Journal Entry #1

10.3.2021 - First steps in Unity - 5-6 hours

Wednesday was the day. The day I started this project.

After Tuesday when I explored the Karting Microgame and watched the tutorials I was excited about exploring the Unity more. So I move onto the next step on self-study list, modifying the Platformer Microgame. After the initial download of the microgame I completed the basic tutorial and was ready for the advanced stuff.  In the paragraphs bellow I will cover my experience with each of the tutorials and how I utilized the things I learned in them. For each of the tutorial I will also provide a link to its web page. So let's get started! :)

Billboard Face (link)

This tutorial is pretty good. Instructions are clear and you can add your own images into the game.

Since I'm pretty shy the idea of putting my face into the game was kinda terrifying. Instead I came up with a briliant plan. I will use the billboards in order to show some instructions to the player. So I headed into MS Paint and made a few sketches that I placed into the billboards. After a few rounds of testing and repainting  I was pretty happy with them. You may argue that MS Paint is not the best software to use for such thing but I wanted to make these graphics quick and in the end I'm happy with the non-professional vibe they provide.  

Name the game (link)

This tutorial is not in the top condition and I will tell you why.

First it explains how to change the name of the game in the menu. It also teaches you how to change the font. But in the extra section it suggests that you could change the Content text without telling you how to do that. I think that it's pretty confusing. What it helps is the fact that one of the users commented on the tutorial about how to do that.

This step also led to a big decision. How to name the game? Sometimes I came up with good name pretty quickly, but sometimes it takes me a day or two. I'm glad that this was the first situation. As I was about to change the name I thought "What if I just set the main character's color to purple and just name it Purple's Crazy Adventure?". I liked that idea and sticked to it. I think it's simple yet nice name that sets up the main theme of the game perfectly. I also changed the titles color to purple and rephrased the Content texts. I didn't change the font since I think the default one is good.

A splash of colors (link)

This tutorial shows you how to change the sprite of the asset + introduce you to materials. I think thats great because you can now customize the world as you like.

I checked all the sprites and choosed the ones that I think suits the world best. It's not some crazy (contrary to the game's title :D) splash of colors. It is decent, normal color design. One could say that it lacks any creativity, but I like it this way since I want it to look somewhat natural.

I also experimented with the materials. Some of them are pretty interesting but in the end I think that the world looks best without them. But maybe I will use them on something else in the future. Because I think they easily let you change the appearance of the assets.

Add trails (link)

This tutorial teaches you how to add trail to the main character of your game.

You are presented 3 different predefined trails, which you can add to your character and further customize them. I chose the LongTrail because it looks best. And of course I changed it's color to purple. I also changed the Time property so the trail doesn't persist for too long. And in order to make the trail appear above the level textures I had to play with the Z coordinates of the level.

Tinted world (link)

This tutorial is the one from which I used the least.

First it tells you how to change the sky color. That is nice since I think that the default sky color is too pale. So I made it a bit warmer. In the next step it suggests you to change the color of the whole level. I was trying different colors, but in the end I came to the conclusion that it looks best without any color. It is definitely nice feature, which can let you create some odd looking words, but unfortunately I don't think this game needs something like that. But maybe I will change my mind in the future.

Animate your world (link)

This tutorial is nice and lets you add some life into your stale world.

I really like how simple it is to animate your assets. Just add Jiggler, set up the values and you are ready to go. Unfortunately in this microgame the trees that are in the level by default cannot be animated (because they are not here as assets). I think that this is quite disapointing since the first thing that come up to my mind was "Hey, let's animate all those trees on this level!". And after I realised it I was like "Oh no. :( Why would you do that?". I don't really understand it. The tutorial encourages you to animate the tree, yet you can't animate the ones that are there? Now I realised that I could just delete these trees using one of the tools that was introduced in the later tutorial and replace all of them with animated assets. So maybe in the next update. ;)

Add trigger (link)

Interesting fuction, but lacking effect.

I really like the general idea of trigger. Because it lets you realize so many ideas. This tutorial shows how to trigger confetti animation. At first I was really excited about that but then I saw the animation in game and I couldn't be disapointed more. The animation is barely visible. The explosion happens somewhere above the camera and the falling confetti aren't very noticeable. If I wouldn't know that the animation is there I think I would simply ignore it. And I think that's a shame. I tried to tweak some values of the animation but it didn't help to make it more visible. I was not sure if I will even find a good place for such a trigger (effect apart - I was trying to figure out if there is a place in the word where the confetti party would make a sense.). In the end I created a little candy kingdom (more on that later), where it founded its place.

Paint your level (link)

Oh boy! By this time I adjusted to the fact that the tutorials are a little bit outdated. But this one takes it to another level. It presents you a function, which is not present in the current version of Unity unless you add it from the Package Manager. But this tutorial does not tell you this so you have to rely on the comments from other users. This is pretty sad considering that this tutorial is ment to introduce absolute beginners to the Unity environment. And from my current point of view I think that the features presented in this tutorial are really importnat and useful.

You will learn how to edit the level. Add new platforms, delete the ones that you don't like and so on. At first I didn't want to make any chnages to the level but, this tool come in handy later. My first idea was to create a background in the secret level locations. But unfortunately even if I painted the FarBackground with desired tiles the ingame background did not change. I'm not sure why and since I'm new to Unity I put it on hold for now. Later on I realized that I need some space for my world decorations. An so I made some level changes using this helpful tool. 

Bouncy sparkly (link)

Another main character customization. 

From various bounce effects I chose the BouncyFireworks. In my opinion they looks best. Also because my main character is purple I changed the color of this effect to reflect that. I even changed the Start Speed of the effect to make it bigger. I think it's another nice addition, that makes the game fell unique. What I would like to add in the future is some impact sound to accompany these stylish visuals.

Add Speed and Bounce (link)

Interesting tutorial which lets you alter the pace of your level.

Even though this tutorial gives you the ability to add multiple speed and jump boosters I used it in my level just once. Yeah I know that I could play with this feature more, but I just did not want to. I don't know why but I just didn't want to polute my level with these things. The one I used is a jump booster that lets you reach before unreachable area. There it makes sense and I think it is the only place where such booster belongs.

Decorate the world (link)

This tutorial just points out that the microgame came with few assets that you can use in order to customize your level.

At this point the tutorial screams something like "Unleash your creativity!".  So I was thinking about how to do that and don't pollute the level with asset mess. I found a pretty neat solution. Using the Tile Palette tool I changed part of the level a little bit and created here candy kingdom. It is represented by two lollipops, two gummy bears, a donut and a cookie. I also used a Jiggler on them in order to make them move and shake. An to top it off I moved the confetti trigger to the middle of the kingdom. I think it looks pretty nice and it creates part of the level a little bit different.

Conclusion

I think that pretty much all the changes and design tweaks that I've done in my game are mentioned in the paragraphs above. In the end I'm pretty happy with my creation. I think that it looks pretty neat and I learned a lot along the way. I hope that this is just the start and that in the future I will be able to make a similar platformer entirely by myself.

Thank you for reading this long post which I hope was at least a little bit interesting for you.

Have a nice day and expect the next update info soon. :)