Unity Tutorial 03

 I found "Lesson 2.1 Player Positioning" to be difficult I started seeing these errors and I didn't understand what I have done wrong.

I had to restart the Prototype 2 and do it very carefully. I observed which each code what could have went wrong. I discovered that I have started doing errors at "5. Keep the player inbounds" with the brackets. In this Lesson we were able to make the Player's character move from left to right and make the character stay within the playing area. After figuring out where I went wrong I carried on with ease. I chose woman for the players character and for the animals I chose a doberman, fox and black horse. I really disliked this lesson at first but I had lots of relief when I succeeded in the end.

In "Lesson 2.2 Food Flight" I could not implement a projectile which in my case it was a pizza.

I created a new script that I never used before, "DestroyOutOfBounds". I enjoyed this lesson and I found no difficulties. I learned to check my codes very carefully after Lesson 2.1. 

In "Lesson 2.3 Random Animal Stampede" I expected difficulties but I didn't have any. I made the animals spawn in every time they disappeared, this way the player can press the S key and animal would spawn randomly at the top. I also enjoyed this lesson as I did not find it difficult.

Game Vision Statement

Introduction

After receiving feedback from my professor in the Multimedia Development module on my ideas I have learned that my ideas are very complex. I won't have enough time to make any of my ideas except the pizza delivery one but that game idea was not satisfactory to me therefore I will take the bones of some of my ideas and form a new one that is less complicated and time consuming. I had difficulties before writing this blog post as I had to rush a structured idea before the deadline tonight.

In this blog post I will be discussing my Game Genre, Gameplay, Resources required, Link(s) to sources and Image(s).

• Game genre

The game genre I chose for my final project will be a survival/ obstacle game. In order to survive you cannot fall. This game might also be described as a platformer game where the player jumps higher than they would in real life and have to jump around these platforms to navigate the end to the stage. The target audience for this gameplay are dog lovers/ animal lovers. Games like this are usually appreciated by children or children about to step into their teenage lives as people that are around eighteen wouldn't play these games. 

• Gameplay

The player will enter the game and start it as a dog. In my original idea I wanted the player to choose their dog but since this would be time consuming to create many dog breeds I will choose one. The player will use the space key to jump and use the “W” key on the keyboard to move round. This is similar in Roblox as you control your character's direction with the camera and use the “W” key to move forward. There will be sound effects such as the dog barking or thumps every time the dog jumps and lands but there may also be background music if it will be possible to include it. The inspiration behind this project will be my own dog that is a chihuahua therefore I might use her to be the main character. The dog will be surrounded by the woods with natural light shining through the trees. The obstacles will be logs, rocks etc. The colour scheme and aesthetic will consist of nature therefore greens, blues and browns. There will be checkpoints for the player whenever they fail to complete a stage in the obstacle course successfully as restarting the game completely would discourage further enjoyment. The background won't change as the player reaches every checkpoint as I feel like this will be more complex and I wouldn't be able to achieve this in eight weeks. I will implement as many stages as possible until the deadline therefore I cannot estimate how many stages I will make.

• Resources required

The resource’s required for my game will include Unity Hub. In my module we have been learning to use this for weeks now and we can finally put it into use ourselves without tutorials. I will try to record my best friends dog as makes sounds like barking therefore I will have sound effects coming from the dog character in the game but if I cannot do this I will try to find suitable sound effects from the internet and Harvard reference. Although the dog sound effects might become secondary I can make primary sound effects such as thumps whenever the dog lands from a jump mechanic, running mechanic etc. I will try to do my own background music for the game and if not I will not use any copyrighted music as i’m sure it wouldn’t be allowed. I will use the Unity Hub tutorials we have been doing for weeks as I have mentioned before to implement some codes for my own game and youtube tutorials from creators that also use Unity Hub for codes that have not been included in the Unity tutorials.

• Link(s) to sources.

https://gamequiche.com/2015/02/24/dog-hotel-mobile-free-to-play-review-mans-best-friend-just-got-friendlier/

https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/print/posters/chase-swift-corgi-jumping-over-obstacle-at-dog-agility-competition_a-L-8665233-14258389.jpg

https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/799459371333562095/

https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=unity+hub+tutorials

• Image(s). Find at least one image that you think you could use, something that really represents your game. As always, include image information.

Park, A. (2015). Dog Hotel Mobile Free-to-Play Review -- Man’s Best Friend just got Friendlier. [online] GameQuiche. Available at: https://gamequiche.com/2015/02/24/dog-hotel-mobile-free-to-play-review-mans-best-friend-just-got-friendlier/ [Accessed 24 Oct. 2021].

I chose this image as one of the pictures that really represents my game as I will have a 3D obstacle game like this as I mentioned before. My game will be similar to this but the obstacle will be very different.

Allpostersimages.com. (2021). [online] Available at: https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/print/posters/chase-swift-corgi-jumping-over-obstacle-at-dog-agility-competition_a-L-8665233-14258389.jpg [Accessed 24 Oct. 2021].

This is another image that fits with the visual idea I have in my head. Hopefully I can make my game similar to the colour scheme in this image and the one below it.

Pinterest. (n.d.). Super Backyard Ideas For Dogs Diy Obstacle Course 63 Ideas | Backyard obstacle course, Kids obstacle course, Diy backyard. [online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/799459371333562095/ [Accessed 24 Oct. 2021].

I like this obstacle course and it would be aesthetic if I added a forest around it therefore this image is maybe the closest to what I have in mind for my game.

Games MDA

 Design, Dynamics & Experience (DDE) for Game design

I have never come across this topic therefore MDA and DDE are new things I have come across for this week’s reading. When I read the definition of MDA I thought Aesthetics would fall under Design therefore when I read it neglects design aspects then I started getting confused.

My favourite framework from this reading.

image source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Elemental-Tetrad-Adapted-from-Schell-2008-Retrieved-from_fig3_336069825

In this article I found the Elemental Tetrad to be the best framework. This diagram has the “more visible and less visible” spectrum that makes it so clear compared to the rest. 

I agree that Mechanics and Aesthetics are in fact directly connected. In my opinion they should be connected as game development should have a constant flow through all these aspects mentioned in the Tetrad. In MDA, they describe it like a ladder without steps that have “no connection”. I agree with Brian Winn in this article as MDA does focus on purely the outcome of entertainment from this framework and not the art that can go into serious games. 

I enjoyed reading this article as it showed me different pros and cons of each framework. For my project in this module I will come back to this reading and pick the suitable framework that would work for my game.

I don’t like Winn’s framework and even though it has more detail to it I feel like there it too much. Without an explanation I cannot understand this framework. I enjoyed the analogy of the car for MDA, “motor, gearbox and wheels”. It made me understand it more and for my final project I will not choose the MDA framework. DDE seems like the best option as it shows there is more to the game than just mechanics. I found this week’s reading to be the most challenging but informative.