Unity Tutorial 08

Image of my Unity Workspace

I found this week's Unity tutorial to be very interesting as well as, similar to last week, it really felt like we were adding polish/the final touches to an actual playable game rather than just following instructions purely for a lab project task. In this Unity tutorial we added enemy waves to the game so, which increased gradually by a factor of one upon defeating all the enemies of the previous wave. To achieve this we learned and integrated For-loops into our code. We also used For-loops to spawn a power up with each consecutive wave of enemies. This enemy wave system really made this feel like a legitimate game with challenge and replay value. 

Unity Challenge 4 workspace

I found this week's Unity challenge to be actually quite difficult, probably because many of the concepts we had learned through the process of following Unity Tutorial 4 were slightly more advanced than in passed challenges so spotting and changes even minor discrepancies proved to be quite a difficult task. Even the first problem proved difficult as it looked like a minor problem but involved such a long string of code that I did not feel confident in manipulating. Problem 3 an 5 were also difficult as I was not confident with the writing code unlike in the other problems that merely asked you to alter the code.

Week 9 Reading and Writing

Throughout the module I have tried to keep up with the reading tasks from week to week but always found them to be the least intuitive task. When it came to the informal readings (articles, videos, etc.), I thought they were relatively manageable, the language was easily comprehended and they were short enough to get through and take notes. The academic readings however, were a large task that I could never seem to complete in what I felt was a meaningful capacity. I was only ever able to get through a small portion of them in the time I had while taking notes and some of the language was too academically specific that I found myself having to interpolate my own understanding of the text into the notes to make them cohesive without complete confidence in if I was comprehending them properly or not.

My favourite reading so far has to be the reading task on Game Elements from Week 4. I found it to be the most interesting reading so far and was the only reading that's topic had me engaged and made me ponder the subject as I did the reading task. Formally reading the breakdown of a 'game' into it's fundamental elements was interesting to see, as unlike the other readings which I may have found interesting but had already learned about prior to this class, this was my first time reading this information comprehensively broken down.

Although the readings were interesting academic tasks to complete each week I felt that they were too related to the theory of games and game design that they became detached from the actual process of creating a game, especially in the short timeframe that we have in the module. The only reading I felt directly aided or impacted my process in this module was the reading on Game Design Documents which gave insight into what the goal and requirements of the Game Design Document task entailed.

I'm proudest of actually keeping up with most of the tasks in this module each week. That despite knowing that I could drop a task or two during the week that I was able to generally keep up pretty well with the class and complete most of the tasks that I could.

Image of my Unity 3D workspace

I chose this image for this blog post because it was one of the images from my first session creating the basic prototype for my game which was the first time that all the work and information that we had been accruing throughout the module finally came together. It's an image that concretely illustrates that I have been doing the work during the module, enough that I have at the very least this extremely basic product to show. It also reminds me of how difficult this whole process has been and how frustrating creating the final game actually is but also how fun and rewarding it can be, if it works.

Looking forward to the end of this module I'm honestly not entirely sur if the remaining reading tasks can/will aid in me completing my game but at the very least if they're interesting they could come in useful after this module is over.

Tech Task: Fake Social Media Generator

 

Made using Fake Twitter on Simitator

In this week's Tech Task I created a Fake Social Media Post using the Fake Twitter option on Simitator. I had not previously thought about using a premade generator for things like this before.

Unity Tutorial 07

Image of my Unity Workspace

This Unity Tutorial was easily my favourite tutorial we've done this module by far. This was the first tutorial that felt like we were making an actual, fun game instead of just a basic proof of concept showcase of a game. In this tutorial we created an isometric rolling ball sumo game. This began with creating a central point with an empty object and attaching the camera to the object so that the camera would rotate around the stage. This was used in conjunction with Local Coordinates to change the 'definition' of forward for the player to match the direction of the camera which made for a very interesting control system. One of the most interesting things that we learn in this tutorial is how to implement a sort of pseudo-AI to the enemy sphere to make it follow the player around the stage. We also learned about physics material which altered the physical properties of assets which was a very interesting concept which we used to give each sphere a 'bounce'. We also learned how to add Powerups in this tutorial which is something I thought about implementing into my own game. We learnt the whole process of incorporating the power up from collection, to ability, to activating an indicator. This was definitely the most fun and interesting tutorial for me by far.

