Testing, Attention Please

Solo Testing is something I've done almost exclusively, seeing as its only been me designing and playing this game so far. I've also been bug testing by myself. By which I mean accidentally being launched off screen in game and trying to prevent that from happening again by trying to recreate it.

Balance testing is something I don't really think I need to do because my game is that advanced as to have a bypass. Apparently I am my own most valuable Playtester. I could probably get some complete strangers to play my game by putting an ad on craigslist.

I would just like to say that I would be absolutely overjoyed if my game started 'making itself' because that would be a lot of stress off my back.

"Your game is not perfect." Yeah I'm well aware of that trust me.

Alpha Beta Soup

For my game right now, I'm surprised with how well it's going. I have a level laid out, and any level I design after that will have similar elements in design, maybe one or two things different.

I'm having a bit of trouble adding in a menu screen that will lead to the game, but it's not something I would say is an absolute difficulty for me.

I think I met my goals well enough. I created a character that can jump and move, I made a level that works well. I just need to make so he returns to the start when he falls off of the level.

I haven't managed to get the title screen animation where the Main character constantly walks up sets of stairs but I feel like that's a long term goal that I don't need to worry about right now.

I didn't have a screenshot available I hope this will do

Unity Free Tutorials

So, I finally get to talk about all of the Unity Tutorials. Well I know one thing for sure, and that's that I will be hearing "Hello there, I'm Jimmy Vegas" in my sleep.

I enjoyed the videos, they were helpful in almost every aspect, and I seem to do better when I have a set of instructions to follow. And also the huge amount of videos and other tutorials on Unity gives me hope that I will be able to actually complete this game.

I followed his tutorial on how to make a SuperMario Clone while editing and changing it to suit my needs and my game. It is a very good tutorial, in fact, most tutorials for Unity that can be found on Youtube are excellent.

However, one issue I have is that most of them are for Windows Unity, and also they have earlier versions of Unity, which can make it difficult to follow as we have only used the Mac versions and we have a different version to them.

Hello there, I'm Jimmy Vegas

Games Stories

Not going to lie, when I saw the word 'stories' my eyes lit up.

I am very fond of Wikipedia's definition of art being 'the process of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to senses or emotions' because it means that whenever I write a story it becomes art.

Purpose, form, idiom,structure, craft, surface. All these are things I have to take into consideration while writing, as they all have a part to play in the creation of a story.

The small bit about 'What was your first great game idea' and the response being 'It'll be just like Pacman meets Space Invaders. Only better!' is quite literally the driving idea behind what most people like to call 'Fanfiction'.

Which is a perfectly acceptable form of art and if you disagree I shall gladly argue my point.

Tragedy meaning a serious and lifelike story hits a bit too close, as nowadays people try to make the worst things possible happen to characters who don't deserve it simply for 'wangst'. And I agree that there is still a lot of bad writing out there, but there is a greater amount of good writing!

Plot: An important thing that we figure out later.

Theme: Something we don't think about or realise until after the story is complete.

Character: One of the two things that probably created the story, thinking of a character, or of powers and wanting a character to use them.

Diction: Ary The other thing that might create a story, simply thinking of a line of dialogue that sounds amazing and you are so amazed you thought of it you need to make an entire world just so you can say that one line of dialogue and then after you've finished writing it you realise you forgot to say it.

Rhythm: Ha. What rhythm?

Spectacle: The 'eye candy' of the story. What makes your story unique. What makes it different to every other story about magic or about a dystopia. What makes your story?

All stories include crossing gaps of some kind? All stories are about change? Ok yeah that I can accept. Change can come in many different forms, and usually that change is a victory. Changing a goverment, changing the world, changing your clothes. Hey, not all victories are about the big things.

Ah, found something I disagree with.

"Having the player make moral choices for the main character is hard, because the choices often don’t involve real consequences."

\

It has consequences for the player character, and for the person playing it. Plus, consequences on the players emotional state. 

A scene from TellTales 'The Walking Dead'

Frankly, if you don't have a heavy moral decision without consequences in your story-driven game, you haven't written a good story.

First Playable Level

Hopefully this works.

This is a short video showing my prototype and the basics of my first playable level. I would like to point out the character is able to jump I just didn't hit the button in time. 

Week 8 Progress

My progress in class has greatly improved in recent times! I guess it's because I actually sat down and did the work. In one day I managed to build a level, import a character, and have the camera follow him as he runs and jumps.

