Games Testing

For this weeks reading we learned all about testing games and the importance of it as well as learning about criticism. Criticism can come in many forms, some can handle and accept it while others have problems taking constructive criticism.

This article explores criticism in all its forms and gives helpful advice on how to take it. Criticism can be very helpful and useful to those who accept it and use it to improve in their lives. Constructive criticism helps us to show each other where our strong points are and where we could improve. It's highly important to focus on being valid and giving unbiased feedback. It's also important not to let your personal opinion get in the way of the feedback. This article also makes a good point by stating three key things to include when giving feedback. These three things are to make your criticism clear, relevant and understandable. The article then ends by providing a list of tips for carrying out good criticism.

The other article named Level 11:Testing talked about the idea of play testing. It's always vital to be able to play test your own game while also allowing others to be able to play test it. From this we'll be able to know if our game is fully functional and provides us with useful information. This information will be very beneficial to our game.

Overall I found these articles to be very helpful and informative as they taught me a lot about giving and receiving criticism and also game testing and it's importance.

Testing
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Links:
Game tester
TestBytes
Games Criticism

Alpha

For the duration of this week I've been trying hard to further develop my game with Unity and fix some problems that I had in the previous week. Firstly after a lot of trial and error I finally fixed the red scene. Last week my entire game magically turned itself red as I was applying a grass texture and I didn't know how to fix it so this week I focused on that and eventually solved it! My scene appears normal once more. 

I further developed my game this week by creating a variety of old style houses. As my game takes place in a town on an island I had to create a lot of these houses to compose a town type of setting. This took awhile as I've to make an entire town and add windows and doors to the houses. I also created a fog setting which I'm very happy about as I think it turned out very well and adds the creepy effect that I wanted my game to have. It took a while to perfect the fog and get it to the consistency that I wanted but I got there eventually and I'm happy with the outcome. I created more landscape too by adding shrubbery, bushes, creating a different variety of trees and another mountain range. My first person controller is now able to walk freely through the wisps of fog and collect gems. 

My plan now is to continue creating and finishing off my town with more houses and to try add in another sub-character or two. I'd also like to try and find how to create or add in streetlamps so I'll do my research on that this week and hopefully find an answer on how to do it. Below are screenshots of my progress, notice the red scene is fixed! 

My game

Unity free tutorials

This week for the Unity free tutorials I chose two tutorials that I thought would be great assets to my game. The first tutorial I watched was 'How to make a mini map' by Jimmy Vegas. I began by right clicking my player and creating a camera. I then dragged the camera upwards to create a downwards angle on the player. From here I created a render texture to create the mini map. I then went to game objects, UI and created a raw image where I also edited the height and width. Lastly for this tutorial I created a small circle that would indicate where the player is on the map.

The next tutorial I watched was another one by Jimmy Vegas called 'How to create a main menu'. I started in the main camera section where I created a button from the game object section. I then created a play button and a quit button which I scripted for using Javascript to link the buttons. These are the main menu buttons which have two functions. From there I dragged and dropped the script to the game object and applied the script. Finally I was able to create my animated main menu.

I found these tutorials to be very helpful as they really helped me to create important aspects that I'd like to include in my own game. I find that choosing my own tutorials is helping me to further develop my game and get it to a decent standard.

Game
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Game Stories

For this week's reading we were given two articles called "Into the woods: A practical guide to the Hero's Journey" and "What every game developer needs to know about Story". Both of these articles sparked my interest and both were very informative about the topic of the Hero's story. The article that I enjoyed the most was the first one which explored Joseph Campbell's work. 

In this article we explored and dissected the journey that the hero of the story has to go through in order to fulfill a myth. Firstly the question is what practical use is the hero's journey to us as storytellers and game writers? It's important because myths are important, they're how we teach each other how to behave and who we are. Myths are also used to guide actions, The Cry for Myth by Rollo May is used here as an example. This example shows that there's an adaptive advantage to myths. It also goes into the theory of "kin selection" which states that evolutionary fitness gives genes the ability to promote survival and copies of itself. 

Successful tribes were tribes that found ways to encourage everyone to act for the good of the tribe instead of themselves individually. In this article the author also explained what would happen if a myth was taken away from a man. The man would become depressed and mentally ill. Storytelling and literature are the main medias used to tell different myths. Literature proves that there is in fact order in the universe. 

Joseph Campbell also summarized a list of elements of a good myth which included establishing the hero's world, the call to adventure, gaining the hero's prize and finally returning it to the community. Next we learned how to use the hero's journey to build stories which was explained in a number of steps. The first step is to pick a theme and myth which leads to the next step of creating the hero which would be someone who can embody that premise. The third step shows us some characteristics on how to create a good villain. Some of these characteristics include traits similar to the hero, he maybe an outlaw, clever and resourceful, cruel and not forgiving. Step four tells us to show the hero's normal world, the player must see the hero's world that he's trying to save. The fifth step is to disrupt the hero's world, this can be done by taking him out of his normal world and forcing him into action. Next is to enter the mythological woods for the trail of trials. Each level should show the incremental growth. Step seven is to confront the evil one or fight the bad guy. The eight step is to acquire the prize which is the thing worth fighting to acquire. The final step is the hero's return in this part he will return the prize to the community. 

The next part of the article discusses the three act structure and the game designers journey. The designer must pick myths that people would believe and put those myths into the game. The myths that are created have the power to change lives. Finally, the designer must take the hero's journey themselves. 

Links:

Movie Outline

Dan Harmon

Piper

Hero's 

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First Playable

This week using Unity I developed my game further. So far I'm finding Unity a bit difficult as some of the simpler aspects have stopped working since I updated the Unity software to the latest version. Despite this I still tried my best to further develop my game as I'd like to at least make it look how I envisioned it in my game design document.

This week I further developed my game this week by creating a couple of gems which will be hidden in the tall grass and trees within my game. I also successfully added in my chosen background music which I'm fairly proud of as not many things in Unity have worked for me this week! I chose a calm, mellow piece of background music that will loop throughout my game while it's being played.
The textures, materials, music and structures are working well for me.

The main problem I had with Unity this week is unexplained really somehow my game scenery has turned red. This happened as I was adding textures so it might have something to do with that.
My plan for the future week is to hopefully create and structure some more houses on the island as I mentioned in my previous post Unity crashed many times and erased my building structures so I plan on recreating them in the coming week. I also plan on adding some bloom aspects and some sound fx.

This is what my game looked like before it suddenly turned red.

