Week 1

Reflective Essay

Some insights after thinking for the entire summer: I plan to make a full video game in Unity. I am confident in my coding skill to program different game mechanics, but I need a great story and a better target for the game. Art assets may also be a big challenge that I need to overcome. Making games have always been one of my biggest interest. I think a good game can convey stories as good as a movie or a storybook, and I really want to try integrating storytelling into my game. 

Thesis Direction: 

This semester, I am taking the narrative and dynamic system course, which I think may help with coming up with a good story as soon as possible. I went through many ideas

1. Being a landlord and interacting with tenants for their unique backstories and tasks.

2. Shallow water adventures that include educational content about the river ecosystem.

3. An RPG happens during the Chinese New Year. I can probably include traditional myth characters in the game as a way to create based on traditional Chinese culture.

For art assets, I can do basic modeling and I can write some cool shader if it’s necessary. Recently, I am also fascinated by what AI can do to help me create some artistic pictures for the game. For example, I used Midjourney to create some very interesting pieces. They can probably be used as a reference for me to set up the scene or create 3D models.

Creation with AI is quite a hot and debatable topic, and I want to explore whether I can use these platforms for making games with interesting stories and visuals. I have always dreamed to make a game and publish it. In my life, I have thought about many interesting ideas for my own game. However, as I researched and played so many games this summer, I realized that a lot of ideas have already been turned into a published game. That’s why I am struggling to come up with a unique and interesting story. Hopefully, I can get some inspiration from the courses I am taking this semester and from the drawings made by different AI platforms.

Questions I Want to Know:

What cultural elements can be used to enhance a game?

What inspiration can I get from AI drawing?

What are my special stories to put into the game to make my game special?

What do I want to bring to the audience?

Bio Sketch:

My early life before high school: a table tennis player in the professional league. 

My college life: studying agricultural and environmental science. Had a lot of experience in planting and farming. Learned to do metal welding and a lot of research practice.

My summer internship at Snap in 2022: Had a great experience working with a team of creative engineers. I gained a lot of experience creating AR with programming in JS. I create an asset for people to create a 3D mesh in AR with hand interactions in real time. It works like the Tilt Brush but without VR controllers.