Reading and Writing

This week’s reading task required a review and reflection of all the work done so far and the work left to complete 

Looking back

I am reflecting on all the previous reading and writing assignments I have completed for this module thus far. I have found every single ready assignment to be very useful and beneficial for the module and for the game design process. In the first week I named my favourite game, this simple brainstorming task of choosing my favourite game allowed me to think about the many games and game genres that are available.  I was able to learn many new skills and terms, from time management strategies to technology tools and even learning about the growth mindset and how they can help me with this module. Some of the more recent reading assignments gave me a deeper understanding of game design and how games are made and what components make up a game. The readings were about game design, game elements, game design documents, game fun and game decisions. These most recent readings helped give me a good knowledge of everything involved when it comes to game design. So far, I would say I am happy with my game project. I have a clear vision for how I want the game to turn out, but I am confident that with my current unity skills and knowledge that I will be able to complete it to the best of my ability.

Image 

Below is my chosen image. I chose this image from the reading task from week 2. I chose this image because this was my second ever assigned reading for this module.  Tis image is of significance to me as it as my first ever knowledge of learning about the growth mindset theory. Learning this growth mindset theory has change the way in which I approach not only my studies but my daily course of work and other aspect of life. It has taught me that in order to succeed at something you have to allow for failure or mistakes to happen, which in turn leads to learning from them and thus growth.

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Looking forward 

I believe that moving forward, it would benefit me to carry out some extra reading material or more specific unity tutorials to refine and complete my game. I want to add in some art features in my game, such as a scoreboard and a results page for when the game ends. I believe it would be beneficial for me to do some extra reading material and unity tutorials around this to enhance my game. Moving forward I also plan to be more strategic with my time management and planning for the game. Each week I decided to allocate 10 hours to this module and the module task, this included the tutorials, reading and the project work. I also plan to liaise with my cousin regarding my game and outputting my final game, as he is a game designer and is quite familiar with game code, I plan to ask him for tips and tricks that I can apply to my own game design.

Unity Tutorial 07

 I have now started unit 4 of the unity tutorials, upon finishing the game of the last tutorial I found this one to be interesting. This tutorial did prove to be slightly more challenging than the last one, I believe that as you go through the units in unity, the tutorials get increasingly harder, which is going of course to build my game design skills!

I was able to learn some new terms about game functionality. I was able to learn how to apply conditions in the script that will allow for the camera to rotate around the game world and also for the player to move in the direction that the camera is facing.  I learnt about co-ordinates within the game world and how they are used to place a specific game object where desired.

Although I learnt many new games task, I was able to revise over old familiar terms, such as vector and movement and direction of the player.

Whilst these are only a small few of the new terms I've listed , I have learnt that completing these tutorials, they are many more useful ones that I will most definitely apply and use when it comes to designing my own game.

source: screenshot from unity hub

First Playable

I now have the fundamental  elements added into my game. Last weeks task involved working on my prototype which consisted of setting up the main game area and collecting all my assets. 

This week I focused on applying roles in my scripts to create a playable version of the game.

I looked back on previous unity tutorials to help me with this. Simple elements like moving forward, and up and down where the main movements that would be required for the player.

I also played around with keys and decided how I would want my player to move in the game. I decided to opt for the mouse option as the main game control, as this is a pc focused game, I decided to keep the player keys as simple as possible.

I now have a game where I can move the bird ( my avatar) up and down and obstacles that the player can crash into. I have made the buildings the obstacles and I have applied rigid body's to them so that when the bird fly's into them they crash and die and hence the game is over.

Below I've attached an image of my current game world which includes the game bird and the obstacles .

source: unity  game world screenshot 

Protoype

This week I began creating my prototype for my game ‘Flying Bird’ I began by creating a new 2D unity workspace and finding assets that I would like to use for the game. I used the unity store to source my assets as they had free options available as well as options you could buy.

I can say that at this stage I am finding it difficult to set up the game world and create the game, although I have gathered all the assets it  proving to be difficult to create a game from scratch without the guided notes of the unity tutorials.

