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DD2000 - Evaluation

Outcome During the course of this project I have successfully researched into a variety of vital information that I will have to utilize in order to gain a place in the industry. The research I found contains the designer’s, games and companies specific for my desired profession. I have also expanded my research by comparing my portfolio to other designers. What I have learnt By the end of the project, I gained a greater understanding of the roles and discipline within the games industry. I was able to narrow down the possibilities of roles I would like to specialize in. Furthermore I explored in the game companies that I desire to work for as well as selecting one to focus on achieving. My arsenal of references/designers has also expanded from this assignment. I have developed a plan for the future and ways to improve my portfolio. Another aspect I have learned throughout this project is presenting. Increasing my ability to create an enticing portfolio and not to shy away from contacting designers, even though unfortunately none has replied. I have also gained a better understanding of the life of a games designer/modeller through a few videos consisting of interviews with different games designers. This includes their roles in the games industry and how they have secured their spot. These interviews gave me a lot of insight in how to become successful. By focusing on one company to strive for, it allows me to analyse their qualifications to prepare myself for application. This is good practice and will become very useful in the future. What I could do better Overall I believe that I have covered most of my points through the research blog posts and the Powerpoint presentation. However there are some aspects I could elaborate on such as the importance of each role and how they effect each other. This may include linking character models to environmental ones and discussing the work flow that is needed between them both. Another point I could have included more detail on is environment models. This is another popular role that is highly requested through the games industries. Prop artists is just a small focus within the environment models. Therefore it would have been better if I expanded on environments as well as character models. Thoughts about the future Even though this route may not be set in stone and things may change my desired profession. I believe that this is a good start for the time being. This plan allows me to visualise the end goal as well as preparing me for the future. This includes looking into my 3rd year honours project and giving me a head start so I land on my feet running at the start of the project. #fwdd2000

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DD2000 - Project Proposal

For this project I will be researching in to the range of careers that revolve around Games Design and especially focusing onto the modelling/art direction since it is the area I want to achieve as my job. There are a few categories of modelling to look into and all of them are different from each other. One of which is Prop Artist; this occupation covers the wide variety of props and objects in the game. Character Design is the second route to choose from, this option dives into characters and concentrates solely on modelling the aesthetics of them as well as splitting off into some concept art. Another path I could head down is Environment Artist, which creates the scenery and objects around the setting such as trees and buildings.

To elaborate on the specific role I have chosen to specialise in, I will also be researching into the designers that inspires my work and look into how they achieve their goals as modellers. This may involve specifying their work patterns and focus, as well as networking and methods to constantly improving. I will have to reach out to them in order to gain feedback and important advice that I can implement in my own work. The route to the industry will also consist of planning and commitment.  I will research the most efficient ways of gaining experience as a modeller and plan my path ahead of time. This will include a list of software to test out and possible companies I would hope to work for in the future. I believe that looking into them now will assist me in setting a goal to strive for. This research will also allow me to compare my current portfolio to the top standards of games design and note down the key features I could improve within my work. Requirements are also a vital aspect to explore. It is the main factor the company will expect when hiring. This may include experience with specific software as well as work well in a team. It is also crucial to take in what the company desires and learn to enhance the skills to achieve the standard they require. Other than games, I could also research into other uses of modelling such as advertising or visualising structures. Modelling has many more uses other than just for video games therefore I should not restrict myself to only revolving my portfolio around games. I will dive deeper into the style I would like to specialise. Explore a range of styles in a variety of video games. Compare them amongst each other. Express my interests and select one to expand on.

References

http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games/job_roles

http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games/job_roles/332_lead_artist_games

http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games/job_roles/330_games_artist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_art_design

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DD2000 - Inspirations

Some of the modellers I researched into consist of: Danny Williams (Crash Bandicoot N-sane Trilogy Modeller) for Vicarious Visions.   I find his work appealing in the sense of concept as well as texturing + the model itself. He recreated the characters from the previous crash bandicoot series and has worked on modelling for a film that unfortunately got cancelled. He has good samples of work I can compare my stylised models and analyse any improvements for them. Another modeller to compare my work to is Renaud Galand (Overwatch Lead Artist) for Blizzard. His sculpts are something that I want to practice to become of the same standards. The stylized sculpts he produces contains smooth and hard surfaces which is what I want to pick up in Z-Brush. Blair Armitage is a good example to reference my work to. She specialises in creates fancy stylized sculpts and has produced characters models for the game Starbound (Spiritwalk Games). Other than modellers, concept artists are inspirations to my work.  Some of the concept artists I found that I want to achieve the standard of consist of: Hicham Habchi (League of Legends) for Riot Games and Avery Coleman (Darksiders 2) for Vigil Games. I believe researching into their artwork allows me use them as inspirations to my models and sculpts. This is because modelling without references is incredibly difficult as the final outcome may not turn out the way you imagine in your head.

