Outline

For my Final Major Project, I plan to create a nostalgic feeling 2D Dress Up Game, inspired by those I played when I was younger! This project will be a balance of programming and art work, so I feel it will be beneficial for my personal development as a videogame developer.

Aims

Within this project, I am aiming to develop my understanding of Unreal Engine blueprinting, alongside furthering my artistic ability - I have been wanting to create a practical application of my artwork, as I feel it will be a great portfolio piece and showcase of my ability. Furthermore, I also want to gain an understanding of how character creators/ dress up games work, why they continue to be so popular within modern video gaming, and what elements go into creating a creator that works for a wide variety of people!

Skills

Throughout the duration of the project, I will need the following skills:

• The ability to research and analyse pre existing works, as well as creating research opportunities through questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews.

• The ability to plan, and stick to a schedule so that work can be completed within a timely manner.

• The ability to problem solve with creative solutions, as I will be working within a specialism that I'm not confident with.

• The ability to apply myself and my skillset to practical work, so that my work can be completed on time and to a high standard.

Hardware and Software

For the project, I will need the following hardware and software:

I pitched my game to my class, as a practice of what pitching could be like within the games industry. I went through the main elements of my project, including an introduction to the genre of game I want to create, as well as the fashion style I want to emulate through my assets. I believe that I managed to pitch to my crowd really well! Whilst I was able to speak eloquently, I kept running out of breath due to speaking fast [I was the last pitch of the day and everyone wanted to go for lunch]. However, I still believe that I was able to get the main elements of my game conveyed to a high standard.

I do believe that I also could have handled the Q&A section of the pitch better - I felt quite flustered, and I believe that I could have handled some of the responses in a more professional way. With this aside, I do believe that I was able to answer the questions in a good amount of detail, and the participants who asked questions seemed satisfied with the replies given.

Throughout My project, I plan to create a schedule weekly so that I have a plan to follow.

Overall, I managed to stay on schedule for most of the week! However, due to technical difficulties whilst recording my focus group and development vlog on Friday morning, I became behind on my research of doll dress up games and character customizers. I plan to complete this research by next Friday so that I can stay on schedule for the rest of the project.

This week's schedule was sabotaged by a lot of events outside of my control - my tutor getting observed on Tuesday afternoon and getting ill and staying at home on Friday could have been a recipe for disaster paired withthe pushbacks last week, however I have managed to catch up and even complete some new work so that I am now on schedule! Next week, I plan to take a deep dive into what aesthetic I want my game to follow, which will allow me to start concepting ideas for assets I can include within the game!

As the basis for my research, I've decided to look into the games of my childhood that have inspired the entire project - the flash games of my youth. A 'Flash' game is a game that ran using Adobe Flash player, a multimedia viewer created by Adobe that could be used for a plethora of different use cases. More importantly, the 'doll dress up' genre of flash games were my favourite as a child - these are games where the main premise is picking clothes, shoes and accessories for a 2d character. These games have been extremely popular for decades, their premise dating back to at least the 1950's with cut out dolls in magazines. 

To kickstart my research, I decided to create a questionnaire based around flash games, character creators and doll dress up games specifically. I tried to use a varied amount of different questions, to gain a broad view of peoples opinions on the different topics. The questionnaire and it's answers can be seen below.

Overall, my questionnaire got a great reception - I managed to get 17 respondents, so this has given me a wealth of information to take inspiration from!

Feedback - Flash Games

From this questionnaire, I learned that 94% of my respondents had played flash games before, on sites like Coolmathsgames or Newgrounds. I also gained a lot of knowledge into what kind of flash games they played, from papa's freezeria to Neopets to Fireboy and Water Girl. This has helped me to realise that flash games can really take any shape or form and can come from genres AAA games tackle today! It has also made me realise that a lot of people within my generation have a nostalgia factor for these web games that we used to play as kids, and have created fond memories with many different games - obscure or more well known. Many of my respondents enjoyed flash games, as they felt they were simple to understand, addictive, fun to pick up and play, and easy to access. The target audience for these games is usually young kids to tweens, so making them addicting and easy top understand ensures that people will want to come back to the games - a tactic I would like to try and use within my own title.

