More Unity Free Tutorials

Image from here

This week I specifically looked for tutorials on coding characters to move and interact in Unity as well as coding the game camera to follow the character as these are the two things in my game that I am having the most trouble with.

 The first video I found details how to code a character to move and attack. I learned that in order to have my character to move you have use code and animation. I hope that by following this tutorial I can get both my main character and the enemies walking around the map and attacking each other.

The second video I found showed how to make the enemies in the game drop items when they are killed.

This video goes into a lot more detail with the loot drops than I really need in my game like how much loot to drop and stuff like that however I plan to follow along with the code that was used to make the enemies drop the loot in the first place and not worry about the other stuff.

Hopefully these tutorials will help my with finishing up my game.

Game Stories

This week we were given two articles to read this time about story in terms of game design and development.

The first article was all about how the Hero's Journey could be applied to game development. The Hero's Journey is important because myths are important and myths convey the values of society and can guide our actions.

The Hero's Journey is a list of events that a hero goes through in nearly every book, created by Joseph Campbell. However just because Campbell made this list it doesn't mean that every story with a hero should have all of these events in them. Start with a premise for your game and, step by step, build your story from there. If you would like to know the other steps in this process click here.

The second article goes more in depth into story in games and what story is. As games have developed the demand for more in depth stories has increased because story is a universal human experience.

There are a couple of very good reasons for game developers to know about classical story structure:

It's simple and it works. Story is all about conflict, the conflict between characters, the conflict of the characters mind any sort of conflict. If you apply this to a simple three act structured story you should greatly improve it.
Story has become a crucial part of games and any game developer should work just hard on story as on the graphics in a game.

Possible Alpha Game

This week we were supposed to a have an Alpha version of our game created. This means that the game should have all characters and levels in it and should be playable.

For my game I have managed to place all the characters that I want in my game the main character being one and then of course all the creatures and enemies that I have placed in my forest environment.

Screenshot of my game in Unity

My environment has also been completed. My environment includes a small village in the middle of the map surrounded by forests and mountains all side containing monsters.

Screenshot of my game in Unity

The problem I am having with my game is the same as the problem I was having last week with my game. Creating scripts for my characters and getting them to work. I feel that once I can get my scripts to work my game will be almost completely finished.  

My game is payable however it doesn't have all the features I would like it to have just yet, I will fix this soon.  

Week 9 Progress

Image from Flickr

Writing three blog posts a week while also keeping on top of other college assignments hasn't been the easiest task to do but it gets easier once you develop a routine which is what I did. I am pretty happy with my progress so far in this semester though I would like to do a few of the extra credit assignments that I have not yet done before the end of the semester to pick up some points that I dropped at the beginning of the semester.

I think the class assignment that I enjoy the most each week is probably working on my game, even though it can be very frustrating when things don't work the way you want them to I still enjoy creating it and making the environment and the characters the way I want them to be.

In the future for the second half of this semester I would like to avoid the pitfalls of bad time management. Though I do have a routine for the class assignments each week I would like to improve on it to make it as efficient as possible. I would like to try getting ahead in the last few weeks to make sure I don't fall behind when other assignments for other modules start piling up as that has been a problem for me in the past.

Review Week Comments and Feedback

Image from Pxhere

Over the past 9 or so weeks we have been leaving comments and feedback on our fellow students blog posts. Some comments longer than others and with more detailed feedback.

The comments that I receive on my blog post are for the most part very kind and helpful. Most people give good feedback on what I could do to improve my game ideas or how to solve a problem I may have had in unity. I find the comments that people leave that have good feedback and point out what they like about my game ideas are the most helpful because its a good boost to ones confidence especially if you're not sure about some aspects of your game.

I find it hard to leave really constructive comments on other peoples blogs for a few reasons, one is that many of the blog posts I've read I fell don't really need that much feedback because the person seems to know exactly what they're doing and two is because I haven't quite figured out how to leave good feedback without feeling at least a little bit rude.

However following along with a feedback strategy helps me to know what I could say in a few simple steps. It also helps me feel less rude when making a comment on someone else's blog.

When I read other peoples blogs I definitely fell like I'm getting to know them better because of the way they write, whether they tend to right more academically or whether they put a bit more flare into their writing it can really tell you about a persons personality. It can also tell you about what they find interesting based on what they choose to focus on when writing about any readings we have done that week. Even the theme they choose for their blog can tell you a little about them as a person.

I feel that my blog does convey a lot about me as a person, especially my introduction post or at least I certainly hope it does.

I think in the future to really make my feedback more helpful for others I need to get past the feeling of being rude and try to find something everyone could improve on even if it seems that the person has everything figured out in their posts.

Week 9 Reading and Writing

Over the past 8 weeks I have done 8 readings and written about them afterwards. All of these readings have been in some way or another about either game design, feedback or time management, all things that are essential to me during this module.

I would say that these readings have in fact helped me in this module and not just the ones on game design that you have to know about to make a game but the ones on feedback strategies and time management as well.

I feel that no matter how many articles I read on these two subjects they will never really be something I'm great at but reading the few articles I did on them I do feel as though I have somewhat improved in both of these areas.

My favourite readings so far are probably the one on Growth Mindset and feed- forward. Because these readings were all about positivity and opening yourself up to making mistakes and learning from them because that is something I'm sure everyone has had trouble with before. Especially Growth Mindset.

But the readings aren't the only thing that has helped me, writing about the readings each week has helped me as well though not in the way you may think. Writing about the readings each week has helped me to increase my typing speed, understand game design more of course and helped me to truly understand just how many words 200 or 500 words is.

So far I feel that my biggest accomplished has been creating my own game, even if I haven't finished it yet. Figuring out the Unity engine something that I had no prior experience with and creating my own game environment is something I'm very proud of.

Image from Moving at the Speed of Creativity

This is my favourite image that I found and put into a post on my blog. The image is from my post reviewing my favourite game which is Minecraft and its my favourite image because of how pretty the colours are and because I really love the aesthetic of Minecraft in general and those two things combined makes this a really appealing image to me.

In the future to get as much out of these readings as I can, I feel that I should read the articles more then once and really try to understand any parts of it I may not, maybe bookmark the ones I find particularly interesting to read again later instead of only reading them once and then moving on and never really getting back to them.

First Playable of Single Saviour

Last week I started my game in Unity and created the environment for all of my characters. This week I would like to get the last bits of my environment done and add my enemies and the character to the game. I would also like to have the camera set to third person.

The main problems I am having with creating this game are finding free assets that are right for my game, that have the same textures and styles. Many of the assets that I found that would fit with my game cost a bit of money and it would not be worth it for me to spend money on something I will probably only use once.

Screenshot from my game in Unity

Another problem I am having is figuring out C# script which is like coding for a website but it's different enough that it's like learning coding all over again. While I am using tutorials to learn how to script for things I need in my game it is slowing me down every time I make a mistake and it can be very frustrating. Following along with tutorials also only works if the script you're writing actually works in your game. Mainly I am having trouble coding the camera to follow the player.

Screenshot from my game in Unity 

However I feel that once I get past the initial learning stages of scripting it will be a lot easier to finish up my game even if I have to use assets that don't quite fit with the style of my game.

My First Game Design: Free Unity Tutorials

Image from Here

This week instead of having more Unity tutorials from Jimmy Vegas we had to go and find 2-4 of our own tutorials to follow.

The first tutorial I watched was a tutorial on how to create a third person camera in Unity, when the character is standing still the mouse moves the camera around the character and when the character is moving whichever way the camera is facing then the character will move that way. I chose this tutorial because I plan to have a third person camera in my own game.

Creating the camera movements is mostly C# scripting to keep the cameras distance from the character the same wherever it moves and the make sure that the camera doesn't merely tumble over the characters head when it's moved and other stuff like that.

The next video tutorial I found was actually a series of videos on creating monster AI which is another thing that I will need to know how to do for my game as the main enemies will be monsters in the forest.

Creating the monster AI again uses a lot of C# script mostly to make the monsters move around the environment and have it move towards the player to attack. The tutorials also shows you how to add footsteps audio to the monster so that the player can hear the footsteps getting louder as the monster gets closer, again through scripting.

The final tutorial that I watched was a tutorial on how to have the enemies drop loot when the are killed and how to have the loot automatically fly towards the character in the game. I plan to have the enemies in my game drop weapons and such for the character.

To do this it involves even more C# scripting somewhat similar to the script we have done before with our weekly tutorials but it also involves using animation to have the loot bounce and fly towards the character.

While I find using C# script in Unity a challenge following along with these tutorials made it much easier for me to understand.

Game Fun

Image from Flickr

This weeks readings go back to the question of what makes a game fun and how someone can quantify that fun in order to develop a game that is fun.

It turns out that the idea of something being done for fun goes way back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors and how they would pass their time. Instead of immediately going back out to hunt again after successfully catching a deer one hunter-gatherer might instead balance a piece of wood on a rock and then throw stones at it. In doing this he is building survival skills as much as he would have had he gone back out to hunt again after coming back while also having fun. This honing of survival skills through fun and play has been dubbed Natural Funativity.

Many of the aspects of games that we enjoy can be linked back to or ancestors. Sports such as football are quite easy to link back because they are physical and are much like the hunting are ancestors would have done however non-physical games such as slot machines of even Pac-Man appeal to the gather part of our ancestory because we are collecting items.

This collecting of items can also me seen in many MMO's. The players of said MMO's also tend to like the game for four reasons, achievement within the game context, exploration of the game, socialising with others and imposition upon others. In other words achievers, explorers, socialisers and killers. An easy way to remember this is by using card suits: achievers are Diamonds (they're always seeking treasure); explorers are Spades (they dig around for information); socialisers are Hearts (they empathise with other players); killers are Clubs (they hit people with them). These people of course find different parts of the game the most fun depending on what category they fall into.

