NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - online lesson given - Fundamentals of Game Design study 01

During this lesson we were tasked with viewing a set of video and informational links on game design and user experience. After viewing these links and videos, there were many key points that appeared repeatedly and many others to take into consideration.

These links and what they showed were

Basic Principles of Game Design

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8AT01tuyrk

During this video, the basic principle and importance are conveyed to the viewer in an easy to understand manner with many different points being made to show what is intrinsically needed to accurately create a game that would incentivise people to buy the product and play the product in an enjoyable experience.

The largest points made were: that everything in game design must fit the player's intended experience and that there are three main pillers to game design including player, communication and appeal.

This leads to the question, "What is the players role/purpose?" because if the player has no impact on the game or no real purpose it can lead to players feeling indifferent or with no control and becoming bored.

This then leads on to comunicating the purpose, with the examples of using the environment or visual clues to show what the player should be doing or where they should go to comunicate the objective.

Finally, appeal is the most important part of game design and simultaneously the hardest. This is because of the large variety of players having different appeals and likes and appeal can vary massively on different games and different players.

As well these, it is equally important to show/ direct the player's focus possibly giving the player choices that effect or drive the narrative. This can also correlate with the use of anticipation, being as simple as a slowdown effect, allowing people to dodge attacks or when shooting you can create holes in walls.

The video also explains the importance of progression and environment. For progression, it is stated that fluid progression could be gained through spacing highly action packed and difficult sequences with more laid back and smoother sequences and keeping the change in the situation based on what sequence is in play. 

As for the environment, the video explained how level layout and spacing can effect gameplay, with smaller environments being more hectic and dangerous and larger areas being much more scenic allowing the user to experience the graphics. Alongside this, it explained how the players movement through the level is also an important factor, giving insight to adventure game level design.

This video is incredibly helpful as it gives direct guidelines for how to create an effective and interactable user experience, while showing their own opinions on prior games user experiences that could be used as inspiration or research.

Good Game Design is like a magic trick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YdJa7v99wM

This video talks about different techniques that game developers use and explaining what they are, why they are used and how they work.

Some of techniques that are given include:

• Rubberbanding (example: Mario Kart) - boosting players in last and making it more dangerous in first, so players that are struggling always have a chance to win.

• Coyote Time (example: Rayman) - having a window of space after falling off a platform to still be able to jump.

• First shot missing (example: Bioshock) - to give a sense of urgency to the fight, give more emphasis on the story rather than battle sequences and to give players that have been 'snuck up' on a fighting chance.

• Damage bounus for new players (example: Gears of War) - there is a damage buff that can be used when reloading that many experiance players can time. However, newer players may not be able to and do not have as much experience in combat, therefore they often get a damage buff towards at the start of the round before fading during the game. This method eventually had lots of backlash!

• Dialogue timers for responses to be given (example: Firewatch) - gives players a set amount of time to respond to conversations, giving more weight to what is said and can influence consequences later in the game.

• The 'last bar of health' has more defence than the previous health bars (example: Assassin's Creed) - the last bar of health repaires itself over a short amount of time, allowing for players to feel as if they have escaped battles by the skin of their teeth, while not being in as much danger as they anticipate.

• Balancing ammo and health drop-rate in relation to player skill/ power (High=low drop rate Low = high drop rate) (example: Bioshock) - gives a constant need/ want for ammo or health as it tailors to how the player is doing within the game world, creating tension as a result.

• Enemies attempting to run from an explosion radius, but will always be hit just as they are leaving (example: Spec Ops: The Line) - gives players the feeling of skill when throwing grenades but also helps to make the player think the AI is smarter than it actually is.

This is helpful because it shows many different hidden techniques that are used throughout the industry and can help me with deciding structures to better immerse players into the game and grab user appeal to motivate players to continue playing.

30 things I hate about your pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LTtr45y7P0

During this video a man lists many things that publishers dislike during pitches. He explains clearly and effectively what and what not to do during a pitch, while explaining why. 

The key points he tried to make included:

• Not going too deep into the backstory and instead center around key mechanics while not going in depth with standard mechanics, such as inventory management. Also to explain what the player actually does, for example explaining why the game would be picked compared to other games in the same market.

• Don't use fundimental pillers of a game as hooks to make people invested in the game, for example pitching that it is a fantasy game as a hook for possible consumers, rather, show what is unique for your game and why.

• Explain what needs to be done to make the game, how long it will take and how much money may it need to complete it. Show how you have planned out your businesses on basic outliners while not mentioning or believing obvious tech risks that wouldn't work, such as having thousands of people working on a single game.

