Context task 1

• Context task 1.1

• Overview 

Your initial research before you write your proposal helps to develop you to develop your proposal idea which you can draw from, previous project sessions. You need to introduce the different ideas before carrying out primary (audience) research to decide the idea.

• Identify your preferred job role in the games industry - Refer to unit 3.

Personally I have two that I am struggling to pick between that being "level designer" and "3D artist", the main reason for this is that I would like to be able to make my own games in the future and would need experience in both to achieve this. There is also the fact that I'm not fully confident in doing either as I still have areas in both that I struggle with accomplishing. Following are more in depth reasons for each different job role:

 •  Level Designer

The main reason I would like to follow the "level designer" is that I have always been interested  in the mechanic behind how game levels work, that and I've always wanted to make a functional level for a game . One of the main reasons for choosing this job role was that i have prior experience in this area as a hobby, I came into college to improve my skills and get a more up to date qualification. The issue I have with this role is that i am new to using unreal engine and am not entirely sure how the software functions. 

  • 3D Artist

The reason I would like to do the "3D Artist" role is that I have a lot of experience in creating models for "3D Printing", this is in itself one of the issues. Due to only making models for printing I have not really had that much experience in "UV Unwrapping" or texturing, this being the issue holding be back from choosing this option. That being said I do have a lot of ideas for creating models, these are mostly for things like furniture, buildings and other miscellaneous items.

• What product would you need to considerer for that job role that you could make?

•  Level Designer

For this role I would probably make a "vertical slice", this is where you make fully playable section of a game. The reason for creating a "vertical slice" is that in the time frame given it wouldn't be possible to create full game with just one person. For this I would need to consider what program I'm going to use, (unreal or unity) I would also need to think about what asset pack(s) and/or placeholders I would need. As for the aforementioned "placeholders" I would need to make basic models to represent each different asset, this would require a 3d modelling software. (blender, zBrush ext.)

For this role I would need to gain access stronger computer, this is because I only have a old laptop at home that can run both unreal engine and OBS at the same time without frequently crashing.

• 3D Artist

For this role I would probably make a "3D Diorama", this is 3D image that represents a particular scene, this would require the use of multiple 3D assets to be created and positioned on a "scene" as to represent some form of "final product". This would require the use of a 3d modelling software, (blender, zBrush ext.) it would probably also require the use of some form of 3D "painting" (texturing) software. (substance painter, Mudbox, 3D paint)

Also as stated in "Level design" my laptop at home is unable to run both OBS and blender at the same time, so I would need a newer computer.

• Brief - You are to look at creating for a role within the industry that you have identified as an area of interest. What are your initial ideas?

The following are some ideas of some potential things I can create for my chosen job roles:

•  Level Designer

For this role I would probably need to create a "vertical slice" for a game, this would involve creating a few levels for proof of concept that would require a user interface, (main menus, a "heads up display" ext.) sound design, lighting and and code (scripts, functions and widgets). It would also require  a minor amount of 3D modelling to create placeholders that aren't just "blocks" as to make them more distinct from one another, these can then be replaced at a later date if there is enough available time. 

For creating the "vertical slice" the program I'll be using is unreal engine, this is because it is free and I have access to it both at college and at home.

For this role I would need to gain access stronger computer, this is because I only have a old laptop at home that can run both unreal engine and OBS at the same time without frequently crashing.

• 3D Artist

For this role I would have to consider what models I would create, (character, props and/or environmental) I would also have to consider whether or nit the items are meant to be art of the same "asset pack" in which case they would have to be make in a similar art style as to not look out of place with each other. I would also need to consider what I intend the asset to be used for (game, movie and/or physical product) 

I would also be creating most assets in blender while potentially using substance painter to help create the assets "texture", the reason for this is these are the programs that I'm most familiar with pout of all the ones I've been shown/seen.

Also as stated in "Level design" my laptop at home is unable to run both OBS and blender at the same time, so I would need a newer computer.

• Reflection

•  What will your product be?

Based on what I have written above I would probably be best at creating a "vertical slice" as stated in the "level designer" sections.

•  When does you product need to be completed by? 

The final product needs to be created and handed in by the 26/04/2024.

•  Why have you come up with this idea?

The reason I came up with is idea is that I am more confident in being able to create a reasonably decent product for the role of "level designer" then I am for the role of "3d artist", so I have come to the conclusion that would probably be the best option with my current level of skill.

•  Who will your target audience be?

I would want the game/asset to be available to be played/seen by the largest possible audience, so I would attempt to make the game family friendly, I would aim for PEGI rating 7 but would settle for PEGI rating 13. Because of this it would limit the game/asset to not having anything to graphic, (blood, gore, violence etc.) bad language (swearing) and/or drugs/alcohol. 

• Decide on a design idea

• You need to come up with a design idea that addresses your context (career in games)

As stated above I am creating a "vertical slice" of a game, my idea would be a RTS (Real Time Strategy) game that I would be to creating unreal engine blueprints for. The following would be some ideas for game mechanics that i could create using unreal engine: 

 •  Main Menu

The game would require a main menu that would include options for "start game", "controls" and "exit game" this would have a backdrop of some in game area as well as a logo of the game.

