GAME DESIGN ASSIGNMENT 2 RESEARCH REPORT

Prepared by:
Wilson Chan Chin Weng (U1021014H) Nasruddin Aaidil Shari (U1221221L) Lim Wei Lun (U1022692B) Nam Young Hyun (N1301911B) Leong Wing Tong (U1230273G)

This report focuses on game mechanics inspired by genetics, aurora, and volcano.

1. Genetics
Genetics is the process of trait inheritance from parents to offspring, including the molecular structure and function of genes, gene behavior in the context of a cell or organism, gene distribution, and variation and change in populations. Given that genes are universal to living organisms, genetics can be applied to the study of all living systems, including bacteria, plants, animals, and humans. The observation that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. Genes generally express their functional effect through the production of proteins, which are complex molecules responsible for most functions in the cell. Proteins are made up of one or more polypeptide chains, each of which is composed of a sequence of amino acids, and the DNA sequence of a gene (through an RNA intermediate) is used to produce a specific amino acid sequence. This process begins with the production of an RNA molecule with a sequence matching the gene's DNA sequence, a process called transcription.

2.1 Mutations
During the process of DNA replication, errors occasionally occur in the polymerization of the second strand. These errors, called mutations, can have an impact on the phenotype of an organism, especially if they occur within the protein coding sequence of a gene.

2.2 Discrete inheritance

At its most fundamental level, inheritance in organisms occurs by passing discrete heritable units, called genes, from parents to progeny. This property was first observed by Gregor Mendel, who studied the segregation of heritable traits in pea plants. In his experiments studying the trait for flower color, Mendel observed that the flowers of each pea plant were either purple or white but never an intermediate between the two colors. These different, discrete versions of the same gene are called alleles

Game Design: Assignment 2

2.3 Nature and nurture

Although genes contain all the information an organism uses to function, the environment plays an important role in determining the ultimate phenotypes an organism displaysa phenomenon often referred to as "nature and nurture". The phenotype of an organism depends on the interaction of genes and the environment.

2. Volcanoes
Volcano is a mountain or hill, typically conical, having a crater or vent through which lava, rock fragments, hot vapour, and gas are or have been erupted from the earth's crust. When pressure builds up, eruptions occur. An active volcano is one which has recently erupted and there is a possibility that it may erupt soon. A dormant volcano is one which has not erupted in a long time but there is a possibility it can erupt in the future. An extinct volcano is one which has erupted thousands of years ago and theres no possibility of eruption. The plate tectonic theory is about the earth's crust and upper mantle is made up of several large, thin, relatively rigid plates that move relative to one another. Sometimes the plates crash together, pulling apart or sideswiping each other, resulting in earthquakes.

2.1 Types of volcanoes

There are three types of volcanoes. Cinder cones are circular or oval cones made up of small fragments of lava from a single vent that have been blown into the air, cooled and fallen around the vent. Composite volcanoes are steep-sided volcanoes composed of many layers of volcanic rocks, usually made from high-viscosity lava, ash and rock debris. Mt. Rainier and Mount St. Helens are examples of this type of volcano. Shield volcanoes are volcanoes shaped like a bowl or shield in the middle with long gentle slopes made by basaltic lava flows. Basalt lava flows from these volcanoes are called flood basalts. The volcanoes that formed the basalt of the Columbia Plateau were shield volcanoes. Lava domes are formed when erupting lava is too thick to flow and makes a steep-sided mound as the lava piles up near the volcanic vent. The eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 was caused in part by a lava dome shifting to allow explosive gas and steam to escape from inside the mountain.

Game Design: Assignment 2

3. Auroras
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). People have described it as a dance of the spirits. The colour of the aurora is dependent on the type of emission of photons in the Earths upper atmosphere. Collision of solar wind excites the magnetospheric particles, and photons are emitted by loss of excitation energy due to the collision with atoms or molecules.

Figure 1: An aurora [http://auroraborealispage.net/aurora/hutch2.jpg]

As described by ancient Roman mythology, Aurora is the goddess of the dawn who flies across the sky to announce the arrival of the sun. Traditional Australians associate the aurora with fire and bushfires of the spirit world. The aurora has also been thought to be the fires of ghostly spirits or ancestors whom they use to communicate. Auroras portray mysteriousness, energy, or magic. It can be translated into a character based on the ancient Roman goddess. Since auroras have a tinge of mystery in them, the character can either be a protagonist or an antagonist with an obscured past, preferably bestowed with powers or dark magic.

Game Design: Assignment 2

4. Game mechanics
Largely inspired by the idea of genetics, the game is based on mutation of creatures. Each player can create and grow creatures. The aim of our game will be to occupy the most space on the board using these creatures. Starting with an amount of evolution point cards, each player can give his creatures different features or traits such as speed of evolution, reproduction, how fast they move and how fast they spread or how long they can survive and even how they can infect other creatures. Mutation can be activated by the player. These will be represented by evolution cards, which require evolution points to be used. The place that the player decides to create the creatures will affect how they grow unlock different genetic evolution to survive. As the creatures move around, they may land on traps that can be activated by other players. These traps, based on volcanoes, can obstruct players, teleport them to an unknown place, or shoot objects up that does damage when activated. If creatures collide with other creatures, they can infect each other akin to the collision of magnetospherical particles in the formation of an aurora. The game ends either when the board is filled up with creatures or the time reaches its limit.

Game Design: Assignment 2

References
1. Genetics (2014, March 9). Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics
2. Earth Observatory of Singapore. Volcano Retrieved from:

http://www.earthobservatory.sg/research/volcano 3. Narnoura (2005, November 24). Auroralegends, Mythology, and Art .Retrieved from: http://nerro.wordpress.com/2005/11/24/auroralegends-mythology-and-art/

Game Design: Assignment 2