Task 7
Feedback - 7 results
For the feedback, I mainly asked 2 family members, 3 friends around college who do not take the same course and 2 friends from a different college. I also uploaded my video onto YouTube, where I explained my brief in the description and asked for comments. Before I asked the others questions, I explained to them what I was tasked to do and showed them the video play-through on my phone. I then wrote their responses down to upload onto blogger. I asked their thoughts on:
* Terrain Detail
* Model Detail
* Overall look of the level
* Strong / Weak points
YouTube comments
Terrain Detail
Overall, a lot of people liked my terrain. They mostly like how I had merged various textures to give the terrain a sandy rock kind of feel. Three complaints however were for how the terrain was structured. One person said:
"I like how the ground looks, but the mountains could use more rocky textures and more bumps."
The other people had a similar response and this could be improved by adding smaller, more rugged bumps to the mountains. I could also get more textures for the mountains.
Also, someone said that the hills might be a bit too large around the farm and they did not even see the farm at first.
Model Detail
The majority of people complimented the large amount of models I have produced, as well as their quality. Models that people seemed to point out were the saloon, rifles, chandelier and windmill. There was quite a recurring problem here though with the saloon model as many people pointed out that the saloon was "Missing a texture". This was noted back in development, but my time management had been made to be quite strict and I could find the time to spend researching a fix. The YouTube commenters also picked up on this with "but you had one or two textures missing"
Another point mentioned is that some of my models look a bit too blocky. One person has mentioned this so far and if you look at some of the houses, it is notable that they have quite sharp edges.
Overall Look and Match to the brief
Overall, The majority of people liked how I have set up my town. They mentioned how much detailed I had added and had similar comments to:
" The theme is quite impressively matched. Certain elements remind me a lot of when I used to play Red Dead Redemption."
Three other people also pointed out that the textures used all match the themes very well and they liked the overall feel of the town.
When I asked if the audience how much they think the brief has been matched, the majority of people said the game matched the brief very strongly and one person said the it matched a bit. This last persons comment was:
" I quite like the look of the game, but with the guns, I'm not sure if this should be rated 12+"
Others had comments such as " The environment is very well built and every aspect of it has amazing quality" suggested the overall look was really good.
Strong points
For the strengths and weaknesses sections, I have listed out points of the feedback I have gathered:
* Very detailed
* Some excellent looking models
* Good use of textures
* Feedback mostly suggests my game matches the brief quite well
Weak points
* Needs terrain shape improvement
* Some models could use slight improvements texture-wise and shape-wise ( adding missing textures and improving quality)
* Took a while to load the game
* Recording quality
Evaluation
This assignment saw me use a vast range of skills in order to produce the final outcome. I researched, designed, 3D modeled, textured objects, created UV maps, structured terrain and built a large town with my own design. From these processes, I have learnt many valuable skills I never knew before that would help greatly in jobs in the future.A very important skill I learnt that I had no idea about before the project was UV mapping. This looked rather complicated in the past, but was actually quite easy to do.
I believe I have used many correct methods and techniques in order to do this and I think my final product looks great. In terms of the brief, I believe that I have met it and completed what it has asked because I have created a bright, age 12+ friendly wild western 3D environment that users are able to explore. I also used quite a lot of time management skills for this project too. This was because I planned to make quite a lot of models at the start of the project and was able to fit them in so that I would not go past the deadline. For example, some reserve models I had on my plan, such as a train, had to be left out of production though due to the time it would take to produce. A negative side to my time management is that it was quite strict and I had to produce a lot of work each week to meet the deadline.
For the production process, I believe most stages of development were carried out effectively:
*Research - Here, I ensure to gather a number of objects that would inspire me when making my own. One important thing I learnt was developing terrains with textures. I learnt that a more effective terrain would use and merge multiple textures. The rest of the research enabled me to come up with new ideas on how exactly I could make models in modeller. For example, after researching houses in this era, I came up with a set of houses I could make for the town and was able to later on create these quite well in modeller.
*Planning - I was unable to construct the entire map that I planned from the start, but was able to construct a town and additional fort. This meant that I had planned to do too much and would be very hard to do in the length of time available, however, the planning for the objects and town went quite well and was carried out effectively further on.
* Production - Modelling wise, I spent lots of time thinking and developing my models. I believe the majority of them have been developed quite well, and a favourite of mine would be the hunting rifle. For my game world, production went quite well here too. It mostly went according to plan except I had to make a few additional changes on an unplanned date. In this process, I was able to develop a large amount of objects that I am quite proud of, as well as a detailed, play-through-able level. This was my most professional area as I had spent a lot of time ensuring models and the environment looked near perfect and was of a professional standard.
* Technical Competencies - I was able to relearn the modeller software quite quickly and believe I am very much capable of creating near-professional quality models. I have learnt that I am able to learn new software's and techniques quickly, such as UV mapping on Photoshop and advanced modelling on Modeller.
* Creativity - Throughout my work, I have researched many different aspects relating to the wild west. A lot of my ideas were greatly influenced by the game Red Dead Redemption and whilst modelling, I used the authentic feel of the game to inspire my creativity and create and develop many detailed models.
There are many improvements however, such as the ones mentioned in the feedback. Firstly, I believe I could have made the terrain more realistic. This is because during the research stage, I found out that rocky deserts are very rugged and jagged, but my terrain, in most parts, looks quite smooth. A change to make here would be to use the terrain editing tools effectively to give the mountain areas a more realistic look. I would also need to fix a number of textures as up close, some of them are just solid colours. A common point made in the feedback was a specific wall in the saloon as one of the polygons does not have a proper texture. This would only be a minor problem and would be fixable after a bit of testing however. Another big problem was that a specific fence on the farm appears to float a little bit. This is also easily fixable, but had unfortunately been easily missed. Also, to fix the recording quality, I could look into doing some experiments with the recording software, Cam studio such as changing video options.
Overall, I really like how my product has turned out. The artwork I produced for the small town went according to plan with a few small changes which I thought would be for the better. The town still looks better than how I imagined it and I was even able to create an additional fort area. It also works well for its intended audience. There are barely themes of violence, so this fits with the 12+ audience I was tasked for making it for. The only possibly violent part of my game would be the guns around the map, but they are just there for detail and would not be used in a proper game. I am very pleased with its overall aesthetic and techniques I have used. The vast majority of the textures work and fit quite nicely with the theme. Also, I have used techniques such as adding shadows for more realistic effects and terrain editing to merge textures together.The negative and improvements are mainly minor things that are easily fixable which is good and I believe the product looks very nice in its final stage.
