After 3 modules I finally discovered how to add sprites to sorting groups so they won’t clip over each other! This means that my characters can now be on a set layer without me having to change each piece of them (Unity Technologies 2022a).
I also learnt about the Get component so that the animator on the sea bunny can work with the player movement script.
UI research
I realised some of my playtesting feedback related to the affordances mentioned in The gamers brain when I was researching UI. Specifically, the physical affordances. I had a player mention that they didn’t notice the button in the middle of the screen, as they were reading the text below. Making this button large enough and close enough for the player to notice once they were done reading improved this (Hodent 2018:179).
I believe there are other areas mentioned in the book I will need to consider more in-depth when I finish making the demo – These include perception and motivation. I will need to work on knowing my audience and their expectations, as they may not include as many regular gamers (Hodent 2018:92), as well as making sure the meaning and sense of purpose enhancing the motivation (Hodent 2018:94).
More sounds (A list of potential sounds which may or may not end up being used)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kJVcI8SlCY clownfish ref
https://freesound.org/people/MATRIXXX_/sounds/448743/ underwater click noise
https://freesound.org/people/Leszek_Szary/sounds/171583/menu speech click?
https://freesound.org/people/Leszek_Szary/sounds/171584/ gentle click
https://freesound.org/people/Leszek_Szary/sounds/171639/
https://freesound.org/people/Leszek_Szary/sounds/171644/
https://freesound.org/people/METKIR/sounds/629534/ more spooky effect
Playtesting
My notes while watching them play
Wanted to turn camera to look at anemone
Wanted to talk to characters that didn’t have words
Characters head went through building
Didn’t notice give button for anemone or parrotfish
Buttons are broken again!
Gap by Parrot house
Loves the watercolour
Make character skip when they have more fish
Wafty coral in background
Munching noise for fish
Another low door in intersection
House needs to be coloured after giving zoo
Maybe hints to go back and give to main person on street?
If player can get too many they can pick branch, which makes the rest unobtainable
As my mentor mentioned, it’s very useful having extra time scheduled after a playtesting session so I can go around fixing all the bugs and stuff I’ve seen. I will continue to do this even when we finish, as I continue development.
I think I need to prioritize so I get the most important parts done before submission. This would mean getting g the coral information in and making sure the menus are accessible, as well as disabling the multiple jump on the main character. Could also start thinking about the video, and how to structure it.
I am slightly behind in this sprint so far, I should have had the UI sorted by now.
I am also thinking about changing the playtest feedback questions. Although I received less answers than I had hoped, they gave a brief overview. However, I think that using the Schell questions as I did last project (Schell Games 2017), might provide me with more insight. I feel that more areas I didn’t expect got mentioned when I did the playtesting this way previously, so I would like to change my playtesting questionnaire before the project finishes.
Colours
Lighting
I intend to make the lighting using the same colours from the palette too, with the exception of the starfish street, which is designed to more purple and spooky.
Timekeeping
So that I can more accurately estimate how much time I will need once I finish the demo and move on to fully developing the game, I have been using a site to keep track of all the different aspects to work on. This has been very helpful, and I will continue using this for the remainder of the project and beyond.
UI elements
Using the Game UI database provided inspiration for my coral menus (Coates 2022). These games use large images as choices, which would fit well with close-ups of the coral polyps.
Text for speech bubbles
Corals are animals which have tiny tentacles to catch their food with.
Intro text wip:
‘A Coral is actually made up of hundreds of tiny animals called coral polyps! The ones called stony coral polyps attach themselves to rocks by secreting limestone, and eventually grow into huge coral reefs like this.
Our reef isn’t looking too great at the minute though…
See, the coral polyps can’t survive on their own. They need to work together with microscopic algae called zooxanthellae which live in their tissues. These algae give the coral their colour.
But when the water temperature changed, the corals got stressed, and expelled all their zooxanthellae! That’s called coral bleaching, and it’s why they’re all white now.’
Menu text wip:
Table corals: Their large horizontal shape ensures their zooxanthellae get plenty of light. They also provide cover for larger fish!
Pillar corals: They can reach up to 2 metres in height, reducing the energy of storm surges near the shore. They don’t have any secondary branches, like branched corals do.
(Zoological Society of London 2022) and (Marhaver 2015)
Branching corals: Easily recognisable, they provide cover for many different fishes. They are can grow quite quickly but can be fragile.
(Helgason 2018)
“As corals try to rebuild, they compete for space with seaweed. Colorful parrotfish graze on seaweed, which gives corals more room to grow and repopulate” (WWF 2019).
Post-processing
Making the research question questionnaire:
The beginning will be similar to the questions used in the Minecraft coral conservation class (Hobbs et al. 2020). This is to determine how much the player knew about coral before playing and whether the player has an increase in knowledge after.
