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MAKING AND MEDIA
{ WORK BOOK + ANNOTATIONS + DOWNLOAD }
( NO AI WAS USED IN THE WRITING OF THIS PAPER
OR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS GAME)
This semester we have been tasked with creating an interactive collage, 12 annotations discussing game design-related topics, and a workbook of our development process.
The collage must also convey our own identity in some way. and be based off a pivotal moment in our life. This can be shown through narrative, mechanics, visuals or anything else.
WEEK 1
(CONCEPTING)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
Concept phase,
For this project I would like to test my interdisciplinary design skills by using Blender, Unity, Photoshop, and my phone camera to create an interactive replica of my bedroom and everything important in it. I plan to create and implement numerous selectable objects which represent who I am and all of the things I love the most. The project will be an authentic, digital extension of myself that tonally facilitates whimsy. As I believe work of this nature will be sought after in a future oversaturated with soulless, perfect content.
Soul is the most finite resource.
Many unfortunately forget to utilise It.
Planned Interactive Collage objects:
My computer desk
(Displays my digital artwork (my biggest hobby) + the desk I do my work at and the peripherals that I use to do so)
My video game shelf
(featuring all of the games which have inspired me and the interactive experiences I design today)
My album shelf
(Music vinyls that have a large significance in my life, albums that I can go without skipping any songs on)
My bed
(Shows how I recharge.)
My window
(The view from outside my room + moving sky shows where I contemplate.)
My dog
(maisy!!!!! Add bark if time allows for it.
My CRT TV
(film and TV that inspires who I am and what I create)
My painting easel
(possibly an interactive painting minigame)
My clothes, on the clothing rack which I made from scratch IRL
(Showing my interest in style)
My skateboard
(showing my favourite active hobby)
My guitar
(interact with the instrument I play)
My amp
(Try turning on my amp; feedback sound since my amp is broken.)
My lights
(Change the lighting of the room to show off the real-time environment.)
My drawings
(A selection of my drawings, hung up on the walls)
My paintings
(The paintings I showed during my first art exhibition last year)
My Door
(Mechanically allows the player to exit the game and represents me leaving my room in the real world.)
My computer desk
(Displays my digital artwork (my biggest hobby) + the desk I do my work at and the peripherals that I use to do so)
My video game shelf
(featuring all of the games which have inspired me and the interactive experiences I design today)
My album shelf
(Music vinyls that have a large significance in my life, albums that I can go without skipping any songs on)
My bed
(Shows how I recharge.)
My window
(The view from outside my room + moving sky shows where I contemplate.)
My dog
(maisy!!!!! Add bark if time allows for it.
My CRT TV
(film and TV that inspires who I am and what I create)
My painting easel
(possibly an interactive painting minigame)
My clothes, on the clothing rack which I made from scratch IRL
(Showing my interest in style)
My skateboard
(showing my favourite active hobby)
My guitar
(interact with the instrument I play)
My amp
(Try turning on my amp; feedback sound since my amp is broken.)
My lights
(Change the lighting of the room to show off the real-time environment.)
My drawings
(A selection of my drawings, hung up on the walls)
My paintings
(The paintings I showed during my first art exhibition last year)
My Door
(Mechanically allows the player to exit the game and represents me leaving my room in the real world.)
Mechanical Goals
To show this environment to the player effectively, my first plan is to use an isometric camera as the primary view for the game, providing a style reminiscent of the early EA Sims games, though the camera will likely swap to a more zoomed perspective mode when necessary.
Continuing with the Sims theme, I also plan to model, texture, and rig a low-fidelity character who represents myself! If possible, I will animate this digital mini-me to interact with several elements in the space, which can be triggered by an (on hover) and (on click) script.
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
What are your feelings about AI?You and everyone you know.
They are all scared of it, and the rapid advancements cause them to dismiss it.
Just as they felt during the beginning of television, computers, the internet, smartphones, auto-tune, Photoshop, digital illustration, CGI, and many, many more milestones of technology.
In the modern world, these things are now all considered official tools and mediums.
Humanity is naturally scared of both change and the unknown, yet many of us dedicate our entire lives to actively fantasising and fabricating these fears through engineering, science, psychology, and creation.
We cannot help ourselves.
We stand and watch anxiously as the ones who hoard the most effectively gain control.
We stand and watch with fear as the ones who hoard the most effectively fantasise about the unknown, as they crave and produce exactly what we fear, while telling us it is progression.
"It is a step in the right direction," they say.
"It is a step in the right direction," they say.
"It is a step in the right direction," they say.
If this is the right direction, where is the destination?
The destination is becoming obsolete.
