Beta

Dillon Eagers Beta Stage

Beta

I feel That for someone who has been struggling with Unity throughout this course I have actually got a good bit done the last few weeks. I unfortunately do not have a playable character or a collectible/ pickup made however over the last two weeks I did manage to get the following things into my finished unity project.

• Adding a rigid body, the plain to prevent items such as houses from falling through the map.
• Adding terrain to the layout of the map
•           Kinematic to prevent players from pushing the invisible wall I made to prevent players from getting through it and falling off the map.
•           I added a skybox around my map in order to stop the players from accessing areas outside of the map when using the player/ or exploring the map.
•       Using and manipulating boxes in order to form the shape of a house.
•        Using the materials given in my assets folder to develop textures for the map such as brown for the mountain, green for the grass and cobblestone gray for the village roads.
•       Adding multiple houses to the map with the manipulated boxes texture to make buildings for village aesthetic.
•       Added a wall to separate the mountain side from the villages aesthetic/to make park section for the map.

(Note: I did wish to get a tree texture to add to the map for more aesthetic for the wilderness and was also hoping t add a lake and castle design to the park.)

What I am Finding Difficult

I was having an Issue with trying to build a lake in the park area of my map (I did try using the jimmy Vegas tutorials available however they were unfortunately a bit updated with the layout I was using for my game. I also had an issue with finding a reliable video for how to make a character for my game with animations and a video on how to make collectibles to pickup around the map (which were going to be the powerups for my game.

How I am meeting my targets Set in my plan

When making target plans I did the following things in order to meet them

1. The first thing that I did was mark out goals per week through my blogs in order to look back through them and work from them
2. The second thing I did was write the goals out for what I wanted to focus on in my game throughout the week (set weekly goals such as , acquiring textures and making a plain layout fr my map.
3. The third thing I did was I did out sketches to help visualize how I wanted things to be made in my Unity game such as the map layout that can be seen below , or general Items I wished to make for the map like hoses made out of generic shapes( although they were edited in my final one from a pyramid roof to a re positioned square for the houses roof.
4. The final piece to these methods were adding the following ideas int unity which proved pretty good overall.

I did however have an issue with time in the end and feel that I should have gotten a playable character for the player , as well as a pickup item for the characters power up in the game. I feel that when it came to planning out my game in my blogs there was issue, however when bringing it to screen through the Unity program that was were I began to struggle as I had to learn how to change certain aspects of my game in order to make the game from a technical standpoint. It did prove more challenging , as I could not download the unity program on my laptop as it was too big, so I had to stick with working with  it on the college macs which were a challenge in of itself to me as I only started using them for the first time last year.

I also would like to mention that by re watching the following Jimmy Vegas videos I :managed to get a lot done on my map in the end.

Video 1:  How to make a game for free 001- introduction- Unity Tutorial by Jimmy Vegas link here

Video 2: How to make a game for free 002-textures/materials- Unity Tutorial by Jimmy Vega link here

Video 3: How to make a game for free 003-C coding- Unity Tutorial by Jimmy Vegas link here

Video 4: How to make a game for free 004- Improved Graphics - Unity Tutorial by Jimmy Vegas link here

Images

Alpha

Dillon Eagers Project week 9

Link to image :here

Alpha

I unfortunately do not have a alpha stage for this assignment complete yet as I have been struggling extremely with the Unity program to make my game as I have stated in previous project blogs, However I do feel with the work I have done this week to correct this error below that I will honestly have much better progress with the Unity stage in the coming weeks up to deadline.

Whats working and what I am finding difficult

While working on this assignment I feel that the following things have been working for me quite well overall these include.

