Blog Post 8: Final Project.

For my final project, I used Unity to create a game known as "Blink" a puzzle platformer where you take control a character known as "Donny", who apparently ate some magic mushrooms he shouldn't had! Help him find his way home as you navigate through levels, jump through obstacles, all while listening to some nice vapor-wave tunes.

The game assets utilize 2D sprites in combination with a 3D environment.



Being part of "Blink" 's developmental process was a lot of hard work. There was a lot of thought into placing the individual blocks as well as setting collision detection for the blocks themselves.

Each aspect presents a unique challenge all onto itself.  One being to make sure the platforms were placed in such a way that Donny is able to reach them. Also another challenge was making sure each audiolistener within Unity was able to process Donny's collision detection.



Another focus with the level design is making for a multi-faceted approach for how the player navigates the level. While we are working within 2D space, the player is encouraged to find new pathways in order to discover new switches. This encourages the player to experiment in the manner how Donny navigates the world.

The additional mechanic in the works in the “Blink” mechanic for Donny. This is essentially a teleportation mechanic that makes it so Donny can be in position across from him horizontally. This opens up mechanics for closing traps, falling obstacle avoidance, and means by which Donny can traverse the entire level by means of skipping tiles. 

Blog 7 GPS Game: Playing Pokemon Go

The previous day I took the time to play Pokemon GO, a mobile game by Niantic using the Unity Engine. The game revolves around using your phone's built-in GPS map to be used as an over-world for you, the player, to go out and start catching Pokemon!

The game initially starts you off with choosing your player, to choose either from a boy or a girl. (Sorry non-binary folks). Then choosing their accessories, clothing etc. After some brief introductions with the initial starting NPCs, you then are thrust out to your adventure!

So here is where I make the confession: I actually have been playing roughly around the game was initially released. During this play session I walked around campus and noticed that there was someone that actually placed lures on all the poke-stops! I found that actually really refreshing considering I thought there would be less people playing the game this point, I was very mistaken. (Perhaps it was due to the people playing for this blog post?). So far, the current mechanics have not changed, but there is seem to be improvements for net-code for Pokemon battles.

To initiate a Pokemon battle, you must be in the vicinity of a Pokemon gym. From there you can choose to activate the 'battle sequence' which make it so your Pokemon will teleport to an arena where you need to tap your screen as fast as you can to win the battle. Victory will depend on your Pokemon level, stats, and overall 'CP', which dictates how strong your Pokemon is.

Overall it was a nice venture back to a game that received both hype and controversy. I am aware that there is a form of player vs player interaction in a later patch coming soon, which should make things interesting! 

Blog Post 6: Video Game Prototype

Title of Game: DragonARCade

Game Credits: Kevin Bui

Link to downloadable: DragonARCade 

Known Issues: Bomb control doesn't work, Inability to restart game after death.

How to Play the game:



The game itself was a rough experience to make. Before we barely had any assets, or barely a sense of direction. But given an entirely new and unfamiliar game engine, it took a while to learn the ropes around it. The original alpha did not even have proper shooting mechanics or proper level design, our current iterations now has actual enemies, and even a boss! Definitely quite a stretch from where we were before!