All posts by mariip

Session 5 Production Project

Summary

With a whole new team, I created a game with my personal portfolio and this session’s five requirements in mind.

Role

Code/Character Design

My experience in this role is designing a fitting player character artwork and moving animation for the game’s theme and personality.

Intention (SMART Goal)

S – Learn how to make a creative and logical character design for the team this will require input and feedback from my team members since the product will be a collective result of our skills.

M – I will know that I made progress with feedback from the teammates during the production time as well as the judges involved in the process.

A – I’m familiar with tools such as Photoshop, and have years of experience with designing my own characters as a hobby (Dungeons and Dragons, original characters of other people, and online concept prompts).

R – This goal will help me further myself with this field and get to know in-depth about a field I’m interested in.

T – The deadline for this goal is February 21th, when Session 5 ends.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

“[Hideo Kojima’s design] philosophy, fundamentally it is about making the impossible possible. By discarding our preconceived notions of design and attempting to scale a “so-called barrier of impossibility”, this barrier represents any design goal you may have and the way to overcome.” (1:49)
This explains how the commonly-used design components can be detrimental for creating a character that fits within the game’s universe. This can leave the player feel like the character is uninteresting, dull, and even generic. Deliberately challenging himself, Hideo Kojima can create memorable characters.

Training Sources

1:00

To export game-ready animations from Photoshop to Unity, you press “image” (in the top left corner, then press image size, then an options box opens up and you multiply the pixel width with your number of frames.

1:26

Then make a new Photoshop file then type in the right dimensions for your sprite sheet (that would be the number you got in the first step) into the width box.

1:54

A white rectangle should show up but this doesn’t give any indication to where you’re supposed to put the sprites. go up to “view” then press “show” after that press “grid”, which will make the placing of your images easier and more accurate.

2:44

Head back over to your file with your animation, use the lasso tool on your first frame and then copy it and then paste it on the grid. then repeat this step until all of your frames are in place.

4:41

To save the sprite sheet, press save as and save it to your desktop or Google Drive.

 

1:39 Interface, going through where all the options are

3:54 Layers

7:08 Shape tool

8:05 shift to move it one direction

9:08 Transformation tool

12:08 Effect options

17:44 Image editing

24:39 Filters

27:29 Using texts

0:07 Clipping mask definition

0:20 How to make Clipping Layer

0:41 In-depth factors of Clipping Layer

For more information on tools Photoshop offers, visit the official site.

 

 

Project Timeline

Session 5 Time management 3

Link to the Google Sheets

This is my general plan for Session 5. This is not set in stone, the schedule can fluctuate to fit the situation. The items are priority listed and thus will not change in order.

PRODUCTION – ACTION

Escape of Communism

Skills Commentary

I made the character sprites and animation using Piskelapp and Unity animation function so it would communicate to the player about the game states. They can be seen in the left-center area of the screen.

I also made some of the buttons on the credits scene. While my creation is not seen in the video, an example of the button used can be seen when the player clicks on [PLAY] to be transported to the game scene.

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

      • I was able to create creative character designs for the Player Character and the KGB enemy. The contrasts of the character elements (tall/short, skinny/overweight) helps the player easily define the difference between the two.

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

      • We used the Scrum framework for workflow and efficiency, with me as the Scrum Master. We were able to communicate more clearly about the game.

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

      • During Pre-Production week, we compiled links to helpful videos for our roles. The videos were about Unity animation and sprite tools, Photoshop Tutorials, and designing a good character.

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

      • I was able to experience a whole new group composition, expanding my communication skills with a variety of types of teammates.

Reactions to the Final Version

“Creative Explosion! Beautiful Sprites / yellow windows” – Brian Favorite

“I like the way the characters are shadows” – Charles B.

