Post-Mortem Review
- Rhys Sellars
- Dec 15, 2016
- 7 min read
This week marks the final week of Studio 1, as well as the end of Year 1 at SAE Melbourne. Below is a post mortem of the past trimester's work.
What have I made this trimester?
Over the past thirteen weeks, I have created a lot of work, and have grown and developed my skillset immensely from where I was at the start of the tri. The class structure was divided into two components being 2D/Audio and 3D.
2D
This trimester I created a full hand-painted Vertical Slice from a hypothetical game, created from a mini-design document that I had also created. This followed traditional fantasy themes with swords and sorcery. This was broken down in a weekly fashion by having characters completed one week, backgrounds in another and so on until the entire project was completed.
After this came the mirror 'scrunch paper' alien faces which were all hand painted. I wanted to make these as realistic as possible (At least as far as what materials they were made out of, as well as taking into account what the source images were such as taking an image of a shell etc).
Three photo bashed ray guns were made in the style of 1940-60s sci-fi ideas. While creating these I had retro appliances and 'The Jetsons' in the back of my mind.
I also made attempts at doing my own personal drawing on non-school related pieces, mostly environmental.
3D
A complete sci-fi modular set was created using Maya which similar to the 2D vertical slice was created based off of a brief/mini design document. This was envisioned as being similar to a Star Wars 'Cloud City' type environment. All textures on these models were to be photo-realistic using existing images.
Following this came an RTS faction based 'game' where all students were divided into two factions and had to create buildings appropriate to each faction both stylistically, aesthetically and functionality wise. All textures on these models were to be hand-painted in Photoshop.
Audio
To tie in with the final prototype, audio had to recorded and remixed for foley and voice acting. This was to further skills in collaboration, script writing and implementation. For my foley I created a series of weapon sound effects such as a gun, trip wires, body falling, floor traps walking and radio sounds. For my voice acting component, I hired one of our Audio students who voiced a series of guards on patrol within the level, who would say things such as "Who goes there?" etc.
Prototypes
Prototype 1 - 'Weed Whacker'
This game was created within Unity and was based around the concept of 'Creation and Destruction.' We wanted to steer away from the generic violence/death and rebirth type things that automatically come to mind with a subject such as this, and instead decided on making a puzzle/skill based game where the player must cut weeds as fast as they can before they grow to the top of the screen. Think Tetris et al.
Prototype 2 - 'Pony Racing Game'
With this prototype we were restricted to making a mobile game directed to 10-13 year old girls. Finding suitable research on current trends seemed to be somewhat difficult online, and it seemed the best approaches was from people's siblings and family members. Nonetheless it seemed that fashion and animals are still a somewhat popular choice. After failing at making two prior ideas come into fruition, we settled on a Pony Racing Game. This was a simple title, that merely only required the player to tap on the screen as fast as possible to reach the goal before the AI enemies. This was completed around the same time as the Melbourne Cup.
Prototype 3 - 'Guided by Light'
For this prototype we were given an audio prompt, and were tasked at creating a game based around what the audio made us feel or think. This was probably my favourite prototype to work on as I enjoy creating experiences that can play on the senses and emotions. With this we made a 3D platforming title which involved directing the player character throughout the level by following an orb of light. The entire level was black, however each step on a safe block would result in it illuminating in a random colour on the spectrum, as well as releasing matching colour particle effects.
Prototype 4 - 'New World Order'
For this prototype the students had to create their game based around Jesse Schell's tetrad, later made a petrad by including 'Audience.' For my group, we ended up having to make a game that was "Mouse controlled only, pixel art, directed at young adult female, third person and was based around the overcoming the monster theme.' For this we created a stealth game where a female protagonist must break into and destroy 'Ronald Lump's' "Lump Tower" after he was made President of the World and has taken away all female rights.
Collaboration
Aided as a Creative Director for a student game titled 'Lit,' where I provided overall aesthetic, gameplay mechanic ideas, level creation and the look and feel of the game
What have I learnt this trimester?
This trimester included many new learning curves for me. This included extending my skills in Photoshop, in which I had not used in several years. I took the step and risk at attempting to complete all 2D work using a Wacom tablet with minimal mouse interaction. I feel that I pulled this off quite well. While artwork is a matter of opinion, I feel that my skills in using a Wacom will only improve as time goes on and I become more familiar with alternative techniques.
Learning Maya was the biggest curve for me, and I feel for the majority of students. Particularly during the modular set (1st 3D assignment). The biggest issue with this program is it's learning curve and understanding where everything is and what functions do what. Thirteen weeks is obviously not enough time to completely learn a program such as this, and skill will be furthered with more use and self directed learning.
I had previously played with Audacity, however I had learnt a few different ways to edit audio tracks. The most important thing I learnt was how to remove background noise from clips.
What have I learnt about my practice this trimester?
This trimester seemed to reinforce the fact that very rarely do we get to work on the things we would like to. This was mostly proven throughout the prototyping. This is indeed a valuable skill, and it is a good exercise to be put out of your comfort zone. Another key thing is that there are usually multiple ways that work can be completed in to get the same or similar result, this just depends on what workflow you are comfortable with. When it comes to working in groups, communication is critical, as well as documentation clearly outlining what needs to be done by who, when and to what standard. This particularly was important and proven to be important during the RTS model creation when we had texture and tri count limits among a small group of people. This simulates a real world environment. It aided me in realising that while there may be what seems to be a low limit on something, it helps force you to think of alternatives.
What do I plan to do to improve next trimester?
Over the holiday break period, I plan on completing all homework videos that I was unable to do during the trimester, with particular focus on Maya, as I feel that my 2D skills are stronger. In addition to this, I also plan to practice my Unity and Unreal Engine skills as much as possible by completing as many Pluralsight tutorials (And others if applicable) as possible, as well as using any skills made during doing these to create my own work to help strengthen my programming and engine skills.
What went well this trimester?
For me I feel my strongest point was my 2D components, in particular hand painting using a Wacom. I was extremely happy with my final RTS Maya building result, and felt that my skills had grown vastly compared to where I was at during Week 6-7 at the end of the Modular Set. Prototype for the most part went well, with most issues being a result of work not being completed by all members of a team, or not to a satisfactory level, which resulted in a larger workload on myself. Prototype 3 in particular is one that I am extremely happy with, despite using for the most part default engine materials, an interesting experience was still created. Most importantly my skill set growth and confidence overall is what I feel were my strongest points where I improved myself.
What went bad this trimester?
Luckily very little was of a hindrance this trimester. Most issues were self inflicted with me trying to complete as many homework videos as possible, overloading myself with work by doing so. Maya proved problematic as well, however by the second half skills improved, more so with having basic foundations in place to aid in the creation of the final 3D pieces. Main issues derived from prototype group work, as mentioned above. On occasion team members may not have contributed to work sufficiently, or to a satisfactory level, which often resulted in a higher work load on myself, and an overall poorer quality/rushed game that could have been better if all members had completed work in a more timely manner. Communication was largely to blame in this case where not everyone would be checking channels such as Slack, and conversations were kept to Facebook, which I do not necessarily like as people become too complacent on there, or it has the potential for someone to get a notification and/or not respond for hours, which is problematic when prompt responses are required.
What would I do different?
Shift more focus on 3D training with Maya earlier on. Delegate more tasks to team members, especially now after having a stronger understanding on what their strong points and weak points are. Further aid others more where I can if they are struggling.
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