Feedback - Character Customisation

In relation to character creation/customisation, 100% of my respondents had used some form of tool for this purpose. Some of the given tools were within games like Cyberpunk 2077, Skyrim, The Sims, and Fallout, as well as other tools like the Wii Mii Maker, Piccrew, Imvu and fan made creators for brands like My Little Pony. My respondents enjoyed character customisation, as they felt it gives the player a chance to be creative and roleplay by creating their own character. This also makes the player build an attachment to the game, as having a custom character normally makes the player want to think about what decisions their character would make and what playstyle would suit them the best. I also had a great answer from someone who identifies as non binary, who expressed how character customisation helps them feel more comfortable within their identity, as they can create a character that expresses themselves as they would like to - I thought this was such a lovely statement! However, Some elements my respondents didn't like about character customisation are that: sometimes there are extremely limited options; the creators are badly laid out or hard to understand; the browser based creators can look cheap and or rushed; there are restrictive elements that make character customisation feel useless. I can agree with some of these points, especially about browser based creators looking cheap - many of these creators were ametur made, so the level of polish and professionalism to these creators fluctuated across the board. My last question in this section was about how my respondents thought that character customisation could be improved, and I got some great responses - people said that they felt that they wanted the way a character is created to have a bearing on the gameplay, a system that Cyberpunk 2077 tried with their different lifepath choices which affect different dialogue options throughout the game. Another idea I liked was the use of sliders, so that players can get deep into customisation and have a really detailed character when they are complete. I believe games like skyrim do this really well, as you can create a really nice looking character or an ogre depending on how you use the creator - this adds another element of fun to the game, as playing with a monster of a character can sometimes create some humourous moments.

Feedback - Doll Dress Up Games

The amount of my respondents that had played a doll dress up game was in the minority, with only about 41% of people actually having an experience with one of these games. Some of the examples given included games from popular girls doll brands like Barbie, Monster High, and My Little Pony; Some with characters from Star Wars; Some with characters from Nintendo franchises like Mario; some where you dressed dogs and horses. This genre of Flash game was overrun with these branded games, and I myself played many of the Monster High ones - these are what inspired this entire project! The respondents that had played these types of games expressed that they enjoyed them because they could create outfits for some of their favorite characters, as well as matching these characters to their personal preferences. Some also said that they enjoyed the genre for the novelty, however it wasn't something they would play for long periods of time. All of my respondents expressed that they believed the target audience of these games were kids and tweens, and I can't agree more - the use of characters marketed towards children, as well as bright colours and easy to understand mechanics means that these games are perfect for kids, and the wealth of these games that use characters from brands merchandised to girls means that the majority of these games were also played by young girls. When asked about how best they felt a game like this should be controlled, the majority of people expressed that they enjoyed drag and drop mechanics, although some also enjoyed a point and click control scheme. I personally enjoy a drag and drop mechanic, so I'm glad that my respondents do too!

When asked about what elements of the games I included within the questionnaire they liked, people expressed an interest in the artstyle as well as the UI and the wide variation of colours included for assets to dress the character. Someone also expressed the idea that if the artstyle doesn't look good, you won't enjoy the game, and I agree with this fact!

To gain ideas for my own game, I have decided to look at dress up games I remember from my childhood and talk about their target audiences, UI design, art style, choice of assets, and diversity of body shapes and skin tones. Whilst a few of these examples use characters from preestablished media, I do believe that it is still important for players to be able to make the character their own and that's why I believe diversity within the games is super important.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time looking at these games - It bought back a lot of nostalgia whilst also letting me look at the games I used to play with a more analytical eye which I really enjoyed. I also liked looking at newer games, like 'My Street Style' and 'Fairytale Duet', as it has helped me see what about these games gave been changed over the years but also what staples of the genre have stayed. 

I really like how these games had a wide amount of different assets a player could use to customise their character,  from different clothing items to different monster parts - Players were able to create unique characters and dress them up in fun ways. Whilst I really enjoyed the creative elements of these games, I believe a lot of work could be done to make these games more accessible to a wider amount for people - from different religious items that are everyday life to many people, to different skin tones, hair textures and body shapes, I feel the doll dress-up genre has a lot of work to do with diversity and inclusivity within games.

Within my own title, I plan to take UI elements like that from 'Monster High Character Creator', so that my game is easy to understand and play. Furthermore, I also plan to use the range of assets shown in games like 'My Street Style' and 'Fairytale Duet' to make my game replayable, and give my players plenty of choice to mix and match to create their character.

Overall, I really like how CD PROJEKT RED designed their character creator - it is easy to understand and has lots of choice, although I do feel that they could have included more assets like tattoos and scars so that players have more choice for their roleplaying and lore building. Furthermore, I also believe more could have been done for creating assets that fit with the context of the game, for example cybernetic limbs and augmentations in the character creator, as well as assets that link to gangs or factions in the game [eg more tattoo choice.] I believe that some ideas, like the UI design as well as the choice of assets, could be transferred to my own work so that I can create an effective character customizer.

Looking at how similar Stardew Valley's character creator is to what I want to create, I believe there is a lot of inspiration I can take from this example to use within my own!  The Menu design is easy to understand and works well, and I really enjoy how the colour of certain assets can be changed using the hue bars on the right hand side.

I personally believe that The Sims 4 is an example of what a modern character creator can be - if you have all the paid DLC. If not, the game can feel outdated in its clothing and hair styles, although the development team have worked to bring more assets to the base game in the past few years. Overall, I really like how the character is the forefront of the UI, with the creation options orbiting around it. I like how much you can edit and change about your character, even tiny details that can really make people feel included like surgery scars and medical wearable items. Whilst I disagree with how much money you need to spend to get the full experience, the amount of assets available with all DLC packs is a massive inspiration as to what I could create within my own title.

