Reading 3.

Since the continuation of my studies on managing complexities and avoiding dominant strategies, I've developed a fair bit of knowledge in relation to both of these topics, through online articles and searching through google's books.

↳For my first topic on managing complexities, I've figured, well first of all what actually are complexities? Complexities are constraints on economic decision-making and how the human brain works. How does this relate to gaming in any way? Well, studying the effects on these complexities can help us make our predictions more accurate when it comes to game development for future players. This can also help us recognize their behaviors towards different kinds of games, whether they are positive or negative reactions.

↳ As for my second topic, what are dominant strategies? How does one avoid such? In-game theories, a dominant strategy is an action that pays off for a specific player, regardless of what other players do.  These strategies are considered better than others and have two kinds of dominance. A strictly dominant strategy always provides a greater service to a specific player, whereas a weakly dominant strategy provides the same service to all other players, and sometimes greater for other strategies, depending on what.

This image was found on Pixabay.

Unity Tutorial 02.

This year, I've decided to kick things off by learning 3D gaming and game design with unity from scratch by Unity themselves on two of their articles; https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/set-up-your-first-project-in-unity?courseId=5cf96c41edbc2a2ca6e8810f&projectId=5caccdfbedbc2a3cef0efe63#5d07bb29edbc2a001ebf1916, and https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/installing-vrtk-beta?projectId=5cdc9e4cedbc2a1ef423426c. 

⇨ I find these tutorials much easier to understand as he is much slower, goes more in-depth in his tutorials to start for basics rather than ramble on like Jimmy Vegas, and keeps his videos nice and short. He also uses a much more recent version of Unity than Jimmy Vegas (finally something more compatible with my laptop!) So far, I've messed around and got more familiar with the Driver simulation assets, and found it much easier to use objects from other Asset packs rather than creating my own objects from scratch. I've also learned how to focus and move the camera in the hierarchy tab, which made the gameplay run more smoother and made it easier for me the navigate the screen. Messing around with the tabs by minimizing and moving them around made it much more efficient in terms of game design, and saving it as a new layout for future projects. Something that's always bummed me out with Unity is using C sharp, I'm very good when it comes to developing my own websites but somehow game scripting never works out for me, but I find that this Unity developer takes his time and explains each step much clearer than Jimmy Vegas did with each and every component and variable. 

⇨ As for the second article, I've learned how to install and include the VRTK pack in my own game, and messing around and getting more familiar with the pack's new tools and assets. After following the steps of the tutorial, I've gained a much greater understanding of placing my very own interactable objects and creating a car modifying game. 

This image was found on Pixabay.

Reading 2.

As for the proposed books, I've chosen the topics in relation to managing complexity and avoiding dominant strategies. The reasoning behind me choosing these topics is because I'd like to challenge myself and go for topics I've never actually heard of before.

↝ As for my first topic, on managing complexity;

I began my research by breaking down the two words, such as finding out the definitions and finding any synonyms in relation to gaming.

Managing; In relation to maintaining control over a subject in a game, or using your currency, time or other resources sensibly. According to Google Dictionary, managing also means succeeding in surviving or in achieving something despite the difficult circumstances, also known as coping mechanisms. Some synonyms in relation to the word are being in charge of, handling, organizing, guiding, taking care of, and leading. 

Complexity; In relation to the difficulty of a game, easy, medium and hard. According to Google Dictionary, complexity means the state or quality of being intricate or complicated or a factor involved in a complicated process or situation. Some synonyms in relation to the word are complications, problems, difficulties, twists, turns, convolutions, entanglements, intricacies, complicatedness, involvements, and convolutedness.

↝ As for my second topic, on avoiding dominant strategies;
I, once again, continued on my research by breaking down the words and finding out any information I could find online in relation to gaming.
Dominant; In relation to winning/being in the lead of a game i.e dominance. According to Google Dictionary, dominance is also related to power or control over someone or something. Some similar words include supremacy, superiority ascendancy, domination, mastery, authority, rule, command, control, leverage, and influence.
Strategy; In relation to an outcome determined by a choice made by a game player. According to Google Dictionary, it also means planning and directing operations or movements in a war or battle. Some similar words include master plan, grand design, plan of action, tactics, and schemes.

This image found on pixabay.

Beta

This week, I've finally managed to finish my game and conquering my fear of scripting. Since my research on adding tweaks to my game, such as adding fog, night modes, start and pause screens, I've ended up with a pretty cool game.

My start screen.

Sticking to my aesthetically-pleasing fanatics, I've managed to place a white grid with an opacity of 35% onto my start screen with some simple "play" and "quit" buttons, inspired by yellow subtitles from movies. I've taken a lot of inspiration with my start and loading screens from a YouTube called Brackeys, and he's definitely helped me a lot with the coding aspect of Unity, whereas Jimmy Vegas helped with the terrain aspect. I originally wasn't planning on putting much effort into my coding since it seemed so difficult, but adding little tweaks like these and some hidden effects into the game really helped me bring it to life. 

My pause menu.

Following Brackeys pause menu tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JivuXdrIHK0) as discussed earlier on this week, I've followed every step of it and it's helped me create my very own pause menu (with some tweaks). I've ended up using a different font and shadow as he did, and spent much longer trying to complete the tutorial considering he uses Microsoft visual studios which somehow isn't compatible with my Mac. I've also added a darker screen effect just like he did. 