Game image

Week 8 Progress

From browsing through my blog up to this point I can say that I'm very pleased with my progress so far. I've put maximum effort into each blog post every week and into my game design document. I think I've a good weekly routine it's very productive and don't procrastinate when doing my work. Each daily task is clearly laid out and well explained so I just note the requirements and get straight to work.

For the readings each week I begin by reading the entire post as a whole and then I read over it again and make notes on points that I think are important to include in my blog post. I conduct my unity tutorials in a similar way by watching the whole video first then watching them a second time, this time taking notes and pausing them as I work with the tutorials and try to do their content in my own game.

For the project part of the module on the weekends I generally start early every Sunday morning by doing the main part of the project. Once that part is completed I go on to give project feedback to my peers on their Dundoc projects then end by leaving friendly comments on others' blogs. If I've any spare time I would start these on a Saturday.

The class assignments that I enjoy would be the reading each week. I really found the weekly readings to be very helpful and informative as I learned a lot about games, what they consist of, how they work etc. I also just enjoyed writing up the blog post about them afterwards as it helped me memorise the information that I learned from that specific reading. If I've any spare time I try and do at least one of the extra credit options.

I'm happy to carry on this way into the second semester as I feel I've produced some good content by having a solid routine each week. I plan on sticking to this routine if possible in the second semester. Overall I'm very happy with my progress up to this point and I'm proud of myself for getting so far and putting my all into any and every task that I'm given each week.

Motivational image 

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Week 8 comments and feedback

I find that giving comments and feedback to fellow students helps a lot on both ends giving and receiving comments and feedback. From looking at the comments and feedback on my blog posts up to this point I can say that they're all very positive with constructive criticism and suggestions for my game. Many of the comments outline and praise what I've done well and also suggest how I could incorporate different aspects into my game. I've been inspired nearly every week by these comments from other CDM Year 2 students and it's helped me improve my overall performance and motivated me to do my best at this module and other modules in general.

I enjoy reading new blogs from my fellow peers each week and leaving a comment on either their blog posts or on their Dundoc project telling them how great they're doing and making suggestions for their games if they're stuck or unsure of what to include in them. From my personal experience I find the comments that tell me what I'm doing good and how I could implement different aspects or elements into my game to be the most useful as I genuinely find it helpful and become inspired from these comments in particular.

When I'm giving feedback and comments to other students in the class I always like to start by telling them what they're doing great and then stating what I liked in particular and end with making some suggestions with constructive criticism that I hope will be of use to them. My aim is to make the comment as helpful as possible. I'm often inspired by the amount of detail that others include in their posts and projects so I take that into consideration when writing my own posts on my blog or when I was creating my Dundoc.

What I enjoy most about the comments and feedback aspects of this module is that I've gotten to  know a lot more people in the year, bonded with them and started new friendships. I love reading a different introduction post or two each week as I get to know these people much better by learning about how they work, what they like and how they are as a person in general.

Looking back on my introduction post I can sense the nerves of writing my first blog post about myself. It seems a bit too structured and organised instead of free-flowing which is actually the type of person that I am, very laid back and easy-going so I don't think this comes across in my introduction post because I was nervous about people learning about me as a person as funny as that sounds! However it does state everything that I'm about and what I love in life (my cat).

I think my blog comments left by others on my blog are perfectly fine as they are. I find them to be really helpful and useful. I'm actually proud of my blog and the level of content that I included in it as I did my absolute best everyday of each week that we had a blog assignment to do. I think this learning technique should really be used in more modules as it's a fun way of learning while also getting to know your peers and developing new friendships with others.

Friendship image
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Week 8 Reading and Writing

The reading and writing assignments for me were very helpful. I found it to be a good, quick way of learning about different subjects from firstly reading the articles, making key notes and bullet points then writing about what I've learned in that article. I think it's a more effective way of learning and although I had to push myself to do it some weeks I ended up learning a lot. My favourite reading so far has been the article from reading week 6. This article taught me all about cozy games. I learned what they are, what elements they include, key elements and how to incorporate them into games. I really liked this particular article as it's relevant to my own game that I'm making, although it's a thriller game it includes many cozy elements. It helped me to expand more in my game design document too. I refer back to this article often when developing my game so I can remind myself of cozy game elements that I wish to include in my game and how to create them in the game itself.

I've used this technique of reading and writing more in my other modules now as I felt it made a huge difference in learning information for me as I sometimes forget what I've read so it helps a lot to write notes as I'm reading then summarize it to myself. I'm happy with the level of work I've put into my blog and my blog posts. I do struggle a bit with Unity but I'm trying my best to create the game that I've envisioned over the past few months. My biggest accomplishment for this class would be to create every aspect I've included in my game design document and create my desired game.

Animal Crossing

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This is my favourite image from a previous blog post of mine. I used this image when writing for the cozy game article in reading week 6. I chose this image as it's colorful and fun. It's also a perfect example of a cozy game. It also has a good representation of a 'cozy' environment. It's a very striking visual representation of a cozy game too as various cozy elements can be seen in this image. This image also resonates with me as Animal Crossing was and still is my favourite type of game to play ever since I was young. Looking at this image emitts a happy or positive feeling as all the characters can be seen smiling and looking rather happy. I also felt that a happy image was needed during this time as college was a bit tense!

I'm happy with the learning experiences that I'm getting out of these reading and writing exercises every week. They help me learn more efficiently and I find this technique very useful to have in my other modules too. Since I've started this type of learning in Multimedia Development I've incorporated it into my daily life. I think it'd genuinely be helpful to incorporate this learning technique into other modules and year groups as I think I would of benefited from this technique greatly in my first year of college as it's a new environment and there's a lot of ground work to cover at that time. 

Prototype

This week I attempted to create my game as laid out in my game design document. I began by creating some hills and coating them in a rough grass texture that I carefully chose to represent the creepy feel of my game. I then began to create a small forest of pine trees to surround the left side of the island that my game will take place on. From there I added in a wind element to make the grass and trees move gently to create a more realistic effect. I then downloaded my selected skybox from the assets store, I chose a darker toned sky that contained colours of red. black and purple. From here I edited the colour of the skybox until I was satisfied with the outcome. I also added in thick grass patches to random parts of the island, this is where the gems containing the clues and riddles will be hidden. I also created a single row of 3 houses, a path through the town and a small lake however Unity crashed multiple times after that and erased certain elements of my game despite me saving as I went. I found this to be very frustrating as I spent a lot of time creating the houses to look how I envisioned in my game design document.

