This week was very effective in getting my work done related to ISM. I have impressed my mentor in the amount of thought I have put into my level, which is very pleasing to me to see that my hard work is paying off in some way. Therefore, I must keep going on producing my game to its utmost potential. However, a possible problem presents itself as my mentor still cannot view my progress being done due to the file being corrupted and incompatible with his version of Unreal Engine. Therefore, I need to find a way to show my progress definitely to my mentor.

One thing that we went over our last meeting was how rocks can play a valuable part in adding to the level design and landscape. It can be used to make sharp elevation changes and effective boundaries, which is a valuable tool for me since my resources are so limited. However, part of being a level designer is making do with what you have or are presented, so this provides me a very real world example of work in the industry. I am excited to see where I will end up in this wild whirlwind.

This week was a very productive session of level building and design. I have created a material to use on my landscape so that I can paint the landscape to be of grass and rock to resemble a forest. It is difficult to make the game look aesthetically pleasing without looking either too cheap or cheesy. However, this is one of many challenges that a video game designer must face. I enjoy making the level however, as it is pleasing to see how the world is being built and every element being added, from the numerous trees to the ground and sky.

I am currently designing a point of interest with a block out utilizing basic shapes, such as cubes and cylinders. I can use my experience of 3D modeling to make a basic fountain soon, but for now I am mainly concerned with the landscape and the overall picture of the level. While this is a somewhat simple game to be making, I must also consider whether I will implement any elements such as workable enemies with scripts and actual intelligence. Time is working against me, so my main focus is completing the level design, then improving upon the gameplay, although as I am building this level I am fully considering how future gameplay will be.

This week I practiced more on level design principles as well as my analysis on how my game should be designed. I am looking forward to creating a successful landscape within my game, but I am still getting familiar with the program and attempting to juggle all of my classes, but I am still placing school above work that will actually count in real life. Therefore, I must rethink my approach and set aside more time for my final product. I feel almost as if I am making many promises but having little results. I shall now decide to devote more time and energy towards the completion of the product because at the rate I am going, I am not making much progress.

I have found another tutorial online with landscaping which covers the basics over creating hills and including assets found in common game worlds. Unlike the other tutorial, this one is made and streamed by the Unreal Engine Company, so they have advanced knowledge of the program compared to most of the other video tutorials I have come across online. This will up my game and sharpen my skills as I design a full level and possibly include game play.

This week I have finally started playing around with Unreal Engine and I finally understand why so few people become game designers. For one, the program is quite challenging and difficult to understand, and another problem is that most of the tutorials are either out of date or irrelevant to what I am trying to create. This has created problems in what I can do, but I plan to just play around with the program and figure things out the hard way, which is by doing it myself and through trial and error. I am glad that I have previous experience with Maya and Blender so that I can apply that knowledge to Unreal Engine.

Another fact is that the marketplace and available assets are quite limited that are free, so my game will not be complex by any means. On the contrary, it will be very simplistic and crude in its design and shape with barely any difficult to build shapes. I have recently found a guide detailing how to learn Unreal Engine with it describing how I should not focus on building my own game as the first project and instead try my hand at multiple other ways to hone in my skills. While this is a great idea in theory, I do not have as much time as I would like, but I can cut away from time I would be using to rest to instead focus on game design.

Over the spring break I completely finished all of my concept art for my level. The main thing  that I have to keep in mind is to not over scope my project and bite off more than I can chew. Since I have virtually no skills designing a level, it is going to be a slow process for me to build and design a level. Therefore, I need to hone in on specific parts that I want in my game and level, as well as be prepared to cut anything I can not accomplish in the short amount of time. It is a very weird feeling to be constricted on my creativity and desires to create.

Mr. Jermyn says that this is essentially how working in a video games studio feels like. With a limited budget and time frame, it is inevitable that content will be cut and not everything will be included in the final game. This leads to disappointment as well as over scoping on the project, which is a mistake that all game designers do throughout their entire career. This makes me feel better since everyone makes the common mistake, and I plan to work around this and design a more tangible and able to create level.

