Today I have spent a couple of hours coming up with ideas around the activity for rapid ideation and the loose theme we were given on our weekly webinar. I used the mind mapping technique again as I really like how it appears visually and how it lets me add images and other bits to the mind map.
I have added a legend at the top right of the page to ensure that anyone reading this will understand my thought process and also what it all means. I started with the theme which ultimately lead me to add another main focus point. Inspiration. I then took all the different media types I could think of and started listing off my favourites and what I am currently watching. I then started linking themes that matched with a circle and a cross through themes or ideas that didn't seem to relate. By the end of the two hours I had this what you see above. Two firm ideas even though it is not complete. I had a setting that was seemingly old, but also futuristic. So I began working on making a western setting and then adding robots to the game as NPC's. This was all I had managed to get done today so I will update again when I have done more.
The two week rapid Ideation session has started and the the theme has been revealed!
The theme that was revealed was done in two parts. Part 1 - Something written down Part 2 - A Dixit card resembling a goddess or angel carrying scales and a sword.
The process I used to come up with my idea was mind mapping using Lucid Spark Mind Mapping, Brainstorming and Blue Sky thinking.
Blue sky thinking was very important here as the two themes could not be further apart.
Eventually I settled on the idea of a western setting with Robots. The idea, a fortune teller who tells fortunes of things that will happen throughout the game. Depending on your actions you can prevent these things happening which results in a newspaper article being generated the next day declaring your actions or events which unfold.
Some key artwork from the rapid ideation game currently being worked on for university. I have also discovered the in engine animation tool which has allowed me to complete some quick poses and animations without having to open separate programmes.
So far the game is coming along nicely with smooth animations, sound effects and the theme that was discussed during the webinar.
Week 4 - Update 1: 22nd February 2021
On top of my current university assignment I am also starting a rapid ideation session with two friends which I mentioned earlier. I wanted to start putting these ideas and methods into practice so I could see how best I managed this in a real world setting. Not only was this a challenge to see what I have learned over the last few weeks, but it also gave me a chance to pass on this knowledge to others and explain it, resulting in showing my understanding of it all so far.
We all started by brainstorming what we were going to do based on a theme that I had a friend decide so that no one could get the jump on starting early. The theme we were given was "The Poetic Anatomy of a Scream". Right off the bat we were stumped but after a solid two hours of ideas we had something great. I started working immediately on assets to use in the game such as air conditioners, condensers, bins, rubbish bags, graffiti, grunge decals, monster design and music.
There are 3 monsters for the three developers of this game. Each has it's own unique sound/scream.
I drew a quick concept for the art of the game in photoshop with the end result being this one below. We also managed to secure Mr Kravin for sounds a top YouTuber which also will help with promotion.
I added the graffiti to the game with all of our names in it as a digital signature of sorts and also to make the world feel grungy and dirty.
Normal maps were added onto these textures which we used on the walls of the game so that graffiti paint looked exactly like it had been sprayed on the wall.
Sound was an important part of the game so the next day we spent recording audio such as screams, whispers and general voice lines to give the monsters as all three were unique in their own way. The main point of the monsters is that they all wanted to kill you but they all had their special way of luring you to your death.
A woman screaming for help - Will you be the good Samaritan who will save her? A croaky rasping voice telling you it's a trap - Will you listen?
A normal voice trying to confuse you - makes you feel disorientated.
The sounds when put together sound amazing and does a great job at making you feel insecure and confused.
I really like how the audio turned out. It's very threatening and disturbing and really makes you feel uneasy when playing. It melds well with the aesthetics of the world with dark winding corridors. Here is a look at the final build and trailer for the game which really shows off all of the hard work we pulled off in 7 days.
Upon reflection of this, I would say the one thing I would have done differently is definitely of made the game longer. Whilst gameplay length can vary from player to player because of the maze like structure, we focused way to much on design rather than gameplay. The whole game if speed running can be completed in around 5-10 mins. A lot of the feedback we got from the fans were that they too wished it was longer so I want to revisit this game and expand upon it as I feel I have a lot more to give.
