Unity Tutorials

The first Unity tutorial I watched this week was a very short one, by Jimmy Vegas, just about bringing audio into your game and where to get it from, the first website that he talks about is 'incompetech' where you can get free music from Kevin Macleod, you just need to credit him. The second one Jimmy Vegas talked about was the asset store, which we are all familiar with. I want to go explore into different sounds and Audio to find out which suits my game best.

The second tutorial I followed was one about getting hurt and losing lives, resulting in the game being over. In the tutorial, Jimmy Vegas set it up that a spider could hurt you resulting in losing lives and the game being over, I didn't really concentrate on the spider hurting you and taking away lives as this wont be an element in my game, but I did learn how to create a game over screen, by adding a new scene, and this is an element that will definitely be featured in my game.

First Playable

This week I had some more issues with Unity on my laptop, after reading loads online about other people having the same issues I tried loads of different suggestions to fixing it and I finally got it working, however my older work had been deleted and I had to start over, so this week was more or less a repeat of last week for me, with a bit extra.

So I just had to re-create my terrain again this week, but I added in the features of my bananas being collectables, I more or less followed the tutorial in which we made the gem spin, disappear when being collected and make a noise, but with a banana instead. This was all I had time for this week as I had to do the extra work for next week, but I will be catching up on this early this week.

Week 8 Progress

Make Things Happen, Pixaby

From looking back on this semester so far, I think I have made a huge amount of progress, at the start of the year I missed a good few blogs, including the 'Schedule planning' one, so thats a blog that I can't look back on and reflect how well I have stuck to a schedule. However as the weeks have gone on I have gotten into more of a flow to get the blogs completed and it is a process that I have gotten used to. I don't feel I have gotten into a weekly routine with regards to the blogs however and I do still struggle trying to find time to do certain blogs during the week while trying to balance assignments for other modules and also holing down a job. However I am determined to keep up my grade and complete all of the blogs in our final few weeks! I also haven't been taking full advantage of the extra credit tasks, and I am going to start doing a couple of them each week so I can get a better grade at the end of this semester.

Looking forward I just think that my main focus should be on time management and setting aside a certain time to complete these blogs as I feel that was my main pitfall this semester. I think next semester might be a bit easier for me, as I kind of know what to expect and have learned how this modules runs, as it is ran differently then any other module I have done before. I just want to get the work done from the start next semester. Another thing that I think would be useful is to attend the labs now and again, because this semester if I was struggling I didn't take advantage that help was there, and we should use this help to our advantage.

Overall, I feel I have come along way from the start of the semester and I am happy with my progress, I look forward to seeing the end result for my game! And I am also excited for a break from the blogs over the Christmas break..

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Comments and Feedback; Pixaby

Today I reflected and read back on all of the comments I have received and also given. 

I have mainly received comments on my project posts, which is very helpful because this is where we could use some more ideas and reviews on our work. By getting comments and feedback based on our project, it helps us to get even more ideas for our project. It is through some of the feedback that I have received that I have been able to further my game ideas, I have definitely been given some good suggestions from people in my comments that I have brought into my game. It is a good idea that we have had to comment on peoples blogs because a fresh pair of eyes is always useful, and other people will have ideas that you couldn't have come up with yourself.

Commenting on other peoples blogs hasn't been my strong point as it is something that I haven't done enough of throughout this process, but I am going to commit myself to doing it from now on, because I find it useful from getting peoples feedback so others might find it useful from getting mine. What I have found about commenting though is that it is quite hard to give negative feedback as I wouldn't want to make anyone feel bad, and from reading the comments I have received and also other peoples comments, I think most people feel like this as a lot of the comments can be very generic and nice. I think most people would just feel bad giving people negative feedback.

I have definitely learned more about people from reading their introduction blogs, fun facts about people that I maybe wouldn't have learned from talking to these people on a daily basis. I don't feel like my introduction blog tells a lot about me as a person, I more so wrote about stuff that was currently going on in my life, I didn't actually realise that other people would have access to our blogs then I was slightly embarrassed when I found out everyone in our course had access to this, as it was a bit cringe.

