weekly production reflection

1. Production
Reflection
TOM HAASE

2. Process – Week 1
 This week I started a new project (video game) and to start off the project I completed a PowerPoint which was my Initial Plans. Within
this PowerPoint I discussed my initial reaction to the overview of the project and what I will be doing and the software I will be using.
 After this I created mind map for three ideas I had for my game, using the website ‘Bubbl.us’ which was very easy to use and create a
mind map, allowing me to link ideas I had together with others. A screenshot of the mind map I made is below. I think that this website
is very useful as it gives me an outline for my video game ideas, and it gives me a general template I can follow.
 Next I created a mood board to show a visual representation to go with my mind map and my ideas, however I don’t think this is very
useful, as in my mood board analysis I explained that because I got these images of Google they do not show the correct colours I want
to display, therefore they don’t as a whole the images don’t show an overall feel/mood that I want to portray, for example I want to have
a scary/spooky look/feel for my game, however the images on my mood board are too peaceful and not scary enough, as I didn’t make
them myself and they were the best images I could find. A screenshot of my mood board is to the right and for appearance purposes I
slanted the images and overlapped them to make them look more exciting, rather than just placing spaced-out images onto the
PowerPoint slide.
 After this I filled out a schedule for the five weeks that I will be working on my video game, stating the specific tasks I will be doing on
different PowerPoints. The schedule is below and as you can I stated what I would be doing each week, with research and pre-
production for the first two weeks, physically making my video game, using Photoshop and Premiere Pro, for the third and fourth week,
then completing an evaluation for my video game on the final week.
 To finish this PowerPoint I made a bibliography stating the websites I used to gather certain information and images that I used in this
PowerPoint.
 After completing my first PowerPoint I then completed a PowerPoint called ‘Case Study’ where I research one game and evaluated it. The
game I chose to evaluate was Far Cry Primal and I discussed all the features in the game and compared them to others. I discussed all
the aspects that a game should include and how this game presented them all, the aspects that a game should include were in the
overview of the course project PowerPoint.
 I then talked about the game’s audio (the music used and the sound effects) and how these have an impact on the player’s experience.

3. Process – Week 2
 This week I was only in College on Tuesday, due to the weather making it difficult to make it in on time on Wednesday and
forcing the College to shut on Thursday and Friday.
 Because I only had Tuesday to work I didn’t complete a lot, however I completed my production experiments. Using
Photoshop I drew random characters, in pixel art, and made it look like they were moving. I did this by created many
separate layers and using the timeline to make the animation, showing each layer of each limb in order, putting them in
different positions to make it look as if they are moving.
 For the first character I made I used the course content PowerPoint to follow the ideas of a stick figure walking, creating
eight layers for each limb and for the second character I made I followed an idea on the PowerPoint to make it look as if the
character was running, creating different layers for each arm and leg. I then made a ghost moving the points of the ghost’s
‘body’ moving making it seem the ghost is floating. Pictures of the characters I made are at the bottom of the page.
 For the background I used the paint brush tool instead of the pencil tool and drew a sky by painting across the top of the
page and adding stars etc. by making the size of the brush smaller and painting one spot, making it look blurry as if it were
far away.
 This production experiment is helpful for this project because now I know how to make a character look as if they are
running and I got a chance to use pixel art on Photoshop again, to refresh my memory of how to use it. However for my
final project at the end of the year I don’t think this pixel art use will be very helpful because at the moment I am not going
to choose video games for my FMP and instead choosing print.

4. Process – week 3
 This week I started on production for my final product. Throughout Tuesday to Friday I was creating/drawing my designs on Photoshop
using pixel art.
 On Tuesday I worked only on my background and because my game is a side-scrolling game I had to make this on a different file as I had
to make the size of the canvas a lot longer than you can see on the screen. The level I was creating was based on a graveyard, so I
searched for images on google for different graveyards and their layouts, so I first drew a sky and a ground that is the a the front of the
screen as all the rest of the features of the background will be behind the characters, grass and clouds that would be in my game. After
drawing the ground and the sky I searched for different types of gravestones and tried to draw them in pixel art. This task of making a
background wasn’t too difficult however it wasn’t easy and it took a long time, as I only finished this background on Wednesday. A
screenshot of the background is at the bottom of the screen.
 On Thursday and Friday I was working on my characters and how they would be drawn to look as if they was moving. I spent a lot of time
on these character to make him detailed and by making each layer of this character detailed in movement, for example I change the
mouth, eyes and hair of each character on the four layers I made of the person. And changed the the point on the hat and the end of the
my other character (the ghost) to make it seem as if it was flying. Making these characters and their movements was a difficult task as I
used many different colours on their faces and bodies as you can see from the screenshots at the bottom of the page. Because these tasks
was so difficult it took all of Thursday and Friday to make. However I am very pleased with the outcome of them and their appearance as
they are detailed and it actually looks as if they are moving. At the bottom you can see three characters however I only made the the
middle one able to move and playing in my level as I only made the other two for a character selection page and the other two characters
are copies of the original one (middle one) with different colours used on them. The same goes for the the enemy characters on the other
picture I only had the ghost playing in the level and able to move as I only made the zombie for appearance on my character selection
page.
 Overall I I think that this has been enjoyable to make as I am pleased with my outcome, however it will likely not be helpful for my FMP
because I am not choosing video game, however I did get to use Photoshop again which is useful for my FMP as I am choosing Print
production. If I was to make these pixel art designs again and if I had more time I would have one of the other characters on each page
able to move and have them feature in a level.

