Overall Evaluation

Unit Evaluation

The units we have completed this year all link in some way into the Unit 3 game creation umbrella brief.

Below are conclusions and outcomes for each unit and how they related to the final game project.

Unit 52: Ideas Generation for Computer Games

In this unit, I think I did very well with my character and enemy implementation and I managed to achieve a Distinction for this. I completed all of the set tasks and expanded on the lessons and examples to create some extra gameplay mechanics. It was very interesting learning about the animation blueprints, state machines and blendspaces for character control, and I enjoyed learning about basic AI. I enjoyed the problem solving process with some areas of the implementation as well, such as preventing a animation glitch with AI characters which caused them to jerk around.

Unit 70 - 3D Environments for Computer Games

In this unit, I ended up creating two landscapes. One for the boss fight area and another for the outer background of the map so the player could see outside. I explored the use of several programs in the creation of heightmaps. I think I did quite well and manage to achieve a Distinction. This unit was linked to Unit 76 to create a complete level.

Unit 72: CGI Rendering and Lighting for Computer Games Animation

In this unit I created a high detail lit and rendered scene based off the theme of my game. I feel the results are very good considering this is the first time we have really touched lighting on this course. I think the amount of research I did into the example maps Epic had created to show as examples to developers is what helped me the most to get my head around it. The creation of effects materials and use of lights was an interesting experience, and overcoming the limitations of Unreal's built-in sunshaft technology and having to create my own effect was enlightening.

Unit 74: Production Techniques for Computer Games

The animations I created in this unit I think helped me appreciate how difficult animation is in the industry, especially when manually animating a walk cycle. The intention was to use these animations in my game, though I didn't actually do it in the end as these were created near the start of the project and later on the relevance of the animations had reduced, so I decided to keep the pre-made animations for time reasons. I was quite happy with how my lip-sync turned out, though we animated this in Maya and never got to show it in-game.

Unit 76: Level Design for Computer Games

This unit was linked to Unit 70 and the landscapes. For this unit I designed a map layout, blocked out the parts and created a modular level kit to build my environment. Some of the problems I overcame were with the level layout, and I had to iterate the map several times to get a more desirable result.

Unit 79: Human-Computer Interfaces for Computer Games

I really enjoyed this unit and learned a lot of advanced Blueprint logic that will help me in the future. I'm happy with the outcome of this unit and I'm glad I was able to get some advanced features like the Mini-map working and fully functional. One of the biggest hurdles to overcome was how Unreal handles controller input for menus, which I managed to solve, though it was extremely time-consuming for something that should have been simple.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I feel the units I have completed this year have been very educational and have given me the knowledge to actually make a game from scratch. I know I do have some issues with time management and I can also get carried away with adding features, but I am happy with what I have achieved and will strive to improve myself in the future.