University Projects

I began toying with the idea that the main character was more human than fictional so that they would be more relatable to the target audience. Therefore as I still wanted this to relate to saving the Earth I considered a more environmentally friendly message. In this idea, I thought about an androgynous human that has a spiritual connection with nature. Because of this connection, they are the only one that can save the Earth from the other humans ruining the planet. I was considering the collectable item to be oxygen as the majority of the trees would have been cut down in this world so there wasn't any natural producers of oxygen and an abundance of carbon dioxide. 

My initial idea was to have a flame that collects heat to reignite the Earth. The enviorment is filled with water droplets who are 'enemies' to the flame (as water can put out a flame). They have never been kind to the flame because he is different to them however the only one that can save the Earth is the flame. This is due to the warmth collectible items being too hot for the water droplets and therefore they turn into steam. Morever the flame is the only one able to reignite the core of the Earth because he is a flame who becomes bigger when he collects heat. Once the flame has collected all of the heat and becomes really large he is able to reignite the Earth.

I noticed that there was a number of updates that were required on the website and therefore updated wordpress and already-existing plugins. These updates are neccessary in keeping the site: Secure Updates decrease vunerabilities via patches to strengthen against attacks. As Ramsay Safety Solutions' are a Health and Safety company this would reflect badly if their website wasn't secure and safe from attackers. Fix bugs that may have been found in older versions of the Wordpress core and plugins. Add new features and functionality which can add modernisation to a website. (Own Image, 2019) (Own Image, 2019) I discovered that instead of coding the back-end of the site to change the layout, you are able to use the visual composer tool to access more front-end options. This gave you more flexability in choosing rows/columns and were able to use plugins in a visual way. You weren't able to edit the header or footer using the visual composer however this ...

My initial plan for writing blog posts was to: "...write 200 words in the last 30 minutes of Wednesday’s session documenting my progress on Monday and Wednesday. Similarly, during the last 30 minutes of Sunday’s session, I aim to write another 200 words documenting my progress from Saturday and Sunday. An extra 100 words will be used for major changes/outcomes and therefore will total 500 words for each post." (Gattuso, 2019 taken from Project Proposal) Following my gantt chart, I have adhered to the days I have been working on the independent project. However I have been documenting my progress on each day rather than in Wednesday's and Sunday's session. This was because I was making discoveries and design decisions on Monday and Saturday's sessions that I would have to wait to document in the following sessions. This wasn't ideal as I would have had to make notes on each session so that I wouldn't forget what to document. When documenting each sess...

I decided to experiment with using both versions of Wordpress and decided to create a website using Wordpress.com to see the visual differences. I created a website with the subdomain: https://ramsaysafetysolutionsltd.wordpress.com I found that when using the free version of this website, you only had access to a limited number of tools and weren't able to edit the CSS of the theme. Therefore, I was unable to change the layout of the text or add other features in the content section. The site that was produced was a very basic website that may be suitable for personal use or for blogging by not for a small Health & Safety company without at least paying for the business plan. With wordpress.org although this will take longer to create and manage, using this platform will enable me to customise the page, add features that will promote Ramsay Safety Solutions' services well to the audience and will have professional result. (Own Image, 2019) If I were to use ...

When logging into Wordpress, I realised that I was logging into the incorrect Wordpress login portal as I was trying to log into Wordpress.com. Ramsay Safety Solutions uses Wordpress.org and I therefore wanted to look at the difference between both versions. (Wpbeginner, 2019) Wordpress.org  To access this version, you need to download Wordpress and install it on your own server. The hosting is provided by the user or an external company. Hosting not provided by Wordpress, requires a separate web hosting. Free to use as it is open-source. Able to customise the back-end code. Able to upload your own plugins and/or themes. Uses a custom domain. Requires more management and cost however has added functionality, flexability and allows the user to create a bespoke website. More difficult for beginners to use. Wordpress.com Hosting is provided by Wordpress and doesn't require a web server. Faster to set-up as you don't have to download Wordpress onto your syste...

Both Unity and Unreal are used in the gaming industry and both have the capability of producing AAA quality games. Therefore, I have decided to use Unity instead of Unreal due to: Having more experience using Unity.  I have used this game engine to create a 3D gamespace during a previous gaming assignment, as I already have experience in creating a game in 3D, I wanted to attempt creating a 2D game in this engine. I prefer Unity's interface and find this easier to use than Unreal. During the Unreal workshop, I found using this engine difficult and hard to follow. However, this may have been due to the way it was taught and the amount of time we had to go through the mechanics during the workshop. I found it difficult to grasp the concept of blueprints in Unreal as I am used to writing code. The Unreal workshop was lead by an ex 3D modelling student who had a lot of experience using Maya and other modelling software. Therefore we went over blueprints during this sess...

As I have no experience using Wordpress, I wanted to investigate the interface so that I was familiar with editing the website. After logging in as an administrator, I first attempted to add a different theme to the already-existing website however this ruined the layout of the page which included the content, imagery, image slider, icons etc. (Own Image, 2019) Initially I thought that the original designer had added code to the back-end of the site which caused this problem. I decided to tackle the moving image carasole as this was causing the main problem to layout. I thought this may have been coded in however I found a plugin I believed was responsible for  this feature and decided to de-activate it. (Own Image, 2019) With this removed, the layout looked better but still didn't follow the theme that I had chosen. Design decisions included attempting to remove images/content/slider to understand how workpress.org worked. On reflection I would have need to le...

