Games Development / Task 1

1.9.2023- 29.9.2023 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Cheryl Voo Yie Qi / 0349878
Games Development / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Task 1 / Game Design Document

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Jump links:

Lectures
Task 1 / Game Design Document
Reflection

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LECTURES

Week 1

We are required to play games made by our seniors in the first week and write a game review about it.

https://thedesignschool.taylors.edu.my/gamezone/

Fig 1.1, Reaper Test

This game actually looks good to me as I like these kinds of horror theme games even though it is not horror, but Reaper is related to death so I thought the background music would be scary. The overall game has a simple background and doesn't have plenty of elements. I like how the game uses simple elements to create the game levels. Besides, the boss level is hard for me as I think that the way that the character walks is slippery and fast, so I can't really control the character well. 

Week 2
How to generate ideas for your game:

Method 1: Brainstorming

Method 2: Brainwriting 6-3-5

Method 3: SCAMPER

Substitute

Combine

Adapt

Modify

Put to another use

Eliminate
Reverse

Method 4: 3(i)

Incorporate/Include

Improve

Inverse/Invert

After that, we grouped up to come up with a game design using the methods and present it in class:

Fig 1.2, Game Design Presentation

Week 3

This week we started to learn to create basic gameplay and player control in 2D and 3D using Unity. 

// Rigidbody2D adds physical properties and makes objects move and respond to forces, while Collider defines the shape and allows objects to interact with each other in a 2D Unity game.

2D

We create a scene like below and we have to make the blue capsule hit the boxes by adjusting the mass. And for every object we have to add components to them such as Rigidbody2D and Collider to make them respond to forces etc.

Fig 1.1, Objects in Unity (Capsule, circles, and boxes)

Fig 1.2, Added Rigidbody 2D and circle collider 2D to the yellow circle

Fig 1.3, Added Rigidbody 2D and capsule collider 2D to the blue capsule

Fig 1.4, Added Rigidbody 2D and capsule collider 2D to those boxes

Fig 1.5, Added box collider 2D to the ground/platform

Vid 1, Blue capsule hit the boxes

3D

We have a guideline and a prototype file provided by Mr. Razif and we used them to learn player control in Unity.

Guideline

The assets originally have Rigidbody and Collider so we don't have to add them, and we mainly focus on the scripts.

Fig 1.7, The road (already has box collider)

Fig 1.8, The boxes (already have Rigidbody, duplicated and stacked them up)

Fig 1.9, Added a Player Controller script to the vehicle (Speed can be adjusted)

Fig 1.10, Player Controller script (To make it move forward/backward/left/right)

Fig 1.11, Added a Follow Player script to main camera

Fig 1.12, Follow Player script (To make the camera focus on the player while playing)

Vid 2, The vehicle able to control (left/right/forward/backward)
& camera following the vehicle (player)

Week 4

This week we started our class by completing a challenge given and trying to solve the problems below using last week's knowledge and given assets.

Challenge 1

Fig 1.13, Challenge 1

Fig 1.14, Assets in Unity

Fig 1.15, Script for the plane to go forward and tilt the plane using up/down arrow keys

Fig 1.16, Script for the camera to follow the player

Fig 1.17, Adjust the camera in the inspector tab

Fig 1.18, Script for the propeller to spin

Fig 1.19, Adjust the propeller speed in the inspector tab

Vid 3, Challenge 1 outcome

Then, we continue to learn about random value generation, collision detection, prefabs, and instantiation using the assets and guide given in Unity to create a simple game.

Guideline

Fig 1.20, Assets given

Fig 1.21, Player Controller script (to make the player move left/right, 

used IF condition to keep Player Inbounds, and click spacebar to attack)

Fig 1.22, Move Forward script (to make the food fly forward to attack)

Fig 1.23, Destroy Out Of Bound script (destroy/attack the animals when animals enter the bounds and 

a triggered Game Over message)

Fig 1.24, Spawn Manager script (to make the animals spawn by pressing "S" key, 

then changed to auto-spawn and spawn randomly)

Fig 1.25, Detect Collisions script (to make the animals disappear when the food and animals collided)

Fig 1.26, Add the 3 scripts, Rigidbody, and Box Collider to the animals

Fig 1.27, Add the 3 scripts and Box Collider to the food (weapon)

Vid 4, Exercise 2 outcome

Challenge 2

Fig 1.28, Challenge 2

Fig 1.29, Challenge assets given

Fig 1.30, Detect collision script

Fig 1.31, Destroy out of bound script

Fig 1.32, Move forward script

Fig 1.33, Player Controller script

Fig 1.34, Spawn manager script

Vid 5, Challenge 2 outcome

Week 5

This week we have another exercise about implementing sounds and effects, an endless side-scrolling runner game using the guidelines and assets given.

