Month: November 2017

Because of pure time limitation, I decided to just pursue “This Is Just A Normal, Run-Of-The-Mill Walking Simulator And Everything Is Fine,Don’t Worry About It.”

For prototype B, I made more illustrations of people and their speech bubbles (though I want to make significantly more for the final), and I replaced my initial “cobblestone” drawing with a more finished illustration, though this second version does create some distracting lines in the ground, so I may take another pass at it for the final. I also replaced the basic Unity water with Unity water “pro,” which creates more of a contrast between its realism and the lack thereof in the figures, walls, floor, and ceiling.

I’m still working on the sound of the game. I’m torn between leaving out the sound of footsteps entirely, or replacing Unity’s footstep sound with either the sound of a person walking through water, or loud, clacking, echo-ey footsteps. I’m going to try replacing the square walls of the “room” you’re in with a cylinder, but the effect will still be one of a manmade space. I’ve considered including the sound of water, getting louder the closer the “water” plane gets to the camera. I’ve considered adding in looping whispers with every person you collide with, so that there is eventually a layered mess of whispering (that might be interpreted as waves crashing or water flowing, if done right?). I’ve considered, given the bright colors, maybe finding some pleasant tonal sound for the footsteps, maybe a pleasant little background tune? Maybe, as the water approaches the camera, that pleasant background tune gets louder (and maybe more distorted), until it is incredibly loud and overwhelming?

Even though this was one of the first ideas I had for a game this quarter, I am not feeling particularly satisfied with it. I’m not sure why. Maybe I would prefer it being fully 3D. Maybe I can revisit this concept when I’ve
experimented more with Maya.

I’ve talked about the concept of the game with a couple people now, and have received a couple different interpretations. One person seemed to view it as a representation of anxiety. Another viewed the water as a potentially calming element. While I think the gameplay might be anxiety-inducing, the water does not represent anxiety to me – nor does it represent anything calming (or, at least, calming in a positive way).

All the figure illustrations are based on photos I’ve taken or figure drawings I’ve done in the past. Because I know not everyone I’ve taken photos of would be comfortable with their likeness being used in any way, a significant number of the figures are actually me. Given the way I push myself, the way I wish I put my needs before my work, and the way I so frequently don’t do that, it feels sort of fitting that there are multiples of me asking myself to complete tasks while I’m drowning.

In another class, I am revisiting a quarter-long design research project that I worked on a year and a half ago. The project was on the best way for men to participate in feminist spaces, on mansplaining, and on how to allow unprivileged parties to express their grievances freely without being forced to sugarcoat their complaints for the sake of the feelings of their privileged counterparts. I was really unsatisfied with the result. I made a video game for the final deliverable of that project. It feels a little strange to have been so unsatisfied with that video game project, to be revisiting it in a much different – but much more satisfying – way in another class, and then to not be particularly satisfied with a video game final project in this class.

Hopefully I can turn it into something I’m happier with by Tuesday, though. And if not, maybe I’ll revisit it in a year and a half, too.

Can you make out what is written in the speech bubbles? Some critiques I’ve received on prototype A have been about people being unable to read my handwriting – though, to be fair, that wasn’t really something I cared about for that initial prototype.

I’m trying to polish my game, but the videos are still glitching and not playing properly. Though it adds an interesting illusion to the game, it subtracts from the quality of it. I watched tutorials online where they made video players and screens, attached them onto 3D objects such as planes, linked the 3D objects to the screens and the actual video to the player. This method does not seem to be the most effective. Therefore, for my polished version of the game, I’m going to try adding a code to play my videos in my game.

The videos I want in my game will feature my experimental film. Another issue I’m dealing with is time. My film is still in it’s production process and I have decided to grab the footage, edit, and add them in my game during my film’s post production process. The fact that the post production process is very close in time to the due date of this game is making me anxious, but because the meaning, aesthetic, intention, and feeling of my game is so similar to my film, I really want to incorporate it.

I could have been more wise with the preparation aspect of my video. I’m also learning how difficult it is to polish and clean up my game to make it look attractive and playable.

A slow but steady pace. More routes have been added! All the dialogue is currently being added into the scenes and I am thinking about the things Patrick said about having small secrets to the game to further enhance the playing experience. A huge chunk of my time when to figuring out if the scenes and text would move together to the correct other scenes and I finally got the mechanics down for adding the text in efficiently. I wanted to have some sort of system to add clues for the players (inventory) to look back on and carry with them throughout the game so I will definitely work on for this upcoming week. Talking about it with Patrick really cleared up some thoughts and concerns I had thinking it was a bit too complicated for my level.

Story-wise I settled on a humorous subject with underlying themes within society. Not to spoil too much and just in case I decide to change this last minute, but I want people to think deeper into the characters they meet and what it all means, therefore I am trying my best to make them as captivating as I can. The paths so far all lead to separate endings depending on who you meet and what clues you gain, so hopefully after putting in some art in the full pictures will come together. I think a bit, it is like I am taking chunks of the themes I have been implying throughout the quarter, but I guess that it is how I like to get my messages across. With enough time I do want to make some simple music, so we will see if that will work out. Juiciness, got to have juiciness.