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DD2000 - Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS FOR CHARACTER MODELLING

Who we’re looking for:

-Optimistic applicants who are ready for a challenge

-Applicants familiar with or interested in in 3DCG software modelling

-Applicants confident in their artistic and/or drafting ability

Qualifications:

-Game industry experience is preferred, but not required for applicants with art skills conducive to game creation. Platinum Games is an equal-opportunity employer and does not base hiring decisions on the race or citizenship of applicants.

Language Requirements:

-For you to be your best at Platinum Games, either Japanese or English is needed for communication with other members of our team.

APPLY

-Your resume, clearly specifying your desired position, and including your e-mail address and a recent photograph

-Your curriculum vitae, describing your work experience and formatted at your discretion

-Work samples

 WORK SAMPLES INCLUDE

Please submit illustrations, drawings, photographs/video, etc. demonstrating your skills and artistic ability.

You may submit these works in any form and in any amount you feel appropriate to give us a complete sense of your abilities. No specific content is required. Please feel free to submit copies of copy-able work.

Please include a document containing your own commentary on your work, as well as a description of any tools or software used in its creation. If the work in question was a group project, please clearly indicate which portions were created under your supervision.

We accept work examples on paper, or digitally on CD/DVD. Please select the medium you feel most suitable for your work. For example, hard copy printouts are typically best for illustrations, and DVDs are typically best for digital images or video.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENT ARTIST

Who we’re looking for:

-Applicants with an active interest in creating environments for video games

-Applicants familiar with or interested in 3DCG software modelling*

-Ambitious applicants who want to contribute to top quality games

-Experience with 3D CG software is preferred, but not required. We have an in-house curriculum for bringing promising employees with no prior 3D CG experience up to speed; inexperienced applicants will be considered.

Qualifications

Game industry experience is preferred, but not required for applicants with art skills conducive to game creation. Platinum Games is an equal-opportunity employer and does not base hiring decisions on the race or citizenship of applicants.

Language Requirements:

For you to be your best at Platinum Games, either Japanese or English is needed for communication with other members of our team.

WORK SAMPLES INCLUDE

Please submit illustrations, drawings, photographs/video, etc. demonstrating your skills and artistic ability.

You may submit these works in any form and in any amount you feel appropriate to give us a complete sense of your abilities. No specific content is required. Please feel free to submit copies of copy-able work.

Please include a document containing your own commentary on your work, as well as a description of any tools or software used in its creation. If the work in question was a group project, please clearly indicate which portions were created under your supervision.

We accept work examples on paper, or digitally on CD/DVD. Please select the medium you feel most suitable for your work. For example, hard copy printouts are typically best for illustrations, and DVDs are typically best for digital images or video.

APPLICATION PERIOD

We are always accepting applications for this position unless otherwise noted. Please be aware that the availability of positions may change in accordance with our needs.

ADDRESS

Please address your application materials to:

Platinum Games Inc. Attn: Hiring manager (web)

Tower West 8F, Umeda Sky Building

1-1-30 Oyodonaka, Kita-ku, Osaka

531-6108, Japan

SELECTION PROCESS

Applicants are initially screened based on the application materials outlined above.

All applicants will be notified of the results of this screening within ten business days after receipt of their application. (Please be aware that extenuating circumstances may delay this reply.) Applicants residing in Japan who pass this initial screening will proceed to in-person interviews at our offices in Osaka. Interviews for applicants residing outside of Japan may be conducted over Skype.