I feel that this project is a great chance to expand my visual library and immerse myself in different subcultures so that I can create a final project that is both polished and stays true to the aesthetics that I decide to reference. This is why I have decided to take a look at clothing styes that are a touch out of my comfort zone, so that I can gain a better understanding of why people find these styles so enjoyable! I have chosen to take a look at Steampunk. Scene, Techware, Victorian evening wear, Decora Kei and Skater style, as I feel looking at a broad range of different styles will help me to decide what I want to lean into for my project.

Steampunk

Steampunk fashion is a subgenre of the subculture of the same name. It includes a mixture of the victorian era's outlook on the future and science fiction, as well as elements of the industrial revolution during the 1800's. The fashion style includes elements of industry [such as gear and machinery motifs], as well as victorian dress elements and accessories like goggles, top hats, and walking canes.

Personally, I've never really felt an interest in Steampunk - whilst I have seen some really cool creations and outfits tied to this fashion style, I have always had more of an interest in futuristic styles like techware. I feel like I have seen some games in the past using this style to it's full advantage [eg Bioshock], however I think I would prefer to pick another style.

Aesthetics Wiki. (2018). Steampunk. [Online]. aesthetics.fandom.com. Last Updated: 5th Feb 2024. Available at: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Steampunk?so=search [Accessed 28 February 2024]. 

Scene

Scene is a subgenre of the Emo subculture, which emerged in the early 2000's. It was mainly popular with teenagers, and included mainstays of emo fashion [like straight flat hair covering the forehead, long fringes and lots of accessories], whilst also incorporating bright colours and patterns that matched with what was popular at the time.

As I was just a child when Scene was popular, I still feel the mix of classic emo elements like the straightened hair over the forehead mixed with the fun colours and patterns make this fashion style quite fun to look at! However, I feel that it would be quite a simple artstyle to replicate, and I'm looking for a challenge with this project. I may use elements of this style for some of my assets though!

Aesthetics Wiki. (2019). Scene. [Online]. aesthetics.fandom.com. Last Updated: 25th February 2024. Available at: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Scene?so=search [Accessed 28 February 2024]. 

Techware

Techware is a fashion style that combines functionality and style. The style includes practical pockets, straps and hardware, and uses materials that are hard wearing but breathability and comfortable.

Techware has always been a favorite clothing style of mine, as I really like the sharp lines and hardware used within many garments. Whilst it is my favorite of the aesthetics looked at, I already focused on this style for my last FMP. I plan to broaden my horizons during this project, so whilst I might take elements and create a few garments for my creator, I don't plan to use this aesthetic for my main inspiration.

Aesthetics Wiki. (2021). Techwear. [Online]. aesthetics.fandom.com. Last Updated: 20th December 2023. Available at: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Techwear [Accessed 28 February 2024]. 

Victorian Evening Wear

Victorian evening wear was a far cry from the uptight rules for dressing in the day, and was seen as a way for people to flaunt their wealth with expensive fabrics, accessories and complicated garment structure. Women in particular were allowed low necklines, and had many different types of dresses for different formal occasions.

As mentioned before, I find the future more interesting then the past - whilst I like the silhoette and the colours used in many victorian evening gowns, I believe that I wouldn't have as much choice for mix and match content within my game if I went with this aesthetic.

Yesterday's Thimble. (2024). What to Wear: Rules for Victorian Dressing, Part II. [Online]. http://yesterdaysthimble.com/. Available at: http://yesterdaysthimble.com/articles/rules-for-victorian-dressing-ii/ [Accessed 28 February 2024].

Decora Kei

Decora Kei is a popular subgenre of Japanese street style, first popularised by idol Tomoe Shinohara in the 1990's. The style includes bright colours and casual comfy clothes, layered with accessories like chunky bracelets and rings, hair clips, bright make up and face stickers.

I really like Decora Kei! It's so fun and gives me a lot of opportunities artistically to create assets that can be mixed and matched to create a final outfit. This would also be a great opportunity to mess with colour and texture to create assets that fit the aesthetic.

Aesthetics Wiki. (2021). Decora. [Online]. aesthetics.fandom.com. Last Updated: 27th December 2023. Available at: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Decora [Accessed 28 February 2024]. 

Skater

Skater style is an extremely popular clothing style which rose into prominence in the 1990's. It consists of clothing items that are easy to wear whilst skateboarding like shorts, slouchy t-shirts, flat bottomed shoes and dad caps. Colours tend to be quite muted, and the aesthetic leans into comfort and functionality.

When I was younger I was really into skater style, with its focus on comfort. Whilst I really like this style, I think it is too basic for my FMP project - I want to try and push myself and apart from creating basics like t-shirts for my game, I won't get much inspiration from this style.

Aesthetics Wiki. (2020). Skater. [Online]. aesthetics.fandom.com. Last Updated: 26th October 2023. Available at: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Skater [Accessed 28 February 2024].

Now that I've decided what fashion style I want to use to inspire assets for my game, I decided it would be a great idea to take a deeper look into what makes Decora Kei and why people enjoy using it to express themselves!

