Unity Tutorial 04

This week I found the unity tutorials straight forward and easy to handle. It was just much more time-consuming than usual and required me to put a lot more hours in than usual. So this week for me has definitely been the longest tutorial that I’ve done for myself, maybe not for everybody.

The task that was my favourite but took me the longest was the one that required me to download a broken/faulty project and have it all working properly at the end of the tutorial.

This tutorial reminded me a lot of the plane challenge from a few weeks ago, as it required and made me use the knowledge I have already gathered from unity, and it actually showed me how far I have come in terms of when I first started compared to now. I have come a long way and I am really happy about that. As always, I look forward to gaining more knowledge and increasing my skills at unity.

Overall, this week may have taken longer, but I feel like it was the most useful week since starting Unity, as I learned a lot about my own skills and new skills during the tutorials, so I am very happy with these tutorials this week.

Image from youtube.com

Game Vision Statement

Introduction:

Image from gamelust.com

Zombie slayer is a top down view shooter action packed game for the pc ran by unreal engine and is based on current times in the year 2025 and is played during an apocalyptic time on earth that is overrun by flesh eating zombie hordes and you are one of the last survivors on earth slaying all zombies in sight with all the weapons you can find and master using in combat hoping that one day you come across survivors that you can build a community with and get rid of this treacherous nightmare of a world.

Description:

You are an average college student that goes to bed one night expecting to wake up for college but instead finds himself waking up in a apocalyptic world and to discover shockingly that you may be the last survivor out there but it’s possible there’s still people out there so using the weapons you have you find yourself picking away at the undead in the hordes that they come upgrading your weapons day by day in the hopes that you find people out there normal like you and with the hopes that you can build a community with the people in the future and bring back normality in some way so that's your end goal as a player and that's what keeps you fighting everyday hoping that by the end of it all you find other people in this world so its worth giving a damn about anything anymore, through the variety of weapons you find you can only use one at a time so you have to choose wisely for the weapons you dedicate your time to when you kill zombies you obtain brainbuck's which in turn you can use for upgrading the weapons you want to make them stronger or look better. After slaying so many enemies you also have a special ability which allows you to 360 degree spin and shoot in all directions for a certain time frame which will prove to be very useful along your journey , Be aware that along the way zombies may increase in size or speed so you have to make sure you expect the unexpected at all times because in this world you could find anything and it might not be only zombies that you find and have to kill so remember that!

Background:

ZombieSlayer is a game inspired by Grand Theft Auto Chinatown wars and Dead ops arcade in Call Of Duty below are tow links that include game-play from both of these outstanding games and is what inspired us to create our project ZombieSlayer.

Dead Ops Arcade: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvvxumw_Jp8&ab_channel=TheMoZProject

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRaZkqIRA3A&t=5s&ab_channel=GTASeriesVideos

Key features:

Shoot your way through an action packed post apocalyptic world with nonstop combat and slaying everything in sight to succeed and survive another day.

A party game that can be played with friends in the effort to see who can set the new high score or get the farthest.

Easy and user friendly controls to get the hang of but gets increasingly more difficult as the game goes on.

 A challenging but fun experience for all to enjoy and keeps you wanting more.

Advanced AI so the zombie hordes may outsmart you at times.

Arcade graphic style feeling like a game on an arcade game and has a great feel to it and brings back the old arcade vibes when playing on arcade machines years ago which is a great throwback for many players to feel and we are most certain you will appreciate that.

Brainbuck's can be used for upgrading your weapons in a certain way through your journey changing either the style of your weapon or the overall power of it.

Top down camera angle gives off satisfying combat and a good angle for slaying your enemies and seeing everything around you which is what makes our game unique and challenging along the way.

A 360 degree spin option for your player to shoot in all directions simultaneously this being a special ability earned in game by slaying zombies over a certain period of time.

Hardcore soundtrack enhancing the gaming experience and adds a satisfying atmosphere to the games combat being mostly hard rock music which can add a heroic and slaying feel to the experience during combat.

Genre:

ZombieSlayer is an action packed post apocalyptic shooter arcade retro styled game.

