Final Evaluation - Week 11- 10/06/19

For my FMP (Final Major Project), I was tasked to create a media product, the theme was mine to choose from. I could choose the theme and it was then up to me to research all the relevant information that will help me pick a theme. I took it upon myself to research 3 different themes. I took a look at Realism, Elements and Fantasy. These were themes that I had interest in the most and was willing to do research into them. After doing research, making mind maps and mood boards related to the themes I chose to research, I picked Realism. I was very interested in the different meanings of the word Realism. I knew that I could have many different ways to tackle this theme and represent Realism on my own interpretation. In my initial idea, the first thing that came to mind was a walking simulator type of game with a big environment and much to explore. This only slightly changed after picking my theme. I knew that there had to be a meaningful outcome of some kind from the research and planning I had done for this theme. Originally, I had the base idea of having this walking simulator and I thought heavily on having simple collectables. I had the idea to have notes tell a story to the player as they walk through this environment. I lacked a story in the beginning as I was too fixed on getting straight into production that I forgot the meaningful outcome. After my tutor and peers reviewed my idea, they all asked the same question. "Why are you there?" "Is there a story to these notes?" At this point, even I did not understand what the story was going to be because I lacked planning on it. I then went ahead to create a presentation on my 3 act story structure. Using the 3 act story structure helped me outline the beginning, problem and solution to the story. I then formatted this story into notes. The point of the notes is to tell the story to the player, explain why there are tents with no-one around, explain why there are dead bodies around there area and why there are notes in general. When making the game, I needed to focus on scripts heavily at the beginning. As stated in my journal, I felt it was easier to get all the coding out of the way at the start so it will help me in the long run, and it did. I could focus more on implementing the static meshes needed as suppose to worrying about all the coding I would have needed to do if I didn't think ahead and do it at the beginning.

Looking back at the planning after finishing the base game, there could have been more scaled drawings in regards to the bridge the player has to go past and the cliff area, but I didn't really know in the end if I was going to put a bridge in or not. It was there in a drawing I had made which Is in the planning phase, but other than that, it was an on or off idea that I ended up using. There wasn't a whole lot of change for the finished game, only small adjustments. For example, instead of having the girls dead body at the bottom of the hill, I placed them buried next to the cliff edge. I thought this was more effective because you could not really see them at the bottom of the mountain, I wanted the player to actually see the victim who created the notes. Another example would be the layout of the cave/hut. There was a lot of crates, meshes and a note as intended, but no table or maps of mercy park. These are just small tweaks that helped me cut corners and that made the environment some what better. There were a few unnecessary bugs that I encountered along the way as labelled in my bug list below this production journal. I only experienced 1 crash which was extremely lucky considering in my previous project, I experienced over 20 crashes. It just goes to show that I have learnt from my mistakes and I can adapt from the bugs and crashes I experienced last time using UE4. There is a issue at the moment which I have to get solved before the final show and that would be to build and package my game. Building my game, as stated before in my journal, is causing issues with the Macs at college. The Macs freeze up and try to reboot. I am going to try and get this sorted for the final show. As also stated in my production journal before even starting this project, I am very much looking forward to the final show as I can show of my work to other people, inspire people, generate feedback from others, talk to potential employers and gain some self confidence from what I am doing. It also gives me a great opportunity to see what I can improve from.

I have had numerous amounts of feedback from my peers and my tutor. They outlined issues such as my story and game play. I was given feedback on my story, saying how it needed a big push in the right direction and a summary of the overall story, so that the users best understand what is going on and why they are in a forest. I was also given some feedback on game play mechanics such as my blocking volume placement and culling options. There is a problem with the cottage house and it's culling options. The house spawns directly in front of the player. An ex-student came into the class and gave me and my peers an informal discussion about the game industry and what is expected from us and what we can expect from the industry. He outlined general needs such as a productive portfolio and commitment. He talked a lot about how an idea is never always a good one unless you adapt on it, which made me think about my FMP. My FMP was simply a walking simulator until I adapted on it and gave the game a meaningful outcome and a meaningful reason to collect notes and play the game.

I have defiantly learned a lot of technical skill in this journey. I have learnt the bases of blueprints and the importance of them. I have learnt simple game mechanics and simple scripts that have pushed my game in a positive direction. I have increased my software knowledge by learning how to use more tools and create more advanced materials. I have outlined these new skills in my production journal explaining that I had to do research online and watch videos on how to do specific scripts. I feel more confident when using the software and I am willing to carry on adapting on this project ready for the final show. I know the importance of planning on paper and making detailed drawings as this has helped me adapt on my idea and make relevant changes which has helped me cut corners. I have had other people test my game and fill out forms to help me on improvements.

In preparation for the final show, I intend to make my UE4 game better by removing, changing and adding different elements. I would also love to generate more feedback and criticism from visitors of the college or my peers from different classrooms. I would love to take this FMP home with me so I can can make the relevant changes to make my game even better than what it currently is. I had thoughts and ideas to take my game further and make a VR port. I have a Oculus Rift at home and would love to do the relevant research to make my game VR compatible. I feel like there are some areas for improvement on my game but all together in it's current state, I am very proud of the outcome and what I have been able to achieve in the time I have had considering I have only used UE4 to make maps and not games. The peer feedback also helped me shape this game massively as it's very important to have an outsiders point of view.

In conclusion to this evaluation, I feel there could be some improvements in my game such as better scripts and methods for viewing the notes in the level. I felt like I could have explored the different methods of coding this game mechanic. The materials could be better as there is an obvious tiling bug with the majority of them. My time management was not up to par throughout the project and I felt as if I rushed some aspects of my game and written work, but after having some extra time in the end, I managed to go over and polish everything other than the game. The game will be polished and ready as mentioned for the final show. I focused more on making the game than the written work sometimes which didn't go well in my favor as I had to recall what I did in certain areas when documenting my progress. As stated, overall, I am happy with how the game and project has turned out and I am glad I was able to explore and adapt to these new set of technical skills.