Final major project evaluation – Layton

Evaluation for the Final Major Project

 

How have you developed your ideas?

I have developed all of my ideas using various methods. I started my idea generation by creating a project plan. This project proposal was very useful as I could keep returning to the plan for reference towards new ideas. It also was useful as it hosted all of our original ideas for the game and some research. I then created a a design document with ross. This contains all of our original ideas for the game and was really useful if I forgot to write about a certain subject or if I needed to remember our ideas. Also I researched into things to do with our game (in our case, the army, slimes, supersoldiers etc.) This research helped me to develop a lot of ideas mainly for character and level design. I also created a mind map where  I wrote down references to games or ideas and this helped me and ross generate brand new ideas.

 

How did your work change through the project?

Our work changed quite a bit from the start of the project. We originally only intended on creating concept art and a design document. However we changed our minds a few weeks in and started on a prototype for our game. We now have concept art and a prototype for our game we have worked towards. This then meant we had to conduct more research into game creators and tutorials online to do with game making using the program Gamemaker. I feel like this change will affect the final grade of this project immensely.

 

How much reference material did you find?

I found quite a lot of reference material for this project as there were lots of areas for me to research into. I was able to look up various films and other video games. A lot of the films I have looked into range from, the edge of tomorrow to flubber and with the games; minecraft to transformers Fall of Cybertron. I was also able to reference the Youtuber Shaun Spaulding in my work as his videos are a form of media that I am able to reference.

 

Do you think you should have done more or less?

I believe I should have done more work. The main reason being we changed our plan for the final product quite drastically about 2 weeks into the project. If we thought about creating a prototype at the start of the project I believe I could have put more effort and time on improving the prototype. I also feel that I have not done enough concept art for the game. I believe that if our plan was straight from the beginning I could have created my pieces of work in general, both for the game and concept art.

 

What game genres or movements have you looked at to help and inspire you?

Before coming to the decision to base our final piece around “growth and evolution” I already had a vague idea of what I wanted. For example I thought about doing a game with a slime who will eventually get stronger somehow as you are playing the game. After  I thought of this idea, I briefly researched into slimes from games I have played and movies I have watched. I also took a particular interest into the slimes from terraria. These slimes were then a heavy inspiration into our character design. Also Ross and I Skyped for about an hour and a half or two hours thinking of designs for the game and ideas for the story. This was probably the biggest inspiration to me as we had very good team synergy when creating these ideas and we agreed on almost all of the ideas we proposed.

 

What materials, tools and techniques did you decide to use and why?

I have used a few programs for this final major project. All of these programs have been extremely useful to me in different ways. The programs I have used are, Photoshop, Gamemaker, Word, powerpoint, and the website wordpress. Here is how they have been useful.

Photoshop: I have used this program to create and develop all of my concept art such as level designs and character designs. I already have some experience using Photoshop so before this project started I already knew how to manoeuvre around the program. This program has probably been the most useful and important program for the entire project as the majority of my work has been created in Photoshop.

Gamemaker:   This program has been very useful as it is the only program which can make games, which I know how to use. Also I have previously used this program for other assignments. This has been the core program and only program for the creation of our prototype.

Word: I have used this program to document and create our project proposal and our design document. This program is very useful as I am using this program to create the evaluation I am doing right now. Also I feel like this program is the most neat and organised program to create my evaluation on.

Powerpoint: I have used this program to create my Moodboards for this project. This has been useful as the moodboard are an essential asset for this project as you can summarise some of your research and work really easily.

WordPress: This website is necessary for this project as I made a blog with ross which has all of our work for this project. Our blog contains literally everything we have done ranging from initial ideas to final pieces of concept art.

 

How have your skills developed during the project?

My skills have developed in various areas during this project. I have gained new skills and improved on skills I am already decent at. I have improved significantly in the programming area of Gamemaker. I have learned new methods of programming and different mechanics I can add into games. I have also improved the quality of my work under Photoshop Specifically the detail. Before this project started I could see that a lot of my work lacked detail in photoshop and I can see the difference very clearly now. I have also improved my communication skills as I have been working in a two man team with ross. I have gained more team experience so I know how to handle bad team situations easier and I am able to come to compromises easier.

 

Are there any aspects of your studies that you wish you had explored further?

I would have liked to of explored creating a concept of a game further. For example making the story, character designs, level designs and other things. I would have liked to have been able to use the story making aspect of game creating more in my year studying Games development.

 

Are you happy with your final piece?

My final piece is the prototype for the game, lots of pieces of complete concept art. I am satisfied with my work and feel I have done relatively well. I believe I have done really good on the concept art side however I feel quite disappointed with myself about the prototype of the game. This is because I know that I could have improved it further and made it higher quality. However I feel like I was concentrated too much on the concept art side of things. Like I already said I am relatively happy with the project as a whole and am quite confident it will help me pass this course.

 

Are there any elements you like in particular?

I like all of the concept art side of the final major project. I enjoyed creating all of the concept art and I think they are at a good standard. Also I really enjoyed and liked creating the enemy concept art for the standard enemies. This was because I love the simplistic yet detailed art style.

 

Is there anything you would change and why?

I would change the prototype of the game. This is because I feel like I could have done much better for the game. I would also change the genre of the game from platformer to beat ‘em up or even a shooter. I would change the way the mechanics work within the game. Basically I would have liked to change the game almost completely if I got the chance to.

 

How effective was your research?

I believe my research was very effective because it has helped me throughout the entire project in various ways:

Researching for idea generation – I have researched into many different topics such as the army, super soldiers, slimes and robots/Mechas. All of the research under these topics helped me generate ideas mainly for the design of the characters in the game. I also researched into other existing 2D games such as streets of rage and terraria. These games help me generate ideas for level designs and particular art styles.

Researching into tutorials for Gamemaker – I have researched into tutorials online and forums to do with game making in Gamemaker. These have helped me develop skills within Gamemaker and improve the quality of my work. I have researched into the Youtuber Shaun Spaulding as he does easy and quick, code and drag and drop, tutorials.

Researching into existing Concept art – I have researched into concept art on the internet. This is because I wanted to see how successful companies and indie artists styled their work. I was also able to see how they structured some of their work which was very useful.

Primary research – I have conducted my own form of primary research through a questionnaire. I asked numerous people question in the college library about what games they prefer and so on so forth. I then tallied all of the results on wordpress and wrote a conclusion about my results which were extremely useful as I was able to see, first-hand what people like for their games.