Game Design Doccument

Story:
In my game the main character will be a Penguin called George, who is stuck on the out skirts of an ice cap. He has to escape from the melting outer rim of the ice cap, to get to the frozen safety of the Antarctic. As the ice melts around him he will have to jump from ice block to ice block, avoiding falling into the freezing water (he can't swim, as he was born with unusually small flippers!). He will also encounter hungry polar bears along his travels, who he will have to perform a spinning attack against in order to knock them out and avoid being eaten.

How to play:
Using attack moves and leaping across the melting icecaps, George must try to return to the safety of the Antarctic. 

System requirements:
In this game you play as George the penguin. This game will be played on laptops or PC devices.

Techical requirements:
This game will be i n the style of a cartoon animation. George will be an animated cartoon character.  This game will be accessible 24 hours on the internet on a PC device or laptop.

User interface - Controls for the game:
Left arrow - Move/ Dodge left
Right arrow - Move/ Dodge right
Space bar - Jump
Up arrow - Spin

Character:
George the Penguin. He will be created as an animated cartoon character

Enemy:
Hungry Polar Bear.

Level Design:
On the melting icecaps. I will create this by creating an icy terrain with water surrounding.

https://www.dundoc.com/admin/v2/#/project/4842/

Vision Statement

Source here.

Game Genre:
For my game I would like to create a platform game. The genre of my game would be an action-adventure platform game. My game will feature main character George the penguin and will based around his challenges to escape the outskirts of an icecap without defeat.
My game would definitely fit under the genre of platform game as the player will have to jump and run across a game platform.


Source here.

Game play:
These are the features of a video game, such as its plot and the way it is played, as distinct from the graphics and sound effects.

My game will take place in Antartica. In my game the main character will be a Penguin called George, who is stuck on the out skirts of an ice cap. He has to escape from the melting outer rim of the ice cap, to get to the frozen safety of the Antarctic. As the ice melts around him he will have to jump from ice block to ice block, avoiding falling into the freezing water (he can't swim, as he was born with unusually small flippers!). He will also encounter hungry polar bears along his travels, who he will have to perform a spinning attack against in order to knock them out and avoid being eaten.

He will have to perform moves such as spin attack, dodge, jump and left and right movements. 

Resources:
For this game I will use Unity to help me create my final output. After completing all my tutorials I'm confident that the my final piece should resemble my vision and research completed. 

Feedback strategies

"The beliefs they carry about their own abilities.”

This was a quote that caught my attention in the first paragraph of Be a mirror. When students develop a growth mindset their work abilities, they believe that the hard work and struggle they are going through is an important part of the learning process. When students develop a fixed mindset about their ability, they begin to doubt themselves and don't want to improve. It is important to have a growth mindset in a college environment as you will face challenges and struggles but it is important to push through and enhance your knowledge and learning abilities rather than struggling and falling behind.

There are five qualities of feedback that foster a growth mindset:

Be specific. Listing the specific steps they need to take in order to progress.
A second quality is to focus on what the reader is doing and not on what they are not doing. A mirror cannot reflect back what is not there. 
A third quality is to focus on the process and the work the reader put in. When we focus on the process, we show students that their efforts are valued and important.
The fourth quality is to make sure it can transfer. Although I do want to be specific with my feedback, I also want to name what the reader is doing in a way that he or she can use it in a different book and context. 
The last is to take yourself out of the feedback.

I found all of these points beneficial for when I am giving and receiving feedback from my peers.

The second article I read was 5 Reasons to stop saying good job.
I found this article interesting as it states how using the term good job is over used and can have a negative impact on a child and encourage false praise.
I found that I could relate to some of the points made in this article as I've experienced times when good job was overused and caused me to loose motivation or interest.
I think it is important to only apply praise when it is earned and not just for false achievement.



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Game Research Idea

In my game brain storming blog I discuss four diverse games that were possibilities for me to create. Although I liked each idea, I think idea four, the platform game would be best to create. In my game the main character will be a Penguin called George, who is stuck on the out skirts of an ice cap. He has to escape from the melting outer rim of the ice cap, to get to the frozen safety of the Antarctic. As the ice melts around him he will have to jump from ice block to ice block, avoiding falling into the freezing water (he can't swim, as he was born with unusually small flippers!). He will also encounter hungry polar bears along his travels, who he will have to perform a spinning attack against in order to knock them out and avoid being eaten.

From what I have learn on Unity from the Jimmy Vegas tutorials I think i could create this game successfully with some extra learning.

