Beta

So I'm not going to lie I was falling behind a little in relation to the game but when I had it completed it erased it all as I obviously didn't save it properly.

So then I had to start from scratch all over again, so I decided to simplify it a lot more than the game I had made as I want to have it done in time for the deadline and pass this module.

 I am writing this blog on the MACs in college and I am using my mams laptop for my game so I don't have a screenshot of it on me now but everything is functioning well, hopefully it all goes smoothly. I was having problems with my character moving around in the game but I am working on that.

In relation to meeting my targets: It is going well, feeling a bit stressed as there is so many big assignments due now so I am just trying to get it done as fast as possible. 

Alpha

Since the start I have been a bit behind with my game on Unity as I have been avoiding starting it as I thought that it would be really hard. I have been falling behind a little bit in relation to my game, I feel like I have been focusing more on my blog posts if I'm being honest.

I am getting the hang of Unity and am trying my best to add finishing touches such as nature etc.

It is a bit difficult for me to work on my game as I always use the Macs in college to do it as I don't have a laptop yet. I have a PC but it's too old to be able to handle the software. In any spare time that I get I work on my game in college because I feel that it's a lot easier to do it on the Macs. I am now looking back and forth from Unity tutorials that we had to do weeks ago to make sure that I don't go wrong anywhere and perfect it all.

I hope in the end that it all plays alright because it is so far but I want it to be playable and look half decent. From now until the last week I will put in a lot of time into my game to perfect it as much as I can. 

Prototype

My game idea is a platformer game that will consist of a small man who tries to reach the end goal, which is a star. I have said that the obstacles will be:

• jumping over obstacles
• collecting coins
• jumping over water

Although these obstacles seem basic enough I want to make my game easy and done out well. I think I will get rid of the 'jumping over obstacles/water' as there is already the goal of reaching the star at the end of the level.

I have been finding keeping up with the weekly blogs, comments etc particularly difficult recently as I just find it hard to balance everything out. I have been getting into the hang of it more as I am going by the work schedule I made for myself.

I will say Unity is holding me back a bit as I find it really hard and just cant seem to get the hang of it so I keep going back and forth from tutorials to try and figure it out. That is why I have cut out a few things in my game as I want to be realistic about how it is going to work. I want the outcome to be a good game and not to focus to much on the little things.

Below is a rough copy of what I want the game to look like- I done this on canva but I dont want it to look the exact same just the same colours etc 

I want the colors the be bright and happy, and I am obviously not going to be using Mario in my game but its just an idea, and the star at the end is the goal.

Game Vision Statement

Game vision statement

Introduction: I want to create a platformer game that consists of a small man character trying to complete each level and reach the star at the end 

Target audience: the target audience for this game would preferably be gamers who enjoy platformer games such as Mario Bros, Fortnite, Minecraft, Call of Duty and Street Fighter. I enjoyed platformer games so much when I was younger on my Nintendo, WII and xbox as I know a lot of other people were so I don't think that it would be hard for people to enjoy this easy game. The age range would most likely be from the age of thirteen to fourteen and onwards.

Game genre: After researching for the last while about what game idea want to follow through with I have decided to do the genre of a 'platformer game' This will consist of a small man character who tries to reach the end(a star) while avoiding different obstacles/challenges such as jumping over objects and collecting coins. These obstacles will include jumping over water and stones, reaching yellow coins along the way and trying to reach the star at the end of the game. 

I used https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Platformer/ to look at different and unique platformer games so that I could get a feel for different ones. I 

Game play: The game that I want to make will be set in a bright setting with a blue sky and green grass in the background. I want the game to be a bright game as I feel that it makes it look a lot more better and will be more enjoyable as it is happy and bright. The platform that the character is on will be a light brown stone looking ground. The character will be able to jump from place to place to reach the end goal- which is a star that makes a noise when you jump into it and once you reach that start you have completed the level. If you are near the star and don't touch it or jump into it, you have not completed that level. The goal for this game, like I said, is to reach the end and touch the star. There will be obstacles along the way such as having to jump over water, objects and stones and having to collect coins along the way. The game will be a 3-D game and it will be done  from the characters point of view. 

Resources required: The resources that are required in order to make this game would be a lot of YouTube tutorials on Unity, mainly Jimmy Vegas videos as I find that they really help me. I need these videos to help me create a good functioning game that is up to my standards. Features such as collecting coins along the way will be achieved by watching videos on how to do it on YouTube which are easily accessible.

The game is a single player game and it will be accessible on a PC.  