Platforms:

ZombieSlayer will be available on PC to begin with but will expand to future platforms in the future the first one being smartphones but will eventually become available on all platforms for everyone to enjoy.

Unity Tutorial 03

This week doing the unity tutorials was definitely more challenging than the previous weeks, which is to be expected, but I enjoyed it none the less. Learning different things like spawning items and learning how to implement prefabs was cool and had some elements that I may incorporate into my own game when I start creating it.

A difficulty I had during these tutorials was the coding. I understood everything being done, but sometimes I would have to fix my coding to see where I messed up, and most of the time it was just a small letter or I forgot to close a bracket, something simple that I would need to look out for and fix.

Other than that, I flew through the tutorials and enjoyed expanding my skills further on unity. As always, I look forward to furthering my skills even more in the future. I enjoy moving up higher in unity and learning the more difficult tasks as we go through the weeks.

I also hope to see more things that I could possibly implement into my own game because it intrigues me and motivates me to want to master the method in Unity so I am more prepared when I start creating it.

Image from unity.com

Games MDA

The first article was an interesting read for me as I have never heard of the term "MDA" before so it as interesting to be introduced to it and learn about it, I like how all link together the fact that the dynamic works to create aesthetic experiences and that mechanics can also be involved with both the aesthetics and the dynamics. It was a confusing article to read at first but when you read more it starts breaking down each step and how each works and also giving examples for you to help you understand more. "MDA" to me seems like a deeper learning and understanding of designing a game and breaking it down through different steps and methods while also focusing on the players view as well as the designers.

This video gave me a much better understanding of a MDA and how it all comes together as one Mechanics are in game things that can happen if a players wants it to or sometimes a player has no control over, Dynamics happen when multiple game mechanics combine to make game dynamics happen and then lastly the game aesthetics happen when the mechanics and dynamics are created and merged together, the aesthetics are things like submission, Fear, Excitement etc it is mainly what the player feels when playing the game. The video was especially helpful as I learn better from watching and hearing someone explain it and it interests me a lot more most of the time.

I am definitely going to check out more of this persons videos as I learned a lot form watching his one about the MDA and it gave me a better understanding of it.

Learning about "DDE" was fascinating because it showed basically a better version of "MDA" through this article and how it overcomes some of the weaknesses that "MDA" has.

I like the formula "MDA" I thought it was a very interesting topic to learn about and I enjoyed learning about it and this makes me want to learn about other game designing formulas in the future.

Through learning more about game design its made me realize that the players perspective is just as important as the designers perspective in most ways.

Image from slideplayer.com

Feedback Strategies

Be a Mirror

I thought that the mirror method in this article is a great way to use and expand on growth mindset, especially when teaching students at a young age. This seems like a solid method in terms of how you approach growth mindset and explains well and thoroughly how to execute the process. This article has just made me admire the study of growth mindset even more and has made me agree and be on board with it even more. Imagine if kids growing up nowadays were thought to have a growth mindset. It would be amazing to see how far more people would come, especially those growing up with it. I hope growth mindset is spoken about a lot more in the future, if it isn't already, as I personally think it is a must for growing up and going forward with teaching. This should be talked about and acknowledged more.

How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk

This article about how to give feedback in a way without coming across as a jerk reminded me in a way of how I give my feedback to people. Here's the thing: feedback can either be a good thing for the person you are giving it to or a bad thing, but this article explains it well in terms of how to come across when giving feedback and how to just be honest and not try to make it look like you are doing things for the sake of it to make the other person feel better before you hit them with a bunch of negative things. This article explains it well and I would recommend that you read this article if feedback has never gone your way or if there is something you are unsure about when giving feedback.

Image from diversityincbestpractices.com

To conclude this blog for me feedback has always been about giving the other person feedback they can work from and coming across as an honest but polite person while doing so as I think that's what makes receiving feedback important because it can also be a very sensitive topic at times so learning how to give it properly is an important thing to know.

Game Idea Research

The Game Idea that I would like to go with is my first idea that I came up with as I think this is a realistic goal and something that I would enjoy making because I like the whole concept of it.

