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. 

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.