Games Development - Exercises

Ahmed Yaman Ibrahim (0341119)

Games Development - Exercises

EXERCISES

Week 1

In the first week, we went through the module outline and had a look at some of the games developed by past students. We were asked to play through some of them and review them.

Zapper Snapper by Hanif Rashid

I played a game called Zapper Snapper by Hanif Rashid; it's a 2D platformer where you navigate through rooftops and laboratory areas while fighting mutated enemies. I found the pixel style graphics and general atmosphere of the game very impressive - the backgrounds, lighting and overall look and feel of the game helped me immerse myself into the setting of the game to an extent. The controls were simple enough, you were able to move left and right and also jump. The player character attacked with a baseball bat when fighting enemies.

Speaking of enemies, I was impressed with the variety of them as well. They had their own individual movement and animations. Fighting them proved to be a bit difficult, as they did not deviate from their paths even if you hit them, and since you took damage when you came in contact with them you would have to adjust your own position to continue attacking them or else you'd get hurt. There were also navigation elements such as having to press switches activate platforms to continue moving through the level. This encouraged me to move around the area more to find these switches instead of just trying to rush through the area. I was also able to find health pickups this way.

I noticed that I kept dying to platforming mistakes, either from mistiming a jump or getting too hasty and trying to move too fast. However there were checkpoints throughout the levels that helped me continue from a specific point without having to go all the way back to the beginning. Although the enemies themselves weren't difficult, I found it a little frustrating to have to keep moving away from them so I could keep attacking them without getting hurt, especially when taking damage also causes a knockback animation for the player character; this sometimes knocked me right into the path of another enemy and I would keep getting knocked back and forth between two enemies until I died.

I wasn't able to finish the game because I died one too many times at one specific platforming section and I had to keep starting over, but if I do find the time I'd like to finish it just to see what happens towards the end. Overall I was really impressed with the quality of the game especially as a student project and it has inspired me to develop my own games with the same kind of visual consistency.


Week 2

This week, we went through different methods of planning a game, such as different ways of brainstorming, SCAMPER, and the 3(i) method. We then had an exercise where we split into groups and came up with a game idea using one of these methods. Our group used SCAMPER to come up with a chase-style game where you have to deliver packages from one point to another while avoiding enemies.


Week 3

This week, we went through a Unity tutorial to get familiar with the software and some of the basic functions we would be using when developing our game.


We also practiced a few tutorials on how to add objects into our game and apply physics to them, as well as coding their movement.


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