Video Review

Video Reflection 

A link to the videos of the Levels thus far for a better representation of the experiences. 

Links    

corridor 1 Props project : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BeX35rI0ow&fbclid=IwAR1URqbpn1WdUN7jiX8MH93KwlpMnGRNVDIf385p-s0C7hEX_vbLjBmoSvs

corridor 2 Lighting project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yT0tS6g1IY&fbclid=IwAR2YhjkondOZeacO0kbDXdCpGgsMcGbrJiiTQ4XnPPcaOcL-wEN-zW1UkIU

corridor 3 mood project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Obzh3L2n_M&fbclid=IwAR2n_CpCoDYuzjsaDhupnxt4okIxe3MI0csjaXhfhQB5F9NKP3BTss3XwiU

corridor 4 sense of self project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZTQKDy70RM&fbclid=IwAR3TV2mGBc96qKKQuMOMeh2jvhYRDaEq9vbYT_P30jvZFh_KNhV8g4wh-DM

corridor 5 narration project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-hNVsgY6k4&fbclid=IwAR0AvbXpSBZJnjqPb0oi1spPoDtKbbF6-oADlgBCLdgTRKvGm09w0-C6ieg

Reflection 

Horror corridor 1 (effect of props in the environment on the player) - The atmosphere in this corridor came across in the way I intended, however the prop project has a lack of props which I feel undermines the principle of the test.

Horror corridor 2 (Lighting project)- This project also displayed the atmosphere I was trying to create, with the lighting elevating the sense of atmosphere and intimidation. Although in places the lighting test itself was to overwhelming, and I feel testing the same principle in a more subtle way would perhaps have been more beneficial to the final product. 

Mood corridor- This I feel the basic nature of the play helps the flow of the underlying purpose of the project and presented a good example of exaggerated mood. However despite the fact I feel that the abstract style suits the corridor, I feel these effects exaggerated in a more detailed corridor would have worked better. 

Sense of the self corridor - I feel the abstract presentation and use of NPC's in this project was a good way of testing the principle and came across well. The effects of the NPC's heads turning to face the player is in the same way abstract and effective. I do however feel that the project would have benefited from more design in the environment and possibly more animations in the NPC's. 

Magic corridor (Narration project)- I feel that despite the placeholders the project itself is presented well and with further testing could prove to b informative and a pretty environment. Although this the case the unfinished nature of the project hinders it a lot.  

Library scene: Narrative exploration

Bioshock 

Bioshock, a first person game with a unique environment and story. This game is well known for its twist and successful reveals in the story. With use of a combination of audio, text and visuals the narrative techniques in this game are highly effective in my opinion. This inspired the third project.

Library Corridor- Narrative exploration  

For this project I chosen to explore the effectiveness of different ways to tell narrative. For this I designed a corridor in a magic setting. One corridor to contain text pop ups and the other to present the information via audio. This project is still a work in progress, due to this I have used block colors and basic props to block map out the desired effect as of yet. 

Placeholder props by Yasmine Brough

Designs and progress so far

Corridor one- no text or audio pop ups or queues. So just the layout for the player to explore and gauge things from the environment itself. 

 

Corridor 2 - text appears detailing a brief title of the object when the player hovers over the prop.  

Layout- 

Reflection

Reflection 

   During my work on projects I have learned the I need to work on my presentation skills, as the 3 projects that I set for my work I also need to be aware to set aside extra time to learn the application skills to present the work clearer and to a better quality. This has also effect the time these projects taken to complete rather and the quality backing them up. This I am going to tackle in future works as I have currently set aside more time to go back and master the basics. Such as watching more tutorials and more practice when it comes to beginning and planning out my projects. 

   This was something I wanted to tackle from my previous projects planning going aerie. I felt I had set enough time aside to achieve this however in practicality looking back I had the right mind set but just didn't set enough time for it to make enough of a difference.  

   My Study research essay has helped a lot in terms of my perspective in my project and I feel that more discussion and independent application from work with professionals can help me to plan better in future. 

Project 1 - Lilly Project 

   This project started of well and I felt that I had found a good way of presenting color in games while maintain the colors and quality's of the real asset to apply to realistic games. However the stylized depiction I had chosen didn't reflect this as well as I had hoped, which I felt really stood out in the final piece. I want to go back at a later date and create the final piece from the project again in a more realistic style. 

Project 2- Player sense of the self  

   This project I feel was the most successful out the three projects. And has given me some take away methods that I would like to apply to transition areas to create an emotional impact in the player by presenting a variety of ways that the player connects to the world, character and there perspective on how they fit in the game. This is a project I would like to take further.

Project 3- Narration presentation

   Due to this project still being completed its hard to say on the results on the finished products. However learning from the other two projects, I would like to make the official assets for the project look more skillful. 

