Learning Unity3D: Challenge C02 (Beginner)

Done! :)



Now on to challenge 3...

Learning Unity3D: Challenges

Today I watched I01 (Raycasting) and I02 (Basic Animation and Events) in the Intermediate section of the Unity 3D Student site, so I've now seen all of the tutorial modules that have been put up so far :D

Now I'm working through the challenges. So far there are 3 to do, all labelled as "Beginner".

C01 (Beginner) - Destroy the wall with the box.



Enjoyed that, but it makes me want to add a cannon for the cubes to shoot out of..

C02 (Beginner) - Seesaw launch the box to destroy the wall.

Managed to get the see-saw to do it [interestingly it doesn't work every time, you have to time it right otherwise it throws the cube either too far and over the wall or not far enough]. I'm also supposed to make the wall make a noise when it disappears. I don't have a sound picked out yet, so I'll need to find one quick, and then figure out how to do that part before I move on to the next challenge.

It's going well though. I think all the arty design work we've been doing made me forget how much I enjoy making coding work too.

Mind Maps and Scripting

Today I finished watching and taking notes of the scripts used in videos B00 to B19 in the Beginner's section of the Unity 3D Student site. I'm excited now, because I'm actually learning how to make stuff happen using scripts :D

Also started mind-mapping the inspirations for the actual game concept today. I was thinking about levels where the player would have to get to a certain position in a room so that an anamorphic image on a wall would become legible.

But then... it would turn out that the now legible writing is actually a riddle, that the player will need to figure out during the course of the game. Perhaps they'll need to read multiple clues for any of them to make sense.

That idea was kind of inspired by the Batman film I saw recently - the one with Jim Carey as Edward Nygma aka The Riddler.

Right, Plan of Action?

Mission 1: Here's the instructions we've been given for this summer...

Summer Assignment - Final Major Project

It is crucial that you begin the third year in the right frame of mind and with an ambitious yet realistic attitude to the work. Over the summer you are asked to decide whether or not you are going to work in a group. Group work is very highly recommended in the third year, but it is not mandatory, as some of you will have highly personal projects already in mind. You will be asked to pitch your initial ideas very soon after the beginning of term, so I would like you to begin the preproduction process over the summer, to be ready to provide an illustrated and written account of your ambitions for the final year. These projects will be formatively assessed at the beginning of the autumn semester.

And here's what I've got so far:

I fancy working on something that kind of doesn't make sense.

Something inspired by the transforming furniture and cool and crazy architecture I've been looking at a lot lately. I'm thinking, something that I would find as fun as I found wandering around Croft Manor; pressing buttons, making things move, exploring and making my way around.

Something that looks a little bit Julian Beever, sounds a little bit [Alice in] Wonderland, feels a little bit Indiana Jones and seems a little bit like a giant hamster cage in a mad scientists laboratory that's been "improved" with secret rooms of it's own.

Looks like I've just turned all the looking-at-cool-stuff-on-the-Internet that I did while on autopilot over the Summer into "important research for pre-pro". Nice one.

But before I get too excited over the possibilities, better learn to walk first. Time to find out how to actually implement hinge joints in Unity.

To start off with, I've watched the "Essential" Modules E00 to E09 on Unity 3D Student to get better acquainted with Unity3D, and actually did manage to learn a couple of things I didn't know already. So far so good.