Fineas' Multimedia Dev

  (image of my unity editor during lesson 2) This week for our Unity tutorials I completed my second lesson and finished the game where we have to feed the animals food. Overall I found it to be quite fun and really enjoyed it and also learned some new things. I also attempted the second challenge and completed the main parts required but didn't attempt the extra parts this time around. For lesson 2.4 I learned all about Collision Decisions to make the players food collide with the animals and feed them. To do this I learned how to create a custom method/function. I used InvokeRepeating() to repeat some of the code. I added colliding boxes to the animals and pizza and set them as triggers. I also learned how to override functions and also added a Log Debug message to the console so I know when the game is over.  For the challenge we were given a game that wasn't working properly where the player sent out a dog to catch a random ball that was falling. The first issue was that t...

  ( image of a running figure icon,  source ) Introduction:  The game that I want to create is an endless runner game with the objective of getting as far as possible and getting more points. There would be obstacles in the way that the player would have to jump over or dodge. Hitting an obstacle would mean they lose. This game would be a challenging game with the player needing fast reflexes once it speeds up. Target Market:  The target market for this game would be people that are ready for a challenge and like to test out their arrow key reflexes. We want the users to enjoy a fast paced game where they keep coming back to get higher scores. Game Genre:  The game genre will be an endless runner where the player has to survive and get as far as he/she can to get more points. Gameplay:  The gameplay for the game will be all about dodging and jumping over obstacles as the player moves forward. The player will have a starting point where once the game is init...

(image of my game in unity, screenshot from my pc)  This week in our Unity Tutorials we started a new tutorial to build and create a top-down view game with the objective of throwing food to hungry animals who are running your way. It is a different style to the previous game we created and I have enjoyed learning and creating from lesson 2.1 to 2.3. In the first lesson we created our new Prototype 2 project and we went over player positioning. I added the player, 3 animals and a slice of pizza to feed them (although I don't know how much these wild animals like pizza 🍕). Then I made the player move left and right using the arrow keys and also added a boundary so that the player doesn't leave the scene. In the second lesson I learned and created a function for the pizza to be launched as a projectile from the player. To do this I first made a script that can move the pizza forward at a fast speed. I then created it into a prefab so that later on it can keep making copies of it...

  (image showing designer and players perspective on MDA,  source ) This week for our reading task we read through and learned about MDA Framework (Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics) and also about DDE (Design, Dynamic and Experience) for game design. The articles and videos that we read and watched are: MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research  Hunicke, R. LeBlanc, M. & Zubek, R. (2004). Design, Dynamics & Experience (DDE) for Game design  Wolfgang Walk, Daniel Görlich, Mark Barrett (2017). Explaining the MDA Design Framework | Video Game Design  The Last Bacon (Youtube) Game designers can use the MDA framework to better create and make games that the players can consume as a form of entertainment. The difference when it comes to games though is its unpredictability in comparison to other forms of entertainment such as movies or shows. MDA breaks down the consumption of games in components of Rules - System - Fun, with their de...

  (image of human silhouettes holding up blank comments,  source ) Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback  is the first article that I read about feedback strategies and more on giving feedback. I found this idea of Feedforwarding to be very interesting and useful. A lot of the usual feedback that people give is focused on the past and what has happened where as Feedforwarding focuses more on the future and what could happen, this is a more expansive feedback as you can't really change the past but the future is full of infinite possibilities. Some points and benefits of feedforwarding that I've taken from the article are: - It can be more productive to help people learn to be right than prove they are wrong - People do not take feedforward as personally as feedback - People tend to listen more attentively to feedforward than feedback - Feedforward tends to be much faster and more efficient than feedback How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk ...

  (image of 3 characters  from subway surfers,  source ) For my game idea I will stick to a game that is similar to how subway surfers is. I've played a lot of Subway Surfers when I was younger and am well accustomed to their game mechanics and would like to try to make something similar. The first game mechanic that I would like to have is to make or generate an endless track that only stops when the player hits an object and losses for example. This would mean that I don't have to make each individual part of the track and only a frame for it. A second game mechanic that I would like to have are obstacles and objects that the character has to avoid. These can come in many shapes or forms such as objects you just have to dodge, ones that you can jump over and possibly some that you can slide under if I can figure out a way to make the player slide. Another obstacle I could have would be to make an object come towards the player. A third game mechanic that I would like to...

  (image of unity challenge 1 project, screenshot from my own unity) This week in the Unity tutorials I went over lesson 1.4 to finish off my first unity project and then I was issued a challenge. In lesson 1.4 I learned how to move the vehicle left and right using the arrow or AD keys. I then learned how to change the vehicle's speed so that it can go forward or backwards using the arrow or WS keys. I then learned how to further improve the vehicles left and right movements by making it rotate in those directions and not simply slide. I then cleaned up my code and hierarchy so that it is easy to read and more organized. With that i was finished my first project of moving a vehicle down a path with obstacles in the way. I found this project to be very interesting and fun and it was not to hard to complete either. I like how Unity has features to help us create games easier like how I was able to get my inputs for horizontal and vertical without coding it from scratch. I then went a...

