Finishing Deadlines (20/3/2013)

Since our lecturer recognised that we needed to finish our work in time for deadlines I spent the whole of this session working on my Harvard Referencing. 

Finishing my evaluation (13/3/2013)

Since I finished my 3D Demo yesterday I decided to work on my evaluation today. I also made sure that all my work was on my memory stick and ready to give in next week.

For the evaluation I decided to get some extra notes on what to write in it which included the following.

• What I liked and didn't like?
• What I could have improved upon?
• Did I make any changes to the original design?  

Whereas for the GDD I was told that I could add the following. 

• Player feedback from playing my demo (which I got that day).
• Drawings of my characters and enemies in the game.

Game Project Part 6 (6/3/2013)

First of all I decided to add some roofing to some of the buildings in order to make them more varied. Rather than have all of them flat, I was able to add roofing by taking pieces of roofs and then rotating them in order to fit into the scene.

I then worked on the bar and added walls, ceiling, tables, bar area and used miniature barrels to represent drinks as no glasses were available in UDK.

However, I was unable to enter the bar as every time I went done the stairs the game froze. Luckily I found out from my lecturer having tried again and again to run it that I needed to reduce my 'Kill Z'. The 'Kill Z' is the level / Z axis at which your character should die as that point is where falling from that height would kill you. Therefore in order to get into the bar you had to go down stairs which went beyond the Z axis that stated death. Thus by lowering the line I was at last able to play in my environment.

Pub Quiz and talking with Remode Studios (7/3/2013)

After enjoying a fun pub quiz at the 'Voodoo Lounge' with Jim Scull, Bonnie Simpson, Jon Foster, Adam Forster and Ryan Dear. Jon, Adam, Ryan and me were able to talk to the team of 'Remode Studios' who were also there.
Talking with them we found them to be really friendly, approachable and honest developers who didn't mind me taking notes of the conversation. (The fact I was even able to make notes, talk and drink as well was pretty remarkable).
You can read these notes below.

• It's business, not a game. If you are not earning money then how do you expect to continue?
• Just make a game! Honestly, sometimes the best thing to do in order to get noticed is to just make a game and get feedback from people. If they like it great! If they don't then you can learn from your mistakes. 
• Make a prototype any way so you can see if it works e.g. similar to what I have been doing in my course already with my UDK demo and board games. Most RPG games even start off as board games similar to 'Dungeon and Dragons' in order to see if their mechanics work.
• Don't pitch stories, pitch mechanics! I personally want to go into stories and characters, but apparently they said that this part of the process comes last. Also if asked at a conference for a game idea then game developers will be more interested in hearing the mechanics. This was demonstrated by one of 'Remode Studios' employees as she explained her idea for mechanics and therefore was able to speak to a 'big shot', thus gaining herself a place in the industry. 
• Be critical of other peoples ideas. After all, without honest advice a game can fall apart completely. 
• Try to get into a company with people you know you will be able to work well with such as friends.
• Go to Animex! Its crucial if you want to get into the games' industry as its a games' convention where you can hangout with others in the industry and get to know them more casually over drinks etc.  
• Put 3-4 flow dialogues in your game documents as they help show the mechanics of the game otherwise known as the 'loop' e.g. in a shooter do you kill the enemy? Yes or no? Yes means you live and continue forward. No means you die and re-spawn, thus starting the process again. 
• Look at existing games and try to analyse the 'loop' if you can e.g. what makes it fun to begin with as you can learn how to make your game engaging and not repetitive this way.
• If you want to tell a story / envoke an emotion then think how it suits the game better than say a movie e.g. is it interactive? 'Journey' worked as it had no story, but the player made up the narrative in their own head. 
• When coming up with stories what emotions do you want the player to feel? Happiness? Anger? Sadness? Knowing this can help you come up with ideas more easily.
• Great quote: "If you're not in a box then how do you expect to break out of it?"
• Different game developers in different countries often have differing views on what they believe they should give the players. For example, Western developers believe in giving the player visuals, whereas Eastern developers concentrate on feelings and emotions. This is perhaps something I should look up for myself. 
• Always believe in yourself! This will give both you and the people you work with confidence in your abilities.
• CV's only give you a 10-12% chance of getting into the industry. Therefore branch out and get your name out there! Keep in touch emailing developers or go to places like Animex in order to get to know them in person. You will be surprised by the results.
• The UK's games industry is tiny! Therefore it is likely that you will get to know nearly everyone involved withing a very short time.
• If you don't get an internship then don't just sit around doing nothing! Make a game and get some experience from doing so.
• When sharing your Twitter account for business purposes make sure the image you use shows your face. Otherwise how will potential employers identify you?
• Make sure you are both likeable and approachable within the industry. After all, people want to work with those they know they will get on with.
• Have passion! Live it, breath it, eat it! Love your job and what you do! It will keep you going and inspired.
• Get to know journalists as well since they can help get your games noticed either with previews or reviews. 
• Don't be fair when coming up with decisions. You need to make final decisions based on yes or no answers as trying to be fair can lead to trying to please too many people in your team or even other players. Thus you need to focus and make sure your game appeals to smaller audiences as trying too much can stretch your resources into mediocre additions instead of focusing on the original mechanics of the game e.g. including weak multi-player nobody may want or plays.

Three great things that should be included in a game doc include...

• Executive Summary: Genre, demographic, platform, visual style.
• Key Features: What is the game?
• Design Pillars: What the game is? Does it really need certain features included or do they get in the way of the game? This section will make you focus on what's most important.

Being asked by Remode Studios themselves to join them afterwards we jumpeed at the opportunity and went to 'Poppers' where we met with Ben Reynhart from 'Mutantlabs'. Hearing about our course and what we were planning to do with our group project he offered us all the opportunity to work with him on Fridays. Shocked and thrilled by this we of course all said yes and hope in the future to have some work experience with him. This would be a great opportunity to learn how the industry works first hand and also be something useful to add to our CV's.

You can check out the sites of the people we met and their recomendations below:

• Unknown (Unknown) Remode Studios. Available at: http://www.remodestudios.com/ (Accessed on: 8/3/2013).
• Unknown (Unknown) elixel. Available at: http://www.elixel.co.uk/ (Accessed on: 8/3/2013).
• Unknown (Unknown) Mutant Labs. Available at: http://www.mutantlabs.com/ (Accessed on: 8/3/2013).
• Unknown (Unknown) animex. Available at: http://animex.tees.ac.uk/ (Accessed on: 8/3/2013).