Game Testing

Game Testing

As we are testing our games it can be hard to try and self critique our work. Everyone has been developing their game with different levels of experience and creativity. I have seen some peoples games that look really incredible and well designed and have come together nicely. it is hard then to look at my own game and try to work to improve my design by comparing to others designs. I feel that i would make a much better progression if i had others to look at my game and give constructive criticism based on an outside view of my game. this allows for my work to be compared against another persons design ideas and creative eye. it is definitely a nice feeling to get reassurance from your peers through compliments on your own work but it is definitely destructive to solely get reassurance from someone just to preserve your self confidence. Constructive criticism is one of the best ways to help a peer to take a step back and see what they can improve in their design and help them to see other, possibly better, options for their game. The Closet Entrepreneur's article on giving constructive criticism does a great job to outline how to go about giving criticism in the right way and how, in turn, this can ultimately help your own work in future projects.

Alpha

Alpha

As i have been working on my game levels it has become clear to me about how little i still know about the power unity gives you. for a free program, there is an incredible amount of features available to play around with and include in your game design. Even with watching at least 3 tutorials each week i still dont feel that i could have completed any full level of my game without having to refer back to tutorials or the internet for help. it amazes me that such huge games in both design complexity and user popularity could be designed completely using the Unity software. I have found it extremely challenging to use the program and although i have progressed with designing in unity i still do not feel comfortable using the program and wouldn't have the confidence to attempt to create another game in my spare time. one huge difficulty i have found whit designing my game is getting things perfected in my design. i do think that unity is well thought out and easy to use but it is definitely a professional program and i would have enjoyed the program more if there was more of a simple drag and drop setup for assets. Im also impressed with the amount of free assets available on the asset store and i have found this to be a really great help in terms of exploring new looks for my game and to see what is possible in terms of design within unity. if i look back on my expectations of time management and goal setting in my first few weeks there has definitely been some changes made. i have found it very difficult to plan out my blog posts for the weeks and try to incorporate each of my tutorials and also creating my beta and alpha games on top of all this. I do prefer the 100% CA style of module and i would not want a final exam on game design but i have really struggled to keep up with the huge workload in this module. for the time i have spent with making my game i am somewhat happy with my game but of course it could have been much better if the game was the main focus for the rest of the semester as opposed to the blogs. having said this, i feel that working through up to date tutorials, like the Jimmy Vegas ones,each week is a really good way to learn the basics of Unity and what can be done to improve the overall look of your game.

A screengrab of my Level 1 start point

Game Stories

Game Stories

After reading Bob Bates article on the guide to a hero's journey, I have come away with two main points. The first is that the idea of creating, developing and adding a myth into your game isn't as difficult as it seems, as Bates outlines in the first half of the article, myths are a huge part of our daily lives and we are surrounded by them in Religious Faith, Manners and in contributing to society. Bates makes a great point when he talks about comparing drugs to Myth-Substitutes as the user would feel the need to take narcotics to eith create myth when it is not there or to discover new ones in the most real way, through their own perception of reality. The second point i have taken is that creating a hero also isn't as difficult as it may seem. While Bates uses mainly mythological hero's in this article, the same principle can be thought of for comic books and superhero movies. Bates references a list of qualities a hero can posses and of course, just as in mythology we could think of David (Goliath's victim), Beowulf or Cú Chulainn for an example that we all heard about as children, we can also relate many of these points to a hero such as Spider man, although he may be a much more recent creation, a true hero none the less.

