Reading 8

The chapter I have chosen to write about is Chapter 13: Core Mechanics. Here is the table of content currently including the people who are co-writing the chapter with me.

Internal Economy	Ultan
Progression Mechanics	Ingrida
Tactical Manoeuvring Mechanics	Ingrida
Social Interaction Mechanics	Ultan
Core Mechanics and Gameplay	Pawel
Core Mechanics Design	Pawel

As our chapter is about Core Mechanics we will have to write an introduction that will incorporate all the chapters to let the reader know what the chapter is about, without overcomplicating it. Currently, I have this written for my part of the introduction.

In this chapter we will be looking at progression mechanics as well as tactical maneuvering mechanics. These are essential when designing your game and through this chapter you will learn why. By adding progression and tactical manoeuvring mechanics to your game it will help keep the player motivated and interested in the game.

When we are all finished writing our chapters we will add each others introductions to make it one introduction describing what we each will be writing about in more detail.

Next we need to add a conclusion. The conclusion will summaries each sub-topic briefly so the reader can easily remember what was talked about in detail above. When summarising, it's important to not write too much, it should be short and quick to refresh the readers mind.

My second chosen sub-topic on Tactical Manoeuvring Mechanics has been proven to be a challenge to find sources and articles that talk about it. I now have to visit the college library to find books about game design to find chapters about tactical manoeuvring as I have not been able to find little to none online. But, due to the coronavirus closing the library and college, I may have to try google a little longer to try find more sources.

Due to there being 6, in total, sub-topics the conclusion will have quite a bit of length in the conclusion section. However, I hope to keep my conclusions short. Here is what I have so far.

Progression Mechanics; is both the realised pattern of advance and the act of movement towards winning the game that are essential to an enjoyable experience for the player. The pattern or structure of the advance is what will ensure a rewarding experience during gameplay and will ensure the further continuation and replay necessary to turn renters into buyers.

Tactical manoeuvring; takes place in largely open or semi-open spaces. The rules must state which advantages each type of unit may gain from being in a particular location relative to another unit. It is about the challenges associated with moving units through a space, usually a space that contains other units that are both mobile and hostile.

I hope to add a little more to the conclusions, or maybe split it up a little more but it will all depend to what the other two members have written for their conclusions as I do not want to make it longer than needs be. 

Unity Tutorial 06

We are now starting a new Unity Tutorial. This time the outcome of the game is that the player will be able to press spacebar and make the character jump, as obstacles spawn at the edge of the screen and block the player’s path. Then we will make the background move flawlessly at the same time as the obstacles, and the obstacles will de-spawn when they exit game boundaries. Then we will make it that the background and spawn manager will halt when the player collides with an obstacle. Colliding with an obstacle will also trigger a game over message in the console log, halting the background and the spawn manager. Lastly, we will code so that the character will have 3 new animations that occur in 3 different game states. These states include running, jumping, and death, all of which transition smoothly and are timed to suit the game.

Lesson 3.1 Jump Force:

This tutorial was simple, or so I thought. Although I was writing in my C# code correctly, in my gameplay the game itself was very glitchy and not working as it should be. My player did not jump in my game. I had checked the code and followed the video tutorials exactly, yet why is my player not doing what he is suppose to do? This was really frustrating but I kept going with the tutorial in hopes that something would change and it would make the character jump. My obstacle did move as suppose to (even though it was extremely glitchy). The spawning of the obstacles worked well and later on I found my mistake in why my character did not jump when space was pressed - "Is Kinematic" box in the RigidBody was ticked when it should not have been. So now, my character jumps and the obstacles spawn as shown in the tutorials.

Unity Tutorial 3.1

Lesson 3.2 Make the World Whiz By:

In this second tutorial, we made the background repeat itself while the character jumps over the obstacles, we added a 'Game Over' bool as well as making the objects stop spawning once the game is over. And then lastly, we coded so that any obstacle that exits bounds is destroyed. This tutorial worked a lot better for me as everything went smoothly and I got everything to work.

Unity Tutorial 3.2

Lesson 3.3 Don't Just Stand There:

Moving onto the last tutorial. This is where we adjusted the characters movements and make them look like they're moving. Before even starting the tutorials, I received a red error stating something in my C# script was incorrect. This I fixed as the )) brackets were not correctly written in (according to Visual Studio anyway) even though it was the same code - the orange colouring was different and it triggered the error. We used the animator component located in the player inspector to make the character run in time with the background, then used the player controller script to code so that the character would not run while jumping over the obstacles. Lastly, we edited the code so that the player isn't able to jump while the character is "dead" at Game Over.