• Rather than showing lots of mediocre art, instead show a small amount of great art. Show what is intended to be a placeholder for future development, but do not show bad writing or dialogue as it can push people away from your product. As well as this, do not create totally finished designs before completing the mechanics.

• Don't pitch a game based around a new tech idea without polishing the details around it or the context and don't pitch a game based specifically on existing games, as it shows that you don't actually have an idea.

• Do research the people you are pitching to, so that you know what platform they publish for and what games they have worked on.

These points are helpful for me because it allows me to see and plan what a good pitch would be, allowing me in the future to create and show my ideas clearly with efficiency.

How to write a game design document

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LeandroGonzalez/20160726/277928/How_to_Write_a_Game_Design_Document.php

This article/blog post explains how to write a game design document, explaining what is needed in a document, what needs to be stated and how to structure one as well.

it explains how to structure a GDD (game design document) by talking about priorities, key mechanics and general project descriptions. with elememts touching on characters, story, theme, progression, gameplay and goals.

This is helpful to me as it shows me how to make a more clear and precice game design document once I need one and gives lots of details and examples with explinations as to why you would need similar examples within your design document.

Making the game - indeeDev Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ4TU5sgDxc

This video shows a documentary, interviewing Indie developers on why they wanted to become a videogame developer and what they do as a Indie developer, while talking about the industry as a whole and popular Indie games in recent years.

This can be helpful as it shows work currently being developed in the field of Indie game design and shows what users tend to gravitate towards in the industry.

Micro design document

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6feTiNH17ng

This video explains how to make a small game design document and template, going through how to plan and display the document with key information such as: how parts of the game will work/be used, key game mechanics and how the game progresses.

This is useful for me as it shows what are the most important things that should be covered in a game design document and allows me to make a more clear and precise game design document once I need one.

Micro Design document (example)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TMS2f2_g-60h2lyb9US7gbszC6lg4idu/view

Design document (example)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VkpsULlQ6NYEoVHUCk83DFsHj_mu1Jvh/view

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - Creation of a Character (Skeleton Figurine Model/Board Game Figurine) UV Inprovements

During the project where we created a 3D printable model in Maya of a character that could be used in a board game, I decided to re-create the skeletal soldier's UV.

In order to do this. First, I took the automatic UV and individually re-created the UV for each of the different objects in the model, starting with the shield.

Next I moved onto the arms, legs and torso, Using the cut and unfold tool to organise the different objects into manageable segments and moving pieces into different positions or sections.

Eventually, after I made the larger UVs smaller, I began to work on the smaller objects and more detailed parts of the model such as the rib-cage which I used the cut tool to segment different parts.

The smaller parts of the model I hid within the gaps between the larger UVs, as well as the parts of the models that are unable to be seen. This was because the smaller parts of the model would need less texture detail overall.

After I completed most of the UVs, I began to place smaller and smaller UVs in the center so that it could fit all the UVs into one square.

Once I finished the new UV, I exported the model as an OBJ into Substance Painter to create a high definition texture for each part of the model.

Once the model was in Substance Painter, I started by painting a metallic onto the sword, shield and helmet using a titanium and bronze texture to add more rustic appearance.

Then, I added a wooden texture to the shield with a large bump mapping and covered it with a darker wooden texture on top.

After this, I added textures for all the bones and the skeleton's shirt. The bones, I used a mix of bone textures that calumniate into a single mixed texture while the shirt was a downloaded fabric texture that appeared old.

The sixth addition was a paved texture for the character's stand and the seventh was a wooden texture for more detail and overall texture on the character.


finally, I added a leather-like texture to the back of the shield and shoes to create the appearance of old fashioned clothing for the shoes and bracing for the shield.

In conclusion, I believe I did well on my improvements and additions because of the ending detail presented and the high definition of the textures without deformities.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - Creation of a Character (Skeleton Figurine Model/Board Game Figurine) (Modelling / Development of the model)

For this project, we were tasked with creating a 3D printable model in Maya of a character or creature that could be used in a board game. I decided to create my character as a fallen skeletal soldier, with an intent to create a anatomically correct body. However, I ultimately needed to change my design to a more stylistic appearance due to the 3D printing material and size constraints.

Firstly I began by creating the torso, starting with the ribcage and head. The head was taken from a previous project that I had worked on where I used it as reference for the shape of a head. As for the ribcage, I started by creating a square, elongating it and making extrusions along the sides, wrapping them around in an arch before reconnecting them in the middle. Once this was done I started to improve the design by making higher ribs smaller and curving the ribcage in a more angular pattern.