Just so that you can get an idea of platformer games on WikiPedia that I have linked below. I have found loads of games on different platforms such as WII, Nintendo, Play Station, XBOX, PC. These are a few examples of platformer games:

• Adventure Island series.
• Aero the Acro-Bat.
• Akane the Kunoichi.
• Aladdin.
• Alien Carnage (Halloween Harry)
• Amazing Princess Sarah.
• Another World.
• Shantae
• Shovel Knight
• Snow Bros
• Space Panic
• Speedy Eggbert
• Strider
• Superfrog
• Super Mario Bros. series
• Super Meat Boy
• Techno Cop

I used https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_platform_game_series  to find a few platformer games just so I could give an insight into what kind of game that I am talking about.

A few websites/videos that have helped me along the way with this whole project have been:

• https://jvunity.weebly.com/
• https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/2d-game-creation/creating-basic-platformer-game
• https://gamedevacademy.org/how-to-build-a-complete-2d-platformer-in-unity/
• https://gamedevacademy.org/tutorial-multi-level-platformer-game-in-unity/

These videos and website have really been helpful to me during researching my game as it has given me an insight into how to make it.

All in all it is going well for me while I make and research into my game that I want to do. I hope that it is an easy enough game to make as I don't want to make it too hard for myself, I want this game to be enjoyable for anyone who plays it. Like I said I also want it to be bright, happy and colourful as I feel that it gives the platformer game a more 'positive and happy' vibe

Game Idea Research

Game Idea Research

For my last blogpost I brainstormed four possible game ideas.

I chose:

1. A platformer game (like Mario)
2. A driving game
3. Gardening arcade game
4. A puzzle game

After researching into these different games I have decided to choose the platformer game to focus on.

I wrote about this kind of game (like mario, mario kart) in 'my favourite game' blog as its obviously my favourite game but I would also find it cool if I could create a game like this myself and learn more about it.

I was looking at a lot of Jimmy Vegas' videos on youtube that are about building platformer games like mario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-1-XxO-Fyo

Before choosing a game I don't want to just pick a game and stick with it because it could end up being very difficult. But after watching several of his Unity tutorials on YouTube it doesn't seem to be too difficult. Meaning it is hard but I can put my head down and try my best.

I just feel like this game would be a good choice as it is something that we have all played back in the day or even now, it is a very enjoyable and straightforward game.

Game mechanics:

• avoiding killable objects- when the player is playing their will be certain objects that will kill the player such as fireballs, spikes being thrown etc.
• reaching a star- when you complete the level you need to reach/touch a star, if you do, you complete that level. If you don't you need to restart the game again.
• jumping over obstacles- to reach the goal(star) you have to jump and avoid certain obstacles like their being spikes on the ground, you have to jump over and avoid this.

These are my ideas for my possible platform game, I hope you enjoyed :))

Game Brainstorm

After looking into several tutorials and finding games that I think everyone would like I have gathered four possible games that I will create.

The first idea for my game is 

to make a platformer game. Super Mario Bros is a platform game and it is the game that I spoke about in my blog post 'my favorite game'

I used to always play these kind of games when I was younger and I think it would be a fun game to create. I researched into making a game like this on unity and after gathering different information from articles it seems like an easy enough game to create which is good because I then focus on other obstacles I would like in it such as:

-jumping over obstacles

-avoiding objects coming their way

-reaching a star at the end of the level 

The game would be based around a small character who jumps around to go from A to B avoiding different obstacles.

The main article I read was this one as it demonstrates how to make a game like Mario on unity.

https://noobtuts.com/unity/2d-super-mario-bros-game

The second game that I would like to create is a driving game. I used to always play driving games and parking games when I was younger and I think that it is almost a 'fun' way to learn about driving. The game is when your in a car driving around a city and trying to avoid traffic. There would be certain ways of avoiding traffic i.e going through two cars to drive past, going through short cuts. I researched into articles about making a driving game and it talks you through the basics and down to very end of producing this game. I have watched peoples driving games they have made on unity and they look professional and well done.

https://www.udemy.com/course/make-car-racing-games/ 

The third idea is a fast pace gardening arcade game, this will involve planting vegetables, harvesting them and protecting them from various insects and 'enemies', such as snails, birds and worms. The goal is to protect the vegetables from insects destroying it and making sure it stays alive by watering it daily. I thought this game idea was quite different and is not like the other two that I spoke about but it would be something unique. 
https://forum.unity.com/threads/asset-farm-planting-system-plant-grow-and-harvest-from-box.629146/

The fourth and final game idea that I have come up with is a puzzle, there would be different 'mini' games such as X's and O's, tic tac toe and puzzles. This is like an all in one game as there are different mini goals within the three games. I thought this would be something cool because they are small basic games that you can play and win.
https://learn.unity.com/search?k=%5B%22q%3AMini%20Tutorials%22%5D

I have found many articles and youtube videos helpful while doing this brainstorm activity. 

The youtube channel 'unity' has been helpful because it shows different ways of creating unique games. The links below that I have added have also helped me out.