Hamza's Blog

 Overall, I would rate the quality of comments and feedback that I’m receiving from my classmates 7 out of 10. From weekly tasks to projects post I have received useful feedback. Image source: Dreamstime In terms of my game post’s, I think the quality of the comments and feedback post from my classmates were very helpful. For example, their feedback gave me a good insight of what ideas I show follow through on, what I was doing right and what other things I could possibly implement in my game.   I think I do get good ideas for my own writing when I analyze other people’s writing. Looking at other people writing helps me think of new approaches I could take, helps me with word phrasing and using better words to make my writings easier to read.     I think the quality of my comments and feedback to my classmates was decent. I didn’t really give a hard quote on my classmate’s game ideas, but I did leave some comments on things they could put in their games. Some good feedback st

  I made this quote using Postergen

 For this week’s Wikipedia trail, I’m choosing to do my topic on Learning. I wrote a blog on it and thought it would be good topic do a Wikipedia  trail on.  Image source: Vantedge                                                                                                                    The first article I chose was   Learning , I chose it because it talks more about learning in depth. It talks about the different types of learning, and how learning can happen  in different scenarios  and in different environments. The second article I chose was Learning Sciences , I chose it because it talks about the further study of  understanding how humans learn. The third article I chose was, Cognitive Psychology , I chose it because it is the scientific study of metal process like, attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity and reasoning. The fourth article I chose was Education Sciences , I chose it because it talks about how to understand and  practice edu

 For the unity task this week I decided to follow a tutorial on YouTube to make a health bar. Link to video: Health Bar Image source:  Health Bar     Overall, I learned how to make a health bar, but I also learned some new thing as well. In the tutorial I learned how to make the bar and heart image into a texture type, so that I could start making the health bar. I also learned more about creating an empty object, resizing them and how to transform them. When I finished making the health bar, I learned that by changing its value I can choose how much life my avatar loses and how to change the health bar color.   I enjoyed making the health bar It was something that I definitely needed in my game. I need to change some of the settings to make it suit my avatar when it loses life.   I found it difficult to do some steps in the video, like making some of the “create empty objects” I was able to make it but when I tried to resize it wouldn’t resize into the health bar box.  

                                                                                     My Image I had some technical difficulties with my laptop, so I couldn’t really work on my game. The character movement controls, and obstacle movement still work. The playing field won’t be the same for the entire game, it will change after you pass certain levels, the scenery will also change.     Since I couldn’t work on the game I watched some Unity tutorials again and some YouTube videos  for elements and visuals that I want to put in my game like a splash screen, HUD, and a main menu. My plan for this week is to implement these in my game and to  work on the plane layout and visuals.

In this blog I'm going to talk about a video I watched called " What would happen if you didn't sleep". The video talks about sleep depravation in depth and gives some interesting facts. The video is worth watching and has some valuable information worth taking.                                                                                   Image Source: VeryWellHealth                                                                                                                                                                Link to video: Sleep Deprivation  One thing that the video confirmed for me, that I already knew was that the chemicals adenosine and melatonin make our breathing and our heart rate go down when sleep. One new thing that I learned that I did not know before was that. Caffeine works as way to block adenosine receptors pathways. One new thing that I'm curious to explore is learning how to prevent the effects of sleep deprivation and how to s

In this blog I'm going to talk about a video I watched called "Learning with Passion and Enthusiasm". The video talks about the brain chemicals that are released when we do certain activities. It also gives examples and scenarios of how we can learn with more Passion and Enthusiasm . Image Source: Sprouts Link to video: Passion and Enthusiasm  One thing that the video confirmed for me, that I already knew was that children can learn multiple languages and skills because they are excited to learn new things. One new thing that I learned that I did not know before was that when we learn things in a new and exciting way, the chemicals released in our brain outlive the joy of drugs and shopping. One new thing that I'm curious to explore is how to learn how to keep my interest when trying to learn new things so I can enjoy it more. I plan on doing this by looking at more videos like this on the internet and taking its advice. Overall I thought information in the video

  Overall, I think the reading and writing assignments worked out well for me. In terms of the reading posts, I have gotten better at writing and developed an interest into reading articles. In terms of the gaming post’s, I have learned the process of how to make a  game. By reading the articles and materials related to making a game I have achieved a good guide of what to do and what not to do.     Out of all the readings I have done so far, I think my favorite reading would be “How to Write a Game Design Document". It’s my favorite reading because it helped me to understand what type of game I wanted to create and gave me ideas of what other elements I could put in the game. It helped me keep my vision of the game and not stray off the key elements and mechanics of the game.   I think my reading notes are helping me each week with my game. As they help me focus on what is important when making the game. And help to know what to things I should implement in the game to ma

                                                                             Image source: LetsGeek In this week I worked more on my prototype to see what visuals could work and how would the layout of the game could look like. I thought of some ideas of how the layout could look like, but it was hard to think of a definite idea. so, I decided for now that I would have three lanes that the avatar can navigate through like the one In Subway Surfers or in Temple Run. I’m going to think about what visuals and effects I can put it the game to make it look more fun. I had some trouble adding moving background visuals like clouds, but for now I’ll keep my visuals simple.

