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elyvorg · 5 years ago

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Celeste Chapter 9: When Your Self Returns The Favour

Celeste already had a solid, self-contained story that reaches a wonderfully satisfying conclusion. When I heard that a bonus chapter was on its way, I wasn't really expecting it to have much story to it, because I didn't really think there was any significantly more story that needed to be told here. It was probably a little naive of me to think that, really. Regardless of how lovely the original ending was, of course Madeline's mental illness was never gone, and so it is indeed quite possible to show her facing a new, different struggle, since life can always throw you curveballs to make things worse again.

The thing is, it would have been so easy to write this chapter such that it simply rehashed the exact same kind of conflict the main story had between Madeline and her Shadow (that's what I'll be calling Part of Her in this post, just like I did in my other one, which I recommend you read first if you haven't already). But what's really great about chapter 9 is that that's not what happens at all. What we get instead is a story which serves rather beautifully as something of a mirror image of before, while also illustrating exactly why the conclusion that was reached last time and the message of that story was so, so important.

Spoilery levels of detail incoming, obviously, for both chapter 9 and the main story. If you haven't played Celeste already, you still very much should (but maybe only watch chapter 9 unless you're insanely good at platformers).

On its surface, chapter 9 is a story about dealing with grief. And that alone is great enough, although I'm not really the one to talk about why that particular aspect of it is so good, both because I can't personally relate to this kind of struggle, and because things being a dream mean it gets quite symbolic and I'm not super well-versed in interpreting that kind of symbolism. (I'd be really interested to see other people's thoughts on that aspect, though, if any exist!) But what I love most about the chapter and am going to talk about at length here is how the grief presents a new challenge for Madeline to overcome that serves as a basis for even more of the really delightful character writing of Madeline and her Shadow that Celeste is so good at. It explores the concept of Shadows - the part of you that you repress from the surface, which is what Part of Madeline is and why I'm calling her that - in ways that I'd never really considered before, even though I love this concept enough to have thought about it a lot outside of a Celeste context as well.

Madeline's regression

So, Madeline had grown very close to Granny in the intervening years, such that when Granny passed away, Madeline completely couldn't handle it and fell apart to the point that her depression and anxiety, which she'd started to have somewhat under control, got the better of her again. The chapter itself begins when at some point, things get so bad that Madeline goes and has an elaborate, deeply psychological dream born of her desperation to convince herself that Granny isn't truly gone somehow. Granny simply being alive again would be too obviously impossible for her to be able to fool herself with, though, so instead her mind comes up with the vaguely more plausible idea that the bird was Part of Granny (who knows? Maybe it actually was! But that doesn't really matter here because this is just in Madeline's head), and that if Part of Granny is still around then maybe Granny can somehow be brought back. Her justifications change all the time throughout the dream as to what exactly she is planning to do by chasing after the bird - bring Granny back, set Granny free, save Granny. At one point her Shadow tries to ask her what her endgame is, because she very clearly doesn't actually have one. She's just being driven by a desperate desire to not give up on Granny, somehow, however that can be achieved, because in the end all Madeline wants is to not wake up back to a world with no Granny in it.

It also appears that Madeline's grief has caused her to regress somewhat in the way she's thinking of her Shadow. Last time on the Mountain, Madeline thought of her Shadow as bad and monstrous and the source of all her problems that she'd be fine if she could just get rid of. By the end she'd learned that was wrong, that her Shadow was an unremovable part of her whom she needed to accept and work with and be kind to, because after all, she's still her. Presumably she spent most of the intervening years doing just that, as you'd expect after she'd learned how important that was. But here we can see Madeline slipping back into old habits from before the Mountain: "I'm done letting her hold me back", when her Shadow shouldn't have been holding her back for a while now; "Just shut up and help me for once", when she understood in the end that her Shadow has always been trying to help her; that one bit in the tutorial, which was all from Madeline's thoughts since this is a dream, saying "And Part of You won't help (she's the worst)", when no, she isn't, you should know this, Madeline.

The reason Madeline's started doing this again seems to be about her fervently disagreeing with the way her Shadow has been trying to get them to deal with Granny's death. Based on the conversations they have about it, it seems Shadow Madeline has been trying to run away from their pain by pushing them to just get over it and move on so that they'll stop hurting. (Which is to say, even outside of the dream in which she can actually talk to her Shadow, Madeline knows there's a part of her beneath the surface that's been secretly wanting that.) It's not the healthiest approach to try and act like Granny's death doesn't hurt when it still does, but at least there is an actual reachable end goal here of having moved on. This is Shadow Madeline trying to do her job as Madeline's defence mechanism and keep her functioning!

But Madeline can't stand the fact that a part of her wants to be okay with the fact that Granny's gone, so instead she lashes out at her Shadow again while trying to run away from her pain in the complete opposite direction, by running away from the very idea of Granny being truly gone in the first place. This is considerably more unhealthy than Shadow Madeline's approach, because doing so is straight-up not possible. Every reminder that Granny really is gone and there's nothing Madeline can do about it (symbolised, I assume, by the bird flying away from her and not wanting her to catch it) is just going to bring her pain back up to the surface and make things even worse as she tries harder and harder to deny it (she totally can catch that bird anyway, just you watch her give herself a tutorial on exactly how to do so). Partway through the chapter, the environment around her begins to distort and crumble, which I imagine is a representation of the damaging levels to which Madeline is trying to force herself to keep denying reality even as it becomes more and more obvious that she simply can’t change Granny's fate. Shadow Madeline's approach may not have been completely ideal, but Madeline's approach is far more decidedly not the right way to deal with this and is just making everything considerably worse.

Shadow Madeline's growth

So I know that in my previous Celeste post I linked at the beginning, I made a big point of how your Shadow is the weaker part of you. But chapter 9 made me realise something I’d never really thought about before: that that's not necessarily true! "The weaker part of you" is not inherently the definition of a Shadow; a Shadow simply the part of you that you suppress from the surface. That usually constitutes the weaker part of someone, since most people are usually trying to be strong on the surface, doing their best to overcome their problems and get through things in spite of the part of them that feels like they just can't. But that doesn't always have to be the case. In this chapter, Madeline is consciously thinking and acting in a way that is ultimately her being unable to deal with this and trying to take the easy way out. On the surface, she's being weak. But beneath that, her inner strength is still there - which is to say, in this context, her Shadow is still able to be strong. Not perfectly strong, because she was still pushing a bit too much to just move on while ignoring how much it hurts, but she is being stronger than Madeline by trying to move on in the first place.

And it's only thanks to the more positive outlook and behaviour that her Shadow has developed, because of the kindness with which Madeline learned to treat her on the Mountain, that she can be this way now. Madeline may have regressed somewhat in the progress she made on the Mountain, but Shadow Madeline very much has not. It is so lovely to see how much she's still holding onto what she learned back then. She's a lot more willingly open about how scared and unnerved she is by where Madeline is going with this, because she knows that it's okay to be scared and that voicing that won't make Madeline ashamed of her or try to push her away any more. There's no more need for her to cover that up by being biting and cruel about Madeline's recklessness. It's not quite that Shadow Madeline has completely stopped with the negative self-talk that she used to be an embodiment of; right at the beginning, there's some brief hints of that - "you didn't even go to the funeral"; "sorry won't bring her back", representing the ways Madeline has been harsh on herself for falling apart. But very quickly, Shadow Madeline seems to remember that that isn't helpful and quits with it for the rest of the chapter.

