Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: An overall evalutaion/summary

Overall I feel I have enjoyed a large part of this project, I have gained a larger knowledge of Unreal Engine and its workings that I had previously.

I have built on previous knowledge, which I have implemented into my workflow and combined with new research and development to produce what I feel is a well put together level. The level itself does have pieces which could use improvements throughout but I am at a point which I am happy with it for now, and I will be looking to build upon the level created, developing much more higher quality models and high quality textures to accompany them, to improve this level post-deadline.

From a lighting standpoint, I am happy with how far I have come considering I had very little knowledge previously, and had to research into aspects from the ground up with no guidance at all.

The lighting work also improved my abilities in photoshop, giving me the knowledge to translate a simple gradient into an Alpha mask and then into a manually created god ray.

From a level design perspective I feel I developed also, in terms of layout and pacing especially, I feel my level is laid out to a point at which a user could easily navigate to the end boss, and the level would also not take too long to compete, even with further implementation of other sub-tier enemies to be introduced as I am intending.

In terms of character implementation I feel I have improved massively, as again I had no prior knowledge on the subject of character implementation, and had to work hard to make sure everything was implemented correctly with little to no breaks in the code.

With the code in mind also, I have also learned some uses for blendspaces within a third person game. Whilst I know there are many, many more used for these in other game types and other blueprint setups, I am comfortable in the knowledge that I could adapt these and utilise them in any other game type which may need them.

With the HCI unit in mind, I feel I have developed a further unsderstanding of the blueprinting system, at least in terms of linking menus together, and the potential needs for some boolean variables in certain places.

I wouldn't say the development of the visuals I used for my HCI setup has specifically developed my PhotoShop abilities any further, though the UI design is pretty simple and didn't need anything extravagant to produce a reasonable set of visuals for my menus to look good.

When taking my animation work into account, I am happy with the animations I have produced, both for the character based bodily animations, facial animations and the animated asset too.

Looking back at the original work I produced, at least in the character's bodily animations, I see improvements I could almost certainly make, but I would like to manually rig an entire character myself first to give myself a more accurate, realistic result throughout the length of the animations.

Overall this year, I have certainly strengthened in places in terms of games design, though I would have liked to do some things differently looking back, I would particularly have liked to create my own character rig and been afforded more time to create animations, as the animation unit was one of the pieces I enjoyed most.

Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: CGI Lighting and Rendering for Computer Games

CGI Lighting and Rendering for Computer Games was a lesser testing unit that some others, but still tested my knowledge and abilities in Unreal Engine 4, the only reason it was somewhat lesser testing is because my scene was relatively small.

I began by constructing a scene consisting of mostly meshes created in unit 76 and 70, I needed to create an extra door mesh and an extra windowed wall mesh, as for speed I had used alternate means in the blockout stage of level creation.

I didn't specifically need the meshes earlier but I do now, as the scene is set inside a Lawkeeper's office and I needed lights to penetrate the windows and cast light inside.

I started with some research into what I would need, which was mainly God Rays (Crepusclar rays) and a flickering light, I was able to source the flickering light directly from my previous work in units 76 and 70 so began research on god rays.

Following the research, I implemented a custom, manual god ray setup and used them alongside some directional light based god rays, and implemented some spot lights just outside the building to accentuate the light pouring into the room, therefore casting shadows through the venetian and vertically hung blinds which I had used in my scene.

The blinds were sourced royalty free in blueprint form from www.polymodels.com.

I had created some set dressing elements and set them up accordingly so to represent a low budget office environment, and some sets of prison bars , casting even more shadows through the level.

To add some more detail into the scene I included Unreal Engine 4's default 'Dust' particle effect, allowing me to plot dust in some light shafts and around the scene in general in line with the area the Lawkeeper's Office would actually be situated in-game.

When happy with the lighting and effects I had applied to my scene, I used the command line "HighResShot 3840x2160" to render out a series of 4K screenshots of my scene and also set up a sequencer, which needed some researching prior to use.

I set up a short three camera sequence, edited any values necessary and proceeded to render out the video capture, there were some bumps in video capture production but I was able to produce a respectable result using the sequencer tool.

I am happy with this unit, as I was not very confident going into the unit to begin with and gained quite a bit of valuable lighting knowledge throughout, from both research documentation, tutorials and my peer feedback.

I feel my level design skills have improved through completing this unit, and feel that I will be able to implement some form of lighting in the future.

The full blog for CGI Lighting and Rendering for Computer Games can be found at the following link;

http://nmoorerenderingandlightingforgames.blogspot.co.uk/

Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: Human-Computer Interfaces for Computer Games

The Human-Computer Interfaces for Computer Games unit this year was another unit I particularly enjoyed this year, despite finding some elements particularly difficult to weave in.

Due to the system which we worked on implementing for character selection, I found a regular menu setup somewhat difficult to weave in, intertwined with the already existent network of blueprinting nodes.

I created a set of wireframe images in Axure, a software application used for wireframing and web creation, then rendered them all out as individual images to be used as a placeholder /guide within Unreal Engine 4, much like the top down map within the level/environment design units.

Following this I placed any buttons required by my wireframe layouts and re-positioned the buttons if necessary. Once happy I linked the menus together from button to button, to transition to each page and began designing some buttons to use as visuals and sourced some royalty free sound effects to use for interactions on the buttons.

With the menu setup complete and in a state which it would otherwise be completely functioning, came the tricky part. Interweaving it into the pre-existing code took some time but I eventually got it working.

This unit has tested me in blueprinting again, and had some solutions which were simpler than others which I maybe could have seen earlier. These abilities will grow as I keep improving in general in Unreal Engine 4, I could now take a reasonable, visually developed, functional menu system into another project and implement it with less work and less hassle than I had this time.