Overall I find Unity slightly difficult as it's very tedious and the software tends to crash whether it be on my PC or on a MAC in the college labs. I met a few of my targets with the scenery apart from the houses and the lake that were erased. From here on I hope to improve my Unity skills and have the software cooperate with me as I create my desired game.

Screenshot of my game on Unity

Unity Free Tutorials

This week as we were given the choice of picking, creating and reviewing our own selection of Unity tutorials I chose a tutorial on how to create Bloom and Sun shafts by Jimmy Vegas and another tutorial on Fog Variants which is also by Jimmy Vegas. I chose these tutorials as they included content that I want to add into my own game that I'm creating. 

The first tutorial taught me how to add aspects of bloom and sun shafts into my game. First I created a bloom script and applied it where the camera was looking. I created it in basic mode and in the highest quality available. The tutorial also showed the effect that the intensity and threshold had on these elements and how they enhance how it looks on screen. Then I began to play around with the intensity and threshold to better suit my game until I was satisfied with the look. A lower threshold creates a brighter screen. This tutorial is recommended for fantasy based worlds however I wanted to add some of these elements into my own adventure based game. 

Next in the tutorial I learned how to create sun shafts. Here I began by dragging and dropping the sun shaft element on to the first person character and having it in a high resolution as it's recommended. I then played around and experimented with the threshold colour which would effect the overall sunlight colour. The tutorial touched on the blur iterations and discussed how this would effect the game itself and how intensity here isn't too important. I then learned how to create a script that allows you to save the game. I also learned how to edit and use the trigger function by creating a cube to trigger the script. 

The next tutorial I watched taught me about fog variants. The tutorial began by using the particle system. Here I adjusted the start speed, colour and created a lower alpha. I then learned how to change the emission to a higher one, how to alter the sphere shape, change the radius and create the start size to be bigger. This is used to create pockets of fog. There's an option of randomizing the fog particle direction which sends the fog going off in different directions and creates the creepy effect that I aim to achieve in my game. The tutorial also mentioned how a higher alpha would create a thicker fog so I played around with this until I was happy with how it looked. I then learned how to change and alter the direction up to 50 which caused the start lifetime to linger more and changed to a lower alpha. Next the tutorial taught another way of creating fog and this was through the lighting asset and fog settings within it. The mist blocked out everything in the distance which created a dramatic effect with a thick layer of fog. I then messed around with the density and changed to linear mode which showed the start and end point of the fog. Global fog was briefly introduced also. Finally I learned how to alter the height, width and colour of the fog to suit my game. It's recommended that you use a combination of all three fog effects to create a perfect image. 

I enjoyed picking my own tutorials as it allowed me to learn how to create more elements that I want to include in my game. I found these tutorials by Jimmy Vegas to be very helpful in doing so. 

Fog effect 

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Game Fun

For this weeks reading we read Kinds of fun, Kinds of Players by Richard Bartle and MDA Framework by Robert Zubeck and co. I found these articles to be very interesting and informative as they provided insight into MUD's and MDA's.

Kinds of Fun, Kinds of Players was a great article to read. It began by questioning the players who suit MUDs and the 4 approaches to playing MUDs. The MUD's preface states that most MUDs go right back to Trubshaw's game that was released in 1978. MUDs can be of considerable value in game applications and non-game applications. They're treated as if they're games and it's suggested that we think of them in that way. The real question that stands is are they games? Are they pastimes? Are they entertainments? Are they sports? Or are they simple a combination of all four of these elements?

The article goes on to tell us that MUDs have caused a heated debate and sparked the question of What do people want out of a MUD? While 15 people took a major part in the debate 15 more simply just gave their comments and thoughts now and again. Most of these were shown to be active wizzes. Although it's estimated that they'd probably prefer game-like aspects over social-aspects, this debate was well received and obtained mostly positive results. Some aspects of MUDs that people enjoyed include the game's exploration, imposition upon others, achievement within game context and socializing aspects.
The interest graph was presented next. In this graph the axis represented the players interest. Achievers were interested in carrying out actions like acting on the world while explorers were interested in having the game surprise them by interacting with the world. Socializers were interested in interacting with other players meanwhile killers were simply proud of their fighting and combat skills.

A stable MUD is described as being inclusive of all 4 principles of style of the player in equilibrium. The balance between the multiple types remains the same. We also learned that the point of balance here can vary hugely and it's solely dependent on the individual admins. Putting emphasis on the players is regarded as easy, this can be done by providing the players with a lot of communication commands and not much else. Emphasizing the world can be done simply by tilting the game towards the world rather than it's inhabitants. An emphasis on interaction can go a long way and can be done by restricting players freedom when choosing different courses of actions which is the mechanism to implement it. As for acting, if the graph is redrawn it becomes boring.

Next the article discusses how to emphasis the player over the world which can be carried out by adding in more communications facilities and decreasing the size of the world. You can emphasis the world over the player by having lots of mobiles and granting building privileges to many. To emphasis interacting over acting, one can have only a shallow level/class system and lower the rewards for achievements. Acting can be emphasized over interacting by providing a game manual and including auto-log facilities.

Next we learn about player interactions. Firstly we learn about achievers vs achievers. Achievers see other achievers as competition to be beaten and will often cite bad luck as reasons for not being as far advanced as their competitors, Despite this achievers will more often than not co-operate with each other in order to perform a collective goal.
Achievers and explorers are next. Achievers tend to regard explorers as losers . Overall the number of explorers has only a marginal effect on the population of the achievers. Achievers' attitude towards socialisers is poor as they barely tolerate them. They often regard them as contempt, pity and irritation, flame wars break out often enough from this. Finally we reach achievers thoughts on killers. They don't like the killers however they understand that they're there for a reason which is to make achievements meaningful.

The next article that I read was MDA Framework by Robert Zubeck. As I've read this article before I was familiar with how MDA's work and what they are however this is a good article that goes into depth about MDA framework. Each component of MDA framework is thought of as a "lens" or a "view" of the game. Mechanics give rise to the dynamic system behaviors according to the designers. The article also discusses the aesthetics of MDA's in games and provides examples such as charades which includes components such as fellowship and expression while Quake contains components such as challenge and sensation. Dynamic models work to create aesthetic experiences for both the game and the gamer. An example of this is the aspect of challenge which is composed and created by time pressure and opponent play.

Mechanics are various actions, behaviours and control provided to the game player within the game context. MDA is summed up as a formal, iterative approach to both design and tuning.