I didn't really have a good weekly routine, just doing most things last minute and hoping they were good enough to merit counting towards the points. I used some of the extra credit options earlier in the year but have since stopped doing them simply because I didn't have the time or because I didn't see the need. I was also very confused about what exactly what the Wiki Trails were.

I still need to fix it up a bit but for now it's working very well.

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Looking back on the blog comments I've left I think that I could have wrote more and for more people. I only left comments on a few blogs because I was interested to see what they got up to with their game.

I was trying to be as kind as possible with my comments and leaving what I hoped were good suggestions and references to other games that I thought would help them with their game.

For the other comments I was very confused and didn't really know what to write so I just kind of left whatever I could and tried to make it over sixty words. I think I did it right, or at the very least no one has come to me and said my comments were rude.

Typing Reviews

Week 8 Reading And Writing

Looking back on my previous works I realised how different my game was going to be before I started the Game Design Document. Originally it was going to be a 'Temple Run' style game with Yoink running away from the screen and from the player.

I realised I was being very impersonal when it came to the readings, giving my honest opinions and make little jokes to try and get people more interested in my blog because they would find it funny. I think this worked well but I haven't really hear anyone say anything about my blog being noticeably funny or more interesting than others.

Looking at the Customisation Screen I figure I could still use the same design for it, and just change the dimensions to fit the game window.

In my most recent blog post on my project I showed a small drawing on what my level design would look like, very different to my original design and I am actually quite happy with that.

Original Level Design

Final Level Design

I never really realised how much I read until I had to go over it and talk about it. And that so many of the subjects I read related to the many games I played, such as Stardew Valley, Civilisation and Undertale.

I disliked the idea of there being types of fun, because I don't think fun is something you can accurately define. I was fine with the idea of comfort and coziness, but risk and reward is something that really makes a game.

Then there was the thing with Meaningless Decisions that I don't agree with because every decision has an effect on either the player or the game. Like changing an outfit or deciding not to go down a particular path.

I think when it comes to what I could improve on or what I would change is just, detail. I need more detail in my Readings but on the other hand it's just meant to be a quick summary based on what I read.

Maybe try and making things less casual and being more professional about how I write down the information I've gained from reading the various pieces of work on the hundreds of different needs Games require.

PrototypeA

Leg It

Level Design

A Small Hand Drawn prototype of my level

My levels for Leg It will mostly follow a similar pattern, the player character (Green)  running across the cities rooftops, the Thieves Highway (huh another idea for a game with a good name), in order to get away from the Heroes he's running from.

Hazards are coloured in red, so the two lines at the bottom are drops between the buildings that if the player character falls down they will lose a life and have to start the level over again, or if I decide to add in a checkpoint system start from there.

The red character in the middle of the page is an enemy, who moves from left to right normally, but if they spot you they will run straight to you. Similar to the pitfall, if the enemy hits the player they will return to the start.

The Blue is an interactive object within the level, much like Mario's pipes, you can jump on it and proceed to go down it, where you will enter a new level or a sub-level where the enemies are lightly different and the level will be different because you will be inside a building or on the street below.

The items in circles are power-ups. The one above the enemy is the Stop Sign Weapon which the player can use to deal damage and to reflect projectiles. The power-up on the far right is the Freeze Breath power. The player can use it to slow down enemies and projectiles.

The end of a level will have a small building with a red door on it that the character runs into to avoid the Heroes.

Unity Free Tutorials

For this week's free Unity Tutorial I decided to watch the Jimmy Vegas tutorial on How To Make A Super Mario Clone.

I watched these videos because it is the closest I could find to my own game, 'Leg It', which has a similar style but completely different concept. I followed the first video to learn how to put the blocks in, but used a completely different design for them, as Yoink is going to be running along the roofs of buildings, not bricks.

Screenshot Of Unity

This video helped me make the layout I needed for my game, and it also showed me how to bring in assets already in Unity, such as player characters that I won't be copyrighted for. I used a default player character that already had all of the movement programmed into him.

He vaguely resembles a knight which I found mildly amusing given the name of my blog.

Game Fun

Ah, so we're back to the 8 different types of fun. The thing I do not agree with whatsoever. Although reading through this it labels Monopoly as a Social game. Monopoly is not a social game, if anything it will ruin your social life because of the arguments it causes.