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How I Will Accomplish This Goal

Narrowing down the list of companies; the one that entices me the most to work for is Platinum Games. Platinum Games produces a lot of hack and slash with fantasy based settings which is a desirable genre to work for. As a fan of fantasy type games I believe that this company will suit me best as it will encourage me to produce the models. In order to accomplish this goal I will have to create fantasy based models to form a portfolio at a high standard. This may include weapons such as swords, spears and guns as well as other structures like statues and environmental props. Character modelling is another aspect I could also dive deeper on as I believe it will come in handy in for applying for fantasy type games due to the amount of creatures, enemies and non playable characters.From the research collected I noticed that there were no applications for 3D modelling as a whole, they have separated the job into two roles; character modeller and environment artist. If I were to choose a path between the two, I would go down the road of Character Modelling. This is because I am more passionate about characters than environments. Designing characters display my skills as an artist and a modeller and my overall knowledge of anatomy. Character models will be my utmost priority if I were to apply for this role. I will have to hone my skills through Z-Brush and expand my knowledge of human and animal anatomy. I will also need to increase my texturing techniques and explore a better method than substance painter for my stylized models as I believe that it is not the optimal software to use when drawing textures.

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Companies I Hope To Work For

Looking into companies I hope to work in the future, it assists me in setting an end goal. I have researched into blizzard and the games they produce. This company is revolves its attention on stylized art and models. They produce many popular and successful games including: Overwatch, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm and the most famous of all, World of Warcraft. Nintendo is another dream company I wish to work for. I have always been a fan of their work including: Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda. Riot Games is within this list solely because of their game, League of Legends. League of Legends is one of the most successful games produced and consist of a large fan base with millions of accounts made. The art and concept of this game is inspiring due to the diversity of characters to choose from. Platinum Games is also on this list as I really like their environmental design. Some of the well known games they produced are Nier: Automata and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Lastly, I have added Naughty Dog as my final option. This is one of the highly contested companies to apply for due to their requirement standards. A selection of games they made consists of: Uncharted Series, Crash Bandicoot and The Last of Us; all of which has been very popular and successful. Their work comprise of realistic models and environments that amazes me every time I look at it.

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What Path I Chose

I have researched into the path I chose to go down; 3D modelling. I noted in detail why I believe that this role suited me the most (mainly because of my passion and experience with art). It was narrowed down from a list of different game art designer roles such as environment and character modelling. Although depending on what company I decide to look into, they may request a larger set of skills than just knowing how to model props. Therefore I will need to work into improving my knowledge of software as well as practicing them to get better. These softwares will include Maya, Substance Painter, Z-Brush, 3D Coat, Mud box and Substance Designer. I believe that gaining experience on these softwares will increase the probability of being hired. Having an all around knowledge gives the impression to the company that I have a diversity of skills and that I am not afraid to discover new things. Expanding from different skills, these skills can also be utilized for a variety of jobs. Modelling can be used in a large portion of advertising as well as architecture and product design.

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Milestone Experiences With Games

Pokémon yellow was the first ever game I played on a hand held console; the game boy colour. I remember that it was so fascinating how well it enticed me. Being introduced to new technology that does not involve having a group of people to play was amazing. Another milestone experience was when I received the PlayStation 1. The most memorable game I played on that console was Crash Bandicoot; a plat-former game. This new type of game was a lot different from Pokémon due to the mechanics and reflex needed to complete the game. These differences allowed me to learn more about the genres of games.

Leading up to this day, the current milestone that grabs my interest is the Real Time Strategy game; League of Legends. This game has inspired me the most in becoming a video games designer. I was intrigued by the level of depth a game can produce. The whole experience of these games conjured my curiosity to figuring out how they were created. To understand the layer that was hidden beneath the game that I would not comprehend if I did not study the subject.

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Research Documentation

For this project I will be talking about my route to the industry and how I plan to approach it. I looked into the start of my interest for games; expanding on the milestones of games experience I have had that lead to the decision of becoming a games designer. These also include games such as hide and seek/tag as I believe that it was one of the most valuable experiences of my life. Even though it was just a children’s game and as we grow older we tend to shy away from participating, it was what helped me connect with others, have fun and gave me the desire to play.