The destination is hyper-fixated around the finite time, attention, and finance you have as a human. Those variables are now your soul. This soul is your assigned purpose. They are your god. You are their transaction. They chose your ethics. You were tricked. And all you desire is what they want you to.
But hey! It's really helpful to make games with right now!
WEEK 2
(DESIGN GOALS)
INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
Design Inspirations
It is important to have a solid understanding of the desired visual goals of a project before committing to implementing too many mechanical aspects. This is because the mechanics of a game are often used to EMPHASISE the visual style and vice versa. This interconnection is what creates a coherent and well-designed body of work.
If unconsidered, this leads to work which lacks confidence in its identity, resulting in less of an emotional connection from viewers. Understandably, an audience will find it difficult to become emotionally invested in media they see no consistency in.
Once an aesthetic is decided by the developer, it is equally important to establish a set of fundamental design rules to follow during creation. These rules are to be followed in order to maintain a level of consistency which, as previously mentioned, is imperative in achieving a strong interactive experience.
The Simpsons: Character Drawing Guide & Model Sheets : 20th Century Fox : Internet Archive. (2022b, April 14). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/simpsons-drawing-guide/page/n1/mode/2up
Above is an example of the Simpsons' "no-no sheets", which are used to illustrate and comprehensively annotate the ruleset for new animators just becoming involved with the show. As you can see, even while being a fictional 2D animated sitcom, where nothing is real and everything is realistically just lines and colours, there are ways to break the laws of physics! And that is exactly what it does; not following these rules results in very un-Simpson-looking characters, reinforcing the importance of the system.
The style which I will be drawing my inspiration from is Retro Low Poly PSX.
The aesthetic is primarily characterised by rough, simple geometry, photoscanned textures (often dithered), and a specific graphical bug of the time caused by a limitation of processing power, where overlapping points of 3D meshes constantly swap between each other, resulting in a jittering effect. This is known as Z snapping, Z fighting, vertex snapping or vertex jittering. I find it humourous that this limitation devs desperately tried to minimise at the time is now being purposely recreated, even losing performance in order to implement it for vibe purposes.
I believe this ties into the general trend towards authentic/real experiences as mentioned before; even though the effect is being achieved inauthentically, it is emulating a rawness people desire, which allows them to put aside the somewhat synthetic methods of creation.
I find that interesting.
Similar to how people use old VHS cameras, with modern tapeless setups,
Playing modern hip hop albums on a vinyl record player from the 70s,
or watching Netflix on a CRT TV from the 80s,
We live in a very strange contemporary time where a single person can make interactive experiences that only recently would have required a full team, millions of dollars, and multiple years. The PSX aesthetic is surprisingly approachable for newer indie devs, rewarding a basic understanding of shape language and the ability to harness iconic imagery greatly if your audience is willing to squint their eyes a little bit.
It's an expressive 2nd golden age for the style, and I foresee it only expanding as it becomes more accessible to create.
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
What does the term "identity" mean to me?
Every day you walk past people that look different.
You will assume a number of things based on how they look.
Every bump, wrinkle, hair, and scar that you encounter is met with your brain subconsciously deducing a narrative from. it whether you like it or not; this is human nature.
Though it is true that identity is often displayed through clothing, accessories and other preplanned visual cues, it would not only be incorrect, but heartbreakingly common, to feel you have gathered sufficient information on someone's identity based merely on what you can see.
I would argue that someone's identity is not determined by the way YOU view them; it is determined entirely by how THEY view themselves and THEIR ACTIONS. Not only via the thoughts in their head but also in the things they like and the way they use their time.
When you think of your name, who you are, and the things that represent you, I believe you are reflecting on the true form of your individual identity.
WEEK 3
(PIVOTAL MOMENT)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
Not only did I decide to work in the chosen style because it's easy and effective considering the time frame.
But it is incredibly relevant to the pivotal moment I have chosen to base my collage around.
I experienced this animated short film for the first time a few years ago.
It absolutely blew me away and changed what I thought a single person could do.
To me, the idea that one person sat down during their free time, clearly very consistently, and made a full animated film from scratch where every shot is exceedingly stylish, well thought out and effortlessly blended into the next, all while progressing the thought-provoking narrative, using next to no dialogue. All simply to capture the world inside their head, which they decided they needed to share, changed my perspective on what I will be able to achieve as an artist massively.
This was especially motivating to me as someone who grew up watching early 2000s animated movies every night to fall asleep, as well as playing PS2, Game Boy, etc., in all of my free time.
The animation has moments of unreal fluidity. It is surreal, iconic, and truly groundbreaking to the modern digital art scene for once again displaying how a single person can create such an authentic artwork that embodies their own identity in every way possible. It was especially motivating to me watching the artist’s skills increase as the animation progresses, allowing me to view his growth occurring in real time.