 Screen grab from Bob Bates Article 

In the Article 'What Every Game Developer Needs to Know about Story' I believe that John Sutherland is campaigning for a revolution in Gaming. He talks about how movies could have died had they tried to continue feeding on the amusement and 'New Toy' feeling as he put it. Movies had to evolve into moving picture stories to compete and overtake the live stage performance as the best way to tell a story. I do believe it is possible to create this change again from movies to games. The growing complexity of stories in games is proof of the world willingness to feed on the juiciest story, with no real loyalty to its medium in which it is told. For many, it is now far more pleasurable to play a game about a world war 2 hero, essentially becoming the hero rather than watch even their favorite movie star act the story out on screen for a single 3 hour movie. With the advancements in VR and AI, it is becoming more and more accessible to portray real, complex and intriguing stories within a game. The TV show 'West World' is a good example of humans being sucked in to the idea of being so intuned with the story, they are willing to give anything to live it. In my opinion, the key to a truly great game is to bring the player as close to the story as current tech allows.

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

I feel i have definitely benefited from the blog comment feedback that i have received. Many comments have simply just been nice messages from peers and some have given some good advice and supplied some good, constructive feedback.
On some occasions i will admit that I have found myself just shooting out a paragraph on someones post about how I have enjoyed reading their thoughts and are interested by their game design ideas etc as i was behind on blogs and wanted to get something down. it is only in the last few weeks that  have realized the potential these comments can have, it is rare that we are encouraged to actively critique each others work as we progress through assignments and often I wouldn't bother to pass comment on peoples work, rather just compliment on things i like. in this case it gives a platform to sit and read through blogs and see someones progression and view their work as it improves while offering advice and criticism that they otherwise wouldn't hear.

Overall i would say that the blog comment feedback is a really positive and a great idea. It allows students to give feedback, share ideas and give constructive criticism in order to help other students improve and create. The main positive i see to this is that students are encouraged to visit other students blogs to comment, and in turn end up learning a lot about their own blogging by comparing other students work to their own whether deliberately or subconsciously. one downside to the comments is that sometimes the comments become another blog upload crammed in each week and students don't put a lot of thought into giving constructive advice and end up just giving empty compliments drawn out to fill a word count. that said, i would definitely recommend students to visit others blogs, learn from that experience and leave some advice or ideas on how the student can improve or what they are doing well as this is a great way to learn!

I like the randomizer idea as it encourages students to visit students blogs outside their class group and friend group

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking back on my reading and writing blogs i feel that although I may have missed a few uploads on these topics i have definitely benefited from writing these blogs. the reading blogs give an opportunity to look at relevant subjects and information that i would probably never just come across while surfing the web or wouldn't even know to look for them while researching.
The writing blogs also help get ideas from my mind down in words which helps to develop ideas and progress as its easier to move on when things are put down in writing. I would have liked to work on more of these as they are a great way to show progression and research of game design info.
I feel i have fallen behind considerably in this lecture as a result of not being able to fit in almost daily blog posts or coming to Sunday and realizing i haven't been able to complete any blogs ahead of time and having to prioritize important uploads. I am not happy with my progression so far in the design of my game but I'm hoping i can pick up the pace on design and development and make a game that i am proud to share.

Gamification Model Canvas

This is an example of one image i like as it shows how a simple table created to outline a tool used to aid in my game development can be simple and effective in laying out essential and useful info into a graphic which can then used to compress full pages of information into a few strong points that can be easily recalled and used when needed.

I think it would be good practice to keep up the reading and writing blogs as they are good for keeping track of progress and can double as a notebook to keep ideas and notes of important info while creating our game.

Unity Free Tutorials

Unity tutorial

For this weeks unity tutorials I wanted to browse through the Jimmy Vegas YouTube channel to find some tutorials that I would be able to alter to use in my own game. The two I found and that I have included in this blog is the tutorial on a sniper scope image that can be added to the players view to give the effect of looking through a snipers optic and also an addition to the HUD of my game with the tutorial on creating a Sky rim influenced health bar. i liked the idea of creating the sniper scope as it could be easily manipulated into other useful game elements. the main one i had in mind for this would be changing the sniper scope to a set of binoculars, a telescope or even night vision, by changing the view to have a green tint and extra brightness. It would be possible to use the same C# script for all these ideas with the image covering the screen and a zoomed image in the cutout of the instrument used. I could implement this idea as a means of allowing the player to be able to see either farther or in a certain environment and I think this would really be a cool effect.