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Final Evaluation

For the duration of the entire project, I have stumbled across many design problems and decisions. One of which was the initial sketch design of the room with a secret passage. Another problem I faced along the way was time management. The assets I modelled took a substantial amount of time from my project, then laying out the assets I made into the scene took even longer to complete. This left me a small amount of time to blueprint therefore the play testing was delayed. However there were not many negative feedbacks about the gameplay. This meant that I only needed to add a few minor changes to the game.

The changes consist of including: a few more pop up text to bring out the character’s personality, improving the placement of the support pillars in the scenes to make them look more natural to the building and the final one is altering the hidden trap door so it opens straight away when the puzzle is solved to give instant feedback to the player rather than pressing E/Clicking to open it.

Issues were discovered during play testing such as the interactable red book becomes hidden when stood at a certain position. This was fixed by adjusting the collision of the trigger. The second issue found was the key behind the painting would not allow the player to interact with it after removing the painting. The solution to this problem was to cast to the first person character before branching the Booleans. And finally the bug that took the longest time to fix was the missing candle. It did not allow me to place the candle onto the wall even after I picked up the candle. But after changing the blueprinting methods a several times, through trial and error; it finally worked.

Overall I believe that my project was a success, despite all of the minor problems that occurred throughout. In the end, I completed my game to a playable standard. It contains working mechanics and an ending to the game. If I were to make this game again I would include harder puzzles as well as simple ones. Maybe add puzzles that would require the player to connect multiple clues to find the solution. Minor changes I would also alter would be the door movements, as I noticed that it is strange when the door opens into the character. I would also make more rooms for the player to enter, even if the clues are not located in them, this is to create diversity and movement for the player rather than being cramped in a few rooms.

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Mid-Project Evaluation

Throughout the project so far, I have not experienced anything that would affect my theme and objectives of the game. However, through further research, I have decided to change the placements of some of my assets. This will be different from the design that I have initially sketched out at the beginning of the project. I have chosen to alter the design of the room as I noticed that it had too many assets which may mislead the player. Therefore I have changed it so the room flows smoothly with fewer objects that could cause the player to get distracted from finding the clues.

The images I have taken from Salford Library first hand did not suit my theme since I was looking towards a Victorian Era style for the scenery and the pictures I took were too modern. This meant that I had to scrap my first handed images and used references from concept art, games such as Assassin’s Creed and other Victorian style buildings.

The current white box of the game only consist of four rooms which is subject to change as I feel like it does not provide enough gameplay and movement for the player. In order to decide whether or not there will be more rooms added; I will gather some people for game testing to determine how long the gameplay lasts. I have not implemented any mechanics in as of yet. This will delay the dates of play testing and affect the time I have to use the feedback given to iterate my game.

Although the mechanics have not been added, I focused on the layout of the whole level. This includes asset placement as well as lighting which are crucial in guiding the player indirectly, especially in an escape-the-room type game. If my game does not guide the player properly, they will be lost and feeling frustrated which will lead to an unbalanced game flow. Other things I adjusted in the level are the BP sky sphere which affects the lighting of the sky. By changing the colours to a combination of orange and yellows, it creates the effect of a horizon. The sun light is also altered to emit an orange light onto my library. By having all the assets in the scene, it enables me to focus on the lighting. Areas that contain clues are brighter than other places to direct the player towards them.

Having the entire layout completed, the next step is to generate the puzzles and figure out how to blueprint them. Research into various mechanics and mimic them using my own knowledge of blueprints. Trial and error will help to improve my overall experience with blueprints as it will let me remember what I did wrong and how I iterated them to improve the mechanic. UI also needs to be included for the final outcome as it is a key feature to giving the player clues.

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DD2000 - Essay Research

Sight is a wide topic that can be related to mostly anything, due to the huge amount of mediums I could talk about in the essay this was a difficult subject to hone on. As a result, I decided to only point out the few that are considered the most important in the design world. One of the points that I was covering is colour. Colour has many attributes and is considered a very important aspect of vision. I looked into colour theory to explain the meanings behind how colour makes us feel as this was a topic that could relate into how games evoke emotions with colour. 

Following the subject of colour, I also researched into geometry and the shape’s abilities to changes our attitudes towards them. Geometry is a wide topic and can be linked towards many mediums in the world of design. I decided to hone my sources from architecture and product design. Architecture uses shapes in a variety of designs such as buildings and cars, which I have looked in depth for my essay. I found how shapes of cars effect the way we see them; slim being fast and think being slow. I also came across the usefulness of geometry in our lives and how it affects us as humans. I topic I decided not to look into was patterns. Although I stumbled across this subject during my research, I did not think it was that relevant within my essay. It does not have a big impact games since it rarely occurs. 