It does make a good point however about why making a game with all eight of these kinds of fun, would not be as fun as one thinks. Not everyone likes the same type of fun, some people prefer one kind over the other.

I didn't think reading the words 'sans Pokemon' would make me as upset as it did but here we are. If a Caveman found it useful you'll find it fun? I feel like there are somethings a caveman did that we would not find fun and instead find deeply disturbing.

Griefing as a form of fun is something I disagree with intensely. You should not feel better because you destroyed someones mansion they spent more than five hours building in Minecraft.

Planet Minecraft
Explaining why people Grief

 

Final GDD

The Main Character,
Yoink

This is the final blog for my Game Design Document.

I have updated my Dundoc and I hope that you find it interesting. It's the bible for my game so please don't treat it like the actual bible and completely misinterpret it.

Unity Tutorial 05

The two tutorials this time were to make a skybox and wind, and to make fade screens as well as how to equip a weapon.

The skybox was fun to mess around with, making the world look like it was on a different planet or that it was constantly a bright sunny day.

Wind was something I wasn't expecting to use in my game, but I may as well have it as just something in the background. I spent so long trying to get the wind right that when I went outside and saw the trees moving I thought 'ah finally got it' before realising my mistake.

Wielding a weapon is important in almost every game. An axe is excellent for an RPG like game where you can choose what weapon to use. My game does use weapons, and for a variety of different reasons, but I would not use an axe.

A stop sign is the main
weapon of my character

The Fades are more of an aesthetic need but one I was happy to learn how to do, if only for the slim chance I might include it in my game if a character dies or if someone is starting up the game.

Game Decisions

Cozy. Coziness is considered a factor in games, where there is an absence of risk, of danger. Where there is an abundance of shelter and food, where nothing is pressing or immediate and there are a lot of comforting aesthetic signals where players have a low sense of arousa- I'm sorry did I read that right?

Ok yeah apparently a low state of arousal is part of having a cozy game. Go figure.

One game that in my opinion meets all these needs is Stardew Valley. A game where you inherit a plot of land to build a farm that you can grow and change at your own pace.

Stardew Valley
Chucklefish LTD

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a big factor as part of the Coziness of a game. Which suprised me that something to do with basic human living would play such a roll within developing video games. The hierarchy of needs tends to revolve around the rewards you gain from playing.

Much like real life, you should not make meaningless decisions. They are the worst kind and have no affect on gameplay.

I respectfully disagree. A meaningless decision could be something like changing what hat your character is wearing. It might not change the game, but it'll make you feel better. And on the other hand, there really is no such thing as a meaningless decision.

Games GDD

I'm not going to lie simply seeing the Doc layout, even the non-advanced one, filled me with a sense of dread like no other. And also using a site called Dundoc is making me wonder if Dundalk hasn't filed a copyright claim at some point.

https://www.dundoc.com/project/4782

This took a while to do, and I'm glad I wrote something down about it earlier before starting this because I lost all knowledge of my own game the moment I opened the document.

Luckily I gained it back after downing four cups of coffee in order to do both this blog and the document.

Unity Tutorial 5

Making the gem rotate was a very complex thing for such a small detail. I understand the importance of it of course, but still.

Games GDD

"Here are a bunch of elements, just throw them together and call it a game."

Sounds like my kinda game.

The 'core aesthetics' of a game can vary wildly. Each player can experience something completely different depending on their playthrough of a game. An example of this is Undertale. Working backwards is something I'm used to, having created characters in my head and then figuring out why they exist. It is something I do a lot with my stories.

Creating rules is a very difficult thing for me, as I have more fun breaking them. And working with a proven system isn't something I would like to do, I would prefer to create my own system. Though technically speaking everything has been done before. But not my way.

Frank Sinatra
Singer of 'My Way'

Creating ideas for games was a lot harder than I originally thought it would be, I figured that out during my game brainstorm. But I still managed to come up with four. Having games being played online is a big thing so I might just try and find out how to get that to work with my game.

Prototypes, no not the games, are important because if you don't make one you won't be able to test out how the mechanics work or how players will react to that style of game.

Game Vision Statement

Introduction: My game is about a free-runner who is on the run from heroes because he is a villain who enjoys playing pranks on them, and has various powers to help him get away.


Game Genre: My genre would be a 3rd Person Action-Platformer, as it involves running, jumping and dodging.

