Unity Tutorial 06

Unity Logo. (Source)

In this weeks Unity Tutorial I learnt how to make a skybox, change lighting, create wind, weapons to pick up, fade screens, fixing bugs and adding a house to our world.

The skybox tutorial was very important in my opinion as I had been thinking of changing the skybox to fit a more eerie and dark theme to my game. The tutorial was easy to follow and gave me a chance to learn about adding skyboxes to my own game. In the tutorial we were shown how to use lighting. This is incredibly useful for me because I wanted to add darkness and a flashlight to my game, and now from this tutorial I am able to do so! Another thing I learnt from the tutorial was how to add wind. This may not be applicable to my game as I was thinking of creating it in a dark skybox however it was good to learn how to add such elements to games.

In the second tutorial we are shown how to make a collectable weapon rather than starting out with a weapon in hand. After much consideration, I have decided not to include enemies or weapons in my own game, meaning this tutorial was not very useful for me. I do think it's a great feature to have in a game, it makes a game more eventful as you are not supplied instantly with a weapon and have to go on a hunt to find one yourself! Secondly we learnt how to make a fade in screen. This is a nice touch to the game. Because I will be trying to create an opening screen to the game the fade in gives the game a nice element rather than starting the game abruptly. Despite the fact that this includes C#, it was not as difficult to create as I imagined and I am very exciting to add this element to my own game.

After making a fade out screen in the next tutorial we learnt how to make a fade out screen too. I'm glad to be learning how to create fade screens seeing as I will be needing them in my own game. In this moment in time I am not quite sure whether I would like to include a house in my own game. I believe it would add better gameplay to the game however I am not quite sure if I would have enough time to create it.

Games Decisions

Social game design operates within the physical and mental constraints of the human animal, so it pays to understand these constraints and build them into our designs. -Decision Making and Flow Theory.

1. Friendships.
2. Dunbar's Layers.
3. Social Groups.

Friendship:

There are four key factors for friendship, these include: proximity, similarity, reciprocity and disclosure. If the factors listed are not met, the players are unlikely to become friends. As designers, we must build opportunities for consensual reciprocity that look like: opening, opportunity, response and acknowledgement. Common variations include escalation and rejection. At each stage, interactions take increasing time and effort, and involve richer communication. Almost every stage of these reciprocation loops involved consent. Each party must consent to both starting, continuing, and escalating the relationship.

Dunbar's Layers:

People organise their friendships by their one-to-one bonds. Social psychology has been studying these relationships for decades. Robin Dunbar said that humans can have up to 150 meaningful relationships. The smaller clusters of friends, known as Dunbar's layers, are organised into five categories. 

• 1.5 people: intimate couple or the individual.
• 5 people: intimate friends or family.
• 15 people: best friends.
• 50 people: good friends.
• 150 people: acquaintances. 

An ideal way to visualise Dunbar's Layers is as a network of connections. There are different ways to use egocentric networks to analysis an individuals relationships, eg: dyads, triads, strong ties, weak ties and super-connectors. In order to develop a better relationship we much have high trust and take take time to build it. On average, a best friend would be formed from >200 hours of socialising. They would also meet up once a month. 

Social Groups:

A social group is a set of individuals labeled as being in a group. There are three dominant perspectives on what makes a group and these include: social identity perspective, self-categorisation perspective and social cohesion perspective. Common groups sizes roughly align with Dunbar's Layers, but are not identical concepts. In order to have a successful group you must have trust, stability, shared goals and roles.

Visualisation of Dunbar’s Layers. (Source)

When designing a game, don't build a big world first, because then you are faced with the key problem of your world being large and empty full of 500+ groups where strangers don't have trust. Rather focus on defining social activities, mapping out group sizes and trust levels, building an appropriate social support system and scaling the activity based off quality and quantity of friends available. 

Use Dunbar's Layers to determine the level of collaboration your audience will support. I, myself, am not making a multiplayer game but reading this article did help me learn more about multiplayer games and game decisions that should be considered. 

Game Design Document

Thoughts and Ideas:

I am quite confident in my game so far. I have decided to remove the 'enemies attacking' aspect from the game as I have begun to make my game and the enemies do not fit well. However I still believe I have a good idea on the game itself. It will stay a first person game however now it will not includes enemies only a timer.

Here is my link to my GDD which includes more details about my game.

I am still working on some details for the game but they are minor details such as the home screen graphics, end screen graphics and music. As mentioned in my GDD, I have a simple idea for the opening home screen. I am not fully set on this idea but I do want to keep it simple and include some low, eerie music in the background along with a ticking sound.

Opening Screen Idea. (Source)

Unity Tutorial 05

Coding collectable items.

In this weeks Unity Tutorial 05, I learned how to make a dynamic curser, pickable objects, weapons and lastly layers.

In the first tutorial it was interesting to learn how to make another curser as it adds that little bit extra to the game! The most challenging thing for me would be working with scripts which is something you must do when making a game. When creating pickable objects we had to use C# and I find this always the more difficult part. However this tutorial is essential to my game because it shows me how to create a curser that has text and be able to pick up and remove items once collected.