Another factor I mentioned from research was the lighting portrayed. This covered from a range to films to gaming itself. I found a variety of games linking towards lighting such as Uncharted and the vanishing of Ethan carter. I believe that they were good samples to relate the power of lighting since they display its uses throughout the games. I discovered that lighting can be used as a way to direct the player towards the next part of the story like a guide; it is also used to enhance the scene to make it aesthetically pleasing. 

I also looked into films and how directors choreograph the scenes into one where lighting is really meaningful. These examples were mostly superhero movies and the moments where they discover something that would change their life; the clip where Harry Osborn discovers Green Goblins lair being one of them. Researching further, I dove into 3D gaming. This is where I discover the use of Oculus Rift and how it affects the player. Relating it to the design world, I looked deeper into the pros and cons of this product, talking about how it may affect the future of gaming. Other things I mentioned in my essay that I stumbled across were the importance of senses as well as gameplay flow and included a graph detailing each subject.

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XB2001 - Project Planner

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Project Evaluation + Reflection – 1500 Words

For this project we have been assigned to groups of four and were given the freedom to create any game we desired in the span of six weeks.  Without a structure to base our game from, we began researching into multiple genres that all of us would enjoy producing. From a process of elimination, we came across the decision to create a comedy, fantasy role playing game which everyone had high hopes for. David then proposed the idea to base the game from a comedy show, Blackadder, however with a little twist; the characters will be portrayed as animals instead of humans. With no other ideas or objections, we agreed on the suggestion.

Split into different roles, I was selected the role of environment artist. However, the prop artist of our team is frequently absent, therefore I switched into prop artist and the whole team evenly distributed the environment artist’s work. The reason I took the role of prop artist instead of sharing the work amongst each other was because that we required a lot of props in our game which is also the main priority in gameplay. By taking charge of the props, it will be completed on schedule. The environment assets are not as important, as its main role is to make the game aesthetically pleasing. This will enable us to be on top of the environment artist’s work if he does not complete the assignments on time. As a result it has been proven really effective as the only work we received from that individual was a barrel without texture.

During the first two weeks of the project I noticed that other projects have been interfering with the schedule we had planned which dragged me behind on the character modelling. It was really difficult to keep on track of the planner, this mostly due to the fact that stylising characters is complicated. I did not expect that creating my own version of characters would require so much thought and adjusting. And since most of my models revolved around characters, it took me a long time to complete them. Although the modelling was the biggest factor of difficulty, the UV and texturing was pretty straight forward and did not cause any problems. For the characters, I used mainly flat colours and hand painted some clothing and details using the brush tool on substance painter. I also left out the arms, legs and eyes as they will be animated in Unreal Engine for a more entertaining effect. After finishing ten character models I noticed that I was incredibly behind schedule and had to scrap the hedgehog and weasel characters. The other team members did not object with this as they were also behind therefore it was the best option to get everyone back on track as it also removes implementing the dialog and interactions for those characters.

Having fewer models to do, I slowly caught up to the plan and finished all of my character models by week 4 andallowed me to move on to the next stage; props and environment. Unlike the character modellng, the props or environment assets does not need to be stylised. They can be based off existing props and shapes from games. I found that making these assets were a lot simpler than animals from my own creation and was able to speed through them. However, the schedule was altered by removing a few models. This lead to me doing; a tree, platform, wall, crate, closed barrel, open barrel and title screen instead of the other in game assets. Reassigning these tasks allowed me to follow up on things that needed to be produced of the highest of priority to grant the game the necessary assets for gameplay.

