(highlighting strengths and weaknesses within my skillset)

(used to show inspirations, and generate ideas about aspects that I enjoy)

I used the video on the right to import my bird into Unreal after failing to do it the first time (as I didn't import an unwrapped, and attached model into Unreal, leading to jumbled assets in the content folder.)

A more humanoid model like the one used in that video, fits more well with the animations found within Mixamo, so I instead decided to use Unreal's keyframing to make simpler animations for my character.

Strengths:

I feel I am really effective at producing concept art to a high quality degree, and will not be worried when I get around to completing this. I also am confident in my blogging, and overall English Language skills. I have a more enhanced skillset in 3ds Max as of now than any other project, and I'm great at generating pre-production documents, like mood boards and mind maps, with good looking detailing and designs.

Weaknesses:

One of my main weaknesses is the lack of experience using different types of software, such as, Substance Painter, Mudbox, Unreal Engine, Photoshop. This is partly due to me not being able to practice my skills outside of college because of not having a high quality computer at home. I also have a tendency to procrastinate getting work done, as I have become easily distracted and have a short attention span. I have had poor organisation and time management throughout previous projects too, as sometimes I go to ambitious.

Opportunities:

To tackle my poor organisation, and procrastination, I will work at getting into a routine at home to help me sleep better and get work done to my best standard, and to fix my distractive nature. I will also get to grips with Unreal Engine way earlier in the production stages, as leaving it to has been proven to trip me up and cause me to lose marks over minor mistakes. When available, I will try to take every opportunity to work on my Final Project after sessions with Frazer, to maximise my workload each week as it can be difficult to maintain focus outside of college for me. I want to make a competent piece of work that feels like it could be a real game.

Threats:

The ever looming threat of time management and organisation has become a burden ever since I started this course, but as of this project I feel more confident than I ever have. I'm still unable to do modelling work and scripting in Unreal outside of sessions, so I'm worried about that. I'm also concerned that I may have gone too ambitious once again with my project, but hopefully my attention to organisation will assist me this time around, however.

SWOT Analysis

Mood Board

With this mood board, I wanted to show inspiration for things like collectables, level assets, and overall feeling of my first level I plan on creating. I like how the notes are something out of the norm, yet are incredibly recognisable as a collectable item, similar to the 'Jigsaw pieces' (Jiggies) found in Banjo-Kazooie. I intend to have some level of intractability in my game, for example the chest design that will jut out of an environment. I also plan to have various floral décor, like the flowers dotted across the screen.

The two background images used are from Banjo-Kazooie, and Super Mario Galaxy. The birdbox in the bottom left, is related to an idea from a previous project (GameJam) where it would be used as a sleep/ level advancing mechanic, where it would alter the settings and atmosphere of the map around the player, which is an interesting idea to me. The colours also connotate how I would colour my own landscape.

Time Management Methods

Mind Map

(used to layout potential implementations, and generate ideas about aspects that I enjoy)

(used to manage time effectively, and keep an active record of my plans)

To crack down on time management, which is one of my biggest flaws, I will be using a website called Trello. This is a very helpful tool to manage tasks, and make sure you stay on top of things that will be overbearing if ignored. It also allows you to create lists yourself other than the template ones.

I created a 'UPDATE THIS WORK' list due to my tendency to forget about work done previously which then become incomplete altogether. Named 'Week 3', this Trello board focuses on next weeks presentation pitch that will need to be made to gather ideas and present my game to the class convincingly.

Previously, I have used the Gantt Chart format, and it hasn't been very successful in helping me keep track of my work and how to advance to the next task. This is because it uses Microsoft Excel, which I find hard to navigate, whereas Trello has a simplistic and very easy to grasp design to it, so from this point onwards, Trello is what I will be using to stay up to date with my tasks.

Initial Concept Art

In the top left of the concept art, I have drawn a few collectable ideas, that could be modelled in 3ds Max quite easily, but for this early stage in development, I will consider all options of collectables, and focus on getting the mechanics and map design down in Unreal and 3DS. I will also get some more concept art for level design and other asset design as I move through the pre-production.

With this concept art, I wanted to make some sketches of a potential character, and assets within the environment. I came up with the name 'Nest Quest' as you play as a bird and are on some sort of quest, (unsure of a narrative at this point). But the house I drew was heavily inspired by some Viva Pinata houses, and Banjo-Kazooie's initial house, while also taking direct inspiration from birdhouse designs.

(Viva Pinata)

hand-drawn-nesting-boxes-doodle-birdhouse-sketch-style-vector-illustration-isolated-white-

(Banjo-Kazooie: Nutz & Boltz)

Blockout Level Building Video

Early Level Design

This is a basic level design for what I want the final level to actually look like and include within it, as the decoration and platforms around the environment are sparse. This is a low poly render without materials, which I do intend to add onto certain objects and set pieces in particular, and keep the non-textured items as platforms, or things that will be impactful in gameplay (collectables, pathways etc.)

