Monthly Archives: January 2024

Creative Coding Lab

Drawing with Code: Self Portrait

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Concept and Description:

For this self portrait assignment, I decided to take a realistic approach of what I look like using basic shapes such as rectangles, circles, ellipses and triangles. For an example, I used a rectangle to create my hair, a circle to create my head, an ellipse to create my eyes, a triangle to create my bangs, etc. I also added small details such as eyelashes, dimples, dyed hair and a necklace to make the self portrait similar to me. 

Coding:

As for the coding portion, everything was pretty straightforward since I was able to create this self portrait using shapes we learned in class. Although there were a few parts of the mini project that took longer compared to other parts. For an example, when creating my nose and dimples, instead of using arcs, I used an ellipse with stroke and filling that is the same as my skin color and then created another ellipse that also matched the color of my skin but with no stroke. I had to overlap the ellipse with no stroke and scale the size down and layer it on top of the eclipse with the stroke in order to create the nose.

Additionally,  in order to create the heart necklace, I made the heart out of two circles and a triangle while the chain was made out of an ellipse that had no fill and a strokeWeight.

Reflection:

Initially uncertain about creating a self-portrait using just shapes, I surprised myself through experimentation and discovered the versatility of simple shapes in creating diverse designs. This process not only honed my technical skills but also provided valuable insights into my preferred creative approach.

Through this mini project, I realized my preference for a blend of reference and exploratory programming. While references offer specific guidance, exploratory programming fuels my creativity and enables me to think innovatively. For instance, while referencing an ellipse aids in accuracy, creating unique elements like a necklace requires experimentation and outside-the-box thinking.

While drawing on paper offered the freedom to create any shape, programming posed challenges in replicating certain designs. However, I found programming advantageous for its flexibility in easily manipulating shapes and experimenting with different configurations. This efficiency made programming preferable when it came to refining designs and testing various iterations.

Overall, this mini project was an enjoyable journey, allowing me to experiment with shapes and ultimately design my self portrait.

Creative Game Development & Design

Video Game Gameplay

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I believe that there is a strong relationship between gameplay and learning. Gameplay elements may include but are not limited to game modes, playable characters, technical features, rules of the game and more. There may be instructions in a game but a player cannot truly learn the game or truly understand it until they start playing the game because reading and comprehending the instructions and actually using your hands to interact with the game is different. In some cases, there are no instructions for the player, so it it up to the player to figure out and interact with the game in order to know to play/ finish a game.

For an example, in class when I played the game Inside, there were no instructions, but as I was playing the game, I figured out that I could walk forward and backward, jump over logs as well as gaps, move boxes in order to jump onto a ledge and hide whenever there was someone near a truck or had a flashlight in hand. My goal in this game was to run and hide from police and creatures that chased after me without falling and tripping or being caught. The goal and execution of this game was quite simple.  Although the game was pretty straightforward, there were instances where I was unsure about how to continue. 

Forest walkthrough - Inside Game Guide | gamepressure.com

An example would be when I did not know that there was a function that allowed me to move boxes or that I needed to jump while running through the forest or I would trip and fall. It sometimes took me multiple tries, but after a few failed attempts, I ended up finding solutions to the problems I encountered which was a learning experience and a great example of relationship between gameplay and learning. 

There is this case study by Toh & Lim called Learning in digital play: a dual case of video gamers’ independent play where they discuss the effects of playing video games on children. In this case study they found that playing video games allow players to demonstrate critical thinking. Additionally, they can also demonstrate multimodal literacy, meaning they can combine information including language, verbal, visual and aural modes in able to understand the game overall. Sometimes our society may have a stigma against video games saying that it is consuming our youth but in this article, the authors mention how playing video games is also a type of learning and that educators should not hold a negative bias towards video games. Instead, they encourage “educators to harness video games in teaching, given how it can bring about different types of learning in the youths.” This case study further supports my claim that there is a strong relationship between gameplay and learning as gameplay is a learning experience for anyone and everyone. There are many elements in a game and each game is different so it is up to the players to familiarize themselves with the game.