The goal for this project
was to create a 3D experience to submit to the Game City and British Library’s collaborative
competition; Alice’s Adventures Off The Map.
The competition allows work submitted into three categories, 3D, 2D, and
interactive text.
We were put in a team of 6 for the
duration of this project. Rather than picking our group members like in
previous group projects, our team was assigned to us by the tutors.
The project started on week 19 and was
initially planned to end on week 30, totaling 9 weeks after removing time for Easter break. In actuality the project was extended for an extra two weeks after
Easter break.
We decided on using a time scale
similar to what we had been told is used in industry. One third of time
dedicated to pre-production, one third dedicated to production, and the last
third dedicated to testing polishing and distribution.
We spent the first three weeks
planning and visualising what we hoped to achieve in this project. The brief was
extremely vague thus we could have done anything we wanted, and setting out on
a project with vague goals means you will get a vague result. To make sure we wouldn't end up with a vague result, as a team we set about deciding a more concrete brief
that would fit within the brief we had been set by DMU and Game City.
We concluded that we wanted to make a
3D, 3rd person adventure platforming experience with painterly realism
art style similar to the games Bioshock Infinite, or Dishonoured. The only
technical specifications we set ourselves was that whatever we created should
be playable on mid-level PC’s and give a smooth experience.
This process was quite lengthy and
often exhausting at times. All members of our team had initial opted to work
own their own, not in a group, so we all had very different ideas of what we
wanted to achieve. Although it was tricky trying to create a cohesive vision we
were all happy working towards, it was definitely worth investing the time
doing so at the beginning of the project.
By the beginning of the second week
of the pre-production stage we had decided that we wanted to have some game play aspects in our level rather than having a purely visual experience. So playing
to our strengths rather than our weaknesses the teams tasks were divided. The rest
of the team spent the next two weeks visualising the ideas we had discussed in
the first week, and I spent the time researching the various game play elements
we wanted to include to see if they were feasible given our time frame. We didn't want to build any of our level around any game play mechanics that may not have
been complete by the time the project ended.
We had set a solid deadline to be
finished with pre-production and be moving onto asset production and white
boxing and we met that deadline as expected. One thing that I think we should
have done was set more solid deadlines after that. It was great that we had set
a deadline and had actually managed to meet it, but as far as I can recall,
that was the first, and last explicit deadline we set for ourselves during the
project.
There were smaller more implicit
deadlines made up on the fly, but I think that they lacked the structure a more
explicit deadline helped to set.
During the pre-production phase we
all discussed what different aspects of a potential level we wanted to work on.
As we had all wanted to work individually we all had quite specific things we
wanted to work on, such as just environment art for me or Kieran, or Characters
for Sam and Josh. We managed to work our preferences into our team brief quite
well. Sam and Josh were tasked with concepting and creating characters, like
they had wished to do if they were working solo.
Compromise was a key aspect that
helped us come to a cohesive vision. I had initially wanted to work only as an
environment artist as that was my aim before I was put into a group. However I
agreed to work on blueprints and gameplay while giving environment art a back
seat for the good of the team.
The initial plan for what our level
would include was formed out of compromise as well. Some members of the group
wanted to make a level entirely in the forest, others wanted to make a level
build upon floating island, and one member still wanted to make a side
scrolling platformer game. In the end we took a little from each of our team member’s
ideas and worked them into the final plan for the level. The level still had a
forest element, a floating island section, and did feature a bit of platforming
as well. I think this benefited the project on the whole, our final level wouldn’t
look anything like it does if we had simply stuck with one person’s idea.
A good example of vital decision
making also happened during the pre-production stage, Sam suggested we take our
initial ideas of what we think is achievable, and halve them, so we did, and we
were left with a plan that included 5 distinct areas and 4 characters. The
characters we planned to make were the Hatter, Alice, the caterpillar, and the Cheshire
cat. That gave Sam and Josh a human and an animal character each to work on. The
five environments included the forest, the palace garden, and the giant forest
as seen by small Alice, the floating islands section, and an oxford garden
section. Before Sam’s suggestion we had planned on including even more.
Despite all the time we spent doing pre-production
the project did change quite a bit from our initial plans. We realised after a
few weeks of production that we would not hit our target of 5 environments and
4 characters, so we re-adjusted out goals. This ability to change our goals to
more realistic ones that we could achieve within the time frame helped the team
a lot. We removed all nonessential parts of the level, and focused much more on
the core aspects. We ended up scrapping the Oxford, and giant forest parts.
Our team members being flexible and
able to adapt also helped this project. While white-boxing we realised that
having a large visible goal at the end of our level would really help the vista
scene we were trying to create and help guide the player at the same time. At
the time when we realised this every member on the team all had plenty to be
working on already but Sam volunteered to make whatever it was that we needed
to put at the end of the level. We ended putting a large palace at the back of
the garden which could be seen as soon as the player exited the forest. Without
it the vista shot would not have had the same level of impact as it does currently.
This key aspect of our level only became apparent once we started production,
and was only realised thanks to Sam’s ability to be flexible and put his work
on hold for a few weeks. There are many other examples of group members being
flexible and this benefiting the final outcome, but I think this example
highlights the issue best.
One thing that didn't work very well
was a divide that appeared between team members. There were styles of working
within the team. One group preferring to work within close proximity making use
of the pod layout in the labs. The others preferred to work at home. While work
was produced using both styles it created a rift within the team. Working in
close proximity enabled new ideas to spread quickly, constructive criticism
could be given immediately, and the work produced generally felt more cohesive.
I the end I think we spent more time trying to convince people to work in close
proximity than was needed, and should have just adapted to others working
styles.
If I did this project again I think
setting more concrete deadlines and milestones would be beneficial. As I
mentioned early the organisation became lacking as we got deeper into the
project, if we had kept up with setting and meeting mile stones I think it
would have made the last few weeks run a lot more smoothly.
We differed from our initial plan of
leaving two thirds of our time to testing fixing and polishing because of the
lack of milestones I just mentioned. The post production stage got pushed
further and further back, and I ended up doing testing and fixing in a mad rush
for the last week. Doing this project again I would definitely allocate more
time to this stage so as not to rush it.
In conclusion, I have learned a great
deal over the last 12 weeks working on this project. Before this project
started I had expected to work on my own and create just an environment. I
ended up working in a team and creating a game instead. I was initially put off
by working in a team but I adapted and the outcome is much greater than I could
have achieved on my own.
I didn’t learn as much about
environment art as I had hoped during this project but I learned other things
instead, the time was not wasted. I now have a much greater understanding of
the blueprint system in UE4 than before I started, which enabled me to create a
large number of blueprint systems that added game play to our level in just the
last few weeks.
I also learned a lot about working in
a team. I realised how important it is to compromise and be flexible while
working with other people. I also realised I need to brush up on my 2D skills.
My time was being used effectively doing research and development while the
rest of the team were visualising ideas, I would still like the ability to join
in the visualisation if needed. I now have all summer to work on the parts of
my skill-set that weren't utilised or lacking during the project, to make sure I
am a better-rounded artist and team member returning in third year.
