Embedded Files
Our changelog/record of progress
Two of the templates we were provided with to guide our documentation.
(Left) The sketches I made to illustrate the first design iteration. With the reference moodboard, I began with a few bullet points to note down my ideas. Design 1 is an early concept for colours, although I didn't have coloured pencils on me at the time. Then, I scratched out the basic proportions of the classic 8b-bit Nintendo Mario (right) to get a feel for drawing a 2D, low-poly character. Design 2 was to figure out how he would look. I decided on a simple outfit consisting of a jacket and belt, using simple block colours, because I intend to have a series of slightly-modified character sprites that will fit the theme of each mini-game.
The Google Drive folder containing various sound effects. To create the bullet sound, I found a simple coin sound and used Audacity to lower the pitch.
The earliest visual design sketch of the game we chose as our MVP pitch. It is a simple "dodge-'em" game where the player is represented by a small soldier character. We will need to be careful to avoid the Americanized narratives that are often associated with certain locations and warfare, as we are not pushing any particular attitudes or agendas with our minigames.
A quick moodboard I put together from generic 80's arcade characters and style, as well as sourcing promo photos from our inspiration material, Quantum Leap. This will be the basis for our character design.
The Google Drive folder containing pixel art sprites that we will use in our MVP game, 'Soldier Boy'. At present, the animations have yet to be made, but I created some basic characters we can use in the meantime. I used Pixilart.com to do the art, because I can access it at home and on campus.
Week 2 Post-Pitch feedback:
because there is no timer, we need to come up with other ways to incentivize players - e.g. levels become more and more challenging as time goes on, and machine fragments represent 'lives'
for a platformer (such as rock star game), the incentive could be escaping rabid crowds that chase faster as the level progresses
Mid-Project Reflection
Mid-Project Reflection
Proficiency: How did you develop your technical skills and knowledge? Give examples of the skills and knowledge, techniques, and self-directed research that inform your project (min. 50 words).
I'm using online repository software such as GitKraken for the first time in this class, and it will take me a while to get the hang of it. I put together the visual and audio designs for our Brief 1 demo game. I drew up quick sketches using Google Images and MSPaint, and will do more polished designs with drawing tablet. I am both excited and nervous about this - I'm looking forward to having the creative license to do level and character design (which is what I want to do after graduation), but I'm also a bit apprehensive about how long it will take. Having learned from last trimester, I've gotten much more proactive about keeping track of the progress made both as a group and my individual progress, in the form of a changelog.
Process: How did you improve your workflows and processes, including changes and setbacks? Give specific examples of your research and how it influenced your creative process (min. 50 words).
My workflow for this Brief is a bit scattered, as I'm having to work on two other assignments simultaneously. I like to have a set structure to how I approach tasks, and for the first half of this project I did not really have that. Unfortunately, I misunderstood the order of assignments, and so I began working on the minigame that I will be responsible for and only realised last week (late Week 2) that our Minimum Viable Product is due first. However, with my team's help I've been able to get back on track and make a start on documentation.
Person: What communication and collaboration skills did this project require, and how did you develop these skills? How did you manage collaboration, receiving and giving feedback to others? (min. 50 words)
We communicate almost every day to ensure everyone is satisfied with the design and concepts before going ahead with production. The reason I threw images together in MSPaint (such as the initial design above) was so that I could make changes easily if needed, without having put lots of effort in too soon. Everyone is able to edit and update the group changelog to ensure that our process is properly recorded for future reference. We've decided to assign sections of the documentation to each group member, which will hopefully make it easier to complete the whole GDD in time and to standard.
Post-Mortem Reflection
Post-Mortem Reflection
Appraisal: Overall, how successful was your project? What worked or didn't work, and why? How did it match with your expectations? Give specific examples, screenshots or links (min. 50 words).
This project went fairly well. I liked the assignment and the way we chose to approach it, especially our fun 80's theme. There were no issues with the team aside from one member deferring, but he let us know ahead of time and made sure that we'd be able to continue without him, so there weren't any dramas. We split the work according to each group member's strengths - because I'm more artistically inclined and not a strong programmer, I took on the role of visual and audio designer. For the most part, it matched up to my expectations (once I'd realised what we were supposed to be doing) although I was a little worried for a period that we were giving ourselves too much work to do in too short a timeframe. But we've managed to achieve just about every goal we set for this assignment without serious problems.
Challenges: What obstacles did you overcome and how? What lessons did you learn? (min. 50 words)
I was confused for the first week or two, because I made the mistake of starting my minigame first (Brief 2), but quickly figured it out and got going with Brief 1 in time. The lesson there was to make sure I understand exactly what the assignment is before throwing myself into the work. Having said that, I checked in with my teammates often and they helped get me on the right track.
Future Goals: How will you improve your skills for future projects? What will you do differently in your next project? What will you repeat? (min. 50 words)
I'll do some research on animation and game art, because that is my next major task for the overall game package. I'm not hugely familiar with animation, and I'd like the end product to be a polished game we could possibly put online. This will be an important skill for me to have considering the type of work I'd like to do in the industry. Dividing the work up according to everyone's expected schedules and relevant strengths worked really well, so I will definitely keep doing that as much as possible in other projects.
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