Miles carr
- FMP -
Miles carr - final major project
Project analysis
What does Realism mean?
Realism as a theme or a purpose has many different meanings. It contains the Realism of life, or the Realism of religion. The Realism of life, as I have pointed out myself in my idea planning, is the form of accepting the way things are in life and accepting the way things are given to you throughout your journey in life. It can represent the pro's and cons of life and the challenges most people face in life which is something they may or may not have asked for. There is a religious meaning(s) to Realism, which google states when searching "Religious Meaning to realism", "Such a realism, in other words, is committed to the proposition that if there is religious meaning, knowledge and truth within the Christian community, it is made possible by means of God." This was taken from a website (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15665399.2003.10819791) which clearly states the educational and religious meaning around Realism.
To put this in perspective for my game, I am going to use realism in the fashion of disappointment and luck in someones life. Realism in my story based journey will show the player how being in the wrong place at the wrong time can cause the loss of life. It will represent how unfair the situation is at hand, hinting to the player that the murderer is roaming the mountains somewhere around them, not being caught at all and staying away from all active human life.
Are there games with similar story intentions?
Sherlock holmes vs Jack the Ripper uses the idea of Realism and Horror very well. The villain, although a man who has committed tragic crimes, has some form of Realistic Intent to what he is doing. Whether the idea of his intent is justified or not is up to the person in question who is proceeding to go forward with the idea decides. The Realism is that this did happen, the crimes committed, the person in the game, it is all based off real theories and real reality. This man killed lots of innocent citizens without breaking his true identity. The game is there to show the educational reality of who this person could be, why he did it, and the consequences for other people.
L.A. Noire has very similar intentions as I do for my project. This game is about a big town detective taking on LA crime. He has been hired to solve murder crimes and bring criminals to justice. This games involves the player interacting with a lot of objects in the world area or story area to get to the bottom of the crime. My game has similarities in the sense of viewing your surroundings, gathering useful clues and reading notes. In L.A. Noire, you have the whole map to your grasp as you can take on different call outs whilst free roaming around giving the player an opportunity to do whatever they want.
RoadToVR (2017). L.A. Noire The VR Case Files
Available at roadtovr.com (Accessed at: 10th April 2019)
NewsGameBox (Unknown). PC Banner for SH VS JTR. Available at newgamesbox.net (Accessed at: 10th April 2019)
Presentable Liberty is a strange game that tells the story straight to you but involves a very important mechanic for my game if I make it that far, which is reading notes. The game is about a man stuck inside a jail cell with letters constantly being delivered to him by two different characters. They can talk to him but he can't talk back. He has been locked up by a business man known as Dr.Money. He is putting the prisoners life at risk by threatening to take his organs. There is a plague in town killing many innocent people and he his the last healthy, normal human there is, and organs are high on the market, so Dr.Money wants to make a quick and easy pay check whilst he can. The game is all about reading the story and getting to know the characters without even seeing them which is such an important aspect to my idea and potential game. This game is such a great example for what I should be aiming for.
GreatBitBlog (Unknown). Presentable Liberty
Available at: greatbitblog.com (Accessed at: 10th April 2019)
Slender Man is an interesting game about someone in the woods collecting notes that have been left by this creature. Your job is to go around reading them and collecting them all. Once they are all collected, you escape. This is a great concept and suits my game in regards to being in the woods with some form of exploration, and notes to view/pickup.
Youtube (2012). Slender Man Youtube video
Available at: youtube.com (Accessed at: 10th April 2019)
Engine Choice
I am going with UE4 because of the really easy to use engine when it comes to making great landscapes and simple game mechanics. Using the sources I have, I will easily learn the ways of making simple blueprints and fantastic scenes. I have used this engine before so I am already at a great advantage in knowing how to use the software. I will be mainly focusing my efforts with the Landscape tool as I want to be able to create the main map first due to the amount of time we have. If I get extra time, I can start using my skills and learning knew skills in the Blueprint system of UE4. Blueprints are a lot easier to use as I don't have to use code but just engine logic.
Games such as Batman, Bioshock Infinite and the Gears of War series. These are such great AAA titles and its been made in such a friendly engine. The engine can of course have its disadvantages from experience. You have to assure your PC or Mac is capable of rendering the world that you make and rendering all the textures and lighting. You have to make sure you keep saving as this program loves to crash on random occasions.
overall analysis on this project
S
I have developed this idea fully, and I know what I want to create. I have tried to plan the base minimum expectations for myself and the maximum expectation. I realise that time is of the essence so I have planned ahead ready. I have collected some data off other people and got their opinion which will help me shape game.
W
I have developed this ongoing story idea that might be to big for the time span that I have. The story requires me to potentially create in-depth blue prints and code for the interaction to work. This might cause me to use up all my time on production and less on my written work.
O
This gives me the oppertunity to learn the ways of making blue prints efficiently and quickly. Using the game mechanics I plan to use, I can learn how to create them from scratch and import them into my game.
I can improve my level making skills and improve the way I handle the tasks at hand.
T
Unreal crashes a lot for me and this is something I experienced in previous projects too many times. I will have to make sure I save my work constantly to counter the loss of work. And there is the usual threats which can be common with the Macs. The Macs could decide to crash, I might struggle to log on, Unreal might have an update etc
Personal analysis on this project
W
I am always bumping into crashes when making materials or landscapes, so I may experience a lot of these in this project. Most of the crashes, I don't know how to fix or where they come from. This could be a problem as I might hit a wall and not know how to get over it. I could run into physics issues if I decide to experiment with rag dolls or physics objects.
S
I have put a lot of thought into this idea personally and I have thought about back up plans if anything fails.
I feel like my skills have got a lot better with unreal engine 4 and I am more confident with building landscapes.
O
I can learn how to code and make blue prints within Unreal engine 4. I can learn how to use the UI within the software when making the blue prints. I can improve on my landscaping skills and material making skills.
I might get better at time management along the way and hopefully learn the appropriate ways of managing time.
T
Unreal crashes a lot which could lose me time and effort as there might be a loss of data and saves. Most of the crashes encountered are unknown to causes, so its a matter of constantly saving every time I do something important.