After making the ribcage and adding the head, I started work on the pelvis. This was done by making a square and shaping it

into the proportions of a pelvis and positioning it in the same direction. Once this was done I bridged any gaps in the model and added it to Mudbox to sculpt and shape the model into the final version of the pelvis. I also made sure not to re-import the model at a high polly count so that it could still be used in the final version of my model.

Next, I added the spinal column, vertebrae and scapulas (shoulder blades). This, again, was done by using squares by extruding and shaping different parts of the bones. The vertebrae was created by making a few different spinal pieces before adding them to the neck and duplicating the last one down the rest of the spine. The scapulas were made by creating an approximate shape and using the cut tool to make topology and changes where needed. After creating the scapulas, I created the connecting bone from the ribcage to each scapula for additional detail.

The fifth part I focused on were the arms and hands. Once again using elongated squares to connect together and show a realistic appearing set of arms. Unfortunately, the hands were later replaced due to the immense amount of small pieces on the model. This was because of the 3D printing constraints given.

Then, I added the beginning of the leg bones alongside adding extra accessories such as a sword, shield and helmet that I had created during my free time in-between projects.





Soon after adding the accessories I created the legs and feet. However, again the original design of the feet had to be changed to shoes due to 3D printing restraints. Also due to printing restraints, I decided to fill the gaps inside both the ribcage and pelvis to avoid any future problems during the 3D printing process.

Finally, I created clothing for the upper body of the skeleton as an additional accessory and to cover any parts of the skeleton that could easily be broken during the 3D printing process.

In conclusion, I believe that I did well on my assignment, however, if I could I would improve the clothing to be more detailed and to fit with the theme of old decrepid armour and I would enlarge many of the smaller parts of the model to fit with the 3D printing standards.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - Personal development plan for Monster poster

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - Roles of the Media industry

Eventually, I would like to get a job in the Video-game industry due to my well rounded skills while also having a fallback industry of VFX because they share many of the same skills and softwares. However, the specific role I want to get is much less concrete. This is because I have multiple different roles I would like to enter with the skills I have for each of the different roles.

As of now the Roles in the VFX  and Video-game industry include:

·       Modelers / 3D Artists – this role creates 3D models such as environments, animals and characters. The modeler/ 3D Artist role mostly works with the Texture artist, animator, compositor, Layout 'Technical Director' (TD) and motion graphics artist.

·       VFX Artist – this role is responsible for creating CGI effects such as water particles, explosions, destruction of objects.

·       Programmers – creates code for a video-game production, making the physics, movement and other functions within the game.

·      Texture Artists – creates textures for models and adds them to the scene, often these must be photo realistic. Texture Artists also must be able to UV map models and characters for the textures to work.

·       Animators – uses the rigged character models to create their animations, often makes a previsualisation, so they can accurately create the full animation using correct camera angles.

·       Compositors – have multiple processes in their role. They add composites of objects and people to a scene and they put multiple layers of scenes on top of each other, including animated ones, into one scene. Therefore, compositors are tasked with creating the final image of a frame, sequence or shot; this is often done through taking digital elements and adding them to a scene such as animations or backgrounds, while adding special effects (SFX) to make a believable image/video.

·       Motion Graphics Artists – uses visual design or video to communicate concepts or some form of story. This role normally has people who have higher digital skills and are proficient with interactive media software including 3D animation and graphical design e.g. 2D animation and drawing. They also create posters, trailers, commercials and title sequences etc. etc. alongside other roles like the animators and concept artists for marketing purposes.

·       Matte Painters – one of the first VFX techniques used regularly in movie making. Originally the technique was used in photography, however, it evolved from painted glass panels shown over a camera lens into being 2D plains/panels of entire 3D digital environments. A matte painting is often a plane or panel used to show a large landscape or set piece that can be a render of a 3D model/area.

·       Rigging TDs – creates Riggs for 3D modeled animals and characters. This is so that they can be re-positioned, animated and moved using the character’s skeleton.

·       Lighting TDs – creates lighting for the environments and scenes. Often goes to places and areas to examine the lighting in the area and any added lighting that is used.

·       Roto Artists – often works with the compositor, rotoscopes objects and characters from different scenes so that they can fit into a scene without having their backgrounds show. This is normally done with a green screen background, however, it can also be done with a blue screen.

·       Pipeline TDs – works with creating a pipeline of events and tasks for the different roles and processes. This role also ensures a smooth rendition of workflows and sometimes provides technical support to other roles in the industry.

·       CG Supervisors – are involved in the production of the computer-generated imagery in either animation or VFX . They are practically always interlinked with the modelling role, animation role, rigging role and texturing role. Most CG supervisors have specialized skills in certain areas, for example; management, art or even programming.