I do not expect you to watch it!!
It is an underground cult classic which does not speak to everyone, but whoever clicks with it REALLY CLICKS WITH IT.
What makes this pivotal to me, other than the inspiration provided, is that since watching the video, I have communicated with the artist himself and eventually many other incredibly talented people within the niche. After some time, I have found myself among a community of like-minded mixed media artists to share my work and expand with.
This pivotal experience has allowed my aesthetic ability and opportunities as an artist within this space to skyrocket exponentially, which I am forever grateful for.
To me, it makes perfect sense to represent my pivotal moment through the style and location in which it happened!
But it is incredibly relevant to the pivotal moment I have chosen to base my collage around.
I experienced this animated short film for the first time a few years ago.
It absolutely blew me away and changed what I thought a single person could do.
To me, the idea that one person sat down during their free time, clearly very consistently, and made a full animated film from scratch where every shot is exceedingly stylish, well thought out and effortlessly blended into the next, all while progressing the thought-provoking narrative, using next to no dialogue. All simply to capture the world inside their head, which they decided they needed to share, changed my perspective on what I will be able to achieve as an artist massively.
This was especially motivating to me as someone who grew up watching early 2000s animated movies every night to fall asleep, as well as playing PS2, Game Boy, etc., in all of my free time.
The animation has moments of unreal fluidity. It is surreal, iconic, and truly groundbreaking to the modern digital art scene for once again displaying how a single person can create such an authentic artwork that embodies their own identity in every way possible. It was especially motivating to me watching the artist’s skills increase as the animation progresses, allowing me to view his growth occurring in real time.
I do not expect you to watch it!!
It is an underground cult classic which does not speak to everyone, but whoever clicks with it REALLY CLICKS WITH IT.
What makes this pivotal to me, other than the inspiration provided, is that since watching the video, I have communicated with the artist himself and eventually many other incredibly talented people within the niche. After some time, I have found myself among a community of like-minded mixed media artists to share my work and expand with.
This pivotal experience has allowed my aesthetic ability and opportunities as an artist within this space to skyrocket exponentially, which I am forever grateful for.
To me, it makes perfect sense to represent my pivotal moment through the style and location in which it happened!
Jack. (2020, November 25). VideoPix [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GOJgBxMM6Q
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
Do case studies further your designs? How do you use external resources to influence your work?
I strongly believe that case studies are essential in creating anything of artistic value.
But the definition of a case study likely differs for you and me.
To you, a case study may be a highly formatted document containing a structured overview of an artist's past works, the methods and materials they used, and the reasons why.
To me, a baby poorly drawing their mother is a case study, the first for many.
A boy learning to play the guitar riff from a song that changed his life by ear. That is a case study.
To me, a man who dedicates his being at any level to emulate something that made him feel inspired is a man who's actively taking part in a case study.
A case study is an act of admiration, inspiration, and imitation to the highest degree.
It is an essential act of creative growth achieved through self-education and experimentation.
Every artist who succeeds in creating something of value has a case study to pair it with, whether it was written on a piece of paper or resides within the most unknown part of their psyche; to me, it is all the same.
WEEK 4
(MOOD BOARDING)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
mood board
specifc elements zoomed in
specifc elements zoomed in
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
How do you manage your time & well-being as a design practitioner?
This is strangely the hardest part of the job for many and can cause everything you have spent countless hours, weeks, months, and even years building up to all come tumbling down rapidly in a messy demolition if not treated with the utmost care.
A result of all the freedom and comfort that comes with a creative life is the natural lack of systems in place to force your work to be completed when it should be and at the highest standards you are capable of, while maintaining physical health and mental sanity.
I find my issue is the opposite.
I find myself TOO involved with work, spending huge amounts of time on 'unimportant' elements and side projects that coincide with the main one. I cannot help but spend my time learning and making things people might never see. I am fuelled by an obsession to master a craft.
Life would be so passionless without the drive and curiosity I find taking hold of most of my days.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
It has resulted in being financially compensated for my own natural enjoyment.
This is my personal religion, and I am grateful for everything.
Often with paid design work, I will have it completed within a fraction of the time expected from me, which has resulted in returning trusting clients consistently.
The reason I do it this way is because I had to work so hard to get here.
I will not throw it away.
I will reach my destination and complete my mission.
WEEK 5
(PAPER PLANNING)
INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
Consider your favourite videogame: What is appealing to you about this game? Consider aesthetics, themes, story and/or mechanics. Pick ONE of these points to focus on.
