DIGD602 Week 7: Playtest day! Reflection of responses

So today was the day of the playtest. A day where everyone laid out their creations for feedback.
Like usual Unity was a pain and took a while to open but despite that all went well. Overall the reactions and feedback were fairly optimistic and positive as well as helpful answers to the questions I asked.

The questions as follows:

With the right popups and descriptions, would the player learn as if they were on a tour?

The general response for this question prompted most to answer yes. That with the right prompts it would serve as interesting information for players and encourage exploration and inspection to discover and learn more. This encouragement of exploration is good news to me as it suggests that players are interested in the surroundings - the soul and core of the game.

Does the modelling and architecture compel you to look around more? (I.e with the existing assets despite in completion is there enough detail)

The responses to this from the playtesters was very encouraging and nice to read >///< It was a consistent agreement between them that the example asset was interesting and the design and detail level made them want to see more. A lot as I expected wished they could go inside the building itself.

With texture and more assets would you see this game as more interesting?

Seemed to be a pattern among reviewers that in terms of asset add ins, statues and trees were the most desired (I had that in mind prior). Different terrains were also suggested - this can be added as yes flat roads are quite plain but I'll have to see what I can do to make that fit in a urban setting that I have in mind.

Could this game present as a virtual world which a player could unwind in via exploration? (with addition ton of gentle particles music. Open to suggestions)

Suggestions of music, weather and lighting was a pattern as expected. Thus would help the relaxation and enhance the exploration.

DIGD602 Week 6: Asset 1 version 01; preparations for playtest

As I continued with the creation of asset one I grew quicker and more confident with the manipulation of shapes to get what I desired. Although with the dawning of the upcoming playtest I had to focus on getting all the walls done and focus on those the most. This assured that the players trying the game in the playtest would have all sides of the building to look at with a assumption of it's completion. With that in mind, that was my stopping point before importing it into my greyboxing for version 01 of what I'll call Wander. The building took up the majority of my time over every other aspect but i'd say gives the playtesters a taste at the style and size of the future assets.

DIGD602 Week 5: Asset 1 progress shots and 3D building modelling with maya

It has been quite a while since I last used maya- we never learnt modelling on said software in depth so I've had to self teach and play around with functions to get my desired shapes. It takes a lot of patience but the more I model this building as my first major asset the more easier and quicker i'm becoming at it. In fact I've begun to notice a lot of similarity's of tools that I'm used to using for my minor - Rhinoceros 3D. 

DIGD602 Week 4- Pitch presentation and reflection

Pitch reflection

So today was the day of the pitch, time had been taken to put it together and I was ready to go.
Like usual the prior confidence is reduced to shaky sentences and word jumblings.
In terms of delivery, I hoped for a lot better and I didn’t really think it was a good pairing
for a pitch power point I had spent so long on - pace was faster than it should,
ideas stuttered out due to nervousness and panic. As for information within,
I reckon I did quite well for once coming from not really knowing what I should do.
My slides accounted all the themes and textures I wanted to explore with little left off.
Of course there’s still room to develop and for once I was happy and actually satisfied
with the quality of concept art. Feedback wise I wasn’t asked of much only places that
I’d be looking at. Not really sure if that’s a good thing? Either that or I had explained
my project relatively in depth. (I hope)

DIGD602 Week 3- Zbrush and pitch polishing

This week we were introduced to Zbrush for modelling, this program is one of many that makes digital modelling possible in our projects. In the past I haven't used Zbrush in particular but am used to using Rhinoceros. For my particular project I want to explore urban building, rubble and environment creation as well as plants. For this particular exercise we were instructed to create a bust. Like so-



Although I am not choosing to focus on character creation and modelling per say this exercise was a good starting point in feeling accustomed to Zbrush naturally the skill needs more work. Another E.g-



In terms of level exploration i've been looking at the games, Homesick, The last guardian and Rime. All three hold environmental aspects that i'm interested in since I want to look into abandoned urban.