Going forward I definitely want to commit myself to commenting and giving feedback on more peoples blog, as it is a process that is useful for both me and the person who receives the feedback. The only thing I would change about my blog is my introduction, to make it a bit more relevant for people who visit my blog can get to know me better.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

This week I took a look back and all my previous blogs and reflexed on them. Looking back at all the reading blogs I do feel my writing skills have improved as I haven't done a huge amount of writing within this course so far. One of my favourite reading so far was the one titled 'Games Decisions', within this post I mainly discussed 'cosy games' and how in these games there will not be much presence of danger and risk, by reading different articles about cosy games it really brought me back to my childhood as I used to play cosy games such as Animal Crossing, so it was cool to read the actual reasons behind why certain elements are they way they are in that game.

From looking back through my project blogs, its really interesting to see how much my game ideas and decisions have come along within the last few weeks. The original game idea that I went with was an world roaming/ role play game. My ideas for this game were for the player to create their own character, which will then be placed in a world that I was going to created, the character would be free to roam around this world freely discovering new places and new things to do. However my game has changed a lot from this concept as it is now an adventure and time limiting game, objective of this game is to feed the monkeys insatiable hunger, in order to keep his energy levels up and to keep the monkey alive. The player will be required to collect bananas which are scattered around the forest in which the monkey lives in. There will be a bar at the top of the screen which represents the monkeys energy level. Each time you collect a banana the monkey energy will rise, if you go a long time the energy level will decrease, and the monkey will die once the energy bar is empty. It is every useful that we have our GDD for our game and it is assessable through our blog, but it is also very nice to have the process in which our game has developed written out where we can go and look back on it.

Monkey Goes Bananas - Pixaby

This is probably one of my favourite pictures that I have used throughout this process, this is an image that I just happened to come across and it is what gave me the inspiration and idea for my game, I think it captures what my game is all about.

Overall I have found the project blogs a lot more useful and interesting then the readings. As someone who isn't really into games that much, I found some of the readings quite boring and a task to read as I just wasn't interested. However, I do feel that they were useful as I learned some useful information about games and game design that I would have never learned if I didn't have to read the articles. 

I am really enjoying the process of designing and discovering my game, I am excited for the final piece!

Game Prototype

This week I began the prototype for my game. When I tried to start this, for some reason my Unity wasn't responding and it wouldn't load properly on my laptop, so this was an issue, I had to delete and re-download Unity, which took much longer than it did last time. Even when I downloaded it, Unity still wasn't responding on laptop, so I had to wait till the following day to use a Mac in college.

Once I finally got access to Unity, I started off by creating my terrain. This week I wanted to  just focus on the aesthetics on my game. My game is based in a forest as this is a monkeys natural habitat so I wanted to create a terrain that represented this. I started off by going back to the basic skills that we learnt in the first few unity tutorials, I used textures to created grass and I placed trees and pathways over my terrain to make it look like a a forest.

I then went to the Unity Assets store, and I found a fruits pack of 3D models, in which they have a banana and I think it suits my game perfectly, so I added the bananas into my game, and made the player be able to collect it when you walk through it, just like we did with a gem in a pervious Unity tutorial, I haven't done it yet as I couldn't find the appropriate noise for my game, but I will be adding a noise to the game when a banana has been collected.

3D Fruit Pack - Screenshot

So far I am happy with my prototype and I look forward to adding more features to my game.

Screenshot of my Unity

Unity Choice Tutorials

This week for our Unity Tutorials, we had to chose our own videos to follow which we felt were appropriate to our own game.

The first video I chose to follow was one which you learned how to made a health bar. I felt this video was appropriate for my game as this is a feature that I hope to have in my game as it will show the energy levels of the monkey, and will decrease when the monkey has not eaten any food. After following this video I am confident that I will be able to use it as it was a lot easier then I thought to would be.

Jimmy Vegas - How to make a health bar

The second video I have chosen to follow, is one which shows how to make a collectable and scoring system in #C. This is a technique which I am definitely going to use in my game, as my character will be collecting bananas, with a reward of energy and points. In this tutorial, we used some skills that we have used before, like collecting the stars to make them disappear and make a noise was just like the tutorial we followed with the gem, but it was more in-depth coding in how to make your score go up, and there is a lot of messing around with the code to get it to work. I am glad I done this tutorial as I learned skills that I will definitely be using in the coming weeks.

Jimmy Vegas - How to make a collectable and scoring system in #C

Final GDD

This week I completed my final Game Design Document. It has definitely improved from last week but I found it hard to expand anymore than I have done, I feel this will change over the coming weeks and I will definitely be able to expand on it even more as the process goes on.

This process has made me excited to continue on the development of my game.