Unity Tutorial 3.3

Reading 6

This week I have begun writing out my headings, sub-headings and the content for my sub-topics. I have been typing out my research into a word document which I am now beginning to transfer onto the online Google Docs.

As time goes on I am finding it easier to write about my sub-topics. I still find it difficult to put all my research into my own words as I am not great at English and phrasing especially about game design as I don't know a lot about it and when researching I found it difficult to put it all together into my own words.

My Current Google Docs.

So far I think I'm doing well, however, I am still finding it difficult to find articles and journals on my sub-topics. I was lucky in finding two great sources however finding others has been difficult and is continuing to be tough. I have found some small sources and journals - however these do not give great detail on my chosen sub-topic.

Unity Tutorial 05

In this continuation Unity Tutorial we learnt how to create a random spawn of animals in our game but this time we used code in order to help spawn the animals at random times without the player having to click the 'S' key on their keyboard as the game will do that automatically for us.

Next - the animals spawn perfectly and the player can fire projectiles at them, but nothing happens when the two collide, so this is where we learnt how to add colliders so that the projectiles and animals get destroyed on collision. Moving aside from using C#, we move onto Unity to add these colliders to the game. A problem I encountered while applying the box colliders was - when overriding the animals my moose did not have a button for 'Apply All' - yet the other two animals did.

Adding colliders to Animals and Game Object.

After adding the box colliders to the animals and the object (in my case - steak), the tutorial then went on to show us the code for this collision to work and when made contact the animal and steak would disappear from the gameplay.

Reading 5

Lock-and-Key Mechanisms.

The impact of progression mechanics on gaming has been shown to be popular although to make the game intriguing and playable you must make the game unpredictable. Research has shown us that unlocking mechanisms is the most popular type of progression mechanic. Lock-and-key mechanisms are more common in games than actual locks and keys (according to Joris Dormans; Ernest Adams), the lock-and-key mechanisms could be characterised as something else - such as a power up for the player, switches etc. When creating your game, because gameplay is created by mechanics, the creator must design lock and key mechanism that interact/are based upon the game's core mechanics. Using permanent abilities can create difficulty for the player, therefore you must be careful when creating a single key that is used for multiple locks as you could unintentionally create unwanted shortcuts. When designing the game, you must plan how you will display the locked areas clearly - this will help the player go in the direction you wish them to, rather than going in the direction they feel is right or may be shorter. A great way to plan your lock-and-key mechanisms is by using a Machinations Diagrams to represent it.

Figure 1.1 - Mechinations Diagram.

In Figure 1.1 example of a Mechinations Diagram, we are shown the bow and arrow in The Legend of Zelda combines a regular key (the bow) and a consumable skill key (the arrows) mechanism. The bow and arrow are used to open doors by using the bow to shoot the distant switches. Almost all the games and levels in the Legend of Zelda series are good examples of games of progression.

Unity Tutorial 04

We have now gone onto starting a new game tutorial. I have stuck with coding versus the VR tutorials and I must say that the coding is going well so far and I am somewhat enjoying it! Aside from my problems earlier on with the coding, now I don't mind it. We are now moving onto Unit 2 - Basic Gameplay.

Lesson 2.1 Player Positioning:

Starting this tutorial proved difficult as at the very beginning my game begun glitching. It wouldn't be the first time I've experienced problems with Unity on my Mac (if only my Mac could handle Unity...), but I went ahead and tried to complete the tutorial nonetheless. The tutorial worked fine aside from the problem of having my character go left then appear on the right - rather than keep in the bounds of the left!

Unity Tutorial 2.1

Lesson 2.2 Food fight:

In this tutorial, I made the Spacebar that launches a projectile prefab into the scene, which destroys itself when it leaves the game’s boundaries. I then coded so that when the animals leave the game boundaries they are removed from the scene. Because some of the script is Windows and some is Mac, this causes some minor errors in my game (hence the glitching).

Unity Tutorial 2.2

Lesson 2.3 Random Animal Stampede:

In this last tutorial, we added random spawning of animals in different directions when the player presses the S button. In an earlier tutorial we made the piece of steak launch when pressed. So now in the game the player is able to spawn animals and launch steak. We also learnt about camera perspective and the different types of view. In the second image we can see the orthographic perspective of the game. Depending on the game you are creating you can add this perspective. 

Unity Tutorial 2.3

Orthographic Perspective.

