SUMMARY
I thought all the ‘rooms were interesting, I think how we separated learning the theory from practicing the theory. I felt myself becoming more knowledgeable in game design in the process and had fun while I was learning.
PRACTICE ROOM (TUTORIALS)
Game Engine: Unity
Video Tutorial: Basic Principles of Game Design
In this Brackeys tutorial, Brackeys explains the principles of Game Design as well as the very unusual way that he got started with Game Design at the age of 14.
CLASSROOM (THEORY & ANALYSIS)
I completed the Basic concepts chapter, where I learned about the use of the console, as well as arithmetic operators. I also started the first lesson of Conditional Statements and Loops, where I learned about the if statement, the else clause, and the if/else statement. Although I already knew about a few of these, I was definitely taught a thing or two. I didn’t know like I didn’t know prefix vs. profix and the similarities and differences. So now I can walk away a bit more knowledgeable about C#.
LAB (THEORY PRACTICED)
West Of Dead is probably just average at best. I definitely learned a few things from it, such as the true importance of staying true to a genre and crafting your game around, the importance of sound design, and the importance of the motivation of a video game. I played two runs in West Of Dead, the first I didn’t know the controls at all because I don’t play twin-stick shooters very often, and the second I got to know the game well, it’s the gameplay, sound design, it’s store Now my largest complaint, and I have a few, there was absolutely no feedback sounds whatsoever. I played the entire second half of the first level on one health and didn’t even know it,. While I’m on the sound design topic, this game lacks diegetic sounds as well, the only sounds that were made throughout my session were the music, the narrator, who’s voice was very quiet by the way, and revolvers firing. And that’ll lead to gameplay and story which were also complaints of mine. This game advertises itself as a twin-stick shooter as well as a rouge-like, yet nothing comes from death, no story no progress, nothing. This isn’t how a rouge-like should be The lack of weapon variety was also a bit of an issue, or, at least, it didn’t feel like much gameplay-wise. Although the devs did a good job with the non-diegetic sounds that were there. The music, choice of narrator, and other non-diegetic sound effects that were present all fit the theme fairly well. I think I’ll sleep on this game, give it maybe another run or two and see if my impressions change. But for now and probably forever, West Of Dead is not good, but not bad either.
OUTSIDE (CREATIVITY & THE BRAIN)
This game is a race against time as I try to beat my nemesis of stress and the headache I woke up with, the faster I complete work the less of a problem they become, the less the motivation bar drains, and the more points I score, once the motivation bar reaches 0, you lose and must start the level from the beginning. The only way to get the bar to drain slower is to find books, educational Youtube videos, or other material that will help you understand why it’s important that you learn this material. In this case, the motivation bar will turn into a time bar set for three hours.
STUDIO (SONGWRITING)
- 5 Capstone Project Ideas
- The project I chose as a freshman was Codename Exodus
WEEKLY ACTIVITY EVALUATION
I think the idea of the rooms worked fairly well this week. My favorite was the lab room, I loved being able to sit down and play a game, analyzing it as I do, looking for it’s good and bad, in my case, West Of Dead had weapon sound effects, music, and a narrator that fit the game’s theme, but a depressing lack of feedback sounds for low health, causing me to play my entire second run on one HP. Overall, it taught the do’s and the don’ts when I take a shot at designing my own game. I also liked the Outside Room, where I thought about my day as a video game narrative, it ended up helping me come up with an idea of my own.