#twoprojects

From these 2 collaborations i have learnt a lot about my self. I am more of a leader than i previously realised. I have gained confined in sharing ideas and organising teams to achieving goals set by the group. I feel that I particularly grew throughout the Doc Marten project. This for me , was a challenging group dynamic , however not negative. It has prepared me for future , high pressure collaborations and i can recognise that within collaborations, there will always be differences in decisions making, the importance is in the way we overcome these challenged as group. I feel that I led solutions to these scenarios well by mediating discussions and hearing what each member has to say.

Throughout both projects, i feel that i made a strong contribution to group development and although in the Doc Marten final collection, my drawings were not as a prominent as others, i feel confident that i invested a lots of time in coordinating the group , bringing research and encouraged design decisions .I led / organised group meetings in both groups and ensured that we all felt involved and heard. 

These projects have both been valuable in developing my own skills. I feel that i have been particularly more confident with the use of photoshop and social media. In both projects , i was in control of a social media account and uploaded photoshop designs that i had created from my own drawings and a collaboration of group work. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with a dynamic group of people and learning from each of them. I can confidently say that I have improved my practical skills , parachuted my knowledge in the print room and developed my group work skills through both of these objects. I have felt excited and engaged by each brief and both have taught me the value of time constraints within a group dynamic. 

Script Tutorials:

 1. Camera Controller - Unity 5 | Roll-a-Ball Game | Official Tutorial Playlist, YouTube, Unity, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFlh8pTf4DU&list=PLX2vGYjWbI0Q-s4_lX0h4i2zbZqlg4OfF&index=1&ab_channel=Unity (accessed 22 Oct 2016)

 2. Fading Tutorial - Brackeys (2014) How to fade between scenes in unity, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HwZQt94uHQ&ab_channel=Brackeys (accessed 7 Nov 2016).

 3. Jumping Script Tutorial - Brackeys (2013) 3A. Jumping - MAKE A GAME (unity), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PazLGgeFkHI&ab_channel=Brackeys (accessed 27 Oct 2016)

 4. Moving Platform Script - The VR Viking (2012) Unity Scripting Tutorial 9 - moving platforms, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFJ6yR05jiU&ab_channel=TheVRViking  (accessed 22 Nov 2017)

 5. Player Controller Script - Unity 5 | Roll-a-Ball Game | Official Tutorial Playlist, YouTube, Unity, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFlh8pTf4DU&list=PLX2vGYjWbI0Q-s4_lX0h4i2zbZqlg4OfF&index=1&ab_channel=Unity (accessed 22 Oct 2016)

 6. Pick Up Rotator - Unity 5 | Roll-a-Ball Game | Official Tutorial Playlist, YouTube, Unity, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFlh8pTf4DU&list=PLX2vGYjWbI0Q-s4_lX0h4i2zbZqlg4OfF&index=1&ab_channel=Unity (accessed 22 Oct 2016)

 7. Level Trigger Collider - SpeedTutor (2015) Changing level with triggers in unity 5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-oYmerBtEE&ab_channel=SpeedTutor (accessed 27 Oct 2016)

 8. Pick Up Count and Win Script - Unity 5 | Roll-a-Ball Game | Official Tutorial Playlist, YouTube, Unity, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFlh8pTf4DU&list=PLX2vGYjWbI0Q-s4_lX0h4i2zbZqlg4OfF&index=1&ab_channel=Unity (accessed 22 Oct 2016)

 9. Sound on Collision - Sound on Collision Question? (2017), http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34580511/sound-on-collision (accessed 27 December 2017)

 10. Play Sound Effects - GameGrind (2014) Making a simple game in unity - playing sound effects - unity C# Tutorial (part 9), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5DaPCiP0Xs&ab_channel=GameGrind  (accessed 24 December 2017)

 11. Change Material Script - Rosscoe Tutorials (2016) Scripting: Change material of an object | unity Tutorial, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJB07ZSiW7k&ab_channel=RosscoeTutorials  (accessed 3 January 2017)

 12. UI Disappears After Given Time - How to make disappear a GUI text after an amount of time? (2015), http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/970467/how-to-make-disappear-a-gui-text-after-an-amount-o.html (accessed 2 January 2017)

 13. Create a Menu Tutorial - Michael Marsh (2015) Unity 5 Tutorial: Creating a main menu with the new UI, https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_690402409&feature=iv&src_vid=ITFEpm15bRM&v=9hPYXi5aXzw&ab_channel=MichaelMarsh (accessed 6 January 2017)

