"SIMBLEND GAME TRAILER"
Simulation-Based Learning Environment for Network Defense
RUNNING TIME: ~12 Minutes
SOFTWARE: Maya / Photoshop / After Effects
Client: Appled Visions, Inc. (Secure Decisions Division)
OVERVIEW: Sole Designer and lead 2D/3D artist for project pitch SimBLEND, a trailer for a military training game. I was responsible for all artistic develoment and creation under the direction of Applied Visions Inc, including brainstorming and previs, layout and design, shot composition, modeling and animation, title treatment and video-audio editing. Pre-production through Post.
The initial concepts and stylesheets will be available soon on my website @
www.lisamarie.biz, but for now I've included a lengthy breakdowns I prepared with the client that consist of schematics, samples, and design studies that I used to develop the eventual look and story of the game trailer.
SIMBLEND BREAKDOWN-- FINAL VERSION
INTRO: COMMAND
CENTER INTERIOR / EXTERIOR (Stylesheets)
The command center I showed you during our brainstorm would mimic a more detailed rendition of "Cyberseige" for an animated trailer feel, a cut-scene before the initial preliminary test and before the gameplay becomes interactive.
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| BIRDS EYE SCHEMATIC |
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MOOD AND FEEL OF INTERIOR
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| FINAL EXTERIOR |
VIGNETTE 1:
Preliminary
Assessment Room
Will
begin in Command Center, which I showed you.
I will focus on modeling mainly the console (“Cockpit Area”) for other vignette(s) thereafter.
If
I could get a basic mesh of the ENTIRE
command center that may leave us with more leeway, of course… Such as a preliminary “animated sequence” (as
we discussed) before the actual “Game”.
This could be: Player entering
the room/Swiping access card/Logging on computer/or whatever…
But
with an actual focus on Console…. (This
is an example with the models originally built, but just to give you an
idea) Imagine the windows as panels….
And so on….
MORE LIKE THIS OR
MIMICKING THIS….
THE INITIAL
PRELIMINARY TEST: These Models
(including the Interactive Cockpit)
would be for Educational Assesment and differing testing 'leves', from novice to advanced. With the “Panel Idea” and gadgets in effect
the Player can interactively choose which topic he’d like to be tested on
first. (Think
“Minority Report vs. Jeopardy”) But not so BLAH looking and Non-organic….
You may be
able to use, the $ amounts as the complexity of the question and rewards accumulated….
ie. The
more of a higher score he earns or the more upgradeable “RESOURCES” the
gameplayer will have to be able to use to secure his system as he advances
levels…. thus attaining a better overall
score to the game as a whole.
We can use
the “Jeopardy boxes” as panels and so on to decipher different selection grade
of tests…. In this trailer we will simulate
a first person view that demonstrates
his/her navigation through learning about Peer to Peer Networking.
Note: *The subject will allow the questions to pop
up onto different screens or panels….
This would be more along the lines of Dan’s idea.
SIDEBARS: Docked in the corner of User Interface on the Player's Computer station (See image above)… The Red, Yellow, Green bars indicate how the player is doing, such as Progress, Percentage of Test Completion, Resources Amount and/or More “ammo” for Hint stuff….. as per Brainstorm .doc:
1). SCORING AND STATISTICS: As we saw the progress meter in the 'Cyberprotect' game, network speed in calculated as well as the number of errors. The sidebars are a shorthand evaluation of the player's overall gaming precentages-- similiar to the content that will be shown in the After Action Review Room once the game is completed.
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**Note(s): Reference "CyberProtect" / "Cyberseige":
-Mission briefing starts with a topology map
-Animation during attack is achieved by moving light blobs along a track
-Cyberprotect pushes several vignettes at a particular configuration, then provides an assessment.
-Visualization: “Attack Cam” shows effects of attack on the 2D network topo map
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2). GLOSSARY AND HELP OPTIONS ETC:
-TOP- Online glossary, pop-up screen (click by letter), popup screen. Concept of “finding” or "adding" onto the glossary with experience. Glossary contents / depth could evolve with game complexity.
-MIDDLE- Helper notes (a la Cyberprotect’s “Mentor”) can be added by player to help him/her record and study information valauble to their studying and taking test.
