WEEK 1 - The Start to a Great Project

Beginning the trimester with my first studio session brought in a wave of information for us to process for the next 13 weeks. Since this is going to be quite a challenging ride, we had to be equipped and geared from day one to be able to “expect the unexpected”. Although we were told that the studio 1 games batch didn’t exist and were meant to work on a cinematic (at first), the games and animation department settled that we were to merge with the studio 2 Games batch.

Once we were put into groups, we began brainstorming ideas for the game. Surprisingly, the group dynamic worked pretty well and we came up with a few uniquely original ideas. Our group was very enthusiastic on the first one.

Image as reference of the mood and overall theme we are looking for (2015, Riddles of Egypt [video game]. BigFishGames)

Starting with the thought of locating the game in Ancient Egypt, the group members began developing the idea bit-by-bit. Before we knew it, we had a semi-fleshed pitch of creating a VR game that incorporated elements of different genres – puzzle, combat and horror. Everyone was into it and were quite positive of its outcome.

It was unexpected for everyone to have put in the kind of effort we did in the first week itself. We were surprised by each other's collective efforts. By day 2, we had the hands modeled for the Anubis (the main character in first person), a discord group with different (organized) channels for discussion, the Trello updated and running, a shared google drive folder and a completed backstory for the overall game. I worked on developing a clear “drive” for the game and helping my teammate JP to flesh out some plot holes we might encounter in the story. By Day 3, the animators decided on a specific art direction and mood boards for the environments, characters, lighting/mood and assets were made.

Asset moodboard done by Leighanne.

Characters moodboard done by Leighanne. All other moodboards were collectively decided by the animators, but put together by me.

By Day 4, we had concept art for the thieves ready by Paulo. Day 5, we had concept art for the Anubis and mummies ready as well. We also had our first group meeting where we discussed on a few additional changes and refinement to the story and puzzles. Everything seemed to go according to the plan.

As animation lead, it was my job to organize and distribute the work accordingly (See below for references of our work - done by Week 1)

Anubis Thumbnails done by Leighanne.

Thieves concept sketches (thumbnails) done by Paulo.

Mummies sketches done by Ahmed M.

Potions and weapons done by Paulo.

However, on Day 6 we experienced some sort of friction in ideologies between teammates. A major argument about the genders of the characters resulted in a division between some group members. Nevertheless, after a few hours of a heated discussion, we all handled the issue professionally and agreed to manage future instances better.

To wrap up, Week 1 sailed quite decently with a bit of collision in thoughts. The issues were resolved professionally and more group meetings are scheduled during the week. Everyone seems to be treating one another with respect as well as providing feedback for every piece of work done and submitted on the group before documentation. Documentation is in progress. Overall, it has been a great start to the project and I am looking forward to a wonderful deliverable.

References:

2015, Riddles of Egypt [video game]. BigFishGames