Overall I enjoyed these articles and learned more about these subjects within the gaming world.
I look forward to keeping these in mind as I create my own game.

Links:
MUDs
MDA framework
Achaea

MUD
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Final GDD

This week I finalized my Game Design Document. I put a lot of effort into my GDD this week and improved on what I was lacking this week. Although I found in some sections that I was unsure of how to answer, I tried my best to provide all content in all relative areas. I enjoyed using Dundoc to create my GDD as it provided templates and sections which indicated what I should answer and what I should write about. I found Dundoc to be extremely helpful in allowing me to produce the Game Design Document for my game and I'd definitely use it again if Ii ever create another game.

For the rest of the semester I plan to work hard on creating my game and making it to the best of my ability. I hope to be able to create the game that I've spent so much time developing and designing as I do encounter difficulty with Unity sometimes.

Dundoc link

Being positive
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Unity Tutorial 05

In this weeks Unity tutorials we learned how to use a sky box, how to alter lighting and create wind zones, how to pick up a weapon and add fade screens. Tutorial 09 began by showing us how to get and apply a sky box as a material to our game. We then went on to manipulating scene lighting.  Jimmy Vegas used urban light as an example here which is a dark and eerie light. I found this part to be very beneficial to use in my own game. Next we learned how to change the environment lighting and how to manipulate the colour to suit the relevant scene in the game it's being used for. The tutorial also went on to show us how to alter a dark scene by turning off the directional light and the sky box in order to create the darkness.

We then learned a bit about how to create wind zones within a selected area of the game. Wind zones are used to control wind and make the trees look as if the wind is blowing them. It's advised to be cautious when using turbulence as too high a turbulence can warp the trees which may not look good for certain types of games but may also work for some. We finally learned the value of low frequency and spherical wind zones.

In the next tutorial we learned how to pick up a weapon from an object and how to add fade screens. We first created a cube collider around the axe in order to take it from that point in the game. A C sharp script is used to take the axe out of the tree. Next we learned how to create fade screens by using a seam script. We also added in the fade screen as an animation from the animations folder and what an alpha is in game terms. An alpha is how transparent the fade screen is. Once we've created the fade screen as an animation we simply just add it into our game and press play.

Overall I found these tutorials to be very helpful especially learning how to create and add in a fade screen. I also found it very useful to learn how to alter the lighting and create a dark light scheme to add a dark and eerie effect to the game. I had no trouble creating these Unity tutorials however they're time consuming in order to get everything right. I look forward to adding some of these aspects into my own game.

Unity lighting
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Game Decisions

This weeks article talks all about cozy games, what they are, how they work and what they involve. The article begins by defining the word coziness. Coziness is defined as how strongly a game evokes the fantasy of safety, abundance and softness. Safety is a huge factor involved in cozy games. Safety is the absence of danger such as a threat or risk within a game. There's no impending loss and all activities in the game should be voluntary and not forced. 

Abundance is another key feature in cozy games. This refers to low level Maslow needs that are being met or fulfilled such as food or shelter. It also involves the appreciation of beauty by the player playing the game. Softness is the final key factor within cozy games. This refers to the strong aesthetic signals sent out by the game that tells players that they're in a stress free environment. The stimulus of a cozy game is always gentle and comforting. Cozy games grasp the player and introduces them to the intimacy of space and emotion. Softer stimuli involves humanity, authenticity and sincerity. 

The article then goes on to discuss the contributing factors that make a cozy game cozy. Fulfilling the players needs is important. The player sees the first game play as a form of safe practice while they see the second game play as a means of satisfying unmet needs. Cozy games also promote connectedness and self-reflection. The article then proceeds by talking about cozy negating factors which consist of responsibility, intense stimulus, unpleasant distractions and extrinsic rewards. An example of negating coziness is receiving a notification while playing a game. The experience is ruined by the loud noise which is an intense stimuli and it's also non-consensual.

Cozy adjacent is the next part of the article which involves themes and aesthetics. Some of the factors listed here are Cute and Home. The cute aesthetic also can involve threatening and needy things that can be cute without coziness. Home aesthetics talks about how home environments are often stressful or full of responsibility which negates the coziness. 

Next the article touches on why we should make cozy games. The benefits of these games are that they attract a better community and increase retention by minimalising churn. Blue Ocean products for unmet player motivations talks about the element of a flight or fight response theory. This theory suggests that when our sympathetic nervous system kicks in due to a received threat, we will run or attack. 

Next we learn the process of how to improve community relations. Here it's suggested that mechanics generate emotions within the player and that emotions attract players. Social norms also spread and the developers reap what they sow. Cozy design principles are the next subject. This discusses how cozy is an adjective which means it's an aesthetic goal that can be applied to any underlying type of game. Coziness is also player dependent. It depends on where the player is coming from before they start the game. Coziness can be encouraged not forced. 

Patterns of cozy aesthetics states that cozy elements are sensory clues that are familiar with the player from previous gaming experiences, intentionally evoke images of safety and softness and that contrast is shared refuge from less pleasant external environments which takes the player away from reality. Some ingredients of cozy aesthetics include abundance and smooth transitions. Abundance refers to elements such as food/drink/warmth that's provided by a kitchen or tavern environment etc. Smooth transitions include gentle gradients between colours or states within the cozy area. 

Cozy visuals are the next topic of discussion in the article. These involve warm toned colours with a gentle colour palette such as oranges or yellows. Warm lighting and low ambiance are also involved. Natural materials are another factor of cozy visuals which include stone, wool, wood and fur etc. 

Cozy audio is also important to include in a cozy game as it sets the mood. Music should be ambient with gentle acoustics, jazz and possibly dynamic. Soothing sounds include waterfalls, rivers, rain, cats purring and gentle fire. Possible cozy locations should be sociable but private, transition spaces without danger and also places that fulfill basic player needs. The article also lists some seasonal coziness elements. Suggested cozy items include hobby/crafty items such as cut flowers and physically comforting items such as blankets. An example used here is Animal Crossing a New Leaf. In this game there are numerous activities such as fishing, decorating and gardening. 

Finishing up the article finally talks about the topic of patterns of cozy characters. These characters should possibly have a soothing voice (Bob Ross is used as a great example here) and appear soft and cuddly such as Totoro. The mechanics of cozy social situations are important. Players should portray politeness, consent and protection from threats. The article also touches on the subject of gifting in games. Some factors to consider here is the persons interaction with the gift, the care delivering the gift and the effort sourcing the gift. A gift may not always be returned if the player sends one so it's important to have respect and be polite either way! 

