fmpmarta

[fmpmarta]

Target Audience

My game falls into the category of ‘serious games, by that it means that the game is just as the genre says ‘serious’. I could say calling it seriously could be suitable as the game is educational and informational. The main idea of the game is to spread awareness about mental health. 

Looking at the Pan European Game Information, I could easily say the came could be accessible around 12+, mainly because one of the stories mentioned murder, and some of the lines might be triggering. The game doesn't contain any foul language and does not contain anything sexual nor offensive, that's how I have come to the conclusion to fit it into a 12+ rating.

[fmpmarta]

Weekly reflection

This week I was able to do all the things I have planned on doing and then some. I was able to change the appearance of the game and also make a full on menu and even how to play guide in unreal by myself. I have successfully been able to let a few people play the game and it seems like this project went quite well. 

I was able to manage my time which always been an issue from me but I was successful at completing the game from start to finish which also has been something I was never able to do as most of my games were never fully done and completed. 

For next week there is only one more thing I need to do which is my final evaluation for this project and that is something which I will be able to fully do on our last Monday in collage. I think as a whole this week has been rather productive and used to its full ability. 

[fmpmarta]

Portfolio

I am currently working on developing my portfolio and so far I have been able to put my screenshots inside of the game just as the short video of the game or at a tiny little teaser. 

Today I am going to add more into my portfolio and by that I mean I would like to add a little prescription of the project as a whole, which I believe is also a necessity. 

[fmpmarta]

OBS

I wanted to add some screenshots and a video to my portfolio which is important to develop in order to be able to present my work/outcome. 

I was able to edit the OBS clip in Adobe Premiere pro 2020, in order to clip it from the sides and also get rid of the few seconds at the start and at the end. After touching up on it, I was able to upload it on my portfolio where I was able to present it by attaching it to one of the slides.

The video was later on added to my files and I was able to upload it on YouTube as well to get an easy access to it. The short video has been also uploaded on itch.io and on my portfolio presenting my final work. 

[fmpmarta]

itch.io

I have created a account for myself on itch.io which works well for presenting work and pretty much publishing it. I will also be allowed to send it to people by link or letting them actually see the game on the website by themselves since the game is public and accessible by anyone. 

I have put some information there and I also needed a title but I was not able to generate any ideas so I just put this as a title for this minute. The game is fully playable and downloadable. 

[fmpmarta]

Unreal Issues

While working on my project I have encountered holes in my knowledge while using the engine unreal. It has been quite a challenge to complete some of the things and each time I had to look for help which would be help from a teacher or YouTube videos which explain what to do in details needed. 

 solving One of the channels that has proven to be useful even though there is only a few videos made by this creator is CodeViper. I find youtube useful mainly because most of the time it contains creators who are willing to help and also have solutions for the mistakes done along the way. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-nmsM7CVwn6WscuZHmN0TA

[fmpmarta]

Color of the buttons

I am currently working on making the game look better, however I do not have the slightest idea of how to make the game look. For now I was able to do a bit of the color change and play around with that but I’d love to make the game look better and more professional I suppose. 

So far I changed the appearance of the boxes by changing the color and the color of the hovered and also pressed font. 

[fmpmarta]

Game buttons

The buttons which before were nonexistent or nonworking for this game have been now fully done and connected in the blueprints. Now the answer box is going to fire different text depending on whether it’s correct or not. The widget is now going to fire the text depending on the outcome so if the answer selected is wrong the player will be able to try again and the text firing will be saying ‘Try again’, however, if it’s a correct answer then it will show ‘Well done' and trigger back to the main menu where the player can have another go at another story.

I have also been able to add a button to my ‘How to play’ section which will automatically transfer the player back to the main menu after clicking on it.

[fmpmarta]

Main menu

I have made the main menu today and I have been able to do it by getting guidance from a YouTube video and I actually managed to make it work. The first step was to create a new level which has been called MainMenu in my case. It was necessary to get Horizontal boxes and text boxes. Using the details option on the right side has been useful to transfer the text and make it the right size and placement. Also putting boxes in places in this way using canvas panel slot is crucial to place the boxes with the texts in the right places.