Game Play: The game play will start with a screen, showing the player character walking up an endless fire escape. On the screen will be different options to choose:

Start
Customise
Settings
Exit

The Start will obviously begin the game. The Customise option will bring you to a separate screen where you can see your character. The screen will show the back and front view of the character. This screen will allow you to change your characters appearance.

The base model will be a male with a green hoodie and airsoft goggles. You will be able to change the gender, the colour of the hoodie, the emblem on the back of the hoodie and what he wears on his face.

My Rendition of what the
customisation screen will look like

Settings will just change things like brightness and sound, though I did have the idea to allow the settings to change whether or not the view is First or Third person. Exit will bring you out of the game.

You are running away from the screen and towards something on the other side. You can jump, slide and move from side to side. If I learn how I might implement a QTE (Quick Time Event) if you get hit by one of the obstacles as a second chance.

The thing I will have to focus most on is animations, such as rolling when you hit the ground or when dodging a projectile, there are many different animations that can be used, and I could use a default character to practice them. The game will be 3rd person to make it easier to dodge obstacles.

Resources: I will have to use Unity for this and go over my previous writings for the character. One resource that I will use is the Unity Cookbook to help learn about the many different animations I need to use.

Unity Tutorial 03

I like clocks. Like the interesting mechanisms within them. I did not like this clock.

I don't know why but for some reason I found this particular tutorial painfully agonising to complete properly. Either my hands weren't going the right way or my indicators were slightly off, which granted was probably more a problem to my eyes than anything else.

The animation was annoyingly difficult to get right. It either went too fast, kept stuttering, or flew off into another dimension... I still don't know how I managed that last one.

I had no problem taking down the code, writing it into the game and making sure there weren't any errors, but for some reason that didn't stop the hands from gaining a mind of their own and trying to hi-five each other.

A Quarternion sounds like a sci-fi term for when they've only got 25 lightyears left to go or something similar.

Getting the hands to continuously move was more trouble than it was worth, but it was also quite mesmerising once I finally got them to keep spinning in order and not go flying off the handle.

A Clock

Games MDA

Mechanics are rules. Mechanics rule... We should treat our engineers better.

Rules -> System Behaviour -> Fun

An excellent flowchart we should see more of.

The other one I made a rather unfortunate acronym of. I'm not sure following the MDA flowchart is a good idea.

Wow this video is just full of bad acronyms.

I disagree with the idea of getting past words like 'fun'. Fun is what games are all about. Just look at Nintendo. Their games are fun and they're the biggest game company there is. Fun isn't something you can define easily or into eight simple catagories. But that won't stop people from trying.

Digital Versions:

I found this interesting because, well it's true. The amount of people I've seen playing Uno or Monopoly on a console or computer has only increased in time. And sometimes the games are upgraded versions of the board games themselves.

For example, take Sid Meier's Civilisation. A game I personally love to play, and I would personally describe as 'Risk but a hundred and six times better'. In my opinion the reason that Digital Versions of Board games are becoming more popular is because of accessibility but also because of friendships.

With games like Uno and Monopoly being able to be played online, you can play with people around the world, or with friends in different parts of the country. Similar to how arcade games such as Street Fighter can now be played in your home and against different people all over the world.

Sid Meier's Civilisation 6 Box Art 

Feedback Strategies

There are a lot of reasons to say 'Good Job' but apparently only five reasons not to?

I read that title, as well as the article, and found it a bit... preachy. Manipulating Children  as a reason to not say Good Job? I think that's ridiculous. You should praise children for what they do because at that age everything they do is important for them.

And if you don't praise them that can lead to serious self-esteem issues later in life.

I'm sorry Stealing A Child's Pleasure????? Who the hell wrote this? Bloody Count Olaf? Part of the reason of completing a task or creating something is to receive praise. You gain 'pleasure' from the praise you are given congratulating you on your work.

That article made me want to hit someone. No, it made me want to allow a child to hit whoever wrote it and say 'Good Job!' to the child.

I was going to read the 'How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk' article with hopes that it would be better than the other but three paragraphs in and he mentions Family Guy has already ruined it.

The writer of this article is trying too hard to relate to 'us young adults' by referencing different characters in Pop culture such as Stewie Griffin and Ross from Friends.

Frankly I think these authors are putting too little faith in the populace to have learned how to correctly give feedback without mentioning Bart Simpson or ignoring praising their children.

