The Weekly Developments

  I found this week's challenge quite difficult. I actually re-watched the entirety of lesson 2 more than once just to understand and even then, I only rehashed everything and chopped and changed until it worked. I feel like these Unity tutorials aren't teaching me much, they're just spouting code relevant but not teaching us how to reiterate them elsewhere. It does frustrate me because I'm concerned I won't be able to even start on my game let alone finish it, get it working and make it decent.  It's also made me question my game of choice. I'm reconsidering what I chose because it's so far different from what I've learned that I don't know if I'll be able to apply it to my own creations. I do think what's going on in the tutorials is interesting and cool but I wish I understood why things work. The guy in the tutorial is talking about if statements, else if, voids and updates and I have no idea what they mean. It took me until this week

This week the Unity tutorials gave me a lot of trouble. I had to repeat the process more than once to get it to work. I used Google a lot and ran into issues along the way there too. This is where I'm really struggling because I'm going over the recommended time to finish these things now. My code was perfect and it was a new project so I shouldn't have had lingering issues from a previous code. Learning a new programme and coding language when you can't ask questions is really difficult. It's making me doubt I'll be able to make a game because I feel like I'm not learning anything, I'm just doing as I'm told.  This week there was something about if statements. Very brief, hardly mentioned or explained. I did a year of PHP so I have more understanding than someone who's never seen them and IF statements aren't a passing thing. We're not learning how to make these games but I feel like we're expected to know anyway.      (frustrated gi

 I found the meme making website linked annoying because I had to create an account so I went on the hunt for a different one. I came across kapwing and made a very relevant meme. Enjoy.

In this blog, I'll be discussing my ideas and vision for my game. I went through all game ideas I had come up with and decided to go with the mixology game. I felt like because it was quite a loose, basic idea that I had more options available so if one idea can't be done, I could definitely find another idea that could work. I discussed different options I might implement in my blog post last week and then thought about them through the week, looking at different resources that may help me out. This is a brief analysis of what my game would be like.  I considered two genres for my game - POV and RPG. It boils down to the views in its simplest form. I chose POV because there is no character in my game. You play as yourself. I did consider including a bartender character that follows your clicks and grabs the ingredients for you or gives hints, but I think that would be beyond my own knowledge, skills and ability. I've decided to keep it basic for now and if I can expand whe

( pickist.com ) In the first article I read, there was discussion about the 'MDA' framework, its' faults, and how it can be advanced.  When I first read that MDA stood for Mechanics , Dynamics  and Aesthetics , I thought about how so much is missing from that. Thinking about any games that I enjoy, there is more than how it works and it looking good. There's often a storyline, for starters. That's a huge part of the game. Actors or voice actors often come in and contribute to this. I feel like the categories aren't specific enough and there's not enough categories for them to be umbrella terms.  It later talks about DDE which stands for Design , Dynamics and Experience . I think this makes much more sense because design covers aesthetics but also is more than what it looks like but other parts of it. Dynamics covers mechanics because it's all about how it works. Experience covers aesthetics and beyond that, like the storyline.  I liked the way the articl

I have edited HTML before, obviously as part of the course, but I've also messed around with the simplicities of Tumblr and Reddit posts. 

(a post-it note with 'feedback?' written on it, flickr.com ) The first article I read was from kqed.org ( found here ) which talks about different of praise and when to praise versus when to give feedback. Now, I've not really seen this in action as I am the youngest child and have never really spent time around younger family members like cousins. But I do work with children and I notice that the children that are generally more open to a conversation are generally the ones who aren't bribed or threatened to get rid of the idea of fear (all relevant to my job, I swear).  This leads me to believe that rather than telling a kid, or person, to not do this or always do that, it's much better to tell them why or explain their actions and the chain effect it has. 'If you cry, your sister may see and get upset. That's okay, because we'll tell her that sometimes we get scared but that's normal' is far more effective, in my experience, than 'don'

I have identified that my game will be an RPG, mature game, as it involves alcohol. I thought about it being a simulation but it doesn't put you in the person's shoes and it's third person but I guess it's arguable.  (a screen full of relevant gaming design words, successatschool.org ) My first idea is that the player is up against the time to select the correct ingredients from a last. If possible, there could be a spirit list, mixer list and garnish list. The time ticks down as the player selects these but continues to tick down as the player selects the process too (is it mixer first, ice, spirit? etc). If the timer is ticks down before the recipe is complete then it's game over. If the recipe is incorrect then it's game over.  My next idea is that the timer takes away points as it ticks down. You gain points for you correct ingredient selections but after 3 tries, it automatically gives you the right ingredients so you can create the drink together. My last

