Overseas Immersion Program

I am finally back in Singapore after the 12 weeks exchange program in DigiPen (Redmond). I realised that their teaching culture is different from Singapore as the teacher does not force the student to listen in class. The subsequent weeks after the first relaxing week has consecutively been hectic despite taking 4 modules. I did not have time to cook my meals, and the hours of sleep reduces. By the time the entire semester ended, I was exhausted.

Each game prototype assignment is 3 weeks long (1 week for planning) instead of 5 weeks, and it will be graded according to the rubric. The rubric is not properly explained to us because it did not specify some items and some terms were not described. Therefore, I took the risk in the final assignment by not having a lose state because it was not stated in the rubric. The professor penalised me for leaving it out.

I am most proud of my second assignment, which focuses on the element of sensation (Zen Rhino's Engagement Theory). Realising that my previous racing game idea has a big game-breaking flaw in it due to its core mechanic, I spent 1 week developing the game. You can find this game in my portfolio (Game Designer) and download it so that you can play it too.

Beat Box

Winter Break

I have completed the first semester of year 2 in DigiPen. There is 3 weeks break before Spring Semester (2016) begins. The next semester will be the most hectic semester as I will be taking 6 modules.

While creating the game in a team of 5, we experienced some communication issues as all of us have different working styles. The 3 of my team mates are very concerned about marks, whereas another team mate and I are more concerned about delivering a game which we are proud of. Despite our different sub goals, I believe that all of us has a common goal. That is, to create a successful game. No one in the team will want to do something which causes the game to fail.

After the end of the project, I was contemplating to change team as my team experienced a conflict and it is my first time experiencing a group conflict while creating a game. Changing group does not solve the problem, it is running away from the problem instead. A few days before Christmas, we met up with each other and expressed our concerns. By then, I have cooled off and decided to stay in this group and give it a second chance.

Non-digital Games

The lecturer has finally approved our Project and it now appears in the DigiPen Games Library.

Creating non-digital games is different from creating digital games. There are no controls, and the game logic is implemented in a different way. I will place one of non-digital games that my team and I have created, and I am most proud of as it scored full marks for the assignment.

2 Weeks Break

Summer term has finally ended! This summer term isn't as stressful as the previous semester because I took 4 modules. There will be a 2 week break before Fall Semester (2015) begins. I will be catching up on my rest and I think for my GAM, we will start to finalise the idea and start to prototype.

My team member and I have decided to put our CS Final Project into the DigiPen Games Library. Hence, we will be doing the game trailer during the break.

CS Final Project

It is almost the end of the game project. I learnt a lot of new things from this project from the design point, such as the 5 seconds walking rule. Adding obstacles in between will give the illusion that there are multiple routes to reach the end point.

I struggled while creating the combo system for the player as I did not know which combo system I should follow. In the end, I followed Little Fighter 2 as that is the only combo system game I played.

In the first 5 weeks of the project, we were just implementing the systems and no level design. During the last 2 weeks, we were focusing on the level design and bug fixing.

CS Final Project: Introduction

For the final project, we will need to create a polished top-down adventure game similar to the Zelda 2D series. We will be in teams of 2 to implement the whole game from scratch in Unity. Art and audio assets will be provided. We must implement a unique feature in the game, something that makes that game different from the others, besides implementing the mandatory features. The lecturers will be marking on both the design and programming.

Year 1 Cleared

These 3 months (January - April) has been the most hectic week for me as there were 7 modules, the most number modules my course has to take. After year 1, I can choose which modules to take during the summer break and I have chosen to take 4 modules that were offered. Before the summer classes begins, I had a 1 week break.

Marketing Materials

I have been looking forward to creating a team logo and apply what I have learnt during my art lessons. Also, I wanted to feel how it is like to create a font and logo of my own. When the producer allowed me to design the team logo, I was excited and overjoyed. Luckily, the producer was contented with the design of the team logo and I was glad.

The producer and I stayed up till midnight just to do the trailer of the game as the rest of the team members can't even be bothered to help. After he has recorded the game, he passed me the videos and told me to timestamp it. While he was integrating the videos and adding suitable music into it, I thought of the text and added effects to it to make it more interesting.

After watching the video trailer for our game, I feel that our hard work has been paid off as the trailer looks interesting to the point that I do not mind rewatching it over again.

In the midst of creating the game

I have created a 3D game instead of a 2D game in Unity to challenge myself. In the process of creating a 3D game in Unity, I have learnt that it is much harder as I have to take into account of the z-axis. Since my game requires mouse, unlike 2D, raycasting is much different and complex.

There is loads of drama going on in my group which caused the removal of certain features and not being able to polish some parts of the game. At first, there was a change in producer as he was not doing his work at all. Then, the lead programmer suddenly didn't want to work on the project and gave sloppy work due to some childish reasons. In the end, the team only consists of me and the producer and, the producer has to do their work.

3 Weeks Break

It has been a hectic week for me, especially during the last week of November and the first 2 weeks of December. During the first week of December, I have to submit 5 assignments. During the second week of December, I sat for my final exams (4 papers). Therefore, it was a tiring 2 weeks for me as I did not have enough sleep. Now, I am having a 3 weeks break and will begin semester 2 on 5 January 2015.

I will put the game which I created recently in my portfolio. Next semester, my classmate I will be creating another 2D game using Unity. Happy Holidays!

GAM 100: Project Introduction

In this post, I will tell you about my first university game project. Since I have programming background, I am the lead programmer of this game. Another good reason that I am the lead programmer is the programming language which I use while developing the game - C++ Language. As I have been create a handful of games using this language during the 3 years of my polytechnic, I have to take on the role of being a lead programmer as I guide 2 group member of mine in their first attempt of programming.

Name of game: BRYK
Genre: Puzzle platformer
Description: The player has to destroy the coloured bricks using the coloured guns which she is wielding. However, it won't be easy as the player needs to dodge the bullets while firing at the bricks. Also, a red gun that shoots red bullets can only destroy red bricks. The player has to use this concept and do the same for the other bricks. In order to complete the level, the player needs to destroy the King Brick which is coloured in white using any gun.

Midterm Exam

It is week 7 and I will be having my midterms this week. There is one course which I always look forward to - game design. I get to play different games every week and analyse its design. Unlike my polytechnic life, I have lesser free time in university.

I will post about the game project which 2 of my group mates and I have been working on in the next post.

DigiPen Life Begins

Currently, I am studying at DigiPen and 3 weeks has passed so quickly. I have stayed back till quite late just to complete the assignment, and this means that I have lesser amount of free time. Although some lessons do not start at 9am, I follow my timetable that is shown below:

~6pm: Lesson end
~8pm: Reach home
~10pm: Lights out
~7am: Wake up

DigiPen has great professors, who have loads of experience working at big game companies (i.e. Ubisoft). They are very encouraging too! This is my first time feeling so excited and love studying in a school as I would do my homework without complains.

After much thought and planning, I have decided to be an environmental designer.  I think that I have finally found my dream, that is, being a game designer.

DigiPen Acceptance

DigiPen Institute of Technology accepted me and I am preparing the documents which need to be submitted in order to be enrolled in SIT. My programme of study will be BA in Game Design.

Currently, I am working on a Unity project for android/IOS devices as a freelance job.