Multimedia Development 1

  Unity Tutorial Moving on from the last tutorial, the player has to press S to spawn new animals, which makes no sense. In this tutorial I learn how to make a new method to spawn new animals automatically, I started by writing my very first custom function in the SpawnManager script.  I then moved on to making the animals spawn on a timer so the animals can appear every few seconds. I then give both the projectiles and animals some familiar components 'colliders', so they can be destroyed on collision.  I then code a new script in order to destroy both the animals and projectiles on impact. If the animals get past the player, A 'game over' message pops up to let the player know they lost. Next, I completed a challenge and quiz where balls are randomly falling from the sky and I have to send my dog out to catch them before they hit the ground. Here are the challenge outcomes: A random ball (of 3) is generated at a random x position above the screen When the user presses...

  Escape Run In this blog I will be writing my game vision statement, The name of the game will be 'Escape Run' and the genre of the game will be an endless runner game. This game idea was inspired by other infinite runner games such as temple run or subway surfers. What is an endless runner? An endless runner game is characterized as an action game, designed in a linear way with no end, without any pauses or breaks to rest, the game usually has no stages or changing levels. It has one continuous level, the game difficulty starts slow and easy, but the further the player gets the difficulty increases Description: The game will start off with a simple menu scene with an image in the background of a bridge leading to an entryway with some stairs, (shown in the image below) a high score on the top left and the start button at the centre of the bottom of the screen.  The point of the game is for the player to get as far as possible in the game without crashing into any of the obst...

  Unity Tutorial Image Link In Unity tutorial 3 I learned how to add some new functionality, concepts and skills, such as moving the player back and forth and making sure the player can't leave the play area on both sides, this makes sure that the player doesn't fall off the map. In this part of the tutorial, we learn concepts and skills such as adjusting object scales and how to use if-statements. In the next part, the tutorial covered more functionality and we learned how to enable the player to shoot a projectile in the form of pizza slices, cookies or whatever you choose. Projectile and animals that leave the scene are removed from the scene. We also cover some new concepts and skills such as how to create prefabs, override prefabs and destroy objects.  In the final tutorial, we learn new functionality such as pressing the s button to spawn a bunch of animals in the scene using the spawn manager and using the spawn manager script. In our spawn manager script we learned how...

  Link to image MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research MDA is a formal approach to understanding games which tries to bridge the gap between game design and development, game criticism and technical game research. MDA breaks down the consumption of games by breaking them down into their distinct components: Rules System Fun and setting up their design counterparts: Mechanics  Dynamics Aesthetics MDA  supports a formal, interactive attitude to design and tuning. it allows designers to think explicitly about particular design goals and to predict how changes will impact each aspect of the framework and the resulting design Design, Dynamics, Experience An Advancement of the MDA framework for Game Design In 2015 and 2016 the MDA was deeply analyzed, criticized and challenged, these are two of the major weaknesses found: It neglects many design aspects of games, focusing too much on game mechanics. It is not suitable for all types of games, including particula...

  Feedback Strategies The Difference Between Praise and Feedback Link To Article  In this article, we learn about the difference between praise and feedback and its consequences. Popular psychological research warns about the power of praise and how it can affect a child in a negative way, this unconditional parenting could cause the child to be unmotivated to learn, achieve and could result in a fixed mindset. It is advised to praise children for the effort they put into things instead of telling them that they're smart or really good at something. This is called' process praise'. By implementing this way of parenting we teach the child to believe that they can get better by doing work and putting in the effort, this results in a 'growth mindset'. Preschoolers and Praise: What Kinds of Messages Help Kids Grow Article Here Preschool children are in the early stages of figuring out who they are and what they're capable of doing, the language used by the parents a...

 Endless Runner Image Source The game I decided to focus on making is an endless runner game as I think I'll find it the most enjoyable to work on for the rest of the semester. Here is a good article I found that describes the game mechanics of an endless runner game: Article Here The article does a good job of explaining the game mechanics of most endless runner games and the game progression. Here are the game mechanics: 1. Warm up: To let the players adapt to everything in the game, you should give the player between 7-12 seconds to run freely and figure the game out, during this time you can introduce the player to the game core mechanics or introduce collectables. 2. Calibrate: Once the player figure out the basics of the game you can provide them with a simple challenge that is hard to fail, such as placing an obstacle on the path or jumping over an object. 3. Reward: After the player completes some of the challenges you can introduce them to some rewards they can win the fur...

 Twitter Widget I have added a Twitter widget to my sidebar.

 Game Design This week our reading task was to expand our knowledge of game design, the first paper was very interesting and it covered the qualities of games and how we can identify individual game elements. Paper 1 These 'formal elements' ar the smallest parts of a game that can be isolated and studied individually: ● Players  ● Objectives (goals)  ● Rules  ● Resources and Resource Management  ● Game State  ● Information  ● Sequencing  ● Player Interaction  ● Theme (Narrative, Backstory, Setting)  ● Games as Systems At the end of the paper, we cover what critical analysis means. It does not mean to rate a game or find its faults, its basically just means to study a game without any bias and understand each part of the game and how it relates to the play experience. The second reading is an academic paper on game design. Paper 2  it covers game design from the point of game designers and what game design is to them, some game desig...