• Keeping up with the weekly blogs each week both with submitting them on time and assuring they have the content required in order to complete the task.
• I have been looking at ways t simplify my unity problem through YouTube tutorials n things such as environment design and character design as well as how to things on unity like manipulate shapes and sizes.
• Having finally sketched out concepts for things to make in unity such as the prototypes I have been struggling to produce the past few weeks.
• Keeping up on the feedback from the lecturer weekly through audio messages to see were I can improve overall.
• Looking at other medias for inspiration such as films/ game franchises and peoples opinions on the game design industry

However I do also feel there is things in which I need to improve on such as

• Making the environment in unity for my game or at least prototypes
• Making the characters for my game or at least prototypes
• Making buildings for my games village
• making a swan ( antagonist for the game)
• Making objects( such as lamp posts, ice cream cones for power ups etc) for the game or at least prototypes
• Trying to do the weekly extra credit stuff to get my marks up a little
• Doing mst of my blogs at the start of the week to have more free time to work on things later in the week( although I feel I am improving a lot on this one point.)

I have started focusing more on Unity and have even drawn up sketch concepts n what I am going to make for my game these include the following items.

1. The games map: I figure the best way for me to position everything was to make a map of how the layout could look with some planning from an overhead perspective. This sketch concept can be seen below.
   
2. Character design: This was the best way fr me to make my characters (police officer one, police officer 2 and the antagonist the swans) design using shapes to form their body features. This sketch can be seen below if you are curious how it looked.
   
3. Building designs:In order to make the village look like it has more variety when it comes to its architecture I added 6 concept for building designs using common shapes I can easily find and use on unity such as squares, triangles and circles. These images can be seen below.
   
   
   
   
4. Objects/ Possible obstacles: These sketches I did up were of things I could add to the map to add variety and to give the world more character. these included lamp posts, ice cream cone designs for power ups to match the cornetto joke from the movie and parking stops for cars to add more design to the empty sidewalks of the city. These concept sketches can be seen below.
   
5. Textures for items on map:The final thing that I considered was textures I could add to my games map such as the following

• Tarmac texture for roads
• Cobblestone texture for pathways and sidewalks
• Grass textures for parks, fields and gardens
• fence textures for walls, fences
• Water textures for ponds

All of these textures can be seen in the image below this text.

Meeting My Targets

I feel with making these concept sketches for how I can make realistic things in Unity in the time I still have left, that it has given me plenty of ideas to work with for the next few weeks and although I am nervous about continuing to use the Unity program I like that I have a more solid and realistic  game plan and can start working from what I have produced from this and to hopefully add more in from my previous blogs game ideas such as sound etc. 

Conclusion

I feel I have a lot of work in the coming weeks particularly in unity , but also feel if i stay up to date with my blogs , as well as start building my items in unity that it will pay off overall in the long run.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my project post week and am looking forward to receiving some more feedback overall.

prototype "first playable "

Dillon Eagers: Project week 8

So for my progress on my project in week 8 , I am focusing on rewatching videos from the first few Jimmy Vegas tutorial videos so That I can make the following things in unity in the coming weeks. These include the following.

(1) Jimmy Vegas tutorial one here will be to focus on things such as  

• To learn controls better on unity (move around, zoom etc)
• How to  use Play button  to try game .
• How to use inspector panels
• Object settings such as making shapes to build buildings in my game.
• The use of assets
• Positioning
• How to scale objets for different sizes.
• Use of box collider

(2) Jimmy Vegas tutorial two here will focus on

• How to add textures/ assets
• How to raise terrain for mountains and dips for lakes
• How to paint textures
• How to change opacity and smooth height

(3) Jimmy Vegas tutorial three here will focus on 

• Adding items to terrain such as trees and grass (will be beneficial in making countryside aspect of my map)
• How to change opacity/ shade of colour on sections and items
• Player addition
• First look at script

I have also been watching videos by this youtuber called Aaron Hibberd as he shows how to make a character from scratch using only basic shapes such as spheres and cylinders. This may prove beneficial in making not only the swan for my game but also the two cop characters. He also has videos on how to as moving mechanics to the character you design which may prove beneficial in my coming weeks.

Link to image from video here

I have also recently began looking back over other peoples videos on unity that were recently uploaded on wakelet which is linked here . 

I feel that the list of actions below is my best approach for the coming weeks in trying to progress on unity and I feel that I need to start working on this as soon as possible. i am hoping t have the following items at least started next monday and hopefully work from there on progressing it in the coming weeks.