There's also the challenge of too much coziness. This could include forcing intimacy or having a lack of dissent. 

Overall I found this article to be very informative and interesting. I enjoyed learning more about what cozy games are and what makes them cozy games. I'd recommend this article to anyone looking to create a cozy game similar to that of Animal Crossing. 

Items of interest:

Designing for coziness

Cozy

Games industry

Animal Crossing

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Game design document

I found that using Dundoc to create my game design document was very helpful. I appreciated how the site already has various game sections ready so you can just add in your own game information and answer the questions. At first I became slightly confused on how to use the site after I signed up however I quickly figured it out and began to create my game design document.
Some sections of the game design document template were difficult to answer but I answered everything I possibly could to the best of my ability.
I enjoyed creating my game design document as it allowed me to get more creative with my game and develop it further by adding in the characters, their descriptions, storylines, the game controls etc.

My Dundoc projecthttps://www.dundoc.com/project/4785/game-design-document

Character style inspiration
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Unity tutorial 05

In this weeks series of Unity tutorials I learned how to further develop the standard and aspects of my game. Tutorial 06 dove into more detail about UI elements and used Raycast again this week. I also learned how to create more UI elements and how to adjust/align them with an 'action key/text'. An action key/text is an on screen description of the instructions that tell us what to do next. 

Next we learned how to add in extra cursor elements while slightly touching on fonts. I then learned how to create an action such as picking up a gem by using the action display and text. 

We then went on to learn about adding a raw image to the cursor which I then renamed. From here I created a script which I named "collect gem", I then learned how to edit it in the visual studio section of Unity. Lastly in this tutorial we learned how to add variables such as the distance from the player casting script.

Tutorial 07 taught us how to create more environment elements and how to create a weapon for the character using animation. The tutorial was helpful in this part as it started from the basics of animation instead of an advanced animation. I then learned how to improve my environmental elements by adding in a fence, playing with the size and adding a box collider which prevents the player from being able to walk through objects like the fence. 

Next we learned how to create the weapon for the character by downloading an axe element and attaching it to the first person controller. The tutorial then went through how to adjust the size of the axe and how to create a cube to contain the axe. For the animation part we created an animations folder and created an animation within it called "swing axe". Then I learned how to record the animation in order to make it loop or play once and learned how to move between key frames. 

I found these tutorials to be well explained and informative. They helped me learn how I can further develop my own game by using animation and UI elements. I had no trouble with this tutorial as I took my time creating each aspect. 

Game animation

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Game GDD

The article "Design Components" by Greg Aleknevicus explored a suggestive set of rules for good design instead of listing a definitive set. He also states that not all of these suggestions are practical for all games.

The article contains a list of possible components for games where they can be applied. Each component contains an example while some contain a "good" and "bad" example which I found to be very useful.

The list of components includes, making tiles smaller than the spaces they're placed upon - This means that they can be either moved or bumped slightly but without disturbing the other spaces.
Use highly contrasting/distinguishable colours for player pieces explores how it's important to consider people with impaired vision or people who have some form of colour blind therefore it's crucial to find what colours work together. It also states how you should never use red and orange as player colours.

It also teaches us to use shape as well as colour to distinguish pieces by adding different graphics and shapes. A good example is 'TransAmerica' which creates a unique shape corresponding to five different colours. Graphics are important to use to help differentiate colours. An example of poor design is 'Schotten-Totten' which placed 9 cards in 6 colours. The suggested superior method is to pair the picture to the suit. This allows colourblind people to distinguish the suits from each other.

Another suggested component is to use different components for different functions. Different forms are easier to separate different functions. An example of this is Monopoly where the money and the property cards are different so it's easier to know that they've two different functions.
It's also vital to make sure that indices/icons are distinct from each other. Icons are great for showing and quickly summarizing important information however if you use a lot of them they'll be indistinguishable from each other. An example of this is Dahon where it's icons for coins are similar to the magical vortex both in colour and shape.

The components list also suggests that the starting tiles should be backprinted in different colours so that they can be separated at the conclusion of the playing. Using a legible and distinguishable font is vital within a game. It's better if the font is simple and clear however the 6 and 9's should use a bar/dot to improve their distinction.
It's necessary to create a clean game and avoid any clutter. This component suggests that you shouldn't crowd too much visual information into one small area. If a decoration makes signs or worse difficult to read then the design is classified as an automatic failure.

Next the article talks about the box and what components you should consider when designing the box. You should first list the game name on the side of the box. A buyer should be able to read the title from around 7 feet away so it's vital to have a distinct title that's easy to read. Attracting the attention of the buyer is a must. You should also make sure any photo on the back of the box shows the legal game position. Players are always looking for clues in a game so when they see the photo on the back of the box they're likely going to determine that that's the proper way to play. This can be misleading as the photographer will arrange the photo despite not knowing how the game is played.
Printing the opposite sides of the box horizontally and vertically means that a store owner has the option of displaying the game on it's side or edge. The greater the visibility in the store creates a more definite advantage as the buyer is more likely to see it.

The next part of the article is about cards and how to design them correctly. A component of this is placing index cards on all four corners. This means that having indices on both sides ensures that they'll be visible either way. The designer should place the indices as close to the corners as possible.
Using large indices means balancing the indices have to be small enough that the cards only need a moderate fan to be visible and big enough to be labeled as 'clear'. Each card size depends on how many cards the player will be holding at a time. White borders help hide any imperfections and reduce the chance that the deck will become scratched or damaged. Card replacements should also be available incase one specific card goes missing.

Theme is the next category in the list of suggested components. You should have the theme work with the rules rather than against them. An example of this is the game Fantasy Fright Cave Troll. In this game monsters are placed occasionally on the board and follow certain patterns. Starting out in the centre, they travel from room to room and interact with the player pieces. The Cave Troll is different as he enters anywhere on the board and once he's placed in a room he's unable to move which bans the player from entering that room for the rest of the game.

Another section of the components is the rules. The first suggested step here is to blind test the rules which means that the game is sent to a group of people who are made learn how to play the game just by reading the rules and nothing else. When creating a game the rules are an important and vital aspect therefore you shouldn't intentionally write vague rules. A game that has the player come up with the rules shows that the game wasn't fully developed. You should include a detailed list of components and include many examples. Diligence is necessary to make sure that the examples agree with written rules.