And I have an idea as to what generation the authors were from..

Image via empowernetwork.com

Ironically, I got the above image from a Telegraph called 'Stop Blaming Baby Boomers For Everything'... Which would be a lot easier if it wasn't actually their fault.

Game Idea Research

The Game I chose is going to be the free-running one. I decided on this one because it's both the one I want to do most and the one I think people would have the most fun playing. The idea of being able to jump over buildings and treat the skyline as your plaything is something I think most people would enjoy.

One Game mechanic I was thinking of is collectibles. Some form of item that acts as a currency in game. Maybe a small coin or something you could pick up. The coins would be collected in order to change the characters appearance.

Oh, no micro-transactions. Cause they're an idiotic decision to put in a game.

Power-Ups is another mechanic I was thinking of, maybe ones that let you jump higher, go faster, or ignore all damage for a time. Should be... somewhat easy to implement.

Uhhhhh what other game mechanics are there...

Multiplayer?

Yeah sure that works. You can play multiplayer against a friend with the same game and they will show up within your game as a slightly ghosty looking character. The game ends when both players crash or fall or whatever ends it.

I might implement a Quick-Time Event where if the player get's hit by something they can hit it away with a weapon they have. You can change whatever weapon you use but the default would be a stop sign.

This is what the main character would look like.
(Drawn by my friend Ruth)

Unity Tutorial 03

Unity Logo

Following along with the blog I had a lot of fun implementing the crystal. I didn't find the second tutorial quite as interesting but I understand why it is necessary for some games. I think the reason I enjoyed putting the crystal in was because before I actually enabled it to be picked up I walked into it and it rolled away.

This led to a chase with my character trying to catch the the crystal as it bounced around and in between the trees that I had dotted around my terrain. It was surprisingly entertaining and it also made me realise that a football game would be quite easy to make in unity as long as you used an actual ball and not a huge pointy crystal that would probably take someones eye out.

There was an immense satisfaction when I heard the 'ping' of the chaos emerald- sorry I mean 'Non-Branded Crystal' being collected. The sound in general was an amazing thing, as I feel it somehow makes the game feel more like a game.

I actually made a small jumping puzzle using the cubes that were textured to reach the crystal. I had a lot of fun :D

Game Periodic Table

The idea of using a scientific word like 'atoms' when it comes to something like gaming is something that I find terribly strange. Unless there is a game to do with science, which to be fair there are a lot of them, I think a separate word should be used, such as 'building blocks' or something similar.

I think a game wearing a suit and tie would be a very interesting concept. Maybe it is a dating simulator where you have to pick the correct suit to win a date. Wow this got off topic fast.

A game where you wear a suit and tie.
Hitman Absolution: 2014

The idea of how many different possibilities there are for players alone is something I think is interesting. And also I read the words 'College Assassination Game' and now intend to try and make that a thing on campus. Or at the very least a game of 'Humans Vs Zombies'. 

Resource management is always something I like to do in games, mostly organising my containers so that they contain only one specific kind of resource or it is at least in order.

Theme is probably the thing I am best at, and as a writer I think it's the most important part of a game. Take God Of War 2018 for example. The narrative within that game is absolutely essential. Without the background, without the growth of the characters, there's nothing.

Wiki Trails

I started with Rejection.

Which led to Jealousy.

Which led to Envy.

Which led to The Seven Deadly Sins.

By Hieronymus Bosch - "The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things", painting by "Hieronymus Bosch", Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8829283

Feeback Thoughts

Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head:

I chose this article because by God there are a lot of those in my head. The article taught me not to focus on the small negatives, which was quite difficult for me, and instead focus on the many positive remarks I get on my work.

Why rejection hurts so much:

This article caught my eye because I relate to it. Mostly due to the fact I fear rejection and therefore find it easier not to try. It always hurts regardless of whether it is feedback or other aspects of life. Rejection can hurt but sometimes you must try regardless.

Rejection, Turn Left For Denial

Game Brainstorm

So I need four ideas for games.

One of them is a 2d (Now probably going to be 3d because of Unity) game with two worlds that interact with one another based around Fire and Ice. You play as a Fire Person in an Ice World and an Ice Person in a Fire World. Actions you take in one world affect the other. I had this idea long ago and it would have a similar art style to the game Fire And Water. There is a similar system in that game where one player must press a button in order to let another player through, and they can press a separate button to let the first player through. However in my game you would be on your own, and have to press a button to switch the worlds and alter the objects in both worlds.

