Unity Tutorial 04

 For the first part of this weeks task I had to finish the game we made last week, this wasn't too hard, as usual the tutorials were easy to follow along to especially with the written instructions underneath too. It didn't take too long and I got to learn about some new aspects I might even add to my own game like the "Game Over" trigger. 

For the second part of this weeks task it was another challenge, the challenges are a lot more, well, challenging than the tutorials of course. I found this one really difficult and had to try to find help on youtube however i could only find one video in english but it didn't really explain what to do at each of the steps so it wasn't very clear. Like the last challenge I did on unity, I went into this very optimistically thinking id try my best not to even use the hints unless absolutely necessary... yet again it was absolutely necessary. I really struggled with this one and I am actually quite disappointed that I wasn't able to make past even the first step on my own. Hopefully with more time and practice this will become a lot easier and I wont struggle quite as much with my own game. 

(my screenshot from unity)

Thanks for reading :)

Unity Tutorial 03

I have finished this weeks unity tutorials, Lesson 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 and I really enjoyed them, the aim of these tutorials was to create an animal stampede game in which you have to feed the animals coming towards you.

(my own screenshot from the unity tutorial website found at- https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/lesson-2-3-random-animal-stampede?courseId=5cf96c41edbc2a2ca6e8810f&projectId=5cdcc312edbc2a24a41671e6)

I did struggle a little bit with this tutorial as my c#script had a small error in it and when I tried to play the game it wouldn't work and kept telling me "All compiler errors have to be fixed before you can enter playmode!". Thankfully it was only a simple mistake where I had accidentally written a word starting with a lowercase letter instead of a capital letter so this was easily overcome however, it did take me quite a while to figure this issue out. I re watched the video a few times trying to see where I had maybe missed a step only to realise I hadn't been looking closely enough at the code. I think I learned a valuable lesson here about how specific and precise the code needs to be and I will definitely keep this in mind as I progress through the module. 

I was very glad to be back to video tutorials this week instead of having to figure it out myself like the plane challenge last week. As usual the videos are really easy to follow along to and the written instructions underneath are super helpful! Each time I do a new unity tutorial it makes me even more excited about making my own game. 

Thanks for reading :)

Games MDA

 The first article I read was MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research  This article goes into great detail about the MDA approach to game design, it aims to "attempts to bridge the gap between game design and development, game criticism, and technical game research."MDA means:

Mechanics:"describes the particular components of the game, at the level of data representation and algorithms." In simpler terms, the mechanics of a game are the actions a player takes within the game.

Dynamics:"describes the run-time behaviour of the mechanics acting on player inputs and each others' outputs over time." The dynamics are what happen when the mechanics are put together and put to use.

Aesthetics:"describes the desirable emotional responses evoked in the player, when she interacts with the game system." This is all about getting an emotional response from the player through some of the following things:

1. Sensation Game as sense-pleasure

2. Fantasy Game as make-believe 

3. Narrative Game as drama 

4. Challenge Game as obstacle course

 5. Fellowship Game as social framework

6. Discovery Game as uncharted territory 

7. Expression Game as self-discovery 

8. Submission Game as pastime

The second article I read was Design, Dynamics & Experience (DDE) for Game design, This article covered the MDA framework again however, I found the wording on this one much easier to comprehend and was able to enjoy this article a lot more than the first. This article introduced the DDE framework, although the MDA framework was widely accepted, this one was brought up to overcome weaknesses in MDA. DDE is still said to be a work in progress, it is still evolving and will most likely have more changes in the future but for now is allowing for a better, more accurately "assess and re-assess the value of the story within the overall framework of game development"

Lastly I watched a youtube video, https://youtu.be/NxiGduvDJ8s. The youtube video again discusses the MDA framework, I personally found this to be the most helpful of everything mentioned here in this blog. The visuals in the video really helped me to understand everything I had read previously, he explains how the MDA framework is used to break games down and show what is good about them and he explains each of the categories and sub-categories very clearly, while simultaneously giving very useful examples. 

image found at-https://images.app.goo.gl/Vha3ucEDavFgNhWp6

Thanks for reading :)

Game Idea Research

 The game idea I have decided to focus on is a driving game, I am choosing this one because I think it's the type of game that anyone can enjoy and most people would have some experience with something similar. I also think having done the first unity tutorial, this is something realistic that I can do while I'm still learning and getting used to designing my own game. My idea for this game, visually is to have it look like a race track has been pulled from the earth and is floating in space. I have found a series of youtube tutorials which I think will be super helpful for parts of my project heres one of them!- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMRhUK7bY7w.  I found this article called The Scientific Secrets To Designing The Perfect Racing Video Game, In this article it gives tips on how to improve the users experience and what to factor in when designing the track they will be driving on, for example they say to make the road a third bigger than it would be in real life to make it a little easier for the player but also to allow for the best camera angles on any twists and turns. 