My Final GDD

DunDoc

Game Fun

FUN AND GAMES, Source

The concept of 'fun' has been around since early pre-history, when humans were at the hunter-gathers had to learn many skills in order to survive and reproduce. If they found certain skills 'fun', they were more likely to practice them and pass them onto the next generation, we are still like this today.

According to Falstein, there are three kinds of fun;

• Physical fun  - useful for any physical feats that allow us to fight or escape danger.
• Mental fun - the problem-solving part of the brain that gave us such useful things as the wheel and fire.
• Social fun - the benefits of banding together in groups for mutual survival, and reproduction.

But this theory of fun can be separated into different categories of 'kinds of fun', 

Sensation - this includes physical movement and looking and hearing things that are interesting

Fantasy -  this allows our brains to come up with novel ideas as we think of the 'what-if'

Narrative - this is useful so that we pass on useful information such as survival skills.

Challenge - This is a way in which humans can show dominance over one another in a relatively safe way.

Fellowship - This opens up the possibility of new food sources, it also allows us to pass on genetic material.

Discovery -  this is what makes us want to explore our nearby territory, the more territory we know the more potential places for us to find food and shelter.

Expression - this is how we can communicate efficiently, through language and expression.

Submission - this demands the attention of the player.

https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-7-dot-1-evolution-of-fun-sans-pokemon?module_item_id=44564

I then read another article on the topic of 'fun' called Natural Funativity by Noah Falstein, this article talks about the differences between education and entertainment, and Falstein believes there are no differences.

Falstain talks about how we share basic drives or survival and reproduction with our fellow creatures. It is in both ours and animals nature to practice the skills that we have to survive. Animals will practice their skills to fight and hunt without a second thought, as they need these skills for survival.

As humans, a way in which we can practice our survival skills, in an educating yet also entertaining way is through games which allow us to use these skills in maybe situations that wouldn't occur in our everyday lives.

Unity Tutorial 05

Unity, Source:wikimedia

I learned a lot in this weeks Unity Tutorials by Jimmy Vegas, what I really enjoyed about this weeks tutorials was all the experimentation that there was, with colours and so on. As I followed the first tutorial, I learned how to place an Axe to make it look like it was sticking into a tree, I then used code to allow the player to pick up the Axe into their hand. Even though I only had to copy the code which Jimmy Vegas was using, I always find the code side of it quite challenging and I always seem to make small mistakes which stop my code from working as it should, but I got there eventually. I am glad I learned how to collect objects like this as it is an element that I think will work well in my own game.

In the next tutorial we learned how to make a fade in fade out for the game, which is something that I hadn't even of thought of for my game but it makes it look a lot better. Experimenting with the colours for this was enjoyable and I found some very interesting colours which gave me inspiration for my own game. It was hard to get my head around the animation within Unity as we have never used this before but it was very effective.

I enjoyed making the house look different as you could change how the textures look on the outside and changing the light make such a big difference to the way that the house looks. \

I look forward to next weeks tutorials and creating the inside of the house.

Games Decisions

Cosy games are games that evokes the fantasy of safety, abundance and softness. Within a cosy game there will not be much presence of danger and risk, there is no element of high-risk or a big amount of threat. It is often that activities within a cosy game will be opt-in, so the player never feels the threat of coercion. There is also a sense of abundance within cosy games as lower level needs from Maslow's Hierarchy of needs are being met, with this including things such as hunger, thirst, shelter and safety. This provides space to work on higher up needs, such as deeper relationships, appreciation of beauty, self actualisation, nurturing and belonging. Cosy games also use strong aesthetic signals to tell players that they are in an almost stress free environment and full of safety.

Animal Crossing, Source: Flickr

An example of a 'Cosy Game' is Animal Crossing, this is a game that is very stress free and the player is free to roam around the world however they may please. The player can opt to complete some activities such as fishing, or visiting a friends house, they can also buy and sell furniture to create their house however they please. This game allows the player to enter a reality that has very little or no threat and they players has basic needs that already met which they don't have to worry about such as food and shelter.

