Task 24: Personal review of the second year: Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?

Universities are for people who want to get a degree which they can then use to get a job. Some jobs require you to have a diploma and judge you depending on your grades. This is the case for most courses. My experience though is that most people just use whatever tricks they can to get the best mark possible and don’t even need to put in much effort sometimes. This course I think works a bit differently in that it really is about helping you learn the skills you need if you want a job in game design. It’s not about just writing a few essays, you actually have to actively take it upon yourself to learn as much as you can whilst you have the chance

Personally I’m more interested in developing my skills enough so I can create a good portfolio. When I planned on coming to university I didn’t expect it to be the same as most peoples courses, I always knew it would be different and be more about practice than anything else. The tutors are there for any questions you might have if you’re confused. The university is there for classrooms, equipment and guest lectures. University for me has given me more confidence and self-discipline. I have become less lazy and learnt so much just through doing projects, which I wouldn’t have done if I didn’t come to uni. It would require a lot of effort to stop procrastinating at home with so many distractions and no real reason to work instead of play. But here you are required to complete all the projects and they are not always things you want to do, but ultimately they help a lot in improving your skills.

I also always knew I wanted to do something to do with games, but wasn’t exactly sure what, I hope by the end of this course I can come to a decision based on all the work I’ve done and be comfortable with making the right choice. I also look at university as being a time where I don’t have to work a job and can still get by with my loan. Which means I have plenty of free time outside of university, which I can also use to practice my skills, even if they don’t count towards the course.

I feel I am quite a reflective person, but I usually reflect on the work I’ve done as a way of putting off the work I need to do. I know I have made tons of progress since the beginning of this year let alone last year. I’ve learnt that if I keep doing work sometimes its harder to actually stop working and start other things. But if I get used to doing everything except work, it is much harder to start again. In everything I’ve done here I have learnt something with each project, now this isn’t down to the projects themselves, but mainly down to the fact they are limited on time and they are things which I wouldn’t come up with myself, this forces me to think differently to solve problems.

Task 23: Life Changing or Career Building?

It’s hard to know what to teach people with a course which has so many different aspects to it. 2D and 3D work has such a different skillset in my opinion. Most people also aren’t sure exactly what they want to go into or at least don’t know what is best for them. I think that is where educational institutions are actually better than learning everything for yourself.  A lot of people find it hard to keep focused on something that doesn’t have any instant reward. This is why they prefer doing things which they find fun and interesting. But this can be a distraction and they could end up preparing for a dream job that doesn’t exist. So having somewhere which focuses and forces you to look at the reality of the games industry and every aspect of it is a good thing. A student studying games art should have a much better idea of what they want to do and what is achievable. Probably more than someone who has tried to learn everything by themselves and concentrate on one thing like drawing. But when you have decided what you want to do and have overcome the technical limitations its only up to the person to develop their skills, which isn’t really possible to teach.

I think the problem is that game companies are probably half as clueless as everyone else when it comes down to the future, often companies could be unsure just how well they will do and what direction the game industry will go in. I think they only know what they want to see in someone’s work when they actually see it and how they got there is irrelevant.  Technical skills are important because if you don’t have them you can’t do the job. This is also similar with creativity, except people don’t need to be too creative if they can do their job, for example you wouldn’t need to be super creative if you haven’t got any control over the brief you have been set to work on.

My guess is that game companies are looking for people who are creative with a solid technical understanding and works fast. But how can you know the extent of someone’s creativity? A game company can’t hire someone and hope they prove to be as creative as they seemed in their portfolio. But they can hire someone who they know has all the necessary technical skills and will be able to do the work.

The size of the game companies and the difference in them varies so much it’s hard to generalize all their needs. A smaller company might find someone who is very useful in lots of different areas very useful and money saving. But bigger companies with massive teams might specifically want people to do exactly their own thing. Although i have heard of bigger companies who have very talented people using them to their full potential which might mean them working on more than one thing. They might also want more of an input from a person they value, which means they need to be creative and usually experienced. 

So when teaching games art, technical skills are vital and need to be up date with the current state of the games industry, but you can’t teach people how to be creative. You can give them different things to think about and a better understanding of things, but it’s up to them whether they listen or not. Some things you can learn from an educational institution which you might not even think of by yourself. I also think it’s good to be around people with similar goals and work with them on group projects, which is something you can’t do by yourself.

Task 22: Creativity, the talent myth and craft

I would say that most artists practice from an early age and don’t stop, they might have breaks from doing art, but if they want to have a creative job usually it will always be a part of their life somehow. Anyone can develop their skills even if they aren’t really an artist if they just practice a lot, as any kind of art is basically a form of muscle memory. But I think there is a certain level of skill that some people have naturally which helps. I think the most creative people have a different way of thinking about things and approach problems in a different way. This might be down to a certain upbringing and/or life experience, which would be very hard to learn with just practice. For instance someone who has never drawn before might be just as bad as a child who has been drawing all the time. Just as you can’t hope to be as good as someone who has practiced a musical instrument for years by only trying for a couple of days, and then put it down to not being good at music. Creativity is more to do with the persons personality than there actual skill.

Creativity is hindered by technical constraints. In games art this is usually when using 3D programs which have a lot of things to learn, which take a long time to learn. An artist might have loads of ideas of what to create in 3D, but just doesn’t know how to do it. So this requires a lot of time to develop their knowledge. But with 2D programs like photoshop less technical knowledge is required and traditional skills can be applied. There are a certain amount of technical things which can help speed up the artist but there are many different ways a program can help and you don’t need to know all of them. I have found that learning the basics and slowly picking up things when you’re ready is a good way to go about it. Everything you learn then sticks and you know in which situation, to use which tools.