·       VFX Producers – manages all aspects of the project and is sometimes regarded as the “heart of a production”. This role typically involves planning and scheduling resources, monitoring work during the production processes and managing the VFX teams.

·       MatchMovers – integrates CGI/VFX into live action footage and normally is linked with the Roto TD and compositor roles. MatchMoving is often referred to as motion tracking and is mostly used in the film industry using tracking suits and green screens.

·       Concept Artists – creates the initial ideas and images of characters, environments, animals and in film and animation, scenes including camera angels and story direction.

·       Layout TDs – determines the layout and position of the camera/ virtual camera and determines the positions of the characters. This role mostly works with the concept artist and modeler. However, Layout TDs normally have a large assortment of skills alongside their role leading to them often working as other roles.

Out of these roles, I believe that I would most like to become modeler, using other roles that I am interested in as fallback lines.

I want to be a modeler because I enjoy using sculpting and modelling softwares and because I was inspired by Video-games and their environments, giving me ideas and ambition to create models. I was also inspired by 'YouTubers' such as 'Quixel' and 'CG Geek' who can create fully 3D realistic environments within the space of 1 hour.

I plan to become a modeler by improving my skills in making textures/UV maps alongside making higher detailed models with lower poly counts.

What I've done so far to complete this goal can be found at: https://tobymroberts.blogspot.com/2020/01/next-gen-nescot-year-3-hnd-personal-and_27.html

Ultimately, once I have finished my higher education, I intend to show myself as an attractive candidate using my existing portfolio and educational background as I am committed and have a deep seeded interest in the subject.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - Personal and Professional Developments to support growth to a Career of interest

I believe the improvements I made to the 'Making of a Monster' poster have personally improved my skills to a more professional degree.

This is because the use of higher grade texture and mapping is widely used in the industry and is incredibly important to develop. The VFX and Video-game industries require these high quality effects to sustain its audiences.

This leads to employment being highly competitive and I would need more developments in my work for when I enter it.

Because of this, I've been improving my skills at both home and college by using tutorials to learn new softwares that specialize in different areas of video-game development and VFX. This is so that I could eventually get a job in the Video-game industry, due to my well rounded skills while also having a fallback industry of VFX because they share many of the same skills and softwares.

Examples of what I have done to improve my skills on a personal and professonal level include:

• Experimenting with code in 'Unity' to create a rag-doll-based movement script and using tutorials in movement code from 'YouTube' and 'Unity's' official website as a starting point before experimenting and branching out from there, leading to my code being nearly completely from scratch.

• Starting to use 'Blender', which is a free modeling and VFX software that is known for its realistic fluid and rag-doll simulation abilities, with the ability to auto-generate destruction of models such as doors and fully render realistic water with foam and impacts to surrounding objects. I did this by using the automatic tools available for breaking models and creating water and also using tutorials to create small models, more detailed water effects and more effective breaking effects such as the model turning to sand. These tutorials have mainly been from 'YouTube' because the official website doesn't have many tutorials to go by other than the bare basics.

• Using 'Unreal Engine' to experiment with level layout, by using models and pre-existing textures to create maps, buildings and to experiment with player interaction with levels. As well as adding animations to characters/models. I did this by looking through many different tutorials on both 'YouTube' and their official website, trying my hand at making a few textures and models in the process as well.

• Honing my skills in 'Maya' by creating many different models, textures and experimenting with the X-Gen editor by trying to create accurate hair or hair effected by wind and gravity. Meanwhile I experimented with  N-Cloth by using gravity and realistic movement of cloth. I did this by watching tutorials on 'YouTube' for X-Gen hair and N-Cloth physics, as well as modeling tutorials for more sophisticated tasks. Unfortunately, the Autodesk website doesn't give detailed enough tutorials so I had most of my help from there in text form.

The models I made in 'Maya' would often differ however. I often centered around Norse or Viking themes. For example: I created a Viking helm, boat, sword and sheild alongside an assortment of plates, bowls and cups.

• Using 'Sculptris' to create/sculpt models such as a large sculpted T-Rex. This was by mostly learning it in class, however, I watched a few tutorials on 'YouTube' to master the software to its full potential. Unfortunately, I never looked through their website for tutorials but I believe I know the softwares full capibilities.

• Using 'Mudbox' to sculpt models from existing meshes and to create normal and bump maps. This was done by looking at both the official website for information as well as some 'YouTube' videos too. Despite this, I still have some difficulty with the software, but with the use of tutorials I find it much easier to use.