Unity Tutuorial

This weeks tutorials consisted of a number of new skills in unity starting with adding text into the canvas, a display and text. We had to position the text correctly so that it wouldn't be on top on the cursor we had previously made. We also made an extra cursors and grouped them together in the hierarchy. A C# script was then made and I followed the instructions to create the action for the Gem the script that we wrote was to be able to press the e key to collect the gem and also to be able to have the cursor over the gem and for text to display. I found the c# script the hardest one yet and although I could obviously copy what he was doing it was hard to completely grasp what each exact component of the script was for.

My game screen shot 

The second tutorial we started by placing a fence into the game to add to the world, we followed the normal steps that we do dragging and dropping and adding a texture. Afterwards we added an axe for the player to have a weapon. We learnt how to create a swinging impression  of the axe. I enjoyed adding the axe and animation as it was my first time doing any sort of animation in unity. We finished off by making our first player taller to give it a more realistic look. 

In the third tutorial we learnt how to add a separate camera to different layers in the game. We rendered a camera to only pick up whats in the axes layer view. We added sound to the axe when its swinging using a C# script.

Overall I enjoyed completing these tutorials and feel like I learnt a lot but I don't think I would know how to do it all again without the tutorial so I'll need to have a look back again to try and make everything stay with me more.

Games GDD

The first article I read this week was https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-5-introduction-and-readings which talks about all about the beginning of designing a game and idea generation.
This article gave a structure to designing games and coming up with ideas. When tackling your initial design and your ideas you should start with thinking about the aesthetics, try thinking of your favourite game, why is it so enjoyable?What do you like about it? also thinking about what rules led to that experience. Rules or systems should be the next step you can take inspiration from everyday life looking into what daily systems could make a good game? for example service games such as cooking craze are inspired by real life service industry jobs.

You can also look at existing designs, games that you though had potential but didn't quite hit the mark. think about how this could have been improved, what didn't you like?
Narrative is also one of the most important parts of generating ideas, start with your story and then design your game rules to fit the story. Other idea generation starting points are: Market research, technologies, materials and combining some of these when beginning.

The reading also talks about how to overcome designers block. The strategies to help with designers block are playing lot's of games and thinking about what you think is good and what could be improved. Writing down all of your ideas, your narratives and mechanics even if they don't initially stand out as good ideas you can always come back and build on them. another useful strategy is thinking of something random and trying to find a way to integrate it into your game.

Creative block meme

This article also takes about how important prototyping is in the process of game design. When prototyping make it as simple and unattractive as possible completely focusing on the mechanics and rules. You can go back and constantly improve the design and touches after the gameplay is perfected! 

The second article http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/DesignConsiderations.shtml discusses design components and how important all the different components are to determining a players enjoyment.

Game Vision Statement

Brief description:

My game is a 3D world race car game called "The Rotunda Run" for the PC. 

My game is a time based game. where the player is driving their pregnant wife to hospital but only has a certain amount of time to do so. If the player hits people or walls their time will decrease but when they find any gems on their journey they can get extra time added onto their countdown. The game is lost if time runs out and the player hasn't managed to reach the Rotunda with their pregnant wife. As opposed to if the player reaches the destination within the time slot they win the game. I got some inspiration for this sort of game from 'The Simpsons Hit and Run' and 'Grand Theft Auto' These are both two of my favourite types of games so I would enjoy being able to create something slightly similar. 

Simpsons Hit and Run

Genre:

My game falls under the genre of Racing. It is a car racing game.

Gameplay:

The game is a single player time based racing game. It will start with a menu screen with settings and a start button. It will then go to a screen where you can select your type\colour of your car and then you will begin the game. There will be a countdown from 3 to begin the time and then it's up to the player to try and reach certain gems to gain more time and to try not to crash. the controls will be:

SPACE bar to drive

> to turn left

< to turn right 

ENTER to brake 

BACKSPACE to reverse.

The gameplay follows a narrative there is a little freedom for choice but not so much that it changes the entire game for the player.

Resources:

For creating this game the main resources i'll need are:

Time

Tutorials

Unity

The internet 

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMRhUK7bY7w

https://poki.com/en/car-racing

 

Unity Tutorial 03

In this weeks Unity tutorial we learnt how to make a 3D clock and programme it to display the current time. I learnt a lot in this tutorial including a new layout, parent and child game objects and a lot more depth into the C# scripts. I found the first part of the tutorial simple and easy to follow and enjoyed designing the clock, but the programming the clock was a little more challenging. I had to re-read the instructions a couple of times to fully understand why I was typing something into the C# script but I was definitely much more confident after completing it and going over the tasks again.

Screen shot of me completing tutorial

Screen shot of me completing tutorials

Overall this tutorial was a bit of a change from the 3D world tutorials we've been doing but had similar components such as in adding in the game objects and making Materials. The main difference was just the level  of depth into the scripts and the result of the tutorial. For some reason I found it more rewarding finishing the 3D world tutorials and being able to walk around after. I still really enjoyed this tutorial and I definitely picked up a lot of new skills that I will be able to put to use in my own game.

Games MDA

Week fours reading was all about MDA in gaming. MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. It is the formal approach to understanding games.

Mechanics are the rules of the game for example when does the game start and finish, what actions can players take, what effects do these actions have and how is resolution determined.


Dynamics describe how the game is played. What strategies emerge from the rules? How can the players interact with each other

Game Mechanics and Dynamics

Aesthetics is a players experience, what make the game fun.

There are eight types of fun that fall under aesthetic:

1. Sensation - Game as a sense of pleasure
2. Fantasy
3. Narrative
4. Challenge
5. Fellowship
6. Discovery
7. Expression
8. Submission

The article by Clint Hocking talks about intentional play. Games can be much more entertaining and diverse when the player has more options of things they can do with different game objects.

http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf

https://vimeo.com/288331391

Feedback Strategies

The first article I read on giving Feedback was Why do so many managers avoid giving praise. I could relate to some of the information in this article for example i agreed with the fact that sometimes it feels like a manager can be "quick to criticise slow to praise" and sometimes in the work place this can make you feel very unmotivated. From this article I learned that there could be a reason behind not giving very much praise for example a manager might see them selves as being weak or soft by giving too much praise or they may actually not have time or even realise they haven't been giving positive feedback. This article also talked about the fact that a large percentage of managers felt anxious when giving feedback and how managers may only feel like they need to give feedback on things that need correcting instead of things that are up to scratch.

The second article I read was How to give feedback without sounding like a jerk by Adam Grant. This was my favourite out of the two articles and I picked it because I thought it would be useful to me. I am one of the senior staff in my job and I often have to train in new staff, I find it difficult to give feedback and almost feel a bit afraid to try especially when I am giving feedback to someone who is a lot older than me, I find it awkward and also feel like they don't take it very well when I do try so I'm definitely going to attempt and use these techniques from now on. I didn't realise how transparent it must sound to try and sugarcoat feedback and to only throw in positive feedback to make you feel better or sound nice. I liked the idea of making it obvious that "i'm not perfect, i'm trying to get better too" so that whoever your giving feedback to doesn't feel inferior and that it's obvious your trying to improve yourself and the way you give feedback. I feel like this overall makes it easier for both parties and gives the person receiving feedback to also give feedback on how they think you have feedback.

Honest Feedback Welcome

Overall I feel like i've benefited from both of these articles and I will definetely try and put all of the techniques to use. I think feedback is really important, without feedback it's hard to know where you stand or how to improve.

Learning Challenge: Happiness Jar

So I haven't been very good at this challenge so far so  I'm going to start fresh from day one again...

Today I was happy and thankful because my nanie brought me out for lunch and an old friend I used to work with came into my job to visit me.