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

The game is about running on an infinitely generating platform while dodging the gaps. The mechanics were simple, requiring a spacebar press to jump. The game is unexpected, the concept behind our game is unique. Our game was credible because it derives from the historically researched USSR. The game did intentionally leave out a question for the audience, ‘why is the man running from the KGB?’ Since we can ask this,  the game does have a story, even though it’s currently unexplored in this iteration.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned how to make animations on Unity, how to make scene transfers and button functions using scene numbers. I was able to solve credits buttons not being implemented properly on all scenes (it was repetitive and the UI Coder was busy) by looking up a guide and educating teammates that had spare time.

Grammar and Spelling

Used Grammarly for grammar checks.

Editor

Ari M.: Pre-production section

Charles B.: Production and Post-Production section

Recommendation for Charles B.

It’s rare to come across an incredibly motivational person like Charles. He professionally created the backbones of the games we worked on together, farther developing his skill on many aspects of Unity and game coding in just under half a year. Charle’s exemplary leadership has been impactful for everyone, his presence in the team drastically improves productivity. He can remain calm and composed in any stressful situations, providing effective insight into problems that could occur. Charles will prove to be a valuable employee in any setting.

Session 4 Recondite Ruby Game Production Post

Summary

With better tools and systems in place, this was our most productive session yet.

21st Century Skills Demonstrated

Ways of Thinking

    • Creativity
      • I created my own artworks for the game. The character is simple and charming, providing bright contrast compared to the background. The design is derived from the concept of a ‘fantasy druid’, but all the design aspects of the player character are my own work. I also created the menu screen and the wall, fitting it in with the aesthetic of the game.

Ways of Working

    • Communication
      • Our group spent 5 minutes at the beginning of the class period, utilizing the Scrum Framework to communicate what we did last class session and what we’ll be doing that day.

Tools for Working

    • Media Literacy
      • I used Piskelapp.com and Draw.io to make sprites and flowchart, respectively. I used Photoshop to make the sprites and learned a lot about it during the process.

Ways of Living in the World

    • Leadership & Responsibility
      • I was the Scrum master in this session, managing the workflow and speed of the group.

Sam Fantasy Maze Generator

Screen Shot 2020-01-31 at 8.00.55 AM

Reactions to the Final Version

“Smooth, simple move states” – Sam George

“I really like the stylistic choices” – Nathaniel

Evaluation of the Final Version

The game is about finding the center of the procedurally generated maze before the timer runs out. The mechanics were simple, being WASD, collision, and a timer. The game is expected, it is reasonably inferred that the reward in the middle of the maze is a ruby, judging from the title. The game is concrete as it mimics what a person would experience in a real maze, complete with dead ends and annoying moments. Player Character’s physics is also designed to resemble the walking speed of a real human. The game is credible as mazes are something you see in real life (although infrequent), such as garden mazes for entertainment and artistic purposes.  

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I familiarized myself with Photoshop. I learned about being more efficient in my work, as well as managing my group as a whole. I also expanded my leadership skills with the Scrum framework, which we’ll continue to use throughout the year.

Session 3 SFMG Game Production

maze

CC Image “maze” by xervian

Summary

We had to make a game in 2 weeks and 2 days– not the usual 3. We overcame the challenge and made a fun game.

21st Century Skills Demonstrated

Ways of Thinking

    • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
      • Our group was able to come up with a game scenario that fit the requirements. When the WASD script broke when we were compiling all the codes on Sam’s Project, I problem-solved by looking up what components were in Rigidbody 2D.

Ways of Working

    • Communication
      • Our group spent 5 minutes at the beginning of the class period, communicating what we did last class session and what we’ll be doing that day.

Tools for Working

    • Media Literacy
      • I used Piskelapp.com and Draw.io to make sprites and flowchart, respectively.

Ways of Living in the World

    • Leadership & Responsibility
      • We tried a new program, Scrum, designed to help teams work more efficiently. I took on the role of Scrum Master, who works towards increasing the team’s productivity using burndown charts.

Sam Fantasy Maze Generator

Screen Shot 2020-01-15 at 11.57.40 AM

(It should be a video, but we couldn’t get that in time. I’ll replace it when Sam sends the video link.)

