As said in my introduction post I want to be choosing one gun to be recreating in 3DS Max and then scripting it to reload via user input on a keyboard. The first thing I need to do is decide on what gun would be best to use for this scenario. First I had to research into different gun types and then decide on which would be best to use for my dissertation. The types I’m using was from this webpage (gunsandcrime.org 2016).

Pistols

Figure 1: Variety of Pistols (Shackleford, R. 2013)

A pistol (or ‘handgun’) is held in one hand and fires out cartridges. Most pistols are reloaded by inserting a magazine/clip into the bottom of the grip of the pistol (with the exception of revolvers and derringers).

The idea behind my dissertation is to focus on creating a mechanic on the reloading of a gun. Since pistols usually contain 5-19 cartridges it’s possible that players wouldn’t need to reload at all or very often, therefore the reload mechanic wouldn’t be of much use (exception being in a FPS).

Shotguns

Figure 2: Variety of shotguns (Bapanna, S. 2012)

Shotguns are held in two hands and fires a buckshot shell(Bagpanna, S. 2012). There are different variants of shotguns which are reloaded differently. For example an AA12 shotgun is reloaded by a magazine (Popenker,M. 2016) whereas a Spas 12 shotgun is reloaded by inserting one shell at a time (GolemasterCZ, 2016).

Another point to consider is that there are different types of shotguns as well (as shown below). Each shotgun is reloaded through a different method.

Figure 3: Types of Shotguns (Common shotgun types, 2016)

If I was to choose a shotgun for this dissertation I would choose one which is either a pump action or a bolt action as I feel either of these types would show the potential of the reload mechanic in a game, for example:

Pump action – After shooting, the player would press the down arrow key to pump the shotgun, then the up arrow key to its original position. It can then be fired again and repeated up to however many shells are in the gun.

Bolt action – After shooting, the player would control the bolt of the rifle using the arrow keys, cocking it back to eject the bullet and setting it into its original position to allow it to fire again.

Rifles

Figure 4: Wall of Rifles (MVolkJ, 2016)

Rifles are held in two hands and are primarily used for their “high accuracy and high velocity shooting” (Nunley, K. 2016). A rifle shoots a cartridge and is reloaded in either of these three ways:

  • Bolt action – Once shot the shooter must cock the bolt back to reload the next cartridge, then return the bolt back to its original position.
  • Semi automatic – Once shot the recoil from the shot drives the next cartridge into the chamber ready to be shot again, can only be shot once when the trigger is pulled.
  • Automatic – functions the same way as a semi automatic, but can fire multiple shots when the trigger is held down.

A bolt action rifle may be my best choice for my dissertation as this would allow me to make reloading the bolt as the reload mechanic using the arrow keys.

Machine Guns

Figure 5: Various machine guns (Grinberg, D. 2016)

Machine guns vary in design and make, however are fully automatic when shot (they continue to shoot when the trigger is held down). Ammunition for machine guns are fed by a magazine.

I feel that machine guns wouldn’t be very useful for my dissertation. Similar to pistols, players would only need to reload every now and then due to the amount of ammunition per magazine and therefore the reload mechanic wouldn’t be used much (or even at all, as there are some machine guns with 100 ammunition per magazine).

Conclusion

Overall I feel the best gun type would have to be between a rifle or a shotgun. This is because both gun types have a type of gun which reloads by bolt action which I feel would be best to try turning into a reload mechanic for a game. The pump action shotgun is another alternative however I feel that could be too easy for players.

I also feel that reloading a magazine using the keyboard could be difficult to see in first person, therefore I will aim to focus around reloading the ammunition into the chamber by bolt action or pump action.

References

Bapanna, S. (2012). Shot Guns. [online] Knowledge-sastha.blogspot.co.uk. Available at: http://knowledge-sastha.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/shot-guns.html [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

Cornwell, B. (2016). Top 100 Best Gun Room Designs – Armories You’ll Want To Acquire. [online] Next Luxury. Available at: http://nextluxury.com/home-design/best-gun-room-designs/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2016].

Grinberg, D. (2016). [online] Govloop.com. Available at: https://www.govloop.com/blogs/5001-6000/5628-GunWallNMoffice.jpg [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

GolemasterCZ, (2016). G’s HD Gun Show: Shooting Franchi SPAS 12 shotgun 720p. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJXbhE_8xs0 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

Gunsandcrime.org. (2016). TYPES OF GUNS AND “ACTIONS” (gunsandcrime). [online] Available at: http://www.gunsandcrime.org/guntypes.html [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

Kalkomey, (2016). Common Shotgun Actions | Washington Hunting License Study Guide for Online Hunting Safety Course. [online] Hunter-ed.com. Available at: https://www.hunter-ed.com/washington/studyGuide/Common-Shotgun-Actions/20105001_700046660/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

MVolkJ, (2016). Let’s see your wall hangers… – AR15.Com Archive. [online] Ar15.com. Available at: https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1383258 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

Nunley, K. (2016). How Does a Rifle Work? | eHow. [online] eHow. Available at: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4741146_a-rifle-work.html [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

Popenker, M. (2016). Modern Firearms – Atchisson AA-12. [online] World.guns.ru. Available at: http://world.guns.ru/shotgun/usa/atchisson-aa-12-e.html [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].

Shackleford, R. (2013). German Pistols of WWII (OC, Wall of text, lots of pictures). [online] Imgur. Available at: http://i.imgur.com/geC7ce2.jpg [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016].