My favourite video game of all time is the first Fable game, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft for the original Xbox in 2004. It is a mediaeval role-playing game set in the High Middle Ages (1100-1300) and was famous for being incredibly ambitious. Providing players with many unique systems to interact with the world in ways not seen previously, such as buying property, getting married, having kids, and working different jobs. The game's primary system, which gameplay revolved entirely around, was the morality of the player. If they chose to do good deeds and heroic acts, they would attract crowds of fans and have a halo above their head, as well as a holy aura and numerous opportunities otherwise unobtainable. The same could be said about choosing the dark side and committing evil acts in the world of Albion. The player would begin to scare NPCs away, attract swarms of bugs, and grow devil horns. This morality system has forever had an impact on what I enjoy from the games I play.
WEEK 6
(OBJECT BLOCKOUT + OVERBARREL STUDY)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
creating grey box block out of my bedroom
At this point in my 3D journey I find myself creating objects that are in front of me and accessible the most. I enjoy this exercise, as it allows me to view what I am creating from any angle/perspective I desire. This helps me in getting used to the simplification process and developing my ability to view objects as their most primitive forms.
To begin replicating my desired environment, I opened Blender and constructed the basic shape of my room, with windows and a doorway included. I modelled each element of my room in the most basic way I possible. Desks, TVs, keyboards, games, albums, and my bed were all simply stretched cubes, with no further geometric adjustments. I am planning for the image texturing to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to conveying detail to the player.
FULL BEDROOM BLOCKOUT
After separately modelling each element, I placed them in the bedroom scene and adjusted their scale.
Some objects had to be enlarged or shrunk to make the gameplay flow and for interactions to avoid friction.
Even though this strayed away from the realism/authenticity I initially planned to capture, I decided it would be better to “overbarrel” certain elements in hopes of providing a more user-friendly experience, which is the most important task of a designer.
Overbarreling is a common, yet unknown, design principle which can be found in games of all eras, though it is especially common with early 3D titles.
Dooge. (2024, December 31). Over-Barreling in video games [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C68vDWvR8w0
Overbarreling occurs when an object has been scaled significantly larger in the game world, compared to its real-world counterpart. This is usually done intentionally to provide mechanical advantages to the players, as mentioned in this comment:
Romain Durand
‘As someone working in the game industry as an environment artist, barrels and crates are usualy a bit overscaled in order to create cover points and visual blockers (it's easier for the players to hide behind them if they are larger/taller than what you would see IRL) We also want most of the body to be covered while standing behind those sorts of objects, and fully covered if crouching behind them. Those metrics are also dependant on the gameplay, if you have a coop game, your covers would be bigger so that multiple players could fit next to them, if the camera is in 3rd Person instead of 1st Person we scale those up a bit more to improve camera collision, readability and remove some visual noise. (It's why for example everything is overscaled in World of Warcraft, allowing the camera to not bump when you enter a house and creating clear areas where you can/cannot walk // can/cannot hide, etc’
With these concepts in mind, I aimed to model my objects in a way which met in the middle of both realistic proportions and somewhat cartoonish, toy-like usability instead of skewing my work too far one way or the other.
DESK BLOCKOUT
At this point in my 3D journey I find myself creating objects that are in front of me and accessible the most. I enjoy this exercise, as it allows me to view what I am creating from any angle/perspective I desire. This helps me in getting used to the simplification process and developing my ability to view objects as their most primitive forms.
To begin replicating my desired environment, I opened Blender and constructed the basic shape of my room, with windows and a doorway included. I modelled each element of my room in the most basic way I possible. Desks, TVs, keyboards, games, albums, and my bed were all simply stretched cubes, with no further geometric adjustments. I am planning for the image texturing to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to conveying detail to the player.
FULL BEDROOM BLOCKOUT
After separately modelling each element, I placed them in the bedroom scene and adjusted their scale.
Some objects had to be enlarged or shrunk to make the gameplay flow and for interactions to avoid friction.
Even though this strayed away from the realism/authenticity I initially planned to capture, I decided it would be better to “overbarrel” certain elements in hopes of providing a more user-friendly experience, which is the most important task of a designer.
Overbarreling is a common, yet unknown, design principle which can be found in games of all eras, though it is especially common with early 3D titles.