Reactions to the Final Version

“Less fuzzy, out of focus slide photo” – Brian Favorite

“Add some animation, but pretty good overall” – Kenny

Evaluation of the Final Version

The game is about finding the center of the procedurally generated maze. The mechanics were simple, just your usual WASD. The game is expected, you don’t find anything in the middle of the maze. Instead, it regenerates the scene when the Player Character collides with the Hollow Box. The game is concrete as it mimics what a person would experience in a real maze, complete with dead ends and annoying moments. Player Character’s physics is also designed to resemble the walking speed of a real human. The game is credible as mazes are something you see in real life (although infrequent), such as garden mazes for entertainment and artistic purposes. The game is not emotional. In the same way, the game lacks a proper story as to why the Main Character is traveling into the maze. All the lack of SUCCESs criteria will be evaluated and implemented in later iterations.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned how to make a sprite(Player Character) be controllable using WASD by the player using vector and Input.GetAxis. This code, as well as other codes we made, will be saved on our Github and Trello so our team can easily use it for future iterations. I also familiarized myself with other art and Player Character-related Unity functions such as Rigidbody 2D and Colliders. I also expanded my leadership skills with the Scrum framework, which we’ll continue to use throughout the year.

Session 2 Charles Fantasy Dating Simulator (CFDS) Game Production

We're All Just Pieces in a Puzzle

CC Image “We’re All Just Pieces in a Puzzle” by mikecogh

Summary

Three beginners made a second game, Charles Fantasy Dating Simulator. We were much more effective compared to our first one, but something happened.

21st Century Skills Demonstrated

Ways of Thinking

    • Creativity
      • I mostly came up with the rough idea, after my friend showed me a Tinder meme of a guy asking the girl he matched with to send the word “Bread” if she was a real person, not a chatbot. I wanted to add aliens to the game instead of the fantasy humanoids we decided on, but Charles heavily disagreed on that part of the idea.

Ways of Working

    • Collaboration & Communication
      • Our group was very effective at working together. we were the first group to pitch our MVP contents. We also used Trello.com to communicate references we had whether it was for coding, art, or character backstory.

Tools for Working

    • Information & Media Literacy
      • I knew where to look up information, such as official and well-recognized websites like Unity.com, StackExchange.com, and Audacityteam.org. One notable example of media literacy I experienced through Session 2 was Audacity’s file recognition add-ons. On Google search, there were unofficial sites that had malware under the guise of the Audacity files I recognized and didn’t install.

Ways of Living in the World

    • Life & Career
      • I adapted to my teammate’s idea of changing the aliens into fantasy even though I disagreed with it.

Charles Fantasy Dating Simulator

Team1 CFDS

The district tech team wiped two of the three computers we were working on. We didn’t save our data, so the Unity project itself was lost. This screenshot is of the Minimal Viable Product build we had in the Newton school drive.

Reactions to the Final Version

“… I look forward to seeing what your sound design and music will add to the mood of the game.” – Sam McCleary

“You did pretty well, you did pretty good.” – Jack Griffo

Evaluation of the Final Version

The game is about a fantasy dating app. The mechanics were simple as the player would click buttons depending on their decision. The game is unexpected as the potential dates for Charles comes with a variety of Soft Fantasy twists to your average dating app, such as a Centaur ranger or a Hag who thinks she’s way above your reach. The game is credible as it’s based on many dating apps that exist in real life. For example, on Tinder, the mechanic is to swipe right to accept, or swipe left to reject. The game is intended to be funny as the game (intended to) feature a degree of ridiculousness. There is no story page in the game we showed during the presentation because it didn’t get in the final version. 

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned how to create music on Garageband and edit sounds on Audacity. I also learned how to use the EQ system, though it wasn’t perfect. We also learned to back up the code due to an unfortunate event. Some problems I solved were being new at music tools, helping the artist with few sprites and helping a group member focus.

 

GameTest01 Game Production

crusader

CC Image “crusader” by mmango3

Summary

With five hours each week, we, a team of three members, made a game in three weeks. We learned how to be a good teammate and communicate with each other, and had a basic introduction to the tools we use in Game Design.

