Week 9 – Third Presentation & Final Design Concepts:

Image created to show at presentation. It was given as a mini-assignment in which we had to produce a picture that ‘summed up’ our project, without using text of any kind.

This was my third and likely final presentation before completing the full concept brief document, so I aimed to make sure there were no remaining confusions as to the nature of my project by its end. I outlined the mechanics and vague storyboard I had made, and presented and walked through the prototype.

Overall, my tutors and colleagues seemed happy with the concepts presented. The main advice given concerned how the story was presented to the viewer. I had planned for a very passive system, relying on the player to explore and discover the events in the environment for themselves. They agreed with the reasoning of the concept, but felt that it a more direct mechanic that drove the player from point to point would actually better suit the focus (which is on presenting the message) than a passive one, which would better suit a more game play-based project. Applying this advice would not require much change to the project; just inserting more events that draw the player to the events quicker, and in some cases, forcing them along a specific path (for example, the scene where the tank is rumbling into the square, the player could be pulled along by a crowd he is trapped in). It was also recommended that I consider removing the faces of the citizen models, as they may draw the player’s attention away form the central message. Originally I considered redrawing my orthographic designs for the citizen models, but found instead that I could simply doctor my original sketches to remove the face while maintaining the body design.

Modified Character concepts with faces removed.

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Following completion of the presentation, I decided to move my focus onto preparing the design brief I must hand in upon returning from my Christmas break in January. This brief is essentially a “reference bible” of the project; in theory, anyone should be able to pick up the reference bible, and form it produce precisely the game we have designed. For this to be achieved, I feel the brief will fundamentally need to contain four things;

• A description of the message being conveyed and reasoning.
• Step-by-step run through of the in-game events and order they occur.
• Concept sketches for all the major assets in the project.
• Guidance on Unreal’s “Kismet” logic code system, and how it should be used.

Looking over the paperwork completed so far, I noticed a critical lack of concept sketches with my work (a common flaw of my work style), so I concentrated on completing a series of these to go into the brief as well as the additional files that would go with it.

Concept sketch for the market stalls in the game (pencilwork left, finished illustrated concept right); the first concept sketch done in week ten.