Reading 8.

So I've taken a break from blogging last week to focus more on my group project, but this week I've been doing some research on creating an introduction and conclusion for both of my topics. I've come across an online article on how to write an introduction, conclusion, and the body of your paragraphs (https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-write-an-intro--conclusion----body-paragraph.html) that really helped me get started on it. 

↣ An introduction is usually the first paragraph of a chapter so I really wanted to grab the attention of the viewers by providing and discussing an interesting statement, i.e an explanation of strategic dominance in gameplay, or the fascination of game complexities. I've already written my introductions which are as follows;

Managing complexities

↣ Developers of game AI (artificial intelligence) are always fascinated with packing more complexity into the virtual brains they build. However, complexities usually have a price, or rather multiple; poor run-time, a lack of directability, poor scalability, and worst of all, a dim experience for players in which the AIs seem to act "randomly" rather than "intentionally". We will discuss sources of complexity and the different ways in which complexity can manifest itself.

Avoiding Dominant Strategies 
↣ Strategic dominance in game theory happens when one strategy that a player uses leads to much better outcomes for them than other possible strategies, regardless of which strategies their opponents use. In the following article, we will discuss more strategic dominance, dominant and dominated strategies, and strategic dominance in general. Then, we will see how leaning towards strategic dominance can help you make more strategic decisions, and how it can help you expect your opponents’ behavior.

↣ The conclusion is the last part of a chapter, so I had to do my best to summarize the topics and explain the significance of each topic. In order to do so, I had to restate my main points and keep in mind that my introduction and conclusion aren't the same.

Image found on pixabay.com

Unity tutorial 06.

To continue on my findings of Unity tutorials and to improve on my Unity skills, I've come across various tutorials on their website, such as animation, sound, effects, the jump force, making the world whiz, and hand presence and interaction with VR. 

⇒ In terms of the animations, sounds, and effects tutorial (https://learn.unity.com/project/unit-3-sound-and-effects?courseId=5cf96c41edbc2a2ca6e8810f), I programmed  a fast-paced endless side-scrolling runner game in which the player needs to time jump over oncoming obstacles to avoid crashing. In creating this prototype, I learned how to add music and sound effects, completely transforming the experience. I also got to learn how to create dynamic endless repeating backgrounds, which are critical for any side-scrolling game. Finally, I also got to incorporate particle effects like splatters and explosions, which really made the game much more satisfying to play.

⇒ In relation to the short "jump force" tutorial (https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/lesson-3-1-jump-force?courseId=5cf96c41edbc2a2ca6e8810f&projectId=5cf9639bedbc2a2b1fe1e848), the goal of the lesson was to set up the basic gameplay, by creating a new project and importing the starter files. Next, I got to choose a beautiful background and a character for the player to control and to allow that character to jump with a tap of the spacebar. I then got to choose an obstacle for the player, and create a spawn manager that throws them in the player’s path at timed intervals and blocks the player’s path.

⇒ With "making the world whiz" (https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/lesson-3-2-make-the-world-whiz-by?courseId=5cf96c41edbc2a2ca6e8810f&projectId=5cf9639bedbc2a2b1fe1e848), I dived straight into the core mechanics of the game and gave the player the ability to tap the spacebar to jump over incoming obstacles. However, the player at first appeared to be running for the first few seconds, but then the background just disappears. In order to fix this, I had to repeat the background seamlessly to make it look like the world was rushing by. I also set the game to halt when the player collides with an obstacle, which stopped the background from repeating and stopped the obstacles from spawning. Lastly, I then destroyed any obstacles that got past the player.

⇒ Lastly, in terms of the hand presence and interaction with VR (https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/unit-5-hand-presence-and-interaction?courseId=5d955b5dedbc2a319caab9a0), I learned how to interact with my hands in a VR environment, how to add oculus-standard hands in my game, and how to change standard hands to custom hands. This tutorial gave me a better understanding of how to attach objects to hands, how to utilize basic physical interactions in a VR experience, how to recognize common hand-object interaction challenges, and how to implement two-hand interaction in a VR experience.

Overall, I found these tutorials very. helpful and will continue on in researching some more tutorials to best improve my knowledge of unity. 

This image was found on pixabay.com

Reading 6.

To continue on in my readings, I've done additional writing on the body of my paragraphs and have completed further research on my chosen topics in relation to managing complexities and avoiding dominant strategies. Some extra subtopics I've discovered are such as games using the same rules to simulate the real world, the complexity curve, why gaming strategies are important, and the differences between a dominant and a dominated strategy. Here are two further subtopics I've written on along with a couple more in a separate word document;

The complexity curve.

↱ A game’s “complexity curve” defines the amount of information and understanding that a player must have in order to make strategically practical choices during gameplay. Therefore, in a game like chess, you would need to understand the game’s objective and how the pieces can move.  At that point, there is no further information you need to play the game. The complexity curve only applies to a game’s width and not its depth.  Say you had all of the tools and knowledge you needed in the game, but you lost, the reasoning behind this is that you lacked the mastery of the game’s inner workings. In the “coalition games profiling” process, we categorize this as “accessibility vs intensity”. The more a player commit to learning a game, the higher the chance of being rewarded, especially player types that are more fundamentally motivated, but also keep in mind the consequences here, as complexity hurts approachability. This means overall satisfaction with your game could suffer no matter how technically sound it may be.

Dominant vs. Dominated strategies.

↱ A dominant strategy is better than any alternative strategies a player can pick, regardless of the moves their opponents make. This means that, in any given game, a player’s dominant strategy will lead to the greatest payoff for them. There are two kinds of dominant strategies, a strictly dominant strategy, and a weakly dominant strategy. Strategies that are strictly dominant refer to it always giving a better outcome, regardless of which moves other players make. Strategies that are weakly dominant refer to it always giving an outcome that is as good as or better than choosing an alternative strategy. 

Whereas a dominated strategy is worse than all alternative strategies a player can pick. This means that, in any given game, a player’s dominated strategy will lead to the worst payoff for them. There are two kinds of dominated strategies, a strictly dominated strategy, and a weakly dominated strategy. Strategies that are strictly dominated refer to it always giving the worst possible outcome, regardless of what moves other players make. Strategies that are weakly dominated refer to it always giving an outcome that is as good as or worse than choosing an alternative strategy.

I've discovered both these subtopics on https://effectiviology.com/strategic-dominance/ and http://coalitiongames.com/wordpress/2016/05/17/game-theory/.

This image was found on pexels.com