The last part of this article shows some common questions that many games fail to answer. Some examples of these questions include Are fractions rounded up or down? This is stated as obvious yet often missed. Are money/victory points public or private? If they're private it should be stated. What if a player has no legal move? Is that player allowed to pass or is a special action allowed?

To conclude. I enjoyed reading this article and found it very useful with it's suggestions. I'll definitely take these into consideration when creating my own game as I found them to be interesting and clear to read.

Items of interest:
The Art Career Project
WikiBooks
Unity

Gameification
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Game Vision Statement

My game will be called The Mysterious Island and will be available to play on the PC. The main first player character named Detective Craine will venture on a journey to a mysterious island known for it's creepy reputation and suspicious locals in order to try and help solve the disappearance of one of it's local residents named Jane. There's also a large dark mansion that sits on the edge of town where nobody dares to visit. This is where Detective Craine will eventually explore and uncover the truth about her disappearance.

It's an adventure game suitable for audiences between the ages of 12-20. It's a mind-racking game at best as its demanding to the player mentally as they try to solve all the riddles/puzzles and reach the end goal of the game. Detective Craine embarks on this journey by himself through the little town located on the mysterious island. He must search for clues which will then present him with a riddle or puzzle. In order to progress and continue on through the game he has to solve each riddle and talk to some of the locals for clues.

Once he completes all the riddles and puzzles Detective Craine will come to the end of the game where he reaches the final riddle. Once this is solved the missing girl is found and the game is completed.

The idea of this game is to teach players that once they overcome obstacles in their lives they can move on to bigger and better things like the Detective Craine is doing in this game. This game is definitely suitable for anyone who loves a challenge and those who have a heightened sense of curiosity about them.

The key features of this game include the undirected exploration as the player has the ability to roam freely while they look for clues and hints. Another key feature is the riddles and puzzles. An example of one of the riddles would be something like "I'm often running yet I've no legs. You need me but I don't need you. What am I?" (The answer is water!). To help the player solve each riddle they'll be able to type in an answer and suggest it to see whether it's right or wrong. If it's wrong the player just has to keep trying until they succeed! Other key features include the specific storyline, the background music, it's an adventure based platform game and the challenge aspect of the game.

There'll also be some background music possibly inquisitive/curious sounding music throughout the game. As for the setting the game will be centered in the little town on the island so the background will likely contain houses, street lamps and some greenery. There will also be a large forest on the edge of the town.

I think this game will stand out with it's deep background story and unusual gameplay. This game gives off an inviting and curiosity driven vibe which I think will attract players and encourage them to take a look at it and hopefully give it a go!

Some links to sources
Kotaku
Packt

Game Concept
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Games MDA

I started today's post by watching a video on MDA Framework and reading the academic papers by LeBlanc, Hunicke and Zabek. I firstly learned that there's a difference between mechanics and dynamics. Mechanics are more or less the rules/restrictions that each game operates under while dynamics are the "play" of the game when the rules are in full swing. Dynamics and mechanics are different views of games with dynamics emerging from mechanics.

An example of dynamics is Time Pressure which can easily create a sense of dramatic tension. The mechanics that make up time pressure include depleting resources, a simple time limit and a "pace monster".
Aesthetics refer to the players experience of the game instead of focusing on the visual elements.
Models are formulas or abstractions and can also be referred to as "lenses". Formal models have no Grand Unified Theory but have a lot of smaller models instead. MDA for models is the knowledge of the links and interactions between aesthetics, dynamics and mechanics. Some properties of solid good models are formal, abstract and proven. Abstract means refers to this as widely applicable while formal refers to a good model as well-identified.

The next part explored a new meaning of the word "fun" as we are encouraged to think and use this word differently. The authors then go on to introduce us to eight new forms of "fun". The first way was Sensation which in game terms refers to the game as sense - pleasure, the second way is Fantasy which portrays the game as make - believe. The third way is Narrative which is the drama aspect of the game, the next way is Challenge which refers to the game as an obstacle course. The fifth way is Fellowship which refers to the game's social framework. Next is Discovery which refers to the game as uncharted territory. Expression and Submission refer to the game as self - discovery and positive.

Next was a very interesting part of the article where the authors explored the individual aesthetics of different games such as Charades, Quake and Final Fantasy. Each game contained different aesthetics and none were the same as the other. An aesthetic model is described as a rigorous definition of an aesthetic goal which states the criteria for both success and failure.
An example of this is given to us in the article along with more examples of each. Models of game dynamics include once again no Grand Unified Theory but instead a collection of many dynamic models which are analytical in nature.
Finally an example of the feedback system is shown which was very useful to me. I enjoyed reading more about game MDA and found all these articles and video to be very informative.

Links:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Game mechanics
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Feedback strategies

The following 2 articles explored different ways on how to give feedback and how feedback impacts people.
The first article that I read was "What Kind of Messages Help Kids Grow?" This article discusses how the language used towards kids impacts their mentality. Positive feedback to children can teach them to mentally have a model of how people learn and grow. Its important to introduce children to growth mindsets, from the research shown in this article growth mindsets help kids to view failure as a positive thing which they learn from and acknowledge their mistakes in order to improve in the future. The language used by parents towards their kids has a huge impact on them and their well being. If a parent congratulates their child on their failures they learn to see failure and mistakes as a learning process. The article also speaks about how a parent/teacher should tell the child what's good about their work specifically. The power of yet also comes into play again in this article. By telling the child they can't do it "yet" they gain perspective and positivity. By expressing a personal story on how you overcame a problem to a child makes them more resilient when confronted with a challenge. I found this article to be very informative especially when dealing with children either in a learning environment or a home environment.

The second article that I read was titled "Be a Mirror." This article discussed how we can give fellow students positive feedback and show them what they're doing well. In return this emphasizes the students growth and mindset qualities. The mirror aspect of this title means to give positive feedback without judgement. The article then goes through 5 main qualities of feedback  such as specifying an aspect of their work and focusing on that. Next is to focus on what exactly the reader is doing. Then we are told to focus on the amount of work the reader has put into what they're doing and the process. The fourth quality is to make sure it can transfer so its important to name what the reader is doing and discuss how they can use in a different context. The last quality is to take yourself out of the feedback. Start with saying the readers name and keep the focus on them.
Feedback is always important especially to students. These strategies really explore how we can give feedback the right way.

Positive feedback
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Game Idea Research

The game idea I chose to research is my first game idea which is a problem solving adventure game. The game play for this game would be to have the first person character go on a journey to solve the disappearance of another character. On his journey the character has to solve riddles and puzzles to progress through the game. The character also has the ability to roam freely around the game and find clues to solve the riddles.