I found a great documentary by Refinery29, where host Asha Leo talks to a wide variety of different Decora Kids to ask about what drew them to decora, as well as how it helps them feel more confident within their everyday lives.

One of the main interviewees shown throughout the video is popular decora celebrity Kurebayashi, who states that when she first started dressing in Decora fashion her parents were scared that she stuck out so much from Japan's rigid uniform customs. However, she sees Decora as a 'lifestyle', and says that it makes her life more fun and brings joy to those around her.

Another of the interviewees is Cat, a German Decora girl who teaches English in Tokyo. She says that Decora is 'fun fashion', that goes against the mainstream of what many in Japan would consider socially acceptable. She says that because it isn't elegant and is very loud, sometimes it scares outsiders and makes them think that people dressed in Decora could be 'weird'.

However, Decora Kei is a really popular subgenre of Japanese Street Fashion - Kurebayashi currently has 200k followers on Instagram*, and American Decora girl Kristina [also known as @cybr.grl] has a following of 355K*. This shows that there still is a massive interest in Decora, and its messages of being true to yourself and dressing freely without judgement! These messages, as well as the fun saturated colours and freedom of creativity are my favourite elements of Decora Kei - I feel like the confidence and enjoyment for fashion radiated from all Decora Kei enjoyers is something that everyone should be inspired by!

[*Followings recorded on 8th March 2024]

Now that i've looked a bit deeper into Decora Kei, I've decided to create a moodboard including outfits from some of the interviewees from the documentary, so that I can gain inspiration for assets I could create for my game. I also believe this would help me to understand how Decora Kids structure their outfits, and help me understand the mentality of being a Decora girl.

During my research, I've noticed that decora kids pose in many different ways for photos. I believe that looking at some of the most prominent poses may help me to understand how I want the base body on my own game to look!

When deciding an artstyle for my game, I want to make sure that:

1. I will be able to successfully replicate/imitate the artstyle within the time given for asset creation

2. I will be learning/ building upon skills to further my artistic ability.

I have picked three art styles to analyse - Anime, Lineless and Cartoon - that I believe will fit the target audience of my game. I plan to look in depth at these art styles, to gain a better understanding of their fundamentals and whether they will be the right fit for the project.

Hailing from Japan, the 'Anime' artstyle has risen to popularity through film, tv, gaming and also 'manga' comic books. Some notable examples of the art style include:

•  Films from Studio Ghibli [Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle],

• TV Shows [Dragon Ball Z, Assassination Classroom, One Piece]

• Games [Genshin Impact, Persona 5 Royal, Ace Attorney.]

'Anime' is seen more as an umbrella term for a lot of Japanese media, with the art styles shown within being varied and each having their own following. There are five main categories of anime, each with their own fundamental artstyle: Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, Josei, and Kodomomuke - Depending on the category an artstyle falls into can can change major features of its product, including subject matter, target audience and general themes. 

Decora Kei, the fashion style I'm using for inspiration for my project, originated in the Harajuku district of Tokyo in the 1990's - This is why I believe looking at the different anime categories and their associated art styles was vital! If I were to use one of the anime art styles for my game, I would probably lean into Shojo or Josei, as I believe that these styles would cater to my target audience of teenage girls quite well.

From this research, I've learned that there are lots of different types of anime media each with different fundamental art styles. This differentiates them from each other, making it easier to understand target audience and themes.

Lineless artwork is a format I have wanted to research and trial for a long time. From prior knowledge, I have gathered that lineless artwork relies more on colour blocking and shape language to create a successful piece of artwork - I believe that this would work well for the bright colourful aesthetic of Decora Kei!

After looking at examples, I believe that lineless artwork could be a really good fit for the project! The style is rooted in colourblocking at shape theory, which are both fundamentals I have wanted to take a look at. Furthermore, I believe it would be a good use of my time on the project, as I would be learning new skills that I can then use within future artistic endeavors.

Stylised realism is an art style that I am quite familiar with! I believe that my own style could be considered in this way - Cartoon-inspired eyes, block coloured hair with shading used to add texture, and anatomy that could sometimes be slightly exaggerated. I believe that a stylised art style could work quite well for my project, as I could lean the proportions of certain elements into creating an almost 'chibi' look whilst also balancing realism.

Looking at examples, artists who use stylised realism seem to all have slightly different styles, which means that in most cases this art style can be adjusted for user preference. For example, I feel that my art style is completely different to the art style shown in the thumbnail of '5 TIPS for Drawing Cartoons' [above, right] - these can both still be classed as stylised!

Looking at my own personal work, I believe that the most stylised element of my art style is the eyes - they have an almost comic book styling, similar to how I draw and texture hair. Other then these elements, I believe that I stick pretty closely to anatomical rules, and have quite a solid art style! However, I do believe that I could improve by doing more anatomy studies, and also more studies on how to shade and highlight in a more realistic manner. I have also started trying to add texture to my pieces, through elements like adding a denim texture to jeans and using small, sharp brushstrokes to create beards/ stubble - I believe I could experiment with this to give my art more life!