When creating a cosy game there are many common game mechanics that could be added that are very easy to accidentally disrupt the players feeling of coziness. Here are some examples;

• Responsibility: Responsibility requires emotional labor: the effort to plan, think, and execute on a plan to resolve something. Being responsible generates high priority need/expectation. Examples include any form of mandatory maintenance, needy pets, companions, or entities that require constant, non-optional care.
• Danger, fear, threat: Any sense of impending danger triggers biological responses in the player. Their sympathetic nervous system kicks, adrenaline floods the body, and memory suffers. Often times, cozy spaces are presented as reprieve or refuge from these dangers.
• Non-consensual social presence: Anything non-consensual removes a player’s feeling of safety, but this is especially relevant in social situations. An uninvited presence can feel threatening, or just suggest an unsought expectation of interaction, reciprocation, or responsibility.
• Distance: Vast spaces eliminate a sense of safety by being unknowable. However, it is still possible to create very subtle or natural thresholds that establish a cozy space within the context of something broad: like a campfire in the middle of a wood.
• Confinement: Many small spaces are considered cozy since you can quickly inspect them to see if you are safe. But, this sort of coziness requires choice, and in turn inescapable small spaces can instead be seen as claustrophobic and controlling. A prison cell is generally not cozy.
•  Extrinsic reward: Almost any form of extrinsic reward generates a pressing transactional short-term need

Coziness overlaps with many other different aesthetics and themes;

• Cute 
• Childlike 
• Small world
• Romance
• Home
• Party
• Politeness
• Wealth

A cosy game is a very desirable type of game as it gives people a sense of comfort and lets them enter a game that gives them no worries.

http://www.lostgarden.com

In another article called 'Designing for Coziness' by Tanya X. Short I read about 'Cosy Aesthetics' and how the audio and visuals within the game really help with the coziness of the game as the images or sounds may evoke image or memories that the player has of safety. Some cosy aesthetics included;

• Abundances of plenty and generousness, including plenty of food, drink, joy, and warmth, especially in spaces like taverns, kitchens, cafes, and bedrooms.
• Smooth transitions and gradients can add gentleness to cozy areas, though clear thresholds may also preserve the comfort of a distinctly cozy area, such as coming in from a snowstorm into a log cabin, or ducking into a cave behind a waterfall.
• Protection and support signalled, such by as a relaxed guardian animal or character, communicates to the player that they are free to pursue their higher-order needs.
• Focus and elimination of interruptions or pressures can create a familiar, comfortable, intimate space.
• Mundanity and familiarity will always be cozier than something alien or exotic, as its safety and abundance is clearer. 
• Refuge & Escape: if there is an “outside”, this place is a clear shelter.
• Human-centric: rooms and objects are scaled for human comfort and belonging.
• Welcome: the player is explicitly welcomed and given freedom and safety to express themselves however they wish, without responsibility or pressure to perform.

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/TanyaXShort/20180305/315179/Designing_for_Coziness.php

Game Design Document

This week I created a game design document for my game. I created a site map on Dundoc. This was a very useful website as it gave you a structured template which I then put in all the information for my own game. 

Bananas, Source: Pixabay

The main headings I used in my document were;

-Game Introduction

-Technical

-Artwork (design)

-Audio & Sound F/x

And each of these contain sub headings also. 

I found this a very useful task as it made me think about elements of the game that I didn't think of before. It was also useful to have all the elements laid out in an organised matter.

My Game Design 

Games GDD

Games GGD, Source: Pixaby

This week I learned all about all design and everything we should take into consideration when creating a game, I read an article called 'Design Considerations' by Greg Aleknevicus. This article was a real eye opener, as it made you think about design elements that you just take for granted when playing another game.

Components - 

There are many components that must be considers when designing a game, with colour being a huge factor. Many people suffer from colour blindness so using colours that don't clash with each other is very important. As this won't help everyone, using different shape to determine differentiation will make the game play easier for someone who suffers with colour blindness. Each icon in the game must be distinguishable. Avoiding clutter is important in a game.

The Box - 

When creating a box for your game it must be visually pleasing for the player. It is important to list the name of the game on the outside of the box as this will make it easy to read from far away which will attract the attention of the buyer. You must make sure that the back of the box contains a photo of actual game play and not a photo that has been set up to look aesthetically pleasing.

Cards - 

Playing cards are a huge element to many games so the design is very important. Placing numbers on all four corners is an important component as then it can be determined which card it is, no matter which way the card is held, also make the numbers large and legible. It is a good idea to include extra cards in a deck, this allows for if any card is lost.

Theme - 

Have the theme work with the rules rather than against them.

Rules - 

Always blind test your rules, this will make sure there is no assumptions for someone who doesn't understand the game. Do not wrote intentionally vague rules, so players are fully aware of how the game is supposed to be played and cannot make up their own rules. Include a detailed list of the games components in the rules. Include examples of game play, this makes it easy to address  issues of uncertainty.

