Reflection Document

Introduction

Within this reflection document, I will reflect on how I worked as an individual, and how efficient/ effective I worked, I also intend on reflecting what I have learned about my work style and also different disciplines such as Maya, Substance, and Unity throughout this project, as well as touching on how I might do things differently if I were to restart or redo this project. To finish this document out, I want to ensure that I look to the future, and what I can personally improve on when it comes to potential future personal and professional projects.

It should be noted that about 6 weeks before the deadline an unfortunate event took place whereby the hard drive all of my work was on got wiped, leaving me with nothing to show for what I had done. All work that has been completed and I have to show at this point has been completed within the past 6 weeks, using all of the knowledge I have gained over the past 3 years doing my Game Design degree.

Reflection

To help further explain each reflection point, I am going to break this reflection up into 11 parts, each corresponding to a process within the project creation.

Overall Game Idea

When it came to thinking of the game idea, I was pretty happy with the idea I had come up with, taking heavy inspiration from other games. Knowing that the game I was developing didn't have to ‘work’ as such due to the brief I chose gave me a lot more freedom than I would have had had I chosen to do the coding and build a playable game. One thing I would change about the game is maybe finishing the idea, including thinking through more game modes than one to make sure the game doesn't fall stale to long-term players.

Research Phase

During the research phase, I made sure to research in-depth other games, how their maps work, why they do what they do, and also how the way they are laid out impacts players' experiences and gameplay. This helped me greatly In the making of the map layout. However, where this was researched well, other elements may be were compromised. Some of the areas I didn't research quite as much at the start, which therefore meant that I had to research them later on in the project when I should have been doing other things were goddesses and what they were known for. Had I done this I would have been able to fully develop the characters within the game, giving the player a better idea of what that might look like. Another thing I wish I had researched a bit better was New Orleans itself. To ensure I was properly building New Orleans in a way that respects its history and its people, I wish I had researched the history of New Orleans, its buildings, and the story behind them. Overall, however, the amount of research I did was just enough to get me by.

Concept Phase

The concept phase was short and not too in-depth. I created a few concept art pieces that would demonstrate how the level was intended to look and also helped me to gather information and inspiration from all of the sources I had looked at, e.g. game research, art styles, etc. I also conceived a few UI pieces as well as a character concept of what the character headshots might look like. If I were to have more time, and a clearer understanding of what exactly I needed for a concept I would have maybe gone back and created more concept pieces, especially those relating to prop design.

Level Design

When it came to level design, I had heavily researched previous maps in TDM and FPS games, all of this research helped me a great deal when it came to making a playable map. The map design I had pre-losing everything used height differences, as well as peak and advantage spots, as well as line of sight blockers so the players were able to hide and ‘camp’ as it were if they so wished to. The map layout ensured multiple play styles were accounted for and provided for, from camping to sniping.

Modular Asset Building

This project brought with it a new problem that I had never faced before in any of my previous projects, and that was the map size. I knew that, as this would have to be staged as a playable map, there was no way I could model the entire map within Maya then export it and texture it as a whole. This is when I started to look into Modular asset making. Learning about and making modular assets made my job a whole lot easier when it came to bigger, repeating props, especially walls, windows, and doors. I would use modular props again and go as far as to make a potential modular asset pack in the future.

Road Block (Losing the project)

As stated within the introduction, an event occurred around 6 weeks before hand-in that meant all of the work I had completed from September to April was completely wiped off of the hard drive it was being stored on. This, of course, meant I had to start completely from scratch. Where this seemingly was a huge deal, and at the time felt like the end for me. I decided to use it and take it all in stride. Instead of sitting there and giving up, I decided this was my opportunity, to make something more detailed than I ever had before, using all of the skills I previously learned up until this point. This issue also allowed me to push my limits as a game designer and a creative and had me developing new ways that I could complete projects to a high standard within a crunch situation.

In the future I will always have all of the work I do as backups on multiple different storage devices, ensuring a situation like this never happens again.

3D Modeling (Maya)

Modeling props within Maya was possibly the easiest part of this project. I knew from 1st year that I wanted to focus heavily on 3D modeling, and so did everything in my power over the past 3 years to ensure I kept learning and developing my skills so that I could continuously grow and develop as a 3D artist. This meant that when I had to redo the project I could produce at least 4 good quality models within a day, increasing the amount of time I had to do other elements of the scene which I maybe wasn't so confident with.

The only element of modeling that I struggled with slightly, due to not having much experience in the past, was UV mapping models, however with the tutor’s help, along with research of my own, I managed to grasp and get better at UV mapping.

Texturing (Substance Painter)

Texturing was something I had done previous to this project, but not something I was at all confident in doing. I knew how to texture things very basic, but other more complex ways of texturing were not known to me. So a lot like UV mapping, with the help of tutors and my in-depth research into substance painters and how they worked, I was able to figure it out and get some good textures made so that my scene looked a lot better than previous projects I had completed.