Looking at my own personal work, I believe that the most stylised element of my art style is the eyes - they have an almost comic book styling, similar to how I draw and texture hair. Other then these elements, I believe that I stick pretty closely to anatomical rules, and have quite a solid art style! However, I do believe that I could improve by doing more anatomy studies, and also more studies on how to shade and highlight in a more realistic manner. I have also started trying to add texture to my pieces, through elements like adding a denim texture to jeans and using small, sharp brushstrokes to create beards/ stubble - I believe I could experiment with this to give my art more life!

After looking at these 3 different art styles, I have decided that I want to go with a lineless style! I believe this will work well for my game as it leans more into colourblocking and shading - two elements of my art that I would like to work on and improve! Furthermore, I believe that this would be a good use of my time as it means that I am learning a new art style rather then spending time improving my existing style, meaning that in the end I will be able to show that I can work in many different styles which would work for different types of games.

When I created my art bible, I focused on creating a document that was easy to understand and referance, whilst also containing the information an artist would need to create effective work for the game.

I created this system using a small selection of video tutorials collected from YouTube - The basic menu systems were made following a Gorka Games tutorial, and the tabbed menu was created using a series of UI tutorials by Ryan Laley.

I found these videos really useful, as they managed to guide me step by step through each instruction, whilst also explaining why we were taking the steps we were taking. As a novice to unreal blueprinting, this was brilliant for me as I just wanted to create simple systems that would work without too much issue. The only problem I faced was that Ryan Laley was making his tabbed system to work with a controller, so I had to edit some of his instructions to fit my own use. Another problem I faced was changing between the different screens - The different screens were layering on top of one another, so I managed to create a way where when a button was clicked, the screen containing that screen would be removed from the player viewport, before adding the new screen to the viewport. This made the game run better, as it made sure that there was only at most 2 of these screens layered at once [the 'main game window' and the transparent 'pause' window.]

About 2/3's of the way into the project, I am faced with the decision of focusing more on the artistic assets for the game, or creating a working prototype with stand-in assets. It was at this point that I have realised that I wouldn't be able to finish the project with a working game - from motivation issues [as detailed in my reflective journal] to time constraints, I realised that as an artist going on to start a concept art degree, I needed to start prioritizing elements of the project that would be constructive towards my future endeavours. Whilst I really enjoyed my time building an understanding of Unreal, I have decided that the best use of my remaining time will be to work towards creating as many artistic assets as possible, so at least the vision of my game can be realised. However, I do plan to work on completing the project in my future free time!

Overall, as an artist that came into this project with a very narrow knowledge of Unreal Engine and blueprinting, I couldn't be prouder of the progress I have made - I was very scared that I wouldn't be able to code and would have to drop that element of the FMP altogether!

When Creating my UI layout, I decided to create two main windows - the character creation window [where players would be able to see their character whilst they dress and customise them] and the Asset selection window [comprised of a tabbed menu system where assets would be seperated into different categories]. I believe that the tab menu of the asset selection menu would make the game easier to play, as it would mean I can spread my assets out so they can be seen easily by the player. Furthermore, I also believe that this design also calls back to many of the games I researched for the project, and gives the games a early 2010's PC operation system vibe which could be excelled to fit the Decora aesthetic using bright colours, design motifs like pattern and fun shapes. I chose to give many of the elements - especially on the button elements - round edges. I believe that this gives a 'cute' vibe, which fits many of the games that match my target audience.

When creating the assets for my character creator, I went in with the goal of successfully creating artwork that could be used within a AAA title, with elements relevant to my chosen clothing aesthetic and art style. I also had to keep usability in mind, as these assets needed to be able to be imported into my Unreal Engine project once finished - this meant they had to have a PNG format.

Body Base Speedpaint.

at this point that I decided on my 4 different skin tones. I referenced the colours I was planning on using for the outfit and accessories, and picked tones that I felt worked well with the saturated, bright colours I had chosen inline with Decora fashion. Overall, I'm really happy with the 4 tones I chose - I feel that they will work for a wide variety of different players.

After colour blocking the main shape of the anatomy, I moved onto defining the different limbs and elements through shading and highlights. I used what I call a 'smudging' technique for the shading and highlights - this is where I will lay out a dark line of shadow or light on an 'overlay' layer, before using the smudge tool to blend it out to look more natural.  I also used what I call a 'universal shading layer' - this contains all the rendering for the body, using colours to shade and highlight that will work with all the different skin tones I had chosen. The rendering of the body was a long process, as I wanted to try and make the body base realistic whilst still having a cartoony, almost anime look as well. This was a tough line to toe, however in the end I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Clothing and Hair Assets Speedpaint.

