Journal Entries

How to update (1):

7/29/2019

  • I have just completed the Unity basics tutorial (the programming engine I`ll be using). The tutorial included:

-How to add objects to objects

-The basics of setting up a character controller (an object that allows you to add controls to an object)

-How to set up the game’s physics engine

  • Unity is a programming engine that allows easy manipulation of objects in a game. It uses the programming language Csharp which is similar to Java and C, but simpler and easier to learn. Unity also includes a window where a developer can see what their game will look like while being played, as well as drag and drop remade objects called ‘prefabs’ into the game at will. These objects can be anything from a player's character to a simple dot that moves and can also be added together to make more complex objects at will.

  • This was easier than I first thought it would be. I thought that creating a game would involve much more typing and trial and error, that the game`s code would be one massive text document that calls upon 3D models and sound files in a file somewhere. Unity is the opposite, it is a scene made with models and audio files that use short clips of code called ‘scripts’ to make each level. I particularly like the drag and drop window because it allows me to visualize what is actually happening as I am working on the game. Step two will be to plan out what the game I will make will look like.

Preparation Update (2):

8/23/2019

  • I have gone through the Unity asset store and found several packages of free to use 3D models that I can easily use together. Most of what is in the store is fantasy-themed, so finding a good supply of sci-fi themed models was slightly difficult. I found a modular city ruins set, as well as several sets of robots, drones and people in powered armor.

  • I have finished setting up a few of the terrain models as prefabs, I now have the makings of a city ruins set. I also have an idea of what the first level of the game will be, the player will have to defend a building in the middle of the map for a given amount of time.

  • The character the player plays as in first person mode will be just a basic ‘super soldier’. I’ll use the powered armor model as the character model, and the player will have a choice of either a sword, rifle, or sniper rifle as their weapon. The player will also have a choice between a few special abilities, a basic parkour enhancement (adds a double jump and wall gripping ability), cloaking (temporary invisibility which disables attacking while active), blink (short range teleport), and a personal body shield that self regenerates over time. If the player character dies, the level will be lost and can be restarted from the main menu when player is ready

  • Some things I have left to determine are: length of time for the defense mission, weather or not the player can heal and how

Preparation Update (3):

10/13/2019

  • I have finished setting up a scene for unit testing, it’s not much just a large flat plain where I can test interactions in a closed environment, with a few walls to make sure nothing gets stuck on anything.

  • I’ve also started work on setting up the animations for what will become the player’s character. It is just a simple soldier in powered armor, nothing too special

  • I have finished drafting what I want the HUD and title screen to look like:

-The HUD (Heads Up Display) is the in game display on the player's screen which shows the player’s life points, ammo, etc. There will be two HUDs, one for first person mode (fps) which will have the player’s health bar in the bottom right corner as a red horizontal line, and above it will be ammo and ability cool down (if it has one). The other will be for third person mode (rts), which will have a box showing all selected units with their own health bars at the bottom center of the screen, the bottom right will have a list of unit controls, and the top right will have a unit counter, unit limit, and resource counter (resources are used to build stuff).

  • So far creating the third person mode has been easier than the first person mode.

  • Work on the research paper has slowed down progress significantly, it has become a bit of a nuisance. My current plan is to take a short break from this to get the paper done and out of the way so I can focus much more on this.

Update 4:

1/4/2020


  • I have a plan for the first two levels:

-The first one will be a defense mission, where the player simply defends a specified structure in their base for a few minutes.

-The second is a little more intricate, a “stealth” mission, where the player fights through an area with their army, while also fighting their way through a building with their character.

  • So far I have only met with my mentor twice, but whenever I have a question or a problem I can simply email him and he’ll get back to me with a solution in less than a day. I have a google drive folder shared with him where I can upload versions of the game so he can download them to help me when I need it.

  • The research paper is mostly done, so I can finally get back to working primarily on the game itself, exciting.

  • Not much else has been happening on the game itself, but with the paper mostly done now I can start work on the first actual level, which will be the defense mission I explained above.

  • I’m just really happy to not have to deal with writing a research paper on top of everything else anymore. The only thing that could mess this up is if there is some problem with the paper that has gone unnoticed until now that I have to stop and fix.

