#soledevoloper

C# Advanced basics post-mortem

This time I decided if I want to make bigger projects, I needed to understand more specifically about the C# programming language I use and how it works so I can understand it to make the best fun games as possible.

I even made 3 short mini games as a little exercises to warm myself up.

What I learned

 different types of variables like doubles, characters, and colour.

different ways of how variables/ parameters add with each other, e.g.  float sum = (2 + 3) * (4 - (4 / 3)).

A better understanding of Enums and how the states can be used. e.g played dies or at main menu waiting for player to press play or restart, what happens next?  does he move a inch or not?

The calculated difference of float and int when dividing them respectfully such as calculating the nearest inside numbers (part of floats).

 Casting: Converts a variable to another variable. Eg int a = 5 into float a = 5.0f.

How more robust Lists can be, such as being counted, added, removed specifically or all selected, reversed, removed at range and etc. Also, an idea of what its generics are <>.

Different types of functions that can be used like voids, ints, floats and returning their parameters such as strings, ints and floats.

Functions store many parameters as much as they need. Also different types of functions can share the same name, except for the same types.

How effective and distinctive behaviour of If, if else and else statements of controlling mechanics.

Not to have so many if statements in a nested code otherwise it may affect performance of the game.

More detailed info, cleaner code, similarities to the ifs, if else, else statements and how complex switch Statements of how they execute with different variables to run code inside each of the cases and defaults.

the unique behaviour of breaks that break out of the code to execute outside code.

The Different types of loops such as For loops, for each loops, do while loops of how their used respectfully so it doesn't crash the computer on the wrong use.

Better understanding of Arrays of what the elements can contain such as ints, game objects, floats, bools, strings, doubles etc and how it can only be programmed to access their elements not outside its index or length.

How you can change array element values by code without setting its variables.

How for loop doesn't need to be specialised how many times to repeat the loop so it doesn't crash.

Advanced use of Coroutines such as Stopping Coroutines, waiting for seconds in real time (no matter how slow or fast the game is with time scale), how they can pass Parameters and strings to reference other functions and how the waitforseconds can be slowed or speed up by Time.TimeScale.

Passing arrays into void  returning functions like ints. The parameters can even have the same names of its variables and it won't cause an error.

How interesting is to model objects from classes each with their variables and to update them overtime.

How useful are constructors when passing variables.

How "this." refers to the class variable and outside the function parameters.

Difference of Objects create that get passed in Memory as references and values.

 More detail of Data encapsulation/visibility modifiers other than public or private. I learnt more such as Internal, protected modifiers, setting and getting variables.

 A deeper understanding of inheritance such as from Mono behaviour and from other classes such as behaviours, functions, properties and variables.

How Inheritance works with child game classes using override functions to override the virtual function from their parent classes to do something else.

Most functions, datatypes values including transforms which are inherited from Mono behaviour.

The pros and cons of method overloading, while good to use a variety of functions and parameters, but needs to be specific of which function and parameters to run.

The use of the Ternary Operator such as using ? (if) and : (else) respectfully like if statements.

Variable Attributes and such as [RequireComponent], [ExecuteInEditMode], [AddComponentMenu], [HideInInspector], [Range]and [TextArea] which are broadly useful to read and get components to reduce unexpected issues, and makes the life's easier for designers, respectfully.

 How static variables and functions can work together with each other's scripts without get components and creating objects. They also don't work with non-static variables and functions.

How Delegates can be used to subscribe or call events from scripts including statics

How to return value answers when adding or subtracting.

How to make log warnings and log errors execute by code in the console depending how the script is written.

-Pumpkins and Golems

The possibility that I can make a game based on its rigid body physics a little more than complex code. E.g dodging rolling pumpkins from a slope, etc

-Bombs Away

Being able to spawn bombs in-between min and max distances with floats randomly from one transform variable.

Being able to restrict players movement with floats, Vector 2 and if statements without using a box collider.

-Knife Hit

Able to add force on knife with either Space or Mouse keys respectfully without causing unwanted design issues or bugs.

Able to set the knife game object to be parent of the wood by collisions and turning off collisions with "Detect Collisions" by turning it false on the knife once collided.

Overall

This project was designed not to be the next game on the market, but to flex my level design skills with particles, and for the first time to use Tree Creator and wind zone to create trees and wind respectfully. The assets (including the fps controller and one of the trees) are mostly borrowed from the Unity asset store, except for the trees I created (which will be shown one by one later in the video).

WHAT I LEARNED:

· How effectively I can use the Tree Creator to create main roots, growth, leaf frequency and growth, textures, branches, LOD, how effective are they in the wind, size (including leaves), and crankiness of branches of trees

· About how to use the wind zone for the first time and how effective and complex it is to use to enable to blow the trees around like the real-life wind.

· How I can make small particles float around until they reset their starting position to play the particle again.

· How I can shape particles. E.g. the dust flying around and the rain particles falling respectfully.

· Rotating around skyboxes to fit in with the scenes better. · Using code to make a randomized range with an enumerator to flick the lightning (directional light) between 15- 20 seconds.

· How effective using flare lights can be used to get players' attention from a distance,

WHAT I IMPROVED:

· I improved on mixing different terrain textures with each other to make it seamless and blended together as possible.

· I managed to control how high and low the terrain is to distinguish which are hills/mountains and walkable areas.

· Getting a better hang with the lighting and post-fx respectfully.

· Snapping modular pieces such as planks and steel roofs to corners of the little house to reduce z-fighting visuals.

WHAT I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER?:

· For rain particles, I could have added a splash particle when the rainwater collides with the terrain to make it more realistic and alive instead of it going through the ground.

· Not all the trees look exactly what I call “natural” trees, some looked a bit randomized with branches and a little bit blobby, so I will need to practice with the Tree Creator in the future to get better realistic trees.

· I would need to be careful how many leaves and branches are attached to the trees, otherwise, it will increase the polycount in the scene and crash the game.

· I only used a minimum of post fx this time because I thought without the player having a flashlight or lamp posts around, the player would struggle to find their way around if the post fx is too dark. So next time I should have a flashlight or lamp posts for the player to navigate around and use more post fx to enable me to use more of my creative freedom of it.

OVERALL: