lone phoenix

 Images in a row:         Images from  @SF9_FANCLUB Twitter.

Laptop with program code from Freepik . In this week's Unity tutorials, I began making an endless side-scrolling runner game. The first set of tutorials showed me how to make the player jump by pressing the space bar as well as adjust the character's mass, jump force and the scene's gravity. I added an if-statement to the PlayerController script to prevent the player from double jumping. I learned how to make the background and obstacles move left towards the player as well as set the speed in which they move. I reapplied what I learned about making obstacles spawn from previous tutorials.  In the second set of tutorials, I learned how to make the background repeat so it does not disappear along with the obstacles. I also learned how to make the background stop and have a "game over" message when the player comes into contact with an obstacle. I learned how to stop the obstacles from spawning after the player hits an obstacle. I edited the MoveLeft script so the o...

Online games concept illustration from Freepik . 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 ...

Various devices illustration from Freepik . This week I completed the final set of tutorials to create a simple animal feeding game. I learned how to make animals spawn on their own rather than having to click "S" to do so. This involved creating a custom function and moving the if-statement under "void Update" to this new function. I also learned how to make the animals spawn after a certain timeframe. I learned how to add box colliders to the animals and how to edit the size of these box colliders. Moreover, I was taught how to make the animals and pizza disappear when they came in contact with each other. I added an else-if-statement that triggers a "Game Over" message when an animal surpasses the player without being fed.  Following this, I completed a challenge in which I had to correct a game similar to the one in the previous tutorials. The final product should allow the player to spawn dogs to catch falling coloured balls. The dogs were initially a...

Young person playing with computer from Freepik . In this week's set of tutorials, I learned how to make a basic animal feeding game. The first section of tutorials took me through the steps of how to make the player move left and right using their arrow keys and how to prevent them from leaving the play area. I also learned that if-statements check for a condition within the game and if it is true, then whatever is inside the block of code will occur.  The second section of tutorials introduced me to prefabs. I turned the GameObjects, in this case animals and slice of pizza, into prefabs so they were able to be easily duplicated. I learned how to make the animals and pizza disappear once they leave the scene. I also learned how to launch the slices of pizza from the player's location. I learned about else-if-statements. The block of code under this occurs when the condition checked by the if-statement is false. The final few tutorials brought me though the steps of how to spaw...

Runner animation by Otilija Morozaitė from Dribbble . Following last week's game brainstorm , I have decided to focus on and develop my idea of creating an infinite runner game and will be thinking about three game mechanics I will include. I will be drawing inspiration from the Ghibli Studios film, "The Secret World of Arrietty" for the theme of my game.  Obstacles are implemented within games to create a challenge for the player and to make it more difficult for them to win or in the case of infinite runner games, prevent them from playing forever and becoming tremendously bored. For my game idea, I plan to scatter stones along the lanes that the player must jump over or switch lanes to avoid. There will also be twigs falling from the trees which will create shadows before hitting the ground so the player is aware and can attempt to avoid them. A feature will be applied that allows the player to move left and right. Rewards will be available to the player throughout th...

Megaphone with speech bubble illustration from Freepik . Revisiting the concept of growth mindsets, " Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset " written by Gravity Goldberg mentions how we can take on the role of a "mirror" by focusing our feedback on effort. Therefore, we can "reflect back what is there, without judgement." I can agree that I'm someone who tends to give unspecific praise or focus on what I think should be improved, when giving feedback which I'm assuming is not the best way to approach feedback giving.  This article outlines five feedback methods that can help instil a growth mindset within others. The first strategy is to be specific. By detailing the steps that the other person took, they can clearly see, understand and remember the approach they took to their work. The second method is to pay attention to what they are doing which reinforces the concept of being a mirror by focusing on the efforts that a...

Young person playing with computer illustration from Freepik . In this week's set of Unity tutorials, I finished creating the driving simulator from last week. I learned how to give the player control of the vehicle so they can steer using the arrow keys on their keyboard.  I also learned how to make the vehicle rotate when turning, rather than sliding left and right.  Following these tutorials, I completed a challenge where I had to correct bugs within a plane flying game and then add any missing features. This challenge involved making the plane go forwards instead of backwards, slowing the plane down to a manageable speed, making the plane tilt up and down when the player uses the arrow keys, repositioning the camera so that it is beside the plane and making the camera follow the plane as it moves. After I edited the script to allow the camera to follow the plane, I found that the camera did not actually end up doing so. I took another look at the script but everything seem...