                                         Scope tutorial from Jimmy Vegas' video

The other tutorial i watched was for a sky rim inspired health bar. this would be a great inclusion for my HUD in my game and this idea could be personalized with the png and colored bars used to fit the theme of my final game. Again it would be possible to use the same C# script used in the video with some minor tweaks to blend with my game.

I look forward to exploring more of Jimmy Vegas' Unity tutorials on YouTube and seeing what great tips and ideas i can add to my game. Jimmy Vegas' YouTube channel can be found here

Final GDD

Final GDD

My Final GDD can be found HERE.

As i did not get a chance to start my GDD last week I tried my best to fill out my dundoc GDD with as much information as i could based on the topics. I did not completely understand some of the topics but I have tried my best to create an in-depth GDD for my final design. I look forward to adding all the design elements i have mentioned into my game design and hope to get a good start on creating the foundations for my game. I think using this Dundoc is a great way to really structure what one plans to include in their game and it then allows me to begin thinking about how i will go about the process of creating the game. Outlining things in this way is especially good as design changes or additions can be made freely without having to go back on work you've already done, i plan to use this Dundoc as the wire frame for all my additions to design and development as i construct this game.

Games Decisions

Games Decisions 

I really enjoyed reading Daniel Cooks Blog on 'cozy Games' as it gave me a new way of thinking about game design. The idea of a Cozy game is that instead of basing design and game play around battle, survival and immanent threats, cozy games allow the player space to breath while playing, instead of playing to improve battle skills for example their aim could be to gather abundant resources, develop relationships with characters or other players. Cozy games are synonymous with abundant resources, warm colors, small worlds, changing seasons and other elements to inspire nostalgia and a feeling of safety and comfort for the player. visuals play a big part in cozy games. warm, soft and natural colors all add to the cozy feeelig of a game. Audio is another medium that can be implemented to add to the coziness of a game design, using familar, natural sounds to relate to the player. The use of Natural and familiar materials can add to the coziness of a game such as the woolen aesthetic of the game 'LittleBigPlanet '.

                                          LittleBigPlanet image taken from flikr

The way the characters communicate in a game can greatly affect the emotions the player will feel while playing, having long, unimportant or meaningless conversations between characters can add to the safe, familiar feeling of relationships we enjoy in real life. Harsh commands and dominating, asserting characters would be avoided in a cozy game and the interactions with this character would always be an unpleasant and undesired experience for the player. creating vulnerabilities and weaknesses to characters such as old or young age, disabilities, roles ie priests or peaceful monks and maternal or paternal characteristics can all add to the coziness of a character in a game.

Unity Tutorial 05

Unity Tutorial 05

As I work through the tutorials everything is becoming easier to manage and work through. Each tutorial is giving me more and more ideas for details I can incorporate into my game to improve player experience. I like the idea of including the weapons and I believe i could use this in my game but include tools rather than weapons such as torches, maps, compass etc. That can aid the player in navigating through the map. One thing I still find difficult is working through the windows visual studio to allow the physics to be assigned to game objects and working through the errors I encounter with case sensitive words and ensuring brackets are in the right place. I think adding audio both as game object sounds effects and background music really adds to an immersive player experience and gives another layer of interaction with the user. I also think adding layers gives a much more professional look to a game by preventing clipping which shows that a lot of effort has been put into realistic graphics within the game.

                      Layers added to prevent clipping of objects-Screen grab from Jimmy Vegas Video

                      

unity tutorial 3

Unity Tutorial 3

This is the first tutorial i have have come into serious difficulty with, I struggle a lot with web design mainly as i find it difficult to work with code and the way it has to be written, for this lab I was able to  build the clock in less than ten minutes, just by scanning over the scales and positions given in the instructions, my problems arose when the visual studio c# coding came into play. I understand it is inevitable that i will have to become efficient with the C# coding to add vital physics and mechanics into my game and it is frustrating when i can easily sail trough the design part of unity only to be stumped by the styling and coding necessary to get the game working correctly. As with Dreamweaver and other programs we have used, it will take me some time to get used to being able to work through code and be able to identify problems and solutions when needed ad be able to get that done quickly and efficiently. Other than these set backs, I feel like I am starting to get used to the process of creating assets and game objects and being able to make them work together nicely. In the next few lab tutorials I hope to tie in the C# into my design and hopefully start to understand it more clearly.