Quite possibly this is because Madeline immediately leaps into her reckless crusade of denial, and Shadow Madeline realises that she needs to help her. Last time, on the Mountain, she was still on some level trying to do her job as Madeline's defence mechanism and keep her safe, but Madeline's lifetime of pushing her away and ignoring her made Shadow Madeline convinced that simply talking to her about it would never work, and so she needed to resort to force. This only made things worse, because Madeline is so stubborn that she'd only ever respond to that by pushing back even harder in the opposite direction and exacerbating the clash between them even more. But this time, Shadow Madeline knows that, so on no level is she ever trying to force Madeline to stop. She says it herself: "I'm not forcing you. I'm asking you." Madeline's spent long enough in the intervening years making an effort to listen to her Shadow's thoughts and not shut her away, and so Shadow Madeline is now completely able to trust that Madeline will eventually listen to her now as well. All she needs to do is be patient and keep gently trying to persuade her. There's one point during their second conversation where she seems to be about to get angry and forceful like she did so often last time, but then she catches herself, breathes, and continues more calmly, because she knows that anger won't make Madeline listen to her.

On the Mountain, trying to persuade Madeline to stop was not necessarily the right thing to do. Climbing the Mountain was reckless and dangerous, but it was actually possible and Madeline did have a fairly healthy reason to want it, to prove to herself that she could achieve great things and get emotionally stronger. On the other hand, running away from a loved one's death by convincing herself she can bring them back somehow if she just tries hard enough is not healthy and not possible and she does need to be stopped from doing this. Last time, Shadow Madeline was trying to stop Madeline partly out of genuinely wanting to protect her, but also a lot out of her own hidden fear of being left behind if Madeline made it. She was mostly just telling herself she was the pragmatic part of Madeline to cover up the fact that she felt scared and useless and Madeline probably didn't need her after all. However, this time, she's trying to get Madeline to stop this for no reason other than to help her, and she's going about it in a diplomatic, non-aggressive way that she knows will eventually work. Shadow Madeline really is being the pragmatic part of her now!

One might think that, while she's waiting for Madeline to stop being stubborn and face reality, it would also be pragmatic for Shadow Madeline to keep helping her through the platforming anyway just to try and keep her safe. And I feel like she would probably want to do that, hypothetically; the second time she disappears, it's not without a "Good luck", like she's hoping that Madeline will be okay and would be offering more than well-wishes if she could. But as she says just before disappearing the first time: "I can't help you with this". Not that she won't, but that she can't, as if she's literally incapable of it, which I think really could be the case. Madeline's irrational desire to keep going with this is something that she's only clinging to on the surface - meaning that her Shadow, the repressed part of her, is not the part of her that wants to do this at all. Since this is a dream and therefore all very abstract and psychological, the part of Madeline that isn't in denial over Granny's death literally cannot help her along the abstract representation of her surface denial. Both times Shadow Madeline leaves, Madeline is barely forcing her to and it really seems more like it's the Shadow's own choice to do so. Yet it's not that she's actively trying to be unhelpful at all; she just knows that she can't do anything else in this situation.

Saving her self

But... this is all just a dream, right? Madeline's not actually in any danger from all the insane platforming, so what would her Shadow really be keeping her safe from here, anyway? At one point, Shadow Madeline mentions that she's worried about Madeline getting "lost" up here, but at that point, she's definitely aware that this is a dream because she says as much a few lines later in the same conversation - so what does getting "lost" even mean in this context, and why is Shadow Madeline so worried about it?

...Consider Theo at the end, who completely understood that Madeline's anxiety and depression had probably got so bad that she wasn't in the mood to talk to him and was totally cool about that - but he at least wanted to know she was alive. As if he'd have a reason to worry she might not be when he knew her mental illness would be giving her a hard time. And, much more tellingly, remember the part just after Madeline catches the bird the second time and it's trying to fly away again. She tells herself once more that it's totally Part of Granny and then says, "If you have to go, then... Take me with you." Take her... to the place where Granny went?

Madeline was beginning to contemplate suicide.

Maybe only in a very abstract sense at that point, but the thought process was forming.

And Shadow Madeline knew it, because it's right at that moment that she reappears in front of Madeline and desperately tells her to stop. She makes her intent very clear later in that same conversation when she says, "I just want us to survive this." Shadow Madeline is the part of Madeline that wants to keep living no matter how hard it is, the part that Madeline herself was in danger of pushing away and ignoring because she was too caught up in her grief and denial of reality. By talking Madeline out of this the way she manages to do here, Shadow Madeline is successfully doing her job as a legitimate, non-twisted defence mechanism. She literally saves their life.

There is no way Shadow Madeline would ever have been able to achieve this if they hadn't gone to Celeste Mountain in the first place and learned what they did there. Of course, then they also wouldn't have met Granny, but even without Granny, something similarly traumatic could have happened to Madeline to send her down this same kind of spiral - and in that situation, her Shadow would have done nothing but push back and be cruel and harsh on her and make everything several times worse. But not here! Which is what is so incredibly lovely about this whole chapter. Shadow Madeline was able to save Madeline only because of the newfound strength and kindness she's gained since last time, which in turn is only because of the strength and kindness Madeline started showing her, back when Madeline had been the stronger one.

One innocuous part that I love is when you die a bunch of times on the last and hardest screen, there's a small exchange where Madeline is starting to doubt if they'll ever make it, and her Shadow encourages her to keep trying and that they can do this. It's such a great reversal of how things were when they were climbing the Mountain together in chapter 7. Back then, Shadow Madeline was the one with doubts and Madeline was the one affirming that they could make it, because then her Shadow still represented the repressed part of her that didn't truly believe in herself. But now, thanks to everything Madeline learned and has been employing since last time, that underlying core of her psyche has become strong! Madeline's Shadow can genuinely believe in her now when she herself can't. Her Shadow is able to push them to keep going even when Madeline is starting to think about giving up - and that's true not only very literally in terms of the abstract dream platforming they're doing together at the end, but also in a more meaningful, overall sense in terms of their life.

And I just think this whole idea is absolutely freaking beautiful?

Be kind to your Shadow, not just because they deserve it, but because a day might come when you'll need them to be kind to you.

#celeste #celeste game #celeste chapter 9 #celeste spoilers #madeline #shadow madeline #reminder that calling her 'badeline' Could Not Be More Incorrect and she deserves better #character analysis #suicide #shadows #ramble #the promised post about the shadow aspect of the chapter!#it is SO GOOD i cannot even #i love shadows in fiction and i love celeste #always hug your shadow #and this is exactly why you should!

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lostsummerdayz · 5 years ago

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Lost Summer Sunbeams #2: Player Spotlight - Aria Mikado

By Nay Holland

Hello hello! Here we are, once again, back to another episode of Sunbeams! In case you missed the first chapter, where I covered the achievements of Mr. Deezee Kujaku, please check it out!

Our second spotlight this week will focus on an esteemed player and contributor within the FGC in her own right. Coming fresh from an ambitious project that brought a portion of the community together for a combo video, here’s our Sunbeams player spotlight, Aria Mikado!

If you hadn’t already seen this awesome video, please check it out below!

youtube

This was a community combo video project that brought over twenty different contributors over the span of thirty games, nearing to the total of a hundred different combos! This thirty-minute ode to fighting games can be seen as a love letter not just to the FGC, but to all various types of fighting games as a whole. If there was a fighting game, both known and obscure, that you could think of, chances are, it was featured.

Due to how large this project was, the end result was a clean presentation with almost professional-like quality. When I asked her if she made something like this before, she had this to say.

AM: Basically a friend of mine and I were fans of the old school combo vids done in a similar manner. They kind of fell off over time, and we kinda felt like they needed to be a thing again. We like the concept of people pushing their creativity. We like seeing the skill on display. We like seeing people bring up games that didn't really get a lot of time to shine and showing off what they're about so people can maybe get interest in them.

Having a friend push you to do your best and vice versa is one of the best qualities anyone can have, especially in the community. Then came the inevitable question. How long has Aria been invested into fighting games?

AM: I've been playing fighting games since I was really young. The earliest one I can actively remember, like most, is Street Fighter II. I played a variety of them, though, as years went on, and I just found myself more fascinated with what was possible in those games as opposed to JUST trying to figure out how efficiently I could bat someone around, though in some ways, they go hand-in-hand. Eventually, I just wanted to take the things I could learn to try to teach people things, or at the least, to try to show people something cool, if possible.