Goal

The goal of my cycle was to make a game that was simple for a beginner like my group while learning about the system we’ll be using for the rest of the year and spending our time efficiently as possible.

I found three scripts from Unity3d. com and compiled it to a new, simpler script that was easier to understand and worked faster. I also made the knight’s sword sprite to help out with the artist. In the post-production week, I implemented the sounds and the art sprites.

21st Century Skills Demonstrated

Ways of Thinking

      • Creativity
      • Innovation
        • Aside from Trello and Dundoc, we also made a group chat so we could utilize our time more efficiently. We used it for 1) refining game ideas that popped up throughout the day,  2) sharing progress with each other, 3) asking for input on decisions we had to make during production when a teammate was absent.
      • Critical Thinking
        • I shared and discussed the idea with my teammates. With the contents we had, we came up with the topic we made into the game after considering our knowledge.
      • Problem-solving
        • I looked up the problems I came across on Google and solved most of them. When I still couldn’t solve the issue, I asked the advanced students and Sam for help.

Ways of Working

      • Communication & Collaboration
        • We shared our progress frequently and asked for feedback and help from each other. Because of our different background experiences so far, we were able to help each other with their roles.

Tools for Working

      • Info & Media Literacy
        • I knew what to look for when I was looking up guides to solve issues that came up. Operating Unity was hard, but I got through it!

Ways of Living in the World

      • Life & Career
        • Because I want to be a medical psychologist, communicating with people and listening to them is a skill I need to master.

GameTest 01

GameTest01 SS

Reactions to the Final Version

Sam – “Clearly qualified what didn’t make into the game and what did.”

LeDuc – “Best presentation from the beginning students.”

Jack- “You guys did a good job getting a game ready.”

Evaluation of the Final Version

        • Simple
          • The game was really simple. The main concept was the knight damaging the dummy, and it was the only mechanic in the game.
        • Unexpected
          • There wasn’t any unexpected value in the game. We had a Crusader-looking knight with a sword and a wooden dummy. It was expected the dummy will get damaged in one way or another- and it did.
        • Concrete
          • While the game did not have any concrete idea that the players could invest time on, we did have a roughly accurate sense of time management during production and most of us did as much as possible with the time and resources we had.
        • Credible
          • It was simple enough to not be based on anything.
        • Emotional
          • If the player is emotional and pathetic, maybe they can feel slight remorse for the poor dummy.
        • Story
          • While there are no words in the game, by the knight destroying the dummy some players can wonder things like why the knight is doing the action? what is the knight training for?

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

I learned the basics of coding and how to solve the errors that come along with it. Some things I learned were how the class names and file names needed to be the same for the script to work.  Another was making a “Background UI” for the game’s background, not just setting a sprite behind enemy and character sprites. I did this by looking it up on Google and asking for help from people only when I was really stuck.

How Children Succeed

Marshmallows Image by John-Morgan at Flickr.com

Radio Lab

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/96056-your-future-marshmallow

    • Walter Mischel- Marshmallow study
      • 2-5 years old
      • Concept of delayed gratification starts around the age of 4
        • They increased dramatically compared to 2-3 year olds
      • Children would get 1 marshmallow now or if they waited they’d would get 2
      • Tested 500~ children total
      • After 10~ years the children who performed better in the initial test were successful later in school
        • Seconds of their wait time had correlation to their SAT scores
          • 210 points
      • Also kept track of health, body mass, goal keeping