Throughout the whole project, I have stumbled upon many difficulties and challenges. One of which was the character modelling. It has been the most time consuming models to create as well as texture. However, I have enjoyed creating them as it shows off my style and my artistic flare. Hand painting these textures was very different than just throwing a material onto substance painter. It enabled me to customise the animals with my unique ideas and getup. I am very proud with the results of the final models, especially the badger and boar. I believe that they turned out the most promising and were exactly how I pictured them to be like. If I were to improve the character models, I would most likely be changing the queen squirrel mainly because of the texturing rather than the model itself. It was unfortunate that we had to discard some of the potential characters in the game as a result in lack of time, but I do believe that it was the best option for our current position we was in. In future, I would pay more attention to time management as it has shown to be our major downfall for this project. Since we have implemented comedy in the game, I had fun with modelling some bizarre characters such as a genuine electronic mouse rather than the animal. Although it was a simple model to produce, I enjoyed the comedy aspect of the model and how it appears in the game.

Following the character assets I also took pleasure in constructing the prop assets. They were very straightforward to produce due to the simple shapes. For the barrels and crates, I inserted a wooden texture from substance painter and then edited it to remove the seams from the texture and decorated them to look stylised. For the crate I added a black outline around the edges so it looks stylised rather than realistic as this was our approach to the theme. Similar to the crates and barrel, I applied a concrete texture to the wall model, and stylised it by drawing outlines where the bricks would appear on the model. The end results were pretty pleasing and I did not have any problems other than a small stretch on the wall’s UV when wrapped; however, I could not find a solution but it didn’t affect the quality of the model therefore it was not a big crisis. One thing I would have liked to have done if I had the chance is to learn and add animations to the assets in addition to characters.

On the other hand, I included an animation for the title page. This consists of just over a hundred frames of the main character, the fox, strolling through the forest. The scenes were copied and pasted with the silhouette moving in frames across the screen. It is a start to animation and test piece given that I have no experience with animation whatsoever. Visually, it was aesthetically pleasing and comprehensible.

Overall, the project was a success. We have functioning gameplay and we stuck towards the planner. As a modeller for this project, not many problems occurred on my side. This was probably because of how simple the models were as they were not required to be very detailed. This meant that emission or transparency was rarely used. But in the final outcome, it has proven to be aesthetically pleasing and blended well into the game. If I were given the opportunity to improve it for another project, I would like to have focused more on the props rather than characters. I noticed that the characters were more high quality than the scenery and environment, which ever so slightly distorted the way the game blends. Therefore with an even quality of props and characters, it will merge cohesively in the game’s visuals.

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Project Plan XB2001 – 500 Words

Using Blackadder and animal crossing as our inspiration for the game; we will need substantial research into those topics. Since I have no knowledge about the show and game, it would require me to watch a few episodes and look into some of the art style and gameplay in order to gain some basic knowledge into these subjects. As a prop artist in our team, I will need to focus on the art of the game. Using as much reference as possible from games and real life, I will create my own stylized versions of animals to represent the characters from Blackadder. In which the characters will resemble the same attitudes and appearance of an animal, an example would be a large angry character would resemble a boar. Another main factor that I will need to keep track of is the size of each model. Due to the amount of characters we will have in our game, I will be mostly working on characters. As a result, the proportions of each character are crucial as they may look different if resized in the actual game engine. Props are also going to be textured in a cartoon/stylised manner for the purpose of blending them into the environment and characters. This would entail me to look into old games such as Crash Bandicoot, Donkey Kong and most importantly, Animal Crossing for inspiration.

Although we are assigned to a group of four, one of the team is constantly absent which lead to splitting his work amongst the three of us in the plan. This is to make sure that we will be on top of his work if he does not complete his portion of the project. David, the technical designer of our group has created a project plan to keep us on track. It contains each individual’s parts and sorted into six weeks of work. Throughout the first week, I will be required to hand in a Squirrel and Fox character model fully textured and unwrapped. Proceeding to week two; the Boar, Beetle, Badger and Hedgehog should be completed. Onto the third week, I should have the Beaver, Mouse, Frog and Weasel modelled and textured. After week four; the Frog, Frog Prince, Throne and Houses should be finished. Continuing to week five, I will be required to model and texture; acorns, cheese, fences and fireflies as well as making variations of environment art and decorating the environment with the scenery assets. Then on the sixth week I proceed to creating the GUI as well as implementing it into the game. I will also be testing the art mechanics and the overall game. Finally, the seventh week requires all of us to do some last minute polishing or bug fixing if required.