  I have customized my blogger profile and change the colour scheme, I decided to add a profile display to my blog and a little about me, I also changed the theme of my blog and customized the colour scheme. The way you present yourself online is very important as most things you post online will stay there forever whether you delete it or not. Managing an online identity is important because it is a platform for you to express yourself and show your personality to others online, also, it is a way for future employers to find out more about you.

 Feedback For Learning A Fixed Mindset Could Be Holding You Back - Heres How To Change It Link to article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-26/fixed-vs-growth-mindset-at-work-and-in-life/9897782 From reading this article I learned that by constantly praising kids and telling them they're perfect you could be damaging them and leading to a fixed mindset, such a child won't be able to deal with criticism in the future. Instead, we should be teaching them to have a growth mindset and to be able to deal with both success and failure. A fixed mindset believes that each person only has a set amount of intelligence but a growth mindset believes that you can get better and gain knowledge by hard work, practice and study. Seven Ways To Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work Link to article: http://www.spencerauthor.com/seven-ways-to-crush-self-doubt/ This article talks about how to get over self-doubt and do things that you aren't confident doing, by doing things you're afraid of ...

 My Game Ideas 1. Maze/ Labyrinth Game: I started off my brainstorm for game ideas by researching online and watching a few tutorials on youtube, I tried to find the most simple 3D games for beginners, I came across a tutorial for a 3D maze game and I thought it would be simple enough to do.  Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLa8nPphL2gf1luu9Ux5aWj-8C11F8aLVf&v=mHFNiS6lsss&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=DennisG.Jerz I'm interested in making this game as the concept of the game is simple but has a nostalgic feeling, I picked this tutorial as it walks you through every step and is full of information. This is another version of a maze game but much simpler to make: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVXGgPCxvpY&ab_channel=Gamerbot4000 2. Endless Runner Game: The second game I'm interested in making is an endless runner game similar to subway surfers or temple run because they offer fast-paced action and are addicting to play. Here is ...

  During these Unity tutorials I have learned how to make a 3D game and how to use Unity3D, and I have also learned the basics of game design.            It was fun to watch the game progress in terms of quality by programming, although it was certainly difficult as I found myself re-doing it multiple times due to small errors which were hard to identify.            I particularly enjoyed the selection of vehicles and obstacles I could choose from which made the tutorials more interesting to follow.            Before starting the tutorials I expected Unity to be much harder than and complicated than it actually was, the tutorials were very informative and easy to follow  look forward to continuing the process and developing more skills around game design and user interface. 

Time Management I think time management is important as it helps reduce stress as you feel you have more control of your time, This semester I will aim to try and work ahead and not leave any work till the last minute. The two articles I found interesting from the list were: The Important Habit of Just Starting  by Jory Mackay Realistic Study Plans  by Amanda Collins •  Were the articles useful? I found the articles useful as they helped me understand why we tend to procrastinate and how I can properly manage my time. •  Did you learn anything new that you can try this semester? I learned that it is important to create the right environment for work to make sure that you're not surrounded by things that could distract you. •  what do you think your biggest time challenges will be? I think my biggest challenges this semester will be trying to motivate myself to try and do work in a home environment, I find it much easier to concentrate on work on campus.

 Technology Tools •  Are you already familiar with some of these technology tools? Im familiar with some of the technology tools such as bookmarking and Google Docs. •  How is this online environment like/unlike what you have experienced in other classes? This online environment is unlike what I have experienced as in other classes we dont use blogger and we dont have a website dedicated to other modules. •  Are there any technical skills that you really want to work on this semester? I would like to learn how to use Unity3D.

                                                           Class Assignments   •  What assignments are you most intrigued by?  The assignment that Im most intrigued by is the semester-long individual project because you dont have to rely on others and do all the work and research on your own.   •  How is this like/unlike what you have done in other classes? This module is unlike what we have done in other classes as here we have more options as to what work we are interested in doing and we have the option of doing extra credit work which is very helpful. •   Are there any extra credit options that grab your attention? Im interested in exploring more of the growth mindset topics each week.

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset have you heard of Carol Dweck and/or the growth mindset before? how did you learn about it? I have never heard of Carol Dweck but I have heard of the growth mindset in articles I read previously.   •    how do you see yourself on the spectrum of growth-fixed mindset in your schoolwork? I believe I have a growth mindset as I believe my talents and knowledge can be developed through hard work and effort. do you think you’ll be interested in learning more about the growth mindset this semester? I am interested in learning more about the growth mindset and will try to implement it into this semester as much as I can. •  do you have any personal learning goals for this semester? I would like to be more focused on college work this semester and work on improving in many of the modules.

A Little About Me My name is Karolina and I'm 21 years old, I come from Poland but I lived in Ireland for the past 13 years, I'm excited to continue my journey in the Creative Digital Media Course. My favourite class last semester was web dev elopme nt as it was well organized and I found it the most interesting but also challenging, I feel that I have learned the most from that module compared to other modules. My biggest accomplishment last semester was making my own website from scratch, as it made me realize how much I have learned in just one year.  My goal for this module is to gain a better understanding of basic game design and to create my own game. During the summer holidays, I visited many places in Ireland such as Wicklow, Meath and Athlone. My favourite books are the Harry Potter series. Here is a photo of my cat when he was still a kitten, his name is Pepe: