A journal detailing the final stages of production for this game, from initial development of the temple's environment to final video edit.

1. Production Reflection
David Lee

2. Process – Production Journal Entry No.
1: Wednesday 4th March
• In order to ensure that the finished product would remain true to its story genre
as much as possible, I decided to create an environment that would
simultaneously give players a feeling of isolation as well as a sense of danger,
adventure and excitement. Unfortunately, however, having never been to the
forests of Tenerife, it would prove difficult to recreate to recreate the
overgrowth in pixel form so I ultimately resolved to focus on the temple’s
interior, as this would give me the creative freedom to draw whatever I felt as
being in keeping with an ancient and decaying structure instead of attempting
to faithfully recreate an image of a place I know nothing about.
• To accomplish this and give the product’s image a quality reminiscent of the
Nintendo games released in the 1980s and the 1990s, the latter to a lesser
degree, I deliberately altered the dimensions of the Photoshop document I
would be using to appear smaller (185x25), thereby necessitating the need to
magnify the image in order to properly create the temple’s environment.
Additionally, in developing the temple, I decided to use two rectangles to create
parts of said environment and colour-coded them to ensure that one would not
be confused with the other: Green would be used to create the temple walls,
while brown was used to create the floor of the structure. Strands of sunlight
(drawn in faded white) emanate from the back of the structure causing parts of
the cup, which rests on a black plinth, to glow a rusted yellow. These remaining
three elements were created using a combination of both brushes and pencil.
• While the environment I have developed is as yet unfinished and requires a few
more additional elements to make it appear more like an ancient abandoned
temple, I feel that what I have created so far has demonstrated creative promise
which I seek to take further as soon as I have settled upon a character to
incorporate into the mix.

3. Process – Production Journal Entry No.
2: Monday 9th March
• Despite enduring a few setbacks in applying the finishing touches to this image,
namely deciding the final look of the game’s character, the latter of which proved
to be more difficult than expected particularly when attempting to draw a rough
design in pixels, I ultimately managed to create the look I had originally
envisioned for this product since its initial development, complete with spider
webs (plus a comedic-looking spider for good measure) torch flames spread out
across the area leading to an ancient cup, presumably the Holy Grail (albeit
unconfirmed), standing atop a tall, black plinth. As with the plinth and sunbeams
depicted in the previous slide, these were created using both brushes and pencils
but primarily pencil.
• In creating these flames, I resolved to follow a small but important rule, which
would also apply to real life, that no one flame should be the same or, at least,
not follow the same pattern. Therefore, each torch that is part of the temple’s
backdrop prominently displays an individual flame moving in different directions
from left to right, up to down, etc., to give the impression that a gale of wind is
present in the temple, despite it being near impossible for such a force to enter
an inside area. Additionally, more subtler but equally important elements can be
seen such as tiny sparks of flame, must likely as a result of the wood losing its
moisture, playing across the entire temple but not enough for their presence to
be fatal to the character.
• While there are certainly elements that could have been done better, such as the
spider-web intended to appear at the far end of the temple walls, and those that
could have been made faster had I thought to have streamlined the development
process, I am particularly pleased with how the overall image has turned out as it
helps to give a sense of, despite the fact that it is only seen as a side image, how
vast the temple is as well as give an impression to gamers of what archaeologists
might expect to see in real life.

4. Process – Production Journal Entry No. 3:
Wednesday 11th & Monday 16th March
• Wednesday 11th March:
• Having applied the finishing touches to my game’s environment and character, I
have already begun creating a piece of music as a means of giving my finished
product a wide and diverse soundscape. To this end, I will be conducting
experiments on GarageBand to determine which instruments will be appropriate
for my music which, given my game’s status as an 8-bit animation, will most likely
include the use of electronic synthesisers.
• Although my knowledge of the application’s workings is limited at best, I have
already begun recording a piece of electronic music in the key of F Minor using
the Taerung Music Bass, thereby retaining the sense of danger, uncertainty and
excitement I had originally envisioned when setting up this project, which I will
over the following week add to using additional instruments, which may or may
not include electronic drums or strings.
• Monday 16th March:
• Continuing directly from my first GarageBand session last Wednesday, I have
conducted a multitude of remixes and alterations of my original piece before
creating the final version to be used in my finished game (see below), which uses
a combination of electronic bass, strings and drums (the first two are created
using the Taerung Music Bass while the third was made utilising the seismic drum
kit.) Each of these three elements are combined to create an Indiana Jones-esque
piece of music that will be played as the character traverses his way through
cobwebs, spiders and so on, in order to retrieve the goblet that he has come for.
• While I feel that my finished piece of music could have been better developed
with more time, plus learning how to use GarageBand during the development
stages of an earlier project for similar reasons, I am nonetheless very pleased
with how the final thing has turned out, particularly with the bend in alternation
at certain intervals, which were incorporated deliberately to give the impression
of an (unseen) computer or television screen acting up.
Before
After