5. Process – week 4 part 1
 On Tuesday and Wednesday I carried on working on my pixel art production as I finished my characters and background last week, so I was working on
menu screens and non-gameplay features. The screenshots at the bottom of the page are from my video game and are the designs I created on Tuesday
and Wednesday. The first screenshot is of my home page and decided to name my game “Dead Escape” so I displayed this name largely on the main home
page. For the colours I used on the title and the background I used the colours I showed in my Pre-Production PowerPoint as they work with the colours of
zombies and the dead, as I wanted to use fairly bright colours but also represent the dead and I used white for the ‘help’ button and etc. as it looks good
and clear against the background. I searched zombie face on google and attempted to follow the design in pixel art for the picture in the top left of the
home page, and I am pleased with how it turned out as I put a lot of detail into it and the used many different colours to make shadows etc.
 The second screenshot is a ‘level select’ page where the ‘player’ chooses which level they want to play and as you can see on the buttons on this page has a
black outline compared to the other grey outlines on the other buttons and I have done this to show a ‘hover’ of the button as if the ‘player’ is hovering over
the button about to press it. I have done this for every button that is pressed in my video game and drawn a white outline over the button when the ‘player’
actually presses it. Due to the time limit I have on making my video game and the amount of time it took to produce what I have made so far I could only
make one level therefore the ‘player’ only chooses ‘level 1’. However if I had more time to work on my production I would have made a second level with a
different setting and background.
 The third screenshot is my design for a pause menu where I have animated it so the music is turned off and the ‘player’ continues to play the level. I have
made this menu appear twice in my production: once to make the ‘player’ turn off the music and second to make the ‘player’ turn the music back on.
 The fourth and fifth screenshot work together to show that the ‘player’ has died and failed the level as the first image shows blood dropping down from the
top of the screen and I am pleased with design because I created it with detail as I used lighter and darker colours in the drops of the blood to show
shadowing etc. The second image is the screen that shows the ‘game over’ and I drew the letters in an abstract manner to give it a retro look of a death
screen, as you see in professional retro video games. I used these light and dark red colours for the representation of blood and death and to show it’s the
end. However after this screen I made a ‘retry level’ page where the ‘player’ retries the level.
 Over all I am pleased with my pixel art production I made using Photoshop although the pixel art may not be helpful for my FMP I have still enjoyed making
my designs and am pleased with the outcome.

6. Process – week 4 part 2
 On Thursday and Friday (after I had finished my pixel art production on Photoshop) I used Premiere Pro add music and sound effects to my
video game.
 Throughout my video game I used a background music that that got louder when there was actual gameplay and I added many different
sound effects into my game as well.
 As you can see the first two pictures are the character selection pages and on the first screenshot there is a hover feature over the character
before clicking on it, and I added little sounds every time the hover selection was changed. Then the second screenshot (with the white
selection instead of the black selection) there is the actual clicking on the character, where I added in a louder noise I found on a loyalty free
video on YouTube.
 The second screenshot shows my character jumping over an obstacle, collecting a coin in the mean time. I added sound effects for both of
these features. I found both sounds on YouTube as they were too difficult to make in real life with the time I had. However for the running
sound effect on my video game I recorded myself with an audio recorder.
 The fourth screenshot is the pause button and turning the music off and after watching and reflecting I am pleased with this feature I added
into my work, as I when the music button was pressed in-game I edited the video on Premiere Pro to stop the music, so you could only hear
sound effects, then later when the music button was pressed again, I resumed the music. I believe that this feature took some more skill to
make compared to adding in sound effects.
 The final screenshot is the character stepping on a spike which ends the game and I found a ‘game over’ sound effect on YouTube and added
that into my video, where I faded away the music using ‘exponential fade’ in audio transitions.
 As I said previously I am very pleased with what I have created, however the pixel art drawing on Photoshop wasn’t very useful for preparing
me for my FMP as I am most likely choosing a print based project rather than video game. Although the use of Premiere Pro and editing
sounds into an existing video and using the effects on Premiere Pro could be useful as I may want to create a short advert or clip for my
product I am making in print. For example an advert for my album cover.

7. Process – week 5
 This week I was working purely on my evaluation, as I had finished and exported my video game.
 First of all I evaluated my research (the first screenshot at the bottom of the page). I took screenshots from my research PowerPoint, which included the
analysis of existing products and discussing in detail why I chose them and how they helped me when making my final product. This was useful as for
every project I have to complete some sort of research at the start and an evaluation at the end, therefore I will always have to analyse my research,
meaning I realised some points I could include in my research, after reflecting, for my FMP, allowing me to achieve more marks.
 Next I analysed my planning, where I discussed in detail how and why I chose certain colours and fonts for my work, my mood board that I created for
my game and whether or not this was useful and the improvements I could have made to it. Again this is useful as for every subject in the FMP you
need to create a mood board, therefore you will have to evaluate it at the end, meaning I learnt some points I could include in my mood board for my
print project in my FMP. I also evaluated my experiments I made which again I will need to do in my FMP, making it useful.
 My next part of my evaluation was for my time management, how well I managed my time, what I could have done if I had more time, what I could have
done to provide myself with more time and what obstacles were in my way preventing me from working. This was also helpful as it made me realise
more improvements I can make for my FMP, to allow me to complete as much as I can in the time I have and what I can do if I don’t have this time (for
example working at home).
 Next I evaluated my technical and aesthetic qualities of my video game and the smoothness of the flow and how it looks etc. This wasn’t too helpful as I
wont be making a video game for my FMP so I won’t need to work on the flow of my video game and the movements of the character etc., however it
did allow me to look at my work and look for improvements which I will have to do in my FMP just with a different product.
 Finally I evaluated my audience appeal, where I discussed how I appealed to my target audience and what I could have done more to appeal to them
and how my researched helped in appealing as well. This was useful for my FMP as for whatever product I am going to make I will always need to work
with my research to appeal to my target audience.