Evaluation
This project as a whole has definitely been an interesting journey for me personally. I feel that over the course of the module I wasn’t ever sure of what I wanted to produce in the end, and it took me a long time to get involved completely with the project. Over time I felt that I could engage with it more and more and eventually the ideas did start to flow faster and I was able to reach a conclusive idea that I was very happy with. In the beginning I found that I was quite set on looking at how real world environments where created but over time found that it wasn’t going anywhere and my writing had hit a stand still. Therefore the idea of looking more into puzzle games came into mind and I really liked the idea of looking at different perspectives and how movement and colour can be used to alter the way that a player looks at the subject. Again this idea wasn’t going anywhere but this was due to the writing and I couldn’t think of different topics to write about, creating more problems with the module.
This was the point where I wanted to stop and think about the research that I had so far and how I could take it forward with what I had. I had done a lot of research into lighting and knew that I really enjoyed looking at this topic, as it was something that I wanted to learn more about. Also I had begun to look more at colour again, another interesting topic that I wanted to learn more about. So here was definitely the basis for me to start thinking about an improved topic and I decided that this point that I could definitely still look at real world environments in there as well, which was the original topic that I wanted to look at. I was definitely happier with the project at this time and knew that it was now going somewhere. Along with this, as I knew that I was already going to be adding snow into my scene, I decided to incorporate weather systems into the writing element as well to explore existing games and look at others ways that they can be created.
This felt a lot better to get involved with, and I found that I could easily write about all of these topics together as a whole. I found that I was making a lot more progress with my writing and also my practical, as this was starting to come together more as well, and I learned many skills when looking at the lighting and the different particle systems.
With regards to my time keeping I do think that it could have been improved once again. I feel that this is always an area that lets me down and I do prefer to work under the pressure of knowing that my deadline in only a few weeks away as it gets me more motivated. I had my time keeping very organised this year and planned out my time carefully looking at when I would be working and on what project, but during October and November in particular not a lot of work got done, partly due to unwillingness to work and partly due to my idea being changed many times and not being able to settle on something. If I were to start the project again I know now that hitting a great idea early on is definitely the best way to start a project.
In terms of the written aspect, I wish I had decided on a topic sooner and one that I was more passionate about in the end. Although I enjoyed researching everything that I spoke about, I feel that different topics would have produced a better end result, like for example taking forward the theme of environmental storytelling from last year and expanding on that, or looking more into children’s games and how they can be made more entertaining and engaging. There would have been a number of different possible areas I would have been excited to look at, but in the end I was very happy with my final dissertation.
Overall the project ended up on a success, even if it was a rocky road get to the end. I am extremely happy with my final piece and there are only a few things that I would differently to the practical piece itself. One main area is exploring particle systems furthers to create some really interesting and unique experiences in games levels and continue to look at scripting to gain a better understanding of the topic. My only real criticism of my practical piece is that I could have explored textures further and instead of using real textures, create my own hand-painted ones, as they produce some really beautiful looking results; something that I will be trying in future modules.
Synthesis
The overall synthesis between my practical piece and my written aspect I believe is very relevant and links well. The main areas I studied in my written element covered the topics of lighting and environment, adding a colour element to convey a certain mood, adding a believable weather system, and over all creating an environment that produces realism and could be real in it self.
When looking at lighting as a topic in my written work, there were many different types that came up and there were also different moods that can be produced, such as looking at lighting from above or below, as these can create sinister looks. I went with basic lighting set ups for my environment using just a direction light to begin with, as the only light source present would be coming from the moon. I thought about adding in some other light sources to create more shadows in the scene, but this quote created the decision not to. ‘If you are looking to light an environment or an object it is far better to study what happens in nature and devise your own solution.’ (Yot, R. Light for Visual Artists) This lit up my whole scene nicely and the only other thing added was ambient light to bring the darkness in the scene right down so that it felt more like night time and less like day. This worked well and followed the principles of everything that I had learned throughout researching lighting, especially when aiming towards realism in a scene.
The second main topic in my writing was colour and how it can be applied to an environment in order to change the mood of the scene in general. This has now been a common tool in most designs for environments and it is becoming a talking point instead of reviewers just simply talking about how fun the game is to play. For example, 'The seas are choppy, the sky is a foreboding mixture of green and grey and the rain is really starting to come down.' 'It was a tense scene, but if you replay it or watch one of the videos of it and take a look at the weather, it actually contributes to the tenseness of the scene.' (‘Saint’ The Perfect Storm). This is just one example of how it is already used in video games.
