Hazrat Bilal

Conclusion:

 

Q. Did you stick to the brief and your overall style? 

 

In the beginning I believe I strayed from the brief quite some bit, I realised early on that the detail needed in the structure and positioning of the camera angle was key to create a convincing isometric level.  Nevertheless after this naivety, I have corrected my outcomes and ideas to cater the brief in a more positive way.

 

Q. What was the most stressful thing during the project? 

 

The most stressful part of the project was found in two key areas. Carrying on from what I said previously, I had found that I had to redesign my mechanics and the gameplay of the level.

Originally I wanted to go for a more rooftop-runner like game heavily influenced by Russian constructivism and brutalist art forms, however this idea seemed better in my head.  Ergo I did not want to abandon this idea so it took me sometime to adapt the level into an isometric puzzle game.

This was one of the most stressful parts of the project.

 

Another stressful part of the project was my inexperience with the concept art workflow, this came from a lack of knowledge and understanding. For example I decided to model all of the levels with the isometric illusions, this was rather simple as I enjoy modelling. However when it came to rendering the six levels, I found it took roughly 3-4 hours to render a really high quality scene. This meant that I had to set up a render farm to get the quality I wanted.

 

However here I ran into trouble. I found over night the renders had crashed and corrupted my save files, this meant starting from scratch and having three levels that had good quality lighting and render setup, whilst the other three were made from scratch. Trying to paint these levels to look similar o each other was rather difficult and troublesome.

 

Q.  What strengths have you found; what skills have you learnt? 

 

During this project I have learnt how to convincingly create level concepts as well as understand the basis of level design. When it comes to concepting I have now acquired a new route to approaching a design or idea. I have also learnt how to create art with a simple and minimalistic colour palette.

 

Q. What weaknesses have you found; how could you improve?

 

I have found in this project that I have a rather dim or simple understanding about the concepting work flow, to me it seems like half of a project as I want these levels in engine, textured and ready to play. I have also found that during this project I let my outside life interfere my work life, which as you know is a huge mistake. I have sought to find a new level of motivation and during this project I felt that my motivation levels where at their lowest.

 

Q. What went well?

 

During this project I believe that my design ideas and “some” of my outcome came out rather well. I also found that I enjoyed this project considering the fact I was not in the right mind-set. The isometric levels have a good aesthetic and colour scheme and I find this to be rather effective especially for the art style I was influenced by.

 

 

 

Q. What didn't go well?

 

I found that the workflow did not work to my advantage. This was due to a lack of knowledge and understanding but also due to the fact that I ran into many hiccups along the way. This made the outcome a split decision in my mind, on one side I love the style I chose and the simplicity of the colour pallet, yet the outcomes to me feel like the they do not match well with each other and this makes feel like the project was a half success.

 

 

Q: What can you take from this project and apply to others?

 

I can take the outcomes of this project and proceed to move it forward and actually unwrap and texture the level to see how it works. I also want to create the isometric level in engine to see if I can get the cameras set-up just to see the full, complete workflow.

 

I would also take the new found knowledge I have when it comes to concept art and level design. I have found the workflow to be more slowed down yet detailed and comprehensive, this is something I believe I lack in my work.

 

Q: Was this project successful?

 

I believe that this project was somewhat successful. I love the outcome and the journey, however it feels semi-complete. I want to take it forward into engine to get it fully working.

I also want to use a more limited colour palette more often, to do this I need to find more art forms to get influenced by. Saying that I also would like my contextual art knowledge to lead my designs more.

 

Overall I feel happy with the outcome, I feel like I’ve learnt a lot considering concept art is not my sweet spot. I feel like I have pushed myself and I feel like I have separated myself from a lot of other game art students when it comes to creativity and imagination.