1. Making the map layout for the game
2. Making items to create the village such as shapes to look like buildings such as squares and rectangles.
3. To add textures such as colour, lighting , trees, roads and objects to look like lamposts. 
4. I also need to look over how to add certain textures such as grass or cobblestone walk paths for example.
5. The final thing I need to start working on is the 3 characters, the two police officers and the swan.(Note: I can worry about hopefully adding random pedestrian npcs later to make the village look more detailed)

I do realise also that I will probably have to scrap certain levels maybe focus on just one or two at most at the moment as it give me a realistic project to make in the time I am given to make it in the coming weeks.

Overall as I have been discussing each week the technical making aspect on unity 3D game engine has been my biggest challenge during this game development process and I feel that I need to just focus on producing a little bit more each week from Unity to get my Game back on track overall. I feel I have been doing ok on the research aspect of the game ,as well I have been keeping up with my blog comments each week.

"Prototype"

Prototype

Link to image: here

Progress and Difficulties

One thing I have been feeling I have been successful in doing fro the progression of my assignment is keeping up to date on my blogs each week ,as well as keeping up to date on my blog comments on fellow game developers/creators who also seem to be struggling with unity as much as I am. I feel this has been quite beneficial as not only have I seen that I am not the only person struggling with these issues but I am also getting good advice on things I can improve in my game in the future such as possibly adding abilities and  or powers for the players to unlock and  also the possibility of playing as both the protagonists( the cops) and the antagonist (the swan adding) a whole new factor to the game of being either good or bad and overall affecting the players choices in the game.

Below are other things I have started considering on my game which to me shows how much I am progressing overall

• Game decisions Choices 
• Story
• Characters
• Levels
• Art style/design
• Controls/User interface
• Sound/audio
• Gameplay
• Game genre I wish to pursue

However in exploring these topics there have also been challenges/difficulties I have found along the way. One of which is trying to figure out how to use unity for making things for my game such as hills ,objects , textures,etc. I am finding this to be the most difficult , as i need this in order to make my game overall and it is the key reason I am struggling to not only upload weekly blogs on my unity tutorials by Jimmy Vegas but also in adding images of my prototype of this game I wish to make.

How I am setting the targets set in my plan

Overall I feel when I came to planning and designing my game I made some good progress, however I do feel I need a lot more work on things such as making the game itself in the unity program ,as well as prepping ahead and doing my stuff on the Monday so that I not only am sure I have everything submitted ahead of time incase i need to make changes ,but will also have time to work on other assignments for other modules as at the moment I feel everything is a bit overwhelming. I do feel in the end if I can get a handle on these two issues i should have no problem in the future aspect of this assignment and hopefully be able to make an enjoyable game for the user in the long run.

Game Design Document

Game Design Document

I decided to make my GGD using a site called Dunroc there is a link to it Here

My GGD

For my Game Design Document I have decided to focus on the following aspects of the game as can be seen below.

Story: The story is about you ,one of two cops/ police officers that is tasked with catching swans that have escaped. Throughout the game trying to catch them across different levels. 

Characters: The characters you will see in the game are the two police officers of which will be the only two playable characters, the swans they are trying to catch along with the guy from the intro who gives you the task and random villager npcs that will be there mainly for aesthetic purposes 

environmental levels: The game will consist of 4 levels the first being the intro level on castle grounds, the second being the garden level taking place around a garden/ greenhouses with items such as gardening equipment you have to avoid, for the third it will be based around the back alleys of village estate and the final level will take place around the town square. Below are some visual perspectives to help imagine said settings and all were found from the site Movie locations, as can be found here

1. Level 1: Castle Grounds
2. Level 2: Garden level
3. Level 3: Back alleys of housing estates
4. Level 4 Final level: Town Square

Note: If you finish the game once you unlock both police officers which gives new dialog to the player for incentive to replay levels again.

Gameplay

"Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game" The way in which a player will interact within the game is by avoiding obstacles through levels by hopping over them or walking around them. By picking up power-ups such as ice cream cones to help the player in a way catch the swan easier, to even how the swan interacts when the player gets near it. It could also be how the players characters interact with each other, the swan or how differently the act when using a power up in the game.