In my practical I wanted to ensure that colours where used heavily to try and give off certain emotions for people to feel. I went with cold blue and grey tones in the snow and on the rocks in the scene, and tinted my lights blue so that it could stain the landscape further. By adding in these tones I wanted the environment to appear cold, and make the player feel alone in a vast environment. Along with this other emotions where produced and this was represented by feedback that I received with comments like ‘it made me feel anxious, but if it was a scary game, you don’t know what’s around the corner which can excite you but can leave you Goosebumps as well.’ and ‘The colour scheme shown would suggest that the atmosphere was intending to appear eerie and evoke suspense, though in contrast the use of colours for the sky promotes a sense of awe.’ I also wanted to add the element of a flashlight that was coloured yellow so that it gave the player a small amount of warmth, and acting like a guide of friendliness in the dark.
Moving onto the weather system that was used, I went with snow, as it was something that I had never tried out before and found that it had some really nice effects that could be produced. I was going to be using particle systems to create this as I found that this was the best way forward and really liked the end result. This was the only area lacking that extra detail for me as the weather systems that I had been looking at were all exceptional and provided an incredible amount of detail, especially games like DriveClub, creating their own dynamic weather systems that affected the way you drove through each level. I wanted to try and create something new and found that although it didn’t match up to the high quality that had been produced in existing games, it worked with the environment I had and with what I wanted to create.
Lastly the overall end result of my written element wanted to look at how realism can be added into a game environment and how it can bring the world to life almost, creating life even if it’s not present. This final look into these kind of environment mainly focussed on DriveClub to try and create the most realistic looking environment, and not using graphics, although they are very beautiful. But looked into using elements like lighting and the weather system to be able to add that extra detail to the environment making it feel more lived in and inhabitable and this is what I have tried to achieve with my final practical piece. I have looked at the country Svalbard and everything that it is most famous for so that I can bring those elements into my final piece. As my project is about adapting real world environments I felt it fair to move the objects into this part of the level that I had made instead of leaving them where they are in the world as this meant that I could not only put them wherever I wanted, but I could add the element of mise en scène that I had looked at which is a study mainly into the placement of everything in a scene and how they all work together.
I have then looked at adding in the Northern Lights, something that I have found in only a few games so far, possibly 3 at most. I felt that this was a big part to the environment as Svalbard is one of the best places in the world to see them so felt that it could be a major part of my final level, and again adding to the realism. I am very happy with the lights, I felt that they could have been edited more if I found that I had more time to do so, but as they are they have gentle movement that matches how they move in real life and they have small streaks in them that many reference images do. So, overall the synthesis between my two pieces does have a very strong link, ensuring that everything I have discussed and looked at in my written element has in some way either been applied or taken into consideration in my practical piece.
My Learning Journey
Over the course of this module I feel that this has definitely been the module where I have learnt the most new skills over all. There have been many modules in the past where I have learnt a couple of skills that have aided my development but this one in particular I feel that I have acquired many extras skills in order for me to develop my understanding of my chosen practice.
Firstly I feel that my overall environment design has improved greatly from others and believe this is down to using a real world environment as a basis. As I already had the landscape to follow and adapt to my own I felt that I could easily plan out, judging by the shape of the landscape where everything is going to go. I felt that this definitely helped the overall design as I was able to find where was best in the environment for certain objects to go. Secondly I feel that my ability to learn scripting has taken a sudden boost as I felt that although it’s difficult to get my head around, this was one main area that I really wanted to focus on getting right. I attended scripting tutorials and sought help to get them right when I could figure them out, gradually increasing my ability to add these details into the environment. Along with getting help I feel that I have tried to create my own more, especially the end screens on my level that I made myself. This took me a while to get right but has helped me develop my scripting skills as I had no idea how to create them before I begun this module.
Lastly I have tried to experiment further with particles in my environment, looking at creating weather systems instead of just having a sunny day in my level, something I hadn’t added in before. Creating this system took time to get right and there were a lot of different versions that I made to ensure that it looked as good as I could make it, but in the end I was very happy with the result and the snow that I made complimented the rest of the scene well and they go together to create a chilly and cold looking environment.
Over all I do feel that this is the most amount of skills I’ve ever learnt in one module. I have tried to experiment as much as I can with this module, trying out new techniques as much as possible and ensuring that it links well to my final piece in terms of the written element which looks at lighting, colour and weather. Above all else though, with this module I have gained so many new skills that will enable me in future modules that I carry out.
No comments:
Post a Comment