Reading 3 - Starting my Research

Reading 3 - Starting my Research

For this weeks reading I started my research on my first topic- creating my own research matrix to fill out and using available resources to locate journals and articles to gather and read.

Admittedly I struggled a lot at first with this- I was totally lost with the matrix as it confused me and I had no idea what to fill in where, but after clearing it and starting to read and compile some articles it became clearer.

I used Google Scholar, SpringerOpen and Sage Research Methods to find relevant articles and papers by searching using my keywords/key sentences I created last week. When I found a relevant article, I first read the abstract to see if it covered anything relevant to my topic. I then went on to read the conclusions to see if there was any useful topics covered within the reading. If I found there were relevant things in the abstract and conclusion, I skimmed through the readings and read the sub headings to see if there was anything relevant. I then started to fill in my Matrix with relevant, simplified information based on my readings.

Getting a start on my research matrix

Source: My laptop

I explored numerous resources and articles in search of useful information, but came across lots that weren't relevant to my topic. However, I did come across some useful articles and papers.

This paper explores in depth different elements of narrative structure and design, and how these give way to unfolding a story. It explores plot setup, development, complications and resolutions and how to apply these to the gameplay to satisfy the player experience. It goes into narrative in television, film, theatre etc. and has a lot of elements that aren't relevant to my topic but it has some useful tidbits in it. There are some interesting points on player immersion and player driven plots in here also that may be helpful when reading further.

This article explores the idea of The Hero's Journey- a commonly used plot structure which has proven successful and is used in games such as "The Legend of Zelda". The main focus in this plot structure is the main protagonist, the hero, who's world is thrown out of order by an evil entity who the hero in the end must defeat to restore order to the world. This article contains lots of relevant content and is a great example of common plot structure. It shows while this structure is commonly used, it can be widely successful and gives good points on how to advance the plot.

Here are all the articles and papers I have compiled thus far- I read their abstracts, conclusions, and skimmed their subheadings and noted them if I found anything or relevance for my topic.

• https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/16652199/King_ImplementingDramaManagment_Published_2019.pdf
• https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8742555
• https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoshNewland/20150624/246930/Games_and_interactive_storytelling.php
• https://summit.sfu.ca/item/18578
• https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130742/into_the_woods_a_practical_guide_.php?page=2
• https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130770/what_every_game_developer_needs_to_.php?page=2

Feedback Thoughts

Feedback Thoughts

The article "Why Rejection Hurts So Much" by Guy Winch (you can read it here) offered some interesting points and advice for dealing with feelings of rejection. I particularly found the fact that in the brain the feeling of rejection is recorded to be very similar to physical pain interesting- I never knew that before I read the article. I can see how it makes sense though. Rejection does hurt, emotionally especially. Not even necessarily romantic rejection- rejection in terms of ideas or working in a group. Rejection makes people feel self critical which can affect their relationships and work. For example, in school I was consistently rejected in a variety of ways such as in storywriting for english class and in art class.

Things like "that's not good you shouldn't do that again" or "do something different" with no sort of feedback or constructive criticism. The rejection of my ideas with no feedback made me very self critical- and something this article thought me is to not do this and instead look at my positive traits and what I can offer to people. This is a very useful tip and I will make use of it in future!

Feedback silhouettes 

Source: Pixabay.com

The article "Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head" by Sabina Nawaz (you can read it here) talks of a businessman who becomes overly self critical and as a result slows down his work and becomes less confident. This article proves useful in giving tips to help you out of the mindset that you arent good enough. One of the things I took away from the article was to look at the positive- and if you dont receive a positive feedback, ask explicitly for it. Focusing on positive feedback instead of negative is a very good idea as it tells you what you should replicate in the future and helps raise confidence. The idea that you need 5 positive voices for every negative voice is something I havent heard of until now.

I think that constructive criticism is the best way to go- have a positive and something the person could improve on rather than criticising them personally. Constructive criticism has helped me a lot in my art journey to improve- hearing positive and things to improve on motivated me to work harder, while hearing feedback like "that sucks" made me feel bad about myself and not want to draw more. 

Feedback is very important to word correctly- and in my own experience it's good to include a positive in feedback. I will definitely take the advice from the articles on board when receiving and giving feedback for projects in the future.

Game Brainstorm

Game Brainstorm

For potential ideas for my final game, I took to pen and paper to write down some ideas. While I was brainstorming I was thinking back on the Unity tutorial I completed and what type of things I could achieve in my game using what I learnt- and what I will learn in the future!