I composed a simple list of things that I wanted my game to be/include: 2D Platformer Side Scroller Uses one scene Collectible items Enemies Non-Playable Characters to talk to (or them speaking)  Includes a message for the audience Target audience: Initially I was considering aiming this game primarily at children as I thought that a cute artstyle and a moral message would be more appropriate for a child. However I began to think more into my ideas and realised that a teenager/young adults would be better suited towards this type of game as the story may be too complex for a child to understand fully and the situation may be more relatable to this age group. Therefore my target audience is as follows: Mainstream audience: Teenagers Secondary audience: Adults Peripheral audience: Children No Interest: Individuals who do not play or enjoy video/computer games.

David introduced us to the Unreal Engine interface where we used an already-existing template of a first person shooter game and attempted to add some components with added functionality. He showed us how to export object assets and into a 3D modelling software e.g. Autodesk Maya. so that we could re-shape these objects and create custom collisions. He explained that an .FBX format would work in almost any modelling software and therefore should use this when exporting assets. Instead of using scripts Unreal uses blueprints which include nodes that are able instruct assets and user input. It was programmed so that when the player was close to the lamp it would be on and if not it would be off. I attempted to program it so that when the player was near to the lamp, a text message would appear on the wall explaining that if you press a button on the keyboard the light would turn on. I wanted this message to only appear when the player collided with the lamp's collision sph...

During the Adobe Flash/Animate lecture we spoke about Tim Schafer who was popular for creating point and click games. This is similar to create using Flash/Animate and therefore recapped on ActionScript3 and how we can use buttons to create a game with a story that the user to interact with. By giving a button an instance name, we can use AS3 to direct the user to a specific frame once the button has been clicked. I used the characters from We Bare Bears to demonstrate what we went over in class. We also played 'A Duck has an Adventure' which uses Adobe flash to tell a story in a more animated way. There were interesting items (hats) and achievements to collect for completing each path of the story and some parts of the story interlinked with each other.

Pokémon GO is a mobile augmented reality game created by Niantic. Similar to the earlier pokémon games, your aim is to become the best pokémon trainer by capturing pokémon and training them so that you can defeat other trainers and gym leaders.  Pokémon GO introduced a new catching style which allows you to catch pokémon by flicking a pokéball towards a pokémon that has been fouund on the map.  This is different to it's predecessors as originally this was completely using turn-based battling. To catch a pokémon, you needed to reduce their health points as low as possible by battling then attempt to use a pokéball to catch them. Pokémon GO's new catching style allows you catch pokémon more efficiently which is vital for a phone game. Battling friends is turn-based however when attempting to take over a gym the combat power of your pokémon needs to be high so that it can endure automated attacks and allow youu to attack powerfully by tapping.  Like VR, yo...

After watching/playing BanderSnatch, I was left feeling uneasy about the decisions I had made for Stefan Butler. Even though I had attempted to make good decisions for this character, this still ended terribly. Stefan is anxious throughout the entire film because he feels as though someone is making decisions for him against his will. The concept of this Black Mirror episode was very interesting and I reaslised that there are multiple endings that lead to different fates. The game Stefan makes shows the pressures of the gaming industry as he struggles to finish one of the endings for his game. The game he creates is ironically about decisions and is the first of it's kind. (IGN, 2019) I enjoyed the storyline and the coincidences between Stefan and the audience, aswell as the interactivity that allowed you to choose what path Stefan will take. Although this did become annoying at times as you would sometimes find yourself with little or too much choice. At some points you wa...

Super Mario Odyssey felt very different to many of the previous Super Mario games that I have played as it focused more on the narrative. Narrative The narrative is similar to the previous games where Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach with the intention to marry her. However, in Mario Odyssey, this is taken a step further where Bowser travels from world to world collecting special items for their wedding. Mario’s task is not only to rescue Princess Peach but to solve the problems that Bowser has made in his visit to each world. Similar to Super Mario Galaxy, you need collect moons to power Mario’s ship (the Odyssey) so that he can travel to each world to fight Bowser’s minions and get closer to saving Peach. Super Mario Odyssey is a 3D platformer which involves jumping, puzzles and fighting enemies. This takes place over various levels that have been designed in a different environment e.g. the seaside, moon, city etc. Travelling to each world begins in a lin...

The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth + is an indie rouge-like game created by Edmund McMillian who worked with the company Nicalis. The gameplay and user interface was based on the Legend of Zelda and is rouge-like due to the progress gained each time you die. It is a procedurally generated dungeon which includes randomised items, levels, enemies and rooms which means that each run of the game is different.  You can see the similarities between the original Binding of Isaac and the Legend of Zelda. The HUD (heads up display) on both games display the life counter using a heart symbol, weapons/items, consumables and the map. The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ upgraded/expanded version of the original Binding of Isaac which was originally created in Adobe Flash. Unfortunately this had limitations and led Edmund to work with Nicalis who were able to build a dedicated game engine from scratch using C++.  Narrative Inspired by the Biblical story of the Binding of Isaac,...

During today's lecture Mikki explained our assignment, gaming theory and the history of games. She explained that we needed to consider the: Narrative, Space and Causation when creating a game. Game History Mikki then went over different consoles, games and technologies throughout game history. Alot of games' functionality was limited due to the technology at the time, we learnt that RPGs sacrifice graphics due to limitations in the machine and many games face these same problems. The Nimrod computer was custom-made for what is thought to be the first video game named Tennis For Two which used an oscilloscope allowing two people to play tennis electronically. Atari 2600 - Many games did not include a narrative and were very basic. Mario Bros was created. NES - Where many of the flagship characters for Nintendo were first created. Super Mario Bros was created which didn't include text and used actions as part of the tutorial during the gameplay (You learn...