This American Life

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/474/back-to-school

    • Parents tend to be anxious about children’s brains and test scores
    • What matters in child’s life is not the skills school teaches mostly
    • GED- high school graduation exam
      • Class claimed to change people’s attitude in 2 months
    • If its true, why do we have schools
    • Is GED same as high school?
    • Farther investigation showed GED students performed slightly better than undergraduates, but didn’t perform as good as high school students
      • Performance in occupation, reading, success rates in college/marriage/military….
      • This didn’t show up in the test results, however
    • GED and high school, in terms of score/passing, its only cognitive ability
    • Non-cognitive ability affecting this?
      • Character
      • Self regulation, self consciousness, delaying gratification,  resisting impulse
    • Why testing?
        • Testing can be showed in data form, while character is not quantifiable (cognitive)
        • Character testing is also expensive, and school runs on taxpayer money (non-cognitive)
    • Poverty is unhealthy environment that gives off stress to children, which in turn makes them perform less in school environment
    • Stress hormones distracts students from learning
      • Adrenaline- short term
      • Cortisone- long term
      • Learning part of the brain shuts off, and only fight or flight is active
    • Repeated stress affects development of brain, especially pre-frontal cortex
      • Hard to pay attention
      • 1/4 of low income students had short attention span
    • Kewauna- traumatic childhood (dramatic experience)
      • Always angry, but never knew why
        • Bad temper / anger control
      • 72 referrals in 6th grade
        • Sent to the ‘Wings’ program, was not a productive class
        • Got arrested for punching a cop (assault of a police) when she was 15
        • Her mom didn’t want Kewauna to have the same life as her
        • Entered a program in high school that taught students non- cognitive skills
        • Her grades and SAT scores improved after learning the non- cognitive skills, eventually got accepted to University
    • Stress from family issues couldn’t be resolved with school
    • Non- cognitive skills can be learned even when someone is old
    • Nurture at young age leads to better performance as an adult
    • 8% of Chicago high school freshmen will graduate from college
      • One goal program (Kewauna)? 85% of them returned to college as sophomores

Internet Safety Tips

CC Image “Internet symbol” by Christiaan Colen Flickr

https://www.missingkids.org/netsmartz/videos#middleandhighschool

Internet Safety Tips

  • Fighting doesn’t solve anything
  • Talk to an adult
  • Listen to each other, try to see from each other’s POV
  • Personal information should be kept private
  • Never meet a person you first met online
  • Ignore harassment online
  • Don’t post regrettable pictures or information
  • Online does have offline consequences, including legal

Listen Smart – Safely Handling the Power of Sound

CC Image by “sound board” J. McPherskesen Flickr

Can You Hear This?

Hearing Test: http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/can-you-hear-this-hearing-test/

Sound Levels: http://makeitlouder.com/Decibel%20Level%20Chart.txt

 

Listen Smart- Safely Handling the Power of Sound

  • Sound is measured in decibels, loudness of sound
  • Prolonged exposure to  loud sounds, starting at 80 db can cause hearing deterioration
  • Pain starts to occur at 125 db
  • Once its damaged, it cant be repaired
  • Doesn’t only affect old people- young people can be affected too
  • 10-20% of high school students have partial hearing loss
  • More than 1/3 of all hearing loss is attributed to noise
  • People tend to not worry about hearing loss
  • Can happen quick as 30 seconds or gradually over time
  • Cochlear hair cells are used for hearing, and they cannot be replaced
  • Losing the hair cells mean losing the ability to hear
  • 28 million americans are hearing impaired
  • Ringing in ears are temporary but can be permanent
  • Prevention is important, music artists protect their ears especially on stage
  • Cotton and tissues cannot protect your ears
  • Ear plugs are available at the drug store

SoundAdvice.info For Audio Career Tips

  • Bars, nightclubs, orchestras, theaters, and recording studios, for example, are most susceptible to loud sounds
  • Reducing noises in music is to protect people, both performers and audiences, not to destroy art
  • Employers will need to prevent/reduce the risks of noises at work to protect the worker’s hearing.
  • Employers are required to prevent or reduce the hearing damage received at work, within reasonable amounts under The Control of Noise at Work Regulations, 2005
  • The law also states that employers and employees must prevent or reduce the hearing damage on the general public, too
  • To protect your hearing, choose a device that decreases noise to around 85 dB, and peak to 137 dB
  • Over-protection will make the wearer feel isolated
  • Properly clean the device for it to be effective

Sound Levels Chart

Image from hearnet.com