Meeting with Dayna

Today I had my first meeting with Dayan Galloway my supervisor of the project. The meeting was very hopeful and full of useful information. It was quite an insight into my project and he introduced me to the concept of the MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics) framework which is a framework created by Robin Hunicke and 2 other researchers. Robin  Hunicke happens to have been one of the founders of Thatgamecompany the creators of 'Flower' (PS3) and 'Journey' (PS3).

The above is that following MDA structure which helped me get a grasp of what my project was about and how I was going to explain the process of my findings and really set things in stone for me.

To simply explain it:

Mechanics: These are the gameplay mechanics and triggers which the user interacts with within the game to function in the gameplay and to get things going. So the setting for the things that are to take place are the mechanics, and these are created by the Designer.

Dynamics: These are the actions that the user takes to interact within the game, the users influence over the game, their input and the things they do to determine the future events of the game.

Aesthetics: These are the results of what happens after the user interacts within the game. If things go successfully, then this is where the designer communicates his purpose with the user and the user experiences a significant amount of satisfaction and joy from the results that take place.

Bellow it is explained as Rules, Systems and "Fun". It is also explained in further detail.

Also explained within the research paper is the various types of game experience the user can experience. Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression and Submission. Some games can  also incorporate more than one of these aspects within the game.

Dayna was also quite happy with the research that I had done so far and was pleased with the direction that I was going in. I also showed him some of the game concept ideas I had which were very experimental and he suggested that I try and prototype them as soon as possible to see if they work out. Overall, the MDA discovery was a great step forward and I feel a lot more confident in my direction now. 

Pitch Presentation No.1

Summary

The other day, I had my presentation to kick off my project. With nothing really clear at the beginning, it was a session full of a lot of questions and a lot of answers. The presentation went well overall and I was quite pleased with how I presented the floating thoughts within my head at the time.

The feedback received was really helpful, and made me realize that the area that I am working on is of much interest to many people and could really help advance peoples interest within game design and within the creation of a highly effective and innovative experience of this form.

Robin took particular interest in my project and said that it could also be a lifelong research project for me to further develop the academic sphere within games. That did get me quite inspired and pumped up to put as much effort into the project and see how it expands, possibly turning into something useful for yourself and others.

Feedback

Appraisal:

• The presentation was intellectually invigorating.
• There is a clearly defined aim and set of objectives early on.
• Shown a in depth research and game exploration.

Constructive Criticism:

• Although it is a coding project, the art is also very important and it's what you are talented at.
• Be careful not to be trapped by defining your project so early on.
• More evidence of work would be good in order to give me feedback.

Mechanic Development: Corona SDK 2

Continuing to use Corona SDK, I came across an interesting  tutorial which explains the very fundamentals of how to get a running game to work, this helped me a lot in learning what aspects comprise of the very simple concept of an endless runner game, which are actually a lot more complex in application and theory.

Endless Runner Tutorial

The whole process takes roughly 10 hours or so from starting from scratch to actually publishing your app onto the App Store. I don't have the official Corona SDK application so I only created the final game using the tutorial although found it quite difficult at times. One small mistake or misspelling in the code and everything stops running as usual.

Step 1 helps you to get used to Corona and it's functions which you will use through out the tutorial.

Step 2 takes you through the initial procedure of creating a background that moves slowly along with a moving platform with very basic coding.

Step 3 gets you used to using the sprites and setting up the correct position.

Step 4 takes you through how to get the sprite to interact with the game and allows you to be able to fall into the gaps in the floor.

Step 5 is all about adding events into the game which includes changing the running tempo of the game as well as making the platform change height as if goes up and down to increase the difficulty.

Step 6 includes the addition of spiky obstacles and enemies within the game that have a collision barrier which kill your character. These are randomly generated throughout.

Step 7 involves the addition of a Gamer Over menu and added score tracking of your progress throughout the game.

Step 8 brings in a Boss Battle which takes place every 30 seconds or so to again increase the difficulty and allow you to have a feel of what can be done to a game to make it more appealing. 

Step 9 is all about adding the starting game menu of the game, otherwise the game is not so coherent and the user will not get a starting sense of the game. 

Step 10 runs you through the App Store publishing process and all the legal and technical aspects you need to get through before you submit your app. 

Upon following all of these different processes I learn a great deal more about what it really takes to program a game from scratch and learning a new programming language with little programming experience. Creating games is definitely not child play and involves a lot of innovation and creativity which a lot of people lack the time or patience for. I believe that this is the reason why games are such a niche experience and that it really takes effort and perseverance to achieve. Understanding this I really want to set myself up correctly for my final project so that I am realistic about what can actually be achieved. 

Aesthetic Development: Life Drawing No.1

In order to understand the wholesome sense of aesthetics and how they can be perceived by an audience, it is a good to have a general grounding of skills in the presentation of aesthetics. For the past few weeks I have been practicing and developing my drawing skills in order to better understand how I can manipulate the aesthetics within design.

Update No.1

It has now been quite a few weeks in now and I have realised a few things about where this project is going. At first I delved into a lot of research about topics related to my own themes and I have come to realise that I fell into the trap of over researching everything and was getting slightly distracted with everything that was happening, now I that I realise that, I really need to push away from delving into pages and pages of information and trying to be 100% sure. I think in terms of effectiveness of research, it's a lot more important to actually practice things in order to truly understand something.

Most of the weeks that have gone by have been spent programming on Corona SDK, and now I realise that those weeks were well spent, but I really need to start prototyping and getting products out there rather then trying to reach a high level of programming from scratch. I has become quite a hard decision, but I feel that letting go of Corona is the best choice and to stick to using flash more and more, and trying to focus on creating a less polished and practical side of development.

At the start of this project, I had grand dreams of fitting as much as possible into this honours project and doing what no man had ever done before and I really dreamed big, now that the time is speeding by so fast, I realise that a lot of students ambitiously choose to do the same as I have and then soon realise that there is no time to develop in such a way and decide to cut back. So looking back at everything, I will refine my project and polish it as much as possible rather then rely on lofty dreams to carry me away on this endeavor.