Dooge. (2024, December 31). Over-Barreling in video games [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C68vDWvR8w0
Overbarreling occurs when an object has been scaled significantly larger in the game world, compared to its real-world counterpart. This is usually done intentionally to provide mechanical advantages to the players, as mentioned in this comment:
Romain Durand
‘As someone working in the game industry as an environment artist, barrels and crates are usualy a bit overscaled in order to create cover points and visual blockers (it's easier for the players to hide behind them if they are larger/taller than what you would see IRL) We also want most of the body to be covered while standing behind those sorts of objects, and fully covered if crouching behind them. Those metrics are also dependant on the gameplay, if you have a coop game, your covers would be bigger so that multiple players could fit next to them, if the camera is in 3rd Person instead of 1st Person we scale those up a bit more to improve camera collision, readability and remove some visual noise. (It's why for example everything is overscaled in World of Warcraft, allowing the camera to not bump when you enter a house and creating clear areas where you can/cannot walk // can/cannot hide, etc’
With these concepts in mind, I aimed to model my objects in a way which met in the middle of both realistic proportions and somewhat cartoonish, toy-like usability instead of skewing my work too far one way or the other.
DESK BLOCKOUT
GAME SHELF BLOCKOUT
MUSIC SHELF BLOCKOUT
SIDEAREA BLOCKOUT
WINDOW + BED BLOCKOUT
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
What is a cartoon you watched growing up? How do you describe its visual style? Does it appeal to you? Has your relationship to this cartoon changed over time?
A cartoon I watched growing up that has always stood out to me was Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time, which aired on Cartoon Network. The show is exceptionally unique for the tone, visual style, and themes. It miraculously manages to combine everything from robot space pirates and food people to elemental princesses and interdimensional beings, with everything in between while maintaining a consistent vibe. Nothing feels out of place because everything is. I love the way the show restructures how society operates while giving it adequate meaning. When I was little, its level of grounded abstraction stood out to me. Revisiting it now as an adult, the episode's plots are VERY thought-provoking and communicate far more than appears on the surface. The show has always been a fun-focused crutch I could rely on for a smile. I am thankful it was made when it was because, unfortunately, it wouldn't have the same success or funding in this day and age.
WEEK 7
(TEXTURE STRATEGY + IMAGE ATLAS’)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
texturing objects
Once all of the basic grey boxing is complete, I begin to texture my meshes using the following method I have developed.
Once all of the basic grey boxing is complete, I begin to texture my meshes using the following method I have developed.
ETHYN’S INDIE TEXTURE STRATEGY
STEP 1. Take a picture of whatever you want to convert into a texture
STEP 2. Import image into photoshop, or free alternative
STEP 3. Use the Perspective warp tool
STEP 4. Select the 4 points which you would like to “texturise”
STEP 5. Stretch points towards the corners of the canvas to convert into a square texture.
STEP 6 (optional). Finally, you can add post processing effects to stylise the result, giving an illusion of design with intention.
In unity you can do this by selecting an image in your project window, and applying Point = no filter in the inspector panel
This results in fast, effective texture generation for my 3D scenes!
Here are my results!
(In order to save time I opted for in-engine pixelation effects. I also arranged the textures in a collage like structure to cut down on matrerials being used in the final game, helping for optimisation
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
Consider the two principles of animation that you needed to use in class. What is a film, tv show or video game sequence that showcases these techniques especially well?
Squash and Stretch + Exaggeration. A video game which uses both of these techniques especially well is Studio MDHR’s Cuphead (2017), which faithfully replicates the classic rubber hose art style of the 1920s/30s that is famous for its expressive and stretchy nature. We can see this specifically in Cuphead’s jump animation, where he practically folds into himself when compressing before his leap, he flips into the air, hits an exaggerated key pose (representing him reaching the apex of his jump), and stretches when reaching max velocity towards the ground. As well as this, the bosses change in scale drastically throughout fights, making strong key poses to show when they are able to be damaged. Even the collectibles and user interface on menus beautifully reflect the general bounciness that has been delicately handcrafted by the two brothers that worked on the game.
WEEK 8
(TEXTURED OBJECTS)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
Full Material Preview (In Blender)
Full Rendered Preview (In Blender)
Music Shelf Rendered Preview (In Blender)
Game Shelf Rendered Preview (In Blender)
Side Rendered Preview (In Blender)
Bed Rendered Preview (In Blender)
ALBUM + GAMES COLLAGE
Final room blender scene showcase
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
you have used at least three software: Unity, Blender and Krita. In your opinion, which software is the most user-friendly? What do you notice is similar or different between each software?
I didn't click with Krita at all, and even though I am relatively proficient in Blender, the UI is absolutely not user-friendly to me. I especially dislike the vagueness of the panels on the right column and having to hover the mouse over an option for several seconds sometimes before seeing the tooltip of what it is. Though I love that most of the work in the software can be done primarily in the main viewport via only hotkeys (which is a similarity I saw when working in Unity), every other aspect of Unity’s UI is far more simplistic, as well as allowing repositioning and resizing. This is understandable, as Blender arguably has more diversity in the workflows available as opposed to Unity, which focuses primarily on game development. Blender is trying to find a balance in being a program for MODELLING, SCULPTING, UV EDITING, TEXTURE PAINTING, SHADER GRAPH, ANIMATION, RENDERING, COMPOSITING, GEOMETRY NODES, AND SCRIPTING. This, to me, results in an overcluttered mess requiring at least a year of trial and error to use without friction.
