With this week its has been completely different from the last couple of weeks in the terms of production on the game. As I have mainly shifted my focus to my written work due to the time I have left before hand in as I only have a week and 4 days left. So I have chosen to get the written work out of the way so that I can work out where I am at with the submission work. So that I can focus on areas where I am falling behind on as once I have every thing sorted I can then improve upon some of the areas that need polishing. The reason for why I am doing this is to give me some spare time near the hand in just in any issues arise before hand in. As that’s the last thing I need as I am already stressing out if my work is up to submission standards and if I am behind on the work. However this week I have achieved a good amount of written work done as I have caught up with my reflective journal, made a good start to my research report proposal and finished my research documentation.
As with starting off my research report proposal I have a rough topic and idea of where I wanted to go with it as the last unit my essay covered storytelling in game using fallout 76 to compare with the rest of the fallout franchise. With this I wanted to carry on with this essay but in more detail and take it into a different direction. As I wanted to look into the ways of storytelling in games through game play, narrative and environmental storytelling. Which I would then look into the future off storytelling in game especially Fallout 76 on how they removed NPCs and now have added them back in and etc. With this I brought it up with Dean to see if it would work which he is on board with this idea. The reason for getting Deans opinion on my topic is that I was unsure if it was good enough to explore. So with this sorted I can right up a draft of my research report proposal to work out the layout. With writing up the draft I was unsure of if I was doing it right and what the right way of going about filling in the form. With this uncertainty Dean covered this issue during the online seminar this week on how to fill out the form and what it should look like. With this cleared I can fill in the form with my proposed idea of going about my essay idea. Even though I am still unsure if my question makes sense and how I am filling in my form. To solve this I have emailed dean my raft draft of the research report proposal to see if I am doing it right and any feedback I can get to improve upon my work.
With the start of this week we had a team meeting to discuss where everyone is at and what they have left to do with the game. With this everyone has been trying their best to carry on even with the unexpected circumstances and our own issues. As some of our team have jobs or have issues with accessing technology. But overall everyone has been keeping up with the tasks and workflow. Especially the Dev team ( John, Cameron and Marc) who has been working hard with the amount of game play features and fixing bugs so we have at least a playable game. With the meeting we had a discussion were we brought up when we are going to finish the game. As we have gotten to the point where we are more focused on our written work than our game. So with this we have decided to try and get the game completed by next week. The reason for this is we need to sort out our written work and prepare for the submission deadline. So with this we are going to finish it off the best we can and call it for now. With ending the game for now, I hope we are just putting it on pause for now and carry on with it another time. As I am enjoying working on this game idea and with my team as we have worked rather well in supporting each other during this unforeseen circumstances of Covid 19. This has made developing the game an interesting challenge.
I did manage to do a bit of work on the assets for the game as I exported most of my assets that have been polished and textured ready for the devs to pull from the Google drive. With this I still have some to finish off in the means of polishing them, UV mapping and texturing. Especially some of the houses/buildings as I have said before that they looked plain and flat. But with this week I didn’t get around to working on them due to my focus on my written work especially the Research Report Proposal. As I am more worried about my written work at the moment as I am worrying about my planning folder as I haven’t done as much as I expected. As I keep switching between the game and the written work. So my focus is on the written work but I will go back to the game when ever I have the time for it.
Overall this week has turned out rather well in sorting out my written work as I have managed to complete my research documentation, sorting out the journal and nearly have a completed draft of my research report proposal. I am especially happy that we are sorting out when we should stop our game where its at a playable stage. I have mentioned earlier that we need to sort out our written work that I discussed earlier.
As I am more focused on the written work than the game which annoys me that I am putting in more effort with the written work than the game. Whereas the rest of the team are working really hard on getting the game to a complete stage in getting it playable and have an end condition. But we have discussed to not stress to much about the game and focus on the work you need to do for submission. Which has made me a bit more relaxed with the game but I am still worried about the hand in with the amount and quality of work. Due to the unforeseen circumstances of Covid 19 where I am up and down with my production of work each week. However with the hand in closing in it has given me the motivation to carry on doing my best to complete this unit. Another thing to add is that we didn’t have our session with Aaron as we now have David which he wasn’t informed about. However we have arranged a meeting with him next Monday to give him an overview of our game and what we have been up to.
Thomas Morphew Games art 