Exploring “what’s possible” within said games is the cornerstone for new strategies being formed. This isn’t evident not just in fighting games when you “lab” in practice mode, but in other gaming communities as well. How does this tie into bringing people from various corners of the community onto the project?

AM: My aim with the community combo video is always to bring people from different walks of life, at differing skill levels, together to give people a chance to show what they think is cool. For a lot of people I've talked to, there's a layer of intimidation when it comes to the concept of putting themselves out there, whether it's making tutorials or exhibition videos of any sort. My HOPE for the community CMVs is that they get to express themselves alongside others, and for them to be able to say "I was part of something cool."

AM: We also want to be able to show our love for the FGC. Fighting games have a deep history, more than what's covered by just the games you see on the main tournament stages. The community CMVs usually bring a decent bit of variety, so people get to see games they may not have even known about.

And what about being a content creator?

AM: I think there's a good deal of importance to it, honestly. Whether you're an avid content creator or a steady tournament player, supporting the scenes for the games you love is important for keeping those games, and in turn, the FGC itself, strong. There's also the factor of sharing information. I'd like to think that everyone in the FGC has their place. Content creators that make exhibition and tutorial vids can often dig out things very quickly that even some of the best players can overlook, so circulating that kind of information can be crucial to the growth of a game.

Don’t just simply mistake her as someone who exclusively theory crafts and create cool videos for the masses. She’s also naturally a fighter and a competitor herself!

AM: The first tournament I actually went to offline is Gwinnett Brawl, in Georgia. Pretty fun tourney experience, all things considered. It was a good starting point for someone like me that has severe anxiety issues, since it was an overall smaller venue. Personal hurdles aside, though, I've attended other locals, multiple Final Round tournies, and EVO, back in 2016. All fun experiences, and I got to meet friends I've known online for years, so massive bonus there.

AM: Just getting to see how I stacked up against others in games I loved playing was interesting, with EVO being the most prominent for me. Tied for 16th in the Nitroplus Blasterz side tourney that year, knocked into losers by one of my best friends, so I can't complain about that but so much. Definitely prefer being a content creator, though. I love to teach things when and where I can, and hope to help others progress if I can.

While at the time of writing, the thrill of competition has been placed on the backburner for Aria, the passion for fighting games hadn’t wavered. Perhaps a huge part of her identity is the voice she provides to others who are like her. An inclusive voice that the FGC has always been in need of.

As someone who is LGBT and isn’t afraid to identify with who she is as an individual, Aria represents the many members of the FGC who fights for inclusiveness.

I asked her what advice she could give to someone who is in the FGC that may find it difficult to come out and embrace their identity and individuality. I also asked about the current state of the FGC with its inclusion and representation of LGBT players.

AM: I think the representation of trans and non-binary players is integral to the overall growth of the FGC. Being accepting of LGBTQ+ players as a whole is important for ANY community, but the FGC in particular has seen its share of toxicity, both in a general sense, and in regards to bigotry within the community. As we've seen, though, the FGC is also capable of some truly amazing things when we come together, so players being supportive one another, regardless of orientation, is paramount to bringing more people in the community together.

AM: As far as LGBTQ+ people who are hesitant to embrace who they are within the FGC, it's a tough road to walk in general, so it's understandable. Coming from someone who's been through troubles herself with coming out as trans to my family, It's all the more important that you accept and represent who you are, not only for yourself, but because your courage in doing so might in turn give others the boost THEY need to move forward and accept themselves. We have to support and care for one another. The FGC can be awesome for EVERYONE, and we can, and should show that.

A powerful answer from an equally powerful person. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you’re a high level competitor or a “casual” player. If you prefer to provide content via streaming or YouTube videos. Even if you’re writing about players and the FGC in general via articles! It doesn’t matter if you’re cis or LGBTQ+.

Everyone who is a part of the FGC is all under one roof, one community. Watching her community combo video and seeing all of us, myself and my friends included, contribute. All of us from various backgrounds, various disciplines, and various histories. We can all come together to create something beautiful if we all put our heads together.

As far as Aria goes, expect a lot of things planned from her this year! Including a new super top secret YT channel! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions once again!

Check her out on these platforms! Twitter Youtube

#aria mikado #player spotlight #lost summer dayz #game #video game #journalism #esports

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aurelliocheek · 5 years ago

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11 Weeks of Android: People & Identity

Posted by Dr. Stefan Frank, Senior Product Manager, Android System UI

This blog post is part of a weekly series for #11WeeksOfAndroid. Each week we’re diving into a key area of Android so you don’t miss anything. This week, we spotlight people & identity. Here’s a look at what you should know.

The big news

One of the goals of Android 11 was making our phones more people-centric. Because nothing matters more to people than connecting to loved ones. It is a core human need especially during our current physical distancing constraints. We have the need to be more social than ever before. Android 11 reimagines how we have conversations on our phones by adding new capabilities to help you maintain your identity across multiple devices.

We are announcing some new features in Android 11 that allows you to easily connect with your loved ones, friends and business colleagues. At the center of this release is the Android Conversation Shortcut API and Identity Services Library. These new tools empower instant connections to your best friend, sharing funny pictures of your dogs, telling your aunt about a tasty seafood recipe that you discovered, or congratulating an office colleague about her promotion. And they also provide a new level of password management that makes it easier for your users to sign up and sign in.

One of our favorite features brings conversations from people that matter most to you right to the lock screen of your phone. You’ll easily recognize them by their avatar and instantly respond to your family, friends, or colleagues. These are people you truly want to connect to. We knew this feature would be useful, but the responses from our beta-testers made us smile. The decision to include the Conversation Shortcut API to improve the lives of our users was one of the easiest decisions for us to make in the release of Android 11.

Creating a bubble from an incoming notification and accessing the conversation from the bubble.

One of the new features building on top of shortcuts is the new conversation space at the top of your notifications. It focuses your attention on what matters most - your conversations. Right from these notifications the user can trigger another new feature in Android 11 - Bubbles. Bubbles are small representations of conversations floating over other content on the side of the screen, which can be expanded to allow quick access to conversations, without changing what you were doing on the device. They are super handy for carrying on conversations while using the device for other tasks.

The new conversations space showing how a conversation is marked as priority and will be displayed on the lock screen.

A long tap on conversation notifications enables the user to mark priority conversations in order to give special prominence to the most important people. Priority conversations will be displayed with their individual avatar right on the lock screen and move to the top of your notifications. They can even be set to break through do-not-disturb. Another use of the conversation shortcuts is that they are used as share targets in the system share sheet, which was already launched in Android 10.

Another focus of this week was identity. To tackle user and developer complexity that makes identity a challenge for developers, we’ve been working on One Tap and Block Store, part of our new Google Identity Services Library. One Tap is our new cross-platform sign-in mechanism for Web and Android, supporting and streamlining multiple types of credentials. Block Store is our new token-based sign-in mechanism that’s built on top of Backup and Restore. It allows you to keep your user signed in across Android devices.

We’re super excited about all these features [since] they help all of us connect, communicate and express ourselves to the people that we care about and to the apps we are dealing with – which is as important now as it’s ever been.”

What to watch

For a high level overview of the people centric functionality, we recommend that you check out the Android 11 launch highlight video on People. Earlier this week, we also launched a new talk on ‘Conversation Notifications’, where Artur describes how to implement the conversation shortcut and bubbles. There is also a great overview talk on the conversation additions and other System UI news from Dan. Finally, you can also listen to Chet’s podcasts where he interviews us on People and Bubbles.

If you’re interested in learning more about Identity, we also published “In Identity on Android: What’s new in sign-in”, this week. In this video, Vishal explains the new libraries in the Google Identity System: One Tap and Block Store.“

Two of the teams that worked very early with us on these conversation specific topics are the Messenger team from Facebook and the direct messaging team from Twitter. Read the stories around both of these implementations here and here.