Update 5:

2/7/2020

  • So... the one thing that could have gone wrong went wrong. There was some problem with the spacing of the research paper and now it is too short. Somehow the spacing was at 2.8 instead of 2, which caused each line of text to take up about 40% more vertical space than it should have. I knew something looked wrong about the paper, but I simply couldn’t figure out what, and until now I didn’t even know line spacing could go over 2. It was a subtle problem, and wasn’t obvious until my paper was viewed next to a few others. As a result, the paper is now about a page too short. Much stress was felt as a result.

  • Now I have to get back to focusing on the paper, at least I have some ideas for more I can write about. I can easily expand upon the parts about negative and positive effects playing video games have on the brain.

  • I’m going to set up a time for help getting this done with my panel head Michel Holder. Hopefully it will only take a day or two to fix, I’m really just done with writing, at least this should be the last of this kind of paper I should ever have to write, as long as I don’t somehow fail out of college.

  • I am legitimately mad at myself for not realizing this. This is just another reason for me to hate writing. I started off being excited to do this research project, but now it’s just an annoyance and in my way. Anything else that's going to go wrong, please do so now, or forever hold your peace.


Update 6:

2/28/2020

  • The first level is almost complete now, all that is left to do is test it out and make sure it works.

  • However, I’ve been having a compilation problem for a few days now, I have yet to be able to identify the cause and it is preventing me from loading it up and testing it out.

  • It’s going to be frustrating and time consuming to figure this out, but I’m going to have to figure out some kind of fix for it.

  • In other news I finally have an idea of where I want the story to go:

-Basically, humans created an AI to scout and, if possible, prepare colonies in Andromeda(the closest galaxy to the Milky way). They returned decades earlier than expected, and started attacking world after world

-The AI then overextended, becoming too large to support itself, and suffered a network failure, causing it to lose control of it’s army, leaving it with nothing but basic self defense, leaving a window for humans to push it back

-The game is about what happened on Earth as it was being reclaimed, first an expeditionary force is sent to establish a stronghold and survey the ruins planet side, then they push into the planetary capitol(England because why not) and destroy the AI’s planetary relay so it can’t retake control of the planet when it wakes up


Update 7:

3/6/2020

  • I have narrowed the error down to a problem with the integrated animations on some of the player’s units

  • I’ve also started work on the title screen, which was much easier than I thought it would be, although I haven’t thought of a name for the game yet, and an introductory cut scene.

  • I’m afraid I may not have enough time to complete the story arch, so I may just have to add a, disaster strikes... to be continued, where and when I run out of time

  • That being said, I can probably make all my plans for the game into a quick three levels easily, and with everything that I have already built, I should be able to make two more levels easily, if I can get this compilation error fixed that is.

  • I also decided to scrap the idea of a spy style level due to complexity and time requirements, but instead I have two new ideas, a simple boss fight, and a traditional RTS 1 vs 1 match, both would be easy and not take very long with what I’ve already set up. It’s these journals I’m not sure about.

  • Side note:

-I’m starting to get tired of constantly writing these journals.

-At the moment, between the research paper and the journals, I feel like I’ve spent more time writing than actually working on my project.


Update 8:

5/9/2020

  • This is the second to last journal I’ll be writing, the last one I recently learned has to be over two pages, so that’ll be fun. Also, the project’s due date is approaching, and I can’t stop thinking that I haven’t done enough on the product, like I’m missing something really obvious that I wanted to add. Well, guess it’s too late now, whatever it was.

  • I’m still scared that messed up somewhere and it’s going to come back to haunt me.

  • Overall, I’m just anxious about how this project will turn out, but I always feel this way before something big is due.

  • Not much else to talk about this time really, I’m going to have to find a way to fill up the rest of this page somehow...

  • Note to self, don’t take any job that involves writing beyond simple note taking and passing information.

  • Side note: the animation bug still exists, I’ve taken a few all-nighters trying to fix it, I’ve managed to limit it to all player units repeating all their animations one after the other, but I still have no idea what the underlying cause is. But hey, at least it doesn’t break the game on startup or prevent it from compiling at all anymore. Plus I already have so many hours on my time sheet that I may just not record these, since nothing really happened anyway.