Multimedia Development

The genre of this game is a 3D platformer, I'm making a game in this genre because a lot of games I played growing up were in this style and I have very good memories of these, I took inspiration from games like Temple Run and Subway Surfers. The game will be based in college and the aim is to make it to the end of the level while avoiding enemies and dodging obstacles. You have a HP bar that slowly decreases as you run through the level, however you can gain some HP back by picking up collectables such as coffee cups and energy drinks along the way. The HP bar can also be decreased by enemies you meet, these can be lecturers, students or the cafeteria staff chasing you down for your covid cert.  The level design will be based in a typical college consisting of corridors, courtyards and cafeteria areas. The camera angle will follow the player from behind as you navigate the world, you cannot stop the character from moving once the game starts but you can hop from side to side as we

 The MDA framework is an approach to understanding games by bridging the gap between game design, game development and technical game research. The intention of this methodology is to make the study and design of different games a clearer and stronger process. It was introduced and taught at the game design and tuning workshop at the Game Developers Conference between 2001-04. You should be working towards a final framework from the start of development, this is because seemingly small decisions you make early on can make a big difference to your end product. In MDA the mechanics are the components of the game decided and designed by the developer, these could be as simple as running and jumping or as detailed as a gun swaying as you aim down your sights. The dynamics are the different behaviors that emerge from the combinations of your game mechanics, an example of this could be drawn from monopoly, two mechanics in monopoly are moving spaces and buying properties, this leads to the g

 So last week I brainstormed 4 different game ideas for my multimedia project this semester, this week I'm going to pick one of the ideas and focus on this. The game I'm planning on sticking with this semester is the 3D platformer, they are popular and fun games so I'm excited to make my own. Temple Run So my goal for this week is to look at game mechanics and decide which mechanics I'll need in my game. Since my game is a platformer I am going to need to have running mechanics, that goes without saying, also the player will have to jump over obstacles and enemies so I will need jumping mechanics. I remember in temple run you had to slide under trees, I think this would be fun to add to the game so I would have sliding mechanics. There are going to be enemies on the course that the player can jump over but there will be bigger enemies too so for these the character will be equipped with some sort of long range weapon, not specifically a gun but maybe a gun. Also there w

 I read an article this week called "How to give bad feedback without being a jerk" by Adam Grant. He opens by discussing the sandwich method of feedback, this method involves opening and closing with a positive comment and giving the bulk of bad feedback in the middle. Grant found that there were a lot of problems with this method, firstly you can come off ingenuine with your positive comments if they're followed by negatives, another problem was that people tend to only remember or fully take in the beginning and ending of a conversation so this meant that the feedback wasn't being received to its full extent. Grant followed this with four steps to successfully give constructive criticism. If you explain why you're giving the feedback and tell them you have high expectations that you believe they can reach, they now feel like you are supporting them rather than attacking their faults. Another step is to take yourself off a pedestal, if you express that you ae st

 I learned that the first thing you should do when making a new game is to start prototyping as fast as possible, you can do this physically or digitally. A fast way of prototyping is to use paper cutouts to replicate your game environment, this way you can chop and change all the different elements of the game to see what works and what doesn't. Its also likely that you will make some discoveries about your game that you wouldn't have made in the concept phase of your game.  Critical analysis isn't for finding faults in your game, its more supposed to be a thorough, unbiased study of your game. There are a number of questions to ask yourself when carrying out a critical analysis. Firstly, what challenges does the player face and what can they do to overcome these challenges? How do players effect each other? Is the game fair according to the players? Is it replayable? and what is the core audience of the game? Once you have asked all these questions and figured out the cor

I think feedback is very important, whether its in your studies or in work it can help you to recognize mistakes and improve in all aspects. I read two articles this week relating to feedback and how you can use it, the first was   'A fixed mindset could be holding you back — here's how to change it' by Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Ann Arnold. This article related to my readings last week on fixed and growth  mindsets, I found it interesting how they discussed that praising your child for everything they do can create a brittle and fragile person although that is what parents were told to do for years, it leads to a fixed mindset. They also discussed how people with fixed mindsets can struggle at work because of the new technological  changes we see today. Naturally, people with fixed mindsets wouldn't adapt well to change because they shy away from challenges so I can see how it could affect you at the workplace.  Another article I read was 'Why rejection hurts so much - a

 This semester I'll be creating my own game, this is very exciting for me after years of gaming I'll now be able to make my own. It'll be interesting to see how it works out but anyway these are my initial ideas for what type of game I want to make. The first game I would be interested in creating would be a platform game. My previous knowledge of games like this would be all based off Super Mario Bros . I'm interested in making this because I spent days playing these on my gameboy when I was younger and I still play from time to time on my Nintendo Switch. My game would start off in a cell and your protagonist has been captured by a group of Trolls and they are holding him on an island. Your goal as the player is to escape the island by reaching the port and sailing back to the mainland. You'll do this by completing different levels of the island, all of which will get progressively more difficult, as well as facing enemies of all sizes. I'd like to have a boss