Hellooo everyone!

This is my second prototype! I completely changed my mind from creating a 2D game to a 3D optical illusion game. Here are two pictures of my progress so far.

Here is the illusion I created in the game theme. I was inspired by the visual scene of Alice In Wonderland. I chose to create a red platform and used several game objects to make the overall visual look looks really geometric and unreal. It makes the players feel like they are in a different dimension of the world.

I have spent almost 5 hours each day for the past 3 days modifying this game. At the beginning, I wanted to create a 2D puzzle game. However, later on, I realized the visual look won’t look really good because I made it too simple and flat. After understanding the weakness of my game, I decided to make it 3D and create an optical illusion game which has beautiful illusional views.

I really enjoyed making this game because I guess I made it fun to play. However, sometimes somehow I feel I ran out of ideas, then I asked my friend for help and providing feedback on my game in order to improve it. So far, I asked my friend Erica for help and she provided me a lot of her great ideas for making my game a better one to play. I think it’s important for a game designer to get to know their players’ opinion about their game because it’s an important process of learning which part of the game needed to be fixed so that it can be smooth when playing.

Go ask your classmate “How do you think of my game”! I believe you can learn a ton from them!

Elle

Because of the Thanksgiving break Week 8, I definitely didn’t get as much work done as I usually would’ve :/. I only added audio clips and a bit of text for the main game banner and tried to rework the title screen (as I really don’t like it right now). I might add a “tutorial” screen which would include the little blurb that I have on my title screen; it would also be helpful with trying to the implement the DontDestroyOnLoad() function. If I can get this done, then I would have a good chunk of the game mechanic down. I’m also still trying to figure out the “surprises” to my game; the code is being really stingy with me 🙁 . If I can get these 2-3 things done, then I would have my game basically finished, and I can focus on actually doing a full play through (however long that is going to take) and really, really polishing my game and adding extra fun details. I just really need to be on top of doing my work, as I have another final project I haven’t started yet ._. .

Progress has been made!

This week I was able to add the happy Cloud image to the icon, banner end screen and start screen. Additionally, I changed the different color squares in the different cloud shapes and got the user cloud to change shape when pressing down certain keys.

I am currently still working on troubleshooting the collision script. Only one of the clouds is working and I am not sure why the others aren’t. The script looks the same but I guess I am not seeing something. Apart from that I am also working on tracking the score when the clouds did not match. The player is supposed to lose lives and the end screen is supposed to show. Another, challenge I will face is trying to create continuous clouds that are outside of the screen that show up on the screen. Additionally, I will be adding faces on each type of cloud. The original idea was to have the face change for the users cloud so as they lose lives it goes from super happy to sad. However, depending on if I have time I may just add different faces on all the clouds and go from there. The last challenge will be trying to add juiciness!  I have a few ideas. For example, all the clouds will expand and shrink a small amount to add life to them. Additionally, possibly add wind particles to give more movement to the play screen. Lastly, adding help text to the game to help the user throughout the game. As a way to remind them of the instructions.

I actually ran into an issue when trying to continue working on my game. When Patrick was showing me a tip on how to slow down the time on my game, I accidentally saved it and left the class not knowing how to change it back. So I was stuck with an incredibly slow moving player and objects. I ended up re-creating the entire game from scratch because I could not for the life of me figure out how to fix the speed on my game. Luckily I was able to re-create some of it but I wasted a lot of time remaking the game instead of adding to it. I ended up emailing Patrick about my problem and he did email me back telling me how to fix it. (Thanks Patrick!) I should’ve done that sooner but I was being stupid and thought it would be best to just make it over again. (NOPE. ASK FOR HELP KIDS!) Now I can continue working on my old project, where there’s more content, and continue to add to it. I’ve actually had some trouble trying to differentiate the levels and trying to think of challenges for the player, but I think I have a lot of ideas planned out now. I’ve narrowed down to about 7 or 8 different levels, each with a different obstacle the player has to face. I was also thinking of giving each level a title in between each other so the player has a sort of breather, plus maybe a hint at what challenge they’ll face. For example, in one level some dodgeballs don’t hurt you, they just bounce off the player. But the player doesn’t know that when they play. The dodgeball would be a different color and be mixed in with the regular dodgeballs, and I may give a subtle hint about it in the title of the level. For example I’d probably name that level “Friend or Foe.”
I’ve also been watching a bunch of Unity tutorial videos on how to implement different techniques. Since I lost a lot of time, I’m questioning on whether or not to add the powerups idea, but I’m going to try to fit that in. I actually found a really helpful video on how to spawn objects randomly, which is what I would like to use for my powerup idea. Or perhaps use it to create obstacles. For anyone wanting to use this technique for their game, I recommend you check out this tutorial! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLTP4EbM1N4

I’m still working between two final project ideas, one being the concept I pitched last week (“This Is Just A Normal, Run-Of-The-Mill Walking Simulator And Everything Is Fine, Don’t Worry About It”), and the other being a text-based game called “In My Friend Kari’s Car.” I think that, for prototype 2, I will also be creating 2 separate prototypes.

