Unit 67 Computer Game Engines

Unit 67 Computer Game Engine

To start off with this unit I had began to start using Unity for the first time ever. I started off by creating a rolling ball game in which you had to collect these cubes. I followed a tutorial on youtube to help me create this minigame.

While following this tutorial I was able to complete a game to the maximum like this tutorial has done.

This is a screen shot of the final ball game I had created following the tutorial. Everything worked just like the tutorials work.

Here are few screen shots of the codes within the ball, it consists of the balls movement with wasd or up arrow, down arrow, right arrow and left arrow. All movements are coded. The collectibles are also coded to being picked up and added to the counter in the corner. The coding also is the reason as to why the collectibles were spinning.

Here is a screen shot of all my components within the ball game. 

A close up of the ball and the collectibles.

10 Page Game Design

My game is going to be called Bristol Harbourside Maze. I intend to target the age group of around 13-18 due to its difficulty in completion of the maze size. It will be rated at a 3+ Rating because it doesn't contain much violence to have it any higher.

I intend to release the game by the 10th of December.

The game story is that you don't start right at the harbour side like everyone else plan, I wanted to be different and that you had to travel to the harbour side in a 3D maze to end up at the harbourside in which it would be a 2D game.

You will find the main character in Bristol attempting to find there way to the harbourside with is on the other side of the map.

You're a 15 year old who has a date at the Bristol harbour side if you don't find your way through the maze to get to her and collect the points to pay for dinner your date will leave you for good.

The game is split into 2 parts of which one is a puzzle game and the other is a collect one. Both are set in different places. The Maze is in a 3D world and you have to navigate your way through to get the next part of the challenge which will turn into a 2D collectable of which you control a ball and make your way around the map to collect the golden coins but be careful not to fall into the water.

When you first pop into the game you start in the house of the main character. The surrounding area of what you search through in the game will be full of roads and trees to set a calm mood but will also be quite stressful due to the difficulty of the maze.

The only game mechanics that are in my game is the 2D world where you pick up collectables to beat the game in the end and have a successful date.

The only enemy the main character has is time, you will have to get through the maze as quickly as possible. The world is the characters enemy.  

A start up menu will be first presented to the player. They will have to choice to go in or simply exit from the game, it will be the persons confidence to get through the game in a certain time.

Different Game Engines and their Functions.

Scratch is a programming language which edges on the really basic side of computer programming. It is a online multimedia  authoring tool that can be used by almost anyone to create a game using stepping stones to get more advanced in the computer programming world. Scratch is a basic form of coding because everything is pretty much done for you. Commands are simply displayed on the right for any command you would want to give. The functions of scratch is that everything is laid out for you and you would simply take a script from the list and place it in the editing block on the right and you can control a sprite which is usually 2D and command it to do whatever your mind sets. 

Unity is a cross platform game engine which is used to develop games for PC, Consoles, Phones and Websites. It is in fact the default software developing kit for the Wii U. This software is much more difficult than scratch as there are 2 possible game styles you can create. Either 2D, 3D or even both. The difficult part for this is the coding function. You have to place the commands in a code form not like tabs in scratch. Literally codes, but unity is nice and can also give you assets you can use from the store which makes your life easier, you'll just never get the experience to code things yourself and learn the software entirely.

Unreal is a game engine was primarily aimed at first-person shooters but have been fairly successful in creating other game style genres like stealth, MMORPG and other styles. The functions of unreal engine is that is used C++ which is a high degree portability and is a tool used by many game developers today. The big games like Bioshock were created in unreal engine. Even Gears of war. The functions are the same like unity with the coding world.

Flash is usually an animation software but also uses the same style coding like unity and unreal engine. As before coding is very precise and demanding in any sort of software that you use. Flash is an adobe product which has other functions such as animation. I have had experience with both animation and game creation with flash and I believe have turned out successful. I would have never thought that flash would be able to be game creating material. 

Harbour Side Research

This is the bristol harbour side, I found a few images of what it looks like as this can help me greatly within my work as I have a major reference to use in my work. 

From these images obviously water is a major aspect to the harbour side as well as boats.

3D Maze

I decided that I wanted to not start at the harbourside from the start but that you have to get to the harbourside from a location. I created a maze in paper at first. I measured each point, in cm which helped me through the editing in unity.

Here is my 3D part of the work, I had created. I didn't want to be the same as everyone else with their work being right at the harbour side. I wanted the person to travel to the harbour side and in which would change into the 2D game part in which is at the harbour. I thought a maze would be a fun and challenging game, in all honesty though I do think I should have added a map in the corner to show the maze as the maze is pretty difficult to get through; even for me.

Step By Step Guide to get Textures.

Here is the menu of where I add my floor textures, trees and grass to add more of a interest in looks.

After clicking edit textures you want to add texture to it.

Hit select and you'll be brought up to a box full of assets I had downloaded.

Select a asset to add to your collection of terrains, trees and grass.

This is the tree I had used within my work. I was able to adjust the sizes of the trees and the amount in one lot. This is a great asset as I can make each of my trees unique.

Here are a few assets of more trees I  could have used.

First person view of the maze. Looks quite nice actually.

2D Section of my game.

As you can see, I used the same sort of game style as the ball game I created a while back but instead on a 2D world. You must collect a few objects around the area.