-BOTTOM- The target will indicate by color green to red how much time is left, followed by an alarm. A countdown and an option to set back or freeze the timer based on level of expertise are also available.
VIGNETTE 2: Mission Briefing Room
After passing completion of the test(s) in Preliminary Assessment Room….
Windowed panels would flip or become Screened, to show (Silhouette) of the Commander in Charge. His actions will be seen, his voice can be heard, but his face and textures will not bevisible. He will be assessing the vignette to the player, overlooking the player's progress, and certifying whether or not the player will level up to the next mission.
SOME EXMAPLES SCREENED SILOHUETTE STYLE:
Once Mission Briefing is completed… (A) The
panels behind the player will flip back over and become opaque once again. When
the player activates whatever his mission is
the player will then transition in a Virtual Mode similar to the example
(B) as shown below but framed out in wire or something….
(A).EXAMPLE BEFORE MISSION BRIEF (Player)
(B).TRANSITIONS TO SOMETHING LIKE THIS
AFTER MISSION BRIEF...
We would have to further discuss what the exact mission would be, but for now…. the key role of the mission brief is to go over test results and then assign the player to the next suitable mission level. This could be another animated sequence (See Vignette 3 below). For the purposes of the trailer, a voiceover or text description would suffice.
VIGNETTE 3: Network Operations Center
The Player must than channel whatever his mission may be…. This will be a network-like tunnel leading to a series of other training resources locked behind doors. These doors to be opened with security keys that are earned upon completing vignettes in the Preliminary Assessment Room.
Roles include: Network Administrator, Junior Network Security Analyst, etc, any role pertaining to the topics covered in the first room.
With this acquired knowledge
and passing tests from each assessment room, the player should have enough
equipment and resources to complete the Training Vignette, that can be entered
through a 'network' portal.
VIGNETTE 4:
Training
Vignette
First Person View
inside Virtual Flightdeck that will allow player to navigate through a series
of different training simulations. As controls are launched, the background will of
course be animated with their accompanying training obstacles. For purposes of this trailer, they could
just be 'clips' occurring along with what is happening with the 'player' on
screen...
EXAMPLES OF COCKPIT GAME CHOICES INCLUDE:
1). TOPOLOGY MAPS:
Ex. Build
and monitor a secure network of global cyberspaces between player and other players
and/or networks. Scan and Monitor attack
Bots inside of these networks or send out your own Bots to help protect the system.
2). LAN SET-UPs:
Ex. Scenario is new LAN setup, it’s vulnerable and
player has to secure it.
3). BUILDING PROTECTIVE FIREWALLS:
Ex. Firewalls can block entire machines or
specific services, or specific connections.
Screen showing rules being set up for various ports and services.
4). FIND HACKERS:
Ex. Player uses skills to seek out global hackers.
In one of
the cockpit consoles the player will be able to zoom out and rotate globally to
view all game obstacles. Other consoles will connect the multiple players. The
displays that are customizable to make the player's gameplay experience
more helpful to get through and more enjoyable to play.
VIGNETTE 5: After action review (Scores)
The last room will present the players overall scores,
rate their performance level, and review their gameplay data.
Ex Image: "Cyberprotect" After Action Review Data:
SIMBLEND BREAKDOWN-- VERSION 1
VIGNETTE
1: Hallway Outside of Assessment
Room
After Initial Intro, Vignette One-Version 1 Displays the user in front of the exam room and its
access port, where he/she will need to
swipe access card. I believe we should
have an initial LOG ON page instead of just slapping this on the page, perhaps
as you were mentioning-- a background
still screenshot of the architectural building or something along those lines,
with a log on menu. (???)
PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT (USER INTERFACE):
NAVIGATION MENU: All panels
can be activated through the navigation bar, across the top of the screen. Within these menu options can be drop down
menus. These submenus all have icons
that can be dragged into boxes
(see. Icon Panel, above) to make
it easier for the user to navigate.
Here's the summary I was thinking for Navigation Menu Options:
1). MY PORTFOLIO (BUILD A CHARACTER PROFILE)
USERNAME / PASSWORD:What would be used to load address on CMD log Test Page
2). STATISTICS
3). CHECK PROGRESS
4). AMMOUNT OF RESOURCES OR SKILLS GAINED (PERCENTAGE)
5). REORGANIZE or CLEAN LOG
6). JOURNAL
Equipment and Knowledge already attained at the start of the game:
1). SWIPE CARD FOR PRELIMINARY EXAM ROOM
2). LEVEL (INTERMEDIATE MEDIUM or ADVANCED)
3). IP ADDRESS OF PLAYER'S COMPUTER NETWORK.
