Course Evaluation

Evaluation

In the initial stages of creating the game concept we were eager to create something big, not just a game, but a story. The central core if the idea consisted of story-driven open world, puzzles, and stealth mechanics within SCI-FI setting. Many hours were spent in group meetings inventing an exciting story, characters, and the environment. We relied on the work of a well-known artist Simon Stalenhag as the paintings he produced in our opinion were a perfect reference for the game setting we were looking for. At that point, we could not predict what difficulties we will face, and our ambitions seemed feasible and were supplemented continuously with new details and aspects. The specific visual style, intricate puzzles, and animations were a small part of all those ideas we hatched at meetings in the first month. So far while the concept was hanging in our heads, we had no doubts that the realization of them would be so challenging.

Doubts about the adequacy of the concept and our ability to reach the wanted level began to appear on our third class presentation when most of the group started to notice plodding development progress. It came very clear, that at that stage we were pursuing visual appearance of the game, while the gameplay remained unknown and untested. During the game idea development period, each team member worked on their allocated tasks within the ILP document continually updating the group with their production progress. My part was enclosing Alien technology creation, which was the main force of antagonist of the story. As our time was lacking a conceptual artist for everything apart of the main characters, I had to come up with the design on the fly. Spending many hours remodeling forms until reaching a pleasant visual appearance. I wanted to have a good portfolio piece instead of having medium quality models delivered on time. Such a decision would not affect overall production.

Meanwhile, I started to notice the visual language of the game doesn't have a consistent style. Every artist had his vision and professional capabilities when creating game assets, and the output differed a lot. At that moment it becomes clear why the leading artist is needed. The core style of the game must serve as a reference for each artist to follow. We barely managed it. We also excluded most of the game mechanics planned before and started to focus on the main gameplay areas, as our time was running out. We wasted a lot of time planning and complicating the gameplay without actually implementing these mechanics and visual appearance into the game. Therefore, our game ended up with quite basic interactivity option for the player.  It was challenging to manage the time and progress without prior experience in group game development.

Furthermore, each artist willing to create an excellent personal output slowed down the overall production and asset amount. Despite many inconsistencies and impulsive decisions made without relying on the core idea, our group remained focused and helpful towards each group member. We tried to feedback every step of the production keeping everyone updated on changes. The criticism was accepted adequately, understanding that all of us are trying to deliver a good piece of work. It becomes clear, what it costs to create a great game and how many resources and creative power it requires. Personally, I was sharing my knowledge in modeling and texturing with the environment artist, helping with the environment production and trying to give constructive feedback on areas which my professional role did not cover. I could not provide commentaries on the coding side. However, the output was always discussed within the group. I think that the only serious issue was the lack of communication between animation students and coders as our teaching timetables differed and it was difficult to arrange meetings during the week. Although that was compensated with messengers, we used to deliver our thoughts and ideas to the group. In overall, to conclude the year in game development, I must say that the planning and discipline are required prior artistic skills and ambitions. We hoped to create a big game not having any experience and expertise in this. Many of us tried their roles for the first time, and the learning curve was steep; therefore the overall production momentum was too slow to cover all the aspects of the game. 

Anyhow, I want to thank my group for a great commitment, professional feedback, and perfect atmosphere given along the way of the development. Every artist in this group deserves a reward for their hard work, especially the level designer and our coding team.