Game Vision Statement

Introduction: My game will be called 'Monkey goes Bananas' and it will be based on a a hungry monkey that is going around the forest trying to collect bananas.

Monkey goes Bananas

My original game idea was to have a open world roaming game, where an element of the game would be to collect gems throughout the game, but I felt like this wasn't a strong enough idea as there wasn't much purpose behind it, so I feel by creating a character that has to collect an item that is more relevant to it, that it would make for a more interesting game and it would add more purpose.

Description: My game idea is based around a hungry monkey, so the objective of the game will be to  collect as many bananas as possible before he loses all his energy.

I plan to have a bar at the top of the screen which will represent how much energy the monkey has, I will have this on a timer so it decreases with time if there are no bananas collected.

Key Features: I plan to include features such as different coloured bananas, yellow being ordinary and this will increase the monkeys energy levels,  red will be a super banana which will double the monkeys energy levels, which will result in you having more time to find more bananas, and blue will be the deathly banana, one which you will have to make sure to stay clear of as it is poisonous and will kill the monkey!

Genre: The genre of my game will be based within a forest, trying to find food for a monkey.

Concept Art: I want my game to look bright and fun, there will be a lot of greenery as it will be based in a forest as this is a monkeys natural habitat.

I also looked up some  more Jimmy Vegas tutorials to see how I can bring this game idea to life;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJRt7NnxSS8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-C95TuQtf0

Unity Tutorial 03

This week for my unity tutorial we had to make a clock. This week was slightly different to the last two weeks as we were making an object, whereas we have been working off a terrain. The tutorial we  used this week was from a website called Catlikecoding and it was just writing and pictures instead of the videos we have used before.

 I found it more difficult this week to follow instructions as I wasn't following a video so I couldn't see exactly what he was doing and I had to figure it out myself. Although it was fun to try and build the clock, I enjoyed putting the components of the clock together. I liked that you could just duplicate the indicators and just change the degrees of them and they fit into the right place perfectly.

This week we also had to go more in depth into the coding side of it in order to make the clock arms rotate. I found it hard to follow the instructions as they didn't show the full page so I was unsure where to write the different code. I also didn't like how he made us write code and then delete it and put in a different code.

I enjoyed this weeks tutorials but I did prefer following the tutorials by Jimmy Vegas.

My Unity Clock Tutorial

Games MDA

X's n O's

MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. MDA is a formal approach to understanding games, it attempts to bridge the gap between game design and development, game criticism and technical game research.

Mechanics are the components of the game, they are the rules or methods designed for each individual game to determine game play.
Dynamics is the run time behaviour of the mechanics acting on player inputs.
Aesthetics are the emotions that our hopefully evoked by the player when playing the game, these make the game 'fun'.

It is good to use certain words when describing the aesthetics of a game;
'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'

'MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Research' by Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc and Robert Zubek.

I read a presentation by Clint Hocking, in which he spoke about game intentions. I learned that there were two types of intentions in a game, high order and low order. High order is when you can use a function in human ways, whereas low orders is just using mechanics. Hocking also takes about when a multiple mechanics interconnect, can result in an unexpected outcome.

https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-4-introduction-and-readings

Feedback Strategies

The first article I read this week was called 'Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset', by Gravity Goldberg. I found this article quite interesting as it made me think about  my own mindset and how I feel about my own abilities. In this article Goldberg talks about how many of us have a fixed mindset on how well our abilities are, and this often stops us from putting in extra effort as there is not point because our abilities what allow us to achieve this high anyway. In order to change this, he speaks about idea of being a mirror when giving feedback. One of the strategies Goldberg talks about is to focus on what the reader is doing and not what is missing, as a mirror cannot reflect back what is not there.

I enjoyed this article as it made me think about my own mindset and abilities.

https://literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2015/12/08/be-a-mirror-give-readers-feedback-that-fosters-a-growth-mindset

The second article I read was 'Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise' by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman. This article was interesting as it spoke about why feedback is often not given, one of the reasons is because of the anxiety behind the answer and response that they may get back. It was interesting to see how many people avoid giving positive and. negative feedback, when feedback can have such an effect on how people work.

https://hbr.org/2017/05/why-do-so-many-managers-avoid-giving-praise

Game Idea Research

The game idea that I have chosen to go further with is my fourth idea, which is an open world/ role play game. This will be a one-character game, where the character has chances to collect gems and build up the strength of their character by completing in-game relevant games. The character will be free to roam the world as they please.