•  In game UI (User interface)

The in game user interface would show the current important information including a "currency" and an energy meter along with the currently available "buildings/units" and potentially a map of the area. The "currency" would be required to be used ion the creation of "buildings" and the recruitment of "units" you wont be able to do either if you font have the correct (or more) currency then required. As for the "energy" meter this would show how much energy is currently being created, if it is more then needed then all "functions" would be available otherwise some functions would be slower and others outright stopped until more power is created.

•  Building/Unit creation

I would need to create a way to both choose and place a specific asset as well as making sure that the requirements for that asset have been met. (such as cost, energy ext.) The assets in question would be "buildings" that each have unique functions that could include functions from increasing the current energy amount to creating creating specific units and/or just being required to exist so other things can be created/"recruited".

Each unit the player can create will require a specific "building(s)" to be created before it can be "recruited" and they will require a certain amount of "currency" to and a set amount of time before they are spawned from one of the required buildings. If any of the required buildings are destroyed there  "recruitment" will be cancelled and if energy runs out it will be slowed down. 

•  Unit control.

There would need to me a way to select and move/control any units created by the previously stated units in the "Building/Unit creation" section, otherwise they would just be stationary assets with no purpose. They would also need to automatically target destroy assets that belong to your "opponent".

• Which have you chosen and why?

I have decided to choose the job role "level designer" as have more confidence in my ability to create something with a reasonable level of polish in the available time. The main reason for choosing to do this as my final project was that i understand it more then most other parts of the course, think that  i would need to have more experience with things such as 3D modelling (Specifically UV unwrapping) before i would be confident in doing that as my "major project". I have also been doing a fair bit of research/tests into various ways to use "blueprints" in order to create appropriate functionality for an RTS, I have also been attempting UV unwrapping but have had more success with unreal blueprints.

• Initial research

•  Overview 

As stated above I'm creating a "vertical slice" of a RTS, I would be potentially creating a game in a similar style to the games "Command and Conquer" (C&C), "Dune 2000" and for a more recent example "8 bit armies".  For my role of "level developer" I would be attempting to create the basic "framework" of functionality for a "base building game", this style of game has several key features that are noticeably present in most games of this genre as well as having very similar controls/user interface(s).

•  Project creation

Seeing as the project is to be a section of a game I intend to create in in unreal engine, the reason for this is the fact it uses "blueprints" in place of proper programming and thus is easier to create a decent "blueprint "then having to create the same features/programs directly in code. Another benefit is that you get so not only see the results of the "blueprints" real time you also get to add and remove assets from a scene and test the project without first exporting it as a finished game.

As for the creation of my game I have a couple idea for "game mechanics" I could create using the unreal engines "blueprints", following are the ideas I had along with a few examples from similar products of what I'm trying to create.

•  Main Menu

As stated in the "Deciding on a design" section the game would need a "Main menu" typically this style would contain such options as "start New game", "Load save", "multiplayer", "options menu" and "exit". However the version that would be made for my product would only have "start game" "Controls" and "quit" as the options as that's all I will have time to implement.  Below are a few examples of the main menus for the above stated games, they show that they all have a simple menus consisting of basic "buttons" with a backdrop of some form of " war based imagery.  

•  User interface

As stated above this product (game) would require a basic UI that would need to contain the following:

 •  A numerical value that would be used as a "currency", this will be needed to create both buildings and units ands you wont be able to create either if you have insufficient funds.

 •  A bar that shows currently available "power", this will have a set value based on the "generator" building(s) you have, also you building will take a certain amount of power to function. Also in relation to the last point if you go over you current "power" some functions will be slower and others may stop entirely.

 • One or more lists of tiles showing available "buildings" and/or "units" 

Following are a three annotated screenshot examples from the above mentioned games showing there "user interfaces":

The above screenshots show (from left to right C&C, Dune 2000 and 8-Bit Armies) that they all contain similar user interfaces, it also show that all three contain "Currency", (annotated in red) "power" (annotated in green) and "Building/Unit lists"(annotated in Blue) in their user interfaces. 

•  Building/Unit creation

The project I am creating also needs the ability to create assets in Realtime on response to the user selecting it from the in-game list, depending on what was selected the following would need to be taken into account:

•  Building

If a building is selected a timer is started that when finished will allow you to then reselect the building and place it in the in game "map" as an in game asset, certain building only become available when a specific criteria is met. The following video shows an example of selecting and placing buildings, (from timestamp 1.00~1:45) this is the standard way of creating buildings across most RTS games.

•  Units

Just like creating buildings units require specific things to be created (usually a specific building) and are created near there specific building and are movable. The following video also shows an example of this, (from timestamp 1.50~2.10) and just like in the case of the buildings example is standard across most RTS games.