Game mechanic 1 - Undirected exploration is one of the game mechanics in this game. The first person character has the opportunity to walk around and explore the town setting, interact with the local characters in the town and discover more clues in order to solve the riddles and progress through the game to solve the final mystery.
Link to article here. 

Game mechanic 2 - Riddle repeats until the character can solve it/difficulty increase. As the character tries to solve each riddle the level of difficulty goes up. If the character is unable to solve the riddle the first time they can continue to try until they succeed. Once the riddle is solved the difficulty level of the next riddle will increase slightly and continue with each of the following riddles as the character goes up a level.
Link to article here. 

Game mechanic 3 - Time. Some of the bonus riddles may have a limited amount of time on them. If a bonus riddle is solved the character gains another instant clue. If the character doesn't solve the riddle in time then the opportunity of the bonus riddle is no longer available for that level. Another bonus riddle will appear on each level despite this.
Link to article here.

I think these game mechanics are suitable for my game as my goal is to create a sense of mystery within the game. This will be portrayed through the riddles and puzzles. These game mechanics also give a good idea of what I hope my game will be like to play.

Detective game.
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Unity tutorial 02

From watching Unity Tutorial 4 and 5 I learned new aspects of creating a game. Tutorial 4 kicked off by teaching us how to import sound which can be downloaded from the Unity website. I found this part simple enough and didn't have any problems importing the sound. I also learned how to add and adjust audio and pitch which came in useful to alter the volume of the sound. I discovered how to rotate and add sound to the gem. The mesh element and the collider were explored in more depth in this tutorial also. I learned how to add in components and change the collider size. Once I pressed play to walk my character didn't move so I tried it again from the mesh collider and finally got it to work. Finally I learned how to add and create water from the environment assets. I found this a bit tedious but got it to work in the end.

Tutorial 5 taught me how to create a cursor and a main cursor for my game. I also learned how to use raycast and the value of static and what it does. I found this part a little confusing however after a few tries I understood it.
I enjoyed creating the water and adding more texture to objects and elements to further develop them and look forward to improving my game.

Unity image
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Game elements

I found the article"Formal Abstract Design Tools" to be very informative and detailed upon reading it. It started out by explaining to us what a modern computer game is made of. A modern computer game connects a technical base with the designers vision for what the players experience. It's important components that are used to form a game include levels, code, art and design.
As we all know over the years the games industry has greatly evolved. Screens have been developed to have better resolution, quality and more colours. Paint and modelling tools are also up to a higher standard now along with faster audio processing and newly developed sound cards.

All games from various companies and genres have evidently been built off past ideas as we develop and learn new techniques and abilities. The aspect of design in video games however has lacked evolution and lags behind the rest of the gaming industry. Design tasks determine the players goals as well as the pacing. It assists the code, levels, putting art, sound and vision in coming together to make the game. Without design we'd just be left with "a CD full of data and no experience" which is why another shared form of language of game design is needed according to this article.

The article also talks about the issue of not having a form of language to communicate innovations and mistakes through which is where a design vocabulary would come in handy. A design vocabulary would improve people's understanding of game creation, allow the discussion of underlying game components and help people better understand how it all balances and fits together. Refinement is the medium in which design evolution occurs.

The article also uses a game example which is the Mario 64 game. In this game the player has a whole world of freedom to do whatever they want. There's a choice of worlds and which world the player wants to explore/work on, each player can decided what they're next move or task will be. As for the design of this game each of the worlds have different goals at the end which provides the player with the element of choice. Although Mario worlds are often predictable with strange goals and objectives, the player has ease of the controls as they're made to be simple. This was the most enjoyable part of the article to me as I grew up playing this game so to read about how the game has been dissected and what the gameplay consists of in professional terms was eye-opening and had me intrigued.

In the next part of the article the author discusses what a story is and defines a game story as being a narrative thread which is continued throughout the entirety of the game. As for tasks each task requires different tools to suit each individual task. The game isn't player controlled however as the designer creates "cool" moments throughout the game. Whatever the player discovers it will impact the combat aspects of a game.

A brief description and summary of a few game genres are also explored in this article. SquareSet games are in short, storybooks. In order for the player to progress in the game they must win each combat aspect as they control the fight themselves. While sports and fighting games are generally tied into 1 by the tools they contain, fighting games have a consistent controller action which is visually shown in the on-screen characters. Sports games on the other hand have the players direct and control themselves while they select an action, watch the response from their chosen action and learn from it's outcome. I thought this part of the article was very interesting as it explained what each of these genres consisted of and how they connected together with their similarities.

Finally the article dives into the aspect of tools. Tools presents the player experience that the designer had set out to create. They do this by means of a vocabulary for analysis. The aspect of game design is better understood by means of tools which also boost the player's feeling of involvement.

This article dives directly into the dept of the world of game design, the evolution of game aspects and is an example of the game design breakdown process. I enjoyed reading this article despite it being fairly lengthy. I found it to be very educational and well explained.

Game elements
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My Feedback Thoughts

Article 1 - "Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head"

This article was very useful and helpful to read, I took tips from this article to help myself in the future as it made some very good points and suggestions.
Everyone has their own fears and doubts thinking they aren't good enough and this article really explores that in depth and suggests what you can do to help yourself. The article presented an example story of a real person who began to struggle with self-doubt and how he overcame it. Self-doubt not only increases depression within the person struggling but also pushes their goals out of reach.
The example story was the story of a man named Rajeev who was an executive vice president of a billion-dollar business. He was a great worker who created strong, well-working teams however once he got promoted he received less feedback from others and suffered as a result. As a solution he hired the author of this article as a coach for feedback which resulted in him receiving a lot of positive feedback. He didn't see the feedback as positive but rather as negative so he came up with certain strategies to help him. The strategies he used to changed the voices in his head from negative to positive were looking for the positive, hearing the positive, understanding the positive and believing the positive. He was then more aware of his tone with others and became a positive voice for others including his employees.
This article showed me that once you take steps to change those negative voices in your head to be positive voices in your head you and your work will succeed. It will also make a huge difference in your energy level and output. I really enjoyed this article as it helped me gain more positivity within myself.

