Evans super cool game dev blog (better than anyone elses)

 Project Management During Development: As we were starting to develop our idea's more and have something to make, we knew that we'd need some sort of way to track it all. So we looked around and had 2 main ways of keeping a track of progress. We mainly used microsoft teams to see how everything was going, and mark off what we needed done, and what was still yet to be done. Though right at the start, we ended up using Trello as a way to give everyone tasks which they could tick off when it was done. What is Trello: Trello is a work management tool which can be used in a variety of different situations. Managing work projects is mainly what it's used for, and it works very well for managing different roles within games development. It allows you to create lists and list off things which need to be done, which are being worked on and then which are complete. This is really useful for games development, as there are alot of different areas which have to be worked on at the sam...

Event Write up:  Our time at The Forum in Norwich was very informative and gave me a new insight to how alot of games are actually showed off, and how they gain popularity. We werent very used to doing this on the first day, but we each had out role and were there when people came up and asked about it, or if someone wanted to test our game. We had a computer infront of us with the game ready to go, and Daniel standing beside it to lead players through the game incase they were having difficulty playing. Me and the others were at the stand, talking about our parts which we did if people asked about it. Design Document:  Emillia created a Design Document which we used and gave people if they were curious about the development of our game. This document had the creation process of our game, and talked about how much it had really changed from it's original idea. Since our game idea had completely changed as we developed and got more idea's which we thought would be more fitting....

  OLD -  SWOT Analysis:   Strengths: I am passionate about learning more when it comes to games design and I’m creative when thinking of different ideas. I have a good understanding of how to create environments and import assets when it comes to Unreal 4/5. I am currently using my own time to look into different parts of games development to try and increase my knowledge.   Weaknesses: Throughout college I’ve tended to leave things till last minute to get them done, or I only complete them when I want to. I don’t have great knowledge of game engines outside of Unreal, so learning ones like C# could benefit me. Lacking in experience outside of college when it comes to the game industry, which many are looking for at the moment.   Opportunities: Hopefully going to university will help develop my skills in order for me to get a better job in the future. Things like AI will help develop the games industry in a new way, so learning how to effectively use AI might p...

Reflection of current work: Over the last year, I've felt myself grow a lot during games development and have become very proud of what I've been able to achieve. It's also allowed me to understand what I properly want to do as well; at the start of the year I felt like i didn't know what section of games development i wanted to do, but know i understand that overall game design and environmental design is my passion.  Though I've gained some interest in the coding and modeling area's of games development too. This is all thanks to the team of people I've been working with this year, and because of the role i have as the Producer of the team, I have been working with everyone to put it all together and work in different sections when i am required too.   Developing our game in Unreal 5 has also given me a lot of insight into games engines too, I'm still a little unfamiliar with many others, but the things I've learnt on UE5 should hopefully transfer ...

This first video is a playthrough of our first level, there are a few things that are still not finished yet: eg places which haven't been textured etc. But this is what the level is going to end up looking like. This is a very early video of what we have for our second level, we have a lot more to add to it and this is just showing the general lay out, along with something we've added to scare the player.  

  The Forum Meeting write-up: What happened - We made a presentation about our games and presented it to someone who was hosting the event. We talked about what we would do on the day and how we would market/show off our game. Our game "Horror's Below" seems like it would fit the event well, though we have certain parts that need to tone down due to the event being marketed as Family Friendly. We did our presentation and each talked about different sections on the games which we had worked on, for example Daniel talked about the coding sections, i talked about the development and design sections etc. We finished off out PowerPoint with a teaser trailer for the game made by our 3D model and artist, Gemma. Image from the presentation: (Daniel's slide) What we learned about the event - We learned that the event is going to how quite a lot of young people and children attending it, meaning that we might need to do more and make it more interactive. So we are going to crea...