Online game concept illustration from Freepik . " What are the Qualities of Games " written by Ian Schreiber reexamines the definition of what a game is, takes a look at the elements of a game and the relevance of a critical analysis. We see many repeating themes when examining different definitions of games. Some of these commonalities mention that games have rules, conflict, goals, decision-making and an unknown result. Games are an alternate universe outside of reality, a simulation, voluntary and more. The author sees these as "formal elements" because they can be defined. According to " Challenges by Game Designers " written by Brenda Brathwaite, these components are "atoms" because they are the smallest pieces of a game that are able to be singled out and examined individually.  The atomic elements of games cannot be boiled down to a single definition. However, by looking at a number of different opinions, commonalities can be identified ju...

Game devices from Creative Market . For my first game idea, I was thinking of creating an infinite runner game like the well-known mobile game, Subway Surfers. This is a game that I'm very familiar with and used to spend a lot of time playing. What makes my idea different is that I want to have a more nature-based theme and have the player be extremely small, similar to the character Arrietty from the Ghibli Studios film, "The Secret World of Arrietty," who is a tiny girl who lives with her parents beneath the house of a regular sized family. She often ventures outside to gather supplies. Just like in Subway Surfers, the players main objective is to avoid getting caught. I was thinking of putting the player in a garden where they have accidentally disrupted a sleeping dog and waking it up which results in a chase across the garden. The player must continually run away from the dog while collecting seeds which add up as points. As the game progresses, so does the player...

People holding speech bubble by filmful from rawpixel . My approach to feedback is somewhat 50/50. Either, I take it with a grain of salt or I attempt to avoid it at all costs. I generally accept criticism from people I know and trust, such as friends and family. However, I tend to be much more hesitant when it comes to feedback from anyone outside of that circle. From the perspective of a student, I never really enjoyed sharing my work for others to see unless it was complete and to my liking. Allowing others to catch a glimpse of something that I'm working on makes me slightly uneasy because my subconscious has come to believe that feedback equals judgement. I think it's time that I change my mindset. The article, " Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head " by Sabina Nawaz analyses how a person deals with positive and negative feedback. The article mentions how a vice president of a tech company received a lot of positive feedback from his coworkers but he mainly ...

Man at Desk by Pat Grivet from Dribble . After going through these Unity tutorials, I learned how to download and import assets into Unity which I then used to begin creating a driving simulator game. In the first set of tutorials, I learned how to position objects within the game and adjust the camera for the player's view. I also learned how to navigate around my scene, use the position and rotate tools as well as reorganising my layout. These tutorials were generally easy to understand and follow. However, I still need to get used to the different keys used to navigate around my scene.  In the second set of tutorials, I learned how to create a C# script which I named "PlayerController" and then applied it as a component to my vehicle which can be found in a list called the hierarchy. By opening the script, I was able to edit the code to allow my vehicle to move forward in the game as well as change its speed. I learned about the RigidBody component which I used to mod...

Character playing computer games illustration from Freepik . " What is a Game, Anyway? " written by Ian Schreiber examines the numerous definitions of a game and what is classified as one according to its component parts. The writer compares the games Tic-Tac-Toe and Three-to-Fifteen to highlight the relevance of knowing what a game is in order to distinguish whether two games are the same or different.  Having the correct vocabulary is very important when talking about and creating games because one needs to be able to communicate using relevant terminology when analysing games. This makes the process of learning much easier. Comparing games to each other is one of the most common ways to describe a game. However, this can be ineffective if the opposite party has not played the same game as you. Another method, usually taken by authors who have published books about game design, would create a set of vocabulary specifically for their writings. This also poses as ineffective ...

Hello everyone! I just added a Twitter widget to the sidebar of this blog. I think it will be helpful in easily accessing my Twitter account. I chose the "embedded timeline" widget because you're able to read my tweets without having to open the Twitter app or go to the Twitter website. Hope you keep up to date with me!