All of these categories tie into aspects of a hunter-gatherer society which leads to the conclusion that part of the appeal of many games out there is in part the learning of survival skills in a fun manner evolved over time into a less dangerous pass time. This can help in the future when it comes to conceptualising new games that are fun.

Single Saviour Prototype

This week we have to create a prototype for our game that we are making in the Unity engine. To do this I am following along with the video tutorials from Jimmy Vegas from previous weeks and using the free assets from his website to build my environment.

For the most part the Unity engine is easy to use and having tutorials that cater to beginners makes it all the easier. However in Jimmys tutorials he is using an older version of the Unity engine than the one I am using so the main problems I am facing with creating my game is the fact the there are a few differences between the two versions. However many of these difference were easily figured out by simply spending a few minutes experimenting with the different aspects of the engine.

My plan for this this prototype is to create the environment for my character to explore, the village and the forest surrounding it. While it is easy to place the trees and houses need for this environment into the game I feel like I would benefited from maybe drawing out how I wanted the environment to look in more detail instead of using trial and error.

Screenshot of my prototype game in Unity 

Screenshot of my prototype game in Unity 

However I have managed to almost completely create the environment for my character and the enemies I plan to add to the game with the exception of the village as the tutorials have only shown how to place a house into the game and have not yet shown how to make the detailed inside of the house that I plan to have my character start in.

Screenshot of my prototype game in Unity 

Originally I had decided to have my game be in first person but after playing around in the environment I had built I think that the game may be better if played in the third person, especially when it comes to fighting the monsters, which I will bring into my game in the coming weeks.

My First Game Design: Unity Tutorial 05

Image from Wikimedia Commons

This week there are three more video tutorials to watch and follow along to. As per usual these video tutorials carry on from last weeks tutorials. The first tutorial this week looked into the skybox, more lighting and wind zones.

The skybox is what the player sees in the sky of the environment however you can get different skyboxes in the asset store and there are plenty of free ones for people on a budget like me.

To apply the new skybox to your environment you have to import the new skybox into unity and then go to window in your tool bar, lighting and then settings. Here you can add any number of materials to your skybox including your newly downloaded skybox.

In this settings panel you can also begin to change your lighting by changing the brightness and also the colour of the lighting. You can continue to mess around with the lighting of your scene by changing the source of the lighting and the intensity, doing this you can create a dark or light scene.

Next it is shown how to place a wind zone into the environment, which is as simple as placing an object into the game and this immediately begins to effect the trees in the environment however the grass works off of a different source. Keeping the frequency of the wind low tends to be more realistic.

In the second tutorial it shows you how to pick up your weapon instead of just starting with it using a C# script again and how to create fade screens.

To have your character pick up the weapon you place a fake weapon in the environment and make it so that you cannot see the weapon in the characters hand until you take the weapon from the environment, it uses some similar code as the collect gem script with a little more added in to pick up the weapon.

Creating a fade screen uses a mix of animation and C# scripting to make sure the screen doesn't just stay the one colour and does indeed fade into or out of the game. A fade screen can last for as long as you would like.

In the final tutorial we went through all the things we had done up till now to work out any bugs that may have arisen while creating the game and adding more environment to the game such as a house and some bushes to go with the trees.

Placing the house in the game is simple enough, download one from the assets store then simply import it into your game where you can then change its size, colour and other things.

In the next tutorial we are going to find out how to create the inside of the house that we placed in the game.

Game Decisions

Image from Flickr

This weeks reading is about creating MMO games or Massively Multiplayer Online games which are notoriously tricky games to create based off of the fact that they are, as the name suggests, massive and there are many technical issues that come with it.

However there are many examples of games that do not have massive amounts of players online and are still popular. For instance Minecraft relies on small instanced servers and is still very successful. What design lessons can we take from these smaller online games?

Social game design operates within the physical and mental constraints of the human animal and so it plays to understand these constraints. This article online goes much more in depth into these constraints.

Friendship 

A friendship is a social bond between just two people. The most basic level of human-scale game design is about creating relationship bonds. The basics of growing these friendships are Proximity, Similarity, Reciprocity and Disclosure. You can place any two people together in a game and if the criteria is met it is very likely they will form a friendship.

Dunbars Layers

Robin Dunbar believed each individual has a structured distribution of relationship bonds. An individual organises their friendships by strength of their one-to-one bonds. People tend to have a maximum of 150 total friendships, including 50 good friendships, which include 15 best friendships, which, in turn, include 5 intimate friendships. Wikipedia provides much more information on this.

Social Groups

A social group of is a collection of people brought together for a shared task or interest. Groups contain multiple overlapping individual networks. The performance of said groups depends on how the friendship bonds across the entire group are leveraged. There are three dominant perspectives on what makes a group, Social Identity perspective, Self-categorization perspective, Social cohesion perspective.

Considering these constraints it would seem worth it to explore design centred around natural human social scales, if you can build a human-scale game that enables a player to spend quality time with good friends, you’ll likely improve the quality of their life.