Coding errors and new bat

 This week Unity, the program I am using to create my level in the game, was acting weird, and I had to delete some of my progress because my coding scripts were not complete, and the program was not wanting to work with unfinished scripts. During this process, I realized that I have to have my bat begin coding the bat movement within the game to start. I thought I had a bat asset already downloaded from the program's free store, but I did not, so I took the time with some help; we got the bat drawn from scratch and uploaded it onto unity. I will include the bat drawings below. I have started coding the bat movement now and have to work more on my background images to add more layers and depth. After I saw our bat drawing come to life, I got really excited, and I am so eager to see the progress with this level; I want to take time in the summer to keep this process moving. 

Background paper and ideas

 This week the background paper was due so it took most of my time as well as how hectic getting assignments done has been. I have come up with more planning ideas for the game; when I was planning, writing, and editing my research paper rough draft, It sparked new ideas for how I will test my research. I want to use my family and close friends to research the game when it is done. Due to COVID, I cannot really ask anyone else to help with research. So far, I have started reading more articles on conducting the research and keeping track of it. The atrticles I have been reading describe that there is already a lot of research proving video games enhance cognitive abilities and help learn more than traditional methods, but not many tests using a video game than traditional learning. It is more simulation and apps. I am excited to start building the game but I know building and coding is a tedious process; it will be a long process. Regardless I am ready. Below is a picture of the tools I will be using to conduct research, drawn terribly by myself. 

Slow progress

 Honestly, this week has been hectic; all of a sudden, I am behind in a class, and my entire schedule gets thrown off. It has been stressful trying to divide up time evenly because I have had to dedicate more time to the class I am behind in. This week in terms of the game, I have not done anything on the program, but I researched how to get started on editing my background. I want to insert multiple pictures and layers to the background instead of one image. I want to insert the night sky on the top portions of the game scene and then at the bottom have a dirt road or actual road. I have some coding experience, and I started researching that you can use code scripts to edit a background scene's dimensions on the game. I thought it was only through the Unity platform, but no, there is a lot of coding involved to edit the game scene. 

image from: https://answers.unity.com/questions/620699/scaling-my-background-sprite-to-fill-screen-2d-1.html

Level Foundation

This week I have taken more time to actually begin the process of establishing the foundation of the level of the game. I already had planned on how it was going to look at the beginning of the game, and I decided that it would begin with the bat flying at night time. I downloaded night sky bat assets and started coding the foundation of the game. I started making the 3 basic game objects that are basically like the foundation of the game, starting with the main focus on appearance. I added the night sky background with some cloud detail. I am still thinking of adding the moon to be visible in the entire game or to be visible only in the beginning. I got the night sky from the free assets I downloaded within the unity asset store; unity is the program we are using for the game. Surprisingly, actually building the foundation takes more time than I thought it would. A LOT of components go into the game, such as how big the actual screen the user will be looking at. We have to input actual dimensions. By today, I input some dimensions of how big the game scene will be, input the background photo, create the code basic test code script that will be run to see if the script is working in the game. I am posting a screenshot of the background photo set into the game below. 

Background paper and outage

 This week has been crazy overall. The highlight of this mess that we have been experiencing is that we had an extra week of spring break. Monday was hectic because I, probably like many other students, stressed due dates and how my classes would progress. I got myself organized on Monday, and all my teachers have been. Pushing back the due dates by a week or longer has lifted a massive weight off my shoulders. I dedicated more time to the background paper and finished my assignments on time, with other work being pushed back. I did not develop anything yet; it mainly wrote reports, researched, planned, and played with the environment. Next week I want to dedicate more time to the actual game solely. I have a lot of plans to start creating the game and how I want it to look. 