Whilst working on clothing assets, I was thinking about how best to create the hair assets. I could create single assets, with a full hairstyle merged into one asset, or I could create multiple elements that would come together to help the player be creative and make up their own hairstyle from pre-made assets. Overall, I wanted this project to be about creativity and pushing my boundaries, so I decided on the second idea. I created the idea for a system comprised of three categories- a front 'fringe' piece, a main length piece, and an 'extra' piece [ponytails, buns, etc]. Within Unreal Engine I would make the fringe piece mandatory, whilst the main length and extra pieces could be used together or interchangeably to create a multitude of different hairstyle options.

Overall, I wanted to create 5 pieces for each category, with 8 colourways that could be used interchangeably. Whilst this seemed like a massive challenge, the main use of my time was manually colouring every single asset. Whilst in the end I didn't manage to render every single asset [ I used a universal shading layer for each fringe, length and extra asset rather then individually shading every single asset to save time], I believe that a viewer of the assets can tell what I was going for! Creating these hair assets, and trying to make each different unique element different in some way, was a really fun challenge and I believe I've come up with a really great spread of assets.

Finished Assets

Overall whilst time constraints and motivation issues meant that I didn't manage to create close to all of the assets I wanted to create, I have still created some really effective assets for my project. I have used this project to try and learn a 'lineless' art style, and I believe that I have made a great attempt at the style! I have also experimented with my rendering style compared to my personal art style, and I believes it adds a touch of realism that my assets benefitted from overall. My assets are also usable within Unreal Engine, with each being able to be exported as a PNG file which can then be imported into my project file for use.

To gain some final feedback for the assets created for my project, I created a questionnaire for my peers to answer. The responses can be seen below.

Feedback - Body Base

From this questionnaire, I learned that my peers really enjoyed the artstyle and shading for the body base, especially the muscle definition I included! They also liked the range of skin tones I included, which is an element of the body base that I'm really proud of - I wanted my game to feel inclusive, and I'm glad that I managed to get it right. However, my peers expressed that they weren't a fan of the pose - they felt it looked unnatural, and in one response stated it looked 'broken into position'. Whilst I understand the complaints, I believe that these comments stem from the quality of my shading and colour blocking over the believability of the pose, which was inspired from a reference image I saw during my research. After asking for more information, the respondent explained that they believed the connection between the thigh and calf was the problem - due to the stylised proportions I decided to use, the connection between these two elements seemed quite unnatural, and this is definitely an element of the base I would rework were I to do it again! Another comment also mentioned maybe having a male option as well as a female option. This was something I actually thought of doing, as there are also Decora Boys as well as Decora girls - however due to time constraints I wasn't able to do this. Overall, When asked what I could improve my peers bought up their problems with the pose and some of the elements of anatomy like the hands and feet. I left the feet purposely quite blocky as they were always going to be covered by shoes and socks, however I can understand some of the problems with the hands - they're always a hard element of anatomy to nail, and I do feel I could definitely practice them more!

Feedback - Clothing Assets

Looking at the responses, I can see that my respondents really liked the vibrancy of the colours used, as well as the shading techniques used. They also liked how I managed to keep the target audience in mind whilst creating the assets, keeping them all within the same art style and colour pallet to create a set of pleasing elements. However, my peers disliked that some assets had less shading then others, as well as the lack of variety - these are both problems that stemmed from my use of time and motivation, which is definitely an element of my workflow that I will be working on improving in the future. Moreover, my peers expressed an interest in more assets being created for a larger amount of freedom whilst customising, even if some of the same assets were recoloured - I agree with them wholeheartedly!

Feedback - Modular Hair Assets

Reading the responses, I can see that my respondents really enjoyed the massive amount of variety and customisation that comes with the modular system, and the inclusion of extreme colours over natural tones. An idea someone had was to use a RGB picker, so that the player can manually assign the colour rather then presets - however other then that there wasn't many other complaints which is really good!

Overall, the feedback given by my respondents is vital in understanding what I could have done better, as well as what I could improve as I work on the project further. I got some brutally honest feedback, however this is amazing as it is telling me exactly what needs to be improved! 

When thinking of ideas for this year’s FMP, I wanted to create a brief that would challenge both my artistic abilities, but also make me a better all-around game developer. I had a few different ideas of what I wanted to do, using elements of my toolset that I felt needed improving like 3D art, visual communication within my art and blueprinting within Unreal Engine for inspiration whilst creating my brief. In the end, I decided to take inspiration from the games of my childhood to develop the idea of my project - a ‘Doll Dress-up’ game, composed of 2D assets that could be dragged and dropped onto a model, almost like a digital Barbie doll. I adored these games as a child, so I thought the challenge of creating one from scratch would make for a really enjoyable project to tackle and document. My main aims for the project were to: Create elements that could be used within a modern AAA game [programming and art], Gain a better understanding of Unreal Engine and how to use blueprints to create mechanics for a 2D game, but overall I wanted to create a complete game that could be used as a portfolio piece to show my ability as a game developer. 

To start my project I spent some time analysing the given criteria. I did this so that I would know what was required of me to create a strong brief as well as the skills, research materials and hardware I would need throughout the project - I feel this was a really useful jumping-off point as it helped me take stock of what to prioritise! Once I’d done this I started with my project proposal, using what I’d thought about when analysing the criteria to make sure I had a solid set of research elements, as well as a schedule for the project that I could follow and expand upon as I went to make sure I was staying on track.