Game Fun

 Reading Week 8 “Game Fun"

Games can be described by the 3 components Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) or otherwise stated as rules – system – “fun”. The three reading selections this week and the synopsis below all address the term “fun” in relation to game design.

There are eight types of Fun outlined by the MDA. These eight are both a source of reference and player experience that blend together in many ways, and essentially what makes a game engaging and enjoyable.

Figure 1: Eight kinds of Fun

Both Oxford and Merrian dictionaries define Fun as an enjoyment, delight but within the context of a game it refers to a form of pleasurable entertainment. MDA papers define the '8 kinds of fun' sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression, and submission, remain a source of reference and possibly the most popular list of player interactions combining in various forms to attract each player to a particular game.

Nicole Lazzaro presents four types of fun that are involved in defining how fun a game can be for different players.

• Easy Fun:  This is essentially for players who are new to a game who want to satiate their curiosity. 

• Hard Fun: It is essentially for people who love a good challenge.

• People Fun: Amusement from competition and cooperation. Meaning Co-op. 

• Serious Fun: Excitement from changing the player and their world.

Figure 2: From A Theory of Fun 10 Years On: Fun Is Just Another Word for Learning

Flow also has an influence on the feeling of “fun”. The concept of Flow is characterized as a balance between skill-challenge and the individual's enjoyment. When in flow the player is focused on the activity they are participating in. This gives a sense of reward and promotes further engagement in the activity.

Flow theory provides a good framework for analysing motivation in gaming activities, in particular enjoyment, engagement and positive affect.

Figure 3: Graph showing the flow zone, where the game is not too easy where the players abilities are very high (Boredom), but also not too hard that the player is unable to complete the challenge (anxiety).

Fun has everything to do with learning. “Fun is just the dopamine in our brains firing when we are presented with a new situation to learn from” Koster (2005) discussed about this saying that the different patterns that we take in helps our brain especially when it comes to enjoying a video game cause once you understand the many patterns that it offers you your brain has nothing to feed off making it unenjoyable to play anymore. Fun provides the brain with feedback of the game allowing it to observe and learn different patterns/sequences within. 

Games help people to become more imaginative, engaging with their creative side of the brain and creating new ideas/designs that can be implemented in games.

Being more creative when developing your game will help you see what challenges the player may face and what ones will help further improve the progression and also add to the player's determination to complete the story.

Balance is an even proportion or distribution of elements to keep them at a steady rate. When playing chess, we learn about strategy, tic tac toe teaches us about reading people’s mind about their next move and when we play games like civilisation or sim it teaches us resource management. When playing games we should be provided with a balance of fun and challenges. These are called either type 1 or type 2 games and these have their own unique way of being played. The type 1 games involve strategy and thinking to complete these games such as in Chess or Poker whereas type 2 games mainly involve quick reflexes and combo memorization in games such as “Mortal Kombat and Call of Duty”

The GameFlow model shows that the inherent structure of games is associated with the experience of flow and enjoyment during gaming, at least for strategy games.) As stated by Kaye and Byrce (2012) “a large body of research has investigated the negative effects of playing video games” yet “there has been less examination of the psychological experiences associated with the activity”

We come across different types of fun in games that fulfil our amusement. Fun in games is provided in many different ways for example through socialising with friends or exploring the game world. People experience different emotions when driven by gameplay. Gameplay creates opportunities for “Flow”, “balance” and “learning”. 

