"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.

"unity tutorial 03 "

Unity Clock Exercise

Link to image here

The Task for this week on Unity was to Build a clock using simple objects. I made the body of the clock by using the 3D shape of a cylinder and by removing its Cylinder (mesh filter) in the inspector menu. This overall helped in the process of making/form the shape of the clock. I personally found this weeks unity tutorial better than the previous two as I found it quite difficult to keep up with the Jimmy Vegas videos, were as this way was easier to keep it as it was just following the instructions from the document.  I am however still finding it find getting use to using scripts in Unity but am being optimistic that I will catch on soon enough. One more thing I m finding difficult getting use to is the controls in unity as for zooming in and out and moving up and down.

Overall this week made me feel better about unity as I have been struggling mainly in that part since starting back however. I still do not know how all the tools and settings work but feel I am am genuinely learning more as i go along with each week. I also place an image below i took with my phone camera of the program  while being made in Unity.

Dillon Eagers "Games MDA"

Games MDA

https://images.app.goo.gl/SAnwkS26Zs4xigAk6

The point of this weeks reading was to learn about MDA which stands for " Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics". This is a formal approach to understanding games one which attempts to bridge the gap between the following.

• Game Design
• Game Development
• Game criticism 
• Technical Game Research

This brief also goes onto detail on establishing their design counterparts. these counterparts can be seen below.

• Mechanics: Describes the particular component of the game through data representation and algorithms.
• Dynamics: which describes the players run time behaviors while  acting on players inputs to  each others outputs as time goes on.
• Aesthetics : this describes the emotional responses left by the player. (When describing the aesthetics of a game these are things to consider Sensation, Fantasy , Narrative , Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression and Submission).

1. Links to external site 1 here MDA framework by LeBlanc, Hunicki and Zabek. This link was very helpful in breaking down each of the things to consider in game MDA , as well as establishing their design counterparts.     
2.   Links to external site 2 here Designing to promote Intentional Play by Clint Hocking. Besides his Unique joke at the start I did like mainly how clink went into detail explaining the definition of words such as Intentionality and using examples through his playthroughs of games such as Donkey Kong 
3. Link to external site 3 here A brief description of MDA by Gamedeveloperstips.com. The reason I chose this one if it to me was much more clear and easy to understand the mechanics, Dynamics and aesthetics descriptions of Game Design. I overall felt it to be very much the same as the first link I read on MDA Framework by LeBlanc,Hunicki and Zabek.

Feedback Strategies

Feedback Articles

Link to image here 

For this week I focuses on reading  and focusing on two main articles .These articles included

Link to "what kind of message help a child grow"here

Link to "Five Reasons to stop saying Good Job" here

• "What kinds of messages help a kid grow".This article by Deborah Farmer Kris and focuses on the type of praise that should be given to preschoolers/kids from a young age  in order to shape a healthy mindset of how people learn and grow from it. I personally like how the article notes to replace Generic praise with Process Praise , as generic praise lacks instructional value. For example replacing things such as "good job" with "good job sharing with your sister" ,as these will tie the child's actions to their specific success and helping the child from a young age to Learn what is to be praised for and what is not to be praised for in the future for things such as school and work.The article also mentions the power of the word yet being used to encourage the child to keep trying and not give up on a task. This can be by using it when a child says something like "I cant do it" and responding with "you cant do it "yet". I feel this to be very true ,as I know plenty of people who could have used this type of advice in the past ,me included when not being able to do something in work, or on an assignment allowing me to learn and progress as a person and mainly allowing me a way / drive to conquer my setbacks.
• "Five Reasons to stop saying good Job" This article by Alfie Kohn focuses on  Five reasons  we need to stop saying "good gob" These reasons include