Relating my final questionnaire to the human nature interactions such as knowledge acquisition and likelihood to engage in sharing of information over social media should be included too (Silk et al. 2021).
In this example of a questionnaire used before and after families visited a tourism site, two similar versions of the same question are used before and after the experience. “Hence, the question asking “how often does your family participate in public land/water clean-up activities?” became “how much do you agree with the statement: Our visit has made us more likely to participate in public land/water clean-up activities?” Using the same level of specificity for intentions and behaviour was considered important because this maximises the chances of intentions predicting behaviour (Sutton, 1998). Predictive power is also enhanced if the number of response categories for intentions and behaviour are equal (Sutton, 1998); consequently, all measures of intentions and behaviour used five-point Likert-type scales. Behavioural intentions were further explored by asking respondents to indicate on a seven-point scale (1 = not at all to 7 = a great deal) how much their intentions to engage in conservation practices had changed as a result of the Mon Repos experience” (Hughes 2013). Results were also recorded using a Likert scale, which I can continue adapting from my previous form.
The forms themselves can be accessed from the Itch.Io page, for the players ease of use.
Part 1: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSecBHoq6PGUWEth6IzhAuUj6S1YyC4_enwWH8TYn7sXljGdHA/viewform?usp=sf_link
Part 2: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXBssFfzkrpbpd715iVYKhHZ95LDNDA46u1swxSghQHwUOEQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Sprint reflection
It was a very productive sprint, although the amount of polishing required is still slightly daunting! Playtesting has been exceptionally helpful, especially when it is in person and I can watch how the player goes through the level making notes alongside. The amount of small suggestions that could improve the experience need recording. I’ve found writing lists with these tasks and ticking them off very satisfying. I was also very inspired by being a play tester for my mentor and seeing how much she had set up for her game along with all the different mechanics. I hope one day I can create a game on the same scale!
I feel I am still not confident at creating the design for the UI, despite having researched the interfaces used in other games. I have tried to keep it simple for the submission, but this is an area I will definitely need to improve on further when I continue development after finishing.
References:
COATES, Edd. 2022. ‘Game UI Database’. Game UI Database [online]. Available at: https://www.gameuidatabase.com/ [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
COOLERS.CO. n.d. ‘Create a palette – Coolors’. Coolers [online] Available at: https://coolors.co/bca79a-534c32-8e8788-9e7a63-d4a471 [Accessed 15 October 2022].
HELGASON, Nicole. 2018. ‘INTRODUCTION to BRANCHING CORALS of the INDO-PACIFIC’. Scubadiverlife [online]. Available at: https://scubadiverlife.com/introduction-branching-corals-indo-pacific/ [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
HOBBS, Laura et al. 2020. ‘Exploring Coral Reef Conservation in Minecraft’. Primary Science 9(162), [online], 27. Available at: https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/147530/1/Hobbs_et_al.pdf [accessed 20 Jul 2022].
HODENT, Celia. 2018. The Gamer’s Brain : How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game Design. Boca Raton, Fl: Crc Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
HUGHES, Karen. 2013. ‘Measuring the Impact of Viewing Wildlife: Do Positive Intentions Equate to Long-Term Changes in Conservation Behaviour?’ Journal of Sustainable Tourism 21(1), [online], 42–59. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/09669582.2012.681788?scroll=top&needAccess=true [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
MARHAVER, Kristen. 2015. ‘Birds Do It, Bees Do It, Even Coral Species Do It’. BMC Series Blog [online]. Available at: https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2015/03/16/coral/ [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
SCHELL GAMES. 2017. ‘The Definitive Guide to Playtest Questions’. Schell Games [online]. Available at: https://schellgames.com/blog/the-definitive-guide-to-playtest-questions/ [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
SILK, Matthew et al. 2021. ‘The Implications of Digital Visual Media for Human–Nature Relationships’. People and Nature 3(6), [online], 1130–7. Available at: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10284 [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
TOGGL. 2022. ‘Toggl Track’. track.toggl.com [online]. Available at: https://track.toggl.com/timer [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
UNITY TECHNOLOGIES. 2022a. ‘Unity – Manual: Sorting Groups’. docs.unity3d.com [online]. Available at: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/class-SortingGroup.html [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
WWF. 2019. ‘Coral Triangle | Places | WWF’. World Wildlife Fund [online]. Available at: https://www.worldwildlife.org/places/coral-triangle [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 2022. ‘Pillar Coral’. EDGE of Existence [online]. Available at: http://www.edgeofexistence.org/species/pillar-coral/ [accessed 8 Nov 2022].
Miranda 