References:

Velev, A., 2016. Gamification Design: What’S Fun Got To Do With It?. [online] Megamification. Available at:<http://www.megamification.com/727-2//> [Accessed 16 November 2020].

Kaye, L. and Bryce, J., 2012. Putting The “Fun Factor” Into Gaming: The Influence Of Social Contexts On Experiences Of Playing Video Games. Available at: <https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/9632557.pdf/> [Accessed 16 November 2020].

 

The Game Overanalyser., 2020. A Theory of Fun for Game Design | Raph Koster and The Art of Designing Fun Games. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sZJYA06z7Y&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=TheGameOveranalyser/> [Accessed 16 November 2020].

Project Prototype 1: The Beginning

 

Images of my Unity 3D workspace

Today I spent a few hours beginning my actual game for the this module. I will admit right off the bat that this is already proving to be a very difficult process and will continue to be with each step forward. I began the process by sourcing all the assets I needed for the project for free from the Unity Assets Store. I was lucky enough to find the assets that I require for the project quite quickly and compactly which allowed me to begin the process. It was not a completely negative process however because it was honestly quite fun to build and layout all the assets in Unity to create my first prototype level but that was about where the fun ran out. This process took quite a bit of time and involved a lot of adjusting but at least it was creative. The next step I took was to implement the moving platform which is highlighted in the second image which was a matter of adding an animation to the object manually which was a new process for me but was luckily wasn't too difficult. Once all the basic assets were laid out I began the coding for the prototype which proved to be extremely confusing and difficult but also a little rewarding at times.

Image of my C# script for my player so far

I began the coding by writing an extremely basic bare bones code to get the Car to move forward so I could test the actual stage elements themselves and adjust things like speed and placements. I then began the process of trying to further flesh out the controls. The process of writing the code for the prototype involved an immense amount of trial and error and rewriting of code as I tried to amalgamate and mix and match the basic knowledge I could remember from the Unity Tutorials while also attempting to find online sources that could possibly aid in the process. By the end of my session I had controls that somewhat resembled what I wanted but was very much not ideal and still requires an  immense amount of reworking but it serves as a working proof of concept for now. This session gave me a more realistic estimate and direction for my project moving forward.

Tech Task: Animated GIF Maker

GIF of illustration process

 I made my first animated gift for this week's Tech Task. It was a bit of a challenge finding a set of images to use for the GIF and have them all align without using copyrighted material or reposting work I've already shown but while rummaging through my files I found several images from my attempt at converting my journal sketch to a digital piece which fit all the criteria for a GIF.

Unity Tutorial 06

Image of the Unity Game

In this week's Unity Tutorial we added more flourishes to our infinite runner game to make it feel more like a finished game. This involved adding an explosion of smoke particle effect when the player and object collides and also adding a dirt trail to the players feet to further feign movement to the player. This tutorial introduced particles and the expanded Inspector for particles in Unity which was far more expansive with more options than the Inspectors for other assets so far. Adding the particle effects and having them trigger on and off when needed was actually far easier and more intuitive than I expected as compared to many of the other processes we've had to undertake so far. We also added audio to the game in the form of both music and sound effects which facilitated learning about elements like Audio Listeners and Audio Sources. Music was added to loop for the entirety of the game and sound effects were added for both jumping and upon colliding with an object. Like the particle effects it was surprisingly easier than expected to attach these elements to their specific triggers. Overall this lessons helped to make the game look far more finished and polished than any of the other past games we've made in Unity. Challenge 3 helped to highlight how large of an effect small errors in the code can affect an overall game.

Image of Challenge 3

Game Design Document

Picture of Monster Truck from pxfuel

This week we had to create a Game Design Document which is a live document which is pivotal in giving the next stage of the project direction. Unlike what seems to be the majority of my peers, I decided to use Google Slides to create my GDD because I just personally like how easy it is to rearrange my information in it.  To create my document I followed a template provided here titled "Calling All Cars Game Design Document". It was relatively easy to follow and I omitted and added sections as needed. I tried to make the document as comprehensive as possible for now but I will be updating it throughout the process of my game.

