Introduction:
Originally I had intended to create a WW1 style underground tunnel system with obstacles like locked and coded doors, and be constantly under attack from demonic zombies. I had hoped to achieve an interesting game with certain features and mechanics I hadn’t included in previous projects because I really wanted to push myself and produce the most impressive and content filled game I could. I had produced a lot of Pre-Production work to try and get a good feel of what I wanted the areas to look like.
Roles And Activities:
Since I was working on this project by myself, I was to work on each separate part whether that be Level Building or Audio, because I was working by myself I had to manage my time more carefully and be a lot stricter with time constraints. I also knew my strengths and weaknesses and had to focus on improving previous errors I had made in earlier projects.
The Good:
When I started this project I’d had one and a half years of practising different techniques from Modeling to Texturing and knew I was better in certain areas than others. Building Tunnel components in UE4, I found easy since I’d done it a lot and really knew to do effectively and efficiently and built several tunnel components quickly giving me a bit freedom to set up a few small areas and get a better feel for the tone and scale of the game.
I also became incredibly more comfortable with 3DS Max during this project and created almost every model that wasn’t the Floor, Walls or Roof and really enjoyed using since it was a skill that proved really useful creating detailed assets with loads of character.
Changes And Compromises:
I had to make a lot of changes during this project, some of which I was alright and fine with because I saw them as Improvements but others I did see as Compromises and things I had to change due to time constants and me not being able to achieve what I wanted. I believe the biggest change I made was changing the AI from Zombies to Plague Doctors and I think the main reason was because it was slightly more original and I found the idea more interesting and inventive since I’ve never seen this before but have seen games with Zombies, this doesn’t necessarily mean I made the right choice but personally I think it’s a nice original idea and was happy with the result.
The complete layout of the map went through 3 different phases in total each change making it more complex and detailed. The reason I did this was because whenever I reached the end of a design phase I felt like the needed to be more, which isn’t always the right choice sometimes ‘Less is More’ but in my case I felt like I could increase the size of the environment while upholding the quality.
The Final Layout of my game is much more expansive then the early block-outs of my game. I was also planning on using Keys, Notes and Codes for doors and wanted to scatter them around an environment that the player could explore however they wanted and if the map was small it would be a very linear progression and even though it still is, I wanted to give the player a little room to stray from the path and explore how they wanted.
The Bad:
The biggest thing I struggled with during this project was the AI, I encountered several problem when trying to program them to do what I wanted. Originally I wanted them to roam around and then chase and fire at you when they spotted you, and I intended to use Behaviour Trees and a Blackboard. However when I used this method I don’t know what the problem was but it never worked properly, the was always something up with them that I couldn’t figure out. I ended up deleting everything and starting over and did this several times which took around a week and eventually with no luck I gave up and decided to use Blueprints instead which I understood better but was still no expert in so I was still learning how to use them and this was a useful learning curve. I didn’t have any real problems with anything else.
Progress:
When we started Production I had a general idea of what I wanted to focus on first and knew what I expected to come as Production continued and my game became more a more expansive, and my idea of time and everything else went out of the window, because if a new idea came into my head and I thought it was good then immediately I wanted to add it to the game without thinking of time. I think I just wanted make my game as impressive as I could and just thought ‘I’ll have to work a little bit harder to get it finished’. I definitely went off schedule without a doubt and that ‘s something I should work on since it can ruin a game because of deadlines, thankfully I managed, but in any case it goes to show just how much planning, preparation and dedication goes into a game and that if you make a Production Schedule you should try and stick to it, is something I learnt during this Project because I did get a little stressed towards the end.
Wider Influences:
I firstly want to say that being Influenced by other titles can be great because it gives a great insight into a professional game designers mind and sometimes shows how they think even if it’s something as simple looking as set-dressing a room, but hours even days of thought goes into it because you have to think of Composition, Scale, Theme, Lighting, Mood and possibly even telling a story without saying a word, which can be immensely difficult to do. I watch lots of video and play through of games because I enjoy them and during this Project I wasn’t just watching them because I wanted to it was also to take notes and quick sketches of how certain environments look. An example of this is one of my tutors suggested I watch ‘Grounded The Making of The Last Of Us’
‘Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us, 2013, (Video) Date Accessed 4/1/20’
I watched this during Pre-Production and was blown away by the amount of Dedication that had been put into this game, and I filled 3 pages of idea, notes and even direct quotes from the people that directed and created the game which once again allowed me to gain a great insight into the minds of the developers who created the most critically acclaimed game of all time.
Communication:
During production the class held meetings over the internet to allow us to show our peers and tutors our work and progress with it allowing us to gather feedback and thoughts on what each other would like to see in our games by answering questions through surveys. When making games feedback from people is incredible because it’s almost like being influenced by another game but you actually speak to the person and ask questions. I also asked my family for feedback and this was also useful because it’s useful getting an insight from someone who has different interests than you and is probably going to do something different come college from them which gives an even wider influence for you.
I did take feedback from Surveys and some of the ideas did actually make it into my game, Someone suggested a coded door and that was something I’m very glad to of added in since it’s probably the most advanced thing I ever made.
Learning:
During this project I learnt a lot to say the least, This has been my biggest and most ambitious project I’ve ever set out to do and I’ve really enjoyed the larger projects at college because it lets us create something impressive and something that we can be proud of. In terms of learning, the environment was definitely great practise in terms of design, through process and problem solving since I had to create about 12 different corridor sections and it helped me discover that even though I thought I did enough planning, the is never enough, the is always something else to cover. It also made me think more carefully about my decisions what stand out in this case is time planning and the 3 phases my environment went though. I became even more comfortable with 3ds Max since that was always something in previous project that had held me back and during this project I had created detailed weapons with full animations that the player can use.
I think that I’ve come far in development during this project and am happy with the amount of progress and skills I’ve developed.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I want to say I’m very happy with the outcome of my game I believe I created more than I set out to create in terms of size while maintaining a good level of visuals, audio and game play. I think it’s helped define my strengths and weaknesses but allowing me to improve the methods and techniques I’m not quite so good at. This project I think has helped me narrow down my options for what part of game design I would like work in either building the Environment or a 3D modeller, although I still hopefully have University to decide. I still believe a few things I should work on such as Texturing but also Blueprinting/Coding since I think they’re my weakest drawbacks and I think if I spend a few months working on them I can become a well-rounded game developer which a good amount of varied knowledge in each aspect of Game design.
Georges_Games 