(For Access back to Glossary and Info documented in that particular room)
Customizable Interface Menus:
1). COMMAND LINE
2). COMMAND CENTER MAP (Areas with granted and restricted access and level access)
3). KEYOBOARD DISPLAY
4). TIMER
5). CUSTOMIZEABLE ICON PANEL
6). TARGET (Area of Interest Map) Hot-Cool
**Note: More meus can be added after completion of each exam
Saving Options:
1). SAVE GANE
2). SAVE CMD LOG
3). SAVE LAYOUT VIEW
Help Options:
1). BREAK TIME or TIME-OUT
2). ONLINE OR "IN-BOOK" GLOSSARY
3). ITEMS (COULD BE COMMAND)
4). SEARCH KNOWLEDGE LOG
5). SEARCH PROGRESS LOG
6). IP ADRESSES BOOK (To Find Other Players or Commanders)
7). CREATE custom COMMANDS/"HOTKEYS" (KEYPAD)
*Note: Also, I was thinking with help options too, they should be limited/entitled to more/less time to use help depending on level.
ICON MENU:
Each drop down menu features its own item which can be dragged and dropped into an icon panel which will make it easier/faster/flexible for the player to navigate around the game.
COMMAND
MENU: Would be a default menu that the
player can activate to run his game. The
IP Address 335.992.411 I imaged as an "OZ", or the 'mission' commander. This code would be programmed in manually by the player and the commander will
respond what he wishes the player to execute.
The challenge is for the player to interpret the correct instructions.
Simplified
'Starter' Codes are found in the glossary, under Help Options... Also the player can see examples, and,
finally, can customize as much of their own codes as they want (as long as they
have enough "KNOWLEDGE LEVEL").
They can allow access other players for assistance.
According to
the player's level, I would say that they aren't given the option to manually
navigate (aka. through arrow keys), and must strictly rely on their coding ability. The more advanced, the less manual navigation
they are allowed per exam room.
KEYPAD MENU: The player
will see the keystrokes activating as the type.
This will keep the screenshot
more interactive and fun to look at, although the player has the option to minimize this panel if he/she chooses.
After
accomplishing tasks within the preliminary assessment room, the player will
then continue onto the Mission Briefing and proceed to their assignment in the training vignette.
SIMBLEND TRAILER: INTIAL BRIEF
TRAILER SUGGESTIONS
- Title and Desciprtion Fades to further explain the fundamentals of the game
- Titles will be tailored to an audience of teachers who may be interested in teaching tool funding sources
e.g., “Tailor content to your students’ current knowledge level”
“Put networks resembling your real network scenarios into the game”
TRAILER CONTENT
Interested in help conveying the visual element in the rest of our presentation – how the game gets set up. This can be done w/ stills
PRESENTATION ASPECT
One idea is what should or can be done with Powerpoint?
GOAL OF THE PRESENTATION
- Demonstrate how the game can grow from small, simple networks to larger networks that use existing libraries already built by others
- How it works with “on-line learning” (student registers for “class” but then admitted into the game, and the learning system remembers the student’s performance in the game
- We want to show some of the power of the network simulator and how we can use it
- Panel usage: could show geo displays for “Area Of Interest” (using NETWARS A.O.I. example) – to allows zoom to AOI’s
DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL LIBRARY AND REFERENCE LINKS
SIMBLEND TRAILER: CONCLUSION
The simBLEND project was "the result of a research program funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory Human Effectiveness Directorate, Warfighter Readiness Research Division (AFRL/HEA) to develop new and exciting concepts for training the next generation of cyber warriors, simBLEND facilitates blending the delivery of computer based training (CBT) materials with interactive visualizations and serious games to create a web-based environment where learning is fun and skills can be practiced immediately....
To demonstrate SimBLEND, we created browser-based, CND-themed casual games that focused on low-level cyber security concepts and tools. These games are simple to use and can be delivered as stand-alone games or integrated into a Learning Management System or other training environment."
