters, collecting clues to solve a murder. The game plays two to six people and the age recommendation is eight-years-old and up.

Monopoly Monopoly is one of the most popular family board games. Two to eight people can play this game, which is designed to show how economic monopolies can give extraordinary wealth to one person while bankrupting many others. Monopoly is meant for kids eight-years-old and up. 

LIFE LIFE, also called The Game of Life, is another classic board game to play on family night. Two to six players travel through life from college through retirement, getting jobs, getting married, buying houses and having children. The game is recommended for children nine-years-old and up.

Candyland Candyland is the best game for the little people in your family. Designed for children three-years-old and up, Candyland is a simple racing board game. It requires no reading and simple counting skills. Two to four players can join in the fun.

  

Chinese Checkers Chinese Checkers is a fun game the whole family can enjoy. It is played by two to six people, each trying to move his marbles to the corner opposite his starting position. The game board is a pitted hexagram and the game is recommended for children eight-years-old and up.

Chutes and Ladders Chutes and Ladders is a classic children’s board game designed for kids four-years-old and up, but the whole family can play along. Bad kids who break the rules slide down long chutes. Good kids who behave climb the ladder of success. The game is good for two or more players.

  

Sorry! Another great family game is Sorry!, the board game with colorful pieces that look like candy Kisses. The classic game is based on Parcheesi and involves players trying to move their pawns from their start square to their home square. Two to four people can play this game and is recommended for children six-years-old and older.

Chess Chess is a classic strategy game that adults enjoy and children can learn to play. Chess is a two-player board game with kings and queens, rooks and knights, bishops and pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate your opponent’s king. The game is manufactured for ages eight and up.

  

Quirkle Quirkle is a tile-based game for two to four people. The game is a cross between Scrabble and a game called Rummikub. Players must successfully place colored tiles on a game board to score points and bonuses. The game is recommended for children six-years-old and up.

Common terms used in board games

Common terms used in board games

Although many board games have a jargon all their own, there is a generalized terminology to describe concepts applicable to basic game mechanics and attributes common to nearly all board games.

§  Game board (or simply board)—the (usually quadrilateral) surface on which one plays a board game; the namesake of the board game, gameboards would seem to be a necessary and sufficient condition of the genre, though card games that do not use a standard deck of cards (as well as games which use neither cards nor a game board) are often colloquially included. Most games use a standardized and unchanging board (chess, Go, and backgammon all have such a board), but many games use a modular board whose component tiles or cards can assume varying layouts from one session to another, or even as the game is played.

§  Game piece (or counter or token or bit or mover or pawn)—a player's representative on the game board. Each player may control one or more game pieces. In some games that involve commanding multiple game pieces, such as chess, certain pieces have unique designations and capabilities within the parameters of the game; in others, such as Go, all pieces controlled by a player have the same essential capabilities. In some modern board games, such as Clue, there are other pieces that are not a player's representative, i.e. weapons. In some games, pieces may not represent or belong to a particular player.

§  Jump—to bypass one or more game pieces or spaces. Depending on the context, jumping may also involve capturing or conquering an opponent's game piece. (See also: Game mechanic: capture)

§  Space (or square)—a physical unit of progress on a gameboard delimited by a distinct border. Alternately, a unique, atomic position on the board on which a game piece may be located while in play (in Go, for example, the pieces are placed on intersections of lines on the grid, not in the areas bounded by the grid lines as is seen in chess). (See also: Game mechanic: Movement)

§  Hex—in hexagon-based board games, this is the common term for a standard space on the board. This is most often used in wargaming, though some abstract strategy games such as Abalone use hexagonal layouts.

§  Card—a piece of cardboard on which instructions are given

§  Deck—a stack of cards

§  Capture—a method in which one removes another players game piece from the board, for example: in checkers if you jump another player's piece, that piece is captured.

