Table of Contents
- Section I: History, Career, and Ethics (Introduction, Reflections 1-2)
- Section II: Understanding the elements of game theory (Artifacts 1-2, Reflection 3)
- Section III: Apple pre-production techniques to plan game prototypes (Artifacts 3-6, Reflections 4-5)
- Section IV: Apply Procedures to develop a game (Artifacts 7-9, Reflection 6)
- Section V: Managing a digital portfolio of one's work
- Video presentation
- Conclusion
Introduction
This year in Game Art and Design, our class has explored the game design process and various factors behind what makes a good game. We have worked through the game design pipeline by creating our own concepts, storyboards, level designs, GDDs, and paper prototypes and learned about the stages of production. In addition, we have also learned about the many elements and mechanics behind a game's design by playing games and identifying/analyzing the mechanics and how they contribute to the state of flow. We have also learned about the various game design careers/fields, how they come together and individually contribute, and the qualifications needed for each by researching our own job interests. To cap it off, we have worked through creating our own games and programming in Unity Engine through the Unity Essentials and Junior Programmer pathways.
Section I - History, Career, and Ethics
Career Reflection
Throughout this class I have had the opportunity to explore various fields in the game design industry such as 3D Modeling, 2D and 3D Animation, Photo Editing, 2D Graphics and Drawing, as well as Programming. There are many more specialized fields within these more broad categories as well. The field that interests me the most is working with character design, either as a 2D Concept Artist and Illustrator, or in 3D Modeling, which both interest me and are career fields I want to further explore. I love the idea of being able to create my own characters and I have always had an interest in drawing creatures and people, especially in fantasy or science fiction genres. This class has helped me build the fundaments I need in both of these fields, through working in Autodesk 3ds Max throughout sophomore year in DDA II, and with guided drawing practices that helped me learn gesture, basic anatomy, and shading.
Ethics Reflection
Ethics and integrity are extremely important in any field, and are fundamental parts of our society. In the game design field, this means making content that is appropriately targeted towards the right audience(s), and adequately rated according to ESRB standards and categories. Vulgar language, sexually explicit content, and blood/gore should all fall under consideration. It is important to properly advertise the games maturity and have in mind what audience it is targeted towards when in development as well. Concern over the influence of video games on young and impressionable audiences is becoming increasingly emphasized, so it is becoming more necessary and prevalent to be conscientious of what audiences are being exposed to, especially with unadulterated and mature content.
Section II - Understanding the Elements of Game Theory
Game Mechanics Reflection
Game mechanics are defining aspects in every game, and are the fundaments of gameplay. The various mechanics that make up a game include space, time, rules/procedures, skill, chance/probability, story, aesthetics, and technology, as well as objects, attributes, and states. Throughout this class we have evaluated game mechanics of other games we have played, such as Castle Panic, and also considered the implication of game mechanics in our own work or future experience. Game mechanics should be properly balanced and generate a good sense of flow, as demonstrated by a flow chart which explores the dichotomic relationship between challenge/frustration and boredom in any game, targeted towards the sweet spot just between them, indicating a well progressing game that properly balances both engagement and challenge.
Artifact 1: Explore Game Mechanics Project
The game mechanics project taught me, firsthand, how each mechanic affects the overall enjoyability and experience of a game. I was able to relate back to my original thoughts and emotions while I played it for my analysis of each component/mechanic, and it gave me insight into how they come into play and affect the gameplay.
Artifact 2: Game Genre Project
Section III: Apply Pre-Production Techniques to Plan Game Prototypes
Design Pipeline Reflection
The Design Pipeline outlines the overall process and structure timeline of a game's development from conceptualization to the release and marketing of the game.
This is broken up into three main stages; Pre-production, Production, and Post-production. Pre-production begins with brainstorming and storyboarding the initial concept of the game, as well as planning out the level design, which then leads into the creation of the prototype which is a very simplified demonstration of the game mechanics. This can often just be a paper prototype, which is something we have worked with in this class. Setting a budget and mapping out the timeline and goals/deadlines is another part of the pre-production process. Documents such as a GDD or Art Bible are important and useful guides that can be used as references throughout the games development.