My GDD Here 

Game Fun and Flow

 

Video

“In order for the player to be optimally engaged, challenges should be presented at a level equivalent or slightly higher than their current skill. Not too easy, not too hard”(Gigity McD)

The word 'flow state' was coined by Csikszentmihalyi (1975) also known as being “in the zone” This is when the player is fully engaged in the game experience. Csikszentmihalyi put a lot of work into observing and analyzing various groups of people. This theory is focused on the idea of how people should balance their skills and the demands of particular tasks. An example of Flow would be a challenge in a game that interests the player such as a puzzle or a boss battle meant to keep the player interested and not get bored. Csikszentmihalyi also states that flow is related to an ideal psychological condition when a person engages in a challenge-skill activity, often resulting in concentration and a focused emphasis on a task.

A practical technique for improving Flow is to look at what players like and find interesting, it is an invaluable resource as this will give you a better understanding of how to structure your game in a way it flows naturally without affecting the players’ experience and enjoyment. If the player has a high skill set and the game is not a challenge, the player will become disinterested and lose interest in the game. The game must allow the player to grow and learn with each challenge or obstacle so as to stay motivated to continue.

If the player has little to no skill set and the game is too challenging, then the player will become frustrated with anxiety and lose interest in the game as well. A flow chart helps to prevent the game from being too boring or too difficult(create anxiety) which makes the game more successful in terms of achieving Flow. 

The x axis is the player's skill and the y axis is the challenge. When the player starts off, the challenges are easy in order to introduce the player to the game system. Overtime, this will  increase the player's skill. After the player has progressed through the game the challenges get more difficult. This is known as the flow channel and is the ideal place to maintain the player in the flow state. If the challenges are too easy the player will become bored of the game. If the challenges are extremely difficult for the player, the player will get overwhelmed, frustrated or fed up with the game. This is the point where the player reaches the anxiety state of the flow map.

Studies have found Cook (2008) that there are both positive and negative consequences with game flow. The positive representing cognitive flow   “composed of challenge-skill balance, clear goals, and unambiguous feedback,” and a negative element viewed as the emotional flow “composed of action- awareness merging, concentration on the task at hand, sense of control, loss of consciousness, and time transformation.” In the development of computer games, designers must be aware of these two characteristics when developing games.

References

Numinous.productions. Dan Cook 2008. Building A Princess Saving App. Available at: <https://numinous.productions/ttft/assets/Cook2008.pdf> [Accessed 9 November 2020].

McD, Gigity (14th June 2018). What is FLOW THEORY in game design? - The Basics - (Part 1). Game Design with Michael, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H8pQyyXxHg

Sanjamsai S, Phukao P. 2018 Flow experience in computer game playing among Thai university students. Available at: <shorturl.at/rtvGM> [Accessed 9 November 2020].

2nd Paper explaining Flow theory and its connections to Learning

(Introduction for Second Paper)

Flow state?

The state in which the player is in full focus to complete a certain task or section.

Flow state can be identified as one’s maximum focus, dedication and immersion of a game. 

A state where the player is actively engaged in the game

Flow state is the emotions experienced when the activity is going favorably.

Flow Map?

The X axis is the player's skill and the Y axis is the challenge. When the player starts off, the challenges are easy in order to introduce the player to the game system. Overtime, this will  increase the player's skill. After the player has progressed through the game the challenges get more difficult. This is known as the flow channel and is the ideal place to maintain the player in the flow state. If the challenges are too easy the player will become bored of the game. If the challenges are extremely difficult for the player, the player will get overwhelmed, frustrated or fed up with the game. This is the point where the player reaches the anxiety state of the flow map.

Ideal Flow State: Challenge the player - Obtain flow state - Maintain flow state.