  Textures:

 1. Wooden Floor Textures Pack - Asset store (no date), https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/31492 (accessed 2 Nov 2016)

 2. Stone Textures Pack - Asset store (no date), https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/12962 (accessed 11 Nov 2016)

 3. Transparent Water Material - Asset store (no date), https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/37322 (accessed 13 Dec 2016)

 4. Sphere Jump Title - Logo and Graphics Generator, https://cooltext.com/ (accessed 3 January 2017)

 Environment:

 1. Water Pro Pack - Standard Unity Assets (accessed 8 Nov 2016)

  Audio:

 1. TS Sound Effects Pack - Asset store, TS Sounds, https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/34453  (accessed 6 January 2017)

 2. Epic Game Hits SFX Pack - Asset store (2015), https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/36617 (accessed 5 January 2017)

 3. Ambient Water Sound - Cosy Clothes (2014), Ambient sea water sounds calm tropical water noises relaxing tranquil yoga meditation study or sleep. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK-X7Imb6PI&ab_channel=CosyClothes  (accessed 4 January 2017)

Over the course of these developed projects, I feel like I have made huge progress compared to when I originally started. The game is now fully functioning with more mechanics implemented, more issues fixed, and a considered visual aesthetic, so it should meet the requirements of this project. However, I would like to continue developing it because I have enjoyed making it, and I can think of other aspects to implement and improve, and I could also come up with more level ideas. After the submission, I hope to continue with it if I have the time, and maybe even come up with other game concepts.

In a way, I am hoping to create a sense of conflict between the character and the player in the first level. The player will most likely assume that collecting the points is beneficial to them, in response to hearing the positive sound effects and seeing the colours change in opacity. However, they might later recognise that doing this will actually obstruct their own view, and therefore make the game harder for themselves.

Additionally, the rules will later be reversed in the second level, meaning that the sphere will now go thinner which each point picked up, until eventually bursting after 3 tries, if the player is not careful. They will now be playing a game of avoiding, rather than collecting. This will play with the player’s trust in the rules of the game, and it will encourage them to stay engaged, and to question what might come next. Therefore, breaking the pattern of predictability.

Today, I have been learning how to script sound effects to the game. Specifically, I have figured out how to add background music, or sound effects upon collision with another object. There are still certain aspects that I am still trying to figure out, for example, how to play the sound only once when a specific event is triggered. However, I have found the basics, so I am quite happy so far.

For the background noise, I have searched for a very long time and found a fitting ambient water audio track, that goes on for a long period of time. I have decided to shorten it so it does not take up too much space in the game either. The waves sound nice and gentle much like what you might see in the game, rather than heavy and rough.

Now that the first Christmas week is over, I am ready to continue working on my two projects, and consider how I could start implementing the ideas that I have discussed with Alan during our last tutorial.

(Sphere Jump Gameplay)

I have been away for the last two days of the project to see the Netherlands, so I had a tough time focusing on the workload simultaneously. However, I believe that I have managed to succeed with creating a working interactive game experience with an unreliable twist to it. The game is made up of about 4 to 5 short levels that slowly and gradually play with the player’s expectations and trust in the developer in a kind of nightmarish fashion.

When starting this project, I did not have any experience with game engines or scripting, so I had a very tough time finding the learning curves and actually trying to make my idea come to reality, but I think for a weeks worth of work, I have succeeded my expectations. While it was quite stressful, it was also a very satisfying experience to work on this project, because it felt good to show people what I have created.

During the presentation, Ian was very impressed with the quality of the game artefact, and gave some positive feedback on the variety of stages, and the unexpected experience being implemented into the game. He also recommended checking out one of the student’s work in the class who had created a VR maze experience to see what she did.

I think I am quite happy with how much I have achieved this week, despite not always succeeding with what I wanted to do, and running into a few problems here and there. This time, I have been focused on some more aesthetic, technical, and theoretical aspects of the game.

I think the experiments that failed often spawned some new knowledge and inspiration for me to use in a different scenario. For example, when trying out the terrain building tool to create a curvy surface below the water for the player to hit upon impact, I could not succeed with making the large terrain move up and down because it seemed to stress the computer somewhat, but it did teach me that it is possible to create all different kinds of terrains using Unity, and I think I might possibly use it for a different environment later. Therefore, it was not a waste of time to try it out, even if it did not succeed with what I intended it for.