Reflection

Now that I have almost completed all of my units for this year I will be reflecting on my work since September and discussing what I have learned.

To begin with I did not struggle with the tasks assigned to me this year as much as I did last year, last year I found myself struggling with tasks in Maya or UKD which I would have absolutely no problem completing now.  The upgrade from UDK to Unreal Engine 4 also really helped as well, Unreal Engine 4 is a much simpler software to develop games from, its more user friendly than UDK and it had a lot more features.  I also found that my skill set using Maya had vastly improved, last year I was completely new to Maya and didn't have any idea on how to use it, but now I have created my very own variation of assets in Maya and have even been able to create some animations.  I defiantly feel that I should have put a little more effort into my work this year, however overall I am happy with how I have worked this year and have most certainly prepared myself for when I attend the University of Bolton to do Video Game Design.

Time Management for Unit 70

Now that I have completed unit 70 this is a good time for me to look back at how well I managed my time and assignments through out the unit.  Work wise I think I managed my time brilliantly, I kept up to date with all the work that we had been doing in class and kept on and even a few time slightly ahead of schedule.  I can this down to putting in a good effort overall to the unit, a significant  improvement on my attendance and a better overall understanding of the various software used through out this unit like Unreal Engine 4, Maya, Photoshop and others.  However there were some areas in which I was lacking.  When I came to blogging I was very laid back about it and didn't keep up with it on a daily bases.  This turned out to be quite an inconvenience as I had to go back and look at the entire unit just to make sure that I hadn't left anything out.  When doing this I tried to get some more screenshots from Crazy Bump but by this time my trial had expired so I was not able to do this, this was really disappointing for me because if had just gotten the screenshots there and then and blogged about it at the time I would not have had this problem.  However this is a lesson learned and in future I will know to take some time either after lessons or at home to blog.

Time Management for Unit 76

I have now in my tenth week of second year and currently am in my fifth week working on unit 76.  Currently I have an idea of what I am doing and have made good progress with my block out within the time given, I have worked on the game play, flow and look of my level and almost have a block out completed.  I now need to get a peer review on my map and possibly adjust my map to make it better based upon my peer review.  About now I would say I am on track with my level and with the help of tuitions, peer reviews, etc. I think I will be able to produce a very good map.  Calculating the time spend in session and time that should have been spent out of session I have worked out that so far I should have spent a total of 96 hours on unit 76.  I am also working on another unit (unit 74) and have calculated that so far I should have spent a total of 61.5 hours on that unit, with the two units combined I should have spent a total of 157.5 hours among both units.

Conclusion

Organise, Analyse and Interpret Relevant Outcomes

Now that I have done my research and have given it a lot of thought I have decided that I am going to create a steampunk western themed map.  It will be a first person shooter and will be set in an old style western town however the assets will have various elements of steampunk intergraded into the assets on my map.  I look forward to taking on this task as and producing the best possible map that I can.

Peer Review No. 2

Undertake the Proposed Project in Accordance with the Agreed Specification

Today I will be doing my second peer review.  I am happy about this as after I done some research on my steampunk western theme after the last peer review I was starting to wonder if I was that good of an idea so this is the perfect for me to get some feedback from my peers and hopefully will help me decide what to do.  I will use the same peer review technique as I did the last time and today it will be Jack and Jerome reviewing my work.  I asked them:

Before I had the idea of doing a steampunk western theme, however I have now also looked into doing a simple western theme without any other themes.  Personally I preferred the steampunk western theme however I would like to get your opinions and feedback

1. What do you think of this idea, is it too boring and should I go back to focusing on my steampunk western theme or should I look into it a little more?
2. Maybe I don't have to do neither, maybe I could look into more themes that would tie into a western world, what do you think of this?  Is it a good idea or would I just be wasting my time?
3. Do you think I should add a little more crazy to my ideas, if I went back to my steampunk western theme I was thinking that I could maybe add something absolutely insane like an invading steampunk dinosaur or an army of steampunk ninjas, something crazy like that... What do you think?

Jerome Responded:

1. Is terms of portfolio, you could go with the simple western theme and focus on getting good look objects and map design. However for me I would expect to see some good style of gameplay as there would be nothing new to look at visually in the simple western theme, as for steampunk design I would be able to observe the surroundings and not be too bother about the gameplay.

2. As I mentioned in the previous peer review, Steampunk or futuristic tied in with western theme is a bit of a cliche situation as it has happened quite a lot. But it is quite an easy option to take as you know the combination works very well together and you should just go with if you struggle to think of other theme. I am unable to think of another one for you so for now steampunk will be good.

3. Because I am not sure what kind of gameplay mode you are going with I am not sure how you would fit it in, but adding some sort of fictional creature in there could work, as there is no right or wrong on how it should be. As I mentioned in the second answer, about steampunk and western together being overused, this solution could be a good way out of this situation making the design more personal,

Again Jerome has been extremely helpful to me for the second time, this has made me think that my steampunk western theme may actually be a really good idea.

Jack Responded:

Hello!

You could have both, if you feel like challenging yourself! You could focus more on a western theme and involve some elements of steampunk in it!

Sure! You can do, as lonf you're generating ideas for your game. You consider having a bit of fantasy with your western theme.

The idea of an steampunk dinosaur is incredible!!! When you implied "insane" the film Mad Max kinda fits into that idea! Maybe you could use some inspiration from that film to help capture something insane!

Again, this has made me want to persue a steampunk western themed level, Jack and Jeromes feedback has been so helpful to me and I now have an idea of the kind of level that I would like to create.

Review of my Current Work

Produce an Appropriate Project Plan for the Agreed Project

During today's lesson I used the resources given to me (the homework check-list) to evaluate what tasks I have already completed and what ones I need to take the time to catch up on.  After doing this I found that I still need to look into the specification of Unreal Tournament including submission and art specification and then I need to blog about it, I will then need to blog my own project specification and show that I have planned my time and managed my production.  I also need to upload my blog posts from Microsoft Word onto this, however that shouldn't take to long.

Mood Boards

Throughout this unit I will create mood boards on Pintrent to give me an idea of what to give me an idea of what I want to do for my level, I already know that it has to be western themed so I’ll look into that but I will also see if there is anything else that I can do with this.

https://uk.pinterest.com/blainemcswiggan/unit-3-western-ideas/

https://uk.pinterest.com/blainemcswiggan/steampunk-western/