Evaluation

Evaluation

In the evaluations I will describe in depth how this project has progressed. I will express in detail about my thought and feeling during this project, and I will also outline certain issues and problems that I have encountered and then intern overcome.

Group

Because this was a group project I had to pick a suitable partner to be with and we were luckily enough to get to pick our own partner, but because there was more artists than designers most of the groups were made up of three’s this made things more awkward as the partner I initially wanted had already been taken which meant I had to settle and be with Ram and Matt I thought this would have been a good choice as I knew Matt was a good designer and Ram was a very hard worker.

The first few weeks we were predominantly trying to think of ideas for our map such as what the story will entail and were the map would be set. Once we had a few basic ideas for the map we came up with a list of assets that would need to be created for the map. Due to lack of communication between me and my team mates, the setting for our map had changed from an underground metro system to a small town. Meaning a few of my models wouldn’t be used at all. This also meant I had to create new models with a limited time left. Luckily I was able to get a few completed in time.

Modelling

Coming into this project I was very apprehensive about a number of things, one of these were modelling. Although I had used the modelling software before I wasn’t very confident in my skills as a modeller, because of this I was considering switching to a designer instead of an artist. But I was convinced otherwise by a peer as he wanted me to be in his group as an artist. I was a bit reluctant to model anything at first but when I got into it I actually started to enjoy modelling but. I did struggle at time with the software but these were easily overcome by getting assistance from the internet, Simon or my peers. Because I was very hesitant and struggled it took me awhile to create one model. What I tended to do was move from model to model instead of completing one and moving on to the next this meant it took even longer.

The next step was to start texturing these models once I had completed them. But because the whole group was unfamiliar with how to edit uv’s and texture a model correctly, Simon gave us a tutorial of two different ways to do so. After getting this tutorial I was still a bit confused about the process, but after a one on one tutorial with Simon I was able to get the hang of texturing. When I first attempted to texture I struggled slightly but when I finished it I was pretty happy with the outcome. After doing the first one, the rest followed and the process had become almost second nature to me. But because I took longer to make my models I didn’t finish texturing my models till the last week.

The Game

Due to a lack of work from our designer our map hadn’t been designed efficiently and was left to the last second. I was really annoyed at this as I was worried that our group would not have a playable map in time for submission. After a lot of badgering from Ram, Matt had started creating the map but he encountered a few technical issues with opening the map in UDK. But luckily we were able to scratch something together just in time for the assessment day. But I was unable to present the game as I had to leave to go work, this was kind of a relief as I was ashamed of the work my group had produced

Conclusion

This project was one of my worst ones so far and I think this is down to two things really, the group communication was terrible and we didn’t work together very well, plus I left a lot of work to the last minute. I think for the next project I will make sure I pick a more suitable team and take a more active and commanding role in my group to make sure all the work is done for the deadline. I will also do a lot of my work in advance as I have struggled to meet deadlines due to me leaving everything till the last minute.