Project 2 - Testing and Results

Testing and Results 

Due to the current situation of the COVID-19 epidemic getting people to test was difficult. However I did manage to get one of my flatmates  to test through the project and write down her responses to the same questions after each level was completed. 

   The questions that were asked after each level were as follows: 

1) What were your impressions going through this level?

2) What aspects stood out to you and why? 

3) what impressions of the world did the dialogue give you? 

4) In what way does your player character fit in to this world? 

5) Was this world intriguing for you? explain further. 

6) What do you think is happening in the story of this world, with the information provided in the level? 

7)Who do you think the person at the end of the level is? 

8) Any further details or comments. 

Level 1 Answers 

Level 2 Answers

Level 3 Answers 

Level 4 Answers 

Results summary 

   Summary from level one- From the answers given I feel that the first one achieved the results of  a lack of communication and perspective effected the connection to the world. Detailed in the answers that the tester, felt that world was unwelcoming. They didn't know what was happening and in the story or were they fit in to it. She felt interested in the story however that connection to the world wasn't present despite the interest. 

  Summary from level two-  Level two has a friendlier approach which was picked up on by the player. She detailed that she was interested to find out the story of the main character despite it not being her player character. She stated that the welcoming nature made her feel more apart of the world and more apart of the experience.

  Summary from level three-  This level was were the player was Holder and was clearly made out to thee main character in the game. The tester explained that this level was her favorite as she felt welcomed and had a strong sense of belonging in the world along with the curiosity of the story and how the player character was the main character. However she did explain that although the connection to the world was a lot stronger and her favorite of the levels, the overall interest in the story was not as strong as in level two and one. 

 Summary from level four- The anxiety driven level. The tester detailed that the environment felt hostile, and that although there was a certain level of interest to find out why this was going on in the story the majority feeling was of panic and unease. 

   A lot of these reactions from the tester were majority the emotional impact that I was going. A few things stood out to me during this test that really interested me, I believed that the player oriented story would have the strongest connection, impact and therefore interest. However the tester placed the third level as top in all these categorizes expect for the interest in the story which she ranked level 1 as the most interesting. 

   Making me strongly consider that although both connection and perspective in the world and were the player has a scene of belonging to the world. the presentation of the story is just as strong an influence if not stronger, and so can can mask the effect of the sense of self in games. 

Level 4

Project 2 - Level 4 

The fourth level is all about hostility towards the player.

- To test if the player is more interested when they are being actively pushed away from it. Designed in a way to make the player feel more anxious as an extra put of. Would this cause the player to be more interested in whats going on and why, or just put them of the experience. 

Third Level

Project 2 - Level 3 

The third level is all about showering the player with attention, while revealing parts of their story to them to each other. 

- To test if the player is more interested when they have a heavier involvement in the story, with a hint of still having to connect some of the narrative story.

 

Second Level

Project 2- Level 2 

The player is no longer ignored, but the NPC characters are more interested in a different character. However will communicate this to the player.

-To test weather the player will be more interested in the story if, despite not being about the player is inviting the player as a third party to see the story unfold.

First Level

Sense of the self - Level 1 

NPC'S ignoring the player

- To test weather the player would be interested in the story if they don't know were they stand in the perspective of this world.

Sense of the Self Project Designs

Sense of the Self Project Designs

   This project is designed for a set of corridors that give the player a different impression of who they are and why they are they, investigating their interest to find out more about the world or weather they are detoured away from it depending on how they feel about their perspective in the world. Achieving this by the dialogue from other characters in the world. 

Rough designs for the NPC characters 

   I wanted my designs to have the same abstract impression as the press from 'Beginners guide'. 

Image from: Confessions of a games designer by Guido Pellegrini

Rough designs by Yasmine Brough

image of place holder asset npc 

Designing the levels 

   I want to implement 4 levels that each give a different impression to the player and to see what emotional responses the player has to each. So the test subjects don't try to anticipate whats happening (a want for genuine response and reaction) so the streets will be ordered to gradually give away the topic as it is progressed through the levels naturally. 

Level order

-

 Level 1- NPC's ignoring player while muttering between themselves. 

-Level 2- friendly NPC's so address player excitedly and welcoming. However are not interested in player character but are interested in someone else. 

-Level 3- NPC's swooning over player character and telling defined statements about the character. 

-Level 4- Hostile NPC's there is a story going on but the characters are hostile towards letting the charracter know, pushing against them. 

Design image by Yasmine Brough

  In this design I decided the make the sweeping 'S' shape for the player to travel from group to group.  

NPC design Yasmine Brough

  The original design for the NPC's was as shown above. However they ended up used as just place holder assets while I designed the layout of the level. For the actual characters I used a black silhouetted UE4 mannequin with the head of the phonograph model from the first set of corridors.

Layout by Yasmine Brough