Presentation script
[slide 1 project Morpheus] Hello my name is robert spence, and this is my presentation of the Final Major Project.
[slide 2 presentation outline] I will be going over various points in the presentation. The Synopsis, aim of the project, a flythrough the environment, influences, group work, challenges , evaluation, learning over the project, and aims for the future.
[slide 3 synopsis] Originally I had a different idea for the project. To produce a modular asset pack that could be used to create a star ship interior. The point of the pack being that it could be customised to fit different hulls. After sharing this idea with fellow course members and friends, a few professed interest in working on such a project. After that is was a couple of meetings and we had a completely different idea prepared. Group members mentioned wanting to create a whole backstory for the project. This is where we came up with the idea of project Morpheus. A third person game that uses an alien threat and exploration game mechanics, using the alien threat as an inhibitor for exploring. Establishing the genre, story and game mode gave us a good starting point to plan out our respective projects.
[slide 4 Aim and target audience]
One of my goals for this project was to create a portfolio piece that takes into account the learning I have done over the course. Using the skills I have developed and improving on issues brought up in previous projects. Using this learning I would create an explorable environment to show to potential employers. This includes designing, modelling, and texturing each of the assets as well as applying collision, placement and lighting. Limited interactability was a second concern.
[slide 5 the video]
The hydroponics department. The part of the station that handles multiple important functions. Water recycling in the vats, photosynthesis based air recycling, growth of edibles, and research into new strains of plants.
[slide 6 Influences] The industry has a few prominent games that use similar ideas and styles to the ones we were looking to create. Tripple A Games like Alien isolation by creative assembly and Prey by Bethesda both use implacable alien threats in open, explorable environments. We wanted to go more for Preys look and feel, because alien isolation was too much into the horror genre. One of the other main references was the Station in Mass effect andromeda. It has open environments with a clean look. In terms of other media we looked at films like Passengers and The Martian for their visual design. Most of my reference came from artists like Robert hodri, Brian Sum, JB Banks, Tor Frick, Eren Vasquez, and Sungwoo Lee.
[slide 7 Working in a group]
Working in a group was an interesting experience. Part of the reason I wanted to work with people on a project was to experience the good and bad aspects of group work. The other part was to narrow our focus. To work on a similar goal with the restriction of getting our art styles in line with each other. Getting this experience will better prepare me for work in proper teams. I know that our group worked in a vastly different way to how an actual studio works but that dosnt mean to say that the experience wont help. Getting feedback from people trying to achieve the same goal is helpful.
[slide 8 challenges]
Scope was one of the biggest issues we faced. The character artists did well keeping to schedule for their side of the project. It was the three of us environment artists that struggled the most. Setting out to create two versions of the environment was a mistake. We might have been able to keep to schedule if we were experienced artists in a proper work environment. In this case we overestimated our working capability. Something that should have been focused on every few weeks. it was about half way through I realised that it would be challenging if not impossible to get all the features I wanted implemented in time. Talking with team mates and lecturers we agreed that scaling back would be an idea if we did not have time to implement the extras. Focusing on quality over quantity. Some of my problems stemmed from lack of communication. Perhaps if I had revealed that I was struggling early on I could have rescheduled or scaled the scope earlier, avoiding stress that caused more problems.
[slide 9 evaluating criteria]
Time spent…12 weeks. Not including planning. It is hard to gauge what is an appropriate time for creating an environment. Much of it depends on how many assets are needed for the scene, what quality they need to be, and how efficiently they are created. Originally I had estimated 4-5 weeks per environment. With the last couple of weeks reserved for interactability and lighting. Finding out later that artstation environment challenges are given 8 weeks, I might have planned to focus on producing just the one environment. The industry expects artists to be able to optimise their work as much as possible. The less memory an asset or environment uses the more can be put into a game. I think I did quite well in terms of optimisation. A couple of issues were pointed out early. One was the transparent textures in the floors and another was how open the environment was. Due to placement of the assets within the scene I couldn’t wall off many areas. But in terms of the transparent textures a lot of the issues were caused by using boxes rather than planes, doubling the rendering needed through those surfaces. The tanks were also causing an issue for much the same reasons compounded by the fact they had a particle effect inside each of them. One of the key skills for any artist is composition. The main composition itself was sorted in the planning stage but there were minor adjustments to balance everything within the engine.
[slide 10 successful or not?]
The environment is at a quality where I can put it up on my portfolio. Which might note have been the case had I chosen to split my focus. This way I only need to tweak one environment a little for show rather than heavily redoing two. There is more I would like to do but I will talk about that at the end.
[Slide 11 what I took from the project]
Scope and scale are important. So is communication. Not just between team mates but in terms of getting feedback from others. It is also important to take a step back relax and take a look at the greater picture. Too much time was spent in a rut focusing on things that did not matter. I am not a leader. Being able to both focus on my work and on managing others at the same time is not a skill I possess…yet. In terms of the positives I have noticed that I am more likely to read into new 3d techniques and try them out. My general art skills have improved. Texturing, baking, composition, and lighting were things I struggled with more than the modelling but I feel more confident now in what I can do. I have also gotten more comfortable with posting my work up. Not as much as Id like but im getting better.
[slide 12 future plans]
My main focus over the next few weeks will be on the artstation beyond human challenge. I have been putting minimal effort in to get the FMP done. I will also be working on all the projects I posted on my portfolio. Including this one. Improving where needed and culling where necessary. Making the portfolio as strong as possible for job application.