Monday, April 13th

Class Hours: 10:05 – 2:40
Mr. Bohmann | wbohmann@ewsd.org

10:05 Today’s Notes & Attendance

Welcome to Week 28
Happy Belated Birthday to Sebastian, next up…Lion
Vacation begins on Saturday, April 18th – April 26th
Design/Skills Week this week
- Monday – Instructional Day
- Tuesday – Design Skills Day
- Wednesday – Design Skills Day (animations due for judging)
- Thursday – Design/Skills Presentations
- Friday = OVR coming to showcase games & “smell”
A little news from the FAA

10:10 Monday Morning Mail

10:11 Unity & Game Loops and Game Mechanics

Learning Objectives for today…

Identify the “Core Mechanic” (the primary verb) of any given game
Diagram a “Core Game Loop” to show how actions lead to rewards and progression
Analyze how mechanics support the loop in popular titles

Every game has a core game mechanic. In a platform game this is usually jumping (SuperMario) or in CSGo it is shooting. The core mechanic is an purposeful interaction that happens most frequently. What’s Flappy Bird’s Mechanic? Halo – running, jumping and….shooting – the shooting is a major part of the core of the game – If you couldn’t shoot in Halo, it would be no different than a first person Sonic the Hedgehog.

Think of the Core Mechanic of a game as the “verb”

Most well thought out games have a core game loop. Every action and feature set is fed back into this core loop. For example, in Sea of Thieves you explore a open world, plunder ships and amass your fortune.

Think of the Core Game Loop as the ecosystem that keeps you playing. It’s the “Why” behind the “Verb.” (action – reward – growth)

In Don’t Starve you explore, collect food, shelter and try to keep yourself alive by not freaking out (losing your mind), getting sick or starving. The core loop has a night and day cycle. Crafting is a core mechanic.

One of the best ways to figure out what a game is all about is to sit down and play some. Let’s do just that. BaseAttackForce Slither, GeometryDash and then take a stab and identifying what the game is all about. Let’s do this together. We’ll spend 5 minutes with each game. And – one wild card game….

10:50 Morning Break (10 minutes)

11:00 One Button Games & Environmental Run Throughs

You work for a hard-core gaming company called GAWD Industries. The sole purpose of the company is to make money by creating simple and addicting games. The Management wants ideas for a game that can only have one button as the main interaction.

Wild Metal Country is a vintage Rockstar game released in 1999 – Yes, before you were born. This is a classic one button game. In Wild Metal Country the firing of a projectile happens on the release of the button. This has an important effect on the player. They will know that once they have pressed down the button they are committed to firing at some point in the future (or jumping their tank in this game). With the added element of trajectory involved, there are the mechanics for a simple skill based game.

Your Task: Write a game proposal for your best one button game. Include:

Game Title
Game Genre
Overview: the basics of the game
Rules
Setting
Challenges
Core Game Loop – what is the main thing you do (loot, bomb, snipe)
Game Mechanics – what is the primary mechanic that feeds back to the loop
Victory Conditions

Create your One Button Game Proposal on a Google Doc or Google Slide. You can organize your document as you see fit – and it might be easiest to follow my bullets above as the topic for each of your slides. Spelling, grammar and punctuation count! Have someone proofread your proposal. Make sure you have a complete and well thought out proposal.
Title it: GAWD Industries – One Button and Submit in Google Classroom. – Due Wednesday, April 29th -which is after Break.

11:55 Lunch

*Creative Commons Attribution 4.0* – Animal Style Burgers from In-n-Out

12:25 Unity IRC Practice Session

Let’s tackle the practice test and see how we are doing now that we’ve been working in Unity for awhile. The test you’ll be working through is the Unity Artist Test Practice (Teacher Made). Look up answers for questions you do not know.