WEEK 2 - Getting Started
- Leighanne Fernandes
- Mar 2, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: May 13, 2019
During our week 1 progress, we had a lot of faith in one another. However, we might have overestimated our own capabilities while underestimating the time. We needed a reality check.
When presenting our progress and pitching the clear draft of our story to the lecturers, we received some feedback on how our scope was way too ambitious. Ideas were abundant but the probability of achieving them was low. It seemed like we had to cut back on a lot of stuff we planned to include in the game. This overwhelmed a lot of us.
To work around this, we all gathered for a serious group discussion to pinpoint our top-most priorities.
By Monday, the animators delivered stylized modeled weapons that the programmers used to code for the player (See img 1).
By Tuesday, we had finalized thief sketches that were cut down from 4 enemies to 2. Group votes for 2 final enemies (from the sketches) were finalized by Wednesday and corresponding model sheets for them were made by Friday (see below for Ninja Model sheet). We were on full hustle mode this week.
Charcater model sheets - I worked on one character.
On the other hand, we also had to deal with more clashes in team dynamics. Some team members were letting ego and frustration overwhelm their thoughts and communication. As animation lead, I had to ensure that this did not affect our productivity. So, we took this matter to our lecturer. The lecturer suggested that I speak with our project manager and to let him deal with whoever.
Meetings upon meetings, we brainstormed solutions and clarified our scope on a whiteboard (see img. 2).
Everyone used the five effective brainstorming techniques to add on ideas, clarify plot holes and to stay focused. We listened and built upon one another’s ideas. It led us to wonderful concepts while keeping in with the feasibility of each one. We also brainstormed a fresh set of solutions to work around if any group member gets heated up in any sort of discussion.
See below for some puzzle concepts that I worked on.
Using the Trello wasn’t enough. As animation lead, I had to make an accurate breakdown of every single thing that needed to be worked on. Hence, I made a Deadline chart that roughly listed the days/dates each member has to deliver their task, with a corresponding green or red checker until week 5 - for now (see img.3).
Apart from this, I was also in charge of managing the social media accounts. Thankfully, one of the games programmers offered to split the work by managing the Facebook Page, while I handle Instagram. We roughly discussed what we could do to add some interesting content for our social media pages such as game demos, time-lapse screen recording of our modelling/texturing phases, etc. Things are gradually getting more defined.
See below to watch a small snippet of a test our programmer, Soubra, made on UNITY. He worked on the hand controls, the parry and the necromancy skill of our character.
Moreover, we learnt about some Animation techniques used in Games production. It was very interesting to learn about these as I would have never noticed them in game play. We learnt about poly budget and optimization, re-meshing, general overview of normal and parallax mapping and the differences in modelling for games and animation. I was particularly intrigued by this video.
Designing the Withcer's 3 Ice Giant [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEzkjN-a6FY
Last week, we were also newly introduced to UNITY. See below for a short animation clip I made on UNITY (as a test, for fun).
In conclusion, this week sprung us straight into action with the amount of work we needed to deliver. Taken aback by the feedback, we required a "reality check" on our capabilities before we bite off more than we can chew. I don’t want to overwork my teammates with assigning tasks they cannot deliver on time, so we reason out with everyone’s capabilities before confirming any task. Although it has been one roller-coaster of a ride, I am still looking forward to a great deliverable!
References:
2015, Riddles of Egypt [video game]. BigFishGames
Game Informer (2013). Designing the Withcer's 3 Ice Giant [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEzkjN-a6FY
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