1. Manipulating children- Referred to as sugar-coated control by Rheta DeVries as it praises them for complying with our wishes at that moment as it may have a long lasting effect in the long run. With children being so hungry for our approval  people have made a habit of exploiting praise for our own convenience and will not prepare them for how things actually work in school and work life in their future.
2. Creating praise Junkies - This means that kids will be come so use to praise that they will become dependent  on them making it hard for them to learn valuable life skill such as learning from criticism and conquering challenges in the process.
3. Stealing a child's pleasure - This highlights that in constantly praising a child's actions we take away the pleasure/delight a child may feel for actually completing their accomplishments. and to feel pride in what they learned to do.
4. Losing Interest -This states that a person may only keep doing something as long as they are being watched and praised for it meaning this may seem like it is helping them but is instead making the individual attention towards this thing more distant. "the more we tend to reward people to things the more they lose interest" I found this phase in the reading to really capture the point the writer was trying to get across about this issue.
5. Reducing achievement-This highlighted that a person may do a certain action in order to gain approval. It also highlights three possible responses that may  improve the situation without praising the individual. these three Items were  say nothing,  Talk less and ask more and to say what you saw  mainly focusing on things that we can say to our kids so that we do not affect them in the long run without fake praise for things that should not be praised. Helping them to develop in the future as people.

"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

Game Elements

My Blog on Game Elements

Link to the image here 

When I was reading week fours reading both I and the rest of my class were given 10 things to read when considering anything as a designer this includes the following.

• Players(in particular how may players does the game support as well as the relationships between players in things such as things) 
• Objectives ( This is to add challenges to the game and essentially give the players things to do such as solving a clue or winning a race for example,)
• Resource/ resources( which is essentially things that are under control of a single player, such as what weapon or item one may pick up or even things like territory.
• Game state (This is unowned items that are not owned by a single player ,but are still part of the game. For example the properties you can buy in monopoly or the common cards in Texas hold em, however the in video games it is important to know the game state because it keeps track of all the data the computer must keep track of.
• Information (the best way to describe information is how much of the game state is visible to each of the players such as how in poker games the players can only see their own deck and not the opposing players.
• Sequencing ( sequencing is the order in which actions in the game take place such as how a player takes their turn.)
• Player Interaction(  this is a highly important aspect to a game as it allows your players to have ways to conflict with people in ways such as being kind to a character to being aggressive, to even options of attacking a character one great example to this is the dialogue options menu in the fallout games franchise).
• Theme( The theme affects aspects such as the narrative of the story ,the back story and even the setting this allows us to provide players an emotional connection to the game without affecting the stories game play this is called (interchangeably)).
• Systems( systems can be defined as a combination of things/parts that form a complex home such as how you can design your character in games such as Skyrim or world of Warcraft where yo can have multiple systems all at once from combat to quests to even a chat system.  

I found breaking each of these down and simplifying them to be easier to remember in the long run as I was not as overwhelmed by the large number of sentences in the readings.I have also linked 3 links below with items of interest that a designer may consider when making a game/video game.

1. Link to game themes here
2. Link to Game Objectives here
3. Link to Game State here

Feedback Thoughts

Feedback Thoughts by Dillon Eagers

Link to image here

For this Blog I read two articles one on hearing feedback and the other on how a fixed mindset could be holding you back  I have left links to them two articles below I you guys would be interested in reading them.

Blog 1: "Why It's So Hard to Hear Negative Feedback" by the New York Times.

I found this article to be both educational and relate able , as I never noticed  how in the past from me blocking out criticism of others.It has prevented me from potentially gaining more opportunities. From  hearing peoples genuine feedback no matter how harsh It may be and learning from it on how to overcome this obstacle and potentially improve on an original Idea or project. One line from the article that really spoke to me was "actively seek out that feedback so you associate it not with anxiety, but with opportunity. Because overall at least in my opinion yes there will always be someone who will not agree with your point, your idea or even your project. But it is up to you as an individual to decide do I see this as genuinely helpful feedback and or someone with harsh comments and  how can I as an individual process this and decide on my next course of action. This article really did make me more aware of not to be as offended by negative feedback because not all negative feedback is a bad thing most negative feedback can be quite useful and effective in things such as the design process.

Blog 2:"Why Rejection hurts so much " by Ideas.ted.com

What I love about this article is that it highlights that we should not assume this rejection is personal and are normally due to circumstance. I also like how it characterise That when we are being critical of ourselves  we should not be self critical thinking things like  "I'm such a loser" as this can lead to many other bad things such as depression and anxiety.  What I mainly gathered from this post is to learning how to limit the psychological damage rejection gives you and  learning how to rebuild your self esteem in the process as it can help you tackle challenges in work life and in social life making you a more confident, adaptive and healthy person in the process.