I came up with several ideas ranging from different genres- some that are more story based and some based more on the gameplay and collecting items. I tried exploring different concepts regarding the terrain and map- some ideas that take place outdoors and some that are based more in the indoors. 

Here are some images of the brainstorming I did!

Game ideas brainstorm

Source: Myself

First idea: Cooking Game

My first idea for a game was to be based in a restaurant! The player would play the role of a chef in the kitchen- whipping up some dishes for the customers eating there. The player would have to run around the kitchen collecting different ingredients in order to make a variety of dishes, which they would then have to deliver to the customers. To add variety to the surroundings I would like to add different sections to the kitchen such as a storeroom/pantry, different stations dedicated to things like vegetables, meat, desserts etc. 

The end goal of this game would be to complete the service by serving all the customers. If possible, there could be a timer to complete the tasks to add more difficulty to the game. 

I was partly inspired by Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen for this game since I'm quite obsessed with all of his shows.

I'd like to learn how to randomise dishes and ingredients that appear in the game to add more to the replayability and difficulty to the game.

I haven't played many cooking games myself, but the game series Overcooked seems to have a similar idea. I haven't really seen much content for this game- but exploring it and watching some gameplay may inspire me and help me to create this cooking game if I decide to go for it for my final idea. You can read more about Overcooked here.

Overcooked 2 artwork

Source: Flickr

Second Idea: Adventure Game

My idea for this game would be for the player to be in an unknown location with no recollection of the past- so more story based. I was thinking of making the terrain a bit more sinister like a spooky forest to play into the amnesia factor. The player would have to collect items to trigger memories of the past, and the goal would be to find out the memories of the character and to escape the forest. This game would be more heavily based on story- and also use outdoor terrain. 

I was inspired by the Slenderman game for this- where you run around in a forest collecting notes.. except without the horror element. You can read more about the Slenderman game I was inspired by here. 

In terms of terrain I could make several structures within the forest and make different areas in the forest to add variety and more story elements. I could make some cabins and abandoned buildings for example. The items collected wouldn't be notes- they would be a variety of different objects to make it more interesting. 

I'd like to learn how to make more advances structures such as cabins and buildings for this game.

Slender Logo

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Third Idea: Jailbreak Game

My third idea of a game would be a jailbreak game! The objective, much like the title, would be to escape the jail. To achieve this, the player would have to collect various items to craft different tools in order to escape the prison. The prison would have various different parts, such as a cafeteria and courtyard. These locations would give the player several different items to collect such as rocks and spoons to craft things. I was also thinking that if possible, I could implement a feature where if a guard spots you with any contraband it would trigger a game over. I also am thinking of different ways for the player to escape, such as cutting fences and digging their way out, which would make the game more re-playable.

I'd like to learn about triggering a game over by having certain items in the player inventory when crossing a certain point in this game.

There is a 2D game series called The Escapists (you can read more about it here) which you are playing the life of a prisoner trying to escape. It's similar to my idea but I plan to change things around so it isn't the same if I do decide to use this as my final idea.

The Escapists artwork

Source: Flickr

Fourth Idea: Survival Game

My fourth idea would be to make a survival based game where the player is stranded on a deserted island and the goal of the game is to survive for a night. The player would have to collect resources gathered around the island- such as firewood from the jungle and rocks to make weapons in order to get food. The main objectives would be to build a base with a shelter, a fire pit, and to set up a food and water source. There would also be optional tasks- more cosmetic ones to decorate the base such as flags and trinkets.

Perhaps I could include a timer element here- if the player doesn't complete their base in a certain amount of time, night comes and they don't survive, leading to a game over. Perhaps a day and night cycle would be useful here- something I would have to look into and explore.

I drew some inspiration from the survival game Don't Starve; I enjoy this game a lot and I love building my own base using all the tools in the game. The game is combines both 2D and 3D elements and has lots more story and survival elements- looking further into the game (and playing it more myself!) will give me ideas and inspiration for other potential mechanics to include in my own game. You can read more about Don't Starve here!

Don't Starve promotional art

Source: Flickr

Unity Tutorial 01

Unity Tutorial 01 Thoughts

Through these Unity tutorials I have learned about the interface, tools and objects available, terrain tools, textures, materials, assets, terrain objects, making scripts and test playing the world.