  (image of character game pieces,  source ) In this blog I'm going to talk about different game elements from the Reading Task this week.  The two documents we read were: 1.  What are qualities of games? 2.  Game design Research Reading over what some of the qualities of games are we read about Formal, also known Atomic elements. Formal elements are things like games have rules, conflicts, decision-making, goals and an uncertain outcome. They are also activities, outside of the ordinary world so mostly virtual, they can be art and are closed systems. This is a lot of what we had read about last week in summary. Reading deeper into these atomic elements we find that they are things like: Players, Objectives, Rules, Resource and Resource Management, Game State, Information, Sequencing, Player interaction, Theme, Games as Systems. When looking over  Players we there are many different playstyles involving the amount of players in a game. Some of them are: ...

Subway Surfers subway surfers  link My first game idea I have is a game similar to subway surfers. It is a game where the player runs forward away from someone or something trying to catch him/her while also having loads of obstacles in the way. There are 3 lanes to switch from and try avoid obstacles by either jumping, sliding or switching lanes. Hitting an obstacle would make the person chasing you catch up to you and catch you, ending the game. The game is endless and the further you get the more points you get. I like this game style as its a game I used to play for hours at a time and really enjoyed. I'm excited to creating a such a game and can imagine how I could make it even know but am curious to find out how to create a loop of obstacles to make the game endless. Racing Game (image of a 3d race car,  source ) My second game idea is a game that involves racing on a track. An example of what I mean is  this game . It would involve creating ...

This week I read 2 articles about Feedback for Learning. These were: -  Neil Gaiman's advice on the creative life -  A fixed mindset could be holding you back I found these two articles very useful and insightful and I love their approach and mindset of how receiving feedback should be! Reading through the first article about Neil Gaiman's advice on the creative life I was intrigued by his advice of no matter how tough things are, just go and make good art. That no matter what you're going through be it good or bad you can go and make some good art out of it. I feel it give that mindset of looking at things from the bright side and taking just the positive. Another good point of his was going and making mistakes. The fact that if you're making mistakes it means you are going out and trying new things, you can't learn without trying new things and being ok with making mistakes. I really like this mindset and I'd want to implement it in my life more. The second ar...

 This week I completed my first Unity Tutorials. I had gone through the introduction and lessons 1.1 to 1.3. In lesson 1.1 I was introduced to setting up the project folder with all its assets and i learned how to add these assets to Unity and access them. I also went over how to add objects to the scene, where I proceeded to add a vehicle and an obstacle. Next I learned how to  move the camera around and I repositioned it behind the vehicle. I found the very first lesson to be pretty easy and simple and it was a great way to introduce me to Unity. In lesson 1.2 I was introduced to creating my first script and working with C#. I followed the tutorial as it showed me how to make the vehicle move forward, change its speed, make the vehicle and obstacles interact with each other and also how to duplicate the obstacles to make more. I found this lesson to be quite easy too and found the coding simple and logical. One thing that certainly helped is the fact that I had previously le...

This week for our Reading Task we read the following: What is a Game, Anyway? The organic nature of game ideation Four basic methods for generating ideas When it comes to what a game might be, a definition I have come across in my readings is 'A play activity with rules that involve conflict' which is an easy way to put it. In fact it is more complicated than that especially when you compare different game styles. To get a solid meaning of what a game might be, you have to be using the same vocabulary across all games, which is still being defined as new games come out and new words are added.  To put simply these are some of the definitions when it comes to games: Games are an activity  Games have rules, conflict, goals and involve decision making.  Games are artificial, safe and outside of ordinary life.  We, as players gain no material gain And many more When it comes to game ideation, from the paper that I read, the interviewees have seen game ideas d...

The two articles that I read about time strategies this week were: How to beat Procrastination  by Caroline Webb 3 Steps to recapture time  by Joynicole Martinez  I found then very useful as Procrastination and time management are some of the problems I deal with and struggle with. Some ways to deal with procrastination would be to make the benefits of completing the task seem bigger and better to motivate me to do the work and also making the task itself and the process seem smaller so that it may become easier to complete. When it comes to recapturing time and managing it, I found the 1st point in the article very useful of taking 15 minutes at the start of everyday to pray and meditate, to identify my tasks for the day and to break them into chunks of when and how I could complete them. This defines a clear path and direction for my day which makes managing it easier. Based on last year, one of my biggest struggles was not completing the work ahead of time and I usuall...