Image source: hurix digital   For this week’s Wikipedia trail, I’m choosing to do my topic on Gamification. I learned about it this week and I thought it would be an interesting topic to do a Wikipedia trial on.   The first article I read was gamification I chose it because it talks about gamification in depth and talks about how and where it is applied and the results it has when it is used.    The second article I read was Ego boo , my curiosity led me to this article because it is a component of gamification strategies. Even though the article on it was short I learned more about gamification and what elements are used to make a game fun.     The third article I read was  Gratification , my curiosity led me to this article because I thought it would relate to the topic gamification  people feel gratification after passing a hard level or hard part of a game after practicing and repeating levels.   The fourth article   I read was contentment , my curiosity led me to

  Image 1 I picked this cat image because I believe criticism is one of the many  elements that can make someone better at something.  Image 2 I picked this cat image because I think its advice worth taking. When you learn how to see things in different angles or perspectives you can get a better understanding of something and it can lead to new ideas if your are doing something like art. Image 3 I picked this cat image because I thought  it was funny. I also picked it because it I think its good to try and do something creative everyday or even for a few days. Because it can teach you to be a problem solver in areas of life.

  In this blog I’m going to     give my thoughts on the article “ When you brain doesn’t sleep ”.                                                         Image source: Sleep One thing the article confirmed that I already knew already was that from a lack of sleep you can start to hallucinate. One new thing that I learned that I did not know before was that you can lose long-term memories from lack of sleeping.  One thing that I’m curious to explore now is learning how sleep more efficiently. To act on my curiosity, I am going to research online and test out my findings . I really liked this article; it gave some good information on how lack of sleeps affects different parts of the brain and the consequences it has.  The article has made me think  that  I should be getting more sleep.

  I used the simiator  generator to make this fake tweet

                                                                                   Image source: CK Blog Gamification is when game like elements like point systems and badges are implemented into nongame contexts to get engagement and motivation. The paper talks about “fun” and gives a deeper meaning of it in terms of gamification. In my opinion I didn’t enjoy reading the paper "Gamification design: what's fun got to do with it"  , it did give some good insights of fun when making a game, like how it is the desired outcome of a game and not necessarily a building block. I personally think it could have had some interesting information in it.       Links to some interesting  information on gamification and fun in games:  Bi Worldwide  , CK Blog ,   A theory of fun for game design  

                                                                                      Image source: The Verge                                                                                 In this week’s unity tutorial, I learned how to add animations to the avatar. And adding background music and effects. One thing I enjoyed the most was adding the animations to the avatar it was quite tricky, but it was fun to play with the settings and make the avatar move different types of ways. Learning how to add animations to the avatar was valuable information, that I will consider when adding animations to my avatar in my Game. Adding the sound and particles was very difficult not sure if there is a problem with unity or my laptop or maybe both. I clearly followed the steps in the video, but things didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to. Even though adding sounds and particles was hard I still learnt a lot of information from the tutorial that will help me in making my game.   I lo

  Starting off my prototype was kind of hard in terms of making my controls work, but eventually I got them to work. After a lot of tweaks, I was able to get my obstacles to come down from the sky. But I’m still going to have to find a way for them to stay on the ground for a specific amount of time before they disappear. I was also going to have obstacles appear from the ground, but it has been quite difficult and frustrating  to make it but its's fun learning how to do it . I’ve been rewatching  unity tutorials and looking at  some  that can help while I’m taking further steps to develop my game.  

                                                                           Image  source:   Self-awareness For this week Wikipedia trail I'm  choosing to do my topic on flow experience. I wrote a blog on it this week and thought it would be an interesting topic to do a  Wikipedia trail on.  The first article I read  was Flow, I chose this article because it talked flow experience in depth, talked about how and where it is applied and the consequences it has. Link to article: Flow The second article on my trail was Mindfulness. My curiosity led me to this article because I thought that it would have similar information to the flow article. Link to article:  Mindfulness   The third article I chose was self-compassion, I wouldn't say any curiosity led me to this article, it was one of a few  articles that was similar to the flow article. Link to article: Self-compassion The last article I chose was  Self-awareness. My curiosity led me to this article cause I thought it would give

  I used Cheezburger to make this image.