My main piece of reading this week has been around time and project management. My favourite piece of reading was on Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies which according to the website, "In 1975, Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno created the original pack of Oblique Strategies cards, through thinking about approaches to their own work as artist and musician. The Oblique Strategies constitute a set of over 100 cards, each of which is a suggestion of a course of action or thinking to assist in creative situations."
Eno, B., 2021. Oblique Strategies. [online] Enoshop.co.uk. Available at: <https://www.enoshop.co.uk/product/oblique-strategies.html> [Accessed 17 February 2021]. Today we also had our weekly webinar where we discussed in more depth about rapid ideation and how using the methods we have been exposed to can help us create an original artefact based on a loose theme. I like these rapid ideation sessions because I always feel like there are no barriers and allows you to create something really unique. Over the next two weeks we have been tasked with creating an original artefact around two loose themes.
- Something written down, like a news article, a story, a poem for example. - A Dixit card image which to me looks like the angel of balance. But again this can be interpreted as whatever we think it means. My brain has already started firing off thoughts and ideas and I am looking forward to jumping into my mind mapping session to start getting some ideas down.
I started mind mapping what I wanted to do and listing out inspirations of things that I am currently reading, playing and watching and settled upon a Western setting populated with Robots. I immediately fell in love with the idea because I am a big fan of sci-fi TV and films. I would say Westworld has been the biggest inspiration of this rapid ideation design alongside games like Red Dead Redemption and Hunt Showdown.
I have also decided to start a Kanban board for help with my project management on Trello. This helps me stay on top of my daily goals and objectives which I review constantly. I also have started looking back on the previous days work to make sure I am 100% happy with everything before moving on as this will only end up creating a backlog of work in the long run.
I ordered myself a pack of Oblique strategy cards because I felt that this was a great way of coming up with rapid ideation techniques in the future and I have really enjoyed these sessions the most so far.
For the rest of the 2 weeks I know I am mainly going to be working on this rapid ideation activity so I will plan my time accordingly to ensure I get enough time on this and my personal projects.
20th February 2021 I have spent two hours this evening working on textures and models in blender for the rapid ideation game. These are mainly for the environment as the characters I will be using are the simple UE4 mannequins but with updated textures. 22nd February 2021 worked on some blueprint's today with the main focusing being on transitioning from Day 1 to Day 2 and so forth. There are now specific actions you must take in order to progress. Also started working on a personal project in the same vein of rapid ideation. ALLON3. This will be 48 hours and will hopefully get the main bulk of this completed. 25th February 2021 ALLON3 is complete and has been released. The reception has been crazy. so much so I was contacted by Dread XP a horror developer and have been commissioned to make a horror game as part of their collection with famous indie dev's such as Airdorf, Dave Szymanski and Torple Dook. I am in awe right now. It is 20 days work and a payment of $2500 along with 5% of whatever the sales are each quarter. I have amended my timeline for the rest of the week to reflect some changes in my workload.
This week I managed to get hold of a book called "The Art of Game Development". The book has a huge section about project management and how it is important to manage your workload and time. It has made me think about the different working methods such as waterfall and scrum, but more importantly for a single person such as myself a Kanban board. I will give this some more thought.
On top of the course work this week I have also been working on completing a retro FPS game called Bullet. This has been a rather slow development for me with this as I used voxel to complete it which was something very new to me. Voxel offered a low poly look but also allowed me to create gibs when shooting enemies. This resulted in a really cool looking decapitation effect.
The planning that went into this dates back several months ago. Almost everything you see here is created by me and on top of working on this I had several other projects on the go and was looking at joining this course. This is exactly why time and project management for me need to be a priority. I will review my workflow each week now I have implemented a Kanban board and see what that leaves me with each week for free time.
I think for me this is the part I am missing the most. I am always studying games, looking at them, and designing them, but I have very little time to sit down and enjoy them. I need to be able to look at this constructively and see If I can pace myself better, because as of late, I am doing too much.
Week 4 Update: 17th February 2021
The theme has been announced for the rapid ideation activity over the next two weeks. Something written down and a Dixit card resembling the goddess of balance. I will start mind mapping this right away. I am excited.
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