Tech Tasks: Twitter Follow

Although I already have a twitter account from a few years back (it's gone pretty quiet now), I wanted to make a brand new shiny account separate to my original one, and just dedicated to this module. 

I have played around with some settings today, to try make my account a bit easier on the eye and I've also just started following 20 new accounts spread across three industries of interest to me; multimedia, beauty and tech. Some of the big names I have followed include @Loreal @ConanOBrien and @YahooTech all three of which have strong opinions and such dedicated to their professional field and I found them interesting to follow. 

If you want to add me on my new twitter, you can find me @RachelMenton3

Tech Tasks: Switching up the Blog using Blogger Tips!

Hey everyone! Today I wanted to play around with changing up the theme of my blog.. make it look a little bit more interesting. I'm used to using Wordpress for blogging in the past and so I've always found Blogger a little bit limited in regards to its design tools, but never the less, I've tried to redesign my blog the best I can and I reckon it looks a little better!

I've used one of the Travel Templates and played around with a new background, and changing some of my fonts and link colours, so hopefully it's a little easier on the eye and better for all that reading you's are doing :) It comes with an easy to use mobile template too so handy for catching up with blogs, or doing blog comments while on your phone. Sure let me know what you guys think?

While I'm here, I just wanted to link a new blog I've discovered and have been enjoying reading for more knowledge on making our games. I'll link it here for anyone who is  interested https://mindofgames.wordpress.com/ Hope everyone's project is going well!

Laters,


Rachel

My Game Design Document

This week was the beginning of focusing on the actual Game. I really enjoy this part of the module - researching various games and the approach in which I will take to make my own is exciting. The thought processes and brainstorming behind the development of a game is crucial, but really fun. You can make pretty much whatever you want to make. 

My thought process behind the game I intend to make was inspired by watching the film 'Castaway'. The story behind that film was pretty simple, Tom Hanks Plane crashes into the sea and he ends up being deserted on an island in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilisation. I have based my game on a story similar to the film, but I have put my own spin on it and decided to create an environment where it wasn't a beautiful sunny beach with palm trees and blue skies, except an environment where it's desolated and almost eerie - with no sign of civilisation, dark murky skies and a mist which sets all around giving the unknown land a chilling feel. 

In my introduction in my GDD, I go on to describe what exactly the game is about and how to play. The concept is relatively simple. The player ends up washed ashore, finds a map, has to find and collect the objects on the map, locate the village (in which the last object on the map is in) and ask for help to be rescued, pointed in the direction of a bridge crossing a river and it is there where they will be rescued and so, the game is complete. 

As a design student, I do feel it is important that the game looks well and the global elements should also play a big role in the overall gameplay. I have researched various games and one that sticks out to me the most is Resident Evil - that type of feel will be obvious throughout my design. I have also added some images into my GDD for visual representation from Pripyat, a town in Ukraine which was the setting for the Chernobyl disaster. Here is an image from Pripyat, which could be considered a good representation of my proposed game visually. 

(image source: https://www.pinterest.ie/pin/307159637068573168/?lp=true)

Gameplay is obviously one of the most important factors, your game might look good visually but who would want to play it if there was no real purpose or objective. I didn't want to make the usual POV shooter game, I'm not really big into violence so that was a no go from me. I have decided to make an adventure style 'find the hidden gems' type of game though, this can be played by anyone from the ages of 7 and up, or someone who understands the concept of finding and locating hidden items at least. The main objective is obviously just Collection. Many platformer video games (such as the 'Spyro') included levels where you had to collect a certain number of objects scattered throughout the level, and so I thought this would be fun to build and play and also roam around the world and explore.

To find out a bit more about the game I intend to make I have included a link to my Game Design Document for further reading  https://www.dundoc.com/project/4784/uwxa8xk520

Unity Tutorial 05

In todays Unity tutorial lab, we explored how to add more UI effects to the scene. Action text is essential because the player needs to know what to do when they come to a certain point on screen, adding action text will inform the player what to do, like in the game I hope to make, the player will have to run around and collect certain items so this was really helpful for me to understand today so I can reference this in my own game. We added a script using the public GameObject command and also a command for when the mouse hovers over something on the screen. 

I find writing the script to be easy enough when following the tutorials because it's pretty much just step by step, however I can't see it being as simple to follow when I go to execute the script into the actual game myself, but we will see when the time comes. After writing the script and saving it into my scene I did get an error message but when I went looking back I was just missing a semi colon in my text so it was easily solved. The tutorial also informed us how to add a sound, so when you pick up your item, it can play whatever sound you like - I really like this feature.

(Executing script in Unity - Source: Tutorial screenshot)

We next looked at how to add some more environment, by importing a white fence into the game and adding a texture. Building the environment is one of my favourite parts about Unity, it reminds me of a time when I used to play The Sims computer games as a child, and building houses and designing their environments and surroundings. The animation and applying keyframes part in Unity is also something I enjoyed learning about. Objects that animate and move make them appear so much more realistic and I can see this feature being used a lot when making my Game later on - I did have to rewind the tutorial when he was playing around with the keyframes, as I found it confusing at first. 

Layers are a way that we can provide an extra camera to render a certain layer so as we do not clip our weapon into certain objects. We added a layer to our axe and had to tell the camera not to render that particular layer. This part of the tutorial was tricky enough to understand, again I had to rewind. A useful tool to use going forward though, as the weapon never clips onto anything and ill always be on top, handy to use for any other weapons being used in the future.

Games and the Initial Design Process - GDD

In this weeks reading we are focusing on Gaming and the Initial Design process or stages. The early stages of the Design Process are crucial, this is where you want to have everything planned out so you have the starting point or base for your game. There needs to be a step-by-step guide to allow for bigger projects to run smoothly and lead to an all-round better game in the end. 

The design components can go a long way in how a game is enjoyed but do they really matter? Imagine playing chess with cardboard cutouts, it's still the same game but would it be as enjoyable to play? Things that should be considered: space between players, high contrasting colours/distinguishable characters, legible fonts, avoid clutter/excess components, etc. But what about the rules of the game? Writing clear and to the point rules might seem like an easy task, but it's often the hardest thing to get right. Things that should be considered here include: blind test the rules (when a game is sent to a group of people who need to learn how to play and understand the game on their own without the help of the developer/designer), include a detailed list of components, what happens when the game ends, how many lives does a player have, etc. 

(source: https://mindofgames.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/failing-makes-success/  interesting blog about the experiences of a game designer)

The first thing that needs to happen in Game Design is coming up with a core concept or basic idea for the game. So Core Aesthetics is very important - how should the player feel? How should the play experience be like? Starting with a rule or system is often a good idea, look at everyday life and how or what decisions being made can be interpreted into your game. Technology is also a good consideration within your game. What items could be used to enhance player experience etc. Other important things to consider is also narrative and market research. Combinations of several of these. For example, starting with core aesthetics and narrative at the same time, you can make a game where the story and gameplay are highly integrated.

I have heard a lot about 'designers block' in the past and it is something that is important to consider could happen. Trying something new and random and integrating it into our game is a good way to prevent this from happening. Also keep a collection of all your ideas for games, mechanics, narratives, etc and look back on these to generate some new ideas so designers block doesn't become an issue.