Game Design

SUMMARY

Overall it was really cool learning tips on how to make your first game. I am excited to use those tips to make something fun.

PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)

Unity is a great game design engine and the one that I have choosen.

I chose a playlist straight from the Unity youtube channel. These playlists are going to be the most helpful because they are from Unity themselves. They are very easy to follow and I would recommend you watch some of them if you need help.

CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)

Making Your First Game: Minimum Viable Product – Scope Small, Start Right

It is very important that you make your first game something small. Your goal should be to make the minimum viable product, the smallest thing you can make that still gives you useful data. Games with lots of content but without a solid foundation are rarely good. IF your game has a bunch of unnecessary obstacles that you don’t need to tell the final product then it will be super difficult to figure out what needs improving.

Game Genres from the Simplest and Most Difficult to Create

1. Racing Game
2. Top-Down Shooter
3. 2d Platformer
4. Color Matching Puzzle Game
5. 2D Puzzle Platformer
6. 3D Platformer
7. FPS
8. JRPG
9. Fighting Game
10. Action Adventure
11. Western RPG
12. RTS

LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)

Playing Like a Designer – I: Examine Your Experiences

In order to play games like a designer to have to think critically about why each choice was made and what it brings to the game. You have to focus on the little details and emotions that you feel while playing the game. This will help you be more confident in your game designing choices.

Playing Like a Designer – II: How to Analyze Game Design 

A good designer has played and can reference a bit of everything. All types of games offer value and learning for beginners and experienced game designers. But analyzing these games requires some familiarity with concepts and terms that will help you go beyond describing a game as good or bad. You will learn to be more focused on the fine details instead of the big picture.

OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY & THE BRAIN)

Okay so if the story is about me and I’m the protagonist then the enemy would be time. I’m trying to win by getting all the things I need to get done before the time runs out. For example, getting my work done before the time that I need to go to soccer practice. There are tons of obstacles in my way like chores, eating, watching tv, and more. I need to ignore or make a certain time for those obstacles.

STUDIO (SONGWRITING)

Idea #1- Racing Game

Objective: Race through the levels while collecting coins and dodging obstacles. The coins help you boost your speed and agility in the race. During each race, there will be a boost bar that tells you how many coins you need to collect before you can unlock that boost or powerup. Whoever collects the most coins after all the levels win.

Idea #2- Puzzle/Escape Game

Objective: Complete each puzzle to get clues in order to escape the maze. The puzzles will get harder as you go on. The puzzles will be a mix of questions and regular puzzles. Once you get out of the maze you win.

Idea #3- Top-Down Shooter Game

Objective: Defeat the dirt monsters by shooting them. The more monsters you kill the more points you get for power-ups and customization of your character. There will be levels and at each level, there will be a boss that you have to defeat after you defeat the little monsters.

Idea #4- 2D Platformer Game

Objective: You have to get the star to the top of the Christmas tree while avoiding all the flying ornaments. Your screen moves up once you move up and in order to move up, you have to jump onto platforms. Some of the platforms are real and some are fake. If you jump onto a fake platform then you lose and have to start over. You also lose if you get hit by the obstacles.

Idea #5- Story/Survival Game

Objective: You wake up one day and you are the only person in your town. You have to learn to survive on the minimal resources that you have. You also have to find a way to figure out where everyone went and how to find them. The games end when you find everyone or when you use up all your resources before you find them and you don’t survive.

WEEKLY ACTIVITY EVALUATION

I think it was really fun trying to come up with ideas and digging into the side of my brain that I didn’t know I had. I’m not a very creative person so this really helped me step out of my comfort zone and really challenge my brain to think of useful ideas.

What is Workflow?

Work•flow /ˈwərkflō/

“The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.” – lexico.com

What is a quality workflow?  How do we develop it?  Below are elements of the production cycle that most creative people move through as they create something.  First, we must identify the stages of project production. What is each stage and what are the quality checks for each stage.  Read on and find out!

Stages of Creation Development

Inspiration

How do we find ideas to develop?

There are a lot of ways we can find ideas to develop. It really depends on the person. Some people like to go outside and just get some fresh air, while others like to take inspiration from others. Ideas can take a while to come to you, but when they do come they might not even be that good. I would say that good ideas are ideas that have a plan along with them. Something that should make you work hard, but the only person who knows what that means for you, is you.

