This week marks the last blog post of ISM. It was a crazy, intense, difficult, and seemingly unending class, and I am forever glad I got to experience it. I became interested in the art of designing games for a living and met an amazing man who is now my mentor, Mr. Skyler Jermyn. To say that ISM was a fun, life changing class is a gross understatement. The class taught me how to become a professional in the field as well as how to follow your dreams by actually doing the work necessary to be successful in the field. I consider myself very lucky to be able to take such a dynamic class with such an amazing, gracious, and supportive teacher like Coach Goff.

I feel confident in my choice to take video game design and further my studies in the field. In the near future, I plan to become even more involved in the game development community and increase my own skills in Unreal Engine. It will be a difficult journey to take, but what fun and excitement I can have in the future! I recommend ISM to any student willing to put enough elbow grease to succeed in the program.

This week I finally finished the final product. While I feel as if I can make numerous improvements and additions to the level, I must accept that this is the rough block out that I intended to create for my product. This project wasn’t as much of what I can make as much as what I can learn. I researched and learned a plethora of information related to video game design I otherwise would have never learned had I never took the initiative to take on the daunting task of creating a completely original level without any previous experience on Unreal Engine 4.

Looking back, I realize how far I have truly come with the program and what I know now in regards to game design. I am glad to have taken ISM, despite the intense workload and impossibility to slack off and stay on track. While it is not a path for everyone, I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn a great amount about a subject they otherwise would be unable to learn on their own. I am proud of what I have made for “The Sweepster” and I am looking forward to what I am going to do in the field of video game design in the future.

This week I have been hard at work completing the final product for the due date set on the eighth. However, I have so much left that I could do to improve the game, but I cannot due to time restraints and the AP tests being upon me. Therefore, I must divert my attention to completing a successful block out of the game, as well as finishing the presentation element of my final presentation, which will be interesting and fun to present. As I have said many times before, there is a necessity of balance that must be reached when designing the game, but with the majority of my classes at an end, it is becoming easier to set aside time to design the level.

I am not worried about finishing the product as much as I am concerned with how it will be overall. I have a lot of people I don’t want to let down, so I am making my level be the best it possibly can be without appearing overdone. In game design, there needs to be a balance between presentation, gameplay, and enjoyment. If any of these three categories are less than the other, this can cause the game to be not as amazing as the creator most likely intended.

This week I’ve been implementing my own ideas for the level. I have set the lighting and sky box to change the atmosphere from a sunny day to a brooding time of dusk. It was relatively simple to change the sky, but it made all the difference in the world. Now I will need to create a mountain chain to better guide the player to the end goal, which is a cave system where the final boss will lurk. I am unsure whether or not I will implement any game play into my level, but I at least can make the standard level design and portray the basic story.

Some advice my mentor gave to me was to include text boxes labeling each section of the level and what is the purpose of that section in relation to both the story and game play. That way I can better show the audience my basic block out of the level. Even though my level has gone through intense and dramatic changes, I feel like I am better learning the process a game designer must go through when creating their level. Therefore, I must complete the level and finish strong for the Final Presentation Night.

This week I attempted again to show my work to my mentor, but alas, the files have become corrupted. However, my mentor says that we can remedy this by taking screenshots of my current progress so that he can check on how I am progressing. I have a program called Snagit that will enable me to capture the pictures and show them to my mentor, but I am progressing rather slowly through my level, as it is quite challenging to sit down and devote so many hours to one activity. However, this is part of the learning experience and what a level designer does.

My latest meeting with Mr. Jermyn was very interesting because it made me realize that I am truly starting to think and process things like a game designer does. I must take into account all steps in my creation of the game and strive to make those which I already have presentable. While I am creating the level I am also refining it and improving the layout so that I can save more time. Unfortunately, AP tests are just around the corner, so I am balancing my time between studying and creating the level, but that is a basic skill necessary in any profession.

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.