As I have a clear idea and plan of the game that I would kike to design I  have created the following plan for how I want to build my game:

1: collect all game assets, i.e. world, sounds, avatar and audio

2. decide and create the appropriate number of scripts required for the game to function 

3. Decide how the player will control the avatar in the game, ie which keys will be used to move up and down/ avoid obstacles/ die 

4. start implementing the code required for the game to function 

Below I have included an image of my initial game prototype. I began by importing all my assets and avatars for the game. Next I will start scripting to bring the game to life!

source: screenshot from unity hub 

Unity Tutorial 6

Picking up from the unity tutorials I had halted last term proved difficult. After spending time trying got recover the tutorial files, I was able to continue from where I left off.

 Some new functionality I was able to learn from tis weeks tutorial were animation controllers, animation states, transitions and how they work.

I was able to learn how to change animation parameters which allowed the player to run faster. I learnt about animation programming and how adding in things like Inclusion of triggers to allow player to jump in script. After adding in some final particle effects and audio, I can now say I have created a well-rounded game on unity!

Although my game still has some glitches, and some bug fixes would be needed.  I am quite proud of the game I created and the new skills I had gained from them.

The final challenge task involved adding in floating balloons bombs and Booleans within the game, adding in cool effects when you grab them and including sound effects. I enjoyed this game task as it allowed me to refresh and practice the skills I had already learnt in previous tutorials and apply them without a step by step guide.

source: screenshot from unity hub

Game Decisions

 This week’s reading task was based on game decisions and flow theory within games

Some points that I learnt and can apply from this week’s reading task can be listed as follows:

I learnt the meaning of flow theory in games. Flow is a theory that we can adapt to our game to make challenges that allow for a more engaging gameplay. I learnt that flow theory is necessary to create an engaging gaming experience, and it is also based on human psychological trends.

 

I learnt about flow state. This can be described as being in the zone of the game or in a state of hyper focus. I was able to learn about the benefits and drawbacks of flow experience. Whilst self-improvement is one of the benefits, a drawback caused by overconsumption can lead to devastating effects on mental and physical health,

 I learnt that the term flow experience can not only be applied to gaming but it can be applied of all aspects of life, such as flow experience in work, flow experience in playing sport, or flow experience in playing music

 The last keyword vital to gaming is the term game decisions. Decisions and decision making are vital to creating a game most games have some manner of decision-making, and it is here that a game can be made more or less interesting. I learnt that in order for a decision to be interesting or good, it needs to involve some sort of trade-off. This can involve

 

But what makes a decision “interesting”? What Makes a Good Decision?

Generally, interesting decisions involve some kind of trade-off.

All of these decisions involve the player judging the value of something, where values are shifting, not always certain, and not obvious.

my sources can be linked below:

Flow experience in computer game playing among Thai university students

Flow Theory 

What is flow theory in game design 

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Games MDA

 

 

This week’s reading task had a focus on understanding the MDA framework.  The term MDA stands for mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics. My understanding from these reading sis that the MDA framework was created as a formal body to be able to help understand games. It was created to help connect all the elements of game design, development,  criticism and technical game research.

 

I learnt that this framework is used for game developers and designers because it helps them to understand how gameplay decisions can affect the user experience of the game. Which can also be useful to make changes to the game further down the line of developments

 

Another thing I learnt about the MDA framework is that it has limitations and is often criticised. This is because it neglects many aspects of game design and has a focus on mechanics, making it unsuitable for all game types. I learn that there are alternative design frameworks that can be used.  The other two frameworks can be described as follows:

 

-          Elemental tetrad – defines mechanics and aesthetics as central components similar to the MDA framework. however, it does not agree on how they are connected

-          DDE framework – Design dynamics and experience – this overcomes MDA frameworks weaknesses and is therefore used in place where it is limited.

 

I enjoyed learning about this framework and its uses and it limitations, I look forward to progressing more with my knowledge throughout the course and applying it to my future game projects

 

Below are links to resources I used to create this blog post

 

MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

Design, Dynamics, Experience (DDE): An Advancement of the MDA Framework for Game Design

Explaining the MDA Design Framework | Video Game Design

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