Psychology

Psychology

While there has been a fair amount of scientific research on the psychology of older board games (e.g., chess, Go, mancala), less has been done on contemporary board games such as Monopoly, Scrabble, and Risk Much research has been carried out on chess, in part because many tournament players are publicly ranked in national and international lists, which makes it possible precisely to compare their levels of expertise. The works of Adriaan de Groot, William Chase, and Herbert Simon have established that knowledge, more than the ability to anticipate moves, plays an essential role in chess-playing. This seems to be the case in other traditional games such as Go and Oware (a type of mancala game), but data is lacking in regard to contemporary board games. Bruce Halpenny, a games inventor said when interviewed about his game, “With crime you deal with every basic human emotion and also have enough elements to combine action with melodrama. The player’s imagination is fired as they plan to rob the train. Because of the gamble they take in the early stage of the game there is a build up of tension, which is immediately released once the train is robbed. Release of tension is therapeutic and useful in our society, because most jobs are boring and repetitive.

History of board games

History of board games

Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history; some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artefacts’ and documents exist which shed light on early board games. Some of these include:

 The jiroft civilization game boards

Senet has been found in Predynastic and first dynast burials of Egypt, c.3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively. Senet is the oldest board game know to have existed and was pictured in a fresco found in Merknera’s tomb.

Mehen is another ancient board game from Predynastic Egypt

Go is an ancient strategic board game origination in China

Patolli is a board game origination in Mesoamerica, and was played by the ancient Aztec.

The Royal tombs of Ur contained, among others, The Royal Game of Ur.

The Buddha games list is the earliest know list of games

Timeline

500 BC - Senet found in Predynastic Egyptian burials [2]; also depicted in the tomb of Merknera.
3000 BC - Mehen, board game from Predynastic Egypt, played with lion-shaped game pieces and marbles.
2560 BC - Board of the Royal Game of Ur (found at Ur Tombs)
2500 BC - Paintings of Senet and Han being played made in the tomb of Rashepes
2000 BC - Drawing in a tomb at Benihassan depicting two unknown board games being played (depicted in Falkner). It has been suggested that the second of these is Tau.
1500 BC - Liubo carved on slab of blue stone. Also painting of Board Game of Knossos.
1400 BC - Game boards including Alquerque, Three Men's Morris, Nine Men's Morris, and a possible Mancala board etched on the roof of the Kurna Temple. (Source: Fiske, and Bell)
200 BC - A Go board pre-dating 200 BC was found in 1954 in Wangdu County. This board is now in Beijing Historical Museum. (Source: John Fairbairn's Go in Ancient China).
116 - 27 BC - Marcus Terentius Varro's Lingua Latina X (II, par. 20) contains earliest known reference to latrunculi (often confused with Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, Ovid's game mentioned below).
79 - 8 BC - Liu Xiang's (劉向) Shuo yuan, contains earliest known reference to Xiangqi.
1 BC-8 AD Ovid's Ars Amatoria contains earliest known reference to Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum and the smaller merels.
220-265 Nard enters China under the name t'shu-p'u (Source: Hun Tsun Sii)

Researching Board Games

Researching Board Games

These are a list of board games we thought of that might give us some inspiration for an idea.

Chess

Snakes and ladders

Drafts

Scrabble

Battleship

Twister

Yahtzee

Cluedo

Boggle

Frustration

Backgammon

Connect four

Downfall

Guess who

Mastermind

Monopoly

Buckaroo

Hungry hungry hippos

Jenga

Kerplunk

Mouse trap

Ludo

Chess

Chess; being an example of a common board game, has been expanded greatly. From the small strategical board to the human sized giant pieced version. Also the whole idea of the "chessboard" has inspired interior design and artwork.

Board to Video/Computer games

These many board games have been transformed onto our TV and computer screens. You can now play chess, backgammon, monopoly, snakes and ladders, and many more all from the comfort of your chair - without the need for mess or set-up. Some might consider this a lazy way of re-living childhood memories, but others would say it's both creative and genius.

