Pre-Production and Planning

When starting a game project, the first thing to cover is Idea Generation.

I created a Mind Map to cover some different game design types which would be a possibility for my game:



Once I'd settled on a type of game and theme, for me it was a Fantasy style Dungeon Crawler with medieval type weapons, I then created another mind map to cover all of the possibilities required for this kind of game.



For the theme, I laid out a Mood Board to get the Look and Feel for the game right.

The mood board can be found here:
https://uk.pinterest.com/aconlan0468/unit-76-dungeon-mood-board/

Unit Planning

The units we have this year will all link in some way into this umbrella brief of creating the game.

Below are the hoped outcomes for each unit and how they relate to the game.

Unit 52: Ideas Generation for Computer Games

This unit will deal with getting a character into the game environment and creating game mechanics for the player.

I hope to achieve a lot with this unit and get my main character and some enemies into the game environment. I want to be able to have my game character attacking enemies in the level as well as some additional game mechanics.

Unit 70 - 3D Environments for Computer Games

This unit is focused on landscape environment tools.

I would like to have some detailed terrain in my level, such as for the courtyard where I am planning to have a boss battle.

Unit 72: CGI Rendering and Lighting for Computer Games Animation

This unit is about creating cutscene quality environment lighting.

I am planning to create an indoor scene inside the dungeon with light coming through a roof grate, to create a high contrast lighting effect.

Unit 74: Production Techniques for Computer Games

This unit is focused on animation techniques for computer games.

I plan to create a set of animations for my main character and NPCs and well as relavent weapon animations.

Unit 76: Level Design for Computer Games

This unit is all about level design and getting the environment looking how you want.

I hope to create a modular level kit for my game and be able to construct the environment from the pieces I've made. I hope to get some good texturing onto the objects.

Unit 79: Human-Computer Interfaces for Computer Games

This unit will go into the creation of UI elements and menus.

Menus and UI are very important to games. I hope to create a fully functioning menu system and some advanced UI elements such as a mini-map.

Weekly Schedule

Below I have created a Weekly Schedule containing my college hours and my usual sleep pattern with homework and personal time around it.

There are a lot of potential hours for working outside of college, so as long as I pace myself well I should be able to comfortably complete these Units.