1. Will most likely be the first time the player experiences and uses the jump mechanic, and is used to mantle the rock.

2. Use jump again to mantle the pipe jutting out of the wall, maybe hinting at a secret area behind the wall, in the same secret way that Mario hides their details.

3. Jumping up onto the wooden platform will give a vantage point of the whole level, and give the player a couple of choices of where to go.

4. Introduction of the 'Glide' mechanic, and will allow you to access a secret area behind the stretch of wooden fences across the backwall.

5. Parkour section, allowing for the collection of a few collectable items (unknown what they'll be yet)

6. Once you're behind the fence, you can find a few collectables, and other decorative assets that may have been discarded by whoever owns the land.

7. Making your way over to the rock at the end of the area, you can parkour your way out, although once out you won't be able to re-enter without gliding back in.

1. This will be hypothetically where the house I will model will go, whether that is explorable or not is down to how well I can get everything else done.

2. Going up the rocky (blockout) stairs will allow you to make a glide over onto the platform opposite where there is a collectable. You can also access the trees this way too.

3. Jumping onto this platform will give you access to a secret way to access the section behind the fence if you want, and also another place to glide off of.

4. The gaps in-between fence panels indicate that there is something behind them, and makes the player intrigued to find out what's behind it.

5. An area that may contain water, or some other decorative assets.

6. This may be an entrance to a secret cave portion of the level, however as this is just a concept level, the map will be very different by the time this will come into account.

7. This area will have a flowerbed or a different type of decorative asset, just to hint more at the thematic atmosphere.

8. This area will have a fence wrapping around the entire upper portion of the map's edge, and I may have these cliffside walls higher or more slanted inwards when I later develop my ideas.

Map Design Sketch

This is a sketch of a potential level layout which includes everything I have drawn and modelled so far during the pre-production stages of my work. You will start off in the bottom right of the map where the bird box style house is found, along with some farms, and paths connecting the house to other parts of the map layout, including the model level I made in the top right corner. The path goes to a set of stairs which then advance you onto the upper area, which has its own parkour section. The sketched out map looks a bit bare compared to what I want the actual level to look like, however I am unsure on how to develop potential level routes and areas, so I will research into how to make platformer levels more compelling and action packed.

Audience Research

The main audience for platformer games are around the ages 5 - 12. However, they are usually universally enjoyed by an array of ages. I want my game to be slightly more challenging and thought provoking in a sense, so the age range will be around 12+. A great example of how challenge can impact the demographic of a game is in 'Cuphead', as this game is solely based around looking impressive and its steepness of difficulty as a whole, shown by its boss fights and hard to complete 'Run 'n' Gun' sections.

During its release, it was panned by critics as an incredibly hard experience, and had notable moments where players would experience rage, and would be mechanically challenged skill wise. I want my game to have more of a broader appeal however, and will take a lot of the platforming aspects from games like 'Super Mario Galaxy'

I feel that it is crucial to have challenging level design, as it adds to the replay value of the game, and makes the player feel rewarded after completing said challenge, but its also as important to keep an equilibrium of easy to play yet hard to master. I wouldn't want to alienate the player base, and make it to where you can't access some of the best parts of my game because a certain parkour section was difficult.

Mixamo Experimentation

I modelled a bird to put into Mixamo, so I could get some convincing animations for my character before putting it into Unreal Engine to save time, and essentially make it to where I don't need to use Unreal blueprints to create animations, as that would waste valuable time.

I was mainly looking for a jump animation, and a walking/ running animation to implement.

During the placement into Unreal, the animations would come in as separate objects, which made it difficult to put the character which would be fully functioning into Unreal Engine. So I decided to focus on modelling before I continued in Unreal in general from that point.

This video on the left, shows the methods on how to obtain a convincing/ solid animation whether its idling, crouching or just basic walking, by using Unreal's blueprints system.

I decided to settle with an idle and walk animation, as I felt this wasn't the most major component in achieving a great final product, although I'm happy with the animations I decided to produce in the end.

After I was unable to make convincing animations occur in mixamo, at a certain point I opted for just rigging the bird with a skeleton within Mixamo, then making the animations in Unreal, where I could make a basic idle animation (where the bird slowly breathes.) and a walking animation (legs rigidly moving with slight extension of wings.

Bird House Modelling

(Concept Art -> 3DS Max)

This is the bird house I drew, then modelled in 3ds Max, and I feel I did a pretty good job at following the concept art. This has definitely highlighted one of my strengths, that being concept art and staying true to it throughout the modelling process.

