This week I restarted at university doing Studio 2 this time, I learnt quite a lot throughout Studio 1 about game development and project management. Specifically about how to brainstorm ideas for games, how to pivot throughout development and that smaller and more polished scopes are generally better than large scopes. I was able to create really cool games that I even surprised myself, Nick and I were able to develop ‘I Really Need This Job‘ which I was extremely happy with, and got good feedback when presenting it to the general public. Throughout the trimester I learnt how to work with other people in groups and in a cohort, asking and answering questions that other people or myself might have. With that result, I was hoping to continue working on IRNTJ throughout Studio 2 and use the techniques and skills that I will learn to improve the game and release it on Android/iOS. In addition to this, over the break during the Make-a-Thing game jam, Victor, Aline, Paul and I worked on Crowd Control, a crowd-surfing endless runner game which got mentioned in the PC Gamer – Free Games of the Week, This is another game that I wish to continue work on and continually improve for an eventual release on the Android/iOS store.
Artificial Intelligence
The term AI is often thrown about when it comes to games when we hear AI we often think about a robust computer that is continually making decisions relevant to the player’s actions and adapting to it. However, since researching more about the topic and studying about making games, I’ve found that it’s more about tricking the player into thinking that the AI is extremely intelligent. For example, the ghost AI for Pacman was thought to have certain personalities and behaves accordingly but I know now that it’s simply that the ghosts follow different rules that reinforce that behaviour.
Blinky (The Red Ghost) – known as the most aggressive ghost will relentlessly chase down the player. This is done by simply making Pacman the target for which the ghost will continually follow and chase down.
Pinky (The Pink Ghost) – known as the speedy one, seemingly able to catch up and cut the player off wherever they go. This is done by making the target for Pinky a number of steps in from the place where the player is facing.
Inky (The Blue Ghost) – known as the erratic and unpredictable ghost, the player being unable to predict where Inky will be going. This is done by setting the target for Inky relative to a location in front of Pacman and a few steps in the opposite direction of the current position of the Blinky.
Clyde (The Orange Ghost) – known as confused or ignorant, will often be wandering on his own away from Pacman. This is done by using Pacman as his target and when he is 8 tiles away from Pacman his target switches to the corner.
Therefore giving these ghosts logical and simple rules, the illusion of personality was given to each of the ghosts. Throughout this trimester I want to learn more methods that allow me to give simple code or behavioural solutions to games that give the illusion of intelligent AI.
Maths and Algorithms
Maths and curves are used throughout games to determine stats and damage and so many other things, it is extremely useful and changes the way that the game functions, it allows for non-linear and more interesting gameplay. I haven’t been able to see how developers apply to these formulas and algorithms and curves into the game but I do want to know. In one of my games IRNTJ, the scoring system currently is not that great and I want it to curve out so that the score is not so linear. There are many things to learn throughout studio 2 on this topic and I hope that I can apply them to my current and future games.
Studio 2
From my initial impression of the first lesson, it seems as though the study and work throughout the studio will be extremely technical. I hope to learn more technical skills that will help me improve my current and future games as well as learn fundamental techniques for solving programming problems. My aim this trimester is to learn more of the skills and techniques that I require to fulfil my role as a programmer.
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