In the second tutorial we learnt how to create weapons. We firstly created a fence that you are not able to pass through. This is helpful as I will be creating fences and walls for my own game. Then we began to create the weapons itself. The weapon was created in first person and that as well is a tutorial I could use for my own game. It was quite complicated however in the end, after much trial and error, I was successful (kind of!)

I think these tutorials were extremely beneficial to me as they are the things I will be needing in my own game and therefore I can go back to re-watch them when creating my game.

Game GDD

GDD (Game Design Document) (Source)

The article on 'Design Considerations' by Greg Aleknevicus was an interesting read and from reading the article I have complied a list of components the author had talked about, narrowing it down in order to make it simpler to understand and seeing what I could apply to my own game from the advice given. 

• Components

The design of components can go a long way in determining how much a game is enjoyed, which is very important as if a game is not enjoyed then all efforts are pointless. A good game does not necessarily require good components.

• The Box

For the most part, the design of the box has nothing to do with how the game plays but there are still issues to consider. Most first impressions of a game come from the box and so a good design will go a long way to actually selling it.

• Cards

Does not apply to my game.

• Themes

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

• Rules

Blind testing the rules is absolutely critical as well as including many examples. Include a detailed list of components.

• Summary

There are things that a publisher can do to improve a game that does involve spending a money may be worthwhile.

From reading this article alone I have a better understanding on what I must do in order to create a game that works well and is appealing to the audience. All these components and tips are essential although not all will be applied to my game, e.g cards does not apply to my game.

Game Vision Statement

Introduction: DeadSky is a first person game in which you must collect all hidden items while defeating enemies, but don't run out of time or you start from scratch! It is a PC game designed using Unity that appeals to all audiences above the age of 16. It is a face-paced puzzle game.

Description: You land in an unknown area with timing slowly ticking away. As you race through the unknown world in search of hidden items you are faced with a dilemma - you are being attacked. You must face the enemies and continue on your quest to find each item but there's another catch... If you fail to do so it's back to square one. Collect all items and you pass, be killed by an enemy and it's back to the beginning or run out of time and game over. Be careful on how you play.

Key Features:

• First person game.
• Exploration.
• Timed gameplay.

Genre: The game is a first person survival puzzle game. The game focuses on a timed countdown, defeating enemies and collecting all items while exploring the gameplay world.

Resources Required: Some resources that would be required are: tutorials on creating this specific gameplay, textures for the world and characters/enemies. All these can be obtained and/or made! Resources that will need to be made are the objects in the game which the player needs to collect, the surrounding landscape and any walls/ponds that will hide the objects, enemies the player must defeat, and the character which the player is currently playing with.

Target Market: This game is targeted towards players who enjoying puzzles, exploration and fast paced games. It is only for players 16+ dues to the violence contained in the game.

Gameplay: The gameplay will be fast-paced as the player will be faced with a timer and obstacles throughout the gameplay. The player must explore all areas of the generated world in order to obtain the items in the world before the timer has run out. While doing so they will be faced with enemies that they will have to defeat in order to continue playing the game and finding items.

Gameplay Idea. (Source)

Links:

• Survival Shooter Tutorial
• Collecting Objects Tutorial
• Landscape Tutorial 1 / 2

Unity Tutorial 03

In this tutorial I learnt how to use Unity in order to create an animated clock. When starting this tutorial I was surprised that it was in a text post style rather than the usual video tutorials. The tutorial itself was simple to follow in the beginning. I had some difficulty following at times because I work better with visuals rather than words and there were not many images provided to help show you how to progress with the tutorial. Nonetheless, I was able to complete it.

When I came to the coding side of the tutorial I had some trouble. I find C# quite frustrating at times because I am not able to wrap my head around it. After sending quite a while, more than I would like to admit, I finally got the hang of it. After re-reading the tutorial and deleting many codes I was able to complete the tutorial and get the clock working.

It's very fulfilling completing a tutorial and having your game object work. I am happy with the outcome of the clock! Even though I do not think I will be using a clock in my final game I think it was beneficial to learn how to make it and use the tools provided in Unity.

Progress in designing a clock.

Games MDA

Simple diagram of MDA. (Source)

Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics (MDA) was developed and taught as part of the Game Design and Tuning Workshop at the Game Developers Conference, San Jose 2001-2004. (Source)

Mechanics are a synonym for the 'rules' of the game. Examples of common game mechanics include cards, shooters and golf.

Dynamics describe the play of the game when there are rules. Dynamic models are analytical in nature.

Aesthetics are the players experience in the game. There are eight kinds of 'fun': sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression and submission. These are then clarified into charades, quake and final fantasy.

These three are casually linked. If we want a good model they must be formal, abstract and proven. 

From reading I have learnt exactly what MDA is. I now know how to use it in game design and what I need to know for when I am creating my own game.

Tech Task: Blog Touch Up

I began to style my blog by choosing a basic template from the templates provided by Blogger. When I choose one I then went into advanced setting and started to customise my blog.