Boredom: When the player has a high skill set and the challenge is too easy. This causes them to lose interest..

Anxiety: When the challenge is too hard for the player causes them to lose interest..

To challenge the player by not making the game too easy that the player becomes bored but also not making it too difficult to make the player give up.

How can we adapt our game to deal with the two points above?

By making the challenges harder when time goes by and the player gains more skill.

The learning curve for games has a similar path for the flow state curve. 

‐ Remove extra features

‐ Focus only on the task at hand.

Here’s the learning curve for a game. You can pick up a well made game and start enjoying it

in a few minutes. The better games have weeks of learning.

They steadily crank up your skills at a much faster pace than most applications. There is no

dreaded dip where users are struggling to acquire the next level of expertise.

Hacks:

‐ Segmenting features by user skill level,

‐ Layering less commonly used or expert features so they are out of the way.

‐ Creating a unifying UI metaphor that lets users understand new tools more easily.

‐ Elegant information architecture and clean visual design.

‐ Use skills that people already know. Don’t force them to learn anything new!

Academic Paper

This study was based on the flow theory of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. A cross sectional study was performed to examine flow experience in computer game playing among university students and to identify behavior that led to positive consequences and addictive behavior. Multi-stage sampling was conducted to select a sample of 478 university students aged 18- 24 years old who usually play computer games. Data were collected using the assessment instruments of computer game addictive behavior and perception of the consequences from game playing.

Based on exploratory factor analysis, the construct of flow experience could be divided into two dimensions: 1) cognitive flow which was composed of challenge-skill balance, clear goals, and unambiguous feedback, and 2) emotional flow which was composed of action- awareness merging, concentration on the task at hand, sense of control, loss of con-sciousness, and time transformation. 

However, the state of flow in computer game playing was indeed a key factor that could perpetrate positive or negative outcomes.

It’s recommended that youth-related organizations should promote cognitive flow experiences to develop the self-improvement of computer game players rather than emotional flow experiences which can cause contentment, intense concentration, and low

consciousness and physical impacts.

Flow theory has been considered as a comprehensive theory to explain both sides of the impact from computer game playing because the state of flow refers to what happens when children are playing computer games that involve enjoyment, challenging, reacting, active thinking, feeling, and behaving (Voiskounsky, 2010). Flow theory was developed by Mihaly Csikszentmaha-lyi, and describes a state of concentration or complete ab-sorption with the activity at hand and the situation (Csikszentmihalyi,1997). The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing. However, too much involvement In flow by being over absorbed and engaged for example, can harm children, since they might obsess with the state of enjoyment but ignore self-care and interpersonal relationships (Chiang, Lin, Cheng,& Liu, 2011). Therefore, flow is considered as the state leading to either positive or negative consequences in computer game playing.

The flow experience structure in the context of

computer-game-playing behavior was different from the

original theory's structure and could be divided into

Cognitive flow and emotional flow. In particular, if a player had a cognitive flow experience to evaluate, analyze, plan, set a goal, and become aware of self-improvement, he/she would be more likely to have a positive outcome. On the contrary, if a player had emotional flow experience causing contentment, intense concentration, and low

consciousness, it could cause psychological and physical

impacts.

From this study, organizations related to children and adolescents' affairs, science and technology, software industry promotion, education, and public health should encourage children to play a game in a positive way.

This study could be applied in other contexts for social benefit, such as flow experience in work, flow experience in playing sport, workflow experience in playing music.

References

Numinous.productions. Dan Cook 2008. Building A Princess Saving App. Available at: <https://numinous.productions/ttft/assets/Cook2008.pdf> [Accessed 9 November 2020].

McD, Gigity (14th June 2018). What is FLOW THEORY in game design? - The Basics - (Part 1). Game Design with Michael, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H8pQyyXxHg

Sanjamsai S, Phukao P. 2018 Flow experience in computer game playing among Thai university students. Available at: <shorturl.at/rtvGM> [Accessed 9 November 2020].