                                         A screenshot of my completed Clock

Games MDA

Week Four Reading Notes

Mechanics are the 'rules'

Dynamics describe the 'play' of the game ie what emerges from rules etc

Aesthetics relate to player experience

Models must be:

Formal(well defined)

Abstract(widely applicable)

Proven(known to work)

kinds of fun:

1. sensation
2. fantasy
3. narrative
4. challenge
5. fellowship
6. discovery
7. expression(self discovery)
8. submission(game as pastime)

-Mechanics examples include: shuffling cards, water hazards in golf, spawn points in FPS 

-dynamics and mechanics are different views of the game.

- dynamics as a result of mechanics

Gamification Model canvas from MDA Slides Vimeo video

designer --> mechanics - dynamics - aesthetics <-- player

-simple changes in aesthetics introduce many changes in mechanics

" By moving between MDA's three levels of abstraction, we can conceptualize the dynamic behavior of game systems. Understanding games as dynamic systems helps us develop techniques for iterative design and improvement - allowing us to control for undesired outcomes, and tune for desired behavior. "

Quote taken from MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

Workshop 01 unity tutorials

Workshop 01 unity tutorials

A the tutorials are progressing I am becoming more confident in developing a complex game. Initially I was worried that my sub-par coding knowledge & extremely sub-par gaming knowledge would really hold me back and I would be left behind, desperately trying to figure out the errors in coding and bugs in the game design. After working through the first few tutorials and looking into existing unity attributes that could aid my design, I am becoming much more confident that I will be able to create a game design that I'm proud of and that that can work really well. By following steps on different object actions I have also come up with lots of new ideas that I am going to try to include into my final design. I think details like the center cursor and adding object sounds can make a simple game seem very professional and also add to a better user experience. I have been practicing and playing around with the unity program a bit now and I am starting to become much more comfortable with the program and the process of quickly editing and adding objects, editing the environment and tweaking details etc. I am still to hone in on a definite game theme & idea but i feel the more i learn from practice and following tutorials, the easier it will be to develop my story and theme.

                                         Screen grab from Jimmy Vegas tutorial video

game brainstorm of 4 ideas

Brainstorming Game Ideas

Using the unity engine i would like to create a game that can have multiple different variables to a similar outcome. In my opinion, a game that can be played multiple different ways will result in much more returning players rather than a 'story mode type game that can be completed by moving through the steps and will be no more enjoyable or intriguing to a returning player. I really like the idea of using the first person perspective in unity to give a different take on game ideas that would be played in a completely different way like arcade games for example.

My four initial game ideas are:

1. Adventure Quest

In this game idea I would like to have the player trekking through a world with different variations in realism, terrain and conditions, the player would complete the game by traveling through this world collecting riddles which in turn would give insight to the player on where to travel and which paths are best taken for the player to most efficiently arrive in their final destination. The complexity of the game would come from the different stages the player would go through which could include real world scenarios such as deserts, mines, forests, mountains etc and also could include taking 'out of this world' paths like space travel, alternate dimensions etc.

2. Maze

In this game idea I would like to have the player travel through a maze with different obstacles on each path, the maze could be 2D, ie. on same x plane with the terrain in 3D, or 3D, with the maze path on different levels. this game could be made in levels, which difficulty increasing on each maze or as a continuous path that gradually expands into multiple extensive paths, increasing difficulty.