What is a game? The definition is blurry, a popular one being 'a play activity with rules that involves conflict'. In a game there is always an objective you are trying to achieve but what really makes it a game are the rules standing between the player and the objective. For example, in X's and O's the objective of the player is to draw either 3 X's or 3 O's in either a straight or diagonal line across a 9 square grid. Without the rules a player could just draw all 3 on their first attempt and win the game in seconds and that would not be a game, the rules state that you can only draw one X or O on each attempt so that is what turns this activity into a game. It is also a blurry area over whether role playing games like dungeons and dragons are actually considered games, this is because of their style being different to traditional games, they are more about character building and storytelling and lack any real end point so it is hard to define it as a game whe

 This week I watched a TED talk from Adam Grant about original thinkers, he talks all about students he has had in life that he recognized as 'Originals'. He says these originals not only have ideas but they act on these ideas and drive change in the world. He talks about his college life and how he rushed in and done everything early, he even submitted his final thesis four months early. Years later he had a student that told him they have their most creative ideas when they are procrastinating, this led him to look into and study the positives of procrastination. He found that the most creative people are moderate procrastinators, they operate in a sweet spot between early workers and procrastinators. If you learn of a task you have to complete and then you start procrastinating, the task will incubate in your mind and you have time to think outside the box before finishing the task. Originals will start their tasks fast but finish them slow, if you start an essay or assignme

 Time management is important for students, planning out your schedule and allocating time for each module can really help in getting work done and meeting deadlines. My time management has been poor in the past so I am looking to improve on this.  I read the article "The myth of too busy" by Tim Grahl, he believes we should stop saying we are too busy and admit that we just haven't prioritized our time well. He also says if you are feeling like you are too busy then you should think about ways you can organize and control that rather than just accepting that you are too busy. I would agree with Grahl on this, if you can change your mindset and think about your time in this way you can then start to prioritize your time well and cut out useless and time wasting activities. I'm going to take some of what he said into account and start evaluating what activities are actually worth the time and will help me get closer to my goals. I am going to create my own study plan f

 There are a number of technology tools that will be used in this module. I had a blog for previous modules in first year, we used blogger in Photography to show and discuss our use of different techniques in taking pictures. I've been enjoying using Blogger for this module so far, it's a good way to stay connected as a class and see the opinions of your peers. I've tried to organize my bookmarks, I have Moodle, Outlook, Blogger, the college website and the Multimedia Development class website. It makes logging on so much quicker having all of your essential websites ready at the click of a button. The class website is really helpful, you can see everything you need for the module all in one place and it's really easy to navigate. I haven't had anything like this before in any of my modules, so far I have been impressed and look forward to using it for the rest of the semester.  It will be beneficial to use web-based programs like canvas to create my own graphics, t

All of the coursework for this module are interesting to me, I'm mostly intrigued by the Unity3D assignment and learning how to make game as well as making my own. This module is unlike an others that I've previously done because of how to coursework is laid out, the class website is very good and I like that you can find everything you need for the module in one place. I like the fact that there is opportunity for extra credits with the additional weekly tasks, they can help you get ahead in class or catch up if you've missed any submissions. I'll be looking at the growth mindset tasks weekly because I want to learn more about it.

 I actually had never heard of Carol Dweck or her research on growth mindset before she was introduced in this module, I have found it really interesting. Throughout my school life I think I've been on the border of growth and fixed mindsets, I plan to implement some of her work into my day to day life in hope to bring myself fully into a growth mindset.  According to Carol a growth mindset is attributed by things like a hunger to learn, embracing challenges as well as persistence in setbacks. People with a growth mindset believe in improvement and see hard work as the key to success and intelligence, they engage in their problems and see their failures as opportunities to learn and improve. On the other hand, there is a fixed mindset in which people seem to think you are either good at something or you are not and there's no way of changing that. People with this mindset seem to shy away from challenges out of fear of failure or humiliation as well as ignoring or taking offenc

Me Hi, my name is Mark. I am a 20 year old from Dublin and I'm currently studying Creative Digital Media in TUD Blanchardstown. I enjoy spending my spare time with my family or meeting my friends. I love watching movies and shows, my favorite series is either Breaking Bad or The Office I can't decide. My playlist is mainly Mac Miller, Travis Scott, Kanye and Tyler, The Creator. I'm a big Manchester United fan so I watch a lot of football well as gaa and basketball. I have a 13 year old sausage dog called Poppy, she's technically my sisters dog but she prefers me. She likes sitting on the couch and dislikes going on walks. I went on a trip to Barcelona with some friends at the start of September, obviously we haven't been able to travel much over the last year so I was really happy to get away for a few days. My wallet and passport were stolen on the second day... other than that it was a lovely city, beautiful weather, great food and an overall good time! Definitely