•  Moving units

Like in most RTS games you have you have a way to control the created "units", so there has to be a way to select a unit (or group of units) an make them move to and/or attack a certain target as seen on the above video, (from timestamp 1.18~1.45) again this is usually standard across most RTS games.

• Justify your decisions from the above task- Task 1(to be used in you Rational)

•  Overview

Following is a breakdown of each question and why I chose the answers to each section:

• Identify your preferred job role in the games industry - Refer to unit 3.

Firstly the reason i wrote about two job roles instead of one was that i hadn't made my mind up on which of the two i wanted to do at this point, I had however decided that it would be between the choices of "3D Artist" and "level designer".  So for this section explained the reason behind each choice and the point of each, i later chose "level creator" but chose to leave the information about "3D Artist"  here as it was part of the creative process.

• What product would you need to considerer for that job role that you could make?

For this section I still hadn't chosen a specific job role between the two chosen roles, as such i came up with ideas for "products" i could create for both roles. For each role i created a separate idea, ("vertical slice" for level developer and "3D Diorama" for 3D Artist) I also chose to give a couple examples of what software would be required to accomplish the tacks for both job roles. Making a basic decision on these specific product would help later in refining the idea of my project.

• Brief - You are to look at creating for a role within the industry that you have identified as an area of interest. What are your initial ideas?

In this section I reiterate what was already gone over in the previous section with more emphasis on what I would actually create for each of my chosen job role, such as what I would need to think about in terms of content/assets for each job role. This is different from the previous section as it further defines what i am actually thinking about creating rather then just saying what i want to make.

• Reflection

This section I did a brief reflection on the task as whole up to this point, as stated in this section this was the time I settled on the job role of "level designer" and as stated in that section i was more confident in using unreal then i am in using blender, this is more to do with the fact i need more time in learning about UV unwrapping then I have time for in this project. I also decided that i would be creating a game(s) that would attempt at aiming for am more "family friendly " audience, this being as its the best way to get a larger potential userbase.

• Decide on a design idea

Because this section is further broken down to septate question i that have more detailed answers then "Reflection" did i will be addressing each question in its own section.

• You need to come up with a design idea that addresses your context (career in games)

For this section I explained a couple ideas for mechanic that I thought would be necessary for creating a "framework" of an RTS by boiled down to its key elements, the reason for this being that i would use these for creating the core for the "vertical slice". It is also because we only have a set amount of time to get things ready and won't have nearly enough to create a whole game.

• Which have you chosen and why?

As you may have noticed in the previous question (and its related questions section) I dropped the "3D Artist" job role and this section was to explain why I had dropped it in favour of doing "level designer" as my job role. The main reason being that I had more confidence in doing unreal then UV unwrapping, due to making more progress in learning unreal engine then blender during this time.

• Initial research

In this section I chosen to make my initial research about my chosen "game mechanics" and how they are implemented in other games and provided examples of each mechanic in said games. This was in an attempt to show that each of the chosen mechanics is considered a "core mechanic" for the RTS genre.

• Justify

This section is meant as a kind of refection on all previous sections of the unit as well as giving a reason for why i did each, the reason for "justifying" my justification section... I don't know I just felt like it.

References

(Game) Title: "Command and Conquer", Date Released: 26/09/1995, Developer: Westwood Studios,  Publishers: Westwood Studios (NA), Virgin interactive (EU) 

(Game) Title: "Dune 2000", Date Released: 12/11/1998, Developer: Intelligent games, Publishers: Westwood Studios (NA), Virgin interactive (EU) 

(Game) Title: "8 bit armies", Date Released: 22/04/2016, Developer: Petroglyph Games

Image carousel, image 1: Command and Conquer Main menu (Web: Image) Date accessed: 26/02/2024 Link: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HsxmNP5Svvg/maxresdefault.jpg

Image carousel, image 2: Dune 2000 Main menu (Web: Image) Date accessed: 26/02/2024 Link: https://media.moddb.com/cache/images/games/1/14/13377/thumb_620x2000/main.jpg

Image carousel, image 3: 8-bit armies Main menu (Web: Image) Date accessed: 26/02/2024 Link: https://games-cdn.softpedia.com/screenshots/8-Bit-Armies_1.jpg

Separate image 4: Command and Conquer UI Screenshot (Web: Image) Date accessed: 26/02/2024 Link: https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/1890085-command-conquer-dos-only-way-to-spot-a-stealth-car-is-to-pass-cl.png

Separate image 5: Dune 2000 UI Screenshot (Web: Image) Date accessed: 26/02/2024 Link: https://cdn.cnc-comm.com/gallery/dune-2000/Screenshots/Fanmade/Windows/1132_d2kmission1at4.png

Separate image 6: 8-bit armies UI Screenshot (Web: Image) Date accessed: 26/02/2024 Link: https://www.wingamestore.com/images_screenthumbs/8-bit-armies-41964.jpg

YouTube video link 1: Command and Conquer 1 gameplay first mission GDI Timestamp (1.00~1.40) (Web: YouTube Gameplay) Date accessed: 27/02/2024 Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx1igDCbgq8