Sep 2024
Blog 1 General Thoughts
Goals/fears/aspirations/concerns for this class
Goal/Aspirations:
Fully explore Unity and create a scene that is able to illustrate my artistic prospect.
Fears/Concerns:
Technical Problems- In terms of technology, I'm not a fast learner, I'm a bit concerned that I might not be able to follow along the in-class tutorials/demos and lost track of Unity. Also, I'm worried if I'm not good at using Unity enough, it can somehow become a barrier to express or to visualize the scene that I want to create.
What do you think will be the most challenging?
Making sure that I'm on track with the class. Self-discipline- Making sure that I'm committed plenty of time outside of the class to develop my project.
What are your suggestions for making a 20+ person project-based class a success?
*Separating work efficiently, every person is assigned with decent amount of work that they are good at or willing to challenge themselves to complete.
*Ensuring everyone is having common parts in terms of our aspirations.
Sep 2024
Blog 2 Intro to Unity
Reflection:
I sometimes felt a little overwhelmed and lost when using Unity and found it quite challenging to follow along with the class demos, but watching the class recording did help me catching up and understanding Unity better!
I think with the simple creation and changes that can be made, we can make fun games with these very simple steps! Now I’m super excited to learn more, like how to change the scale of objects and pushing them back(like it is in sketchup?), for example, to make even more interesting games more effectively. Also, I think I’m not quite sure how to find the best player’s view at this point, but I’m aiming to figure it out after this week!
About My First Game:
My process of creating this game starts from creating a plane. For this game, I want the player(the large pink ball) to travel through the spaces I created and find its own 3 babies(little pink balls). Then I started to build obstacles which formed the path within the spaces that are enclosed by the walls I made from cubes. By adding jumping program, the player can not only move within the space, but also jump some lower obstacles to find the little balls.
Sep 2024
Blog 3 Game and Storytelling
Been watching class recordings back and forth, and I found it extremely helpful especially sometimes I might forget several steps that I learned in previous weeks.
Youtube tutorials definitely helps! Also, if anyone has access to bilibili, which is a Chinese video platform, I highly recommend checking videos on it!
About My Game WHERES MOM and my process
I wanted to create a game that has straightforward gaming mechanics but compelling and warm narrative. So beginning Week 3 I started to think that I’m going to create work that’s inspired by a childhood story that I always heard when I was a kid. The story is called Tadpoles Looking for Their Mom. In WHERES MOM players take on the role of a little fish embarking on a heartfelt journey to reunite with its mother.
The mechanics is simple. Along the way, the players encounter unique characters, interact with them, audios and videos and appearance of some characters will be triggered as they meet. With simple mechanics and engaging storytelling experience, I want to bring my favorite childhood story alive to young kids today.
The game was done in 4 stages:
Stage 1 -Week 3
Find appropriate assets. Build the terrain based on the framework of the story.
Stage 2 -Week 3
Placing characters and refurbish the environment of the game. Working on interactions among characters.(eg. Collision triggers disappearance or appearance)
Stage 3 -Week 4
Finalize the story and re-work on interactions.
Stage 4 -Week 4
Add video and sound interactions and run testing. Including recording audio, generating audio and video with AI(lumalabs and suno).
Audience? How to play?
As the story of the game is inspired by childhood tales, so it will be targeted toward young kids(pre-K). By narrating and letting young kids to experience the story of how my main character keep finding its mom no matter how challenging it is, I want to encourage young kids to be resilient and persistent on their way of finding or figuring things. So I intend to make this game accessible, meaning there’s no special space requirements, and can be played on any PC at home.
Oct 2024
Blog 4 Enhancing Game Environment
Few Features Added/Adjusted This Week:
-Skybox
Skybox asset is added, lighting is adjusted.
-Point light
Red point light is added(as a child) in front of the player, with hard shadow.
-Local Audio
Winning music is now added through local audio, when the player reaches certain area, the audio will start to play
-Teleport
Teleport feature is added through script: Send Anywhere, where each character at the wrong destination is the trigger, and the player(fish) being the object that is teleported, and the original starting place being the “where” place, every time when the player reach the wrong character, it will be automatically sent back to the starting point.
Oct 2024
Blog 5 Placing Real-life Objects
This week we learned how to use Polycam to scan real-life object into a model that can be placed in Unity. We were assigned to create a scene that is meaningful to us by adding scanned objects into assets.
