game jam and building the classroom reflection

 introduction:

these two projects were great for skill development especially the game jam and most importantly these projects were fun and helped me to learn many other things on top of skill development. the purpose of this blog post is to explain the process of development for both projects, what I have managed to learn from completing both of these projects and an overall reflection on them. 

section 1: recreating the classroom in unreal 

the first thing we did towards recreating the room was to get real measurements and images of the room as reference, this was to ensure that I could make the room as accurate as possible when I made it in unreal. I then started blocking out the room in unreal ensuring I got the scaling correct, I did end up making the room in unreal slightly larger than the real life room, I felt making it slightly scaled up made the room look better and allowed the player character to navigate the final room. I then blocked out the main details of the room, this included the windows, the cupboard and the various different trims in the room, after this I set out to find materials that matched the same materials in the actual room, for maximum authenticity. after I had finished adding the materials to the room cam had completed the 3D models for all of the objects in the room, I placed all of the models into their correct places in the room I then made the final checks to see if the character was able to move around the room, this final check then concluded the project.

there were some challenges I faced during the project. the main issue I faced was finding materials that closely matched the room, I did end up finding materials that closely matched the room. but if I were to do it again now I would make the materials myself by taking pictures of the room since I recently learnt this skill. 

this project helped me work on my teamwork skills in a pair, it helped me with communication so the project went smoothly. the project did help my build my skills working in unreal with small details and trying to recreate something instead of making something brand new.         

section 2: game jam participation 

the game jams theme was nuts and bolts, our game was called bolt boy. the game was a 2D platformer inspired by super meat boy, it would have obstacles and complex levels. we looked how platformers onboard players and we discovered that they onboard players with extremely simple levels and then they get more complex as more mechanics and obstacles are introduced to the player, this was how we decided to onboard players in the game.

my role was primarily art and environment based, I also contributed to the design process helping to design the levels and how we would gradually onboard the players, I did research into early platformer levels and took inspiration from them in the design process, I drafted 10 levels for the game, these ranged from the onboarding process all the way through to levels in which we through many different obstacles at the player. I then assisted with the art of the project by creating the 2D assets for the platforms and help draft some ideas for the background of the level. finally I designed a menu screen for the game and a game UI, I matched these with the design aesthetics that we were already following these were in line with the nuts and bolts theme of the game jam this led to mainly using grey followed by yellows and oranges to sell a more industrial theme.

some of the challenges I faced during the game jam were mainly related to timekeeping and making sure that I was managing my time properly to allow myself to be able to complete everything I wanted to, this project helped me with this and I feel like my time management improved significantly while participating in this project.  

section 3: reflection on the learning process 

these experiences have helped me grow as a developer in many ways. I feel the most important thing I've learned is to have more confidence, previously 

I really enjoyed participating in the game jam, it was a brand new experience of creating something with a tight deadline, this was great for timekeeping and developing my organization skills to make sure I was utilizing my time properly     

section 4: suggestions for improvements 

on a personal level I feel like I could've made myself more involved in the project by firstly communicating more but I should've taken on more responsibilities in regards to the art for the project. I also felt like by me doing this everyone else could have gotten on with more allowing us to finish more of the project. in regards to improvements that could've been made to the game itself I would say that we should've established a more cohesive art style which we didn't have, having an art direction that we would've been able to follow probably would have saved us some time when creating certain elements.  

 conclusion: in conclusion this project was successful in terms of us getting a playable slice of a game and we managed to make it look pretty decent. the main takeaway from a project like this is how you have learnt new things and weather you have advanced in your teamworking skills, in these areas this project was successful for me as I did advance quite significantly in these areas.