Intention

How do we clarify our specific goal(s) for a project?

Making goals is something that can be very difficult for a lot of people. Some ways that you can clarify your goals for a project are by being very detailed. Don’t write down a goal that doesn’t take steps to reach. A good goal should be specif and reachable. You can also include the steps you are going to take to reach that goal, that can also be very clarifying.

Pre-production

How can we brainwrite, brainstorm, storyboard, and plan our ideas at this phase?

Making a visual list or storyboard to write down all of your ideas can really help you see them. Writing things down is one of the best ways our brain remembers things. If we write down our ideas we are way more likely to use them. If we write down our ideas for a project we will have a more clear and easy way to decide what we want to do.

Production

How do we communicate with each other and execute our plan for this phase? This is where we actually make the project.

One way you can communicate and execute our plan is by already having good idea of what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. If you star from nothing then people are going to think that you are not prepared and that you have no idea whtat you are doing. You can also have like a diagram or a visula modle of what you want to create so that other people can see your vision clearer.

Post-production

How do we communicate with each other and execute our final stages of the project for this phase? This is where we publish the project.

This is when communication really comes in handy. Here you have to tak to your peers and see what final touches you have to add to your project. You would go through every aspect and decide what needs changing so that the project can be perfect.

Presentation/Performance

How do we share our project with our learning community, advisory members, and the world?

There are alot of ways to share your project. If you were to shareit with your peers then a presentation would probubly be the best way. If you wanted to share with the community and the world then making a website or social media account for your project would be the best way to get your project ou there into the world.

Feedback

How do we conduct a feedback session at the end of the project development cycle?

When you are done with the development cycle then a good way to conduct feedback would be by having people maybe leaving a review on your website or by having people test out you design and then giving you feedback that way.

Born: January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinios.

Personal Success Definition

I define success as someone who is doing what they love and are happy with themselves. They also use there success to make the word better.

Michelle Obama is a successful attorney and Former First Lady of The United States. She was the very first African American First lady and was respected by millions. She used her time in office to shine a light on social justice issues and humanitarian issues.

Skills for Success

Michelle Obama is 1) a very smart woman, 2) highly skilled in law, and 3) an advocate for important humanity issues. Raised with an emphasis on education, Michelle learned to read at home by age four. She skipped the second grade. By the sixth grade, Michelle was taking classes in her school’s gifted program, where she learned French and completed accelerated courses in biology. As the first lady, Michelle focused her attention on social issues such as poverty, healthy living, and education. Her 2018 memoir, Becoming, discusses the experiences that shaped her, from her childhood in Chicago to her years living in the White House.

How They Used These Skills

Following in her older brother’s footsteps, Michelle attended Princeton University, graduating cum laude in 1985 with a B.A. in Sociology. She went on to study law at Harvard Law School, where she took part in demonstrations calling for the enrollment and hiring of more minority students and professors. She was awarded her J.D. in 1988.

After graduating from law school in 1988, Michelle worked as an associate in the Chicago branch of the firm Sidley Austin in the area of marketing and intellectual property. In 1991, she left corporate law to pursue a career in public service, working as an assistant to Mayor Richard Daley and then as the assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago.

In 1996, Michelle joined the University of Chicago as associate dean of student services, developing the school’s first community-service program. Beginning in 2002, she worked for the University of Chicago Hospitals, as executive director of community relations and external affairs. In May 2005, Michelle was appointed vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she continued to work part-time until shortly before her husband’s inauguration as president. She also served as a board member for the prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Challenges Overcome

From the usual sexism leveled at female public figures to the racism that crept into the public dialogue about the first family, Michelle Obama faced all kinds of prejudices and difficulties as she stepped into the role of the first lady. If anyone could handle the pressure, though, Michelle could. “When they go low, we go high,” she famously said during her Democratic National Convention speech endorsing Hillary Clinton. Yet, despite the many challenges she faced while the first lady, Michelle Obama served her time in the White House with elegance, patience, and style. 

Significant Work

Michelle Obama has worked with a ton of organizations all around the world. In January of 2014, she started The Obama Foundation with her husband Former President of The United States Barack Obama. The Obama Foundation’s mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world.

Resources

https://www.biography.com/us-first-lady/michelle-obama

https://www.obama.org/

https://www.bustle.com/p/michelle-obamas-7-most-challenging-moments-she-faced-head-on-in-the-white-house-26036