 For our client, we've had to make a presentation to let him know what our game is about, the mechanics and idea's which have lead up to it and our plans. We went through different sections on our PowerPoint, mainly talking about: What our game is - Our game is about you looking for your friends which have gone exploring in a cave without you. The cave has been rumored to have many disturbing things inside of it, even whispers of an hidden city deep within it. The player will encounter monsters which take on the shape and looks of their friends, once realized you must escape whilst collecting objects from each of your friend bodies. Our inspiration -  Timescale - Budget/Hardware - Current progress -

  Game creation / Game idea stage:  When we first started development on the game, we had to plan out and think in a more detailed way of what our game would be and what would really be achievable with our combined skill/time. My original idea changed a lot and we ended up coming up with a main idea as a group. Your friends went out camping into a cave a couple days ago, it's been off limits to the public and you decided to not join them because of that. You get a text from your friend saying that they're stuck, and you need to come help them, so you make your way to the cave and explore it to try find them. The cave is not like any normal cave though, you find signs that your friends have passed through, but must go different paths and solve puzzles to try and catch up to them. This idea is very different to the one i had originally, my original idea consisted of having your friends be NPC's which would come down into the cave with you. You could then use different NPC...

 After participating in the escape room, we've all had to come up with a different idea and make it into a presentation, which we'd then pitch against each other, and vote on which ones we liked the most. The top two would get picked and the class getting separated into 2 so we can work on them. I've had the idea for a long time now to create a game based around caves, and the unknown horrors that are within them. My idea for the game is that you and a group of friends go down into a cave to explore it, trying to figure out why it was abandoned. Eventually you stumble upon the ruins of an ancient city deep unground and have to figure out how to escape, as you feel like you are not alone down there.  The game is going to be based around a trust mechanic with different NPC's that accompany you. You've all been falling out a little but need to figure out how to leave regardless. If you do things with all of them and keep them happy, then you should all be able to escap...

Our client is coming in to talk with us about the game and see the progress that we've made on it since we did the presentation. We're going to take this opportunity to see what he likes and dislikes about the game. And also how our game could actually be turned into an escape room, or how much the client likes it in general. We're hoping to get a lot of feedback and then change things about our game which could improve it. Talked with the client and he gave us some ideas along with some criticism about the game. Criticism: Main issue was the fear of maybe getting lost, so we're going to add some signs and maybe some lights to guide the player throughout the level in case they get lost. The game is purposely dark, which can be good for making it scary, but if you cant see where your going then it gets more confusing than anything. The same would go for an escape room if it was too poorly lit with not enough things pushing you in the general direction. Idea's brought...

  Evan BP.docx

  Business plan analysis   Executive Summary : An executive summary is a summary of the key points and sections within your business plan. It’s put at the start of your plan so that different businesses can read it and see what is in each section, and where they are in your plan. This includes sections such as: Introduction, Role and strength, Need/Problem and Unique Solution. Most if not all games companies will use and produce business plans when creating new games or IP’s.   Company Description : A company description is describing what your company is, who it is marketing to and the goals surrounding it. For example, you would write about the different products and services you are offering with your business, the name, the target customers and the advantages that you would have within the market. Big companies such as Blizzard have these company descriptions and overviews which go as follows: “Activision Blizzard Inc (Activision Blizzard), a subsidiary of Mic...

The escape room we went to yesterday was really informative about level layouts and designs for me. I've been to a few escape rooms before and noticed the same things, but escape rooms are built and designed to flow together very well. From one room to another it works very well. The main way i've seen this be done is having something from the previous room needing to be used for the current one. Backtracking into previous rooms to help basically, it's something which a lot of games implement as well, especially in puzzle games. The different puzzles that are used in escape rooms could be turned into in game puzzles for escape room experiences in game. However something i soon noticed from doing an escape room is that they are very linear in their design. In some games you are given different options which can affect what ending or what path you take within the game. Everything in an escape room is designed to only be done one specific way, there are obviously games like th...

  Unit 1 - Assignment 1 Game designer – Game designers are responsible for creating the experiences in which players encounter. They are the people behind thinking of mechanics, rules and how the overall gameplay would work. They create the ideas for the experience and leave the rest of the team to create it.   Game writer – Game writers are the people responsible for creating the narrative s for games, and the dialogue within them. They work on storylines and how the flow of the game works with the story of the game. Using elements to try and immerse the player into the game’s world.   Game tester – Game testers are responsible for taking early builds of upcoming games and playing through them, searching for any bugs or glitches they can report back to the developers/programmers of the game. Testing the quality and functionality of the game.   I’m planning to either go into being a game designer, a game writer or a game tester, since these are all aspe...