Game Mechanics I will be using:

1.     Goals: Short and long-term goals can be achieved

I hope to have challenges within my game, this may include such things as collecting a certain amount of gems which you would receive rewards for. By taking this approach it will give my users a purpose for interaction and ‘educate users about what is valued and possible within the experience’.

Level-Up

2.     Levelling Up: Status within community

The further you get in the game and as you reach different goals, you may be able to unlock new parts of the world, this will give you a chance to find more challenges. This will also show your status in the game as you may have more of the world unlocked than maybe your friends who are also playing.

https://www.bunchball.com/gamification/game-mechanics

3.     Instant Death: Something causing the player to die.

By doing this, the player will have to go back to a certain point in the game, and they must reach a target so information that they have gathered will not be lost after that point. Death may be cause by something like spikes our falling into water that is too deep.

https://inventwithpython.com/blog/2012/07/30/need-a-game-idea-a-list-of-game-mechanics-and-a-random-mechanic-mixer/

Unity Tutorial 02

Unity Tutorials

This week I followed Tutorial 4 of how to use Unity by Jimmy Vegas, this was just a continuation on what we done in the tutorials last week. Within this weeks tutorial Jimmy talked more about audio and more coding, as I followed it, I added a ding noise to my gem when it was collected by a player. After this I changed the texture on the block and duplicated it to create a wall. We then used skills that we learned from the week before, making a dip in the terrain, Vegas then showed us how to insert water, which was already built into unity, into the dip we created, making a small pond. I really liked how effective the water looked. The final thing I learned in this tutorial was how to create a shadow, when a shadow was added to the trees, it instantly improved the look of the game as it made it more realistic looking. As I was following the steps within the tutorial, one thing I found quite challenging was that I was just using my touchpad, where as I was using a mouse last week and it was much harder to move around and do things with the touchpad. I am still really enjoying Jimmy Vegas' tutorials and I find him very helpful and easy to follow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=961&v=zS3YO5eCQ5o

Game Elements

For this task I read an article called 'Formal Abstract Design Tools' by Doug Church. I found this reading very interesting and informative as Church first spoke about all the different elements it takes to make a good game; design, art, audio, levels, code. Church then went on to talk about the importance of how we actually talk about games, and how we need a shared language of game design. This language is important in understanding someone else's game and also to explain your game to others. "Formal Abstract Design Tools" is an attempt to create a frame work for this shared language and a way of going about the process of building it. This language would be useful as it would also help us give feedback to other game designers, instead of just playing a game and saying 'I really enjoyed that',  a new vocabulary would improve our understanding of and facility with game creation. This article gave me an understanding of different tools for games and how to talk about games with a more appropriate vocabulary.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131764/formal_abstract_design_tools.php?page=2

The Blue Shell
The second article I read was called 'The Blue Shell and its Discontents' by Ian Bogost. This is a reading about the history of the 'Spiny Blue Shell' which is a power-up from the game Super Mario
Bros that has taunted players for years now. The Blue Shell has been around since 1990-1, when a Koopa Troopa with a blue shell first appeared in Super Mario World, but it has always been associated with speed power, and security. What thing article really made me think about, is that so much thought and time has gone behind such a small element within such a huge game. There are so many small components in most games you play that you just take for granted which could really play a huge part in the succession of the game. So what I have learned from this article is to really put thought and time into each element of my game, no mater how big or small.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/218696/the_blue_shell_and_its_discontents.php

Feedback Thoughts

The first article I read about feedback was called 'Silence the Critical Voices in your Head' I really enjoyed this article as it made me think what way I take feedback and do I focus more on the positive or the negative. This article was about a man called Rajeev, 'an executive vice president in charge of a billion-dollar business within a high-tech company', and he had the mind set where he could only focus on any negative feedback he was given and couldn't realise that he was given much more positive than negative. 
This article thought me that it is better to focus on positive feedback and really take advantage of your strengths, rather to than to dwell on any negative feedback you were given. I think that article is a real eye opener and it makes you think.
https://hbr.org/2016/12/silence-the-critical-voices-in-your-head

I then read an article called 'Why rejection hurts so much' this article was very interesting as it explained why rejection hurts us so much, and it goes back to the times of hunter gathers, it is engraved in our brains to feel hurt by rejection and scientists have also done tests which shows that 'the same areas of our brain become active when we experience rejection as when we experience physical pain'. This article also talks about how the greatest damage rejection causes is usually self inflected, as we instantly put ourselves down when faced with rejection instead of just moving on and learning from it.
https://ideas.ted.com/why-rejection-hurts-so-much-and-what-to-do-about-it/

I really enjoyed this task as it has made me think about feedback and rejections in a more positive way than I every thought I could have, so I am glad I done this task and have opened up my mindset.