Art Description

The art style of this game I feel should be a mix of colorful to match the village's warm countryside  feeling/ aesthetic, with an almost comic style to it also ,as it will match the action style of the hero the two examples I am getting inspiration from are linked below 

Inspiration 1 Untitled Goose game:The reason I chose this title again as I have mentioned it in many of my blogs is because I personally love how the creator/creators of the game gave it such a colorful almost pop are style to design as it really brings color and warmth to the setting.

Link to image here

Inspiration 2 Scott pilgrim vs the world game:  The reason I chose this title was because the art style they used which was a comic art format really helped improve the action scenes in the game aesthetically.This I feel could be very beneficial to the intense chasing scenes in my game ,as well as help show off the environments a lot more. 

Link to image 2 here

Sound/audio: For the sounds in the game I wish to keep the village soundtrack from the  actual hot fuzz movie as the main theme, But have placed a list below of considerations for other things.

• Main background soundtrack for each of the levels here ( I chose this as it has a comical beat to it ,which would help add a comical aspect to the levels as the two bumbling police officers chase after and try to catch the swan.
• The second sound I wanted to add was this more intense upbeat song here ,which would only play in the game when the character acquires a power-up 
• Other sounds I did consider having were morning village ambiance here to add a relaxing feeling before the intensity of the game soundtrack kicks in.
• One thing I have also considered was adding audio quotes from characters through out the movie with some of the npc's from the levels using them to make the environment more relatable to the film

User interface/ controls

The controls I will be using are the following as the game will be made as a mac/ pc game these are the following controls.

• Using the up don left right button to move in said direction
• Using the space button in order to jump over obstacles that may get in your was such as bins or walls
• Using the mouse to be able to look around the game environment as you move through it.
• Enter button to select between items, Characters/levels
• Pause button to pause game whenever you need it
• Mute button/ volume button to control games audio settings.

My thoughts

Overall I feel that I gained a lot more insight in the things I need to consider working on for the game as well as developing more of a structure for it using the site Dundoc. I feel more confident going forward with this game although there are still a few tweaks I need to work out also. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it .

"Game Vision Statement"

Game Vision Statement by Dillon Eagers

Link to image here

For this weeks project I am focusing on the following  items of interest.

Game Genre

From researching other games I wish to make is a puzzle game in which  you control one of two police officers trying to catch numerous swans around a village within a timer. This will give the players both challenge to complete the task within a time frame , as well as to give them incentive to play again to beat their score giving the game replay ability status. I chose this status due to looking up what the genre of "untitled goose game" was, as It was the biggest inspiration to my game idea due to the warm village art style through warm colors  of its environment to the capability that the unity game engine could give me in creating this environment.

Here is a link to the info page where I got the type of game genre "Untitled Goose Game" , as well as other information about the title was from. Click here

I also Placed this link as I also used Wikipedia to look up the definition for puzzle video games. Click here.

Gameplay

For this I first looked up the definition of gameplay  using Google ,as can be seen in the link here states that "gameplay is the feature of a video game , such as its plot and the way it is played, as distinct from the graphics to the sound effects."

Here is an example I got fro, Wikipedia of the "Untitled Goose game" Gameplay information

"Set in an apparently middle class English village, Untitled Goose Game sees players control a goose which can honk, run, flap its wings, and grab objects with their beak to bother various human villagers. The village is split up into multiple areas, which each have a to-do list of objectives to accomplish, such as stealing certain objects or tricking humans into doing certain actions. When enough of these objectives are cleared (one less than the total amount present), an additional objective is added which, once cleared, allows the goose to move onto the next area. After completing four areas, the goose enters a miniature model of the village. There, the goose steals a bell before going back through the previous areas while the villagers try to stop them. In the game’s ending, it is revealed the goose had previously stolen many bells prior to the game's events. There are also several hidden optional objectives, many of which require traversing between multiple areas or completing an area within a time limit."

