Activity 2

Moodboard - We then proceeded to put together a moodboard individually to get a feel for our specific interests, inspirations, goals, and ideas regarding the project. For my moodboard I found inspiration from low poly indie games like For The King, A Short Hike and the work of Marion Lassal. My vision involved very a video gamey, tactile, and casual energy for a casual audience. This art direction appealed to me for practicality and it's prevelance in the indie genre. Since we are only given a short period of time to develop this project with a small team, it makes sense naturally to look into indie games developed with similar constraints. These games achieve style and function with minimal tools and are optimized to function with a low poly count in a tasteful, retro style. I would like to emulate this in our work to create something styllistically interesting but also realistic and within our scope.

Testing Action Research

We conducted three rounds of user testing and feedback from our peers. Users were briefed and shown the concept illustration I made and were asked for their overall opinions, thoughts, concerns, ideas, and suggestions. We ended up talking to three different groups of peers in the class who all seemed to enjoy the concept overall. However a common theme that arised from feedback was that of scope, and the implementation of game elements. Many users felt that the scope was a bit undefined and could be tighter before we really dive into the project. This project has many moving pieces that we will have to tackle accordingly. Our scope initially was a bit wide since it was difficult for us to get a sense of the possibilities and scale we could work at since msot of us are not fully experienced in the software. However, we okan to address these concerns by meeting with eachother and reevaluating our goals and wants for the project while also balancing it with what we will need to learn in order to achieve those goals. By making sure we are all on the same page and creating tangible, realistic goals for ourselves, we aim to address the concerns with things like the mechanics, the camera, the models, etc.

Group 1:

• Looks fun and creative
• Might be difficult to complete in time
• If we do not have enough time to complete, maybe we could just make a simulated video demo of the concept
• Maybe focus on getting one or two features to work really well before working on less important features
• “So its like decorating an island?”
• Compared to Mario Maker
• Was confused about the stacked islands in the hero image.
• “Are you able to have multiple islands?”
• Liked being able to change the time and biome, reminded them of The Sims.

Group 2:

• Will you do a smooth 360, or snapping behaviour every 45 degrees? Each rotation can be deliberate and make a meaningful difference
• If you do the 45 degrees thing, do a different mechanism for each rotation (seasons changing, or time of day changing)
• Think about the selection process for each map!
• Sometimes you need to make weird hacks to get stuff done. In terms of scope, it isn’t out of reach. It’s pretty doable
• What is the main gamification element? Is there an unlocking stage? Progression? Something changing? Like a lose/win state or something
• Focus on adding more fun visual toys. Foliage, different types of light, sounds, camera-based sounds, grass, bugs
• Make a detailed terrarium possibly like in a big jar
• “What exists on this island? Is it a sandy island? Is it a flat plane? Is there a community there?”
• There would have to be a lot of small, interactive details. Have a dopamine mechanic. Something to keep it engaging.

• (This is feedback from a student who did something similar with Unreal Engine and has used Unity before).
• Stick with using Unity, and the easiest way to upload this to the web will be through itch.io. But leave that to the end since that is the easiest part
• As for scope creep, the 3D modelling seems relatively easy/will be relatively easy, so leave that to the end as well.
• Focus on the functionality of everything within Unity. How will users place objects? Like what are the exact mechanics? Is it like when they press on a button and the object/asset generates, or do they drag it in?
• Also figure out how to rotate an island within Unity.
• If you’re going with the island idea, is it a skyblock, or in the ocean, or in a void?
• Do all the stuff in Unity first because the 3D modelling will take less time. Figure out the nitty gritty of what you want to do and really break it down into tasks
• If you want a character to be within the island, it’s better to spawn inside the island and then move around and edit objects instead of having to drag them in.

Research Reflection

Through conducting research we were able to broaden our knowledge about a wide range of game related topics. I found I gained a lot from educating myself about the state of play and how it benefits people on a day to day basis. I also found my research on retro game trends to be quite valuable to me for inspiration for the art direction of our project going forward, allowing me to understand why games are made in retro pixel art styles and how it could benefit our small team for this project. As for my other team member’s research, it was very worthwhile to see just how varied of articles were explored, I learned a lot about Unity, the psychology of gaming, and sandbox games specifically. I feel that I am equipped with a deeper understanding of important topics that make up the core of our project plan, helping inform our direction, decisions, and scope.

Next Steps

As we start to create we will need to start employing more Action Research to discover important information and tutorials to continue to fill in gaps in our knowledge. Since most of us are very new to this field we will need to continue to research dynamically to educate ourselves in order to achieve our goals for this term in creating a fully functioning video game. It will not be an easy task but I look forward to working towards it and being open overall to learn and discover new tools and design theory.

We will need to quickly get everyone in our group to a workable knowledge level for both Unity, Blender, and Aesprite (Unity being the most important), in order to progress the project efficiently and execute our big ideas into reality. We plan on meeting and researching frequently to ensure we are on the same page, and are able to learn and develop our skills within the timeframe provided.