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XB2178 - 500 Word Evaluation

For assignment XB2178 I have chosen to focus on 3D modelling as I believe that this is one of my strengths. Basing my theme from edo Japan, I decided to create a diorama with an assortment of assets. This includes a shrine, lamps, fences, an archway and flooring.

https://sketchfab.com/models/3547112696944228aea745c845358142

The shrine was the first model I produced. Initially I wanted it to be high in detail which in the long term effected my schedule.From the research collected, creating the model was fairly straight forward but unwrapping on the other hand required the most time to complete. This meant that I had less time to work on my other assets. In return I produced a model that really stands out in the scene which was pleasing. After finishing the model on Maya, I imported it into substance painter to add the textures. Since my project is targeted to an old theme, I added grunges and wearing for a deserted atmosphere.

https://sketchfab.com/models/6ab54f14b98d4c629c7c6e482dee6237

After, I proceeded onto modelling an archway which was placed in front of the shrine as an entrance. It was based from an inspiration I found from World of Warcraft and I thought it would be complementary to the scene. I did not have much trouble with this model since it was mostly straight faces however the curves on the top required a bit of time to adjust. The texturing did not require much as it was all made from the same material (mossy stone).

https://sketchfab.com/models/360e2e0337884956929b951ae905054b

I also included fences at the sides of the diorama to make the shrine in the middle the centre of attention. Using the same red as the shrine, it revolves around the same colour theory to match the assets. Grudges and scratches were also applied to have the same effects of wearing.

https://sketchfab.com/models/ef69c09112a046f4b24cdfbfb75ddcc8

Lamps were another one of my assets since they are also often placed all around Japanese shrines. Emissions were applied on to the model to form the lighting inside. This was demonstration of a new technique that would be effectively used. Although the grudges and texturing did not appear as I expected, it still displayed the asset nicely.

https://sketchfab.com/models/ded16ba5a44144858bce5afdde09ba14

Look back at the first project I noticed that the techniques used were very limited. By just using Maya to model, I believe that it is restricting some of my capabilities therefore to move this project forward I plan to include some use of Z-brush. In a way, using Z-brush will illustrate that I am able to hone my skills on 3D modelling in a variety of platforms. I will be including more assets to generate a larger diorama and import that into an Unreal Engine platform. By doing so, I can allow the viewer to manoeuvre around the area and analyse the models in an in game environment and will also add some diversity towards my assets.

[jiaquanliufutureworks-blog]

XB2001 - Reflective Blog Post

What went well and what did not?

Throughout the project, there were many a variation of problems that I came across. One of which being the idea at the start of my project. The idea I initially came up with was a maze game where the ball is place in the maze and as the player you would have to tilt the maze in order to manoeuvre the ball into the hole which will trigger the door to open. This caused a lot of problems at first because I was struggling to change the way the board would interact with the character. I had them control it through ray cast with was not effective due to the positioning of the camera and the way the object interacted which generated weird affects to board; making it almost impossible to control. The other option was to control the board via trigger boxes, so when the character presses a button in the trigger box, then the board would tilt towards that direction. However, that would require an immense load of difficult blueprinting as well as implementing things that I have not been taught yet. This resulted in changing my idea for the project into a much simple mechanic; collecting objects, in this case are stars. Making the stars was an easy process and was not that difficult to blueprint either, only require a bit of maths to work out the percentage of the bar each time it increases. The widgets I have made after and was fairly simple to produce and link, and the timeline was produced very easily and lerp without any problems. Variables and nodes were placed properly which helped to organise most of my blueprints.

The door on the other hand had a few problems occurring, main one being the interaction. This problem did not allow me to press E to open and close in the trigger box and was fixed after multiple trial and error by adding a Trigger Being Overlap and End Overlap which Enabled and Disabled Input. Another minor problem I had with the door was that it would open the opposite direction and into the player, pushing them aside or backwards. This was solved using the dot product to determine the side that the player is on and will open outwards where ever they stand. The level design was sloppy due to the time constraint and did not look as aesthetically pleasing as possible, the textures and shapes were not ideal for what I wanted the level to be laid out.

Overall, I believe that this project was a success. I have completed my brief for it without having any problems occur in my final outcome. This project has taught me new things on blueprint and helped to refresh my Unreal Engine techniques. It has also shown me what I need to improve on for the future such as level designing to enhance my skills as a Games Designer.