Powered by Unity Logo

Source: Commons Wikimedia

First off I found the tutorials very helpful! It was easy enough to follow and I felt that I got some good information and understanding out of it as I followed along.

I really liked how customisable the interface is- messing around with the different window and sidebar positions. Though I would like to explore more of the customisation in future, for the sake of the tutorials I left them as default so I wouldn’t get confused when working through them.

The most enjoyable part of this tutorial for me was the terrain building! I had a test around with the different terrain tools such as changing heights (I made quite the dramatic mountain peak at one stage), smoothing, and creating jagged textures. I followed the tutorial and made my own mountains, which I definitely found enjoyable.

I also enjoyed playing around with the grass and tree textures- I loved how customisable they are in terms of colour and heights and density. I had a good chuckle changing the grass to completely unnatural colours.

I found it rather difficult at first to wrap my head around applying textures- duplicating the textures and renaming them to add into the normal map. Though after a few rewinds of the tutorial I understood but I feel that I need to practice and familiarize myself with it more.

I also found it difficult to understand the C# scripting- I am only familiar with HTML and CSS coding from my modules so it was quite intimidating (and still is) to me. I just copied the tutorial here- but I feel like I don’t fully understand this yet but hopefully I will begin to as I practice and explore scripting more.

I’m really  looking forward to getting a start on my game so that I can build my own world according to the ideas I come up with- and I’m also  looking forward to working more with textures and terrain to shape my world.

I’d personally like some further explanation on C# since it is completely new, and rather alien to me. I feel like it will be important in the development of our games through scripting so I’d like to become more comfortable and familiar with it.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Game Design

Game Design

The definition of a game is, in my opinion, equally as difficult to define as "art". Games themselves can be defined as a form of art. Generally, people define games as a process in which a player follows a set of formal rules voluntarily in safety in order to overcome a problem, obstacle or conflict in order to win or lose the game. A lot of definitions I have read define games such as this.. but there are always exceptions to it. For example, puzzle games can be difficult to define in the same way, since there will not necessarily be elements such as conflict or competition in the game. People have many varying opinions about the definition of a game- and while they may be right to some extent, it is extremely difficult to define.

The article What is a Game explores in detail the process in which games can be defined and helped give me a clear understanding of the ideas behind defining a game.

I found the rules for the game of Tic-Tac-Toe difficult to wrap my head around upon first being presented with them, but only then after I was shown the diagram of the game written out by the rules did I realise what it was. Such a worldwide famous game that the majority of people have played, broken down, is simply a set of rules. Seeing a famous game broken down like that personally helped me understand the process of creating a game; initially the thought of making a game was overwhelming since it is a new experience and I had not thought so deeply into the basic definition of what a game is. Breaking it down into a set of rules and the end objective are some of the main points in creating a game, and helps greatly in the process of shaping the game in development and design.

This article about using non digital techniques to create a game is very inspirational and it helped me feel less intimidated about tackling the process- I recommend the read!

Scrabble cubes spelling "game"

Source: The Blue Diamond Gallery

Game design speaks entirely of the fundamentals of a game- its core design. This does not include coding, programming, or technological development (which is a common misconception of the term). Game design can be done with simply pencil and paper- it's essentially coming up with the structure of the game in an iterative process. Setting up the rules and the end goal requirements leaves the way to fine tune the game design- such as the story of the game, adding conflicts, which leads to iteration. Playing the game you have created gives you a chance to see how enjoyable it is and what could be added and improved on. Changing elements of the game design in an iterative process helps to eliminate design risk. 

Game development is about the more technical aspects of creating a game such as programming, coding, testing, world building, user interface etc. This comes at a later stage of the development process- its important to have a strong game design before moving on to the technical aspects- at least in my personal opinion. Development is also important though- it builds the game for the player to play. The design sets up the structure to be built upon. Having a playable game is important in the development stage as it helps eliminate game risk through testing and iteration.

This blog explains the process of the beginnings of designing a game well and gives helpful advice such as creating a simple tabletop game which I have discussed above. I recommend beginners of game design read this blog!

Overall I have gained a lot of insight on games through my readings- I have never thought of the definition of a game in such a manner before and breaking down the basic elements of a game gave me a good understanding of what I need to do to develop my own game.

I also had a misconception that game design involved the process of developing the entire game- and I have learned that it is not the case.

My main concerns now are the development stages of the game using Unity and other tools- but I'm sure I'll learn and improve through my process.

Thank you for reading my blog!