I didn't click with Krita at all, and even though I am relatively proficient in Blender, the UI is absolutely not user-friendly to me. I especially dislike the vagueness of the panels on the right column and having to hover the mouse over an option for several seconds sometimes before seeing the tooltip of what it is. Though I love that most of the work in the software can be done primarily in the main viewport via only hotkeys (which is a similarity I saw when working in Unity), every other aspect of Unity’s UI is far more simplistic, as well as allowing repositioning and resizing. This is understandable, as Blender arguably has more diversity in the workflows available as opposed to Unity, which focuses primarily on game development. Blender is trying to find a balance in being a program for MODELLING, SCULPTING, UV EDITING, TEXTURE PAINTING, SHADER GRAPH, ANIMATION, RENDERING, COMPOSITING, GEOMETRY NODES, AND SCRIPTING. This, to me, results in an overcluttered mess requiring at least a year of trial and error to use without friction.
WEEK 9
(ORDER + MINI ME)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
I imported my blender room scene into unity, created new materials out of the strategically low amount of albedo texures, and applied a psx shader to them (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/retro-shaders-pro-for-urp-287937), allowing me to replicate the original playstation’s vertex jitter and dithering in the phototextures .
Clean heirachy strategy
Having a neat hierarchy allows efficient game object navigation, which is IMPERATIVE in the game development process. This, as well as using numerous naming conventions as shown below, has probably saved me tens of hours by now.
Having a neat hierarchy allows efficient game object navigation, which is IMPERATIVE in the game development process. This, as well as using numerous naming conventions as shown below, has probably saved me tens of hours by now.
C. as a prefix for camera game objects (This allows me to reference an entire category of object in 2 characters)
T. as a prefix for text game objects (This allows me to reference an entire category of object in 2 characters.)
clean file structure strategy
(I use ! and z to ensure that scripts are always at the top and addons are always at the bottom of the file view.)
Mini Me
I wanted to create a stylistic version of myself that represented my identity without directly using a face texture, as I and many other artists rely on this. Instead I would like to challenge myself in capturing my personal essence via exaggerated proportions/strong shape language, clothing specific to me, and a rig that allows my mannerisms to be emulated. I will achieve this using a blender.
Material preview
Posed preview
My favourite T-shirt, as well as my shoes will be used as clothing textures to help convey my personal identity.
Texture preview (with thick outlines via shader graph)
Posed final result
I am very pleased with how he turned out!
My own Toon shader + Outline video Tutorial
A quick and simple video tutorial on how I used cellshading + outlines in blender. Please excuse the casual tone as I originally made for it for a close friend.
Animaton principles
In class we were learning about animation principles, so I decided to use my rigged character and a TV companion to convey these principles myself through a short, stylistic animation. I tried to display strong poses (exaggeration), squash and stretch, a general flow, and a stop motion aesthetic, which considers where audiences eyes are.
player controller pivot from sims to first person (reflects my goals as designer)
Unfortunately, based on the amount of time I have and my goals which I aim to achieve as a game developer this semester, I have decided to pivot from a Sims-like isometric camera to a more interactive first-person view. I have had to make this adjustment due to the amount of animations that will be required for the player in isometric view, as well as the lack of vision of collage elements from this distance. I will do so with the default Unity first-person controller in order to save time.
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/importance-context/
What are the key ideas explored? Do you agree with them? Why?
I am in agreement with the concepts behind the article; context is overlooked very often, even though it means EVERYTHING when it comes to understanding the way something truly is. If a message is delivered and heard out of context, an entirely different message forms in its place. Context is always necessary to form the full answer on the situation; this is especially true when it comes to areas such as politics, where they are speaking for hours at a time and the average person is hearing soundbites of the most newsworthy moments, as the average person doesn't have the time or attention to keep up with the entirety of all political streams 24/7. There is also tonal context when it comes to the inflections and emotion in one's voice when saying something; for example, “yeah, right” can be seen as both a positive and a negative thing depending on the way it is said. Yeah, right... yeah, right!! This is why reading text alone may not always suffice when researching spoken topics; a voice is necessary. This is also true in art and design, where an artist may take elements from something without understanding the full context of where the imagery is from, as well as how to use it effectively and appropriately. To avoid these issues, people must thoroughly search for the entire context of any given situation to be able to make an accurate judgement.What are the key ideas explored? Do you agree with them? Why?