Positive Thoughts

Game Brainstorm

My first game idea is based of the game ‘Wii Sports’ for the Nintendo Wii. This is a game that I used to really enjoy when I was younger as it was very diverse, and you had the choice to pay which ever sport you were feeling on that particular day. So, my idea was to create a little virtual reality world which resembled an arcade or a sports center, in which you could walk around and decide which game or sport you would like to play. By creating a game like this you are not confined to one audience, as you have a variety of mini games to choose from. Within each of these mini games I would like to have some sort of scoring system, so you could compete against friends in the different games and there would be high score holders. I am not sure if this game idea is realistic for this project as I am not sure if it will be possible to enter different games within a game, but it is definitely something that I would be interested in looking into and seeing if it is possible for me to create. I would start of the process of making this game by making the little world in Unity and make each mini game from there. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ztHNFHXTY

My second game idea is based on Super Mario Bros. This is a game that has been around since 1985. It is a game that everyone is familiar with and I would be surprised if someone told me that they didn’t play Super Mario when they were growing up. The aim of this game is that Mario and Luigi have to get through many levels and challenges in order to save Princess Peach from the villain Bowser. This game consists of different worlds which contain different sub-levels. So, I would like to create my own characters and my own world with the same concept of the Super Mario series. Each level would start of easier than they would get more difficult the further you progressed. I would create the game so they player starts off with four or five lives, losing a life each time they are defeated, then when all lives are gone they would have to start from the start again. The characters would be faced with many different challenges, including different villains and for the chance to fall of the world, resulting in losing a life. I would also include ‘power-ups’ in this game as it would allow the character to grow stronger and faster, giving them better opportunities to get further in each level and one step closer to completing the game. After each level I might add the feature that there will be a ranking of how well you completed each level, this may be represented by 1-3 stars, this feature may encourage people to go back and play a level again, so they can get the highest number of stars possible. This is a game that I would be very interested in trying to create as it is a game that I have always enjoyed, and it would be fun to put my own spin on it.

https://supermarioemulator.com

My third game idea is a game that I used to play when I was younger. The concept of the game I used to play was very simple yet effective. The aim of the game was to get a frog safely across a very busy road. There were many obstacles in the way of the frog, including cars, buses, trains and even trying to cross rivers by jumping on tree logs. I cannot find the exact version I used to play as I cannot remember the name of the game or find it online. However, I have found many other versions and concepts of the same game idea. The most modern version I have found of a game that has the same concept is called ‘Crossy Road’, in this game you start of as being a chicken animal and you have to try get the chicken across the road. When playing this game on a PC or laptop you would use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the animal from side to side or forward or back, in the hopes to get by all of the obstacles in your way. In my version of this game I would start the animal off as a being a frog, as that is what I remember from when I was a child, however I would like to include the choice of your character being another animal, which you could unlock as a reward for doing well in the game and getting your animal so far. I feel like this game would be a good one to try and create as it is quite simple and the level is the same every time, but it is a game concept that is very addictive and makes the player want to play it over and over again in the hopes to get further and that they make be able to unlock a new animal to use as their character. This is a game that I could see myself being able to create and enjoying the process also.

https://poki.com/en/g/crossy-road?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3ebdBRC1ARIsAD8U0V6Nr-ZXVTfCqyXJocqDaEVnvrirlsOSi6AUk9wQEDV5KoBrX4Q1I5QaAtwrEALw_wcB

For my forth game idea, I hope to create my own open world roaming/ role play game. My hopes for this game are for the player to create their own character, which will then be placed in a world that I have created. This character will be free to roam around this world freely discovering new places and new things to do. There will be chances in this game for the player to build up the strengths of their character by completing relevant tasks. I would also like to hide different gems around in this world, which the player can find in unfamiliar places, the player can build up their gem count for in game purchase, which could include features that will improve their character, they would purchase weapons which would make it easier for the player to complete tasks or make it further into unknown places within the world. With these gems they could also build up the town they live in, improve on the buildings in the town and even build more buildings. The world could be interchangeable with the player being able to add more buildings in certain areas. For this game I hope that the player would feel like they have entered a different world and lose themselves in playing a character and trying to make their character better. I feel like this may be the game that I am most intrigued in, as it is very adaptable, and you could just create a whole new world which I feel would be very fun. The game that comes to mind for me when I think of this idea is the ‘The Legend of Zelda’, so my game might be somewhat similar to that game.

https://www.zelda.com

Unity Tutorial 01

Today was the first time I had ever even heard about Unity, so I was a complete beginner to the program. I first started by watching the three tutorials in full. When I first heard that we were going to make a game I didn't imagine the process to be quite like that. As I watched the tutorials I was fascinated by how much you can adjust everyone to your own preference and completely create your own little world.