  In the graph, it is important to attach the blueprints to the already existing level, which is a level with my stories on it. The next step would be creating the triggers for the buttons for them to respond a certain way and trigger something. The is something that happens in the options graph since the main menu is now connected to another level with the stories. This process is easy and it’s also screenshotted below. For example, to start the game you will need to attach On Clicked to Open Level and there find a level name which will be the world with the stories, or to quite the game create On clicked and then Get Player Controller and then attach both to the Quit Game.

  The game is now functional and it works so that means I have been able to actually make something that works, without help. One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind... or something like that.

[fmpmarta]

Weekly target

At this point in the project I have still a few things I’d like to work on but I would like to sum up what I have currently. I have a full working game with all the stories I have written. All of them were added last week. 

The goal this week since I have managed to do all that I needed last week, and by that I mean I was able to complete the stories and put them into the unreal engine. For this week I’d like to change the appearance of the game I have, since in my feedback people said it looks to basic which I also agree with so I will be working on making it look better visually. 

This week I am going to try and change the way my game is looking, I’d like to make the game look more professional in a sense, as I still find it a bit boring looking and I am aiming to have the full game done and complete by the end of Wednesday.    

[fmpmarta]

Randomizing

The randomization has been now added to the game and what it does it is selecting randomly the sequence of the story so that each time a player wants to play the game they get to try and have a go at a different story.

  The branch is triggering for the game to actually set and select a sequence that will be triggered if the branch falls into a true. It is also possible for the game to go under a false where in this case it will set something completely different which could be made as a flip flop.

[fmpmarta]

‘pop-culture’ research

Coronavirus is the biggest international issue since 2020. Coronavirus has effected millions of people around the world physically but also mentally, I could easily say it goes into a category of paranoia for some people mainly because of the fear of getting it or eventually even dying.  Deepening depression or even anxiety could have been mainly caused by the lockdowns which has been rather unexpected for most people. 

There are also other issues resigned in the communities, mainly aiming at a curtain groups of people like fanbases or overall issues resigned within the society.  

One of the examples could be football and it’s the lunatic aggressiveness towards the players, especially people of color by the fans. The main issue is racism towards the players solely based on the players skills or the mistakes during the match. Purely the game is a team player game, meaning having more than one player is essential, in this blaming one person for a mistake is misleading as well as critiquing ones race or ethnicity which has completely nothing to do with anything especially not the game. 

One of the shows owned by Channel 5 has been recently cancelled due to being triggering on body image and body dysmorphia. The show is based on pointing out and analyzing plastic surgeries that has been done on a person. Person who has been targeted this time points out how immoral it is to even have such a show. For a people who have been struggling with self image and body dysmorphia it is hard to bounce back and have any type of recovery especially if these lead to anorexia or any eating disorder. The show called ‘Celebrities: What happened to you face’ has been officially cancelled due to being triggering but also due to causing further damage upon people who are on the show and those watching. 

[fmpmarta]

Narrative research

A narrative is a way of presenting connected events in order to create a good story. Either it’s a narrative essay, a biography or a novel, a narrative unites a story by the concept, idea and a plot.  Common types of narrative normally contain a beginning, middle and an end. Narrative has been around since the beginning of storytelling, from folk tales to ancient poetry. 

There are normally four different types of narrative writing which are;

Linear Narrative which is presenting the event's of the story in order of which it has actually happened. This can be achieved by any narrative perspective, be it first-person narration, second-person narration  or third person narration. Linear narrative writing is a way for the reader to be in the day to day life in protagonists life. The reader watches the event unfold in chronological order. 

Non-Linear Narrative is a story in which the events unfold without a particular order, which often include flashbacks and other devices to shift the chronology of the story.  A short story, novel or novella may fracture the the timeline of the story in order to empathize the emotional mindset of a personal narrative. 

Quest Narrative is a story which the protagonist works tirelessly toward a goal. The pursuit of this goal is likely to become the whole passion and focus for the protagonist while they will must face obstacles along the way.  In a lot of cases the pursuit of the goal is geographically remote and the character must go on a long journey to obtain it/achieve it. It associates with many dangerous territories the character must face  just like in The Witcher for example where Geralt and his ‘company’ goes through many obstacles and hardships to get to where he want to go.

