Task 6

Evaluation

My level Kens Adventures ended up being even better than I originally planned. I stuck to most of my ideas but had to change some, like making my pyramid massive and fitting everything inside. My character design started off simple but I didn’t like it because an Arabian Desert costume is almost completely white. I went through a few ideas and in the end gave him clothes a normal person would wear. I also decided to make the rocks fall on impact in the first room instead of making it a platformer.

The purpose of my game is for Ken to get to the other side of the temple through the challenges in his way. He hopes he can find a way to return to his normal life. I feel like everything in my level suits the storyline perfectly. It includes Owl Man because the two levels are in the same universe. If there’s anything not understood my backstory explains it.

When I created my assets I used as little subdivisions and edge loops as possible. Not to an extent that it affected the quality, but just to lower the polygon count on each model. This was so it would run smoothly in Unreal Engine without any glitches. I made sure my character was around ten thousand polygons to also allow everything to run smoother.

Before starting my level I had to remember the Genre was horror so I didn’t make all of the textures bright colours. I know red resembles blood or death and black resembles mystery and darkness. I made sure I used these colours in my game consistantly so the player feels the moods and emotions supported by the colours.  The desert outside the temple is a bland and montoinous landscape with very little contrast. I’ve had  expirience using colours to help convey moods before so this was easy to use in my level.

During the production of the level I made sure I used my first year level as a target to beat. I knew if I used more skills in my latest level the final product would be a massive improvement. To make my textures I used the Clone Stamp to which blended in seams. I had to use an area with the same brightness so the Clone Stamp didn’t look obvious. I used various skills modelling in MAYA such as creating a new polygon and pivot pointing it around a reference image. I used this skill specifically for modelling my wall. The bridge tool helped with making the Archway as I could curve it afterwoods giving it the realistic Arch. In Unreal I used physics on rocks so they could fall down the pyramid and added more details to the blueprint to make them move back and fourth. I also placed a rock with an area around it and when the character walks into its radius they spawn in the next part of the level.

I generated a lot of ideas. Most of my ideas were generated in lesson on paper. I drew pieces of concept art to help create my story. I drew a map which roughly gave me a structure plan for my level and made the production easier. I also drew a few Egyptian weapons to give to Ken. Time restraints meant I couldn’t model them on top of everything else but I will most probably add it to my FMP.

I decided to go for an Egyptian and Greek theme throughout my level. This followed on from the backstory I created. I have played a lot of video games with Greek or Egyptian themes and have taken some inspiration from them. I put almost all of my assets inside the temple and gave no hints about what’s inside to add mystery to my it. I found this easy as I know what has added mystery and suspense to games I have enjoyed. I tried my best to keep the game as realistic as possible with a few science fiction elements. As far fetched as some of the ideas are there are elements of realism.

My workflow was very good. I created my assets up to a proffesional standard with plenty of time on my hands. I can sometimes lose my trail of thought for a few moments which distracts my workflow but for this project it has been consistent. I made sure I managed my time efficiently to help complete my level. In my head I would also give myself mini deadlines for example in a week finnish creating an asset and make sure my aim is complete. This project was exactly what I want to do as a job and being passionate helped distractions not to get to me as much.

technical competence – After the concept art stage everything was created digitally using a computer. This technology was easier to use as I have had a year to get used to it however I had not learned any technical skills on PC before college. This put me at a massive disadvantage, but creating this level was a massive success. I used all of my skills from the first year and left my comfort zone a bit giving me the ability to expand upon them. I used textures.com to make sure I made the most of the recources at hand. I now feel that I am capable to make a sucessful environment whenever as long as I have the right recources. My peers liked my level last year so I know Kens Adventures is successful as I used tools I wasn’t so familiar with when making Owl Man Chronicles.