I decided to create a scene of my bedroom, with things that my cats love.
After selecting an apartment asset from asset store, I scanned my cats’ favorite scratcher and the snack toy with Polycam. In order to incorporate them better into the set scene, I scanned them on the wooden floor that has a similar pattern with the floor in the Unity asset I selected.
Nov 2024
Blog 6 Real Actions Reflected in Games
In this week’s class, we explored how physical force can interact the game by flipping a switch.
In theory, any binary physical factors can trigger the switch to flip and reflected in Unity. But I have a question: What if it is not binary? Or if the binary factor cannot be detected directly? In thinking of my final project, I am considering adding more educational elements into it, using the game to teach pre-K kids to learn certain vocab of animals, for example—an object that blocks the fish’s way can only go away after the player accurately pronouncing the word. How can the correct voice be detected and thus trigger the switch to flip?
Nov 2024
Dec 2024
To explore how things in the real world can change what happens in a game, we also played around with Lens Studio. By editing facemasks and behaviors that can trigger a change, our facial expression/gesture can cause the image to change.
Blog 7 VR and Final Project Planning
Virtual Reality
In class 9, we explored how to incorporate Visual Reality with Unity. We were demonstrated how we can visualize(place) ourselves inside of the game environment we created with Meta Quest headset. Although many of us using Mac OS had a hard time in connecting Unity with Meta Quest, we were able to use Winslow’s headset and experience it. Within VR, we could move around with buttons, look in all directions and experience the layout of the game environment as if we were physically in the space. We were also able to make interactions (e.g. pick up the sofa).
As an arts administrator and curator, this session opened up exciting possibilities for virtual exhibitions. I'm now imagining how VR could help archive exhibitions where the layout and spatial design are critical to the curatorial vision. For an exhibition nearing its end, scanning the space and re-creating it in Unity would allow people to walk through and view the artwork up close with VR headsets, preserving the experience far beyond the exhibition's physical run. This immersive VR approach could offer a richer archival option compared to traditional documentation, capturing the essence of the exhibition’s layout, scale, and interactive flow.
Final Project Planning
Over these weeks, I want to add more educational aspects in my game Where’s Mom. On top of teaching pre-K kids about being resilience, I want to add something thats more tangible, and so the parents will be more interested and attracted. In the game, I want to teach the kids some simple vocab of animals and plants in such intriguing way, so that they are learning new words while playing.
In order to achieve this, more characters need to be added, correspondent flashcards also need to be added. I have a to-do list and an updated timeline reflecting existing issues and new tasks that need to be tackled.
Nov 2024
Blog 8 Pitching the Project
Here are a few updates I made in the pitch.
Mood board:
In creating WHERES MOM, I began by researching educational games that effectively engage young learners. I focused on games that balance fun with meaningful learning outcomes, ensuring lessons are naturally reinforced through gameplay.
For the visual design, I chose a low-poly art style, known for its clean, geometric look that is both approachable and visually appealing for 1st and 2nd graders. This aesthetic keeps the environment simple and engaging without overwhelming players, making it ideal for young learners.
Mechanics:
In the demo of WHERES MOM, players explore a pond, encountering characters who introduce new English vocabulary for pond animals. As they navigate challenges, players practice resilience and problem-solving, persistently continuing their search.
The game concludes with a successful reunion with their mom, reinforcing themes of safety and determination in an engaging, interactive way.
Storyboard and Characters:
Storyboard is enriched by adding characters(vocabs), and to place the them in logistic, I also made a map to guide myself when building the terrain in Unity.
Developments
Storyboard is enriched by adding characters(vocabs), and to place the them in logistic, I also made a map to guide myself when building the terrain in Unity.
Used a new script to move the player more smoothly.
New script was written for the arrow in front of the player, no matter what direction the player goes, the arrow will always point to the next character to lead the way.
The terrain has been expanded to fit more characters.
The question will pop up (be triggered) once the player touch the characters, different responses(right/wrong button) will be appear depending on the player’s answer.
New voiceover audios were made with elevenlabs, giving the characters a sense of personality.
Improvement
As for future development, here are the things that I want to enhance:
Improve the UI and graphic design to make the game visual more attractive to kids.
Adding different scenes to enrich the story
If possible, I want to make the game scene and characters animated to make the gave even more interesting to kids.
Develop other ways of testing, other than just multiple choice questions.