Viewpoint Narrative is designed to express the points view or subjective personal experience of the main character or other fictional characters in the story. In viewpoint narrative writing, moods, feelings and other sensory details are filtered though the narrator’s own life and subjective point of the view.  In this narrative the narrator switches between the POVs and private thoughts of multiple central characters. The narrator in this is either deliberately deceptive or unintentionally misguided, forcing the reader to question their credibility as a story teller. As an example it is open to say that Lolita written by Vladimir Nabokov where the first-person narrative comes from Humber, a man who has been in a psychiatrics clinic multiple times and casts the entire story in a subjective, untrustworthy light. 

[fmpmarta]

Weekly reflection 03/04/20

Where are you at?

 I am currently at a point where I have three stories done for my game. The stories has been added to the Unreal engine already and I also made another on which is additional. 

What is your goal?

My goal is to complete the game over this week and the next. I would also like to achieve a good grade, at least a grade where I will get a merit which is a grade I need for my Uni course. I also want to make a game which will also make me at least a bit proud. I mean I’d like it to be more educational than ‘cool’ and ‘playful’. For this week I just simply want to complete all the blog work which I got a refer on and also put the stories I have made into the unreal engine.

Can you achieve this ?

I believe I can achieve this. It is important to stay on track and do the work which is essential. I am looking forward to see how my game will look at the end and what the end result will be. I am also sure I can do all of this for today. I will need to ask for a help from one of my teachers but I am sure I will get the help I need and will be able to achieve my goal for this week.

[fmpmarta]

Weekly target

I have been able to do complete my goals which I have set myself on Monday. The main issue was still time management however I feel like I am about to catch up with my blog word and in reality there isn’t much I have to do now so I should be able to complete by Monday the following week.

I have also been able to complete one of my stories however I still need one more so this task has been partially done looking at the circumstances. 

I am aiming to be also done with all my in depth feedback so I am planning on creating a new one next week. I need to apply more questions open and closed to my feedback. 

[fmpmarta]

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Thinking about Bloom’s taxonomy there is another pyramid that could be essentially used in a similar way yet a bit different since it is a bit different but it does fall under the category of psychology. The pyramid presents the five-tier model of human needs by Maslow who was a philosopher so his idea of human needs is not a fact but an opinion yet a lot of people seem to agree with the pyramid he has created.

 The lowest part which is the basic needs is called physiological needs which are essential things like food, water, warmth, and sleep.

Another form of a bit more advanced but still basic needs is Safety needs like security and safety also including financial ‘standards’.

 The next up column starts with the psychological needs which also possess two different rows on the pyramid. The first is belonging which is simply a sense of belonging like friends and family or love. 

The next up on that same category would fall esteem needs which is simply a feeling of accomplishment. 

The very last part of the pyramid which is also the peak of the pyramid is self-fulfillment needs which is self-actualization meaning achieving one's true potential. It is also important to mention how Maslow is pointing out the higher you go the possibility of being wealthy rises however our age does exactly the same. Could it be a link between claiming that people who are older are happier and fulfilled in their lives? I do not think it is the case. The idea of the pyramid is to suggest that if the rules of this pyramid have been actually acted upon, that it could lead to a fulfilling life and essentially happy life as a whole.  

[fmpmarta]

Bloom’s taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy has been applied by generations of K-12 teachers and collage instructors in their teaching. Bloom and his collaborators consisted of six major categories like knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. 

Each of these have are a form of spreading information, to other people, usually used for teachers in order to create a successful presentations or lessons. The first step is to remember which is recognizing and recalling facts. It circles around being able to define and even duplicate in order to prove the remembrance. 

The second ‘rule’ is to understand which is simply understanding what the facts mean and being able to describe them and classify, describe and explain. 

Apply is another rule in the Bloom’s taxonomy which mean that you should be able to apply the facts and rules or even the ideas of what you have previously remembered and understood.

Analyze is breaking down information into few parts and being able to solve, demonstrate and schedule as a next step in the ‘triangle’. 

One of the last placements on the Bloom’s taxonomy is evaluate which is the judgment of the values of the information or ideas and being able to judge, argue and defend whichever topic has been previously mentioned. 

The final step is to create which is combining parts to make a new whole, what it means is to produce new and original work. I has a few useful parts like design, conduct, develop, formulate and investigate which is initially what the definition of create is and should be as the end result.