OTM Post mortem

The Off the map project started on February the 3^rd and finished on may the 8^th and even though it’s only been three months it has felt like I spent a lifetime working on it! It has been enjoyable and at a times frustrating and boring but to be honest I am glad I took part in it because I have learned a great deal about myself and others. I have tried new ways of working and new techniques which have broadened my game artist tool kit.

This project is a competition sponsored by game city and the British Library although we are also submitting it as part of our second year project curriculum for DMU.  The theme for this year revolves around Alice’s in Wonderland exhibition in the British Library and we were asked to create an interactive experience which would fit into one of the following three categories, Oxford, the Gardens or the Underground. 

At first the tutors told us we would create a 3D side scroller game but after a general complain from most of the year they decided to let us do what we wanted. My group was composed of Jonah, Lewis, Carl, Andrew and Georgia and I couldn’t be happier because for the first time I felt that I had a good group and I knew we could achieve so much! And to be honest as individuals we are all brilliant but as a group I don’t think we work very well…

I feel that our first mistake was to go for an open world scene rather than a confined 3D side scrolling game. Personally I wanted to create a game similar to Child of Light or Limbo were the mood, composition and colour is what sells the game. I thought that it would fit perfectly with the Alice in Wonderland theme but most of the members in my group preferred a fully explorable 3D environment and so we decided to go for that.

Our first thoughts were to merge the Oxford and Underground themes together so that as the player walks through the city everything is realistic and as it descends into the underground everything would start to look a bit more wacky and surrealistic. This idea quickly disappeared when we realised that we had been too ambitious and so we decided to settle for Oxford. 

Then we went all out on oxford, we would include a quad and a river bank and a jabberwocky tree and a garden! Sadly this was all too ambitious as well and therefore we ended up with a street scene and a back garden with a well.  It felt that the initial spark we all had for this project faded out as the days went by…

I’d say that the main reason behind our lack of motivation for this project was due to poor concepting and planning of our level. We lost interest in it because all of our original ideas were gone by the time of hand in! I think that if we had properly planned a way to include all those initial features into a small scene, everyone would have been happier. Don’t get me wrong, the concepts for the shops were very good, that’s why they are the best looking elements of our level. Then I compare it to the initial concepts we had of the rest of the level and we had nothing relevant, they were too vague. We were building a level with no references. This led to different interpretations of the overall look of the level. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that we started concepting how we truly wanted the level to look like.

 Also, we got too caught up on making it accurate and realistic that we forgot to add our own interpretation of the world. Apart from the rabbit and the pickups, we barely have any elements that shout Alice in Wonderland!

So after a bad start we just got on with our assigned roles. I was in charge of characters and I am happy that at least the original idea of including a rabbit in our level prevailed throughout the length of the project. This was something new and exciting for me, I learned new ways of rigging, I learned how to animate both in 3D software and Game Engine and above all, I learned about the importance of good topology!

It was a lengthy process which consumed most of the project time but it was incredibly worth going through it as it has become one of the most important features in our level. The game starts when you see the rabbit moving and you feel the need to follow it! If I have to animate in future projects I know I would take half the time and I’d probably push it a bit further (facial expressions maybe?). I definitely want to learn a bit more about animation since there isn't a more satisfying moment for a character artist to see its creation alive!

 As I figured out how to animate a rabbit, the rest of the team focused on building the level. We were quick to block out the initial layout of the level and test some game mechanics but then everything just slowed down. I believe that not really knowing how the level actually looked like made everyone struggle on creating the assets. They either wouldn't fit with the style or the shape would be wrong or it just wouldn't be working for the level.  I think we spent a month and a half with a grey box for a level and at this point even our assigned tutors almost gave up on us. I can’t blame them, we just struggled to make progress and every week their feedback would be the same ‘Get things into engine, texture, and make sure game mechanics work’.

I think that the pressure to deliver just made us sink more and more and in the end we just wanted to finish this project and do something that we actually enjoyed. Jonah became the team leader out of necessity and I think he has done pretty well although I feel he would keep his true thoughts inside in order to not hurt anyone. I am certain that I bit more pressure from him would have benefited the team and make us work faster. But leadership is tough and keeping a team motivated and working requires a good balance of discipline and understanding.

Perhaps we should have talked to each other and made sure everyone was on the same page, especially the asset team. At some point I didn't even know how the level looked like or was meant to look like! So, yeah communication is a big deal, not only oral communication but visual as well, we’re artists after all, we learn more from a picture than words!

I can’t say I am pleased with our project because we could have done so much more…I am happy with my contribution though. The rabbit looks great although I ran out of time for the rest of the assets I decided to do. In terms of the foliage I had to be selective and choose a few items that were manageable with the time that was left and it is a shame we don’t have a wider range of trees/flowers.

Here are the main points I got from working in this project:

-          Concepting is the most important step on any project. Bad concepting will lead to a bad game.  Also, not any concepts are valid, they have to be relevant and give instructions to the modellers. They need to tell how the end product should look like. They don’t have to be complex paintings but they need to be clear.

-          Art Direction. This one is tied to my last point since I feel that if we had had some sort of art direction it really would have benefited our project. If someone just had commented that we needed a change on our level (which the tutors did on our project presentation) perhaps we would have ended up with a different result.

-          Leadership. People like to follow a leader even if that appointed someone is making terrible decisions. Someone has to do it and commit to their role and be strict if it is for the greater good (no need to be mean though). I’d like to become team leader on future projects and take on that responsibility and see if I am fit for that role.

-          Communication. Oral and visual. The team should know what they are doing at all times. Even when they are working on their own stuff, feedback can be helpful to make them notice mistakes that they would have missed otherwise.

-          Have fun! I think that when something drains your soul instead of giving you joy, that something must change. We started this project because it was fun and creative and we lost that emotion as we realised our level wasn't looking the way we’d hoped for. For future projects it might be worth to start the project again. Who knows, perhaps looking at it with a different set of eyes might turn it into something awesome.

And this is it, I don’t want to go on for too long... But just to summarise, I am happy I went through this experience because I needed to learn about my role in a team and how to become a better team player. I have acquired new technical skills and we made a game! I feel we need some fresh air and perhaps later on we’ll come back to it and polish it.

See you soon!

Carla.