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While learning the ropes for Unity, we had to become familiar with coding in C#. Taking a linkedin course for coding was very helpful in learning the basics of how it works, however it was during the lessons I realized how tedious coding could be at times; with it relying heavily on exactly how you type things out, a stray capital letter or colon instead of a semicolon could ruin the entire code. Not to mention, the lessons were for a different version of Unity in which not all was entirely transferable from the lesson, which made it increasingly difficult to code the things I needed. Fortunately we were later given a different Unity course that helped better understand the concepts of how coding works instead of what to copy and paste. The new coding course was extremely advantageous, with clear and easy instructions that let me know what each individual line or phrase did; a crucial step to letting me become more proficient in the area of coding. Another difference between lessons is the former often made me feel less inclined to code, since I was still left confused throughout the lessons, but the newer official lessons make coding seem fun - almost like a puzzle game - that I could make great things with. So far, due to delays and being ill the past few weeks I haven’t been able to progress very far into the lesson, but I’ve gotten to the point where I can move the car given in the exercise forward. One thing I greatly appreciate about the new lesson as well, is that the teacher adds notes within the code that lets us know what it does, also giving us alternative coding lines for greater clarification. Once I am able to progress further into the lesson I feel like I could truly come to enjoy coding as well as understanding it clearly, and I have high hopes I could do a good job with it.
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After being given a prompt of making an idea for a game taking place in a fantasy world, I was tasked with creating a paper to sketch my notes down. Although I made these notes not too long ago since I’ve started writing this, I’ve thought through many of the ideas and crossed them off. I’ll start with the worst (or, least best) ideas and progressively go up in what I prefer, rank 10-1. Ranking 10th would be making the game take place in medieval times. I could never come up with concepts that don’t have a pinch of sci-fi or at least modernity. The curse of playing/watching too much sci-fi material (looking at you, Halo). 9th rank carries over from the 10th, which is having a limited variety of weapons like bows and swords. Although each are cool, if I was limited to using a weapon with the stat-wise “muzzle velocity” of a snail or a weapon I’d only be able to rush people with, I’d instantly uninstall the game. 7th Idea would be having bosses/dungeons. Although they’re cool the first time you play through a game, say like Warframe, eventually you’ll have to grind the same character with the same fight with the same lines and overall makes what should’ve been a cool experience a boring, repetitive sequence of events. Bosses should only exist to fight once and either recur later on with a different quirk, or die once and for all and drop their special loot on the spot. 6th idea is horde enemies, not necessarily because it’s unpreferred, but because it’s too broad. Initially I thought Warframe-type enemies would be fun to fight, like 20 weak, low damage bad guys in a room that can shred you if you stand still but’ll fall over if you dare walk near them. However the only way to make that fun personally would be to make a copy of Warframe, which isn’t the plan. Horde enemies were supposed to be a bit more like Halo, where you fight big groups of bad guys but each individual one is almost on par with you (if you’re bad at the game), and you have to focus on target acquisition and prioritization. It’s more fun to fight enemies that could beat you down in a single punch than see the same copy and paste of a generic soldier 300 times that you could wipe down with the press of B. 5th idea is having it be open-world. Open world games used to be such a fascination to me, I marveled at Fallout 4’s map and my ability to wander the whole thing on foot, or, at the Plains of Eidolon with the towering Teralysts that could be heard across the 5-kilometer sized map. These were fascinating until open worlds simply got too popular and well, boring. Most large AAA open world titles now follow the same formula of “base liberation, base liberation, base liberation”, and designing a game that’s replayable and doesn’t fall into that hole is simply too complicated (especially for a student). 4th top idea would be having randomly generated exploration worlds like No Man’s Sky or Minecraft. Although it breeds creativity with (usually coexisting) base building and the possibility of some really funky formations, with the design style we’re tasked, and I personally want, it’d be nearly impossible to create one that works without turning the average computer into a thermo-nuclear bomb (and y’know, amount of coding skill it would take)
Now with my top 3 ideas, which are up here not only because I personally adore games with these styles but also because it’s within the realm of reality that I could create, with help of course, a game like this. Number 3 would be having the game take place in post-apocalyptic space, whether in some distant galaxy or close to home (like Mars or the Solar System), it could allow a lot of creative freedom with how to work on maps or add lore to the game. Post apocalyptic games are always interesting to me, regardless of the lack of lore some may have (like DayZ), and for it to take place in space could add an extra layer of mystery. Number 2 would be the integration of PvP. Although PvE is fun, it can get stale and predictable, also involves creating AI that doesn't think the wall on the opposite side of the room is you. PvP is almost always fun, with the endless interactions you can have between not only with your team but with the enemy, fun experiences can be created. Along with PvP would be customization of your character, so there isn’t really a “main character” besides you, and who you want to be. Lastly, number 1 would be what type of game. Movement shooters are one of my favorite genres of games. Although I’ve had limited experience with them, I notice the influence of them creeping into many popular arena shooters and PvP games, for example the grapple hook from TitanFall (or before that) now in Halo, Battlefield, and other movement shooters like DOOM or ULTRAKILL. Most movement shooters are PvE. In DOOM, it’s you vs demons, in ULTRAKILL, its you also vs demons, but I’ve always wanted to fight a real challenge that’s never predictable. I feel like an extremely fast paced pvp shooter with the magic of fantasy added could work perfectly together to make a unique game that stands out from the rest. |
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My name is Mario, and am currently studying Digital Design and Game Art in DSA. This is my class blog Archives
January 2023
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The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools.
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