Feedback Strategies

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Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset

In this article they talk about how thinking of your feedback as a mirror can be helpful in how the critisism will be taken on.

to focus on what is there and not what isn't "a mirror stays focused on what is in front of it, A mirror cannot reflect back what is not there". You are asked to focus on the process and the work that was put into the work instead of what its missing.

How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk

In this article they talk about faults in the "Compliment sandwich" approach to feedback which is "Put a slice of praise on the top and the bottom, and stick the meat of your criticism in between".

the positives fall on deaf ears. When people hear praise during a feedback conversation, they brace themselves. They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it makes the opening compliment seem insincere. You didn’t really mean it; you were just trying to soften the blow.

Instead of this you don't need to compliment or say something nice if you dont mean it.

1. Explain why you’re giving the feedback

now you sound as if you have their best interest at heart instead of just plain criticism.

2. Take yourself off a pedestal 

“I’ve benefited a lot from people giving me feedback, and I’m trying to pay that forward.”

3. Ask if the person wants feedback

They may not even want it.

4. Have a transparent dialogue, not a manipulative monologue

“I have some negative feedback to give you. I’ll start with some positive feedback to relax you, and then give you the negative feedback, which is the real purpose of our meeting. I’ll end with more positive feedback so you won’t be so disappointed or angry at me when you leave my office.”

GAME IDEA RESEARCH

So to start off, here is what I was previously researching to do with my game ideas:

Computer role playing game
Platform game
Racing game
Shooter game

Im choosing to further research and develop ideas for a platform game as i have played these sort of games growing up and have a better understanding of them rather than choosing a game i would have less experience on.
I like the idea of doing a single screen platform game like games such as Donkey Kong.

So Typically the objectives for that game is to climb to the top while avoiding the barrels and enimies.

once the single screen objective is complete the player moves on to a different screen or stays on the same screen, but in both cases, the objective and goals for that next screen typically become more challenging.

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My idea for a single screen:

I was thinking of a game where the player controls a mouse with a gun and they are tying to collect cheese at the highest platform while avoiding roaming cats by jumping over them or shooting and climbing up to the next platform.

Game Mechanics i could use:

http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/learning-game-design-mechanics/

Physics: The player falls when they miss a jump or is killed by a enemy.

Tactical manuvering: The player has to jump to avoid enemies.

Level remains locked until a player successfully completes the previous level: The player will only advance to a harder level when they reach the top of the game map.

Unity Tutorial 02

This was difficult.

In the first tutorial i was taught how to import a sound object through an audio and FX folders.
The code for collecting the gem was complicated for me to make the gem play the noise and disappear but i copied exactly what jimmy said and i got it to work in the end although i'm not completely sure about the mechanics behind it all.
Next i made a box collider and jimmy also spoke about mesh colliders, which make the object disappear script relate to you touching off the gem with your character.
He was confusing me when he spoke about referencing the object, he seemed confused himself as to  why the script didn't work when you put in "this" referring to the object. I ending up using the code that works for him which references the gem and i had no problems with that. 

Then i moved on to making my little pond of water using the prefabs and dipping the terrain to create a space for the water to go which worked out nicely and was simple enough to create.
After that i worked on making my box into a wall by stretching it out and applying wall texture to it with the normal map texture i made from the assets, and i also was able to duplicate the wall which i can see saving me lots of time in the future! 
With the rock texture i played around and tried blending for the first time, i found it to be difficult to get a nice blend even with the lowest opacity but i personally think the textures really didn't blend well to start with. I also was able to add shadows now, i like the big difference shadows made to my world and how simplistic it is because its built into unity there is no code involved and you gotta love that! 

In the second tutorial i explored UI elements. 
I made the curser which defines where we look in the game and focus where we go by using canvas. I liked this addition i made mine a white diamond and it made walking around in my game less confusing and really focused my attention to the centre.
Then i started with the ray cast element. I learned that this is a way of defining how far away the object your looking at is from the player.
i made a player casting script, but i didn't quite understand the terminology he used about how he can reference this script in others by making it a "static variable". The ray cast worked in the end and i got it to show me how far objects are away from my player. 
I thought this was the hardest tutorial so far and im still quite confused on how i got some things to work which annoyed me because i would rather know how so i can do it again when  i need it for my own game.

Game Elements

We need a shared language of game design.

cat

From what I've read, i understand that game designing is more progressive using tools by which we can analyse and design the games. This really made sense to me "After all, how can you design a game if you don’t know how all the different parts fit together?"
When i design my game it would be helpful to think of it as a system, when designing you must give thought to the elements or "tools" of design and make sure that each is a deliberate choice. Elements are interrelated, and changing one can affect others. 
https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-3-dot-1-atomic-elements-of-games

This is a summary i did for these elements/tools:

Players

Solitaire

“PvE”

One-against-many

Free-for-all 

Separate individuals (against the system)

Team competition 

Predator-Prey.

Five-pointed Star.

Objectives (goals)

Capture/destroy.

Territorial control.

Collection.

Solve. 

Chase/race/escape

Spatial alignment

Build

Negation of another goal.

Rules

operational (xs and os), constituative ( abstract, 3 to 15), and implied

Resources and Resource Management

Territory in RISK

Number of questions remaining in Twenty Questions

Objects that can be picked up in video games (weapons, powerups)

Time (either game time, or real time, or both)

Known information (as the suspects that you have eliminated in Clue)

Game State

 what are rules, but the means by which the game is transformed from one game state to another?

Information

A few games offer total information, where all players see the complete game state at all times. Chess and Go are classic board game examples.Games can include some information that is private to each individual

Sequencing

In what order do players take their actions? How does play flow from one action to another?

turn based

simultanious turn based

real time

Player Interaction

Direct conflict 

Negotiation 

Trading 

Information sharing 

Theme (Narrative, Backstory, Setting)

the setting provides an emotional connection to the game. I find it hard to really care about the pawns on my chessboard the way I care about my Dungeons & Dragons character. And while this doesn’t necessarily make one game “better” than another, it does make it easier for a player to become emotionally invested in the game.

emotion. 

a well-chosen theme can make a game easier to learn and easier to play, because the rules make sense. 

Games as Systems

 When designing a game, give thought to each of these elements, and make sure that each is a deliberate choice.

elements are interrelated, and changing one can affect others. 

https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/four-elements-of-game-design-1--cms-22720

I find these tools very helpful to keep in mind and refer back to during the designing process as a critical analysis.

Critical analysis is making use of the elements, how they relate and work together and finally why the designer chose those elements and not others.

Im trying to understand types of games and analyse them this way.

I read that its easier to understand the game when you've played it, I want to put this into practice and throughout the game to keep questioning the designer in relation to their choices to benefit from it and learn from their uses of the tools.

https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-3-dot-2-critical-analysis-of-games?module_item_id=44530