Article 2 -  "Seven ways to crush self-doubt"

This article explored the burden of self-doubt by firstly discussing the authors personal experience and struggle with self-doubt. The article then goes on to suggest seven solid ways to banish self-doubt. Right off the bat we are told to not compare ourselves to others as it's the main downfall in self-doubt. Instead of viewing it as a competition one should view everything as a community. Competition leads to jealousy and downfall but once you let go of that you can strive as a person by doing what you love and taking chances.
Perfectionism is also explored here as the author suggests abandoning perfectionism. Once this is abandoned you can create better work. Perfectionism is an illusion that ruins your work and stops you from growing as a person.
The author then suggests finding a community that you can trust and be vulnerable with. A book and a TEDx Talk by Brene Brown Brown are suggested here too. These discuss the power of being who  you are and encourage vulnerability.
The next step is embracing a growth mindset. Carol Dweck introduces the idea of having 2 mindsets which are fixed and growth mindsets. With a growth mindset you can learn that mistakes are a natural part of the process. The rest of the article then discusses the importance of setting out goals within your control, treating your work like an experiment and trusting yourself.
I found this article to be really useful as I myself often struggle with self-doubt which can get in the way of your potential in life.

I think feedback in general is very important especially on the road to success as it helps people to learn what works and what doesn't as well as their strengths and what they can improve on. I've received feedback in many areas of my life however from my school experience I had a teacher give me feedback on a piece of artwork I created. She told me where my strengths and weaknesses were which helped me develop my art skills and create better work. 

Feedback Image
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Game brainstorm

Game idea 1 - My first game idea is to create an adventure game. An adventure game is a type of video game that involves problem-solving, exploration and puzzle aspects. It's a single player interactive story in which the player takes the role of the protagonist. It usually follows a story line and includes a narrative voice over.
I'm interested in creating this type of game as I've previously played many games in this genre as a kid. I think these games are very fun and addictive to play. They usually aim towards a target audience of 7 - 14 year olds due to the level of problem solving and puzzle aspects the player would need to have basic problem solving abilities and a basic understanding of game controls.
I'd tackle this by firstly researching some adventure games for inspiration. From there I'd plan out my visual ideas, characters and game play.
My idea for an adventure game would be to have the main character go on a quest possibly to save another character that's gone missing but to do so he has to solve riddles, puzzles and tasks.
  Link to article here.

Game idea 2 - For my second game idea I thought I could do an action game. I've previous experience in playing action games and would be interested in creating one myself. An action game involves a lot of running, jumping and shooting/punching etc depending on the game play. Most action games have an option of one player/2 players and usually provide the player with a series of weapons such as guns, knives and arrows. They focus on the players ability to attack, reflexes and hand-eye coordination. The player must also possess good reaction time in order to achieve the game objectives.
I'd be interested in creating an action game as I think they're one of the most popular types of games and have a larger target audience.
My action based idea would involve a war scene where the player has to get through while battling an enemy force. Power ups and extra lives would also be included to help the player live.
 Link to article here.

Game idea 3 - My third game idea is to create a survival game. A survival game is a sub-genre of an action game. The aim of the game is for the player to stay alive throughout the night or mission with a limited amount of resources/strategies. The player is usually the protagonist and has to survive against the antagonist(s) in order to complete the game level.
I'm not a fan of survival games myself however I admire the idea of the game as I think it's a very interactive type of game that puts the player to the test as they try to complete the game.
My survival game idea would be a zombie based game. The main character would be a human trying to survive the night against the zombies by using tactics and weapons of choice. If they survive the night they get a level up.
Link to article here.

Game idea 4 - My fourth and final game idea is to create a first person shooter game. I've done a lot on research on this genre and from that research I discovered that this is a very popular genre with a lot of aspects to it. A first person shooter game is exactly as it states, it's played from the point of view of the player as they shoot the antagonists/enemies or objects. These games are also a sub-genre of action games as the player is involved in a lot of attacking, running and jumping. The control movements allow the player to move left, right, backwards and forwards as they move around the enemies.
I'm interested in this game genre as I've played a first person shooter before and found it to be really engaging and interactive. It's a genre that grabs the players attention from the very beginning to the end. It can also be addictive as the genre contains a lot of objectives and missions for the player to complete to achieve new weapons/power-ups.
My first person shooter game idea would be to have the player as a sniper character in an apocalyptic scene, the antagonists would be a zombie invasion. The objective of the game would be to survive all the zombies and finally reach a safe zone where the game ends.
Link to article here. 
I'd like to learn how to create a successful game of my own based on one of these genres. At the moment I'm leading more towards my first game idea.

Adventure game.
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Unity tutorial 01

Although I've previously used Unity in a PLC I was rusty on my knowledge of the software and how to use it. Watching the tutorials and practicing while pausing them really helped jog my memory and taught me easier ways to use Unity.
The first tutorial went through the very basics of Unity so that first level beginners could follow along and learn the basics. We learned what the purpose of the game tab is, what the inspector panel contains and what type of assets the project window stores such as game objects, textures and scripts.
I also learned how to add in any extra tabs that I may need such as the animation tab. This tutorial also went through the basic methods of inserting 3D objects like a cube and how to develop them into bigger aspects. At the end of the tutorial we learned how to create a basic layer of terrain.

I found this tutorial to be very useful with easy to follow instructions suitable for gamers and non-gamers of all levels. I learned how to properly create a basic game structure from scratch and develop this structure in the second tutorial.

Tutorial 2 explored the aspects of terrain, creating textures and applying them to the terrain. I learned how to use the point height tool to create a specific height for where the terrain sits and how to add color, change opacity/brush sizes and how to blend the textures for a smoother realistic effect.
I enjoyed experimenting with the different textures and blending them however I had a bit of difficulty when I first tried to create the terrain. I overcame this by continuing to try again until I got it right. I look forward to getting used to creating a game from scratch and developing my skills while I learn new aspects of game development.

Game design
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Game Design

From reading all six of these game based articles i can clearly state that each one was lengthy yet informative and interesting. The Essence of Euro-style games article explored what makes a Euro game Euro, their characteristics and why they've become so popular while Pulling the Plug: In Defense of Non-Digital Teaching and Learning explored the reasons why we should use non-electronic games to teach and learn electronic game design. I found this last article to be very educational and informative as I gained some insight into prototyping a game and the nature of non-electronic games.

The article called So You're Going To Make A Game For The Very First Time was probably my favorite as it takes you through the steps required to make a game for the first time and which parts are the most important. This article was very useful as soon I'll have to make a game for one of my modules and I'm a beginner.
The series of understanding games was also helpful and playful as they educated the reader in a more entertaining fashion which grabbed my attention as I've never encountered anything like that before.

Game Design

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