Reading 4

After finding a few online articles and sources about Progression Mechanics I was able to write up part one of my Matrix. As progression mechanics are quite straightforward there is not much I can write about. I have written up on my Matrix the sources and information I have collected so far.

My Matrix Part One.

Game progression is the ongoing procedures after the game's set-up, leading to a desired resolution. You can track progress with scores, levels, improved skills or abilities etc. There are many different ways to make a progression more engaging - character development, provide consistency, add a strategic component etc. 

My second topic is Tactical Manoeuvring Mechanics. Tactics are actions carefully planned to achieve a goal or subgoal. This goes hand-in-hand with game progression mechanics. Units are groups of elements under the player's control that lets them perform actions that influence the game world that they are playing. For gaming you need enemies, avatars and units hinder the players quest to complete their goals. To add an enemy you must consider: number, placement, abilities, tactics to overcome etc. Not only will you want to add enemies but you need bosses - a more powerful enemy for the player to overcome before they reach a certain goal in the game.

My Matrix Part Two.

Unity Tutorial 03

In this weeks Unity tutorial we learnt how to control the moving vehicle so that it will hit the road but then we gain control of the vehicle. We will program the vehicle so that when the player presses the up/down arrows, the vehicle will move forward and backward and when the player presses the left/right arrows, the vehicle will turn.

Because my code was unsuccessful the last tutorial it made it difficult to continue the coding in this tutorial as the vehicle was already meant to be moving forward, but in my game, that is a problem. Although I have my code as needed be, my game correctly set up as shown in the tutorials - there is still error but I am hoping to fix this.

Unwanted errors to be fixed.

After many attempts at trying to fix this code it did not work. I will, however, try to make a new project and hope to restart this tutorial in hopes that it will fix. But for now, my coding is not working as errors are there and my script is not working with my game. I then went and uninstalled Unity and installed the newest version.

By installing the new version I was able to start the tutorials again. This time my coding worked perfectly! I followed the previous tutorials and ended the tutorials with the exact game. I am very happy with my finished tutorial game and look forward to trying the next tutorials.

Game fixed and working perfectly!

Finished game.

Reading 3

I have come to learn that my learning style is passive reading. I used this method when doing my researching on my topics. When I started doing research it was difficult to find articles and sources that linked to my chosen topic, as quite a lot of it overlapped with the topics other students had chosen and not so much on my own chosen topic.

I had to learn about core mechanics to better understand the topic as a whole. I found a great article on the topic. In this article, on chapter 14 we are told all about the core mechanics of a video game.

What are the core mechanics? (Source)

I skimmed the article to help me better understand the core mechanics then followed with highlighting the keywords and paragraphs that would help me with my research for my own topic.

The three-pass method is then used to help extract the information that is relevant to you. If you are to read the article three times throughly you will be able to identify different questions and have more information at hand to help you with your research. 

You need to make sure to highlight and copy any quotations, while keeping the source, so that you are able to collect relevant information. This will help you in the future when you are writing your own article about the topic.

Unity Tutorial 02

Before beginning our first Unity tutorial for the new semester we were told to choose between two options to explore this semester.

1. Unity Design, Develop and Deploy for VR.
2. Unity Create with Code.

At first I thought of trying out Unity Design, Develop and Deploy for VR - however, for some unknown reason I was unable to get any of the tutorials working. I tried setting my Unity ready for VR but nothing worked. So I moved onto Unity Create with Code instead.

Lesson 1.1 Start your 3D Engines:

This was the first tutorial was to import a vehicle, obstacle and moving the main camera to the back of the vehicle. This was a simple tutorial and I had no problems with it (besides adjusting the camera properly).

Unity Tutorial 1.1

Lesson 1.2 Pedal to the Metal:

Midway during the tutorial my Unity decided to stop working. Not only did this happen once, but it happened three times. Yes, three times. Whilst working on the second tutorial (when my Unity was not crashing and allowed me to work that is), I came across quite a few problems whilst working with C# script. One problem I was able to fix however there is still a problem in the script which I am hoping to fix with the next tutorial.

Unity Tutorial 1.2

Lesson 1.3 High Speed Chase:

In this last tutorial, upon starting the tutorial I was already faced with issues once again with the C# script. I received quite a number of coding errors and my vehicle did not move (nor could I play a preview of my game because these issues needed to be fixed before I could play). This tutorial overall seemed far more difficult than I had expected. A part of me still wants to try do VR rather than coding. I hope I am able to figure out the issue with Unity so that I am able to try VR next Unity Tutorials.

Unity Tutorial 1.3