Possible game mechanics: 
1. Rotation system: Where the player spawn, in what position they spawn, how they rotate, and move.
2. Goals: Returning to the safety of the frozen icecap without falling into the icy water.
3. Jumping: Almost always combined with gravity, the player must jump from one platform to another and not fall. 
4. Enemies to defeat: Battling against enemies in order to proceed in the game. In my game the enemy will be a hungry polar bear.
5. A main character: A main character that the game will be based around. In my game this will be George the penguin.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/platformer-character-games-design-troy-dunniway


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Unity tutorial 02 - Week 3

Unity tutorial 4 with Jimmy Vegas covered more coding effects and audio. I didn't find this tutorial as enjoyable but understand why it is important when constructing a video game. I found this tutorial straight forward and easy to follow, it was simple to add a sound to an object using the codes provided. I programmed it so that when the player comes in contact with the gem, the gem will make a ding sound and disappear! I found the sound of the ding very satisfying.
After this I created a dip in the terrain, there I made a valley which I placed the water. I set the level of the water so it fit perfectly in the dip. I liked the look of this lake as I walked around the game. We created a wall using the square we made in the last tutorial. We then changed the texture and dimensions of the square to replicate the shape of a wall. I duplicated the wall and placed a few around my game. I added shadows and immediately noticed a difference in the quality of appearance. Giving the game a more realistic feel. 

I found the second tutorial slightly confusing and would like to go over this with someone who knows what their doing..

Overall I really think Im getting to grips with the Unity software now. Messing around has made me more confident and I look forward to getting stuck into my own game!


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Game Elements

The reading material for this weeks blog was based on game elements. Formal Abstract Design Tools, by Dough Church talked in dept about design tools and designing video games.

As I read this blog I began to appreciate the amount of effort and time that is involved in game design. I never realised how many disciplines were involved in game design such as design, art, audio and codes. A well designed game should look and play good and be enjoyable for the player.

I really enjoyed this weeks reading assignment. I liked learning about the making and elements behind Mario. I found the article easy to understand for someone who is still learning about gaming and game elements. From reading the article I now feel more informed about game tools and look forward to creating my own game.


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Feedback Thoughts

Feedback thoughts

Seven ways to crush self doubt in creative work: This is the first article that i read. In this article professor John Spencer talks about a variety of ways to crush self doubt. Self doubt is something that everyone experiences on a daily basis and I enjoyed reading about how to diminish this feeling. Some points that professor John stood out to me more than others.

Don't compare yourself to others
He speaks about how self doubt can draw your attention from your main goal. When you are constantly comparing yourself to others you begin to lose sight of what really matters and you begin viewing people as competition rather than community. Comparing yourself to others can lead to jealousy and an unhealthy mindset, leading to missed opportunities simply because you believe that you are not good enough.

Set goals that are within your control
Set goals that are within your controls, do not over or under achieve as this might lead to self doubt when you are disappointed with the final result.

Why rejection hurts so much - and what to do about it: This is the second article I choose to read.

Rejection is an emotion that we feel on a daily basis, wether we like it or not. Living in an era where social media plays a role in every day lives its more common to feel rejection, not receiving a text or a like on social media can leave us feeling alone and rejected. While these are everyday things that may cause us to feel this way, you can also feel rejected when fired from a job or being ignored by friends. The question in this article is why? Why do we feel this emotion so strongly causing us to feel bad about of selves? "The greatest damage rejection causes is usually self-inflicted. Just when our self-esteem is hurting most, we go and damage it even further." This quote stood out to me because I could relate. The same section of your brain that activates rejection is the same section that activates pain. Therefore it is hard to deal with rejection and self criticism as you go about your daily life. 

  

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Game Brain Storming

Welcome back to my blog

Idea One : Hide & Seek - Hide and Seek is a concept that everyone is familiar with. One person hides, the other seeks. Im proposing to translate this child hood game into a thrilling video game experience. Stealth systems have been used in many popular games, from the latest Spiderman PS4 game, to Pacman. Both these games include an enemy who is unaware of your whereabouts, that stands between you and your goal. The player must use their cunning and stealth to navigate the level without detection, using well placed objects to cover behind. If the player is detected, the enemies leap into attack mode and the game of hide and seek is turned into a chase. For my game, i would like to use these as inspiration. The game will include a main character, a goal to reach, and enemies on the look out in between. This will all be set on a map full of cover to hide behind. I will create a cover system, used in games such as GTA.  This will allow the player to hide behind an object when close to it by pressing a certain button. They will then stick to the cover and be able to move along it, without exposing themselves to enemies. The enemies will be set to a routine or path. This will allow the players to have a window of opportunity where an enemy isnt looking to sneak by them. the player will also be able to throw small objects, thus creating a distraction to the enemies, and another opportunity to get by them. There are many possible themes fro this level, from a student sneaking by teachers to escape from school, to a greek hero hiding from the Minotaur escaping from the Labyrinth.