WEEK 10
(INTERACTIVE FUNCTIONALITY)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
Basic Functionality
I added basic interaction functionality to the game. This began by drawing a raycast from the centre of the main camera and adding a debug log to the console listing the first object our raycast collides with whenever the player presses the interact key “E”. Once that was working as intended, I added an outline component to each interactable object and another script on the main camera to toggle said component whenever a raycast is over it.
RAYCAST TEST
RAYCAST TOGGLE INTERACTABLE
OUTLINE WATCHER
camera selecting support
I made it so interacting with certain objects disables player input and the main camera and enables a new camera for a better view of the selected zone. Here is a video example. I also added a basic text UI representing the object currently selected.
Desk UI control
I made a script which allows me to assign UI elements to an index and for them to toggle while selected using the directional keys and q/e to advance and go back.
I placed an orthographic camera in front of the computer monitor and designed a mockup portfolio. It took an incredibly long time to connect all of the menu functionality up and have it working as desired.
OBJECT SELECTOR AND TOGGLER SCRIPT (MENU NAVIGATON)
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
Do you have an Inner Critic? What tools and techniques can you use to ensure productive and positive self-talk?
Absolutely! My inner critic, unfortunately, is my biggest critic. I often suffer from being a perfectionist about things, as I put an incredibly high standard on myself. I can’t help but only publish/hand in work that I am VERY proud of and would interact with (even if I wasn’t the creator). Typically this actually improves productivity and the final impact of my product. But I do find myself comparing my work to artists who are far more established, older, in groups or teams, have been given funding, dealt a luckier hand, or have more experience. This is a natural thing for people to fall into, but it will only limit you. The true steps toward enlightenment are in letting go and submitting yourself, becoming a vessel to channel your unique soul through creation! Everything will flow to you once you begin your mission. To ensure productive and positive self-talk, it is worth regularly setting goals, reflecting on your progress, reaching out to others to share the experience, and accepting that you must fail to learn and that you will not start good at anything. and that being out of your comfort zone is required to grow. It will all start to make sense, I promise.
WEEK 11
(ANIMATION + MENUS + POLISH)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
Animations part 1The animation from the other week put me on a roll, and I decided to hand animate all of the individual elements of the room to activate while they are interacted with. I didn’t have time to rig anything, so I made each item move how I imagined it would if it got zapped by a wizard and came alive. I am incredibly happy with how it turned out, as it captured the playful, interactive, authentic vibe I was going for exactly!! This was a great exercise to further my ability on the principles of animation we learnt in class.
Animations part 2
GAME SHELF MENU INTERACTION
I added menu selection mechanics for the games and albums using a lerp to the location on the selected script. As opposed to hand animating, it is done purely through code, which makes far more sense to me when it comes to a menu. A lerp animation to a preset destination is triggered when the outline component of a game case or album cover is active. (Code below)
Music Shelf Interaction
LERP ON OUTLINE SCRIPT
Added support for working painting canvas
This was a massive process; this took days. When the painting canvas is activated, the cursor becomes visible, its position begins to be tracked, and when left click is pressed, the pixels of the actual texture in the game files, which is being viewed through another orthographic camera, will be changed and saved live. For more control, the UI allows the pixel colour and thickness to change, as well as a paint bucket tool.
This is essentially a combination of all the systems I worked on for this project combined and is a perfect end to it. I was drawn to implement this, as I wanted to allow the user to experience the beauty of creation themselves after witnessing all of the things that have inspired me to create. I have always wanted to have functionality like this in an experience of mine.
polish (fixing first person controller bug)
There was a bug causing the first-person camera to jitter. Some testing later, I realised it only occurred while the mouse was moving at a low velocity. So after extensive research, I found out this was a universal issue with the built-in Unity starter asset, which is insane because it makes the experience completely unplayable on some devices.
The way to fix this problem was easier than expected; all I needed to do was adjust the “threshold” variable from 0.01 to 0.0001. I believe the variable serves as a minimum amount of mouse movement required to move the player camera, which is unnecessary in my collage. After this, everything worked as expected.
This was a massive process; this took days. When the painting canvas is activated, the cursor becomes visible, its position begins to be tracked, and when left click is pressed, the pixels of the actual texture in the game files, which is being viewed through another orthographic camera, will be changed and saved live. For more control, the UI allows the pixel colour and thickness to change, as well as a paint bucket tool.
This is essentially a combination of all the systems I worked on for this project combined and is a perfect end to it. I was drawn to implement this, as I wanted to allow the user to experience the beauty of creation themselves after witnessing all of the things that have inspired me to create. I have always wanted to have functionality like this in an experience of mine.
polish (fixing first person controller bug)
There was a bug causing the first-person camera to jitter. Some testing later, I realised it only occurred while the mouse was moving at a low velocity. So after extensive research, I found out this was a universal issue with the built-in Unity starter asset, which is insane because it makes the experience completely unplayable on some devices.
