Challege Activity

Do not feel you have to share all your answers with the group, although you can if you like. Instead please share a reflection on the experience, and your overall assessment of your current skills, along with an action plan of how you intend to grow your skills. Also please share any good resources you find in your research (Falmouth University 2021).

Technical Skills Audit Template

1. I can take mouse, keyboard, touch screen or gamepad inputs and use them to control objects in a game engine of my choice.

NOT YET

Resource link:

PlayMaker 101 The Complete Course

2. I can set up physics components (such as colliders and rigid bodies) in my game engine and trigger an event to happen when two game objects collide.

NOT YET

Resource link:

PlayMaker 101 The Complete Course

3. I can use code to spawn new objects while the game is running (eg create bullets).

NOT YET

Resource link:

https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W61

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OahaE7evfE

4. I can set up an animation in my chosen game engine and control it with code and / or with a state machine.

CONFIDENT 

Resource link:

5. I can use level design tools to block-out a level in my chosen game engine.

NOT YET But Nearly

Resource link:

  • Tile Map
  • TOTTEN, Christopher W. 2014. An Architectural Approach to Level Design. Boca Raton: Crc, Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Game Makers Toolkit How Level Design can tell a story – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwlnCn2EB9o

6. I can use my game engine’s pathfinding system (if it has one) to create enemies and NPCs that chase or follow the player.

NOT YET

Resource link:

7. I can code basic game logic (eg comparing two numbers) to create win and lose conditions.

NOT YET

Resource link:

PlayMaker and Fungus tutorials are available on YouTube and are pretty good! I’m considering an idle clicker in fungus or Persona 5 (very much scaled down life game).

8. I can configure particle systems to create different visual effects (eg fire, snow).

NOT YET

Resource link:

PlayMaker covers particle systems in the wiki.

9. I can use appropriate software to create appealing character sprites or models.

CONFIDENT

Resource link:

  • Inclusive Character Design
  • SOLARSKI, Chris and Tristan DONOVAN. 2012. Drawing Basics and Video Game Art : Classic to Cutting-Edge Art Techniques for Winning Video Game Design. New York, Ny: Watson-Gruptil.

10. I can use appropriate software to create atmospheric environment sprites or models.

CONFIDENT

Resource link:

11. I can create character animations, such as walking and jumping, and bring them into my game engine.

CONFIDENT

Resource link:

12. I can use appropriate software to design clear user-interfaces.

CONFIDENT 

Resource link:

Playmaker has this in-built

13. I can find / record / edit, sound effects and music.

CONFIDENT 

Resource link:

My brother-in-law is a PhD student and musician, who has expertise in music composition. I plan to exploit this connection and ask for advice on how a beginner or someone with no musical talent can make an original, very minimal background music and effects.

I will also use free sound effects from websites like PremiumBeat

Added Skills

Time management and organisation

Notion – for organisation, reading/resource lists and moodboards!

Inspiration

What If exercises for fiction writers – Self explanatory

Reverse engineering or investingating the way games you love are made. A short video on diologue in Hades:

Self-Directed Research

Fungus vs Playmaker

Reflection on The Technical Skills Audit

The Technical Skills Audit demonstrates my lack of knowledge and skills in programming. During Development Practice I focused on 2D art and animation as well as reflective practice. I might wet my toes into the programming waters a little deeper during Game Development, to gain a better understanding of games programming but I appreciate that it is unrealistic to aim to learn C++ and start building my own engine in 12 weeks. I am not confident in many areas of programming. By utilising tools like Playmaker I can create no-code games but I can also intergrate C# if at any point I would like to experiement with complex actions where the software has limitations.

I am confident that I can integrate animation, art, level design and sound design into a game but the quality of that output is a different question. I know how to animate a walk and jump cycle and integrate the runtimes, I am hoping I can do it well. Over the next twelve weeks, I would like to build on my animations skills, gaining a good working knowledge of Spine and creating polished animations. I would also like to practice my art and start to develop high-quality 2D illustrations. 

I would also like to develop levels and further my game design skills, so I need to create something that is more than interactive fiction – although I plan to have a strong story-telling element to my game. I am undecided at this stage on the direction I am going to take my game in terms of the genre and finer details. I know that I will create a 2D game (possibly with some small 3D elements), that uses plugins to aid my development practice and focusing on visual scripting.

References

FALMOUTH UNIVERSITY. 2021. “Week 1: Challenge Activity – Skills Audit.” flex.falmouth.ac.uk [online]. Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/921/discussion_topics/18984?module_item_id=46725 [accessed 26 Jan 2021].

‘How Level Design Can Tell a Story – YouTube’. 2021. [online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwlnCn2EB9o [accessed 29 Jan 2021].

‘Playmaker 101 The Complete Course’. 2021. Jonathan O’Duffy [online]. Available at: http://jonathan-oduffy.thinkific.com/courses/playmaker-101-the-complete-course [accessed 29 Jan 2021].

‘Playmaker Manual’. 2021. [online]. Available at: https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W1 [accessed 29 Jan 2021].

‘Spine: 2D Skeletal Animation for Games’. 2021. [online]. Available at: http://esotericsoftware.com/ [accessed 29 Jan 2021].

Published by Sarah