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