My Game

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Evaluation

I’ve done many drawings over the course of this project, all of which have changed drastically since my initial concept. I started off with the idea of an oceanic setting, which gradually turned into more of a prison escape theme. The ocean was dropped in favour of a pier, the playable character has been developed and fleshed out and once again the setting of the game was changed, this time reverted to the previous setting of an ocean landscape. Having a visual representation made it much easier to envision things that might be happening and what might be appropriate regards progression, and thus develop ideas. Overall research (As well as the research into Hannibal Lecter) has included research into sea creatures (Such as sea urchins, sharks, etc.) for initial designs, looking at several piers across England (Such as Brighton pier) and the uniforms of prisoners and prison guards.

The materials I used for the most part were simple pencil and paper, although I did also make use of Photoshop and Construct for the final piece. Terracotta and modelling clay, as well as latex, were also used for the 3D model. Of the 2D resources, I felt comfortable and confident making use of Construct, as although I don’t fully understand it the concept is easy to grasp and rather simple to make use of with simple understanding of code, and Photoshop was of course familiar to use. Of the 3D resources, my favourite to make use of was likely the latex. Painting it on was time consuming and an assault on the nose, but otherwise rather therapeutic. And removing the latex moulds proved to be extremely amusing (Although most stayed intact). The most enjoyable part of the process overall was probably painting the modelling clay, however. I enjoy painting, and trying to coat the base and “Pier” in the appropriate colours without overlap proved to be challenging but fun to undertake.

The processes involved with the creation of the 3D design were modelling the clay to make it into the appropriate shape and painting it with latex to create the mould. The research I put into the 3D model (A mask) was to look at designs of famous masks (Eventually settling on a more full version of the mask worn by Hannibal Lecter, as both he and the protagonist in my own game are prisoners).

The processes involved in the creation of the 2D design were simple sketching for initial ideas, more refined pencil drawings for developed ideas and a final piece on Photoshop, painted appropriately and inserted into Construct as a sprite.

Group Level Building Exercise

 This was a group exercise to try and design/build a potential level for a platform game using household materials and appliances, LEGO, or just whatever was to hand. The idea of this exercise was to put forward some basic ideas for how to structure a level in our platform games, and to teach the basics of designing as a part of a group effort. I feel this exercise was beneficial, as before I was rather stuck on how to structure my game, what size to make it, etc. but this helped me understand where to take my design, and helped me work out potential paths with which I could structure my game, as well as a rough size, and even certain opportunities to use stage hazards.

Detailed Drawings

Plaster

The ratio of plaster to water was 2:1.
The steps of the process were to mix the plaster and water, then pour into the latex moulds to fill them and finally to tap the edge of the containers to get any excess air out of the plaster before it sets.
Although successful, we made a lot of mess, and many of the moulds wouldn't fit into the containers provided (Or l-eaked when put in).
We wore aprons as protection, as the material is extremely messy, and can stick to and potentially ruin clothing.

Ink Thing

This was an observational drawing of a shell, taken to fit the theme of my oceanic platform game. Drawn with an ink fineliner.

This is the same image, but gone over with acrylic ink.

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