Mountains.

Messing around with the terrain tools, I've eventually added my own secret mountains that can be seen in the background! (so happy!) Although my game is finally fully finished, I do feel I'll be adding plenty of tweaks to my game such as adding in more objects, changing up the start and pause menus, and possibly editing the map to make it smaller and using much higher quality trees. However, I did struggle trying to find tutorials that help cater to my games, as there are plenty of Youtube videos dedicated to creating Halo/Fortnite-type games, or some simple 2D games, rather than creating more educational-based games. I've created a fabulous (in my opinion) game, and I hope others can see that too once it's released and ready to be played by others next week!

Unity Free Tutorials.

As of last week, I've done some further research into improving my game and making it more complex. I've come across a quick tutorial that teaches me how to create a pause menu on Unity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JivuXdrIHK0). Again, this Youtuber uses Microsoft Visual Studios which isn't compatible with a Mac, so I will have to find another application to code my game. I really enjoy the text effects he used as its very minimalistic, sticking to a neutral font with a hint of shadows behind it. I've also learned how to leave the audio in the background while the game is paused. The coding in this tutorial is much more complex so it will take me much longer to copy the code, but I really enjoy how straight-to-the-point this Youtuber is with his tutorials. 

I've also found another rather short tutorial that taught me how to create an intense fog and a night illusion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgJE3TgT3o8). I originally thought of having very harsh vignette with a single light source, but thought this would be really hard for the player to find any plastic in my game. This tutorial taught me a better and safer solution to overcome that, which makes it easier for the player to navigate the map and find plastic, yet make the world seem much more gloomy (and even better, Jimmy Vegas saved the day with yet another spicy tutorial). 

Image from Pixabay

Games Testing

This week I've been reading various articles on the general concept of play testing (http://theclosetentrepreneur.com/giving-criticism-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly). When it comes to giving criticism, some of us can be very shy and timid while others can be very blunt and outspoken, but if there is one thing we all share in common when it comes to actually giving criticism, it’s that most people aren’t very good at it! For instance, have you ever been asked for your thoughts on something only to say “I like it!” when deep down you actually don’t like it at all? Or, have you ever criticized someone/something and it led to an argument? Unfortunately, it’s in our nature to let our emotions speak first and our logic speak second, and this can sometimes lead to some problems when left unchecked. (https://www.keengamer.com/article/20183_video-game-criticisms-need-for-change)

The good form of criticism is also known as constructive criticism, it offers valid feedback both positive and negative. Giving constructive criticism can provide much needed assistance to someone by giving them feedback on things that can be improved and issues that can be avoided. Giving constructive criticism can also help determine your credibility and expertise by ensuring that you know what you’re talking about. Anyone who benefits from your critiques will be more likely to give you credit in some way or form for playing a part in their success. Constructive criticism can also keep feelings from being hurt by focusing on things that can be improved while avoiding personal attacks or insults. (http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/05164.32231.pdf) 
The most important thing to keep in mind when critiquing other people’s work is to focus on valid and unbiased feedback. By this kind of feedback, we’re talking about feedback that is tangible, credible, well-founded, and free of individual opinion or personal tastes. The theory behind this, is that your criticism is focused on concrete feedback instead of personal tastes or opinions, as everyone has a different opinion on how something should be done. Another important thing to keep in mind is to make your criticism clear, understandable, and relevant. Giving criticism can be stressful enough, so try not to make it worse by being vague and have the conversation spiral out of control. If you’re going to criticize someone’s logo, elaborate on what exactly needs improvement or could be better (is it the font, letter-spacing, line-spacing, contrast, hue, size, style, alignment, etc.) If your only response is “I don’t like it”, then chances are you’ll start an disagreement. The less ambiguous and more clear your criticism is, the better your chances of getting your feedback across and helping out your friend/acquaintance.

Image from Pixabay

Unity Free Tutorials

This week I've continued on in researching Unity tutorials on youtube that would help benefit my game. I've recently come across a video that teaches me to create a gorgeous terrain that's supposedly "super easy" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQUJ9qMMhlQ). I find this tutorial much easier to work with than others, and I can now create a much more complex terrain for my map without spending a long time trying to perfect it. Unfortunately, the majority of the tutorials I find, such as this one, use Unity's recent version (the 2019 one), while I still use the latest 2018 version (yes they are actually slightly different and take a while to find certain buttons/tabs). This tutorial inspired me to create mountains aren't the middle so the player has the option to climb and see a terrain in the horizon (which I will definitely rob from by the way), and creating pathways with the terrain tools. I also really like how he places the grass in sections to create clear pathways, and I much prefer the trees used in this tutorial as they have a much harsher contrasting in their shadows, and have much more detail added. I've also learned about including a fully functional lake, with edging and detailing, that I'll also be including into my game. 

I've also come across another video that teaches me about fade-ins and fade-outs animations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oadq-IrOazg). I've really wanted to start off my game with an easy black fade-in animation, and this video teaches me just that, through the inspector image scripting and animator tabs, and how I can prevent the animation from consistently looping. Although I do hate scripting through Unity, this tutorial made it much easier to create the animation, however this YouTuber uses Microsoft Visual Studios which is not supported by Macs. 

Image from Pixabay.