3. Obstacle course

For this game I would like to have a first person obstacle course. Taking inspiration from sonic / crash bandicoot / Mario type games, I would like to create a game in which the player has to advance through an obstacle course. Similar to the maze and adventure quest ideas, there are a few ways the course could be designed, on either 2D or 3D levels, advancing levels or multiple courses with varying difficulty etc. unlike the adventure quest, this would not be designed or styled as a real world course and more like a traditional obstacle course like what would be seen in ninja warrior.

4. first person arcade

My final brainstorm idea is for a first person arcade game(s) in which I would create one or more arcade game that could use 3D design in unity so that instead of using, for example, a coin in coin drop or a ball in skee-ball, the player would be a part of the game and would aim to hit targets/ score points etc. this could be expanded into a simulation life size arcade in which the player can travel around to different games. one way to improve player experience could be to incorporate easter eggs for each game and include mini games in unexpected areas.

skee-ball game - image taken from this website

week 1 assignments roundup

Week 1 Assignments Roundup

In week 1 I have been finding it a bit overwhelming with the ramp up of work for year 2 in all my assignments. After getting to know my way around the blooger.com website, creating posts and learning about labels etc i feel like I am ready to get back up  to speed with daily assignment uploads and planning out a schedule around work and college. I would like to try and take advantage of the Wikipedia trails, Tech Tasks and Commenting as extra credit tasks as a safeguard in case I ever miss an upload or if I need to catch up on any missed assignments. Of course the idea of finishing up the semester early with a decent mark is exiting so I am going to try my best to jump ahead as much as I can.

My Blog page after some personalization 

INTRODUCTION to an aspiring photographer

Introduction to an aspiring photographer

I have always been blown away by the fusion of technology and art that is so unique to modern photography and videography. In my opinion there is no other art form that has been influenced by modern technology more than photography. What once would have been considered “The lazy mans painting” has become one of the most popular modern art forms. In our internet age there's very few mediums that can be appreciated in their full form through a screen. You can’t fully experience a marble sculpture through a computer, yet photography, as a 2D medium of a 3D moment in time, can be portrayed in its full glory on a computer screen, even if some will argue there is nothing like a physical print. This is part of the reason i have fell in love with the art of photography. My first experiences with photography and photos, like many millennial's, was not through physical prints in a gallery, it was though the internet, on social media, on Instagram and on Facebook. There's nothing wrong with this in my opinion. Although i can appreciate the skill and patience needed to produce professional prints, A lot of my photography is taken on a digital sensor, colors edited on a computer and many of my photos live solely on Instagram. I take photographs to show how I have set my tool to create a unique window into a special moment in time. Whether these moments exist as data on a disk or laid down in ink doesn't take away from the art captured through the lens. I believe as technology advances and culture shifts take their course, original physical printing processes such as silver gelatin printing will be valued more and more like relics, an extinct medium that can be replicated but that's all they will be... replicates of the mainstream processes in which photography was appreciated long ago. This theory isn't as far fetched as it seems. In the mid to late 20th century there was a huge shift in photography and how people believed photos should be taken, this was the revolution of color film. From the beginning photos had been viewed in terms of light and dark. professionals shot in black and white since the dawn of film negatives, that is how it was, when companies started to produce color film and said "Hey, we have a process of developing your photos in color, this is the future!", but many professionals did not make the change, claiming that color photography was an amateur way of capturing real light. to an extent they were right, even today many pros prefer using huge medium format monochrome sensors as these sensors have the ability to capture much more detail as the same RBG data sensors allow in. To make a long story short, this shows that although there can be initial backlash in what people define as the right way, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I have gained a passion for photography as it allows me to pay forward some of the beauty I come across in my life.

                                          The first recorded photograph ever taken
                                          Image taken from kwerfeldein.de

A digital photograph recently taken by myself

favorite game

My favorite game

I don't play a lot of video games but a popular game I know of is Fortnite.

                                screenplay in Fortnite

                                image taken from Flickr

                                fortnite poster

                               image taken from Flickr

blog post 1

this is my first blog post.