Matt Forshaw MA Games Blog

Blog Update 17/01/2020 During this week, I have focused on implementing my powers in the new 3D viewpoint for my title. By doing this, I was able to test whethere I will legitimately be able to carry on using this system for the rest of my practical work. I have had great success and now have 2 powers, the power of teleportation and invisibility, fully implemented into my title. These powers can ebviewed in action here: https://youtu.be/CD5YJGbRZbw The next stage is to implement the inventory and equipment system, in order to get my character in a playable position, before continuing to implement levels. I aim to be playtesting again by Saturday 25th January, in order to gain some feedback on the systems I have currently.  I have also worked on the overall concept of my powers, in the main looking at my UI and how I could improve it to make it friendly to new players. I came up with this style of artwork: Fig 1: Power Backscreen I think this design works well...

Along side my progress in the practical development of my title and planning for future stages, I have also been taking a look into the Psychological side of my chosen topic. This has given me valuable information about how character attachment can be handled correctly and poorly and by applying them to past instances of the theorys spoken about, I will gain a much better understanding of the ways in which psychology can be applied to my practical work. Reading the article 'I'm Attached, and I'm a Good Guy/Gal!' (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221837182_I'm_Attached_and_I'm_a_Good_GuyGal_How_Character_Attachment_Influences_Pro-_and_Anti-Social_Motivations_to_Play_Massively_Multiplayer_Online_Role-Playing_Games) has given me some valuable information about studies done on the impact of a players social interaction type, be that pro or anti-social. These behaviors are linked with a major difference in how players interact with their characters. According...

Preparation for next stage of development So, as discussed in my 09/01/2020 Update Post ( https://maforshaw.blogspot.com/2020/01/update-09012020_9.html ) I have decided to make some changes in the next iteration of my title. In line with feedback I recieved about the aesthetic of my title, I have decided to reskin my project in the 3D space. To do that, I will be using this amazingly professional, coherent and well designed locomotion system: https://youtu.be/deShVQ3100M This will be the base of my new iteration. By implementing my improved inventory and upgrade systems, I will have a game complete with much more character and excitement. This is a very interesting find, as the systems in place are extremely complex but is explained in a way that can be understood and developed upon easily. This will be extremely useful to me and the player can even customise their characters initial appearance. Implementing weapon assets should be easy and will enable me to have a variety o...

I have realised that I have not shared my progress on my Literature Review, which I unfortunately had to delay due to extenuating circumstances. Here was my preparation for writing it, Literature Review Preparation Dissertation Question How is the development of a relationship between player and character affected by elements of gameplay? Lit Review Question What elements of development allow characters in video games to be investible and engaging? Develop – character – “video games” Years 2000 – 2019 First pass: Character / Subject – Video Games / Time Period: 2000 – Present Results: 32 Resources Standouts:  Creative character design Tillman, Bryan, author. Talks in great depth about the creation of distinguishable, relatable and interesting characters from a design point of view. Useful for figuring out the aesthetic choices that would make my game more relatable 'I'm Attached, and I'm a Good Guy/Gal!': How Character Attac...

Update 09/01/2020 Over the last few months I have had a few issues outside of university that have led to a severe slow down in progress on this project. However, I will be again moving back to Preston either on the 12th or 18th January and intend to spend as much time as possible working on this project in order to get to where I wanted to be at this stage, which is admittedly very far behind what I was intending. This blog post will be a culmination of the work I have done recently, talking about all the progress I have made in depth after so long without updating my blog The last few months have offered me the opportunity to recieve feedback on this project so far. From this, I have received some interesting feedback about potential improvements I can make, as well as suggestions as to the direction of this project moving forward. So let me begin with the feedback I have received and how I think it will be useful to look at implementing this in my game. Whilst I offered my fr...