In movies, coding is all about spamming out lines of code one after another. In reality, I found the issue with coding was condensing what you are trying to into as few lines of code as possible. Even among what is seemingly perfect code, there will always be an error caused by a misplaced capital letter or missing comma. What made this project specifically difficult was that there was a creativity element. Although it took me some to choose, I eventually figured out what I wanted to do with my code. I set it so that every time a ball entered the box, a new ball would spawn. The intended effect of this is to create a loop until the box can fill no more balls. Compared to other coding activities, I had relatively little trouble with errors for this project. The project overall took me about an hour, but my inferior monkey brain was stuck on trying to remember how to export the WebGL build for over 2 hours. A simple task that I have already done several times pushed my weary mind to the brink. In conclusion, I rather enjoyed learning to code as a whole for this year, and it's a bit of a shame that we didn't get further with it by starting earlier.
https://play.unity.com/mg/other/counting-prototype-159
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As someone who has previously worked with code, this new unit in class has been easier for me than most. About one year ago, my big sister taught me the basics of Python. The underlying logic and general structure carries over while I am learning C#. What doesn't carry over are the specific grammar rules and naming conventions that frustrate me to no end. Nothing is more infuriating than spending 5 minutes writing a section of code and 20 minutes looking for the typo that destroys the entire process. Coding as a task isn't a measure of creative ingenuity or innate skill. Coding is a task that rewards patience and careful, methodical work. This puts me and my general disposition at odds with coding. Nevertheless, in order to succeed in creating games, coding is essential. This is a hurdle that me and everyone else in the class must jump, I am confident we can make it.
Over the past couple days in class, me and my fellow class compatriots worked through the fundamental skills in C#. During the LinkedIn course that I worked through, I encountered many new coding concepts. these ranged from something as simple as displaying text on the UI to coding as advanced as state change AI. I picked up the coding fast due to my prior experience in Python. One thing that I did have trouble with was learning the new grammatical structure and format of C#. Compared to Python, C# is more technical and less intuitive. I look forward to implementing the simple State Machine AI for enemies in my upcoming game.
Procrastination is something I have struggled with all my life, but on his project I elevated that to a whole new level. I deliberately avoided doing any work in class for weeks, and now I was forced to pay the repercussions; creating the complete game in one sitting. The original strategy was not to make the entire game in this manner, but a faulty download onto Google Drive left me with no choice, wiping away days of blood sweat and assets. I persisted forward, working nonstop for over 7 hours at a time. All my time in class was not complete wasted, because I still made sure to learn the unity platform vicariously through solving my friend's issues. My personal favorite part of the process between the terrain modeling, asset use and enemy creation was the sound design. I enjoyed programming in sound cues like the big chungus song death sound, and most of all, I enjoyed my short-lived role as the voice of Winston. My least favorite part of the game process was uploading the game onto a webgl browser. Picture this, you feel accomplished after finishing your multi hour game, you wipe sweat off your brow and get ready to call it a job well done, after all the only thing left is the submission.... Right?almost 2 hours and 4 online tutorials later, I finally succeeded. At one point, I thought the excruciating load times would force my game into being late. Doing this project today was legitimately one of the most stressful experiences in my life. So what did I learn from this stressful experience, you may ask? Firstly, I gained a greater grasp on the different tool that unity has at your disposal and gained an overall more solid foundation for future game design. Secondly, I learned the real moral of the story, do not procrastinate a game....EVER.
https://play.unity.com/mg/other/poop-0fpx Edit: in hindsight, maybe naming my game poop wasn't the smartest idea Edit:Edit: no idea why the trees got fucked up when the game got uploaded. Due to my GDD covering the game, this will many be a blog post reflecting on the potential challenges of creating this ambitious game that I have laid out. I am not too worried about the map design, because although it might be time-consuming, it remains static and is very easy to plan out beforehand. One issue that I definitely foresee will be the implementation of the various enemy types into the game. This could be an issue due to my nonexistent knowledge of coding and my most likely inadequate knowledge of modeling and animation required to bring these characters to life. This will definitely be a hurdle. Other coding difficulties could be found when trying to make the UI or death conditions, although these will most likely have more straightforward tutorials online and should be easier to figure out. One thing I am excited for (if I have time) is the potential recording of an original score. I will most likely do this on a small scale, but it is still feasible with my new electric cello arriving in a couple of weeks and my rudimentary knowledge of composing. Despite these potential issue, I am excited to embark on this ambitious project, and I am sure that my classmates and I will emerge out of this project with completely refined Game Design Skills.
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AuthorI am an eleventh grader who goes to DSA. My main interests are design and music. Archives
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