The way to fix this problem was easier than expected; all I needed to do was adjust the “threshold” variable from 0.01 to 0.0001. I believe the variable serves as a minimum amount of mouse movement required to move the player camera, which is unnecessary in my collage. After this, everything worked as expected.
WEEKLY ANNOTATION:
Out of all the classes you have taken this semester (both in and outside of 512), which class had the most interesting concept(s)? Why did they appeal to you?
I have, without a doubt, found the most enjoyment out of my 2nd-year game design major class. In the class, we were tasked with creating a new game every week for two weeks, for a total of six weeks, resulting in three games that are based around a different prompt (FORTUNE, ARGUMENT, and JUICE). For the final six weeks, we are tasked with creating a vertical slice of a full game following the theme of a TWIST. Though it seems it may be an overwhelming level of work, this class massively appeals to my desire to experiment on different projects and develop my skills as effectively as possible. I plan to create a small first-person gambling simulator, a 2-player split-screen physics-based combat game, and a cookie clicker-esque game where you purchase “game juice”. For the vertical slice, I want to make a Mario 64 clone but with a cel-shaded aesthetic. This is the variation of work this class allows and, once again, strongly appeals to me as a designer.
WEEK 12
(WRAP UP, FINAL OVERVIEW)INTERACTIVE COLLAGE UPDATE:
final reflection
I am pleased that I succeeded in my task to create a stylistic, interactive replica of my room and myself. I overcame many tasks and learnt certain mechanics that I will use in numerous projects to come, such as interacting with Raycasts instead of players. tag ontriggerenter box colliders. A texturing strategy, cell shading and outlines, animating with code, hand animating over the top squash and stretch, sticking to a planned visual style, having a cycling menu system, activating components through code, fixing the infamous Unity starter asset jitter bug, and many more adventures that were had along the way. I wish I had enough time to finalise all of my drawing and painting textures, as well as add player stat functionality like hunger, fatigue, entertainment, etc. (emulating The Sims), as well as the animated isometric view featuring mini-me, but many sacrifices have to be made during game development, and these constructive decisions were all part of the overarching design process. I will say that I struggled very much with the documentation aspect of this project, as I am far more visceral and intense when developing than I intend to be, creating for over 12 hours at a time without documenting some days, which regularly forced me to spend the whole following day catching up with myself. Overall I am very proud of myself for representing my identity as strongly as I possibly could have in every aspect of the room through an immersive and authentic interactive digital collage I created using Blender, Unity, and Photoshop, as well as in real life!
Thank you very much!
Ethyn :)
DOWNLOAD LINK
click here to download the mac + windows build of my interactive collage
CONTROLS
MOUSE = CAMERA MOVEMENT
W,A,S,D = PLAYER MOVEMENT
SPACEBAR = JUMP
E = ENTER / INTERACT
Q = QUIT / BACK
VERY SHORT FINAL PLAYTHROUGH SHOWCASE
I am pleased that I succeeded in my task to create a stylistic, interactive replica of my room and myself. I overcame many tasks and learnt certain mechanics that I will use in numerous projects to come, such as interacting with Raycasts instead of players. tag ontriggerenter box colliders. A texturing strategy, cell shading and outlines, animating with code, hand animating over the top squash and stretch, sticking to a planned visual style, having a cycling menu system, activating components through code, fixing the infamous Unity starter asset jitter bug, and many more adventures that were had along the way. I wish I had enough time to finalise all of my drawing and painting textures, as well as add player stat functionality like hunger, fatigue, entertainment, etc. (emulating The Sims), as well as the animated isometric view featuring mini-me, but many sacrifices have to be made during game development, and these constructive decisions were all part of the overarching design process. I will say that I struggled very much with the documentation aspect of this project, as I am far more visceral and intense when developing than I intend to be, creating for over 12 hours at a time without documenting some days, which regularly forced me to spend the whole following day catching up with myself. Overall I am very proud of myself for representing my identity as strongly as I possibly could have in every aspect of the room through an immersive and authentic interactive digital collage I created using Blender, Unity, and Photoshop, as well as in real life!
Thank you very much!
Ethyn :)
DOWNLOAD LINK
click here to download the mac + windows build of my interactive collage
CONTROLS
MOUSE = CAMERA MOVEMENT
W,A,S,D = PLAYER MOVEMENT
SPACEBAR = JUMP
E = ENTER / INTERACT
Q = QUIT / BACK
VERY SHORT FINAL PLAYTHROUGH SHOWCASE