Learning path

If you’re looking for an easy way to pick up the highlights of this week, check out the People and Identity pathway. A pathway is an ordered tutorial that allows users to complete a pre-defined module that culminates in a quiz. It may include codelabs, videos, articles and blog posts. A virtual badge is awarded to each user who passes the quiz. Test your knowledge of key takeaways about People and Identity to earn a limited edition badge.

Key takeaways

Android 11 is the starting point of an ongoing focus on what matters most to users, people and conversations. Many of our partners in our ecosystem introduced amazing apps and services enabling these connections with people and conversations. We in Android want to elevate and surface these partners more prominently in order to support this goal. Thus if you are working on an app that fosters real time communication between people, we strongly encourage you to adopt the conversation shortcut based APIs for notifications, bubbles and sharing when targeting API 30 in order to put users’ conversations front and center and give them quick access to your app. The developer documentation can be found here.

For apps that handle user accounts, we encourage you to help our users avoid messy password hunting and forgotten credential processes by integrating One Tap to streamline credential management and Block Store to handle device updates. These integrations will work on phones back to Android M.

In the spirit of this week, I wish you meaningful and joyful connections with the people that matter to you and seamless experiences with your favorite apps. We hope you will help us in our journey of supporting these goals.

Resources

You can find the entire playlist of #11WeeksOfAndroid video content here, and learn more about each week here. We’ll continue to spotlight new areas each week, so keep an eye out and follow us on Twitter and YouTube. Thanks so much for letting us be a part of this experience with you!

11 Weeks of Android: People & Identity published first on https://phonetracking.tumblr.com/ 11 Weeks of Android: People & Identity published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

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donaldlockhart · 5 years ago

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11 Weeks of Android: People & Identity

Posted by Dr. Stefan Frank, Senior Product Manager, Android System UI

The big news

Creating a bubble from an incoming notification and accessing the conversation from the bubble.

The new conversations space showing how a conversation is marked as priority and will be displayed on the lock screen.

Another focus of this week was identity. To tackle user and developer complexity that makes identity a challenge for developers, we've been working on One Tap and Block Store, part of our new Google Identity Services Library. One Tap is our new cross-platform sign-in mechanism for Web and Android, supporting and streamlining multiple types of credentials. Block Store is our new token-based sign-in mechanism that’s built on top of Backup and Restore. It allows you to keep your user signed in across Android devices.

We’re super excited about all these features [since] they help all of us connect, communicate and express ourselves to the people that we care about and to the apps we are dealing with -- which is as important now as it’s ever been.”

What to watch

Learning path

Key takeaways

Resources

11 Weeks of Android: People & Identity published first on https://phonetracking.tumblr.com/

0 notes

leolarsonblog · 5 years ago

Text

11 Weeks of Android: People & Identity

Posted by Dr. Stefan Frank, Senior Product Manager, Android System UI

The big news

Creating a bubble from an incoming notification and accessing the conversation from the bubble.

The new conversations space showing how a conversation is marked as priority and will be displayed on the lock screen.

We’re super excited about all these features [since] they help all of us connect, communicate and express ourselves to the people that we care about and to the apps we are dealing with -- which is as important now as it’s ever been.”

What to watch

Learning path

Key takeaways

Resources

11 Weeks of Android: People & Identity published first on https://phonetracking.tumblr.com/

0 notes

news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog · 7 years ago

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Jouelzy is here to talk — and whether you're a #SmartBrownGirl or not, you should listen

This piece is part of an ongoing series exploring what it means to be a woman on the internet.

In early May, Kanye West said something that made the nation groan — again.

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice," he bellowed, voice echoing across the walls of the TMZ offices and broadcast on social media timelines. Fans were in an uproar, loyalists stood by the erratic remarks from their hero, while hip hop analysts argued the implications of a pioneer’s words.

Two months later, a vlogger who goes by the name Jouelzy uploaded a video to YouTube that shared a little over 10 minutes of discussion about West’s charged comments. That is a long time to wait before producing content that’s riffing off of a viral moment. Just think of how quickly we all cycle through challenges or memes online, and the insane speed at which we move on to the next big thing.

But that is the beauty of the work that Jouelzy, 33, has consistently churned out to viewers over the years.

SEE ALSO: The unstoppable Molly Burke: A day in the life of a blind YouTuber

Today, Jouelzy is as synonymous with her compelling videos on YouTube as she is with the hashtag #SmartBrownGirl, a movement she began to encompass the critical content she produces. At first glance, it seems like a rallying cry — perhaps akin to CaShawn Thompson's #BlackGirlMagic. But while it evokes a similar sentiment, it has also become a space for a community Jouelzy ushered. It's created space for folks that might not have felt comfortable or accepted in other corners of the internet, and for people craving brash and critical dialogue in a wild, wild web of underwhelming takes.

Before there was an official hashtag to align with her content, smart brown girls were always at the forefront of her work. “I was just talking to myself in the beginning,” she explained, and talking to herself attracted others similar to her, birthing a strong movement on social media built of “smart brown girls” and others.

“[#SmartBrownGirl] was initially to start a conversation and just to be able to work through things that I was going through myself and to see myself represented,” she explained. “Now it’s more so that I want to encourage a critical dialogue and critical thought because I realized so much of what we consume on social media and in media in general in our day to day is very surface, shallow content.”

youtube

With each upload, Jouelzy tackles the many conversations of the moment but her conversational approach is wrapped in a blanket of time and care that is invaluable. By the time a video of hers lands on your screen, the viral moment may have passed, but the nuanced discussion that matters is still going strong in cultural conversations — and Jouelzy’s strength is giving viewers the tools to understand the context from her perspective around what exactly is going on in this complicated world we live in.

Nowadays the Texan is a YouTube Creator for Change and member of a Google cohort focused on public policy, but like many of us who grew up in the generation of influencer, Jouelzy — who keeps her legal name to herself — just wanted free weaves at the beginning.

While she held down a job in advertising, and in the midst of applying for a masters degree in business administration, she did what many with access to the internet and a camera have done. She uploaded her first video in 2010 and after some time doing the tutorials, things began to mold into a more concrete path that just worked for her.

“I just was dealing with a lot of ways in which the world was trying to box me in and tell me who I needed to be in order to be respected,” she explained, recounting the shift between making those hair videos and transforming her channel into a burgeoning hot spot for nuanced conversations. “I was having a hard time with it because I didn’t want to sand down to fit into a perfect little box of what it means to be a respectable black woman in ways that other people don’t have to sand themselves down.”

There’s also the harsh reality about the toll that being a woman, particularly a black woman can bring, and while we witness that manifest in real life, it also impacts those online.

“I was watching my Facebook timeline change,” Jouelzy said, recalling the months well before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. "I think in 2015, I saw someone tweet “Hillary, if I have to,” she said. “I thought this was fascinating, and then watching that thought process be manipulated by outlets to sway perceptions amongst black women.”

It was that shift, coupled with the desire to dive deeper into conversations that platforms like Twitter or Instagram limited, that propelled her to do the work that’s resulted in hundreds of videos. Those videos, whether about celebrities or racial discourse, offer up another way to consume the news — but from a friend who is willing to go there, all while having the insight to understand how exactly millennials consume news.

“I think it’s becoming really dangerous, the fact that we have this mass access to information and a lot of us don’t know how to consume that in relation that’s actually productive and honest and able to verify the correct sources to pull things from,” she said.

News consumption has changed over the years. According to a study conducted by the American Press Institute, millennials, as compared to their boomer predecessors, are often exposed to even more diverse stories because of the various means from which they get their news — including everything from Twitter to group text messages. The same study, which surveyed over 1,000 people on the phone and in-person between the ages of 18 and 34, also suggests that 83 percent of millennials use YouTube to get their news.