This week, the reading developed the idea of questioning the process of making a game and questioning why a game is that way.  The video (by LiveLessons on YouTube) is helpful in that it's visual. As much as reading is helpful, I'm a visual learner and the video seemed more realistic than a block of words. The pair in the video showed the process of making a game prototype. They say that you don't even need to touch code - just try and emulate it in your own life. They created a game of ping pong but their prototype included paper and several ping pong games in different variations. They looked into what they enjoyed and why they enjoyed it to incorporate into their game.    (person playing a PC game with a green, lit up keyboard and green headphones, flickr.com ) The first article (by gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com ) discusses how if we pull apart the concept of a game, we find what makes it work. Designers describe the core parts of a game as the atoms because they can

For my extra credit task this week, I changed my theme up and added my spirit animal as my header image (Captain Raymond Holt from 'Brooklyn Nine Nine').  I liked the Soho theme before I saw it was recommended and to be fair, it does look pretty decent on the mobile and desktop. I picked that particular image of Captain Holt because it never fails to make me laugh. I love it so much that I had it on my phone case for years. I also think it's a fantastic summary of how 2020 is going. To be fair, I just find Captain Holt hilarious in general. His character in the show is so serious that it work so well for comedy. 

The first article I read is from ideas.ted.com , which talks about the reason we feel so bad about rejection and what leads us to feel so terrible. I was interested to read about this because some days rejection really can get me down and other days it's so simple to brush it off. It's all according to how everything else is going, I assume. The article says that our brains react to rejection the same way we react to physical pain. To add to this pain, we also continue to kick ourselves when we're down. Though it's not discussed here, I feel that another reason as to why we beat ourselves up further is because we need to justify everything that happens to us. We search for reasons and answers. It's a further coping mechanism. The suggestions are quite helpful but for me, I've found that reminding myself that the rejection isn't about me is most helpful. For example, if I submitted a game idea and was told it was bad. That doesn't mean I'm a terrible,

As someone who enjoys gaming but really doesn't get that deep into it, I want to keep my ideas as simplistic as possible so that they're actually do-able. I don't want to do something so far out of reach that when I get feedback I have to rethink everything. Hopefully these are simple enough! My first idea is, at its base, very much like every other game. The first idea is you're a human that's given daily tasks like go to the shop, exercise for 30 minutes, etc, but you live in a zombie virus world. It's not a game about running away from zombies but you have to do your tasks while avoiding pathogens that are trying to catch you. It's a simple dodging kind of game. Beano.com has a similar game called Virus Attack. In terms of actual story, it's much simpler. You're a person on a line that forms a square and you travel around to reclaim territory while the virus tries to attack you. The mechanics were difficult and I couldn't get the hang of it b

  I'm not sure if it's my aversion to coding languages (my year dealing with PHP and SQL was not pleasant), but I couldn't quite get to grips with Unity. I didn't enjoy the mechanics of it and how basic it was. Granted, it's free, but it just seemed slow and a bit of an eye sore as a programme. I didn't think the tutorials were bad but I found that it took me three or four videos before I fully understand whatever was mentioned before those three or four videos. Maybe because they were quick videos and one after the other, but I definitely felt like I struggled to have it sink it. That may also change as I get my comfortable with the programme. I'll be able to mess around and see what I can create.  The video tutorials were pretty helpful but I came across an issue that I wish I could ask straight away. That's the struggles of online learning and using different learning techniques. But it's something that, again, I'm sure between Google and me m

 After reading these articles and applying my own experiences, I came across some interesting points. thenounproject.com The first article talks about the importance of vocabulary when it comes to gaming and game design. Having worked in a games shop, I realise now that this is something we don't even realise. So often people would come in to discuss games and often compare each one or relate each one when they don't realise that someone else may not understand them. "It's like Fifa but..." Whenever I heard this it was usually met with me explaining I'd never played Fifa. Or most games. Parents would come in at Christmas and ask what games were similar to so-and-so because that's what their son liked. Games aren't always comparable in that way either. Just because you like one game doesn't mean you'll like another. Some prefer particular mechanics, some prefer a type of storyline, some prefer certain graphics and unless you know what part of