Like I mentioned in my Game Brainstorm Blog I want this game to have a camera angle that's like the camera angle in Gta Chinatown wars which is a fully rotatable camera that is pointed down at the action. My game will be like an action arcade zombie game and it will either have levels or rounds the aim of the game is do survive the hordes of zombies that are chasing you and trying to kill you so you are basically a run and gunner and each zombie that you kill will earn you a currency called Brainbucks which will give you access to a store where you can buy guns etc I also want my game to look like a cartoon and have a cartoon theme to it this is just a brief overview of how I want the game to work and of course some things may be too complex to be included and that's okay they can be altered as my game is being developed.

Game Mechanics

• For my first game mechanic I want a camera angle that is top down and always shows the players actions from above during the game for the whole environment.

• I want a currency system put into the game where each zombie you kill rewards you with 1 Brainbuck to where you can then use in an item shop to purchase valuable items that will help you through the game.

• A possible levelling system where you can level up and possibly earn something when levelling up every-time as players like having a goal or objective to grind towards and it keeps them playing.

• Bigger and bigger zombie hordes as each round or level increases, I want the zombies to increase or at least get stronger in some way.

These are just a few game mechanics and at least the main ones that I would like in my game of course some might be a bit difficult to achieve right now so I may have to change some things around and that's okay because I have my game down in my head so I just have to create it the best way that I can.

Here are a few images that represent my game in some way as I couldn't decide on just one.

Image from www.gamepro.de  

An example of the camera angle that I want and it being a top down fully rotating camera but possibly even more above then displayed on in this image.

Image from freepik.com

Just a brief image going over possible gun models that could be put into my game.

Image from 2dgameartguru.com

An overview of how the character models will be viewed and played in the game from a top angle view like this.

Resources that helped me during this writeup

• I found this video very informational on Camera angles in video games and learned a lot from it.

• This post was helpful when it came to game mechanics and the understanding of it.

Unity Tutorial 02

For the unity tutorial this week, I found it very fun to do because during the tutorial I learned how to make the car move by my own command, left, right, forward, and backward, and how to control the speed at which I wanted the car to go, which was very enjoyable to learn I also learnt how to clean up my coding section to make it neater and easier to navigate around which will prove helpful to me in the future.

In terms of difficulty, I was fine with doing the tutorial. It all went great, but when I did my first challenge, everything went well except for moving the propeller on the plane. But in the end, I got it working and it turns out I was just missing the rotate command and had a small V on vector3 but I fixed it up in the end and it felt very rewarding and I was relieved to complete it.

So overall, this week on unity was a success, and I’m looking forward to learning more about it next week because ever since i have started using unity I have really enjoyed it and learner new skills by completing these tutorials has helped me progress to where I am now as I feel like I am getting much more familiar with unity itself.

Image from roblox-airline-industry.fandom.com

Game Elements

What are the qualities of Games?

As I went through this first article, I learned about the atomic elements of a game and also how to analyze a game from the designers' perspective and the players' perspective. It was good information to have, and it was also nice to know that I already knew a lot about the information in this article, as I am quite the gamer myself, and I have played many games over the years since I can remember, so reading this was like a recap for me, so as soon as I read it, I realized I already knew all of it, this was My favourite part of the article which was about analyzing a game. I liked that it took the perspective of both the designer of the game and the player of the game and went through different things to ask yourself if you are either one of them.

Introduction to Game Design: Prototype your game

This video was interesting to watch. I thought a great part of it was getting information from actual game designers themselves about how they would go about getting a prototype for a game and the different techniques and methods they would use to do so. With game design being the career path I want to take, this was a very informative video for me, and I liked what I learned.

This week's reading task was a nice introduction to methods of game design and ways of analyzing a game and different things you would think about, like the atomic elements of a game or how you would make a prototype for your game. These were all very useful and interesting topics covered, and this article was about Game Design Research and went in depth about it, which was great.

                                                          Image from ocw.mit.edu

Feedback Thoughts

How to get past negativity bias

I related to this article quite a lot as it speaks facts about negativity and how it happens for a lot of people in the way that they test etc.

 

The point made about how a person could have many Positive things happen to them in one day but the one negative thing that happens is the one they focus on the most.

 

It’s a very true statement and something that a lot of people struggle with and I myself used to be one of those people but I’m not anymore because the way I deal with it is i always try to learn something from a negative situation because I’m my opinion there’s always something to learn from a negative situation and that makes me feel a lot better after a negative situation and move on from it a lot quicker because I make it benefit me instead of the other way around.

 

I like the technique that Hanson came up with as it give people a chance or a new learning on how to deal with a negative situation if they don’t currently have one because it teaches them to know what a positive situation feels like and let it overshadow the negative situations by embracing the positive ones so overall I though this was a great article to read on this topic.

A fixed mindset could be holding you back

I enjoy really about growth mindset a lot I think it’s a very interesting topic and something that should be spoke about more throughout the world and thought about more.

In my opinion I think it’s important to have a growth mindset and learn that you are capable of so much more if you put your mind to it and you shouldn’t block yourself and tell yourself otherwise. 

 

Learning how to overcome a fixed mindset seems like a challenge but something that everyone thinks they have one should think about and try to adapt to a growth mindset.

 

I myself feel like I am capable of a lot more when I put my mind to it and really harness my skills in my overall life not just in academics but in a lot of aspects in my life we as humans are really capable for a lot more then we think so I feel that I have a growth mindset for sure and At-least in most aspects I do anyway.

                                                      Image from chabertonpartners.com

Game Brainstorm

First Idea

The first game that I will talk about is Gta Chinatown Wars this was a game a played a lot on my psp years ago and its such a classic belonging to the gta series and is still played nowadays especially people playing it to have a blast from the past and even talking about it now I might go and do the same at some point this game is like every other gta game you are basically a character with loads of guns and vehicle to use there is also unique stories behind all gta games that you play through.

The reason this game is my first choice is mainly because of the camera angle in Gta Chinatown wars I think its very unique and could be used for the game I end up making the camera is above the character and the whole game is played from a downwards view of the character. Like shown in this picture from Gta Chinatown Wars.

                                                         Image from touchtapplay.com

For my game Idea I would like to have a camera view similar to this but have it as a zombie shooter where you are a survivor running around a map from hordes of zombies and when you kill zombie you earn brainbucks and later on as you progress you can unlock loads of new guns from leveling up possibly by buying them from an ingame shop and the more you progress the more stronger the zombies become either by increasing their health or adding more this seems to me like a really cool and unique game idea and doesn't seem too complex for my first game it also seems like a game I would genuinely play as it sounds addictive and would be a great game to play on your phone when you are on the go or even multiple platforms of choice.

Here is some gameplay of Gta Chinatown Wars.

Second Idea

For my second game idea I am talking about a game called temple run which is a game I used to play on my phone years ago which was very fun and addicting at the time the aim of the game is that you are playing as a character that is endlessly running from enemies that are chasing him and you have the ability to make the character jump, slide ad turn left and right and throughout the levels you have different hazards that you come across like broken bridges or fire stopping you in some way and as you progress the levels get more crazy and intense.

I like this game as its very simple but has an addictive and intense feeling to it which I think is what makes these types of games good and have a reason for you to keep coming back wanting to beat your current high-score. Especially as a kid I always wanted to keep trying to get farther and beat my high-score even among my friends we would all play the game and compare each-others scores and skill level on the game with each-other which was fun and competitive.

                                                         Image from play.google.com

So for my second game idea its something similar to this game in terms of the layout I want to have it as a runner shooter so you are in first person camera view and as you are running you come across enemies and you have to kill them fast before they kill you and head-shots will kill them faster then body-shots and as you progress you become stronger and so do the enemies so its all about reaction time as the level progresses there could also be new guns that you earn or maybe your guns randomly switch throughout the level because maybe your weapons only have a certain amount of ammo or something I really like this idea.

Here is some game-play from temple-run just for perspective but my game will be in first person not third person.

Third Idea

My third game idea is not even from a specific game but is a game where you are a spaceship of some sort and you shoot out of the spaceship at certain objects blocking your path or enemies that you come across that are also shooting at you I think these games are enjoyable and chill and when I think of old arcade type games these are the ones that come to mind and I think it would be fun and not too difficult to make something like this but add my own sort of twist to it because I want to make it my own.

                                                          Image from gustavdahl.net

For my version I would like to add a unique twist that isn't huge but is different basically I would like for this to be a level based game and for each level I want to change the background and add different types of enemies for each environment that you come across so in total have about maybe 5 different worlds/environments that you end up in by entering a portal that comes up after every level is completed and as you progress the enemies will hit a lot harder and you will have to upgrade your ship in a mechanic shop by earning exp the higher you climb in the game. 

As you can see from my current ideas so far I am really into action type games and I enjoy games that require you to level up or earn a type of in game currency from completing certain tasks or killing enemies. 

For this game idea especially it seems really fun in terms of the variety I could have like different ship designs and enemies designs or cool weapons that could be added onto the ship that do unique things to the enemies like slow them down or evaporate them instantly.

Here is an example of something that my game will feel like but in my own unique way.

Fourth Idea

For my last game idea I would like this one to be a puzzle game so basically something I came up with on the spot is that you are a hamster or some type of animal and you are traversing through some sort of maze that has multiple doors that you have to crawl through but the way you open these doors is by solving some sort of puzzle to get through it whether it be something simple like a math question or a riddle if you guess correctly you are put through to the next area but if you guess wrong something bad will happen to your character like a trap door to a fire pit or crocodiles and as you progress the puzzles will get much harder and could be times along the way as well depending on the puzzle.

I am not entirely sure what camera angle to go for here but I think third person sounds good and then there could be puzzle slides that pop up during each puzzle encounter. I could also have the game be a maze and make you think about where you are going and learn from your mistakes and get familiar with the area around you and if you go down the same path there could be a harder riddle waiting for you as punishment or something the aim of the game could be to escape the maze and get out safely and a reward or something is waiting for you at the end of the game.

 

I wanted to go for a puzzle game idea as my last three ideas have all been shooter but this is an idea I came up with randomly and it doesn’t really relate to any game I have played as I don’t play many puzzle games so I have no video or anything to show but this still sounds like a cool idea to me and I could touch up on it along the way in terms of how it works and everything but sounds unique and interesting overall.

Unity Tutorial 01

During this Unity tutorial I learned quite a lot considering this is was my first time ever using or even seeing what unity looks like but after finishing this tutorial I already have a great understanding of unity and how a lot of things work in it.

My favourite thing was adding all the things into the game, like the scene, objects, etc., because even though it was only small, it was enjoyable to see the game develop and become what it is currently than when I started with a blank looking area. Its nice to see that while editing scripts its similar to web development at least in terms of the layout and how you add tags into visual studio because it actually helped knowing how that whole layout works because of my experience doing web development in first year.

In terms of things that I found difficult, I didn't find anything difficult as the tutorials were very clear and easy to follow.

I am most looking forward to learning more about unity and designing more games, especially my own. Doing this tutorial and getting a taste of Unity has made me look forward to learning more about it and becoming more experienced using it.

Image from www.verizon.com

                      

Tech Tip: Twitter Widget

After adding my html sidebar to my blog I added a twitter widget onto it as-well and what that does is display a small version of my own CDM twitter account on the sidebar and shows some of the tweets from my twitter timeline.

Tech Task Sidebar Box

I created a html sidebar and I added a small about me sentence to it but you can add whatever you want which makes it a unique feature and adds a nice touch to your blog overall.

Game Design

Image from www.reddit.com

                                                            

Reading through these articles made me realize how much work goes into game design and all the different methods that are involved in the process, and it honestly made me even more curious about what working in the industry is like.

 

I liked what was said at the end of this article, which stated, "Part of the process is killing the weaker idea and making it stronger." It really stuck with me.