During the production phase most of the games' actual development and creation takes place. This includes major tasks such as writing the story, creating and compiling all the audio and art assets, rigging and animating the models, as well as programming the game and developing the user interface (UI). There are many milestones in the production stage, such as creating a first-playable or alpha version before everything is completely finalized to get a representation of the gameplay and progress, as well as opening up a nearly-completed beta version and then finalizing all the bugs/details in a master or gold release. In Post-production the finalized game is distributed and marketed, and also further developed upon by fixing bugs as they are encountered by the player base, as well as adding expansive content such as DLCs.
Artifacts 3-5: Pre-production Works
In the creation of my prototype game MagnoBall, I had to initially sketch out rough outlines of character and map ideas, then chose some to expand upon, and eventually I finalized my favorite one and created a detailed orthographic for it. This taught me a lot about the process for creating concept art, and having many open options to expand and work off of, and not confine myself to just one from the start. I also got experience creating a GDD and identifying relevant features and important information about my game.
Artifact 6: Designing a Prototype
In the creation of this prototype, I learned a lot about creating paper prototypes in order to demonstrate and try out various mechanics of the game.
Pre-Production Reflection
Pre-production in the game industry is essential in guiding out the rest of the project. Knowing what needs to be done/created, how those things will come together, and what to expect of the final product are all necessary things to know when creating the assets and the finished components of the game. Without pre-production, you are essentially walking in blind and more problems will arise that could hinder the project or not be viable at all, causing a complete change in course and/or wasting essential time, without having been properly tested in the prototype or concepting stage of pre-production. Pre-production does not have to be a super long stage and is very low budget, as you can create prototypes out of common materials or even paper. Rough sketches and concepts do not have to take long either, but are a good way to explore different ideas and finding the best one.
Section IV: Apply Procedures to Develop a Game
Production Reflection
Working in the Unity Game Engine has taught me many things about the production process and about creating a game. To begin with, it was relatively easy to learn the structure and UI, especially since I am acquainted with other programs like 3ds Max and Blender which have a lot of similarities. It is very intuitive, and also well organized. However, learning to program has been by far the hardest part of working with Unity. Programming is like trying to learn/use a completely new language and requires an entirely different way of thinking. Even still, I do not feel confident in being able to work from scratch, and a lot of programming comes down to using resources, memorization/experience, and truly understanding what you want to happen and how to make it happen in relation to all the different variables and assets. A lot of the production process requires importing and positioning/organizing various assets such as audio, 3D models, code, and more. Many errors will also occur and it takes a lot of patience and problem solving in order to overcome them and not be discouraged. It is also important to utilize other people or valuable resources in order to get all the assets needed for the game. Overall it feels very rewarding to see everything come together and then being able to play a truly working game that you tied together!
Artifact 7: Balloons, Bombs, and Booleans Game
While making this game I learned how to create an efficient and runnable game by repeating backgrounds and destroying objects that go offscreen. (Unity Game Engine, Microsoft Visual Studio)
While making this game I learned how to create an efficient and runnable game by repeating backgrounds and destroying objects that go offscreen. (Unity Game Engine, Microsoft Visual Studio)
Artifact 8: Soccer Scripting Game
In the creation of this game I learned about various new programming components such as Coroutines and IEnumerators, as well as local variables. (Unity Game Engine, Microsoft Visual Studio)
Artifact 9: Whack-A-Food Game
I learned how to implement and use Booleans, Surface GUI, Click Events, and Create Buttons. (Unity Game Engine, Microsoft Visual Studio)
I learned how to implement and use Booleans, Surface GUI, Click Events, and Create Buttons. (Unity Game Engine, Microsoft Visual Studio)
Section V: Managing a Digital Portfolio of One's Work
[TBD]
Video Presentation
Conclusion
Overall, throughout this year, we have explored the game industry and game design process in depth. This includes game mechanics, genres, the types of fun, as well as the history and ethics of the game industry, the different career pathways, the stages of development, and we have created our own prototypes and level design. We have also expanded upon our technical skills with programming in C# in Unity Engine. I feel as if I have much greater understanding of what to do to prepare for the future and follow the goals I can now set for myself. I also have expanded my knowledge and skillsets, but understand not only technical skills are important in the game industry, but also communication and soft skills. This class has been a lot of fun, but also challenging, and has pushed me to new limits. In the end I am happy I have endured through it and taken the opportunities to learn, and I look forward to next year!