http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Stealth-In-Video-Games-And-Why-It-s-So-Fun

Idea Two : Survival Apocalypse Game - The survival game genre has been tried and tested. From zombie apocalypse's to alien invasions. The players only objective is to survive the never-ending hordes of enemies for as long as they can. This creates a very fun and replay-able game that the player will be returning to to beat his high score. The main character will be armed with an assortment of weapons to kill the oncoming enemies. These can range from a pocket knife to a automatic machine gun. Each time the player kills an enemy he will be rewarded with points which he can purchase more weapons and ammo with. There will be no stealth required for this game, as the enemies will be drawn to the players location. Once close enough, the enemies will begin to attack the player, decreasing his health with each blow. The enemies will come in waves, each wave steadily increasing in difficulty and numbers. The map will be big and will reflect the theme of the enemy type. A barren post apocalyptic wasteland for a zombie level, or a sci-fi inspired utopia for a alien invasion are some examples of the possibilities.

https://www.crazygames.com/game/zombocalypse

Idea Three : Dodgeball - Another twist on a childhood game. The objective of dodgeball is simple, don't get hit while trying to strike your opponents. The game takes place in a small map divided into two halves. Each half belongs to a team, with neither team being allowed to cross into their opponents side.  At the start of the game, the balls will be lined up along the middle. The players will have to run to the balls, when close enough he will press a button to pick up the closest ball. They will be able to hold down a button to aim, then where there aim is set on a target they can press the throw button to launch the ball towards the enemy. If the ball hits its target the enemy hit will be out of the game. The last team standing is the winner. Players will also be given a split second window when a ball is thrown at them to press a button in order to catch the ball. If the catch is successful then the thrower of the ball is out, and the player who catches the ball is allowed to bring in a team mate from the sideline.

https://www.giantbomb.com/dodgeball/3055-1700/games/

Idea Four : Platform Game - A platform game often focuses on traversing tricky landscapes and obstacles, rather than shooting bad guys in the face. The player will jump between suspended platforms, avoid obstacles, and occasionally fight off an enemy. These games are often childlike in nature, think Mario or crash bandicoot. In my game the main character will be a Penguin called George, who is stuck on the out skirts of an ice cap. He has to escape from the melting outer rim of the ice cap, to get to the frozen safety of the Antarctic. As the ice melts around him he will have to jump from ice block to ice block, avoiding falling into the freezing water (he can't swim, as he was born with unusually small flippers!). He will also encounter hungry polar bears along his travels, who he will have to perform a spinning attack against in order to knock them out and avoid being eaten.

https://emulatoronline.com/games/crash-bandicoot/



https://www.chrome-games.com/play-crash-bandicoot-online

Unity Tutorial 01

Unity Tutorial One

Wellcome back to my blog! This week I was introduced to unity, something I had never heard of before. I found the Jimmy Vegas tutorials really straightforward and enjoyable.

First Youtube Tutorial:
In this tutorial I was shown how to download and setup the Unity software. I found the process straightforward and easy to do. He went through the basic instructions on Unity and how to set up a new project. I found the software easy to navigate and the controls were straight forward. In the first tutorial I was shown how to add basic 3D shapes like a cube a sphere to the game. I was shown how to alter and manipulate these objects. I was shown how to add a terrain to the game and how to change its shape and height. I found this tricky to do the first couple of times, but after playing around with the software I finally got the hang of it. I enjoyed the first tutorial and I now have some idea on how Unity works. I look forward to enhancing my knowledge and building my own game!

Second Youtube Tutorial:
In this tutorial we focus on textures in Unity. After downloading and installing the textures into Unity I could then apply them to the mountains I created in Unity. Using textures brings the project together and makes it look more appealing to the player. I found getting used to adding and applying textures slightly tricky but after some trial and error I got the hang of it. In the tutorial we are shown how to change textures to your liking. This could be from changing the colour to completely transforming a textures appearance. I enjoyed learning about all the possibilities in Unity when it comes to textures.

Third Youtube Tutorial:
In this tutorial we learnt how to add more detail to the terrain such as trees. We also added a character and a script. This made  the game really take some shape. I added a character folder that I added from the software. I got the hang of the player by walking around the land to get used to the controls. I downloaded grass and tree assets from Jimmy Vegas website and brought them into Unity. I liked adding the trees and grass as it made my terrain look like a real game and it was simple to do. I liked how you could change the wind speed and grass height to make the game look more realistic in player view. I added a gem to the game that I got from unity. I found it hard to alter the gem so I just left it how it was. I didn't really understand the coding and would like to get further information on this.  I thought it was interesting how it worked I just found it tricky and would like further help.

