Reading Week 9

 

In this blog i'm going to be talking to you about my overall time with everything and how I've been getting on with my project.

When i first heard about this module i was both super shocked and super excited. All my life since i was a kid i grew a strong attachment to video games. I was always the one who would rather be at home playing games rather than being outside. Any type of game at all once there was a controller i could master it. But when i heard about this module and that we would be actually creating and building our very own game from the ground up it kind of scared me if i'm being honest.

When i first started up Unity we were introduced to downloadable assets and tutorial videos which then led to allowing us to get a feeling of what it would be like to create our own game.

(Image screenshot from Unity tutorial page)

When we first started Unity our first piece of actual Unity work was to operate a driving simulator game. When i went into this of course i was nervous but i quickly realized that if you follow the videos provided properly and take your time properly everything is explained greatly and is very easy to understand. i got on with it and from there it started to flow very easily. The codes were still new to me but i was starting to get the hang of it bit by bit. By the end of it i was feeling pretty confident and also pretty excited to keep going and pushing for more.

(screenshot from Unity tutorial page)

As the week passed by we were introduced to yet another tutorial. This one unlike the first tutorial gave me a hard time if i'm being honest. It was completely different from the first tutorial and for a long period of time i could not seem to figure it out. The code wasn't even the issue but Unity itself where i found myself messing up the options early into the tutorial so by the time i hit my error point i was too far to know where i went wrong. It resulted in me restarting and correcting my errors which was a real pain but in the end we were able to adapt and learn.

(screenshot from Unity tutorial page)

When we moved up to this tutorial i came with a lot of confidence but this was the tutorial that gave me the most grief of them all. The production of this entire "Feed the Animals" game was a complete disaster for me. When i first started i came in too confident and didn't watch the videos as carefully as i should have been and as a result started making silly mistakes in the code and Unity window. In this tutorial i realized i had rushed it when i came to a halt i could not get past. I had made an error at the very start once again which caused me to have to restart the entire prototype when i was already halfway through. When i restarted this tutorial i became more vigilant and concentrated and i as able to see where i had made mistakes. I continued on in the game and was able to get the game more or less completed. Then out of nowhere the power in my home died and i lost every single bit of work i had done leading up to that point. 

When i came back i was so stressed but even more disappointed in myself for not saving my work as i was advancing through the tutorials. But hey third times a charm aye. We still pushed through and smashed that tutorial too.

By this point I've pretty much had a battle with Unity and i was still standing.

We were introduced to a new thing call GDD which stands for Games Design Document. This i think i kinda messed up compared to other people but basically it just a step by step breakdown of exactly how your game should look , operate and feel. It was my first time building a game so even just writing a step by step of how it should come out was pretty tough as i couldn't talk about creating something completely out of my skill level. 

I finally put all the fear aside , picked myself up and said now it's time to go. I have now had my first go at creating my project game and so far i am having a great time. As you know from reading my GDD my project idea is somewhat simple but a great idea and if executed perfectly it could be a game that would hopefully someday hit the markets. 

I was so scared coming into this because i had no idea what to do but some of my classmates gave me the reassurance that i was not alone in this and that they had also been having a tough time with the whole project. I took a step back and found out all what i would need to create what i had in my head. When i knew what i needed i then began to research on how i could create the fundamentals needed to make my game work. I was not coming into much help on the internet which led me back through Unity videos looking at the tutorials that gave me the tools and knowledge i needed to perform certain tasks in my Unity Game.

After some time at it this is what i was able to come up with.

This is a quick screenshot of where i am currently at in my project. I have managed to acquire the fundamentals that is run in subway surfers and that is the same fundamentals i have been able to apply to my game. So far i have been able to move my sphere (which represents the car in the game) on wards as if it were running as a SS type game , dodging obstacles and holes in its path. I have also moved on ahead to add a collectible power up that is acquired by driving through the green capsule shaped icon.

We still have yet to add different scenes , backgrounds , roads and mainly the vehicle that will be controlled by the player. All these things will be added in the coming weeks leading up to the final production of my project.

I have so much more i want to do to this project but this is only the start. By the time i'm finished i'm going to have one of the best games to hit the markets.

This is where my head is at and i really do think these tutorials are necessary to keep you on your feet and for you to reprocess the new skills picked up throughout the weeks that have past and the weeks to come. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog.

Have a lovely day.C