Engine: Unity

Another one... is... come on brain... think of things...

MEDIEVAL ADVENTURE

Yeah sure that works.

You play as a character who's only weapon is a sword going out into the world for the first time. You are immediately defeated by a slime. Game over. Just kidding. Two other people come to your rescue and you form a party, which is really what the game was about in the beginning- hah I tricked you. You will pick up more companions as you continue on your quest, and you will be able to switch them out at your leisure. Each of the companions would be different and have a specific skill set. You might need one companion to help traverse a volcano and another to help swim across open water. There would be a final scene where every companion you've gathered helps you defeat the Big Bad of the game, and I'm sure I would somehow make it heartfelt. There would be around... maybe twenty characters?
Each of them would have their own abilities, design, plot, personalities and dialogue. So, that would be a lot of work. Although I guess only nineteen dialogues as the main character, that is you by the way, would only have Yes, No or other options, and not really have to speak at all.

Engine: Unity

Uhhhhhhhhhh... Music... Explore... Digger...

Ok now to make a game using those three words.

You are a player with a pickaxe and you need to dig to the center of the world for... reasons... There is music playing and you have to swing to the beat. Well you don't have to but you get more points and will go much faster if you do. This sounds more like a mobile game, something like flappy bird. Maybe I'll make it so that if they aren't on beat they lose. I'm sure that would destroy a lot of screens. There would be a lot of customisation too, able to change what your pickaxe looks like and what music you listen to, maybe change what you're breaking too.

A RuneScape Pickaxe

Engine: Unity

FINAL GAME

AND THIS IS ONE I MAY ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO DO

A freerunning game where you, the player character, has to run across  rooftops in order to escape Something chasing you. There will be obstacles in the characters way, such as roof access stairs and clothing lines. 

The character will be wearing something simple, a green hoodie for example. But you can customise it by changing the colour and putting a logo on the back. It would probably be similar to several other chasing games but I'm sure I can find some way to make it unique, maybe with the various power ups I could implement and have a story to it. Maybe little hints as to why you're running, with the thing that is chasing you exclaiming or shouting things that will give away information on what the runner's background is.
The character is based on an idea I had for another character for a story who is basically Spiderman if he was a villain but still had the same joking personality. This character has many powers, which is useful as there will be an excuse for many powerups that the Runner can use.

Engine: Unity

An Example Of Free Running

Unity Tutorial 1

I actually knew quite a bit about how to use Unity before hand, so this was a nice refresher to get used to everything once again. I watched the first video and followed along and took a screenshot of how mine differed from the tutorial.

Screenshot of my work in Unity

I gave the ball a 'RigidBody' component which allowed it to fall and roll down the slope I had created using the rest of the tutorial. It continued to roll on the Terrain with no apparent change in speed. So I would have to give some gravity or friction to keep it from rolling all the way.

I have previously created an FPS in Unity. That's not saying it was a particularly good one. It just worked as one with enemies and power ups. I don't think I'll be creating that in Unity this time, though the tutorials may actually show me how to do so.

Watching the Tutorials, both the videos and the ones on Unity itself have given me ideas for what to make as an actual project. I look forward to it.

Game Design

I found the reading to be very interesting, also gave me some interesting ideas. And by interesting, I mean horrible and rage inducing.
Not quite a video game, but the idea of mixing Three To Fifteen and a Rubix Cube. I feel as though I would have done quite well in Medieval Times as a torturer.

The idea of inventing terminology as it is needed is something that I find very intriguing but at the same time very humerus. I actually have an example of a term that was created because of a game that has not yet been proven.

A Marioplex is an extremely large number, the number itself being equal to 10^12,431. This is a number that is so large, it surpasses the amount of atoms in the observable universe.

I have to disagree with something written on 'Level 1.3'. Dungeons And Dragons absolutely have final outcomes, as well as resolutions and there is definite winning and losing. It is also one of the most creative games alive, even moreso than Minecraft or Terraria.

Dungeons and Dragons allows you to create your own story, your own character. It is the pinnacle of using your imagination in games.

An Aesthetic Collage of my DnD character

I enjoyed reading Pulling The Plug  as it helped with the point I am trying to make. The idea of creating a board game or tabletop game in order to help you create a Video game is a thought I definitely agree with. A prototype could be made in an hour, and any 'bugs' can be fixed almost right away.