As I noted in class, “This Is Just A Normal, Run-Of-The-Mill Walking Simulator And Everything Is Fine, Don’t Worry About It” is a game in which you are drowning, and no one around you seems concerned by it. As you interact with the figures in your environment, they ask you questions (“why haven’t you called me?”), or request that you perform banal tasks (“can you run this to the post office for me?”), seemingly unaware of the rising water. For the second prototype, I think I’d like to experiment with sound, perhaps adding an increasing number of voices to the game, one new voice for every person you interact with. In the first prototype, the end screen features the sound of calmly rushing water.

The second game I made a prototype for was not one I mentioned in class. “In My Friend Kari’s Car” is a text-based game organized like a narrative with a frame story. The base narrative is that my friend Kari and I are going to Home Depot to get some plants. During the car ride, I reflect on a number of experiences from my going-on-five years at Davis. For various reasons related to my obsessive-compulsive disorder – the same reasons that make it very difficult for me to keep a diary – I was worried about addressing the topic, because I felt a need to somehow include literally every noteworthy experience from my college career. In the end, largely to resist this manifestation of my obsessive-compulsive disorder, I made the conscious decision to feel that it’s okay if the narrative told in “In My Friend Kari’s Car” is not exhaustive and all-encompassing. I left things out. I know that. That’s fine. Part of why I wanted to make this game was because I believe seeing your own experiences reflected in those of others is a powerful thing that can help you understand your experiences better, by placing them in a different context. I also thought it might be a helpful way to organize my own thoughts.

On a number of occasions, when a design class has asked me to brainstorm on a topic using a mindmap of some sort, I have been struck by the fact that the mindmaps I produce might be a pretty good visualization of how my OCD causes my mind to work. Even when I consciously decide not to be as thorough as I want to be in this sort of exercise, I end up with cluttered, extensive lists, where each branch of the mindmap has countless branches of its own. The diagram I drew to help me plan out “In My Friend Kari’s Car” resembled some of my mindmaps. Perhaps the game- (or, maybe more accurately, the narrative-) structure in itself could be a way to communicate something about my experience with mental illness, in addition to the content.

For prototype 2 of “In My Friend Kari’s Car,”  I would like to try making the controls mouse-based, rather than letter-based. I would like to make the display more visually engaging. I’ll also be editing the copy used in the game. Like “This Is Just A Normal, Run-Of-The-Mill Walking Simulator And Everything Is Fine, Don’t Worry About It,” I am interested in using sound to communicate the environment in the second prototype. The first prototype features “road ambiance,” used in hopes of communicating the experience of being inside “My Friend Kari’s Car,” but I am interested in fading in and out other relevant sounds, as the player reaches certain “pages” or passages from the narrative.

Though I still have not polished the project in it’s current process, I am coming up with more ideas. Instead of overwhelming my project with layers of unfinished work, I have decided to list out some of the things I need to figure out and fix.

The videos I add to my game are so broken or distorted that it takes away from the quality of my game. I need to figure out how to match the dimensions of the video screen to the dimensions of the video. Also, there is an option to write a script for your video players. I need to try this out to see if it will boost the quality of hte videos.

Also, I am still not understanding which scripts go in the scriptholder, which go on the actual 3D objects, and which go on the first person controller. I spent hours figuring out why the collision detection was not working when Patrick reminded me that the collision detection script goes on the first person controller. Simple mistakes like these really stall the process of my project.

Honestly, I am overwhelmed by all of my ideas because I know what these dream like spaces look like in my mind, but executing this feeling and expressing my thoughts are a lot harder than I expected. Hopefully, I will be able to fix the quality of my game and that would clear up the process a little more.

 

This week I focused on just trying to get the basics of the game working. I wanted to get the core features and codes done before I started differentiating the rest of the levels. I finally added a timer to the game which I’m so relieved about. At first I was having a lot of trouble just trying to recreate my game. More specifically, my collision detection code wasn’t working on my new game, and the dodgeballs would only bump into the player and not destroy it. I kept going back and forth between the two Unity projects checking out the codes and couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It was getting very annoying because you can’t have two Unity projects opened at the same time so whenever I wanted to open one, the other would close, and then I would have to open the previous one again and it was just becoming very tedious. Eventually I found out that I didn’t set the objects as triggers and that solved the problem. All that trouble because of one little detail! Right now I’m trying to get a score board in and finish up the basis of the game, then I’ll proceed with making the other levels with different challenges the player will face.