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This Trimesters unit has without a doubt been my favorite unit I have completed thus far in my studies at SAE. The focus on creating games that hold a message or an emotional response that differs based on the experiences of the player is something I am very passionate about in game development. Over the course of the 13 weeks on Studio Unit Two I have learnt many new things in relation to being a leader, how Unreal 4 Engine is a great tool for budding designers in terms of its ease of use, and how working in a large design group can be beneficial as well as a challenge.

As a part of the assessment criteria within the Unit a set of Key Performance Indicators needed to be met with either a successful or masterful application at the end of the trimester. Personally, I needed to focus on trying to increase five KPI’s from successful to masterful.

Over the course of the trimester further developing my communication skills was one thing I wanted to impact most on. Early on in the trimester I believed that when it came to communicating with my peers in a 'non-formal' setting I was able to adequately get my views across while taking on theirs. The Spoils of War group project has given me opportunity to grow in this area. My ability to communicate in a ‘formal’ setting has definitely improved, especially when it comes to gathering the ideas and questions of my peers. Although, greater communication over the course of the Unit would have benefited me to a larger point.

Time management has never been a major problem for me, but it also has never been something I’ve been on top of. This trimester I feel I’m still focusing on aspect of projects that I find more intriguing, while pushing back other aspects that are just important. I still find that I may be distracted with other things, but do always find the time to accomplish what needs to be done. Providing an adequate amount of time to all processes still stands as something I need to look into.

Given the opportunity to develop an individual project, with the elements of self-teaching and research has seen a massive increase in my ability to problem solve. I will still continue to try and analyse any problem I face with any previous problems I have encountered, to determine if it is solvable from the knowledge I have gained from overcoming said problems. Seeking outside help has had a massive benefit in my problem solving ability. It was very rare for me to become so frustrated with a problem and leave it for an extended period of time, something I would have previously done.  

Again, with the inclusion of the individual project this trimester has seen a considerable leap in my ability to integrate new processes into my work to improve the overall quality of it. Finding out new ways to develop even the smallest aspect of a design further has given me a lot more faith in my ability.

 The pressure of this trimester definitely motivated me to work to a better standard than I previously had. By taking and maintaining a sense of priorities from this I was able to apply them at a more level headed work ethic than previously. Which in turn actually increased the quality of work I produced.

Wednesday night saw the annual end of Trimester SAE exhibition night where students from games, film, audio, and animation could exhibit their trimesters work for attendees to watch/interact with, allowing for networking communication and feedback on the work submitted.

For myself and my two group members, Taylor and Noon, it was a chance to showcase our studio unit one 3D prototype game titled Grav Boot. In short Grav Boot is a third person runner, where the player can move between 3 “lanes” as well as change the direction of gravity to alter the level and avoid obstacles as well as maintaining momentum.

Aside from some feedback alerting us to some minor and major bugs in our build, the feedback on our game was mostly positive, which was a relief to me. Those who played our game were able to understand how the game worked, comparing it to some traditional runners such as temple run and subway surfer.

Prototype:

Working on the prototypes have been really fun. As a group we were able to create an idea from scratch and turn it into a playable demo. It is great fun learning and experiencing what it is like to work as a ‘game development team’ and to see everyone from different creative areas collaborate together.

For the first Prototype I was assigned to create textures for certain objects such as buildings and a disco dance floor and for the second Prototype I was assigned to finding audio and creating and designing the Menu User Interfaces.

These type of work were enjoyable because I enjoy using Photoshop. Creating something that seeing them used in a Prototype was really great to see.

2D Work:

Our 2D Work involved photobashing and creating our very own 2D Environment scenes.

Creating my 2D Environment involved a lot of work since we had to create the environments, characters and user interface. Working on this was definitely my favourite exercise to do because it involved a lot of planning and working which resulted in something I was very happy with. Unfortunately near the end I did not get to polish certain things such as adding proper shadows on certain objects and props which unfortunately created inconsistency in the 2D scenes but overall I believe my 2D scenes looked decent.

For photobashing we were required to create Rayguns using retro items such as 1920 products. This was my first time doing a photobashing exercise and found it challenging at times because I had to make sure the finished product looked like a raygun that would fit the retro time period.

The last photobashing exercise was to create alien heads from a mirrored object such as a scrunched up piece of paper. I found this a lot harder then the rayguns exercise as I had to create something that felt organic such as a human head which is something I cannot do very well. In the end I only created two alien heads which ended up looking like monsters or animals if anything.

Maya:

Maya as usual has been difficult for me. For both assignments we were required to create a modular level using Maya.

For the first assignment I created a modular bank. The context was the bank is a map used in an isometric game where players team up and work together to rob the bank vault and loot its good and valuables. Creating the bank was a lot harder than expected as a bank does not have a structure and design suited for an isometric game unlike a dungeon. 

The second assignment was a lot more enjoyable as I was required to create a medieval and fantasy building. I decided to create a sawmill which was fun because it did not require and type of level design like the first assignment. I found this assignment more fun because it was much more enjoyable creating an environment rather than a map or level like the first assignment.

Overall Experience:

This trimester has been really positive. There has been a lot of work which involved 2D Work, Prototype Work and Maya Work which has been mostly fun to do.

I have learned many new things in Photoshop and Maya from doing the exercises and assignments given to us and hope to continue to further improve my skills with these type of software.

On Wednesday night SAE hosted an exhibition night where film, audio and games students could display their work.

The group I was in were given the opportunity to demonstrate our 3D Prototype (Grav Boot) at the event. We were able to receive feedback from those who tried out Grav Boot which was mostly positive.

Although there were some bugs in our build and that we were missing some assets such as Game User Interface, people who played our game were able to understand how the game worked which was really nice to see.

Using a scrunched up piece of paper and the mirroring effect on photobooth I developed these two Alien Heads. Using images of reptile eyes and rocks I was able to add texture to the ‘heads’ which added depth and a sense of realism! Enjoy!