Constant attacks on the press from the White House and a headline-skimming culture (thanks to the ubiquitous presence of social media timelines) are just a few of the problems facing new and traditional media. And considering most newsrooms are overwhelmingly white, a perspective from a middle-class, college-educated black woman who is not affiliated with a major media organization makes her point of view even more critical. But for Jouelzy, it’s more important now than ever to, in her words, “not tell people what to think but encourage people to think.”

And she does exactly that — in an entertaining fashion.

If you wander over to her YouTube channel, you'll find some videos dubbed "Get Ready With Me" — they are like makeup tutorials with a social impact twist and show Jouelzy vulnerable and open on camera as she prepares for the day. Others, like a series called "Pop Snark," are specifically devoted to the latest news in pop culture. There are also reviews of shows like Insecure, a series called #Blessed, and videos tackling the topics on everyone’s minds. The common thread is a hilarious and accessible way of understanding why something is happening, not just that it’s happening.

youtube

“We tend to have a binary thought process, everyone tends to talk like they have the answer,” Jouelzy explained. “I think the more that I’ve gotten into trying to hold these conversations for my smart brown girl audience about things around societal issues that we deal with, the way we are using pop culture, the way pop culture intersects with political history, and how we view each other or even how capitalism impacts our life, [the more] I try to step away from trying to give the answer on things or act like I have the solution or that correct way of thinking because you’re just going to end up tripping yourself up,” she said.

“The internet has its way of doing that to women who inhabit its corridors,” Jouelzy said. Despite her lack of inhibition when it came to launching her YouTube channel in the beginning, there’s still a lot she keeps offline. “It went decently from the beginning, but I think the more that I’ve gotten into this and the more that I’ve been vulnerable and talking about things that were more intimate to myself that I have picked up some weird insecurities,” she explained. “Now I’m more cognizant of the fact that people don’t like me and beforehand, I wasn’t.”

But people do like her. A lot of people. She has nearly 175,000 subscribers.

"I was never that great with school or in a classroom setting," Dante Dcasso, a fan, said over email. "Jouelzy has a way of keeping me intrigued and wanting to learn more about certain topics when it comes to politics, race, women’s history, etc. I love that I can watch a video about a Kardashian, but also get a lesson," he explained. "She comes off as relatable and I trust her."

Dcasso found her work randomly on YouTube but since then, has remained an avid viewer after being touched by her discussions around mental health. "I remember immediately binge watching her past content. I wanted to get to know her and I wanted to put everyone on. Jouelzy is the older black sister that I never had," Dcasso explained.

An older black sister whose goals are to bring the #SmartBrownGirl movement everywhere.

Jouelzy's working on a top-secret podcast, continuing writing, and trying to make her way to television screens as a commentator. She credits YouTube for being an "equalizer" that has brought support and access and is now helping her actualize bigger dreams — but there's no doubt that like her work in the past, she'll take us all along with her.

WATCH: The first queen of 'Medieval Times' is ushering in a new era of representation

#_author:Martha Tesema #_category:yct:001000002 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL #_uuid:c211ace9-6f95-3dbf-9a31-f9e6f0a16a08 #_revsp:news.mashable

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iyarpage · 7 years ago

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How to Create a Tower Defense Game in Unity – Part 1

Update note: This tutorial has been updated to Unity 2017.1 by Jeff Fisher. The original tutorial was written by Barbara Reichart.

Tower defense games are incredibly popular, and no wonder — few things are more satisfying than watching your defense obliterate evil invaders! In this two-part tutorial, you build a tower defense game with Unity!

You’ll learn how to…

Create waves of enemies

Make them follow waypoints

Build and upgrade towers and let them reduce your enemies to pixels

At the end, you’ll have a framework for this genre that you can expand upon!

Note: You need to know Unity basics, like how to add game assets and components, understand prefabs and know some basic C#. To learn those things I recommend completing the Unity tutorials by Sean Duffy or the Beginning C# with Unity series by Brian Moakley.

I’m using the OS X version of Unity, but this tutorial works on Windows too.

A View from the Ivory Tower

In this tutorial, you build a tower defense game, where enemies — little bugs — crawl towards a cookie that belongs to you and your minions, which are of course monsters! You can place and upgrade monsters at strategic points for a bit of gold.

The player must kill the bugs before they feast on your cookie. Each wave of enemies is successively harder to defeat. The game ends when you survive all waves (Victory!) or when five enemies reach the cookie. (Defeat!).

Here’s a screenshot of the finished game:

Monsters Unite! Protect the cookie!

Getting Started

If you don’t already have Unity installed, download it from Unity’s website.

Also, download this starter project, unzip and open the TowerDefense-Part1-Starter project in Unity.

The starter project includes art and sound assets, along with prebuilt animations and a few helpful scripts. The scripts aren’t directly related to tower defense games, so they won’t be explained here. However, if you’d like to learn more about creating Unity 2D animations, check out this Unity 2D tutorial.

The project also contains prefabs you’ll later expand upon to create characters. Finally, the project includes a scene with its background and user interface set up.

Open GameScene, found in the folder Scenes, and set your Game view’s aspect ratio to 4:3 to ensure the labels line up properly with the background. You should see the following in the Game view:

Credits:

The art for the project comes from a free art pack by Vicki Wenderlich! You can find more awesome graphics from her at gameartguppy.

The cool music is from BenSound who has some great soundtracks!

Thanks goes to Michael Jasper for the impactful camera shake.

Starter project – check! Assets – check! The first step towards world domination… ehm, I mean your tower defense game…is done!

X Marks the Spot: Placement

Monsters can only post up at spots marked with an x.

To add these to the scene, drag and drop Images\Objects\Openspot from the Project Browser into the Scene view. For now, position doesn’t matter.

With Openspot selected in the Hierarchy, click Add Component in the Inspector and select Box Collider 2D. Unity displays the box collider with a green line in the Scene view. You’ll use this collider to detect mouse clicks on that spot.

Unity automatically detects the proper size for the collider. How cool is that?

Following the same steps, add an Audio\Audio Source component to Openspot. Set the Audio Source’s AudioClip to tower_place, which you can find in the Audio folder, and deactivate Play On Awake.

You need to create 11 more spots. While it’s tempting to repeat all those steps, Unity has a great solution for that: Prefabs!

Drag and drop Openspot from the Hierarchy into the Prefabs folder in the Project Browser. Its name then turns blue in the Hierarchy to show that it’s connected to a prefab. Like this:

Now that you have a prefab, you can create as many copies as you need. Just drag and drop Openspot from the Prefabs folder in the Project Browser into the Scene view. Do this 11 times to make a total of 12 Openspot objects in the scene.

Now use the Inspector to set the positions of these 12 Openspot objects to the following coordinates:

(X:-5.2, Y:3.5, Z:0)

(X:-2.2, Y:3.5, Z:0)

(X:0.8, Y:3.5, Z:0)

(X:3.8, Y:3.5, Z:0)

(X:-3.8, Y:0.4, Z:0)

(X:-0.8, Y:0.4, Z:0)

(X:2.2, Y:0.4, Z:0)

(X:5.2, Y:0.4, Z:0)

(X:-5.2, Y:-3.0, Z:0)

(X:-2.2, Y:-3.0, Z:0)

(X:0.8, Y:-3.0, Z:0)

(X:3.8, Y:-3.0, Z:0)

When you’re done, your scene should look like this.

Place Monsters

To make placing easier, the project’s Prefab folder contains a Monster prefab.

Monster prefab – Ready for use

At this point, it consists of an empty game object with three different sprites and their shooting animations as their children.

Each sprite represents the monster at a different power level. The prefab also contains an Audio Source component, which you’ll trigger to play a sound whenever the monster shoots a laser.

You’ll now create a script that can place a Monster on an Openspot.

