Monday 15 March 2010

what do I think?

OK so the first proper review of the group projects is now only a few days away, so here is my view on how things have been going.

Do I think that my work will be ready for viewing?

hopefully, but with the sudden loss of my graphics tablet, "Rest in Piece", I am now limited to getting my textures finished during the time the labs are open. Still this should be plenty time, and to be honest I find it easier to concentrate on the work in there, a lot less distractions.

What is my opinion on the results so far?

Personally I think that the group project has gone better than i ever imagined. The group that i have been teamed up with, (go SPAAZERS) has been almost perfect. There have been no conflicts, thank god.

What do i think about the way the group is set up?

All decisions were not made buy a single team leader, we have all been able to put in our opinions and ideas. At first the decision to not have a team leader seemed wise, we all get along very well, there so no need for a person to fill the 'seat of power'. But after talking to both lectures and student we decided that if the team were to start to crumble, that person who took this 'Seat of power' would become the backbone of the group, supporting us all, helping move us froward through coming weeks to get the project done. Luckily there have been no brake-downs, everyone has managed to pull there own weight accordingly/

The Group was set up based on people strengths. I myself, at first wanted to concentrate on either concept side of things, or modelling the environment itself, but I was a little wiry about that though, because my texturing skills were still hidden in the gutter somewhere. It was my major weakness, in all my other game production projects, it was the one thing I despised. I could never get it right, texture would always stretch, I found Unwrapping more of a chore, than anything.

After analysing the queens building and working on the overall layout of our chosen area, i found one thing that way consistent throughout all of it. The pipe work, it is everywhere, no matter where you look there are there hanging above, like they are ready to drop on you at any second. There is was my mind was made, I found that the pipes held a lot of the character to this place and I wanted to be able to work on this. and by the time it got to unwrapping these, I was dreading it. but the discovery of Pelt unwrapping changed my mind. Life became so much easier, Select an edge, make a seam, and pelt. adjust edges accordingly and your done.

Anyway back to the question at hand, other people also focused on what the group felt was there strongest skills.
Mark for instance, is the 'Unreal guy' focusing on getting everything into the game engine, adding effects and more.
Andy was also worked on another consistent thing throughout the level and that was a stairwell, another daunting task. But he did a very good job.
Priya and Aby were the art directors focusing mainly on the style and colour scheme, there idea were in tune with each other and everyone else for that matter, Leave little conflict on ideas. They also worked on modelling repeatable assets throughout the level
Zongyi, well what can I say she was given the seat of power, and in my opinion she pulled it off pretty well. Did abuse her power from time to time but only to lighten the mood.
Mark and Zongi also worked on modelling the male and female toilets, tasks were set appropriately of course.


I didn't 'apply' for the role of team leader for the reason that I sometimes find it hard enough to deal with the work that I alone have, and I don't think that I could of coped with the weight of the others, if the group were to ever collapse. "Game over man"

Do I think that I have done enough work?

At first i have to say I felt as if I had not done enough at all, think about it Mark and Zongyi, had there toilets, Aby and Priya had there assets and visual work, Andy have three different stairwells and me, well I had a bunch of pipes. but with the level then later being split up for each section to work on for texturing, I found that what I think is pure coincidence I ended up with the area with the most assets, that hadn't been modelled.

If I could do this project again what would I do differently?

Well to be honest the main thing would have to be learning and experimenting with the Unreal engine a lot more than I have. the other thing is that with almost all my attention on this project I have nearly abandoned my visual design work. Leaving my hours of work for that module lacking a little more than I would like.

So there you have it my view on the 'Spaazm' project. Don't ask me why it is layout the way it is. Its more like one of those sheet you used to have to fill in at school for your conclusion to a science experiment.

Pictures of the project will be post as soon as I have finished my texture sheets.
You can also check the groups progress through our Blog

1 comment:

Aby Bagulay said...

LOL. Nice post! I agree, our groups awsum. Dont put yourself down, the pipes were a HUGE amount of work, all by themselves, all the little connections and fiddley bits. I'm proud of all of us for the way we've worked and what we've got done...