Time management concept illustration from Rawpixel . Time is something I've never been good at managing but maybe it's because I never really tried. I would find myself complaining about workloads and staying up late when in reality, I waste a majority of the day and only start my work in the evening. I should definitely consider working on my time management during this semester. The read the article titled " How to build a realistic study plan that you'll actually stick to " by Amanda Collins. I found this piece useful and informative because it took me through the steps of how to put together a weekly schedule. Laying out my day-to-day on a planner would help me see where I can take time to work on assignments. The article also spoke about setting goals for myself and ticking them off as I complete them. Perhaps the sense of achievement from doing so will motivate me to stick to the schedule. I also read " Four questions to help overcome procrastination ...

Multitasking concept illustration from Freepik . Among the list of technology tools that we will be using this semester, I have some experience with image editing, bookmarking and Padlet. Image editing is a basic tool that I use almost everyday to crop screenshots for example. When I was in secondary school I bookmarked useful websites in my careers class while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to study in college. I used Padlet in my secondary school art class as a way of creating boards about each topic we learned. It was also a useful tool for sharing research with my classmates.  This online environment is unlike my experience in other classes because it has a wider range of tools that we'll be using and trying out. I think this is beneficial to my learning because I'll be able to expand my knowledge and develop more skills in using a variety of technology tools. I don't have any technical skills in mind that I would really like to work on during the semester but...

Dashel icon set from Fribly . After reading about the layout of tasks for the semester, I have a better understanding of what I'll be doing each week. I think that having the list of assignments available helps me come up with an idea of how I should use my time efficiently. Among the different assignments, I think I'm most intrigued by the Unity3D tasks. Creating games is something I never thought of trying so I'm excited to start learning how. I might be someone who isn’t really into gaming but thinking about how they are created seems quite interesting. I'm always up for exploring new programs and applications.  For my other modules, assignments are usually given to us one by one as the year progresses. This way, we can only focus on one assignment at a time. The assignments tend to be bigger and have larger gaps between due dates. This is different to Multimedia Development because the assignments are not as heavy so we have several pieces of work due throughout the...

The growth mindset is something that I never came across until now. I was only introduced to it after watching the Carol Dwek videos recommended by my multimedia development lecturer; ↳ TED Talk, "The power of believing that you can improve" ↳ A short clip,  "Make challenge the new comfort zone" ↳ RSA Animate, "How to help every child fulfil their potential" Growth mindset statements from Pinterest While watching each video, it really got me thinking about whether I have a fixed or growth mindset and how it has affected my life and way of learning. I believe that I fall under the category of fixed mindset which makes a lot of sense. I went through secondary school with majorly average grades and only ever wanted to do enough to pass. I absolutely hated doing homework and schoolwork and saw them as chores that I needed to get done then push aside.  I wasn’t someone who was very eager to face challenges and I think I still have this trait now. I find myself ...

HEY!! Look who made it to her second year of college!! Me, Nadine, I did!! Yeah, I'm even more surprised than you are.  Happy girl illustration by 94MLK_ on Twitter. Saved from Pinterest . Last year wasn't too bad, but that was up until the whole country went into quarantine and I began to fear for my college career. I was constantly on the verge of giving up on my assignments but I would like to thank my friends for not allowing that to happen. I'm so glad I get to start year two with them and hopefully we'll make it to the end together too!  Despite the stress, there are a few pieces of work from year one that I'm proud of. I liked the websites that I created for Web Development 1 and 2, the video I edited from Introduction to Digital Media mission 3 and the advertisement poster I made for Digital Photography. I hope to produce better work this year.  Personal screenshot from the index page of my web development 1 project. Personal screenshot from the index page ...

I'm not someone who usually plays games but I do find myself passing the time on Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (ACPC). The game's main objective isn't winning or losing but creating a campsite and inviting animal villagers to stay in order to build a community. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp official logo. Source:   https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Smart-device/Animal-Crossing-Pocket-Camp-1296563.html The game allows you to personalise your own avatar and also dress your villagers in different outfits. You can complete requests from the villagers on your campsite/in your cabin or from different islands on your map and they will reward you with bells (the game's version of coins) and materials which you can use to craft furniture. Your campsite also includes a garden where you can plant a variety of flowers to trade for special items or to give to your villagers.  Personal screenshots from the ACPC game; taken on 29/09/20. ACPC is quite a relaxing game and is great for pass...