I added a side bar to my blog which now includes; a search box, about the author and a picture, social media links (YouTube and Instagram), labels and blog archives. I added a description about myself which reads -

"19 year old studying Creative Digital Media in TU Dublin Blanchardstown."

After doing that I then went ahead and customised the colors. I searched some color palettes and then continued to add them to my blog. In the end I choose a dark and light lilac for the majority of my blog. I'm now quite happy with how my blog looks, however, I know sometime in the future I will end up changing it.

Feedback Strategies

The first article I read was "Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback by Marshall Goldsmith" and in this article there are many good points about why we should give feedforward instead of feedback including:

"We can change the future. We can't change the past. Feedforward helps people envision and focus on a positive future, not a failed past."

By giving feedforward we are helping people learn their mistakes and try help them overcome obstacles in the future rather than focusing on their past mistakes which cannot be changed. When being told about our past mistakes we often get embarrassed and by giving feedforward we can change that.

By giving feedforward you can help someone achieve their goal rather than making them feel miserable and embarrassed (even worse: having them not take the advice as they consider it negative.) As said in the article: "Rightly or wrongly, feedback is associated with judgment." By giving feedforward we are trying to avoid judgment and supply helpful advice for their success.

The second article, "Be a Mirror by Gravity Goldberg," we see the idea of 'Growth Mindset' mentioned. If we act as a mirror we reflect back the results without any judgement much like our feedback. There are five qualities of feedback mentioned in this article:

1. Be specific.
2. Focus on what the reader is doing (not on what is missing).
3. Focus on the process (and the work put in).
4. Make sure it can transfer.
5. Take yourself out of the feedback.

All these are crucial when giving positive feedforward. A mirror must stay focused on what is in front of it and by taking yourself out of the equation it can help students see the problem. A mirror cannot reflect back what is not there, so observe on what the reader is doing in order to give good feedforward.

From reading these articles I feel more confident in writing feedbacks. I am more aware on what to write and not to write, as well as how to make the feedback positive in helping them succeed. 

Positive Quote! (Source)

Game Idea Research

Super Mario 3D Land (Source)

Based off my research from the last project post, I would like to stick to basing my game off Super Mario Bros but in 3D, like Super Mario Bros 3D Land. As we are making 3D based games I believe making something simple yet exciting could be very interesting.

The player structure I would use is solitaire. Some ideas I have for the game include:

1. A race, instant death and collecting items - The player would be in a race with time. A simple countdown will begin and the player must run and find hidden objects around the area. If the player fails to collect all items there is instant death and the player is brought back to the beginning of the game.
2. Hidden items and timed race - The player must search the area and find items that are hidden. Once an item is found, time will be added to the countdown until all items are found. If all are not found the player dies and the game repeats.
3. Enemies attack and collecting items - The player is walking around in order to find items hidden around while enemies are appearing and attacking the player.

Although these ideas are more or less similar in order to make the game most enjoyable I need to combine these ideas and create something that will include all these ideas such as: A timed race to find items while killing enemies. This may be difficult to code but I believe it could be a simple game that will be enjoyed. For this game, I hope to use graphics that are more on the 'bad' side.

'Bad' Video Game Graphics (Source)

I would like to focus more on the gameplay of the game and by using this 'bad' style of graphics I believe it will give my game a 'funny' style which will make it more enjoyable to play because you will be laughing at the not so amazing graphics while being entertained by the game itself. 

Winner! (Source)

Unity Tutorial 2

Unity Logo (Source)

I found that using Unity is quite simple when following a tutorial, however, I am nervous to start my own game as I will have to search up many tutorials about the coding C#. So far I find learning about Unity interesting. The most difficult part is not making mistakes in the code, which happens to me quite often as I am still getting used to it. The tutorial was helpful as I will want to add sound and make collectable objects disappear and this tutorial showed just how to do that. Being shown how to make a cursor was interesting and not as complicated as I thought it would be. It was fun to be able to create something like that and made me feel excited to build my own game. Throughout the tutorials I still found C# to be quite challenging and without the tutorials I would be very lost but I don't plan to give up this challenge and will continue my best to learn the coding!

Game Elements

When designing a game you must learn about different rules. There is a big list of rules that need to be planned out before designing the game itself and while the list may go on and on here are some of three of these rules:

1. Players.

2. Rules.

3. Resources and Resource Management.

Players - In this article we learn about different types of players available. These include - solitaire, head-to-head, "PvE, one-against-many, free-for-all, separate individuals against the system, team competition, predator-prey and five-pointed star. However this is not a complete list it is a short version of the many different types of player games available to choose from.

Rules - When making a game there are three different categories of rules you need, according to this article, you need things to do at the start of the game. This is called 'setup'. Then you need to have something happen during the game, this being called 'progression of play'. And lastly you need to know what condition causes your game to end and how the outcome is determined this being called 'resolution'. Some rules are automatic and some are determined by the players actions in the game.

Resources and Resource Management - In this everything is under the control of a single player. This includes explicit resources and other things including territory, number of questions remaining, objects that can be picked up, time and known information. A game designer must know what kind of resources the player can control. (Source)

Unwritten Game Rule (Source)