The three game mechanics I would like to have in my game are:

Steering-

The player will have to navigate their way around the race track which will include many different twists, turns and ups and downs. I have some experience with this from the unity tutorials we have done so far but I'm hoping for this to be a little more complicated than the first driving game we made.

A Timer-

The timer will be in the corner of the screen and keep track of how long it takes you to get around the course and keep track of this so you can keep trying to beat your score each time!

Example of a game with a timer in the top right corner, found at-https://images.app.goo.gl/mY7ykCTqoyibYpWq5

Obstacles/items - 

While having to navigate your way around the course, there will also be items you need to avoid and some items you need to collect. The items to avoid will make it harder to get around and slow you down, I would like to make it so that the items you "collect" can boost your speed for a couple of seconds, similarly to the speed boost ramps in Mario Kart. 

Speed ramp in mario kart, found at-https://images.app.goo.gl/XcTqfULtRsz7G8KZ7

I am really looking forward to creating this game and spending more time developing this idea into something I will hopefully be really proud of in the end. 

Thanks for reading :)

Feedback Strategies

 Last week I learned about how to receive feedback and why it can be so helpful, this week I have learned how to give feedback to others in a way to help them. The first article I read was How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk. I chose this one because I always struggle with giving feedback incase it comes across rude and I offend the other person without actually getting to help them. The first thing mentioned in this article is the "compliment sandwich"-this is where you "put a slice of praise on the top and the bottom, and stick the meat of your criticism in between." Initially I thought this sounded like a good idea until I read further and saw was given four steps of better ways to go about giving feedback:

1. Explain why you're giving the feedback
2. Take yourself off a pedestal 
3. Ask if the person wants feedback
4. Have a transparent dialogue, not a manipulative monologue 

I think these are great tips to remember and I think I will be a lot more confident in the future when having to give feedback myself, I may have to revisit this blog from time to time to remind myself but I definitely think this will be incredibly useful. 

The next article I read was The Trouble with “Amazing”: Giving Praise that Matters. This article struck me because I would have assumed "Amazing" is a good thing to say. The article talks about why you shouldn't say this but instead be more specific, it doesn't mean don't praise people it's just telling us to not be so broad with it. We are given three reasons in this article for why we shouldn't just tell someone they are amazing:

1. It's Paula praise (referencing Paula Abdul, as a judge on American Idol)
2. It's Unspecific 
3. It praises the person, not the effort

From this article I learned that praise is important to reinforce but only when done correctly, you need to be specific in what you're impressed with so that people know exactly where they're going right and can work on other things.

Overall I think I have learned quite a bit about how to correctly give feedback and praise, without sugarcoating it or being too harsh. This is a skill I believe will be super important to have over the next few years in the course and also to carry on in life with me.

Image found on pinterest- https://pin.it/67UvQMu

Thanks for reading :)

Unity Tutorial 02

 I have finished the unity tutorials for this week, tutorial 1.4 was quite fun because it was finishing the car game. I felt great after last week's tutorials because I was learning how to use Unity but I’m feeling even better about this week because now I’m actually starting to understand it. It also felt really good to be able to use the game and drive the car, I never thought I would be able to create something like that before but now that I’ve done it (even if it is still fairly basic) I’m getting excited about making my own game for this module and maybe many more in the future.  

 

For the second part of this week's Unity task it was the plane programming challenge. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous going into this one as when I saw there were no tutorial videos I really didn’t have much faith in myself, I was extremely relieved to see the hints at the bottom of the page however. I did go into it thinking I’d try my best not to use the hints unless absolutely necessary ... It was absolutely necessary. The hints were super helpful, but I wasn’t able to figure out the bonus task so I did take a trip to google for that one.  

 

Overall, it was really interesting getting to figure out some new things on Unity and remind myself of what I learned last week, I’m feeling quite proud of the two games created and I am really looking forward to getting to be creative in making my own game. Here’s a screenshot from me playing the plane game when I got it all working.  

 

Thanks for reading :)