In the Project Browser, select Openspot in the Prefabs folder. In the Inspector, click Add Component, then choose New Script and name it PlaceMonster. Select C Sharp as the Language and click Create and Add. Because you added the script to the Openspot prefab all Openspots in your scene now also have the script attached. Neat!

Double click on the script to open it in your IDE. Then add these two variables:

public GameObject monsterPrefab; private GameObject monster;

You’ll instantiate a copy of the object stored in monsterPrefab to create a monster, and store it in monster so you can manipulate it during the game.

One Monster Per Location

Add the following method to allow only one monster per location:

private bool CanPlaceMonster() { return monster == null; }

In CanPlaceMonster() you check whether the monster variable is still null. If so, it means there is currently no monster here and it’s okay to place one.

Now add the following code to actually place a monster when the player clicks this GameObject:

//1 void OnMouseUp() { //2 if (CanPlaceMonster()) { //3 monster = (GameObject) Instantiate(monsterPrefab, transform.position, Quaternion.identity); //4 AudioSource audioSource = gameObject.GetComponent<AudioSource>(); audioSource.PlayOneShot(audioSource.clip); // TODO: Deduct gold } }

This code places a monster on mouse click or tap. So how does this work?

Unity automatically calls OnMouseUp when a player taps a GameObject’s physics collider.

When called, this method places a new monster if CanPlaceMonster() returns true.

You create the monster with Instantiate, a method that creates an instance of a given prefab with the specified position and rotation. In this case, you copy monsterPrefab, give it the current GameObject’s position and no rotation, cast the result to a GameObject and store it in monster.

Finally, you call PlayOneShot to play the sound effect attached to the object’s AudioSource component.

Now your PlaceMonster script can place a new monster, but you still have to specify the prefab.

Use The Right Prefab

Save the file and switch back to Unity.

To assign the monsterPrefab variable, first select Openspot in the Prefabs folder in the project browser.

In the Inspector, click on the circle to the right of the PlaceMonster (Script) component’s Monster Prefab field, and select Monster from the dialog that appears.

That’s it. Run the scene and build monsters on various x spots with a click or tap.

Success! You can build monsters. However they look like a weird mush because all child sprites of your monster are drawn. You’ll fix this next.

Level Up Those Monsters

In the image below, you see how your monsters look increasingly horrifying at higher levels.

It’s so fluffy! But if you try to steal its cookie, this monster can turn into a killer.

A script acts as the basis for implementing a leveling system for the monsters. It tracks how powerful the monster should be on each level, and of course, the current level of a monster.

Add this script now.

Select Prefabs/Monster in the Project Browser. Add a new C# script named MonsterData. Open the script in your IDE and add the following code above the MonsterData class.

[System.Serializable] public class MonsterLevel { public int cost; public GameObject visualization; }

This creates MonsterLevel. It groups the cost (in gold, which you’ll support later) and the visual representation for a specific monster level.

You add [System.Serializable] at the top to make instances of the class editable from the inspector. This allows you to quickly change all values in the Level class — even while the game is running. It’s incredibly useful for balancing your game.

Define Monster Levels

In this case, you’ll store predefined MonsterLevel in a List<T>.

Why not simply use MonsterLevel[]? Well, you’ll need the index of a particular MonsterLevel object several times. While it’s not difficult to write code for that, you’ll use IndexOf(), which implements the functionality for Lists. No need to reinvent the wheel this time. :]

Reinventing the wheel is usually a bad idea (from Michael Vroegop)

At the top of MonsterData.cs, add the following using statement:

using System.Collections.Generic;

This gives you access to generic data structures, so you can use the List<T> class in your script.

Note: Generics are a powerful part of C#. They allow you to define type-safe data structures without committing to a type. This is practical for container classes like lists and sets. To learn more about generics, have a look at Introduction to C# Generics.

Now add the following variable to MonsterData to store a list of MonsterLevel:

public List<MonsterLevel> levels;

Using generics, you ensure the levels List can only ever contain MonsterLevel objects.

Save the file and switch to Unity to configure each stage.

Select Prefabs/Monster in the Project Browser. In the Inspector, you can now see a Levels field in the MonsterData (Script) component. Set its size to 3.

Next, set the cost for each level to the following values:

Element 0: 200

Element 1: 110

Element 2: 120

Now assign the visualization field values.

Expand Prefabs/Monster in the project browser so that you can see its children. Drag and drop the child Monster0 to Element 0‘s visualization field.

Repeat to assign Monster1 to Element 1 and Monster2 to Element 2. See the following GIF that demonstrates this process:

When you select the Prefabs/Monster, the prefab should look like this:

Definition of the monsters’ levels in the inspector.

Define the Current Level

Switch back to MonsterData.cs in your IDE, and add another variable to MonsterData.

private MonsterLevel currentLevel;

In the private variable currentLevel you’ll store the… wait for it … current level of the monster. I bet you did not see that one coming :]

Now set currentLevel and make it accessible to other scripts. Add the following to MonsterData, along with instance variable declarations:

//1 public MonsterLevel CurrentLevel { //2 get { return currentLevel; } //3 set { currentLevel = value; int currentLevelIndex = levels.IndexOf(currentLevel); GameObject levelVisualization = levels[currentLevelIndex].visualization; for (int i = 0; i < levels.Count; i++) { if (levelVisualization != null) { if (i == currentLevelIndex) { levels[i].visualization.SetActive(true); } else { levels[i].visualization.SetActive(false); } } } } }

Quite a bit of C# there, eh? Take it all it turn:

Define a property for the private variable currentLevel. With a property defined, you can call just like any other variable: either as CurrentLevel (from inside the class) or as monster.CurrentLevel (from outside it). You can define custom behavior in a property's getter or setter method, and by supplying only a getter, a setter or both, you can control whether a property is read-only, write-only or read/write.

In the getter, you return the value of currentLevel.

In the setter, you assign the new value to currentLevel. Next you get the index of the current level. Finally you iterate over all the levels and set the visualization to active or inactive, depending on the currentLevelIndex. This is great because it means that whenever someone sets currentLevel, the sprite updates automatically. Properties sure do come handy!

Add the following implementation of OnEnable:

void OnEnable() { CurrentLevel = levels[0]; }

This sets CurrentLevel upon placement, making sure that it shows only the correct sprite.

Note: It's important to initialize the property in OnEnable instead of OnStart, because you call the order methods when prefabs are instantiated.

OnEnable will be called immediately when you create the prefab (if the prefab was saved in an enabled state), but OnStart isn't called until after the object starts running as part of the scene.

You'll need to check this data before you place a monster, so you initialize it in OnEnable.

Save the file and switch to Unity. Run the project and place monsters; now they display the correct and lowest level sprites.

Upgrade Those Monsters

Switch back to your IDE and add the following method to MonsterData:

public MonsterLevel GetNextLevel() { int currentLevelIndex = levels.IndexOf (currentLevel); int maxLevelIndex = levels.Count - 1; if (currentLevelIndex < maxLevelIndex) { return levels[currentLevelIndex+1]; } else { return null; } }

In GetNextLevel you get the index of currentLevel and the index of the highest level provided the monster did not reach the maximal level to return the next level. Otherwise, return null.

You can use this method to figure out whether upgrading the monster is possible.

Add the following method to increase a monster's level:

public void IncreaseLevel() { int currentLevelIndex = levels.IndexOf(currentLevel); if (currentLevelIndex < levels.Count - 1) { CurrentLevel = levels[currentLevelIndex + 1]; } }

Here you get the index of the current level, and then you make sure it’s not the maximum level by checking if it’s smaller than levels.Count - 1. If so, set CurrentLevel to the next level.

Test Upgrade Capability

Save the file and then switch to PlaceMonster.cs in your IDE and add this new method:

private bool CanUpgradeMonster() { if (monster != null) { MonsterData monsterData = monster.GetComponent<MonsterData>(); MonsterLevel nextLevel = monsterData.GetNextLevel(); if (nextLevel != null) { return true; } } return false; }

First check whether there is a monster that you can upgrade by checking the monster variable for null. If this is the case, you get the current level of the monster from its MonsterData.

Then you test whether a higher level is available, which is when GetNextLevel() doesn’t return null. If up-leveling is possible, you return true, otherwise, you return false.

Enable Upgrading With Gold

To enable the upgrade option, add an else if branch to OnMouseUp:

if (CanPlaceMonster()) { // Your code here stays the same as before } else if (CanUpgradeMonster()) { monster.GetComponent<MonsterData>().IncreaseLevel(); AudioSource audioSource = gameObject.GetComponent<AudioSource>(); audioSource.PlayOneShot(audioSource.clip); // TODO: Deduct gold }

Check whether an upgrade is possible with CanUpgradeMonster(). If yes, you access the MonsterData component with GetComponent() and call IncreaseLevel(), which increases the level of the monster. Lastly, you trigger the monster's AudioSource.

Save the file and switch back to Unity. Run the game, place and upgrade as many monsters as you like...for now.

All the monster upgrades

Pay Gold - Game Manager

Right now it’s possible to build and upgrade all the monsters immediately, but where's the challenge in that?

Let's drill down into the issue of the gold. The problem with keeping track of it is that you need to share information between different game objects.

The following image shows all the objects that want a piece of the action.

The highlighted game objects all need to know, how much gold the player owns.

You'll use a shared object that's accessible to other objects to store this data.

Right-click in the Hierarchy and select Create Empty. Name the new game object GameManager.

Add a C# script named GameManagerBehavior to GameManager, then open the new script in your IDE. You'll display the player's total gold in a label, so add the following line to the top of the file:

using UnityEngine.UI;

This lets you access UI-specific classes like Text, which the project uses for the labels. Now add the following variable to the class:

public Text goldLabel;

This will store a reference to the Text component used to display how much gold the player owns.

Now that GameManager knows about the label, how can you ensure the amount of gold stored in your variable and the amount displayed on the label are in sync? You'll create a property.

Add the following code to GameManagerBehavior:

private int gold; public int Gold { get { return gold; } set { gold = value; goldLabel.GetComponent<Text>().text = "GOLD: " + gold; } }

Seem familiar? It’s similar to the CurrentLevel you defined in Monster. At first, you create a private variable, gold, to store the current gold total. Then you define a property named Gold -- creative, right? -- and implement a getter and setter.

The getter simply returns the value of gold . The setter is more interesting. In addition to setting the variable's value, it also sets the text field on goldLabel to display the new amount of gold.

How generous do you feel? Add the following line to Start() to give the player 1000 gold, or less if you feel miserly:

Gold = 1000;

Assign the Label Object to the Script

Save the file and switch to Unity.

In the Hierarchy, select GameManager. In the Inspector, click on the circle to the right of Gold Label. In the Select Text dialog, select the Scene tab and select GoldLabel.

Run the scene and the label displays Gold: 1000.

Check the Player's "Wallet"

Open PlaceMonster.cs in your IDE, and add the following instance variable:

private GameManagerBehavior gameManager;

You'll use gameManager to access the GameManagerBehavior component of the scene's GameManager. To assign it, add the following to Start():

gameManager = GameObject.Find("GameManager").GetComponent<GameManagerBehavior>();

You get the GameObject named GameManager using GameObject.Find(), which returns the first game object it finds with the given name. Then, retrieve its GameManagerBehavior component and store it for later.

Note: You could have accomplished this by setting the field in Unity's editor, or by adding a static method to GameManager that returns a singleton instance from which you could get the GameManagerBehavior.

However, there's a dark horse method in the block above: Find, which is slower at runtime but convenient and ok to use sparingly.

Get the Money!

You don't yet deduct gold, so add this line twice inside OnMouseUp(), replacing each of the comments that read // TODO: Deduct gold:

gameManager.Gold -= monster.GetComponent<MonsterData>().CurrentLevel.cost;

Save the file and switch to Unity, upgrade some monsters and watch the Gold readout update. Now you deduct gold, but players can build monsters as long as there is space; they just get into debt.

Infinite credit? Awesome! But you can't allow this. Monsters should only be placed when the player has enough gold.

Require Gold for Monsters

Switch to PlaceMonster.cs in your IDE, and replace the contents of CanPlaceMonster() with the following:

int cost = monsterPrefab.GetComponent<MonsterData>().levels[0].cost; return monster == null && gameManager.Gold >= cost;

Retrieve the cost for placing the monster from levels in its MonsterData. You then check that monster is not null and that gameManager.Gold is greater than the cost.

Challenge: Add the check for whether a player has enough gold in CanUpgradeMonster() by yourself.

Solution Inside SelectShow>

Replace this line:

return true;

with this one:

return gameManager.Gold >= nextLevel.cost;

This checks if the player has more Gold than the cost of the upgrade.

Save and run the scene in Unity. Go ahead, just try to place unlimited monsters!

Now you can only build a limited amount of monsters.

Tower Politics: Enemies, Waves and Waypoints

Time to "pave the road" for your enemies. Enemies appear at the first waypoint, move towards the next and repeat until they reach your cookie.

You’ll get the enemies marching by:

Defining a road for the enemies to follow

Moving the enemy along the road

Rotating the enemy so it looks forward

Create a Road With Waypoints

Right-click in the Hierarchy and select Create Empty to make a new empty game object. Name it Road, and make sure it’s at position (0, 0, 0).

Now, right-click on Road in the hierarchy and create another empty game object as a child of Road. Name it Waypoint0 and set its position to (-12, 2, 0) -- this is where enemies start their assault.

Create five more waypoints the same way with the following names and positions:

Waypoint1: (X:7, Y:2, Z:0)

Waypoint2: (X:7, Y:-1, Z:0)

Waypoint3: (X:-7.3, Y:-1, Z:0)

Waypoint4: (X:-7.3, Y:-4.5, Z:0)

Waypoint5: (X:7, Y:-4.5, Z:0)

The following screenshot highlights the waypoint locations and the resulting path.

Spawn the Enemies

Now to make some enemies to follow the road. The Prefabs folder contains an Enemy prefab. Its position is (-20, 0, 0), so new instances will spawn off screen.

Otherwise, it's set up much like the Monster prefab, with an AudioSource and a child Sprite, and it’s a sprite so you can rotate it later without rotating the forthcoming health bar.

Move Monsters Down the Road

Add a new C# script named MoveEnemy to the Prefabs\Enemy prefab. Open the script in your IDE, and add the following variables:

[HideInInspector] public GameObject[] waypoints; private int currentWaypoint = 0; private float lastWaypointSwitchTime; public float speed = 1.0f;

waypoints stores a copy of the waypoints in an array, while [HideIninspector] above waypoints ensures you cannot accidentally change the field in the inspector, but you can still access it from other scripts.

currentWaypoint tracks which waypoint the enemy is currently walking away from, and lastWaypointSwitchTime stores the time when the enemy passed over it. Finally, you store the enemy's speed.

Add this line in Start():

lastWaypointSwitchTime = Time.time;

This initializes lastWaypointSwitchTime to the current time.

To make the enemy move along the path, add the following code to Update():

// 1 Vector3 startPosition = waypoints [currentWaypoint].transform.position; Vector3 endPosition = waypoints [currentWaypoint + 1].transform.position; // 2 float pathLength = Vector3.Distance (startPosition, endPosition); float totalTimeForPath = pathLength / speed; float currentTimeOnPath = Time.time - lastWaypointSwitchTime; gameObject.transform.position = Vector2.Lerp (startPosition, endPosition, currentTimeOnPath / totalTimeForPath); // 3 if (gameObject.transform.position.Equals(endPosition)) { if (currentWaypoint < waypoints.Length - 2) { // 3.a currentWaypoint++; lastWaypointSwitchTime = Time.time; // TODO: Rotate into move direction } else { // 3.b Destroy(gameObject); AudioSource audioSource = gameObject.GetComponent<AudioSource>(); AudioSource.PlayClipAtPoint(audioSource.clip, transform.position); // TODO: deduct health } }

Step by step:

From the waypoints array, you retrieve the start and end position for the current path segment.

Calculate the time needed for the whole distance with the formula time = distance / speed, then determine the current time on the path. Using Vector2.Lerp, you interpolate the current position of the enemy between the segment's start and end positions.

Check whether the enemy has reached the endPosition. If yes, handle these two possible scenarios:

The enemy is not yet at the last waypoint, so increase currentWaypoint and update lastWaypointSwitchTime. Later, you'll add code to rotate the enemy so it points in the direction it's moving, too.

The enemy reached the last waypoint, so this destroys it and triggers a sound effect. Later you'll add code to decrease the player's health, too.

Save the file and switch to Unity.

Give the Enemies A Sense of Direction

In its current state, the enemies don’t know the order of the waypoints.

Select Road in the Hierarchy, and add a new C# script named SpawnEnemy. Then open it in your IDE, and add the following variable:

public GameObject[] waypoints;

You'll use waypoints to store references to the waypoint in the scene in the proper order.

Save the file and switch to Unity. Select Road in the Hierarchy and set the Size of the Waypoints array to 6.

Drag each of Road's children into the fields, putting Waypoint0 into Element 0, Waypoint1 into Element 1, and so on.

Now you have an array that contains neatly ordered waypoints so there’s a path – note that they never retreat; they will die trying to get a sugar fix.

Check That It All Works

Head to SpawnEnemy in your IDE, and add the following variable:

public GameObject testEnemyPrefab;

This keeps a reference to the Enemy prefab in testEnemyPrefab.

To create an enemy when the script starts, add the following code to Start():

Instantiate(testEnemyPrefab).GetComponent<MoveEnemy>().waypoints = waypoints;

This instantiates a new copy of the prefab stored in testEnemy and assigns it waypoints to follow.

Save the file and switch to Unity. Select Road in the Hierarchy and set its Test Enemy to the Enemy prefab.

Run the project to see the enemy follow the road.

Did you notice they aren’t always looking where they're going? Funny! But you’re trying to be a professional here, yes? Continue with part two to learn how to get them to put their best faces forward.

Where To Go From Here?

You’ve gotten a lot done and are well on your way to having your very own tower defense game.

Players can build monsters, but not an unlimited amount, and there’s an enemy running towards your cookie. Players have gold and can also upgrade monsters.

Download the result here.

In part two, you’ll cover spawning massive waves of enemies and blowing them away. See you in Part Two!

Use the forums below to share your questions, notes, learnings, lightbulb moments and feedback. I look forward to talking with you!

The post How to Create a Tower Defense Game in Unity – Part 1 appeared first on Ray Wenderlich.

How to Create a Tower Defense Game in Unity – Part 1 published first on http://ift.tt/2fA8nUr

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whereintheworldisdani · 7 years ago

Photo

Monday September 25th - Sunday October 1st, 2017

As far as adventures go, we had one main one this week, and then the weekend brought me home to Chicago. However, this week at work has certainly been something else.

By now I would think many of you know I am a graphic designer. However, I’m not certain most of you know what that precisely means. I’ll start by telling you what graphic design is not. Graphic design is not just making art on the computer. Graphic design is not photography. Graphic design is not just a hobby. And, graphic design is not something you can watch a tutorial on how to do.

Graphic design is a comprehensive field that requires the designer to use both problem solving/analytical skills as well as creativity. Graphic design, at its core, is visual and creative problem solving. Every single graphic design piece is well thought out and intentional. There isn’t a single part that is there just because someone said they wanted it. Every designer should be able to tell you what they are trying to say with their piece and how they are trying to say it.

You see graphic design in the logos on storefronts and in commercials. You see graphic design in the patterns on your tissue boxes. You see it on the giant billboards in Times Square, right down to the pamphlets you’re given at the doctor’s office that teach you about a new medication. These are by no means the only places you see graphic design, but you come across the work of a graphic designer far more often than you think in your everyday life.

Why am I bothering to explain this to you? Well for one, I’ve had one too many people tell me “oh so you do art on the computer,” and I’m a little tired of other people explaining my career as “digital computer art.” The work I do takes research, thought, time, and patience.

So this week, I was given a problem at work, and it was my job to solve this problem visually. I needed to create a piece that would be representative of a learning topic, however, the piece itself couldn’t take away from the importance of the topic at hand. I understand this is a vague description, but bear with me. I researched the topic, took notes of what it was and the emotions, colors, and visuals associated with it. I spent days going through sketching and mock up phases. But nothing really stuck. I spent about four days trying to work through this problem, and I came out with nothing worth showing. I don’t know if you’ve ever spent 32 hours staring at a computer and notepad wracking your brain for the right connections and symbolic visuals to convey an idea, but let me be the first to tell you it is NOT a great feeling.

The one thing I’ve always loved and struggled with in graphic design is how the end product is always a perfect representation of how your thought process works and what you are capable of artistically. I love this concept because it means I am using every part of my mind, drawing upon life experiences and artistic inspiration alike. I struggle with this concept, however, because if I fail or come up short it feels like a direct representation of my intelligence and competency as a designer and human being.

I would love to tell you I came up with the perfect solution, but I didn’t. I am still working through it. But I will say the best advice I could possibly ever give anyone dealing with any sort of mental block is to ask for help. Gaining a new perspective on a problem you have been sitting with for hours on end is such a refreshing glass of water for the mind. It might not part the clouds and shed unending light on the problem, but it will certainly blow away a cloud or two.

So yeah, I think that sums up what I have been dealing with at work this past week. I like the challenge, and I have no doubts I will rise to meet it.

As far as fun things outside of work goes, the gang got together on Thursday to celebrate an Unbirthday Party. “What is an Unbirthday Party?” you may find yourself asking. Well, in Alice in Wonderland, Alice stumbles upon the Mad Hatter and the March Hare celebrating their Unbirthdays. Essentially, you have one day a year which is your birthday, but the other 364 days of the year are your Unbirthdays. Basically, everyday is a day to celebrate yourself and your friends. And that is exactly what we did.

Each person was responsible for bringing a food to share. We had brownies, mac n cheese, pigs in a blanket, pasta salad, chips and queso, and so much more. I made Mickey shaped pancakes which seemed to be a hit. I realize pancakes are a weird thing to bring to a potluck, but in my defense, pancakes are the only thing I can cook in bulk with confidence I won’t screw it up.

We spent the evening talking and eating and watching YouTube videos. It was a great night, and I am truly thankful to have found such an upstanding group of people. Each one of them has a unique story to share, and an unending passion for the work they do.

And the weekend brought me home to Chicago. I went home to see my cousin Phil get married to the love of his life, Giana. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was crazy amounts of fun. My family is loads of fun, I don’t know how I got so lucky. It was great being home, I definitely missed it. It was also great to feel the autumn air, because goodness knows I won’t feel it in Florida. I even got to go out to breakfast with my lovely and wonderful friend Carlie! I missed her very much, and I was so happy I got to see her. I also got to give Scott his birthday present (or as I called it, his Unbirthday present because it wasn’t his birthday and he said he didn’t want any presents). Featured above is him wearing his presents (a shirt from his favorite ride, and a set of Stitch themed Mickey Mouse ears). Not two minutes after this photo was taken, he proclaimed “no more presents. I am a grown-a** man!”

Yeah, I’m not convinced of that, Scotty.

All in all, things are going swimmingly. I’m being challenged in my work, I have a crowd of fantastic friends, and I have endless love and support from my family. What more could a girl ask for?

#dani in orlando #where in the world is dani?

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calculatemygrade-blog · 8 years ago

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