 

When learning about different methods for generating ideas in this article, I was most intrigued by the Ramsey Method, because what you do first is find and gather as much data as you can about the game you need to create, and then with all that data you spend loads of time studying it afterwards. It seems as though "The Ramsey method" would be the ideal method to use when it comes to much larger games, because it relies on you doing loads of research and studying it all afterwards, where as the other methods don't seem to go into as much detail and dedication as "The Ramsey method". 

 

In my opinion, nowadays because the most popular video games are made over years of work by big teams and look amazing, it sort of makes you think that you have to make games that are way too complex as a beginner, but that's not the case because all big games are made by hundreds if not thousands of people with years of training to get to that point, so you don't need to be discouraged when getting into game design. I am really interested in pursuing a career in the gaming industry, so I enjoyed reading all of these articles and the information that I learned from them was great.

 

My favourite article to read by far was the first one that was titled "What is a game anyway?".

This article was a great one to start with and opened your eyes to this module and made it feel less intimidating and more exciting to get into, as it holds a lot of good information on game design and is a good introduction overall.

Image from www.okcu.edu

Time Strategies

 

                                                             Image from outwittrade.com

These articles were useful for me in terms of reassurance, as time management is something that I have not had much of a problem with in the past, especially now that I have my own time management method, which has helped me out a lot. None the less, these articles supply a lot of great information and facts about time management that, if you stick to it, will help you out so much in the long term.

I really liked the tip on taking a break, as I think people, a lot of the time, ignore how important and refreshing a break can be for your mindset and how much you can come back stronger to work after the break.

This article reminded me a lot of how I deal with procrastination because I do often think of how it would feel to get the work done and the rewards I would get from completing it, like going out with friends after it or gaming, which makes me want to complete the work when I think like that. Speaking with my classmates has made me get work done a lot more because we talk about the work and, in a way, motivate each other to do the work.

When I think about my classes last semester compared to this one, I do feel like last semester, considering the COVID situation we were under and not being on campus at all, it was much easier to find the time to fit in assignments, but now times are much busier, especially now that we are on campus and I also have a part-time job, time management will definitely be a bigger challenge but will benefit me greatly if used correctly. 

I have a time management strategy that I have been using since I started CDM and what I do is I use a diary and in that I plan out what I am going to work on during the week and what work I will complete on certain days and when I am done I tick off that piece of work and move on to the next. It works really well for me because I get a sense of completion and satisfaction from ticking off my objectives knowing I have them completed and it also encourages me to want to complete my work even more.

More About Technology Tools

                                                             Image from jasonrhode.com 

I am familiar with all of these technology tools apart from graphic software like unity, Cheezburger Automotivator and I am looking forward to being introduced to these and learning how to use them.

The online environment is fairly similar to other classes, but one thing that isn't very familiar and stands out to me a lot is the comments and feedback that you can get from other students and how our blogs are available for our classmates to see. I like how engaging that is compared to assignments from other modules, because I personally think it's great to get feedback about my work and also be able to provide feedback to my classmates to help them out too.

For me this semester, I want to learn as much as I can when it comes to the different types of graphics software that we will be using and master them to the best of my ability. I always enjoy expanding my technology ability and learning how to use and master certain programs and just expanding my knowledge in general.

More about Class Assignments

In terms of assignments, I am most intrigued by Unity3D and starting to learn how to use it as I have never used it before, and game design is something that I am really interested in. I think that the project feedback is a very good way of seeing other people's views on your work, because getting good constructive criticism is always a bonus to improving your work.

The grading and how you work are two big things in this module that stand out to me a lot. For the grading, it is a point system and works through Moodle, which to me feels like a levelling system in a video game, and it actually motivates me a lot more and makes me want to do the work more often. And in terms of how you work, you can decide how far ahead you want to go with the weekly tasks, which will benefit you in the long run if you want to fit in extra credits during the weeks too. I much prefer being able to work as far ahead as I want and having that decision.

Tech tasks for extra credit interests me as I am always open to learning about more web based technology and tools that could also benefit me in class.

To summarize my overall opinion of this module, I am looking forward to getting started and I appreciate the sense of freedom that we get from this class and the fact that we can work at our own pace, which is nice.

                                                                

                                                              Image from quizizz.com