Reflective Post

Throughout the project, I came across different obstacles that I had to overcome, but I’ve also learnt a lot of things in terms of making a 2D platform game. The main thing I struggled with in this project was adding the text onto the scene as it came out blurry and the canvas was way too big for the scene itself, and also having to match the size of the button to the text. Through researching how to make it rich, different people had different ways, but I decided to increase the font size and decrease the size of the scale. At the start of creating the first level, I had struggles with the player falling straight through the ground and camera not fitting well with the box of my scene. Instead, I overcome this by adding more tile bricks in the surrounding so that it takes up space, rather than showing just a blank blue background.

During this process, I've learnt how to add choices on to a game and adding buttons and also making a segment such as a door for the character to enter into a new level, and this has given me the skills I could put towards on to future game development.

However, due to my organisation skills and time management, I believe that I could have included much more into the game, for example; I could have included an enemy for each level to represent as the 'bully' or even a mind bubble to reflect on how the characters thoughts are affecting their mind and choices, which links back to the whole mentality state that I was aiming for. I honestly think as this was my first time creating a 2D pixelated game, I was more focused on getting the things done on the brief, by including what was needed instead of actually adding pieces that would suit well with my concept idea. For improvements for future gaming development, I would want to focus more on creating a scene that is specifically showing the concept which I did for the first level. But instead of having hell and heaven, I should have made the scene into a club or a university room to really sit well with how university really is. Also, I would consider adding a start menu, different selections of characters or even allow the user to create their own, and definitely a game over scene for when the player dies.

In future gaming projects, I would want to be able to create a more clean and clear game that makes users more involved in the game rather than just having a movement of left, right, and jump. I would want them to have more of adrenaline when playing the game by creating each level more difficult or having to battle things to get to another level. So for improvements for next time, I would definitely take in consideration the time I spend on each level as I feel like as though I've rushed it due to this being my first time.

Bibliography

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Character Controller Script

This script enabled the movement of the player. The one thing that i should of included was the crouch for my character, which meant I would of had to design a separate character that is crouching on Pixil Art. However, due to not enough time I wanted to focus more on adding scenes and choices so that it leads to a story rather than focusing on making the player crouch. 

Move Scene Script

This script would enable the character to enter into a new scene depending on what door they go through. To make it precise I had to create a box collider for the door so that when the player goes to the door it trigger the scene to load to another scene.

Choice

For the the choice buttons, it already included a script so all I had to do was drag the specific scene to match with the button so that it leads the player to another level.

Text on Unity

Writing texts on Unity is probably the most stressful and challenging part as I struggling to create a small but clear text to fit perfectly with my scene. I had to increase the size of the font and then making the scale smaller so that the text is more clear and sharp but also small in size. 

Camera Follow Script

I didn't use the Camera Follow Script as it was too complicated to use for a 2D gaming platform so instead I have discovered a new way for the camera to follow the player. This feature is slightly new which makes creating a game much easier. This new package that I had to download is called Cinemachine which follows the player throughout the game depending on where they move, and all I had to do was make sure that I dragged the player into the ‘follow’ section, so it knows who the target is.

Movement

These are the components that I needed to include to my player so that it moves correctly. Rigidbody, Box Collider, and Circle Collider allows the player to move, left, right, up and down and also allows the player to detect segments that are in the way, making it move freely and smoothly. Without adding these components, the player wouldn't be able to move at all and If I ticked the trigger box it would make the player go straight down the ground. I’ve corrected this by making sure the box/circle collider is matching with the ground and ceiling check so the player knows what the floor is on the scene. For the ceiling, I was able to manage the strength of the jump so it can only jump a certain power.

Levels/Scenes

I have created seven scenes so far all linking back to a narrative story.

Level 1 : It starts of in a school hall.

Level 2 : Going into a dark room as life starts to hit, giving the user a choice of negativity or positivity. 

Level 3 : Choose negative, takes user straight to hell.

Level 4 : Choose positive, takes user to heaven.

Level 5 : Allows user to improve their life, to get out of hell.

Level 6 : Takes advantage of heaven by having too much fun.

Level 7 : Goes straight to hell by having too much fun, choosing the wrong choice.

Background

These are the backgrounds I've created so far for the levels and scenes. This was all created using Pixel Art. 

HELL/BAD SIDE

DARK ROOM/MID LIFE CRISIS

HEAVEN/HAPPY SIDE

Problems

The problems I came across with making the background was that because I made it square and the canvas size wasn't as big when making it on Pixil Art, I had to stretch it out to fit the size of the scene (rectangle) which is why the quality doesn't look that great and it’s almost clear that the image has been stretched out. I also had problems with layering the background in the right place, as when I first placed it on to the scene, it made my character go through other segments like the lockers. After much configuration, I realised that I had to move the background slightly further back from the segment and the character so that it doesn't affect anything else, and stays it’s purpose as a background.

RPG/Pixel Game Inspiration

I was inspired by SuperMario as I wanted to create a 1985 arcade themed game. I liked the simplistic game play of: left, right, up and down. Even though its easy its still fun and imaginative. I did not want to create a high definition game as I wanted to follow the old style games, like Supermario of pixelated graphics of all the assets. The colours are very minimal, there isn’t many shades there’s more indications of texture to show what each item is. I.e - Brick blocks with one shade behind it, clouds have black outlines and small hills that are one shade of green. Colours at this time weren't that advanced but it allows players to still understand what each asset is. I want to incorporate this theme into my work.

Scenes/Level of story

This shows the different types of scene I aim to do, and what each option would link back to.

Environment

Below is an image showing the environment that starts off in a school hall to reflect how the day and the year starts in normal school year, which suits well as the first level. For the background I've created a typical brown toned wall and above that layer is different segments that is included in a school such as lockers, a shrine, toilets and the door that would lead to another room that tests the characters choices.

Characters

Due to time management and organisation, I was only able to create one character and one option for the user to play with. This character reflects to how I would see myself as an animated pixel character, and it’s almost a story to how I feel university is like. It allows users to relate to being a university student and also make them feel as if they are coming along the story with me. I didn't give it too much detailed features as this would defeat the whole purpose of a pixelated character and it wouldn't be as clear and neat. Instead I kept it simple by just showing visible features like the brown hair and eyes, t-shirt, shorts, and shoes. 

Pixil Art

By using Pixil Art I was able to create a 2D pixelated character which depicts myself as a character in school. I’ve also created food and a pile of books to possibly become the obstacles of the game. Another substitue of Pixil Art was creating it on a TileMap on photoshop or even Unity itself, but because of it’s complications and the time that I had left, I stuck to what was easier which was Pixil Art. 

The food could possibly be the rewards that my character collects throughout each level which would help her gain energy and happiness, but could also make her lose happiness as she starts to lose money from buying too much food.

Assets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYRA3uAola4&t=6s

https://weeklycoder.com/download/assets-for-mario-clone-tutorial/

Throughout this tutorial it gave me the ability to learn the basics of creating a 2D gaming platform and how to start it off. I only watched the videos before the camera follow me part as the script wasn't working for me, so I had to find another way. The video also gave me access to free Mario Assets that allowed me to use some of the bricks. I didn't want to use all of things that was included in the assets as I wanted to make it my own, which is why I only used the bricks to show the underground and outer exterior of the school building. 

The obstacles

For every struggle the character falls through, they either battle through it or it chooses between two options. The whole point of the game is to basically survival at life, and the obstacles that comes our way. A room could be the next level or if the user chooses a certain option, it takes the character into a dark room, where they have to battle their own thoughts.