I think art directors have the most of the responsibility for creativity and ultimately have to make the decisions but they get input from other members of the team in the start of the project and they are also limited to what they can do in the first place. I think good companies will give more creative freedom to each of their members compared to other teams where each person might be quite restricted. Concept artists have a good amount of creativity because they can put forward their own vision of the ideas and also input their own ideas which could end up being used in the game. 3D artists might be more restricted on their creativity depending on the team and what they are working on; they will have to stick to a specific brief.

I think good games create their own universe in a unique way. Giving the artists lots of freedom to put forward their ideas and keeping things that work whilst scrapping things that don’t. The initial overall idea for the game needs to be strong though, the art and gameplay can help a lot, but if it is set in a bland world than the game will be uninteresting for players. Gameplay can make for a fun game, but the overall experience is what makes game memorable and stand out from others.

I think an artist can show their creativity with the ideas they come up with and not really with their technical knowledge or completely polished/detailed work. A good idea is always a good idea even if it might not be executed perfectly. The main things I need to develop are efficiency and presentation.

Task 17: Elements of game design, part six: documentation

Project outline

The project will be set in a jungle environment where the lead character must escape by finding his car and defeating a monkey. The game will be light hearted and fun.

The project will be built using UDK for the level editor and 3DS max for modelling. It’s a third person adventure on the PC, aimed at a casual audience between 17 – 30 years.

My personal objectives are to develop understanding of UDK and create multiple assets which work well together. I also want to create good lightning in the scene.

Technical Specifications

Lead character

The lead character is an important asset as it will be seen by the player at all times. It must be able to be animated and match the concept art.

It should be under 13,000 triangles

Texture Maps

High Poly:

2 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

2 x 1024 x 1024 (specular) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

2 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) = @ 3.0mb (24Bit)

NPC

The monkey NPC is an important asset. It must be animated and match the concept art.

High and low polygon versions.

It should be under 8,000 triangles

Texture Maps

High Poly:

2 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

2 x 1024 x 1024 (specular) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

2 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) = @ 3.0mb (24Bit)

Low Poly:

It should be under 3,000 triangles

1 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse) = @ 3.0mb (24Bit)

Vehicle

The vehicle is an important asset and must be animated.

High and low polygon versions.

It should be under 15,000 triangles

Texture Maps

High Poly:

1 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

1 x 1024 x 1024 (specular) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

1 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) = @ 3.0mb (24Bit)

Low Poly:

It should be under 4,000 triangles

1 x 512 x 512(diffuse) = @ 3.0mb (24Bit)

Environment

The overall environment should match the concept art and gameplay layout. Consisting of the terrain and skybox.

It should be under 20,000 triangles

Texture Maps

4 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

4 x 1024 x 1024 (specular) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

4 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) = @ 3.0mb (24Bit)

Props

The props will not be seen individually and must be able to be duplicated without being too noticeable. They will be static trees and plants.

High and low polygon versions.

They should be under 1,000 triangles each

Texture Maps

High Poly:

5 x 512 x 512 (diffuse + alpha) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

5 x 512 x 512 (specular) = @ 4.0mb (32Bit)

5 x 512 x 1024 (normal) = @ 3.0mb (24Bit)

Low Poly:

They should be under 300 triangles each.

5 x 256 x 256 (diffuse) = @ 2.0mb (24Bit)

An Introduction to the game industry

The game industry has many different roles for people to work in, but this varies a lot depending on the size of the project. Larger games will usually be developed by a developer and published by a publisher. The developers are responsible for actually creating everything which makes the game and the publishers mainly do all the advertising and manufacturing, they also usually fund the development.

Indie games are usually developed and published by the same small company. But as they are most commonly found on a digital format, they don’t need a publisher for manufacturing and will usually advertise for themselves. This is because most indie games are found on things like Itunes , Android market, Steam etc. They also finance their own development.

There are different roles in a development of a game. These include:

Game Designers

A game designer is someone who pretty much designs the core of the game. They will decide what kind of gameplay they want and how it is structured. They will try and make sure the game is engaging and will be enjoyable for the player.  The role of a gamer designer depends on the scale of the project. Bigger companies might have a lead designer who managers the rest of the team, there might also be different people working on specific aspects of the games design.

Artists

Game artists are responsible for how the game looks visually. They are usually overseen by a lead art director who manages the team. There are basically two different types, 2D artists, who will create all of the digital painting in the game, for things like concept art, textures, UI etc. 3D artists will create all the 3D meshes in the game. They might also do animation, or there will be an animators who do all the animation. Larger projects will probably have more specific roles for people, while smaller projects might have people working on multiple things.

Programmers

Programmers are responsible for all the coding in the game. They might be overseen by lead programmers. They will integrate all the coding for things like physics, AI, scripting, network, graphics etc.

Level Designers

Level designers will put together all the different parts of the game people have made. This is where the game actually becomes playable. They will use commercial game engines or ones created by the programmers.

Testers

Testers play through the game usually towards the end of the development. They will analyse the quality and try to find problems and glitches. This is so when the game is finished players should have fewer problems with it and it should feel pretty polished.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is usually used for parts of the development process which don’t take as much time as everything else and don’t need to go through iterations. These include things such as motion capture, voice acting, music and sometimes concept art. Outsourcing is cheaper for companies because they don’t have to pay as many people full time.