This week I have been tweaking and changing the Flappy Bird (2013) mod in numerous ways (fig. 1). Firstly, I replaced the bird sprite with my own – aptly named ‘Eggy Egg’. More notable, however, is the fact that I have now changed the genre of the game to be more in line with Angry Birds (2009). Helped greatly by an extensive YouTube tutorial (Weimann, 2020), I was able to create a ‘slinging’ feature where you pull back on the sprite and release the mouse to send him flying. So far this is the only (very basic) level I have made, with the goal being to shoot the egg in-between the pipes in order to exit the screen and advance on to the next level. I like this idea, and I feel that it changes the gameplay a great amount, however it might be seen as deviating too much from the original stub given to us. I will keep adjusting it, however I am looking forward to the introduction of the 2D side-on game mod next week, as I feel that there is much more that I could modify with a game of that genre.

(Above) Figure 1: My Flappy Bird mod, Eggy Egg.

This week’s GAM150 lecture was interesting. I had not considered many of the difficulties of communicating game design with a team, but I can already see how essential clear communication is within a team. Miscommunication can cost great amounts of time and money – both of which are often limited within this industry. On a smaller scale, I have seen the negative effects of poor communication when working on the GAM110 Game of Ur group project – with people doing work on the same thing or not having full understanding of what is required of them. Furthermore, by writing up my Flappy Bird (2013) mod idea into a game design document, I was able to better conceptualise what the game will be – showing how this process can be helpful even on a personal level.

Next week, I would like to continue following Unity tutorials to help me to better understand the engine. I will also need to dedicate a lot of time to the Game of Ur project, as we will be showcasing the finished boards at the end of the week – exciting!

References:

Angry Birds. 2009. Rovio Entertainment.

Flappy Bird. 2013. dotGears.

WEIMANN, Jason. 2020. How to Make a Game – Unity Beginner Tutorial [YouTube user-generated content]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR0e-1UBEOU&t [accessed 8 October 2020].

This past week has mostly been spent learning more Unity as, coming into this course, I was a complete beginner with the engine. Paul’s Unity Workshop on Friday was informative, showing me how to utilise canvases and the importance of creating layouts catered to the areas you wish to work on. I have also experimented with the Flappy Bird (2013) project provided and changed aspects of the code to see how that effects the game. As well as this workshop, I have been following along with more YouTube tutorials (Imphenzia, 2020) that took me through the process of creating simple games from scratch. Through these tutorials I have gained knowledge on the basics of coding in C Sharp, parent / child objects, common components, prefabs, animations and loading new levels. I still have a long way to go before I become fully comfortable with the engine, but this new knowledge will definitely help me to make further modifications to Flappy Bird (2013).

After further brainstorming and fine-tuning, I feel that I have settled on some ideas that are achievable within my skill set and of an appropriate scope. This monitoring of scope has been greatly helped by my recent experience of working in teams for the GAM110 project for which we are creating a board game inspired by the Royal Game of Ur. Everyone in our team had great, expansive ideas, however we had to remind ourselves to be realistic and work within a scope that is conceivable and won’t require excessive play testing to balance. I am glad to be able to transfer this mentality over to this personal project for GAM150, whether I choose to pursue the Flappy Bird (2013) mod or the 2D side-on mod.

Following some trial and error, I was able to replace the columns with some pixel sprites I had made in Photoshop by dragging their sprites into the renderer within their prefabs (fig. 1) I also changed the background to be a farm (also made in Photoshop), by dragging the image into the SkyTileSprite’s renderer. While this isn’t a gameplay modifier, I still like how it changes the aesthetic of the game.

(Above) Figure 1: The game running with some of my own created assets.

So far, I am finding it difficult to make many gameplay modifiers, besides small changes to jump height and gravity, as there is a lot to delve into within the project (most of which I am unfamiliar with.) Because of this, I have spent some time this week reading through the code and trying to understand what each line does. I know that being fluent in coding is not essential to a game designer’s role but it helps us gain more understanding of the process and builds towards our ‘T-shaped’ skillset which will be valuable in an industry context.

If I were to stick with this mod as my final submission, I would like all assets to be created by me. After learning more about it in this weeks GAM150 workshop, I think I would also like to change the context of the game (perhaps continuing with the farm theme), add a shooting mechanic, and enemies to kill.

Going forward, I need to make more assets, and think about how I will implement significant changes to the core gameplay. I will likely watch more tutorials to enhance my knowledge of Unity, as well as attending Paul’s workshop on Friday. If I get stuck I will access the wide range of content available online or, failing that, email one of my lecturers about a specific problem.

References:

Flappy Bird. 2013. dotGears.

IMPHENZIA. 2020. LEARN UNITY – The Most BASIC TUTORIAL I’ll Ever Make [YouTube user-generated content]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZpJzpE2lQ [accessed 30 September 2020].

For the first week of GAM150, we discussed broad topics such as the definition of a game as well as the role of a games designer within an industry context. I have also been given a Unity project containing a Flappy Bird (2013) game to modify over the coming weeks

I really enjoyed the group activities during the game design workshop. It was good to meet other design students and discuss what it meant to be a games designer, as well as the skills that are required for the job. I feel that we came away from the discussion having all learnt from each other. The act of defining a game is still difficult, but it was interesting to hear various professional outlooks, and I was surprised by how much they varied. In extra-curricular time, I went back over the PowerPoint to watch some of the videos we didn’t have time for and found the ‘So You Want To Be a Game Designer’ YouTube video (Extra Credits, 2012) to be informative. I like how they put emphasis on the fact that you should have a range of knowledge and experiences outside of the world of games as it is all transferable and applicable to the experiences you want to create for players.

When I first played the Flappy Bird (2013) game provided, my mind ran through all of the possible enhancements and changes that could be made. My current ideas include:

• Changing the movement system. The player could swing or fling themselves through the pipes instead of ‘flapping’.
• Altering the scenery and objects to give the game a completely different atmosphere and aesthetic.
• Creating power-ups which modify how the game is played.
• Adding difficulty modes which change the frequency of obstacles and narrows the gaps you have to pass through.
• Adding sound effects to enrich the experience.

Of course, to implement any of these ideas I will need to become comfortable with using Unity. I have started watching tutorials and checking out the Unity Learn website (Unity) to teach myself. I am becoming familiar with key elements of the engine, but still have a way to go before I can implement meaningful change into the game. In the meantime, I have been making small tweaks to the game such as changing the jump height and lowering gravity. I enjoy experimenting with the project and seeing how that effects the player experience. As I understand, this tweaking and experimentation is a core part of the iterative process and I look forward to adding more significant changes as I learn more.

Tangentially, I have also been reading a useful book on the fundamentals of game design named Games Design and Play (Macklin and Sharp, 2016). In the long-term, this will help me to broaden my understanding of what is required from a games designer and the iterative process used to develop most games.

I look forward to continuing with this project over the coming weeks and getting involved with the upcoming Unity workshops. If I get stuck at all, I will be able to refer to more online tutorials or talk to Paul or Terry.

References:

Extra Credits. 2012. So You Want To Be a Game Designer – Career Advice for Making Games – Extra Credits [YouTube user-generated content]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvWMdWhFCc [accessed 27 September 2020].

Flappy Bird. 2013. dotGears.

MACKLIN, Colleen. and John SHARP. 2016. Games, Design and Play: A Detailed Approach to Iterative Game Design. Boston, Ma ; San Francisco, Ca: Addison-Wesley.

UNITY. ‘Unity Learn – Supporting Home Learning during COVID-19’. Unity Learn [online] Available at: https://learn.unity.com [accessed 27 September 2020].