Feedback Strategies

Feedback is something that often times scares me it can be a daunting thing. I don't enjoy giving feedback most of the time because I can sometimes feel like I'm disrespecting someones work even when I know I'm not it can just in my opinion feel that way.

I read the article "How to give feedback without sounding like a jerk" by Adam Grant. I enjoyed this article because the author drew from his personal experience. The article also had helpful ways to give feedback that where simple and to the point. I like how the author said to explain why you are giving feedback, I think this is a nice example of how to get comfortable with giving feedback. Another simple point was to ask the person if they wanted feedback, this point is so important but something I think most people would forget to ask including myself.
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The next article I read was "The trouble with amazing" by Jennifer Gonzalez. This article was extremely eye opening because I found myself taking in this new way of thinking and giving feedback and how impersonal the word amazing is. This article shows how a simple word can be sometimes destructive. The word amazing I find is a word that gives praise when it wasn't needed its not specific. Gonzalez went on to talk about her experience with the word amazing and I found it quite relatable like many of us would.
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Game idea research

After consideration and the game I have chosen is "Record Scratch". I think this one is my strongest game idea and the one I would be most interested in making and having fun with while experimenting and learning along the way.

Record Scratch in a summary is a game where a character is jumping/running from vinyl to vinyl through different music worlds for example rock and pop. There will possibly rewards to be given during the game when the character passes a milestone in the game.

I didn't really know what game mechanics where before I did some research on them and saw how many there are to choose from and explore. I want my game to be simple but fun, because thats what I like in a game I hate when a game has too much going on in my opinion a game can become boring very fast when there isn't proper structure to it or the mechanics are just thrown in there for no reason just so they can say they are there.

Mechanics I would be interested in adding into my game would be points/progression dynamic, level themes and lives.
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I think adding in the points/progression dynamic would really work for my game idea from my research I can see that it would fit into my game. I would like the points to be earned by maybe jumping onto a vinyl that is gold to represent its a milestone accomplishment for the player so they will get extra points and lives.
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Level themes is a game mechanic I am interested in the most but I'm not sure if it will be in my game at this moment. I would like to do level themes based on music genres, I think it would make my game stand out and be enjoyable to play.
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Lives would be a good mechanic in my game because I also want to have the points system in place. I would like the player to collect extra points from which they could get extra lives from. I would have the player start out with 3 lives and if the player loses them all they would  have to start the level from a certain point/milestone they have passed
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                                         Example of a vinyl that would be a milestone/prize

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Unity Tutorial 2

Unity for me is something that will take some time to understand and get used to using. I was luckily able to download onto my laptop without it crashing so I hope I will know be able to use it more easily than last week when it just didn't go well.

With this tutorial I learned more about adding code to your game. I found the tutorial really useful and easy to follow I did have to keep stoping and rewinding the video at parts and also sometimes the code just wouldn't be working so I would have to go back and fix my mistakes, which was good for me because I got to learn from my mistakes. The colliders are a bit confusing to understand but do able. I enjoyed learning how to add water and the walls but I don't think I will really be needing them for my game in the future.

It was fun experimenting with the cursor and changing it to how you would like it to appear in the game. Reycast is an important element to what will be my own game so I tried to follow the instructions as well as I could and understand what reycast is. I liked that you can change the reycast to what you would like the distance to be and that you aren't stuck with just one setting.

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Game Elements

When I was growing up I was never really into video games, the odd one I would grab my attention but I never knew just how much went into creating a game and how technical and intricate they are. Before today I would have never known just how much goes into creating a good game.

Something I really liked and thought was interesting is the waterfall method when it comes to designing a game and in general I don't know how I hadn't heard of it before but I like how simple it is but how important it is in order to design anything this method is crucial.
Waterfall Method

I found "Design Considerations" by Greg Aleknevicus very insightful and gave clear tips that will help me when I'm making my game and make the process much easier now that I can apply these tips. I want my game to be have colour and be bright and exciting to look at but I have a tendency to go overboard do I like that one tip is to avoid clutter I will keep this in the back of my mind while designing my game. The article had really good tips for if your game will include cards, I'm not sure yet if my game will use cards but it is a definite option. The importance of a good theme is absolutely huge when designing a game, I liked how he said "have the theme work with the rules rather than against" its so simple but a great piece of information to keep in mind.
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The next article I read was "Formal Abstract Design Tools" by Doug Church this article was a good read and had really helpful pointers and information. I like how the reader is urged to use multiple tools and to make it interesting for the player. The article goes on to use examples of Mario kart 64 I found this really interesting to read and try and understand. Tools can make a game great they can change a boring game into one that players will enjoy playing.
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