When creating my schedule I focused on giving myself a break from each different specialism I was working towards, splitting up the workload to be doing art one week and programming the next. Whilst this was a good idea in theory, I didn’t expect to get invested in the programming and asset creation so early on, which derailed the rest of my schedule as I ignored what was set out in my project proposal for carrying on with mechanic creation projects from the previous week. It was only around ¾ of the way through the entire FMP that I started to create artistic assets for the game, which would be the downfall of creating a finished title by the end of the allotted project time. I also had the idea of creating separate weekly schedules for my work, which I thought would help me see what needed to be completed on a smaller scale compared to the project proposal. I thought this would help as I really struggle with a lack of motivation and a short attention span. Looking back, I believe that the idea for creating weekly schedules was a great idea in theory once again, as it made sure I could keep track of where I was and what needed to be done. The only problem with this approach was that sometimes I would forget to complete the schedules, or wouldn’t fully follow them - This led to problems further throughout the project that could have been avoided if I had just followed the main schedule set out within my project proposal, rather than making what seemed like a million separate lists and plans that I would end up abandoning as I got more and more stressed about the workload I needed to complete. It was also at this point that I conceived the idea of a weekly ‘Development Vlog’ - a video diary that I would create to run alongside my reflective journal entries, detailing what I had done for the week, what I had learned and what needed completing, as well as what I was planning on doing for the next week. Whilst I was passionate about this idea, I realised that the cutting down and editing of these vlogs was creating a disproportionate amount of work compared to the final product, and decided to scrap the idea.

After I had completed my project action plan, I moved on to carrying out primary and secondary research. I started off looking at flash games - more specifically, the ‘doll dress up’ genre of flash games which inspired the project. I hosted a questionnaire, where I asked participants about their experiences of playing flash games, the target audience of such games, and their opinions of the ‘dress up’ and ‘character creator’ genres. From this research, I saw that people agreed that ‘dress up’ games are marketed to a target audience of girls and young women, which became my own target audience for the project. I also spent time researching UI, and how to create the mechanics I wanted to include within my game, as the project would be constructed through UI elements within Unreal Engine.

One of the main elements of the project that I researched was aesthetics and genres I could lean into for my game - at the start I planned to create a generic dress-up title with a large variety of styles, however, I realised quite early on that I would need inspiration and a direction to take the asset creation in - in the end I believed that picking a genre for the clothing and overall aesthetics of the game was the best way to do this. I first created a mood board of a large variety of different clothing styles and aesthetics that interested me and through this chose the project’s main focus of ‘Decora Kei’: a subgenre of Japanese Street Fashion that rose to prominence in the Harajuku district of Tokyo in the 1990s. This is a clothing genre that has interested me for years, with bright colours, comfortable clothes and extreme over-accessorization of outfits captivating my creative mind. I also decided that this genre, with the aforementioned attributes, would work well for my brief as it gave me a lot of freedom to create a large arsenal of assets for my game. 

Another important element of the project was my chosen art style, as this would dictate the feel and look of the game. I spent lots of time researching what I wanted the art style of the project to be, looking in depth at ‘Anime’, ‘Lineless’ and ‘Cartoon’ styles to help decide which would be the best fit. Overall, I chose to try and replicate a lineless style - It can give a realistic look whilst also having stylised elements like the proportion of the anatomy and different colours used. I also chose this style as I wanted to use this project to try something new rather than build upon my existing art style - I feel that having multiple different art styles shown on my portfolio would be more impressive and desirable in the future. I detailed my plans for the art style within my art bible, which I tried to make as understandable as possible so that it could theoretically be used by an industry art team. I made the art bible effective by looking at tutorials from industry professionals, as well as industry art bibles from shipped titles. This was a really important aspect of the project for me, as I feel that crafting an effective art bible will be a vital skill in my future endeavours.

After I had decided on the basic foundations for my game, I started on asset creation! I first started in Unreal, creating a basic menu system using YouTube tutorials as a guide before creating a tabbed menu system which would house my assets once they were added. I decided to do a tabbed menu system instead of having all the assets laid out on one page, as I felt it would help the assets be easier to see and cycle through for the player, whilst also being organised and better laid out. Overall the tabbed menu system took the most time - I used tutorials by Ryan Laley on Youtube as my guide and had to edit the instructions for my use case throughout the process as he was making his game for console whilst I was creating for PC. This editing of the instructions given helped me to better understand the software, as well as my programming level. However, I do believe I could have learned better if I had tried to create mechanics from scratch trying to use tutorials as minimally as possible and instead using written documentation, as this would have forced me to explore the options available to me within the engine which may have helped me gain an even better understanding of how everything worked. Whilst I made a lot of mistakes, these experiences helped me to learn and grow, and in the end, I feel that I’m a lot more prepared to work within Unreal in the future and beyond. Whilst I really enjoyed my time creating mechanics, I got to a place in my project where I had quite a developed project file, with no assets to import. This was when I made the executive decision to focus on the artwork, as that is what I plan to specialise in for university and beyond. This situation stemmed from my disorganisation and bad use of time throughout the project, which is an element of the entire FMP and year that I seriously need to work on in the future.

After deciding to forgo my programming work within Unreal Engine, I decided to work on my artistic assets for the project by starting with the body base. I thought this was a good idea because it would give me a base to work with for creating the rest of the customisation assets. I knew that I wanted my game to feel inclusive for a wide range of people, so I decided to try and include around 3-4 different skin tones which would be colour-blocked, before using a ‘universal shading layer’ to shade all 3-4 at once rather than shading each tone individually. I thought this strategy was clever, as I didn’t have loads of time and needed to work out ways to minimise my workload as much as possible. I do believe that this strategy worked, as the colour I used for shading worked interchangeably with the tones I chose for the skin. Furthermore whilst this was a time-saving manoeuvre, it didn’t ruin the quality of any of the finished bases which was a massive bonus! Through feedback gathered within a questionnaire, I found out that a lot of the respondents felt as though the pose was quite unnatural, which I can understand slightly - I chose the pose during my research, and quite closely followed a photo of Decora model Kurebayashi to try and get it right. After speaking to some of my respondents about this, we concluded that the problem was the enhanced proportions I used for the legs: the calf muscle has a very sharp connection to the thigh, making the connection look unnatural. This is something that I would strive to improve if I were to have another go at creating the body base. 

After creating the body base I decided to move on to creating the hair assets - I chose to create a modular hair system, as this would give my players more choice. This system consists of three parts: a fringe [front piece], a main length [back piece], and extra pieces like buns or ponytails. I decided that the main length and extras were optional, giving the player the choice of giving their character super short hair, hair that is tied up in a style, or hanging loose and long. I also coloured these pieces using 3 natural shades and 5 unnatural colours, using techniques like the colour blocking and shading I did for the body base to give them more detail. Overall I’m really proud of this system - whilst I didn’t manage to shade every piece [I was using universal shading layers for each unique element excluding colour variants], I do believe I have the start of a very successful system. When I asked for feedback through a questionnaire, my peers expressed that they liked the element of choice that this system introduced into the game, However, I could have made an RGB picker system within my Unreal project so that the player could have chosen custom colours for the assets - I really like this idea, and if I had more time I may have adopted it! I do however feel that the presets I have chosen make the project a lot easier to access compared to having more confusing elements that my target audience may find confusing.

Lastly, I started work on the clothing assets for the game. Looking back it seems quite funny to me that the ‘dress up’ element of my project was the last I started work on, and this can be seen in the amount of assets created. I really struggled at this point with what kind of assets to create, as I seemed to be running out of motivation once again. My motivation and drive have been a massive struggle this year, as I feel I have been burned out from art in general for around six months! Even though I knew what I wanted to create in my mind, I couldn’t translate it into artwork which was a really difficult situation to be in so close to the deadline. In the end, I managed to create almost a sample of what clothing for the game could look like using bright colours, fun shapes and a mix of different garments with different textures made using rendering techniques. Overall, whilst I’m disappointed in the amount I managed to end up creating - with no accessories created which is what Decora is known for - I’m still pleased I managed to at least create something whilst I was struggling. I used many of the same techniques used for the hair assets and body base to create the assets, which helped them all work together to create a cohesive final product. In my feedback, My peers expressed enjoyment at the bright colours and the rendering techniques used, however felt that the lack of variety on show was quite disappointing, and wanted to see more. I really appreciated my respondent's honesty through the feedback, as it has helped me to see exactly what needs to be changed or improved.

From the view of a game developer, I believe that the elements I managed to create for the game fit my target audience of young girls and women - the assets have a cohesive colour scheme and art style, which shows that they have been created with the final cohesive product in mind. I made sure to ensure that these assets would work for industry implementation within Unreal engine - I used a PNG file format for my assets, which means that they are easy to import into the project file and add as an image asset within the UI editor. However, I believe that if my work were to be used in a AAA game it would need to be cleaned up and more assets would need to be created that fit in with those already created. 

Compared to my initial FMP idea [to create a fully working ‘doll dress-up’ game, through programming and creating art assets], the project has taken a turn, and I haven’t managed to achieve the goal I set out to create. Whilst this is disappointing, I do feel that my FMP could have been improved had I stuck to my original plan set out within my project proposal, and made sure I had discipline to stick to that plan rather than veering off in many different directions and losing track of the timeframe and work I had left to complete. This project has been a massive learning experience for me, especially helpful in figuring out my limitations and areas for improvement - within my workflow and myself. Looking back, I still believe I chose the best out of my different ideas for the FMP project, as creating assets while programming the game challenged me to push my boundaries and build upon my very limited knowledge of Unreal Engine to create the beginning of what could be an effective product. Whilst the project didn’t get completed, I still want to work on the project outside of the FMP and hopefully make a game that I can be proud of!