image from: https://www.pexels.com/photo/adult-blur-books-close-up-261909/ 

Midterm week before Spring Break

 This week has been hectic with midterms and huge point assignments. I had one midterm today that had my brain tired for hours. I have another exam tomorrow, and a 100 point journal assignment which I know will take me all day, but it will make me enjoy spring break more. This week I have just been aware of the feedback I received on my proposal; I put it in a document to go back and make the changes. In terms of the research project, I downloaded the unity file version that josh made the batmon game with, so I start adding things and downloading the material I need. I have started looking at assets in the asset store within unity and searching for programs to create sprites or things like cactuses, rocks, and other background materials I need for my game level. I have looked through tutorials for help in maneuvering the unity program. I have also started to write ideas for what I want the game to have. As of now, I want to find a way to include a small note-like page before the game starts with very brief but informative information on my chosen bat for the reader to get to know the bat before playing the game. The game level will be focused on my chosen bat and the user will pass the level by avoiding the correct predators, obstacles, using echolocation to feed, and the right places to rooster. Basically, this week has been about beginning to be comfortable with the unity platform and planning the game specifications since last week was all research. Not much time was spent on getting to know the platform. 

Research Proposal and research progress

 This week, I spent time researching on the bat that will be my focus for the game level. I picked Townsend's big-eared bat, the scientific name for it is Corynorhinus townsendii. This bat in particular interested me because I have never seen a big-eared bat I am used to seeing the typical bats on television and shows that are usually black or dark brown, with small pointy ears, and a big nose or mouth. The bat I chose is the opposite, it has long ears that when extended can reach to be about half of its body length and they have pale gray or brown fur. They have a similar habitat to other bats, caves. The Townsend bat is native to Arizona and throughout the western united states. Surprisingly, they can fly 6 to 13 miles per hour. They do have predators but are hard to be captured because when they fly they are really good at dodging, hovering, and landing perfectly to get upside down and sleep. An article I was reading mentioned that humans have trouble capturing this type of bat because of how smart they are at dodging objects and flying so well. I thought it was how hard it is to capture them. No one truly knows how beneficial bats can be for the ecosystem and humans, which I hope is proven in my presentation as much as I can and the game itself. 

 image is from https://www.lcrmscp.gov/species/pale_townsend_big_eared.html 

Game development cycle and bat research

 This week, I made a PowerPoint on the game development cycle, a slide for each stage, and each stage's key outcome. Phillip, Josh, and I met this week for our weekly meeting, and we discussed what research we have to begin for our individual papers. We have to research information on bats, know everything we can about them, the importance of bats' education, and how they benefit the environment. I have found some articles on different bats, their habitats, bats native to Arizona, and the importance of educating the youth on bats. Bats have a terrible reputation with the public when, in reality, they are very beneficial. I have yet to read through them and take notes. I also have to develop a research question by next week to begin the research for my paper. I have to make my research question on bats and all the information I have collected. 

gamedevelopmentcyclepdf.pdf

Batmon game research

 Josh and I decided I will try to complete a level for the Batmon game. I have so far created the unity account for the platform we will be using to develop the game. This week has been mainly research on game development life cycles, how video games are made in 2D and how we can use them to motivate students. The game development life cycle is a tricky one. It starts at initiation, which is deciding the type of game the developer wishes to make. Next comes the pre-production phase, where it can be a handwritten kind of outline on how it will look and work. After the pre-production phase comes the production phase, where the essential elements as well as source code and programming is done for the game. From what I have read the production phase can take a while. After production comes the testing phase, to see if there are any bugs, and if so to fix them. Although, if there are are a lot of errors in the testing phase it can bring us back to the pre-production phase. After the testing phase is successful, the beta phase comes next.The beta phase is like the testing phase as it is mainly reviewers testing it and seeing if there are more ways to improve it or bugs the developer has missed. Finally, comes the release phase the final phase in the cycle. In the release phase, the cycle is not exactly complete as there could be additions added onto the game, more bug fixing, and then there has to be advertising and management of the game. 

Image from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Proposed-GDLC-model-It-consists-of-6-development-phases-Production-cycle-consists_fig2_271548605