Game Development （Weekly Learning)

Game Development （Weekly Learning)

26 September 2025- 3 October 2025
LI YUHAN (0379857)

Week 1

The first week established a foundation centered on practice and collaboration. The session began with a distinctive icebreaker—introducing a neighbor within five minutes—which quickly bridged gaps and signaled that teamwork would be integral to the semester. The instructor clearly outlined the course structure, impressing me with his emphasized development philosophy: we should start from the "first principles" of game design, building a solid foundation rather than over-relying on ready-made modules. To this end, he recommended open-source software free from licensing restrictions and openly permitted the use of AI for asset generation, while cautioning against tools with authorization risks like Photoshop.

The most significant insight from this lesson was not a specific technical skill, but the establishment of a "designer's mindset." The instructor's emphasis on "fundamental principles" corrected my previous tendency to prioritize tools over core concepts. By directing our attention to early "dot games," he facilitated a tracing back to the origins of game design—in an era of limited resources, designers were forced to channel all their creativity into the gameplay itself. This made me realize that a captivating game core often emerges from constraints, not from technical overload.

Week 2

This week's class began with an inspiring session of homework sharing. Students took turns presenting their game design concepts. I also had the chance to share my own idea; while I felt slightly nervous, it was a very rewarding experience. Listening to the diverse creative ideas from my peers was highly beneficial and broadened my own design thinking. Afterwards, the class moved into the practical phase, where the teacher systematically explained the basics of using Blender and specifically demonstrated how to successfully import models created in Blender into the Godot game engine, establishing a complete workflow from asset creation to game integration for us.

MY EXERCISE 1

Week 3

This week's class focused on the presentation of game models and teamwork. In class, each student shared their initial game model drafts, with progress varying from person to person: some had already created complete characters, while others were still refining details. It was very rewarding to see everyone's ideas gradually develop from conceptual sketches into tangible 3D models.The teacher provided key feedback on our works, emphasizing the need for accurate model proportions to prevent characters from appearing rigid, the impact of lighting on the overall atmosphere, and the importance of checking modifier settings when exporting models to avoid file corruption.

In the latter part of the class, we held group discussions to further define the game's overall theme and gameplay direction. Our group ultimately selected the proposals from two classmates as the foundation for further development.

Overall, the biggest takeaway this week was transforming previous concepts into a visible 3D prototype. Although the models are not yet perfect, seeing the game world being built piece by piece is truly motivating.

MY EXERCISE 2

Week 4

After discussion, our team decided to base one of our games on the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Since this film is a favorite among all of us, everyone was excited and eager to share ideas during the brainstorming session. We ultimately settled on creating a four-level game. My assigned section is the first level where August falls into the chocolate river.

During class, we shared our work. The teacher suggested we could add more images, so after class we continued drawing additional game scenes.

Our exercise 3

The pictures I draw