Editing with 3D effects

Practising with 3D


During this session we got the chance to experiment with the effect known as "3D" where we changed 2D images and made them appear as if to bounce off the screen.

This technique is used in pictures, animations, movies and more recently games and is a great effect to create.

This as an example was simple to make and the tutorial I based if off is easy to follow as well. (Tutorial: http://www.erodov.com/forums/making-3d-images-photoshop/15189-page2.html)

The whole blue and red levels effect clearly shown is not understandable by our average sight thus requires a pair of 3D glasses, (which you can either purchase or make yourself). The red and the blue filters on these glasses allow us to properly see the layers of the image which were before very blurry and confusing. Now with this new envisioned sight can we discover the amazing 3D effect that has been created.

The same applies to this photo of which I have also edited for this effect.

Basic process: Duplicate the layer >> Change the top layer levels to Red: 255 Blue: 0 Green: 0 and switch the layer style to 'Screen' >> Change the bottom layer levels to Red: 0 Blue: 255 Green: 255 >> Move the top layer along a few pixels to see the effect take place.

The more the top layer is shuffled to whatever direction you chose, the more the effect is concentrated.

Research

Both these images can be seen in the 3D effect with a pair of 3D glasses. 3D glasses work by covering our eyes over with blue and red cellophane, one to right and one to left (respectively); this is because our colour perception is different in each. 

At first glance, looking at these two pictures confuses our eyes, making it appear somewhat fuzzy. Without getting into too much detail, having the red and blue screen over our sight helps focus the image thus creating the 3D effect. As we turn our head, the image appears to become possible to look around as if it were real life almost.

The “trick”:

It is actually possible to get this effect without the need for special colours and glasses to see it, although this method is more tricking the mind than the eyes.

If you look at these two photos they may appear the same but there is a significant different; it may not be easily visible but the images are different.

The way this trick works is you have to cross your eyes while focusing on both images (looking into the centre) until a 3^rd image appears between them. If you focus correctly this new picture is a mix up of both meaning if you turn your head slightly it will appear to change from one image to the next. Although this technique is not 100% effect for everyone, it  is a neat trick :)

Explanation: "Most people see out of two eyes. This is a basic fact of humanity, but it's what makes possible the illusion of depth that 3-D movies create. The eyes in a human are spaced about two inches apart, meaning that each eye gives the brain a slightly different perspective on the same object. The brain then uses this variance to quickly determine an object's distance."

3D in games (emulators mostly)

3D has now proven to be a small succession with games as well as movies or simple animations. Although it has not become such a hit with large production companies, it is somehow possible in emulators by installing a program the “iZ3D driver” and adjusting the screen settings on the game itself.

In some discussions by enthusiastic gamers, they have discovered that it is a succession for N64 emulators and have been able to play games such as Zelda in 3D.

It is a mystery as to why larger software companies have not caught onto this earlier but guesses are it might be harder to convert some of our newer graphic games into 3D than the general public are making out.

Sky TV - 3D

Sky has recently released a special feature called 'Sky 3D' in which they've introduced the cinema popular '3D' to films from homes. This is definitely a huge step forward into the entertainment of 3D yet it will never completely popular due to the fact some people's eye sight just can't focus on the effect.

Camera testing work

Family Guy - Bird is the word!
By Jess, Aaron + Kelly

Our task was to create a motion interactive Flash file using the built-in camera on the monitor. In order for something to appear on the screen, a person would have to move in front of the camera, using motion detection.

We noted our initial ideas down using a mind map, and decided to use a section of the cartoon ‘Family Guy’ where the song ‘The bird is the word’ is played by lead character Peter Griffin.

The players task is to keep dancing to keep the song playing, when you stop; the video stops, which is then followed by shouts of boo’s. Next to the video, there are arrows that move up the screen which tell you the direction to move your arms, we took these arrows from the Nintendo game ‘Dance Dance Revolution’, you are encouraged by ‘Perfect!’ appearing on the screen and boo’s when you’re not dancing enough.

This is the video we used: