Alpha

 This week I worked on the alpha version of our games and did some testing.  I spent a lot of my designated three hours trying to fix the camera. by having it rotate using the left and right keys the player wouldn't turn with the camera. I attached the camera to the player and positioned to right behind the player so it moves with the player but no longer rotates, hopefully, this will mean it will rotate when the player rotates. 

I then worked on the player controllers, I have the player moving left to right but it doesn't rotate. also, it goes flying off the side of the grass as soon I hit play. I'm finding it difficult to get the player controller down and I don't want to move on to anything else before I get that sorted. 

Once I get the player control down I just want to add the flowers and have the player be able to pick them up. This whole thing is proving to be a bit more challenging than I thought so to get the game done and working well I am going to simplify it but I definitely need to spend a lot more time on my game. 

Tech Tip: HTML Link

 I have written/ edited html before.

I used the link <a href"https://validator.w3.org"validator<a>.

Review Week Comments and Feedback

Feedback In: Overall I would rate the quality of the comments and feedback I have been receiving from other students in the class as an 8/10. I think that they have all been very useful in one way or another. The comments in my introduction post have been very helpful for me to get to know the other students in this course names and a bit about their personality without being able to meet them in person. I think the blog comments really encouraged communication between my peers so the comments task each week was a great idea. Similarly to comments on my game progress posts have also been very helpful. They have helped me think outside the box and reassess my game. Other people's constructive criticism has really helped shape my game and I found it very useful. The only downfall of the comments was that some were clearly rushed and written just to get the job done and they were repetitive. I have been guilty of this myself.

The comments I am finding most useful;l are definitely the ones on my project posts. Without realizing it the comments people have left me have helped with my college work immensely.  The WWW or "Wow', "I Wonder..?" and "What If..?" tactic has made the comments even more useful as the students then point out to me what they like about my project idea/proposal, what they would question or change, and what they think I should add. As my game is aimed towards the age group of my peers their opinion is very helpful for me to know I'm heading in the right direction.

Feedback out: I would rate the quality of the comments and feedback I have left for other students as 8/10.  My reasoning for this was that they have been very helpful for me to go through other student's blogs and see the standard of work that is expected and what stage I should be at in this module. It also helped me to see what other people's projects were looking like at each stage of the project so I didn't raise my expectations or put too much pressure on myself as this is a new module to all of us and we are only beginners. Again the minus two points were because sometimes I found the comments to be a choice especially when a student put very little effort into their post and I didn't have much to work with or comment on. 

I did get a sense of connection through reading other people's blogs especially if they mentioned anything they are stuck or struggling with I could relate. I am happy with my introduction post, at the time of writing it I had no idea it was going to be ready other so I think it would have come out a lot differently if I had known that but at least it's authentic.

Feedback image from newbreedmarketing.com

Week 9 Reading and Writing

Looking back:

I think the reading assignments are working well for me each week and I can see a big improvement from my first reading task at week three to my one this week at week eight. I find that I am a lot stronger at the reading element of the tasks than the writing element. I fly through the readings each week well under the recommended time and understand them perfectly but I find it difficult to form my thoughts into a blog post in a formal and informative way. My favorite readings so far have been during week seven where we read about game design and game flow theory, I found the game flow theory interesting to read about and the video really helped me understand the topic as I am a visual learner. I do think the reading notes each week are helping especially when they correspond and relate our tasks on game design. They also get us thinking about elements of game design that we wouldn't have previously considered which helps when we brainstormed and choose ideas for our final game. A new reading strategy I have discovered is identifying the main idea presented in the article and summarising it in my blog post. Up until today, I wasn't happy with my game project but since I decided to start again from scratch and focus on the gameplay and functionality of the game over the games looks I have become happier with my game and I now have a clear plan and know what goals I want to reach before the finale submission date. My biggest accomplishment for this module would be showing up getting the work done each week, it hasn't been easy but I'm glad I have stayed consistent. 

Image from my first reading task

I chose the image I used for my first reading task back at week three, I remember writing this blog post like it was yesterday, this year has gone so fast. I thought this would be an appropriate image to use.

Looking forward: 

When doing the tasks in my final three weeks of this module I am going to pay close attention to my reading and writing skills. When reading through my past blog post I can see a clear improvement in both my understanding of the assigned readings and how I write my interpretation of what I have learned. I want to continue improving each week and be able to take the reading and writing skills iv learned during this module and make use of them through the rest of my college experience.

First Playable

 When I went to work on my project this week I realized I wasn't happy with how I had started my prototype. I spent all last week worrying about how my prototype looked but after I received feedback from my lecture and he explained we will be marked more on how functional and good our gameplay is rather than the aesthetic of the game it made me reconsider my prototype as it will essentially be our final game in a few weeks. The assets I chose had already come with preset shadows, positions, and functions. This is not what I wanted so I decided to work from scratch as that would be easier than trying to change to a preset setting. I used the assets from one of the earlier unity tutorials we did called "Feed the animals" as it was just basic textures and characters. I used the woman farmer as my character, she is a bit younger than what I had planned but I don't think that matters. I used the grass texture and basic ground object that came with the asset package. I also imported a basic sky background. Now that my prototype has been stripped back I can focus on the actual functionality of my game. I started by using something iv learned from the most recent unity tutorial I did. I created a game object named "focal point" and attached it to my camera. I then made the camera rotate around the focal point so the player can control the camera movement around the player with the left and right arrow keys. Now I am going to work on the actual player's movement before incorporating the other components of my game like flowers etc. I think this week I have made the most progress and I am now clear n what I have to do over the next while to get this project done before the submission date. 

Growth Mindset Extra Credit Task

 For my growth mindset extra task I chose to create a visual response of a mantra that I liked. I created it on Canva.com. I had these words saved it my notes for years and this is the perfect time in my life to live by them.

Created on Canva.com

Unity Tutorial 07

While doing this weeks unity tutorial "Unit 4" I feel like I'v learned a lot. I think I am getting quicker each week but it still takes me way over the recommended time. This week we created a fun arcade style game with two spheres, one is the player and one is the enemy. The enemy respawns at random when it falls of the side of the little island. The skills we learned this week are

• To apply physical material to make a game object more or less bouncy.
• To calculate vectors to steer object in the players direction.
• To clean up code to look more professional.
• Use Tags.

I think this is once of my most successful tutorials to date but I still had error at the end but I'm feeling a lot more positive than last week.

screenshot during the unity tutorial

Game Fun

 Today I read three reading all about Fun. How it plays a part in games, the definition of fun and how to make games fun by making the player think about what to do in order to get through.

The first reading was "Gamification Design: Whats fun got to do with it?" by Megamification.com.

It reads that games can be described by the three components Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics (MDA) or otherwise stated as rules-system-fun.  

Eight kinds of Fun

 MDA

There are eight types of Fun outlined by the MDA. These eight are both a source of reference and player experience that blend together in many ways, and essentially what makes a game fun and enjoyable. 

To date, the MDA papers define the '8 kinds of fun' sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression, and submission, remain a source of reference and possibly the most popular list of player interactions combining in various forms to attract each player to a particular game.

Fun

“Fun is a byproduct of good design. It is also not essential for a good gamified system,” by Andrzej Marchewski

There are a variety of definitions to describe the term “Fun”. Both Oxford and Merrian dictionaries define Fun as an enjoyment, delight. But within the context of a game it usually refers to a form of pleasurable entertainment. 

Nicole Lazzaro presents four types of fun that are involved in defining how fun a game can be for different players.

• Easy Fun:  This is essentially for players who are new to a game who want to satiate their curiosity. 

• Hard Fun: It is essentially for people who like a real good challenge.

• People Fun: Amusement from competition and cooperation. Meaning Co-op. 

• Serious Fun: Excitement from changing the player and their world.

Image info

There are different types of “FUN” when discussing it; there’s the type 1 games such as poker, chess etc. which require thinking and different techniques to use to win the game. 

Then there’s the type 2 games that require “reflex based skills” in such things like shooters that require a “sharp reflexes” and in fighter games that require “combo memorisation and the execution". 

Fun has everything to do with learning“Fun is just the dopamine in our brains firing when we it is presented with a new situation to learn from” Raph Koster discussed about this saying that the different patterns that we take in helps our brain especially when it comes to enjoying a video game cause once you mater the many patterns that it offers you your brain has nothing to feed off making it unenjoyable to play anymore “Fun is the feedback the brain gives us when we are absorbing patterns for learning purposes.” 

Balance

When playing chess, we learn about strategy, tic tac toe teaches us about reading people’s mind about their next move and when we play games like civilisation or sim it teaches us resource management. When playing games we should be provided with a balance of fun and challenges. 

“Although a large body of research has investigated the negative effects of playing video games, there has been less examination of the psychological experiences associated with the activity.” (Linda K Kaye, Jo Bryce.2012)

The GameFlow model shows that the inherent structure of games is associated with the experience of flow and enjoyment during gaming, at least for strategy games. 