I'm quite fond of the wooden design I applied to the front wall of the house, the front door and the sign because it is a simplistic yet effective design, and will be a good juxtaposition compared to my low-poly and less detailed landscape. I made it by using slanted 'slice planes' and the 'bevel' tool to make faces jut out of the surface.

I also like the design of the chimney, as it is simplistic too, but has a striking cobblestone visual, similar to a Minecraft texture, where its instantly recognisable with its function.

The sign has a rope I made using a line, then sweeping and adjusting and rotating the vertices to make it look like it has a flow to it. This was the most tedious process I had in order to make this house complete, and this was great learning moment for me.

Text Choices

There were around 4 or 5 different text options I chose from to make my house more evident as a home. I had to take into account thematically, what type of text would be required to keep the theme as firm as possible.

The one on the first left is the one I chose in the end, as it has easy readability, yet has that low-poly design to it that meshes well with the rest of the things I have modelled in the environment. Similar to the one on the right, however I feel the left looks more aesthetically pleasing and cleaner in general.

The one bottom left is a 'Simpsons' font, which I found weirdly fitted with my house design yet being from a completely different medium. I also took a liking to this design due to a video series I had watched by a creator called 'reubs' who completely remade 'Simpsons Hit and Run' in Unreal Engine, which was a really interesting watch.

The one bottom right was a third option for me, however it didn't have that uniqueness quite like the rest of the fonts available to me. Nothing really intrigues me about it quite like the others, with their rigid, and bolder designs.

(Video referencing my choice for the 'Simpsons' font)

Unreal Blockout

This is my Unreal Engine block out level I made in 3DS Max to test out the environment based off of my drawn out level design. I managed to stick very accurately to the level I drew, and managed to implement the test level I created in the corner of the map.

With this map, the main goal is to see how the environment will look before everything is modelled and ready to put into unreal. Therefore, I will strip off all the prototype assets dispersed around the map, and replace them with more aesthetically pleasing and accurate assets, like my bird house for example.

I had a few issues however, which was the water not appearing correctly in the playable preview, and instead being greyed out. It makes me question if having water would be a good idea to have in my game, as I feel it would cause more issues than good.

Also the fence is in a good position to have the need of the 'glide mechanic' to be placed into the game with (hopefully) a tutorial pop-up that explains how its used. The red and yellow cuboids are placeholders for flowers that I will model separately.

The slanted dirt cliff that has stairs on it so you can go up to the next bit of the level, however, you are able to walk up the cliff so I will need to make it more vertical in 3DS Max when I go back to model the level and smooth out the issues.

The set of 4 boxes opposite the big brown box (bird house place holder), will be a mini farm area, with some sort of vegetable or fruit growing there. I could look at how 'Slime Rancher' approaches gardens and farms as it could fit well into my game, and they had a very unique and cutesy design to them.

Menu Design

In this intro sequence, it shows my main menu screen then transitions into the gameplay with the goal appearing upon the screen. The font used is the same font I used was the font used for the 'home' sign hanging from my birdhouse. Given more time I would've put a lot more detail, and even animations onto the title screen. A few inspirations for my main menu screen were 'Super Mario Galaxy's' where it shows the title in a vast space-scape, relating to how my game shows off my most treasured asset, the birdhouse and accompanies it with a fitting font style. Mario Galaxy's menu also has nice glistening animations, where stars sparkle on each letter, which would've been nice to implement in a different sense. For example I would've like to have a 3d title model saying 'Nest Quest', with bugs running across it to give more character. Similarly to how Viva Pinata presents their own title with various creatures mantling the garden ridden title text.

This font, in a 3d style with ladybugs running around it and a more vivid background with other kinds of animations going on in the background would be the ideal presentation.

Collectable Research

The second part in the collectable series wasn't very essential to making my collectables functional, and instead made it look less realistic, as the objects sucked into the player wouldn't disappear as soon as they came in contact with the player, and instead lingered around the model, which in my opinion doesn't look good.

With the UI, I had issues following the tutorial, I tried again and again to get the UI right and make the counter update, but presumably due to issues where I named certain variables and actors ladybug type names, I wasn't able to make the UI function properly, and I instead opted for an intro sequence telling the player to collect every bug as they can. Not ideal, but in the latter stages I had to make a decision to give up on implementing the UI.

This tutorial series is what I followed in order to get the spinning ladybugs that you can find littered around the map. The first tutorial is a pretty basic introduction to collectables, and is better suited to assets with 1 or 2 materials, as the array setting they used didn't apply to my ladybug. So I settled for them spinning slightly on a pivot, and being minimally animated, to fit with simplistic style of the game.

On the right is the collectable I modelled into the game, which I added a golden variant to (more hidden and less in quantity.)

The video below showcases the menu screen transitioning into the on screen pop-up, where there are cutesy graphics of the collectable ladybugs. which fade out subtly.