Unity tutorial 02

 In this weeks unity tutorial we learned how to add decorations to our game, which was cool. It was nice to be able to add decoration and personalize it however I wanted. Also I quite enjoyed this weeks tutorial as there wasn't too much coding to be done.

We also learned how to create blocking movements for the player by using box colliders and we learned how to interact with the world. Although this wasn't too hard as we done a bit of that in the last semester. It is fun to try these things that we are familiar with on a 2d game as opposed to last years 3d game.

We also added a rigid body to components to make the physics system handle objects and look much more in detail.

For me I found this one of the more easier tutorials as there wasn't a huge amount of coding and we had done some of the things in the last semester so I was familiar with them!

I look forward to what the rest of the semester brings and see how I improve with the tutorials!

Unity Tutorial 01

 For this weeks unity tutorial we had to make a 2D game. 

The first task we were challenged with was setting up unity editor. Doing this was easy enough to follow along and I did not have too much difficulty with it. 

I found the next set of tutorials quite easy also as I knew a good bit from semester 1 which helped a lot!  I learned all  about scripts and how to add the character to the scene. 

The whole thing was not completely easy, I did struggle a bit throughout but I eventually got the hang of it.

The next tutorial was about character and controller inputs. This tutorial  just made us play around a bit more with unity and changing some details in our script to make it possible to move around our character.

Finally, the last tutorial for this week  thought us how to design the enviroment around Ruby and to play around with it a bit. This was a nice, easier tutorial to start off semester 2 with, and although I struggled a lot with it last semester I really hope to do better this semester.

Planning

  Hey! Welcome back to my blog, my first one of a new semester! I had a lovely few weeks break but I am ready to get back to some work! 

In this weeks lecture we had a library staff member named Lindsay to discuss with us how to use the library website and told us that we can rent some books that we need from the library and some may be available to view online.

Lindsay also spoke to us about referencing and showed us a very helpful website called Refworks. This website was very helpful and she also showed us that you can use it for creating a folder with different readings for various things so I might look into doing that for this module!

This week we had to pick a topic that we are going to write about. I picked "Chapter Devices" with the sub heading of "Mobile Phones". To be honest I would have loved to pick WII or the nintendo as I would have liked to write about them, but I am also happy with my choice of mobile phones as it is a very popular device and it would interest me to write about them! Also there is a lot of apps that come with mobile phones (obviously) that I would enjoy writing about and even getting to know more about them.

Game Testing

GAME TESTING

 How to Playtest!

How important it is to playtest?

Playtesting is where you can see your hard work come to life. You might feel nervous or irritated as there are things that would not work. However, this could be a good way to find your mistakes and things that you can improve.

When can you test your game?

You can start as long as you have a prototype, but you should not type your game too early either because you haven't really tried your first planned idea yet. However, do not also wait till you complete your game to test it as there could be an error on some parts that you have not discovered which is too late to fix it and you ended up spending more time fixing the error and possibly ruined the whole game. If you want to have a wider perspective on improving your game, you can let someone try the game or you can just do it yourself. it is better to have a wider range of testers to get various feedbacks in any age.

Article 1

Types of testing:

1. Playtest with focus - e.g., in movement, difficulty, enemies, etc.
2. Blind playtesting - where you can concentrate on the player doing what they try to do. This way, you could find new tactics that the player can do or defeat the enemies.
3. Ask questions - ask your players questions about the game to give them ideas on how to overcome an obstacle if they are stuck.

Sometimes your idea would not relate to what your audience wanted where they will find your game frustrating. E.g., the obstacles are too hard, or they have to start to the first level every time they die. However, you can have two choices: you can force your idea until it works for you or you embrace their criticism and try your best to fit it to the game where it could be useful. This is like a win/win situation.

Gaming companies should not only focus on one trend but also must think of what the users need and

to have a fresh idea that is different from current games. There could be a possibility that some people will like what you have created differently.

Here are some major risks in Game Testing:

• If the "fun" factor is missing in the game or it did not meet the audience's expectations.
• Game is not unique.
• Poor game development. E.g., broken features or critical bug.
• The game should have a feature that is easy to use and have a balanced level of gameplay.

7 most popular gaming testing techniques.