Link to info here

I also made a link to a video of 11 minutes of gameplay from "Untitled goose game" I got from YouTube click here.

Resources Required

When researching essential Resources I would require I looked up "Resources required when making a 3D game" and I ended up coming across a person called David Arcila , The curator of the ZEEF game development research page, click here for information on page. He mentions the seven essential resources to have when making a 3D game. These are the following.

• Resource one: Lay out the plan so that you can do things such as define what your game is about.
• Resource two: Tell a good story using things such as twine as it allows you to structure your narrative in a visual structure.
• Resource three: Get Agile using a project management system to allow you to organise tasks and get things done.
• Resource four: Tools using programs such as Unity  to start  allowing yourself to make a 3D based game using the engines tools.
• Resource five: Prototypes will allow you to track your games progress, as well as to allow the creator or creators of the game to progress independently.
• Resource six: Audio and sound  as it can improve a game greatly to the user/player of the game.
• Resource seven: Knowledge as it is important to learn as you go along from mistakes to things that progress the progress of making your 3D game.

I found this list of resources to be very helpful in giving me a better idea of resources required and to be considered when making a 3D game or any game for that matter. You can find the page I gathered the information from here

Link to image here

Overall I feel this blog was very helpful to write out as it gave me a look into  new perspectives that I did not consider especially in the piece i read about resource. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did.

"game Idea research"

Dillon Eagers Game research Ideas

Link to the image here 

For this blog I am doing research into the project topic "Game Mechanics".  The Idea I chose to continue researching was  my first idea which was a simulator where you  are trying to catch a swan as two goofy police officers as a parody of the iconic/comedic scene from hot fuzz where both police officers are trying to catch an escaped swan for one of the towns locals.  It would be a 3D game ,with an environment styled after the town of Wells where the film was made, or at least parts of the town. I also want to find a way to make the game more challenging so I considered  giving the levels time limits and goals keeping the player alert and focused on passing the level and giving it a challenge.

Overall I am finding it hard to describe 3 possible game mechanics as when I was looking up it I found it hard to find examples due to their being no definitive answer to what game mechanics are between academics and game designers . The only way I found to describe it is as an item/object/ moving platform and how the player responds/reacts to it. Like how Mario had to avoid being hit by barrels in "Donkeykong". The three Mechanics I decided to focus on today was

• How my character chasing the swan reacts to the powerups, (Which is by increasing his speed  or reach when chasing the swan).
• Having obstacles such as hedges,bushes, bikes and water that the player must avoid or it will slow them down giving the swan more distance to escape (adding challenge).
• How the swan(antagonist reacts) when the player grows nearer to it.

For inspiration on this idea/concept I came across a trailer for a PS4 game titled "The Unfinished swan" which when I watched it reminded me of the type of environment I would love to make in unity for my title which judging by the similarities is very doable  with the 3D options given to us by unity. I feel like This trailer really catches the perspective of  how I want to design the city/ Town in my game. I also took inspiration from a game called "Untitled goose game" as it was  a great use of design and color , as i feel it would really add the warm country village style I am interested in presenting in my game. 

• The unfinished swan trailer link here
• The untitled goose game game-play link here
• The Unfinished swan wiki page here
• The Untitled goose game Wikipedia here
• Film locations from the movie hot fuzz here

Possible ideas for the game

1. Add Cornetto Cones as Power ups  or ice-cream cones as a reference to the trilogy the movie is based off ( possibly aiding players speed/agility)
2. Make cover for game of game using hot fuzz logo but add swan recapture in red to add intensity and make it look more sinister for comedic purposes.
3. Use bits from movie soundtrack to edit into game to help with intro ,outre or upgrade sounds for protagonist.Soundtrack 1 here, Soundtrack 2 here
4. Add small references to the movie to bits from the movie (Easter eggs for the fans to find props ,characters, phrases etc.)

I feel good about this Idea overall and am looking forward to Researching and making it with unity in the coming weeks.

So in finishing up this blog I shall leave a link below tho the scene that inspired me to do this , as my game idea in the first place.Click here