Game Design

Reading - Week two 

This week we were given a selection of article to read based on game design. The first article I read was based around what a game is. Although a game is a play activity that involves challenge and conflict, there is more more to it. The article talks about the simple rules of Three to fifteen. The amount of players involved, the objectives, progression of play and at last resolution.

Critical Vocabulary is the second thing mentioned in the article. This is the vocabulary that we use when we are talking about games. Each game usually has its on set of vocabulary.

Although it is hard to define what a game is exactly, they listed a variety of definitions from different sources.
These were my favourite:
A game has “ends and means”: an objective, an outcome, and a set of rules to get there.
A game is an activity involving player decisions, seeking objectives within a “limiting context”

Most games have common factors which include activity, goals, decision making, conflict and many more. Games are truly a work of art.

The second article I read was by Greg Costikyan. In this he wrote about the process and struggles of designing a game. I liked how he stated that almost every game involves puzzle solving  and changeless. He talks about how all games are interactive, even monopoly! I like how he refers to all games as a puzzle or a challenge rather than just a game.

When making a game you must ask yourself how the player interacts with the game. Are the interactions meaningful? Will they benefit or enhance the game? Is the process enjoyable or relentless and tedious? These are all important factors I will take into consideration when I am making my game. You must be aware of what goals you want to achieve and the challenges you will face to meet them.

I found the read on how to make your first game very enjoyable and beneficial. After reading this I am looking forward to getting hands on and create my own game. I look forward to learning the skills and getting confident with the software so I can create a simple appealing game. I know from this that it is advised to create a game based off one that you know, and that appearance and story is not as important as accessibility.

Understanding games - Episode one
I found this extremely enjoyable and a great learning process. It was straight forward and easy to use. The first thing that is featured in this is the simple game - Pong. They go through the factors of the game; a score, a playing field, two players, a ball and paddles. They discuss the rules to the game and how a player can be victorious.
I found it enjoyable how I was able to take part in the game of pong (even though I lost).
The appearance of the game was changed to a more realistic game, which was ping pong but still had the same rules and objectives as the original pong.
I learnt that no game can be played without interaction from a player and that an outcome of a game must be uncertain.

Understanding games - Episode two
In the episode I learned what motivates a player instead of frustrating them. I played an interactive game which I found really fun! I discovered that adding a background, music and a competitor added to the players motivation, and from experiencing the stages I found that it really did! There was an option to enhance the difficulty of the game this insures that the game is not to easy or too difficult for the player therefore they continue to play the game.

Understanding games - Episode three
They talked about the importance of reading the instructions in a game and how it makes the game a lot easier. They gave an example by asking the player to take part in a puzzle solving game with no instructions. I found these puzzles quite difficult and struggled to complete them all without instructions. The game that I engaged in in this episode was a lot more difficult than the previous games.

Understanding games - Episode four 
In this episode we seen the simple game tag being demonstrated. Then they talked about appearance and what draws a player to choose a character. This episode also goes through direct and indirect controls within a game. I then interacted in a game of chase and choose a character based on the characters abilities. I learned that different things appeal to different players when gaming.

Over all I found this reading session very enjoyable. I know have a better insight into how games are made, why they are made, objectives and different styles.
I look forward to creating my own game in the future.

Workshop one

Work Shop One

This was the first week of Multimedia Development and we started off with a workshop.

We gathered into group of three and answered a variety of questions on the board. Question one was "What worked well for you last year?" My response was working well as a team. The second question was "What would you like to improve on?" My answer was that I would like to engage more in class and lectures and to improve my time management. We then shared our answers in the group and we determined common factors that were present throughout the group. We were then asked what we knew about this module. For me I hadn't heard much about this module before the class but was willing and excited to learn. Shaun gave a brief introduction on this module. I liked the idea of creating my own game. Although this was something completely new to me, I was excited to enhance my knowledge. We were also given time to solve a puzzle on the board. This was a good way to get the whole team involved. We were all engaging in the task trying our best to work together to solve the puzzle. I personally enjoy working within a group, sharing my ideas with others and listening to theres.
We were told that each week we would be uploading a blog for this module. This was something completely new to me and I found the process of setting up the blog slightly confusing. I like the idea of other students being able to read my blog and being able to engage with them by leaving feedback on the posts.
I am excited to enhance my knowledge in this module!



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