This week in ISM I focused mainly on producing a remade style sheet. For one, I added elements to help convey the oppressed and dangerous feelings of a Soviet village. This will better help the player understand the story of the game much better. Another part was that I subtracted some pictures I did not need to focus on and instead added more applicable pictures. My recent meeting with Mr. Jermyn has also molded my thoughts and ideas upon the level I am trying to create.

My idea now is an abandoned Soviet-era village in the Siberian plains that has a monstrous wolf or bear-like creature that resides in the mountains near the village. The player’s mission is to follow the path from one end of the village to the other to reach the mountain range to defeat the creature, which turns out to be a villain that the player must defeat. However, my focus is on the villain’s aftermath on the village and what an abandoned village lost in time would appear to be like. This is a very interesting and creatively challenging project I am taking on that requires a load of thinking and critical analysis over everything the player will experience.

This week in ISM was one of brainstorming and discovery. For one, I finished my rough draft of the Style Sheet for my game. It is basically composed of different images that the game will base itself around and take inspiration from. For my game, I have chosen to model my level after an oppressed village in Russia during the era of the USSR, due to the fact that this will require me to convey a certain atmosphere that needs to resonate with the audience. This brings up interesting objects to take into account, such as the addition of decals as well as the design of the actual level.

Decals are Unreal Engine’s way of portraying textures onto objects, but unlike any other textures, they are like a projection instead of actually being a part of the object. This allows for more freedom of placement and more leniency of how the texture behaves. This excites me to begin work on these parts, but first I must set my attention towards completing the block out of the level. With band and the solo contest wrapped up, I can now direct most of my attention towards producing my game level. I am looking forward to what I can produce and make in these coming months.

I met once again with my mentor this week to discuss the possible ways I can go regarding my final product. It makes me very excited to be able to try out both level design and basic combative game play. By using Unreal Game Engine, I also don’t need to be as proficient in code as many believe, which is a definite positive for someone who knows next to nothing when it comes to coding languages. Unreal allows people to build upon their game in a very simple and easy to understand way. An engine used by many game developers and big businesses, it is something I should most likely get familiar with for my own benefit in the future.

I need to stay diligent with my project, for even though May seems like a faraway month, I know that it will come up quite soon. I also need to be able to balance this large project with completing my Eagle Scout project, my band activity, and also all five of my Advanced Placement classes. It seems as though I am quite overworked and stretched out, but on the contrary, I like to be busy. I just need to find a healthy and effective way to juggle all of my activities and excel at my final product for ISM.

This week I had my first mentor visit with Mr. Jermyn at Gearbox Software. To say the least, I was very excited and looking forward to it. At the meeting we discussed my plans for the final product, as well as my own personal interest in the industry. Regarding the product, we have settled on forming a block-out of my level, which is basically a rough model describing in a visual way how the level is meant to be laid out and seen. I am currently in the idea making phase, where I am currently looking for ideas on the level is going to be based around. I am also considering the overall theme of the villain’s area and the story behind it all.

This proves that my project is very much a synthesis based product in that it requires a great deal of creative thinking and planning in order to be pulled off. However, this is where my ability to craft a level and narrative behind it can ultimately shine. I will need to carve out time out of my normal homework schedule to be able to think properly for what I want my level and villain to be like. Even though I know this is teaching me about time management skills, it is still difficult to juggle everything high school has to offer. With help from my mentor and my peers, I am positive I will succeed in the end.

This week in ISM was one of getting logistical things done. For one, I am submitting my product proposal, which I plan to make a model of my game I have in mind, from the concept art to the modeling of the objects in the game. Unfortunately, due to time restraints, I will be unable to make the game fully playable, but I do plan to make it be able to fly around and show the entire space to an audience. I also need to be able to utilize and create textures, so research is needed to find out what texture creation software is the best.

I am glad that I am enrolled in the Digital Graphics and Animation class which has taught me the basics of how to use Maya, a 3D creation software studio. I am also thankful for my computer being built with the intent of animation and game design in mind, since it can easily handle the huge processes Maya entails. The project will take a very long time, but it is a way for me to demonstrate all that I have learned as well as how much my skills in 3D modeling and texturing have come. As long as I balance my time between this class and the rest of school, I will be successful.