Once I finished watching the tutorials I downloaded Unity and I was excited to follow them and try it out fro myself. As I started to make my own I found it more difficult than I thought I would have by watching the tutorials, I had to keep going back and fourth between the tutorials and Unity. What I did really like about Unity is that it is very adaptable and you can change everything around to suit your own preference. Once I started to edit and build up my own terrain I found it very fun experimenting with all the different materials and making it the way I wanted. However, I do feel like it will take me some time to get familiar with the software and to use Unity independently with having to reference to tutorials. It is great that there are so many different functions within Unity, but it also makes that it will be harder to get around and remember all the functions within it. Although once you can actually walk around in your own little world that you have created it is very fun and I am really excited to learn more in Unity and to eventually create my own game.

I also really liked the tutorials that we are using as they are really informative and easy to follow.

Learning about Game Design

The first piece of work that I read was called 'The Essence of Euro-style Games' by Lewis Pulsipher, (http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/Essence.shtml). When I first read the title, I thought this was going to be about games in which you win money, but very soon into it I realised I was wrong. So, as I'm not very knowledgeable in the world of gaming, even when I was a bit into this reading I was still thinking in the back of my head 'what is a euro game and what is he talking about? 'So, I had to do some research to find out what exactly a 'euro game' was. When I found out that it was a German-style board game I was more intrigued to read on as I have probably played one before. As I read on I got some insight into the in's and outs of what really makes a euro game. What really made me think after reading this was how much thought actually goes behind what seems to be a simple game, with elements that you wouldn't have thought of and just took for granted. With euro games being games of somewhat simplicity, it gets you thinking about how much thought process and planning must go into the high-end video games today.

Euro Game 

 The second piece of work that I decided to read was 'So You're Going To Make A Game For The Very First Time?', which was also written by Lewis Pulsipher, and I am glad that I read it. As I am just at the start of my Multimedia module, I am very much a beginner when it comes to the world of gaming. As part of this module we were told that the final piece of work will be for us to create our very own game, and when of course you hear that your mind starts to go crazy and you instantly try to think of new creative game ideas that have never been seen before. (CREDIT: Getty Images)
 But after reading this piece I was given a reality check, and pulled me back down to earth. I learned many things from this reading. Although it is great and wonderful to be creative and have new ideas, there are many factors you must consider before making a game. Before you start anything, you must have some sort of skills in actually developing a game. You are going to have to really develop your programming skills. After this you can begin to consider what kind of game you are going to have and how it will function. from this I have learned that it isn't such a bad thing to take inspiration from other games, and that 'the best way to start out is to make a variation of an existing game', as that way you know that it is achievable, and you can put your own spin on it further down the line. Even after you get through the process of completing you game, most of the work is still ahead, one thing you must do is test the game in with loads of different people and this may be a challenge. I leaned what the most important process of game making is and that is 'laytesting, evaluating the results, modifying the game to improve it in light of the results, playtesting again, and going through the whole cycle again and again and again'. I am very grateful that I read this piece as I feel I have learned a great deal and it has made me very excited about making my first game!



 For my third piece of reading I took part in an interactive video called 'Understanding Games: Episode 1' by pixelate, ( http://www.kongregate.com/games/pixelate/understanding-games-episode-1), which I really enjoyed. I thought the interactive video was a great idea and it keeps your viewer focused on what is going on in the video. This video also thought me a lot about gaming and the thought that goes behind what seems like a simple game. One thing I really learnt is that you must make rules very clear, for instance in this video it was said that when Bob hit the ball behind the paddle he scored, it was not made clear to Bob that rules apply for both players and he can only score when the ball goes behind his opponents paddle and not his own. When creating a game that a person is playing with an online source, if the online source is only programmed to win, the player will get very sick of losing and will not continue to play. Therefor the game must be programmed more fairly, that the player can both win and lose. I really enjoyed this interactive video and I think it is an effective way of learning.

Online pong Game