So i had to do my first design test. the test was fun and it tested my systems design abilities. This was not something i was expecting and it was interesting to learn about more diciplines in games. I do want to try to develope the narrative design as well. I feel like systems design is definatly my path forward into game design. Secondly i think i would try to complete the narrative design that is in the test. this month has been fun and i would like see how the next month builds off of the lessons learned in this class.

This month our group decided to make somthing that we have never made before and so ve came up with a city builder. the city builder wold be a mix between building a city and fighting in a dungeon to gain more recources. the game was fun to make but i do believe somethings could be changed. Something i would change would be how task were handed out to have more of a cohearent way of letting pepole know their task. i also would have started the dungeon portion of the game sooner. we waited to start it and we payed for it the further the project went on. with everything that went wrong there were also things that went right. The things that went right had to be how we adressed problems and fixed them. when ever ther was a bug it was quickly handled. Also when ever artwork was needed it was mostly done in a timely manner. i enjoyed working on this game and i would like to keep working on it.

Fluidity is a game that we made this month inside of unity. For this game we had a lot of ideas. At first, we thought of making a on rails shooter or a first-person shooter but ultimately with the time frame we had we decided to go with a 2d platformer. The idea for our game is that you are a test experiment who can change between the 3 states of water to complete the level. After deciding on what the game was about, we went into prototyping out the ideas for the game. I Created a state change function that changes the state with a button press. It changes the players color to represent the state not only that movement was affected depending on the state. Water moves the slowest and is light weight, Gas was lighter than air and floated to the ceiling, while ice was heavy and slides. After the prototypes we all came together and put what we had together. Then we decided that we should try to split the game and team in to two groups. One team would work on that levels where the player would be able to control the state change and a level where the environment would change the players state. Even though the team was split we still helped each other out when help was needed. I do believe that if we could have come to an agreement on how the game should be played, we could have gotten better levels that would have better compliment the idea. Not only that but I believe we would have more than two levels. Also, with schoolwork and the fact that everyone had capstone projects that they were working on the game felt like it wasn’t a priority and so ideas weren’t fully fleshed out. I will say that I did learn that if everyone is on the same page the game would be in a better place if the group is disjointed.

The area of my research will be the uncanny valley. The basic concept of the uncanny valley is the more human something gets it eventually becomes less human; the non-human features are all we will notice about it. This is important to the industry because it can determine the mood and feel of the game and affect the final product. For example Fortnight has a cartoon style which means it more appealing to a younger audience, which can affect ESRB rating, However if you were to compare this game to Call of Duty and give the style a more realistic look, it tends to become more grittier and appeals to a different set of audience. For the next few months I will be looking at many different sets of the uncanny valley in the horror genre. I will be focusing on games like Siren Blood Curse, Resident Evil, and BioShock and how they use it to convey their message. By understanding its uses I can tailor the mood of the games inside the indie capstone to fit the kind of games needed. It will help me achieve my career goal by helping me understand how art in our games will convey messages and allow us to make the player feel how we want them to feel. Just like how Naughty Dog will get their emotions through their character designs and acting and also create the feeling of unease with art such as in games like resident evil and outlast. The uncanny valley is what a tool that should be mastered in the industry and I can’t wait to research it.

Project management was a fun experience this month. I learned a lot of the things that I wanted to learn when it comes to making a business plan. I got to learn how to use project plan 365 and how to read the gnat chart. It was hard to learn at first but after a while I got the hang of it. I also learned how to determine budget and scope for my game with project plan 365. With that tool it was extremely easy to do the machine handles all the cost for it and I think it will be a strong asset to differentiate myself when applying to jobs in the industry. I did learn a few project management skills for the short time that we did have in class and I also think those will dome well in the future as well alongside the tools I had learned to use.

                I really enjoyed making my business plan, I plan to keep editing it and make it for a bigger scale. I think the project idea that I had came up with was a great idea and it shouldn’t die out with the end of this class. I will find a way to fund it Whether it be to crowd fun it or to get investors to sponsor it. These were great skill that I had learn in Project management I only wish that the School shut down didn’t happen so I could have consulted with my fellow students about what they had learned from the class. This was since there wasn’t any opportunity to do group work and trade ideals. This was a fun class I made my first business plan and I learned new tools. I can not wait until my next clast to build off what was established here.

I have learned a lot in Research and Team Dynamics. Many of the things I’ve learned I will use in my career in the future and now going forward in finishing my degree. Something I learned is that there are many different leadership types such as behavioral and trait, depending on history and values such as this. I have also learned that there are different stages of a group. I learned how to validate things and what can change the validity of these results. Validation is very important in the gaming industry because it can dictate trends and provide a clear understanding of where to go next. In this course I Learned better ways to manage groups. I learned many ways of how to diffuse conflict while working groups. Sometimes it is better to get outside help when diffusing a group argument. We also learned that conflict can be productive if it’s about the project and that you need to consider both sides of the argument. I’ve also learned that group performance is something that is hard to measure because performance has many different meanings depending on the work environment. To conclude, I enjoyed my time in Research and Development and I’ll take what I’ve learned and move forward in my career.

This video talks about layouts of levels and how the placement of keys promote exploration.

— Kris Frieswick

This quote speaks to me and it made me realise that i shouldn’t just aim for the top i should try to build a empire on the way there.

by Francis young

I am a game desginer and I want to entertain the world with my games. I would like to give the next generation of kid the excitment and enjoyment I got from video games. Games are a passion for me and I am still learning alot about them and what goes into making them good. I just recently had to write about a well known designer in my feild known as Shigeru Miyamoto and i felt as though I synced with his core philosophy that you should only make a game if it is fun. I will try to share my understanding of many games with you all.