I felt I came out of this unit having learned more than in others and this information will almost certainly be used in any projects I develop in the future, as menus are a core piece of functionality on video games on any platform.

A link to the corresponding blog for Human-Computer Interfaces for Computer Games can be found at the following link;

http://nmoorehciforgames.blogspot.co.uk/

Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: Environment Design for Computer Games

Environment Design for Computer Games, as a whole challenged me a reasonable amount more than the prior Level Design unit, as it consisted of elements I had not previously used.

Whilst it consisted of certain elements I am already familiar with in terms of modpack creation, texturing and some basic blueprint functionality, there was also some more complex blueprint functionality and terrain creation, which I had never previously used in UE4 or UDK.

The day/night cycle which I implemented, I feel helped me further my skillset more than the actual terrain and environment creation, with the implementation requiring some complex blueprinting in terms of measurements, and maths, whilst also reminding me of the specific nodes I need to use and references I need to create to be able to produce such effects.

Regardless of which pieces I feel helped me more than other however, this unit helped me expand on the already existing level design skillset I have, improving my blueprinting knowledge and also my terrain implementation knowledge, with a procedural material applied to it also.

Whilst the terrain I feel needs a lot of improvement, it is a start and a base for me to work from if I want or need to take terrain development further in the future dependent on projects.

The joint-unit blog for the Level Design for Computer Games and Environment Design for Computer Games units can be found at the following link;

http://nickmooreleveldesignforgames.blogspot.co.uk/

Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: Level Design for Computer Games

Level Design for Computer Games was a fairly simple unit for me, as it consisted of blockout creation mainly, and the core features which I was to implement into my UE4 level, I had already done multiple times, within both UE4 and UDK through previous study.

This enabled me to follow a similar workflow and achieve respectable results. After performing any necessary pre-production procedures, I created a top down perspective type map in photoshop using simple shapes to plot areas to my level, with a general level flow annotated on top to make each section clear. This gave me a good point to build on, using BSP's, meshes and a few simple lighting/matinee techniques, my level design blockout was ready to be developed further.

This unit, whilst not really expanding my knowledge much having already been through the early stages of level design previously, refreshed my memory regarding level design and somewhat prepared me for what more was to come in the coming environment design unit.

The joint-unit blog for the Level Design for Computer Games and Environment Design for Computer Games units can be found at the following link;

http://nickmooreleveldesignforgames.blogspot.co.uk/

Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: Ideas Generation for Computer Games

Ideas Generation for Computer Games was an absolutely core unit of my year, in which I had to fully implement a playable character and an AI to interact with.

This expanded my blueprinting knowledge exponentially and tested me quite heavily at times, as I have a larger understanding of the art side of the industry then I do of the design side.

I sourced animation packs from Mixamo and implemented them as necessary to give my character movesets with two weapons, a smaller broadsword, for which I used a baseball bat model, and a larger greatsword, for which I used a sledgehammer model I had created quickly as a placeholder.

I enjoyed this unit as I gained the knowledge necessary to properly implement walk cycles, triggering animations on key presses, setting specific animations through blendspaces to trigger different animations at different walk speeds and other vital functions to character implementation such as attacks, damage dealing and a set of gauges, including restorative health data, a rage bar which could potentially be used to for a super move, alongside a replenishing stamina bar, which restores when not in use.

The full corresponding blog to the Ideas Generation for Computer Games unit can be found at the following link;

http://nickmooreideagenerationforgames.blogspot.co.uk/

Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: Production Techniques for Computer Games

Production Techniques for Computer Games was my first module of this academic year, and was focused around manual and automatic rigging and animation methods.

I began by practicing some more manual rigging methods within Maya, plotting joints in orthographic views and experimenting with IK solvers in the legs, arms and even the fingers. This would help me in utilitsing tools which I will be able to use further down the line in other projects I undertake.

Looking ahead toward other units, I then went on to use an automatic rig script through Adobe Mixamo, with a view to use animations sourced from the same place for other units.

I then made a series of animations using keyframing techniques and a short, simple lip sync, taken from a film of my choice as requested.

To accompany the created keyframing animations within my character, I also created an animated asset, for which I used a Model G17 Gen 4 pistol, which I had produced over the summer break between academic years as a personal project.

I enjoyed this unit as it allowed me to focus on core aspects of Maya and improve my capabilities within.

The main blog for the Production Techniques for Computer Games unit can be found at the following link;

http://nickmoorevideogameprodtech.blogspot.co.uk/

Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation: The Brief

Unit 3 - Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation is an umbrella brief which has been running throughout my academic year up to this point.
This is designed to provide me with "opportunities to develop skills in decision making, problem solving and communication, integrated with the skills and knowledge developed in many of the other units within the programme to complete a realistic project."

This culminates my years work, bringing it all together into one package.

My scenario is as follows;

"Unreal Technology is currently being used to formulate and create games. You are tasked with planning and creating your own “project design” which will in turn allow for the creation of a “Map” for this popular Game Engine. You must first research this technology in this context. You must also devise a plan of implementation and finally you will be able to Evaluate and present the outcome.

Your map can be made in Unreal Engine. This could lead to publishing your map to Unreal Market Place as a “Mod” for the game. This planning unit ties into the next units with the actual creation of your Project Design."

As can be gathered from the above statement, I am tasked with researching and developing a map, with the potential to upload it to the Unreal Marketplace upon completion.

In devising a plan, I will be using a Trello board and a Dundoc GDD, to keep track on my work and overall implementation ahead of compiling and organising my work with each deadline.

The trello board is viewable at;

https://trello.com/b/g7qDvzHt/argondevelopmentboard

And the Dundoc is viewable at;

https://www.dundoc.com/project/2854/co6ed3dpuk