Conclusion

We come across different types of fun in games that fulfil our amusement. Fun in games is experience in many different ways like through socialising with friends or exploring the game world. People experience different emotions when driven by gameplay

EverGreen Prototype

 This weeks project task was to spend three hours creating a prototype for the game we will be creating. I spend most of this time researching to find the best assets to use. I found his quite difficult as there were not many free options that suited my game.

 I eventually found a little garden pack with flowers and a few other bits I can incorporate into my game like a wheelbarrow and fence. Once I was happy with the asset pack I struggled to find a grass texture that was the same cartoon style as the gardening assets I found. I was hesitant to purchase the asset package incase I couldn't find other assets to suit them but I bought it anyway because It is very close to my original game vision. 

This is the asset pack I chose to purchase (here)

Next I set out to find a character that resembles my Mrs.Evergreen character for my game. This proved to be a big challenge so during the week I am going to have to look into and try create the character myself. 

Tech Task week 07

For this weeks tech task I made a a meme on Cheeseburger.com (here). This is what I made.

Unity tutorial 06

 This week in unity we started a new project called prototype three. Our aim is to create a scene in which a character jumps over obstacles that continuously come at them. I chose a farmer in a forest scene.  I found this weeks tutorial a lot more manageable and just easier. I hope this means I'm getting the hang of things or maybe its because we are starting to repeat the same steps and I am getting more comfortable with Unity. 

My only problem with this weeks tutorial is that it says on the task page for week six that the tutorial only takes 80 minutes but once you click in it says 220 minutes so I did not factor in enough time to get it all finished by tonight at 12. But I will still keep at it until it is complete so I don't fall behind. 

As I'm completing these unity tutorials each week I am keeping in mind the game I will be creating after Christmas. I am paying specific attention to what i Lerners and how I can implement it into my own game design. I am also thing of what I am struggling with so it I can make sure I have it sorted before I start on may own game.

Game Decisions

This week I read two articles and watched a video examining and explaining "Game flow" or it is also known as "being in the zone". This has been studied and used by game designers to keep the players engaged and playing their game for as long as possible. It also keeps the player coming back for more game play.  

Gigity McD's video best explained game flow and helps us visualise this with charts like the one below. He starts by explaining how every new player that is introduced to your game is a blank slate and isn't equips with the skills to "beat the boss" or play the more advanced levels of the game. They must first start with simple tasks that introduce the controls and skills you will need to complete each level. If the skills are introduced too quick and the level is too advanced this will cause the player to go into an anxiety state as the will not be able to play the game. This breaks the players flow and causes them to stop playing the game. The opposite to this is when the game is too easy for the player and their skills are too advanced they will get bored again breaking the game flow causing them to stop playing the game. 

"In order for a player to be optimally engaged, challenges should be presented at a level equivalent or slightly higher than their current skill level. Not to easy not to hard" 

"Challenge should then be increased as the players skill increases. Being aware drastic changes in challenges may cause loss of engagement" 

To keep the player in this flow channel and keep them engaged with the game you as the designer can use this information to your advantage by 

• Being conscious of how skilled the player is and increase the games challenge as the player gets better at the game.

• If the player is struggling you want to scale the challenge back to keep engagement.

• If the player is flying through the game you may want to up the challenge again to keep engagement.

• Make sure your game doesn't have with no content or loads of easy tasks in a row.

• Make sure the game isn't to repetitive.

• Make sure you keep introducing new skills and slowly increase the difficulty of the game.

There can also be negative affects of game flow on the player. When the player is in the same he or she may loose track of time and spend too much time playing the game. The player can also get addicted to these games using them as an escape with can alter their idea of reality. This can make the players unsocial and lonely. When designing a game we must take all this information about "Game flow" into account. 

References: 
Building a Princess Saving App (PDF), by Dan Cook. Aimed at interaction designers to explain what productivity applications can learn from games.

What is FLOW THEORY in game design? - The Basics - (Part 1)
(Video) by Gigity McD. He explores the theory of Flow design with a variety of examples.

 Flow experience in computer game playing among Thai university students  (PDF) by Sanjamsai S, Phukao P. To examine flow experience in computer game playing among university students and examine their behaviors.

Game Design Document

My Game Design Document can be found at this like here.

I have used Dundoc to set up my game design document. I used the starter game temple that was available. The document will have live updates so it will expand as I progress with my project.  I like having the GDD so my information is all in one place. Dndoc is well laid out and easy to navigate. 

This is what the dundoc looked like when I first created it. (screenshot)