We were planning to start making games in Game Maker last week. However that was before Game Maker glitched out. On some machines it worked fine for certain accounts. On others it failed to even open. So after a great deal of consideration our game design teacher decided it would be best to simply just start working with unity a year earlier than expected. So far we haven't done much with the program but my first impression is that attention to detail will be the hardest part of using it. This is not only because we will be diving into the c# coding language but also because organization seems to be an important thing to have in order to not lose things in your game. Even more so than in Photoshop making sure you name things things will be important as a LOT of different files and codes will be put into one scene. If you aren't careful it would be extremely easy to lose things amidst all of the chaos of your scene hierarchy. The easiest thing will probably be placing things into our game scene as it seems to be a lot like Photoshop and 3ds Max in how you move sprites around the scene. I'm most excited to learn a coding language in Unity and am really looking forward to making my first game no matter how small, glitchy, and boring it might be.
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I don't want to rant about state courses. However, the NC "scientific visualization" and "game design" courses leave a lot to be desired. Lets start with the small stuff. This is stuff that is so easily done it should have just been done in the first place. These include things like checking the tests and quizzes they give us to prepare for the final test for typos and vague questions. It's a quick fix that could be solved with a good editor which apparently they lack seeing as every test has at least one question that is made made hard to solve due to poor use of grammar or left out words. Vague questions also come up a lot and are made even more aggravating when they are paired with similar answer choices. A prime example of mistakes that could be solved with and editor is this question from a couple years ago: Why do we a yellow banana? I'm sorry if it sounds tough but really how did that one slip by? This small mistakes are further compounded by the fact that the information on the test is usually outdated. The quizzes are notorious for asking questions abut programs more than 5 yrs. out of date. How are we supposed to know what a certain button does if we don't have that button on our current version of the program. All of this could also be fixed if they just asked questions on the material in the power points they give us however even taking a quiz while looking at the state power point gave a worse grade than before when I was just guessing because the test questions that were vague and hard where never even addressed in the power point. These mistakes are easily fixed. So why can't they get fixed?
Two weeks ago we began our 3d modeling unit using 3ds Max. Over the course of the unit we went deeper into the program solidifying old skills as well as learning a few new ones. Rigging was the first skill we started learning in this unit. At first it was hard to do because it was hard to get used to the way bones needed to be created in order for them to fit into a model. However, after a coupe days of practice it got easier and by the end I felt I had a solid grasp on the skill. We then learned how to skin and animate with bones. This skill was easy to pickup and I was able to pretty quickly animate my skeleton. Then we learned about MassFX and particle systems. These were also easy to pickup though how MassFX actually works still doesn't make much sense. After that we learned the worst subject in the unit: cloth and hair. Hair is easy. Cloth just doesn't work. Finally we moved on to mental rays which was a big relief after trying for days to get cloth to work. All in all this unit was hard but I think I learned many skills and have vastly improved my modeling skills for the future.
Today per the request of Mr. B, my teacher, to do some things for my portfolio outside school I downloaded the free version of Sculptris onto my computer. It was a quick and painless download only taking about 5 min and worked as soon as it was done. As I opened the program I was confronted with a perfect ball and an interface to the upper left. Despite some mistakes, It was easy to get a quick grasp on the program though I doubt I'm even close to knowing everything you can do with it. The program has a couple of features that make it stand out in my mind. The first is the simple design. Sculptris' interface is simple showing exactly what each button does without having to read through long tutorials. Everything reacts much the way you expect it to giving the program a realistic feel. The second feature is the symmetry line which really helps people like me who aren't all that artistic when it comes to doing the same thing twice on something like a head. However there are some limitations to the program. One is the fact that I can't figure out how to start with anything other than a sphere. I also haven't been able to find a render option in the interface so I can easily port it to the Internet. All in all the program has been good and I'm looking forward to using it more in the future as I get better.
So far this year in Game Design we have done everything from traditional drawing to 3d modeling. I've learned many things this year such as how to be a better drawer and how to create an effective GDD. So far the most important skill I have learned though is patience. This not only comes into play when dealing with the sometimes mysterious ways of 3ds Max or my lack of drawing skills as I try to learn pencil and paper drawing through online tutorials, but also plays a big role in the biggest pitfall of the game design curriculum; the state made tests and quizzes. Not only do they ask vague questions, sometimes with typos and terrible grammar, but also constantly ask specifics on many years outdated versions of the programs we use. All of this is tied up with the fact that the power points the state gives us to learn all this material many times doesn't contain the information we actually need to answer their problems. Other than these though the curriculum so far this year has been fun and educational and I'm looking forward to what is yet to come as we go into design 2d video games.
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AuthorSamuel Henry is a Senior at DSA in NC. He has 3 years of prior experience in the game design pathway and he's looking forward to becoming a great game designer. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools Categories
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