The theme ‘Order and Chaos’ was a peculiar theme for this project. Although I did understand the title and what it meant, it was difficult to come up with a product that could be linked to the theme, as it is a very brief title. Anything could’ve been produced for this theme, but I wanted to make sure the product I was making made me feel comfortable within my limits, as well as within my abilities. So for this product, I decided to base my work around a picturesque mansion, with one part of the building in its prime, whilst on another part, I would do it burnt down, as a result of arson. The first half of this piece represents ‘Order’, whilst the other half represents ‘Chaos’.
Comparing the final result of my work to my initial proposal, a majority of the assets I intended to create stayed the same. In these terms, the pieces I ended up producing – one for the ‘Order’, one for the ‘Chaos’, and an additional piece that focused on a segment of the building, also known as the ‘Closeup’. The software I intended to use stayed the same too, I used Maya to produce the blockouts, and then use Photoshop for the sketching, colouring, and artistic effect. I also intended to follow through on using the artistic style I have practised before this project, but have never used in a product before. The only part of my product that I believed changed, was the design of my building. I intended to create a manor house, however, the final result of the blockout I made, made it building look more like a simple house. This was mostly due to time constraints, as I wanted to spend more time with the sketching and colouring for my product. But, this is also because of my own abilities, I worried creating a larger building would’ve made it more difficult to produce two parts for.
A majority of the research I conducted for this product was very helpful for the final result. My main research was more about manor buildings, their shape, colour schemes, as well as their possible appearances after a fire, to give me some colour ideas as well as blockout ideas. Quite a bit of my research also was about my own art style, in hopes of improving some of the methods for me to making my product. The most difficult part of my product development was this part, in particular, adding the print-screen effect that I have intended to use before. I was struggling to find a technique that I could understand and pull through, but I eventually found a tutorial for a quick and easy way to get the effect I wanted.
For this project, I did conduct a weekly timetable, with objectives to do for certain weeks, as well as the software and other assets I would need to complete them. For the beginning of this project, I kept quite close to this timetable, however, towards the end, I did begin to have difficulties keeping to the timetable appropriately. This has been due to a mix of technical issues on my behalf, as well as personal issues on my behalf that have been requiring my time. I have had to adjust to my timetable at segments, do some work at whatever time I had available, or spend a whole day without breaks on issues. I did have the benefit that my work was quite easy from my perspective, and I had a clear guideline for what I needed to do, so I could make up for time I did end up losing.
A majority of the work I did for this product was the result of me using the software that I stated during my proposal. I used Maya in the beginning, in order to create a blockout as a guideline for my product. I would then later on use Photoshop for the majority of my product, using both the mouse and my Wacum tablet for this segment. I would also use some cheats for these software to help me throughout the project, the most useful one being in Photoshop – using the ‘Ctrl’ and right click on layers, so I would only draw in the segment that has already been drawn over. This was mostly helpful during the colouring phase, if I ended up using the wrong colour, or if I wanted to change the shade of the colour I chose, without making the shape go off. This was also most helpful when I added the burning effect on my ‘Chaos’ and ‘Closeup’ parts, so I would only add the burnt effect on the correct segment, without worrying over adding the wrong shade into the wrong section.
I did not face many problems with my aim for the project itself, however, the issues I did face were mostly technical. My own personal laptop had broke down for a period of time, resulting in me needing to use another device for this time, however, the device was not as good quality as my own, nor was it suited. I also had issues with the Photoshop software, as it would at times crash, or lag a great amount. I did eventually get my laptop fixed, and manged to get Photoshop working on my own laptop. I had also had issues in my personal life, which had required me to divert from my plan.
This project mostly feels the same as my other projects, getting through it, and producing a piece of work linked to the given theme, but it was also a fun one. In terms of technical terms, what I have learned from this project, is more on how to add my print-screen effect to my work, as I now have a fun tutorial for when I wish to create more work. I had also learned a lot more about Maya, a software I had mostly struggled with before, but going through this project, as well as previous ones, has helped me to understand the software better. I had also learned a few more shortcuts on Photoshop, which can become useful in the future. For this project, I would’ve preferred it if I did not have the amount of issues I had during the development, so I could potentially have more time to add in details to make my work better. I would’ve also preferred to spent more time with my initial blockouts, so I could have more time to test myself, and create buildings that did look more like manor houses instead of a normal standard building.
Looking back at the feedback I have been given throughout the development of this project, a lot of it has consisted on pointing out my improvements towards how I annotated and logged my work. I will admit that annotations are not my strongest part during projects, as I want to focus more on the work itself, rather than typing up my progress. I have tried to improve on this wherever I can, however, I do find it difficult, as my interpretation of annotating and evaluating work is not the same as what others see.
Sophie Level 3 Games Dev 2nd Year 