Time Strategies

Timing and Organization has always been a struggle of mine,but hopefully I will be able to work ahead, and keep the assignments from catching up to me.

After reading both "The Psychology of Checklists" and "How to Beat Procrastination" I've come to the conclusion that a way to check off when I complete work as well as a possible reward system is the best way for me to use my time wisely.

Introduction To A Future Supervillain

My name is Darragh, also known as Dagda, and my favourite thing to do is write. I've written a story that was published in the Irish Times as part of a FightingWords workshop back in 2014. My favourite module last year was definitely Storytelling with Ian, as he was a fun lecturer and I enjoyed the idea of storytelling very much.

My biggest accomplishment last semester was creating a working flamethrower glove, it's effects can be seen here. I consider this my biggest accomplishment because of the fact that it was something I started at the beginning of the year, and the first version of it had many issues and was quite dangerous to use.

However, the latest version is able to be used completely one-handed, and I have plans to upgrade it even more and bring it into my group project. Despite the fact I am an adult, there will be adult supervision while making this version.

Over the summer break I went to Orlando, Florida. There was, a lot, of lightning. Orlando is actually the lightning capital of the America, the reason there's so much lightning is because it is on the equator, which is also why NASA decided to the base the JFK space center there.

I also went on several of the rides at Universal, and got horribly sunburnt at Volcano Bay. The biggest and fastest ride Universal has is called 'The Hulk'. And it's name suits it, as it will give you the same amount of fear and adrenaline rushing through your body as if you had to face the Hero it was named after.

There is also one called the 'Rip-Riding-Rocket', which has you slowly climb up a track at a 90 degree angle. And the moment I was facing towards the sky I felt immediate and immense regret. Of course there is an upside to it.

That particular ride allows you to choose what sort of music you want to listen to while riding. I myself chose "Born To Be Wild" by SteppenWolf. An song that was chosen because it somehow managed to match the rhythm to the turns and climax of the ride.

Technology

I've used Padlet before with different lecturers and in the Dell Debate I participated in last year. I've used Google Docs many times before, both for college use and for recreational use among friends.

A Technological Marvel,
At The Time
Link

I am certain that I need no increase in skill in my typing, as I have been practicing that particular skill for many years, and can type effectively with my eyes closed. I mean that fact literally.

Assignments

The most intriguing assignments that I have an interest in are definitely the Unity3D assignments, as I cannot wait to learn how to use the program and use it to develop my game.

The Unity3D Logo

Workshop 1

The first workshop that was shown to us was a puzzle about an intersection and four traffic lights.

The aim of this puzzle was to figure out how the two cars were going to both turn right without crashing into each other. We were supposed to use a sequence flowchart in order to help us find out exactly how this would work, by using the different times the lights would be active.

My partner for this assignment created a very complex looking Flowchart which was based on the North and South traffic lights being active at the same time. She put great consideration and time into this puzzle and tried to figure out a logical way for the cars to pass at the same time.

I, unfortunately, did not do this as I thought that the puzzle itself was a trick question at the time, and that one of the cars would simply wait for the other to pass before taking their own turn to prevent any nasty accidents.

Pedestrians were brought up as a possible wild card that could affect which traffic lights turned green and which turned red and when. However at a four-way junction like this, an example of which is actually very close to our college, when the pedestrian lights go green, they go green for every crosswalk, bringing us back to square one.

Of course, at this same real life junction the lights go green in the following order: North, West, South, and East. I know this because walking home after this lecture I actually stopped and waited at the junction to see what the result would be.

Of course this only furthered my thoughts of the puzzle being a trick question with no real answer. Regardless of whether or not there is a proper, logical conclusion, my own belief is that the drivers of the cars, being Irish presumably, would wait for one another to go first, locking themselves in polite stalemate.

Friday's Game

My favourite games are all based around stealth. There is something I find fascinating about being able to move around undetected by those who wish to harm you, while simultaneously being able to do harm while being undetected.

A photo of several shadows-
An image I find suitable to describe Stealth Games
Iphoto - ESezer
Link

My favourite game as an example of this genre is Dishonoured by Bethesda. A game where stealth is the main focus, but not entirely necessary. A plus of this game is that you have the option to take down enemies non-lethally. In fact, you can complete the entire game without ever being seen once, or harming a single person.