I also got the chance to use Substance stager and substance design within this project, two pieces of software I had never used before, and I enjoyed using them and learning how to use them, as well as creating my textures instead of downloading ones.

Scene Layout (Unity)

Laying out my scene in unity, a lot like modeling props in Maya, was another easier thing to do. I had assembled scenes within Unity many times before when this project started, so I knew exactly how I needed to assemble the scene and what hurdles I might need to overcome.

This included ensuring I had the mesh block game within the scene so that I could reference the sizing of the scene and the position where things needed to be.

 

Post Processing/Lighting

For every project, before this one, I hadn't been the one in charge of/ hadn't even thought of post-processing within unity. This posed a little bit of an issue when it came to using it within this project, as the game wasn't fully functional, I had to use a lot of post-processing effects so that the viewer could see exactly what the game was to look like as opposed to actually running around the game.

Lighting was another thing I hadn't thought much of in previous projects. I had touched upon it lightly but hadn't gone that far. I had to research a lot into global illumination and how the light travels around the scene, as well as volumetric lighting and reflections.

Overall I think the biggest learning curve for this project was learning how to light a scene properly and process it properly within unity.

Improvements

Many improvements could be made to Intrepidus in the state it's in, below are some of the more noticeable/ biggest improvements I would have made to the game if the deadline allowed, and I had a little more time to add/change things.

Map Size

One of the main, big issues I faced and had to compromise majorly on was the size of the map. After the mishap of losing all of my previous work, leaving me with just 6 weeks to complete work to ensure I had a deliverable by the deadline date, it was evident I would not be able to create a map the same size as my previously hoped map. So instead I decided to focus on the quality of work over the quantity of work. This led to me only being able to properly develop one scene, and interior. I feel like this doesn't give a proper showcase of what the game is, and what some of the maps could look like. If I had a little more time, I would have developed multiple buildings, even if they were closed-off buildings that players could not enter, and an outdoor street to better demonstrate what an actual map may look like within a developed version of Intrepidus.

Textures

When it comes to textures within the scene, a lot of them were pretty good, and as stated above, even more so considering my prior experience with Substance Painter before this project. However, there are a few slight issues with some of the textures/UVs such as warping or minor rotation issues. All of these issues are pretty easy to go back and change now that I know more about Substance Painter as a whole, although unfortunately, time constraints do not allow this, as it would involve not only retexturing but also re UVing some of the models. 

UI

Because of the nature, and time constraints surrounding Intrepidus, I wasn't able to include coded UI elements within the game. This greatly affected the way that the scene and game are viewed and doesn't give the viewer a full idea of what Intrepidus would look like if it were to be fully developed. It also makes it harder for someone to quit the game when the .exe is opened, as the ‘player’ has to alt-tab out of the executable file or open the task manager to close the game.

Illusion of Space

A minor addition I would make to the scene would be to add photos or rough artwork depicting the street outside of the cafe. Currently, the player can see into the void where there is only the skybox, if I were to make any improvement here, it would be to create some rough artwork depicting the rest of the playable map outside of the cafe, this also would create an illusion of space to the player, as if there is more area to explore out there, even though it isn't accessible to them.

 

High/Low Poly modeling

One skill I wish I had developed further when it came to modeling was the high poly low poly workflow. I had conducted a few tests of a high/low poly workflow, although I didn't feel I was confident enough to use it to its full extent within this rendition of Intrepidus. Instead, I used height maps within Substance Painter to create an illusion that a wall for example was 3D. I feel if I had better researched, and felt more comfortable using a High poly Low poly workflow, and used that for certain elements of the project, it would have just boosted certain textures/models to the next level.

The Future

Thinking about the future, and what I intend to do when leaving this degree I have already had ideas on what I want to teach myself further so that I can be better at what I do outside of education, whether that be in freelance jobs or within a team working in a studio.

I know I want to learn a bit more about unity and its processes, such as lighting and post-processing, I also want to delve a bit deeper into C# coding, as the knowledge I have currently is very basic, and I would love to understand it a bit better.

When it comes to 3D modeling, I still feel a pull to modeling, and enjoy doing it, as much as I did at the start of the degree. I will carry on developing my 3D skills, this includes learning how to use tools within other software, such as Blender. I want to develop my character modeling skills, as again my knowledge and experience of character modeling are very slim, and I will also learn how to animate my 3D models along the way.

I intend on posting my development of these skills on Polycount, and eventually when the pieces are developed enough, publishing them on Artstation. The links to these, as well as my blogger where the process for this project, as well as my LinkedIn, can be accessed below.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-elvin-22a6681a3/

Blogger: https://louisaelvinucarochester.blogspot.com

ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/louisaelvin3

PolyCount: https://polycount.com/profile/discussions/Loulouna3D