DES302 Blog 5:

Welcome to my week 9 & 10 update! Things are starting to look dire, but we're hanging in there! Hahahaha... Haha...

Once again I will be using the "What? So What? Now What?" reflective cycle created by Rolfe et al (2001), and curated by the University of Edinburgh (2020). It's simple, effective, and flexible enough for me to showcase my mental breakdowns. Enjoy!

Rolfe et al (2001)

What!?

Sooo, what's been happening in these vital final weeks? Well, I took to heart the video inspiration I found in the previous blog, shouting at us to "Just do!!" And I have done some substantial actual work! Everything you'll see coming is 100% made from scratch, by me (I love my job, everything is fine).

Since my last update I have...

• Given idle animations to 4/5 player characters: (~1hr work each, to break down the pieces and make sure no stray pixels are messing with the final export)

  
  

  

  

  

  

  
  

• Created a forest game environment scene: (~6 hrs work)

  

• Created a seaside town game environment scene: (~10 hrs of work)

  

• Created UI "buttons" to put on the screen to showcase player controls: (adjusting with feedback on sizing, contrast)

  

• Created a menu page, with task examples: (based on the menu book icon created above, maybe ~3hrs work?)

  
  

  

  
  

• Quickly made a logo, notification example, phone widget example (~1hr)

  
  

  

  

• And put all these still components together for a poster that was due in week 10

Now that I have a base of a prototype appearing, there's still a lot to do!

So What?

So what do I still need to do?

Imgur. (2018). objective survive. Imgur.

Everything apart from the player characters (and that lil green wizard), are currently not animated. I need to add idle environmental animations in photoshop to really bring them to life. This will include things like falling leaves, fireflies moving, light changing, sea bobbing and possible quest icons bobbing. These types of idle effects will elevate the concept environment from an image, to a living world (just a little more).

On top of animating environments, there is also character animations to finish. I need to finish the final player idle bob animation, then I want at least one character in a fight animation to go into a boss fight scene, and another in a simple walk cycle to showcase on the phone widget.

So overall, my prototype to-do list is:

• create a boss fight scene (either a dungeon ruin, or outdoors with castle in background)

• create an animated shadow wraith boss, link to fighting character in one gif to show it taking damage

• Add possible turn-based line-up fight order to showcase fighting mode gameplay

• Create an idle campfire rest environment, that showcases the group's flame progress and weekly goals, and player progress

• add idle animations to all environments

• Animate a character in a fight loop

• Animate a character in a walking loop

• See if I can compile all environment animations into one carefully timed gif in photoshop, or split animated layers to compile in the final slideshow

• cry

That's just the prototype list as well. For the final exhibition we still need to pull together a visual workbook, a final presentation, fix my Miro board to be readable, and then pull off the table display with added components to make it look nicer than a poster and computer.

We have a long road ahead, but a solid foundation has formed!

Now What?

How am I feeling about all of this?

STRESSED OML. But I don't have time to be stressed, so I simply are not (I think). The crushing weight of everything still left to do is starting to hit hard, but I don't have time to break down, we just need to keep pushing forwards, keep making content for the final showcase.

Reflecting on these past weeks: it has been an uphill battle. If I have learnt anything, it has definitely been START EARLY, and that the hardest step to take is always the first one. Looking at the mountain of tasks; the looming wave ahead, has always felt daunting. This is the first real project with the railroads taken away. It feels like we're reaching out in the dark, trailblazing our own paths ahead for this project for the first time. All previous courses have had set waypoints and groupwork to guide our progress, but this course has us determining our own level of standards for the final outcome. Perhaps that is why I previously felt intimidated by the standard and work commitment I set for myself. I am really interested in making this type of work, but the context of making it for assignment work; following it up with reports, checkpoints, presentations and more, has made it all the more daunting to approach.

At the end of the day I need to refocus my sight on where to tread next; carrying on with my torch in the dark. We're nearly there, we have good progress, and just "a few" more tasks left to create an awesome prototype. Onwards!

References:

Imgur. (2018). objective survive. Imgur. https://imgur.com/gallery/objective-survive-BkUYBs4

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

The University of Edinburgh. (2020). What? So what? Now what? The University of Edinburgh. https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/what-so-what-now-what