Games GDD

Image of Administrative Paperwork from Wikimedia Commons

What is the GDD for?

A Game Design Document (GDD) is a blueprint for the design and development of a game.

The GDD is a way of being creative and documenting the approach to the development of the game. Gonzale (1999) states that “ the important thing is to have something that describes your game project (or any other project for that matter) before jumping into production.( Gamasutra ) It should help to plan out your game. Though it is recommended that the GDD should be short it needs to be detailed enough so as game developers and artists can coordinate the development of the game independently whilst still keeping to the design. The GDD is a blueprint for how the game is going to be designed and built, similar to a mind map. In conclusion, the game design document is vital to making a game and it is important to have in order to describe your game project.

How do we make one?

There are a variety of tools that could be used to create a GDD. These include word processing tools, visual tools like Powerpoint, or new web-based tools such as DunDoc. Each of these tools has their advantages and are a personal choice. Many of the examples shared via the internet are in Microsoft Word format. Romero Games(creators of Doom) favour a more visual tool such as PowerPoint. Whichever tool is used they should support the development of the game in an open and transparent manner.

What should be in it?

The GDD should be simple enough to read through details about your game design and concept. Schubert (2007), who was at the time lead designer for Bioware Austin, gave a GDC talk in about how to create design documentation, some of the most relevant elements include:

1. Know your target.- Have a clear vision and understanding of what you want to make. Make sure your game is suitable and fits your target audience.

2. Keep it short.  Keep it to the point and clear, the shorter they are, the easier it is to read, write, and maintain.

3. Prioritize the design.  - Divide your game in order of importance e.g have a functional game. Concentrate on core mechanics and visuals, and then expand. 

4. Illustrate. - Draw sketches of your plans that make it easier to structure and implement. Present what your game would look like as it’s important to have a clear idea of the visuals before you begin creating.

5. Use user stories.- Describing the game through the player’s vision (Similar to what we did in the game vision statement).

Take into account the games users, their ideas may help develop future storylines or ideas.

6. Invest in a good format. Take the time to structure your work so that it is easy to navigate.

7. Use clear terminology. Don’t over-complicate the document. Make sure language is concise and accessible.

8. Kill redundancy.  -Recycle your code - use variables, not hard code). Always reference the new section on your page to have a clean document. Avoid copy and pasting sections.

9. Capture your reasoning - why did you make the choices you made? What led to that thought process?

References

Nachen, Lennart. 2014 Communication and Game Design Documents accessed 02/11/2020 http://acagamic.com/game-design-course/communication-and-game-design-documents/

Ferns, Shaun (2020) Readings Week 06 accessed 02/11/2020 https://cdmonline.ie/multidev1/reading-week-06/ 

 Gonzalez Leandro. 2016 How to Write a Game Design Document accessed 02/11/2020 

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LeandroGonzalez/20160726/277928/How_to_Write_a_Game_Design_Document.php

Unity Tutorial 05

Screenshot of my Unity Progress

In this Unity 3D tutorial we learned how to make a side scrolling endless runner. Although a lot of the basic mechanics such as button inputs, creating Prefabs, and destroying off screen objects were carried over from previous tutorials we also learned how to implement what I consider to be the core mechanics of endless runners which are the repeating backgrounds and the obstacle spawning. We also learned skills that could be carried into other game designs such as more detail on applying physics and collisions onto objects. We also learned more about object collision and what you can do with object collisions such as affecting multiple components through a single collision and triggering animations. In this tutorial we also learned about script communication which was a interesting but seemingly daunting task as having individual scrips interact puts a high risk of disrupting certain systems by making even changes and errors in one of the scripts. The part of the tutorials I found most interesting was implementing animation onto the Player Character. We learned about animation systems and how to trigger animations. I found animation how animations linked and transitioned and learning about the different "levels" or states that can be triggered through different requirements to be very interesting.