Evaluation For Final Project

 

Introduction

 

In my evaluation I will be covering the following topics Context how I came up with the idea. Research how I decided on what to research.

Planning and Production My plan what tools I used to make it etc.

Problem solving what problems did I face and how did I deal with them.

Final Product

 

 

 

Context

 

I wasn’t completely sure on what to pick for my idea, but I knew I wanted to include some sort of army/military background within it, I slowly narrowed it down from a Cop/Detective or dark/Medieval setting till I concluded on the environment which was middle Eastern). I was really inspired by the modern war on terror that has been going on for the past couple decades. I was almost going to use the current invasion of Ukraine as my setting, but I thought it might be too soon and I wouldn’t have enough information but now that I look back on it, I probably would’ve been able to use it because we have been flooded with so much footage and media from the conflict that I would have had tones of opportunities to use.

 

I feel as though I have kept close to my base original idea which I am glad about as it’s a subject that really interests me.

I now have a better understanding of the kind of project that I wanted to do and I now if I did it again or something similar, I would put a lot more emphasis on storytelling and the puzzle/mystery part of the game as well as that I would also want to include more mechanics for the game.

 

 

 

 

 

Research

 

Since I am so interested in this topic myself, I know quite a lot about it and where I can find out more about it, I think I completely changed my project from visuals to mechanics because of some primary research I conducted.

My research was quite sustained but there can always be more or something else that can be covered. For my primary research I have asked my piers to test my level then answer a survey that I made for secondary research I have been covering various topics some being the environment it was set in the weapons used in the game conflict it is taking place in as well as certain software’s used in the creation of the game.

 

I stayed pretty close to my original idea only tweaking minor details within the level one being different mechanics I was going to include a door which could be opened but in my research of Arabic architecture there wasn’t many doors more beads or cloth instead of a regular door. Second being I was going to include bodies/body parts but thought this might be a bit controversial and raise the age rating of the game decreasing people who could play it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planning And Production

 

For my planning I used Trello to easily lay out what I wanted to do. Trello is a website which we were introduced to last project to plan are team project with. Trello is really useful at clearly laying out what you have to do and is highly customizable. In my Trello I included a fully fleshed out asset list and mechanics list. I also used a website called floorplanner.com which is commonly used by architects to make plans for buildings. I used it to help me visualize my games environment. 

 

I definitely think I did enough planning for my level the only thing I wished I could’ve included was some early sketches of the level.

My production went pretty smoothly as if I ever didn’t know what to do that day, I could just look at my lists and pick some things out to work on.

To improve on future projects, I would like to add more tabs to the Trello.

And clearly show my plans on my website

 

 

 

 

 

Problem solving

 

 

Throughout the final project I don’t think I faced to many problems however no matter what you are making there will always be setbacks .

 

A problem that I faced is thinking I had more time to do the practical because at the start I wanted to include more puzzle/story elements to it but halfway through I found out I couldn’t do practical work at home which meant my time was shortened significantly. To counteract this problem, I just mainly worked on practical work in college as I could do the website work at home if needed.

At the start I think I thought to big and gave myself too much to do and instead should’ve given an amount I knew I could confidently complete then should’ve done extra work on top of that.

I feel like my planning skills have gotten better with this final project and

 

 

 

Practical skills

 

The first set of new skills I developed with my level was learning how to navigate floorplanner.com which I used in the planning of my level’s layout. I can now use this in future projects if I want to make a nice-looking professional level plan to clearly show off the game as a early concept this way I might be able to get backing quicker/in early stages of development.

 

I also increased my knowledge in unreal engine 4 one thing I learnt how to do was put decals in the level decals can be used to add more detail to a level from something large like a big patch of dirt or a splatter of blood to something small like a bullet hole in a wall. In my future projects this will help me to make much more detailed and immersive environments.

 

The main resources I used was YouTube, I watched quite a few unreal engine 4 tutorials Which were made by a channel called Matt Aspland

(42) Matt Aspland - YouTube   Is really good at explaining and showing how to do certain things in unreal engine 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presentation

 

I mainly used wix/my website to show off my work/progress I let some people test my game then I sent them a Microsoft forms for them to fill out. I was going for a realistic military setting that was very grounded and not to far away from reality.

I think people would want more story elements to the game which is what I originally planned on doing but didn’t have time to include in the end. People wanted some sort of goal or something to work towards.

 

 

The Final Product

 

Some strengths of my final project include detailed interior and walls some decent mechanics with a good story element but small I have some good audio clips and play at certain times in the level which add to the atmosphere. To improve the game, I would add more story elements and puzzles for the player to solve as well as some sort of goal or final objective as it is very confusing on what you are meant to do. I am glad I changed from visuals to mechanics as I believe that kind of setting would have a lot of intractability within it and I think it turned out better than it would’ve if it was the visuals task. I think my project is suitable for its intended audience you don’t see any violence or gore in it apart from a blood splatter. Even though it is not fully fleshed out I still think people who like the topic/setting will enjoy just walking around in the game seeing and trying to figure out what happened to the team.

The response I got from the audience was completely fair and I agree with the points that are made one being not having an end goal objective which I would want to include if I redid it or had extra time. Another being more intractability in the level more things to pickup and read or just look at maybe more lights or sounds that could be seen and heard