5. Process – Production Journal Entry No.
4: Monday 16th March
• Having previously performed a couple of animation experiments, one involving
a colour-changing circle and the other featuring a cat moving across a garden
on a sunny day, I felt that I was able to take the skills I had learnt from these
experiments forward and incorporate them into the final animation of my
game in Adobe Photoshop. One aspect the animation prominently displays, in
remaining consistent with the animation techniques inherent in 8-bit games, is
that the environment moves in conjunction with the character’s steps. I had
originally intended to utilise this technique within my cat animation to give it a
sense of fluidity as well as perspective, but this ultimately did not occur as it
would have taken considerable time to animate the entire environment, save
for a few clouds.
• During the animation process, I encountered a few minor setbacks in animating
certain elements of the game’s environments, particularly the waterdrops
hanging from the cave roof. Although I had originally intended to show said
drops dripping onto the cave floor, this ultimately proved unfeasible having
created two-water drops on the same layer, forcing me to animate them
moving across the environment with the rest of the objects. A similar principle
was applied to the spider show between the third and fourth torches, hanging
from a strand of webbing.
• Despite still being plagued by limitations throughout the production of this
game, I feel that the finished animation has still turned out particularly well
owing to the number of elements I incorporated in order to make it feel as
close to an 8-bit game experience as possible. While there are elements I
ultimately had to scrap due to timing reasons, such as the heads-up display
displaying how many lives the character has in addition to how many minutes, I
feel that the animation is of a decent-enough quality to function perfectly
without them.

6. Process – Production Journal Entry No.
5: Tuesday/Wednesday 17/18th March
• Tuesday 17th:
• Having successfully completed and rendered my finished animation, the only
task left to undertake was turning the short into a video of suitable length on
Adobe Premier Pro. As a result, this would require the video to be slowed down
in order to fit the length of the music piece I created on GarageBand and, if
need be, trim them both down. Unfortunately, however, while I was able to
incorporate my newly-created title screen into the video section, I was unable to
do the same with my video, as it would only register the audio segment.
• Fortunately, however, I was able to find a solution to the problem with help
from an anonymous source. This consisted of simply unlocking the first video
channel which, in turn, allowed me to begin editing my finished animation to a
feasible length. However, due to the animation’s length being a minimum of
only 4 seconds, this required me to slow the animation down by a considerable
margin in order to bring it to a suitable length. Additionally, to ensure the
animation did not overrun, I made a conscious decision to cut part of the music,
fading out as my character approaches the goblet and restarting the music after
he removes the goblet from its plinth. This has been done deliberately to give
the animation a sense of atmosphere and uncertainty, made even more
prominent as the music reaches its crescendo as the man attempts to escape
the temple
• Wednesday 18th:
• Carrying directly on from yesterday’s editing session in Premier Pro, I have
decided to apply a few finishing touches to the animation as a means of
ensuring that it does not end abruptly. This included a constant gain transition
which comes into play after my character has picked up the cup and begins to
make good his escape from the temple, thereby allowing a smooth transition
between the fade out during the moments between making his way to the
plinth and the fade in as he carefully picks up the goblet, so as to avoid
activating any traps, and begins to make good his escape. Additionally, part of
the music that I had cut from the animation plays during the “Thanks For
Watching” screen and is played for up to four seconds before fading after the
title card disappears.
• Although I feel I could have done more to add to this animation and make it feel
more authentic, such as creating a cover for a version of PC or Nintendo Switch
or a logo featuring the cup at the centre of the image, I am genuinely satisfied
with its quality (blurry imagery notwithstanding) enough to the point that I feel
it can capably stand on its own without the need of other forms of merchandise.
Before
After