                                                                                     Image source:  Dreamstime                                                                                                                                                                                                   Link to video: AllThatWeShare In this blog I am going to give my thoughts on a video from Denmark about empathy called “all that we share”. The message of the video was that people should not stereotype and label people because of their appearance or background. It shows  how much people have in have common when the host asks  everyone  questions. I thought that the overall video was great, one thing that I liked the most was when  people from different classes and backgrounds were in the video. And the questions they were asked showed that they are not so different. One thing that the video confirmed for me that I already knew to be true was that some people have somethings in common

  Image source: IED In this blog I’m going to gives my thoughts on Dan Pink’s video “what motivates us”.   One thing I found interesting was that depending on where you’re from or what activity you are doing change, it can change your motivation and work performance towards the job. One thing that video confirmed that I already knew to be true was that money is a motivator, if you don’t pay people enough, they won’t be motivated to do their job.   One new thing that I learned that I didn’t before was three factors to better work performance, the factors are autonomy, mastery and purpose. Autonomy is the desire to run your life, mastery is when someone strives to be better at something and purpose is when someone knows their work or what they do has a purpose, so they try their best.   One thing that I’m curious to explore is to learn more about motivation and how we can use it to improve our daily lives.    

                                                                                               Image source:  Rondos In this blog I’m going to talk about my thoughts on the pieces I read the, article" Building a Princess saving app" and the academic paper on “Flow experience on game playing among Thai University” .   The article on building a princess was kind of hard to understand, but I get what its overall was message was. The article talked about how games work and how you can build learning and fun into apps. I thought the article was a good read as it’s information on games made me think about my game idea in a new light and I think of how I can my make my game keep the interest of the people who play it. The paper on the flow experience on gaming among Thai students was my favorite piece to read. Flow is the mental state of someone when they perform an activity, their full focus and involvement and enjoyment is in the game. The study was interesting to read as it

Source:  RockPaperShotgun https://www.dundoc.com/project/7869/dmlp20deqt Here is the link to my Game Design Document, I think I was able to get my view of my game across, by making the GDD I think my game will turn out well and be unique.

  Source:  Reddit In this unity tutorial I learned how to make the game background repeat itself, make the game stop when the player hits an object, stopping the background repeating and stopping objects respawning when the players lose. To make the background repeat move seamlessly was quite easy but it took some fiddling to get it how I wanted it.  Overall, I enjoyed adding new elements to the game, like making objects stop spawning when the player loses the game. Even though it was tricky to implement some elements in the game I found the tutorial to be valuable because it has some mechanics worth considering putting in my game.  I wouldn’t really say I found anything difficult I just had to change a lot of stuff and watch the videos in the tutorial a couple of times to know what I was doing wrong and how I could fix it. I guess I’m looking forward to learning more about unity, because I can learn more about different aspects of games and use them to create my vision for my game.

                                                                        Source:  Dreamstime For my Wikipedia trail I chose to do my topic around growth mindset, I chose the article Mindset because I found it to be interesting from when I wrote a blog about it. Link to article: Mindset   The second article that I chose was Basic belief I was curious about this article because it gave me a new insight in what beliefs mean. Link to article:   Basic belief   The third article that I chose was Mental Model I was curious about it because it gives in depth information on mental model which is someone’s thought process on how something works in the real world.  Link to article:   Mental Model The fourth article that I chose was Educational Psychology I was curious about it because it talks about the scientific study of human learning.  Link to article:  Educational Psychology

  I used imgflip to create this meme.

    This blog is about the learning and performance zone, the learning zone is about wanting to improve and doing activities to improve, the performance zone is about doing the best we can, concentrating on what we know and trying to make little to no mistakes.                                                                    Link to video:  Eduardo Briceño Eduardo Briceno talks about the learning zone and performance zone in depth in a Ted Talk. I thought that the video was very engaging and informative. As he talks about the effects of the learning zone and the performance zone  on a person, and what times they should be used depending on the environment. “Once we think we have become good enough, adequate then we stop spending time in the learning zone, we focus all our time just doing our job, performing”. One thing that the video confirmed that I already knew was that when you learn a new skill and you think your good enough at it you don’t strive to improve because you are hap

 This blog is about The Secret Powers of Time, in the  video psychologist Philip Zimbardo talks about how people’s thinking can be focused on the past, present, and future and the effects on their lives. Link to video:   The Secret Powers of Time Time                                                                      Source:  Schuette Metals                                                    I thought the video was very interesting it gave a good insight on how time makes a person think, from a person getting angry for waiting too long for their computer to on to boys spending too much time on videos games which leads to less interest in school and causing them to dropout.   One thing that the video confirmed that I already knew to be true, is how educational methods and public relations messages are made for future oriented kids. Future oriented kids get told the negative questions of certain actions they know the consequences, so they don’t do it. Present Orient kids also kno

  By reading these papers I was able to get a better insight on Game design development, and its importance. Game Developer , Communication and Game Design Documents . A game design document is a document that contains the main objectives of a game and ideas from the Game development team. The document is work between designers, artists and programmers, it is used to guide them  throughout the game development process and make sure they stay on track and meet their goals. The document  also serves as another way to keep good communication with the development team.  From reading this paper ( Communication and Game Design Documents ) I have understood the importance of game design documents. I think they are necessary for a game development team so ideas can be communicated clearly which will lead to the game objectives being met and making a good quality game.  Game design documents are really important as it is a beneficial step in the process of making a game. It can help a game