Guideline

Fig 1.35, Assets given

Fig 1.36, Move left script (Make the background move left and stop when game over)

Fig 1.37, Player controller script (Add jump force, dirt particle, and explosion particle to the player)

Fig 1.38, Player controller script (Add jump force, dirt particle, and explosion particle to the player)

Fig 1.39, Repeat background script

Fig 1.40, Spawn manager script (Spawn obstacles)

Vid 6, Exercise 3 outcome

Challenge 3

Fig 1.41, Challenge 3

Fig 1.42, Challenge assets given

Fig 1.43, Move left script

Fig 1.44, Repeat background script

Fig 1.45, Spawn manager script

Fig 1.46, Player Controller script

Fig 1.47, Player Controller script

Fig 1.48, Player Controller script

Vid 7, Challenge 3 outcome

Week 6

This week we had an exercise about an arcade-style Sumo battle with the objective of knocking increasingly difficult waves of enemies off of a floating island, using power-ups to help defeat them.

Guideline

Fig 1.49, Assets given

Fig 1.50, Enemy script (Make the enemy following the player)

Fig 1.51, Player controller script (Make player move forward)

Fig 1.52, Player controller script (Has powerup when triggering the powerup indicator)

Fig 1.53, Rotate camera script

Vid 8, Exercise 4 outcome

Challenge 4

Fig 1.54, Challenge 4

Fig 1.55, Player controller script

Fig 1.56, Player controller script

Fig 1.57, Rotate camera script

Fig 1.58, Spawn manager script

Fig 1.59, Spawn manager script

Vid 9, Challenge 4 outcome

Week 7

This week we are learning how to implement a user interface into our projects and also able to create a fully “playable” experience that the user can enjoy from start to finish without having to restart the application to try it again.

Guideline

Fig 1.60, Exercise 5 in unity

Fig 1.61, Difficulty button script

Fig 1.62, Game manager script

Fig 1.63, Game manager script

Fig 1.64, Target script

Fig 1.65, Target script

Vid 10, Exercise 5 outcome

Challenge 5

Fig 1.66, Challenge 5

Fig 1.67, Given assets

Fig 1.68, Destroy object script

Fig 1.69, Difficulty button script

Fig 1.70, Game manager script

Fig 1.71, Game manager script

Fig 1.72, Game manager script

Fig 1.73, Target script

Fig 1.74, Target script

Fig 1.75, Target script

Vid 11, Challenge 5 outcome

Week 9

This week we are learning about the collectables and their functions for example keys to trigger open the door and the power-up icon to speed up the player's speed. Other than that, we also learned cinemachine for the camera following and zooming in on the player in the game.

Fig 1.76, Unity (week 9)

Fig 1.77, Gem key controller script (key count and disappear animation after collected)

Fig 1.78, Character control script

Fig 1.79, Character control script (Double jump)

Fig 1.80, Door trigger script (click "E" to open the door, after collected 3 key)

Fig 1.81, Door trigger script (click "E" to open the door will trigger animation "Door_open", exit the door will trigger animation "Door_close")

Vid 12, Week 9 outcome

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Task 1 / Game Design Document

I had 2 game ideas and I did a document for the 2 ideas:

So in the end I chose to work with the first idea which is the Halloween theme idea, and more about the levels will be updated later on.

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REFLECTION

I was actually going to take this module last semester but in the end, I chose to drop it and take it this semester. From what I heard from my friend, this is a quite challenging module as we had to complete the game in the following weeks, so we had to plan our time wisely and start doing it right after confirming the ideas that we were going to do. Then we were all so panicky about this module.

 
Overall it's quite interesting to create our own game by ourselves using Unity, and this module is by far my favorite module this semester but don't know if will I have the same thoughts after starting to build our own game hahah. Anyway, I quite like the idea of the Halloween theme so hope that I can create a cool game from that.

I realize that this module requires quite strict time management to ensure our progress is catching up and able to finish it in week 14. Hopefully the game is going to end well in the end:)