1. Functionality Testing: look for the obvious problems such as asset integrity, stability, audio visual and game mechanic issues. You should also have to consider the interactive application performance issues such as crashing or freezing during the game.
2. Combinatorial Testing: where you test the game at its earliest stage. This can determine if your game can satisfy the main requirements of your game have to achieve. This method can be used for commercial testing.
3. Ad Hoc Testing: it is known as "general testing" which is a less structured way of testing and randomly done on any section of your game. An "error guessing" does not require any documentation or planning as you are fixing errors along the process.
4. Compatibility Testing: this method detects any flaws and shows if it meets the essential necessities of the software /hardware and graphics. This can be done both in mobile and PC games. Compatibility testing can also evaluate your game on multiple platforms.
5. Clean Room and Tree Testing: this ensures consistency and reliability of gaming software. It aims to produce a no-error product before it introduces to audiences. This is similar to usability testing as well where it organize the test cases and choose the most suitable set of codes. There are no requirements required on how to prepare any content for testing.
6. Regression Testing: this is the time where tests are re-checked and analyze again. Where the previous functions of apps work fine and new changes do not develop new errors. This technique also aims to maintain the end product's quality are met and detect bugs at the development stage.
7. Performance Testing: This technique settles the overall performance under real-time conditions and ensures that the present infrastructure has a smooth function of gaming.

Games Stories

In my readings this week, I learned how to build a story for a game and what it's all about. We need to know that a game is not a movie and it should not be made like one. The story of a game is adding an extra element to the game, but one that doesn't define the game.

In our readings we also learned about conflict in a game. Of course every game needs conflict and that is what makes it so interesting and fun to play. I mean every game we play, be it video games etc it always has some sort of conflict to make the game more dynamic and difficult.

To finish off I have learned a lot about how to not make the game like a story and make it more interesting with some conflict.

Unity Tutorial

 In this weeks unity tutorial I am finding more and more that as weeks go on I am feeling a lot more confident with them which in return makes the tutorials all the more enjoyable to do!

Although I said I am finding them easier than I have been and more enjoyable, I won't lie I am still struggling and spending a lot of time on each tutorial, which I am working on but not sure I am improving an awful lot😞 

This week there was a lot of code and script to look through which makes it all the more challenging, but I suppose we're some what used to that by now. I like the challenges test so you can find out how much you really know and what you should be working on, and that helps! 

I will try use some of the new features I learned today in my game. That is all for now.

Time Strategies

 So to be honest I am not great at time management.. I find it really hard to switch off and take some time for myself so I am really trying hard to manage my time well this semester. I was thinking of having a full day for a module each day so that I can just focus on that module and nothing else so I don't get overwhelmed and get everything done. This article really helped me as I learned to manage my time and I will be better at prioritising it now. She speaks about lots of different things, like procrastinating (which i am the queen at), leaving the worst things to last (which is actually should a bad idea). Anyway from today on I will be better at managing my time! 

Technology Tools and Website

 I am not very familiar with the tools we will be using for this as I have never used Unity or Padlet, but I am excited to get to use them and learn more about them! Also as for online college I love some things and hate some things about it, I love not having to travel up and down to college and being able to spend more time at home and have my lunch etc at home, but I hate that I'm finding it so hard to divide my time and switch off from college work and take some time for myself. That being sad, I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester and seeing how I get on!

More About Class Assignments

 I really like the layout of this module as I am enjoying doing some blogposts and having the options of doing extra credits incase you've missed anything. I am also getting used to using new software like unity and having to complete tasks each week makes it really fair and easy to keep on track.

Growth Mindset

 This week we are learning about Carol Dweek and growth mindset. Although I have never heard about growth mindset before I did find it quite interesting. I love how she spoke about how different people have different mindsets, and how she explained the children's reaction from failing, I feel that would be similar to myself as I would be fix minded! 

Introduction

 Hey,

I am 20  years old and studying Creative Digital Media. I finished school in 2018 but I didn't know what I wanted to do so I took a year out and saved up and bought a car and passed my test so I could drive myself to college and make life easier! I decided to move out of my parents house during the summer as I like to have my own space especially because I knew college would be all online. I love having my own place but I do miss living with my parents (sometimes 😅). Also forgot to mention that I live in a small parish in Meath called Skryne and always have lived here. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and I love to cook! My favourite thing to do by myself is go to a gym class or for a run! 

I recently got a new little puppy and named her Skye and I love her so much she's the sweetest! Here are some pictures of her, myself, my boyfriend and our little boy.

Hope you enjoyed getting to know a little about me, although its not too interesting!