So, what did I learn? (Reflective Summary)

I set out to learn and enhance my skills as well as knowledge in my personal fields, filling in the gaps of my inadequacies at the same time. How did my plan turn out?

Reflective Summary

To see more detail of my own individual Analysis, please listen to the above Audio on Personal Development.

Project: Game Aesthetics: Systemic and Visual Significance.
Project Aim: How does gameplay design and art design impact the overall aesthetic experience of a game?

The project aim was to discover the connection that visuals and systemics offer in regards to game aesthetics. In personal reflection of this, I feel that the overall project was a success not only in terms of academic research, but also within my own personal sphere.

The three main skill sets that I wants to develop and close any needed gaps of to carry out this project successfully as discussed in my podcast and previous skill gaps post are the following skills: Programming (for game design), Art (for art design) and Writing (to clearly describe the results).

1. To gain a moderate knowledge of programming/coding to carry out the full project (Systemic)
2. To advance the polish of my personal art style and visual skills (Visual)
3. To further develop my personal writing style (Research & Dissertation) 

1. Gain a moderate knowledge of programming/coding to carry out the full project (Systemic)

In terms of gaining a better understanding of programming, as mentioned in my podcast, I feel that I managed to surpass a barrier that was often present for me as an artist. That barrier was the belief that I could not code and that as an artist it is wired within my own nature. After this project, I have a newly built confidence within my coding experience which in invaluable not only within the gaming industry although within most technical sectors.

Here is an image which I saw almost every few minutes whist I was coding. The debugging console was a life saver which pinpointed every error in code and critically forced me to understand the structure of coding.

The Unity Answers forum was a pinnacle factor of my growth in knowledge as well as overcoming specific problem, there is literally an answer for almost every coding problem you can think of.

BEFORE & AFTER: From Adobe Flash to Unity3D. From basic programming knowledge to a more intermediate level of knowledge.

Understanding of JavaScipt

I feel that my understanding of JavaScript has reached an adequate level of which I am very pleased about, before this project I had never used JavaScript or never coded with anything for that matter, I was afraid of coding and filled with apprehension to even begin, although now I can say that I have a well versed understanding and am confident to customize code and create very basic code when needed which is a big ump from where I started. I now understand the format, understand variables, functions, private code and a vast array of different principles within JavaScript and this is evident within the game I have created. 

Understanding of C#

Alongside JavaScript, I have also been using a lot of C# as a lot of the functions that I expected to work in Unity with JavaScript did not work so I had to learn the basics of C# and found it to be quite the challenge although I can now confidently say that I also understand the basics of C# and how the structure works and how it is different to JavaScript. I managed, with the help of Abertay 4th Years to fix my collision function within my game for characters collecting objects by using C#.

Specific programming of Game Events

My prior experience of this was very limited, particularly during my Flash prototype development. Although that had laid the very basic foundation for me to create an impressive game with more complex functions. I am now able to program specific sounds to be connected to collisions, for example a 'jump' sound to play when the player jumps and coding the collection of 3-6 light boxes being collected to trigger the next level as well as the blocks creating a 'Game Over' Screen to show up once they hit the ground. All of this would not have been possible if it wasn't for the project and the delve into game design.

Understanding of programming Menus and Transitions

Before, I had no idea what programming the UI (user interface) would entail nor did I think much about the actual procedure of 'Game Over' and the 'Next Level' would initiate within the game. Now at the end of the project, I understand that within Unity you have to create several different scenes which would be activated once you complete a level to move onto the next level as well as the importance of scripting the Main Menu to function properly. I managed to do this all with using a script holder which would activate when the right amount of light boxes were collected or not. 

2. Advance the polish of my personal art style and visual ability (Visual)

In terms of improving my art, I feel that even though I didn't notice much change personally, when actually looking back, it shows that I have certainly gained a better knowledge and understanding of art design theory as well as my own personal style and visual skill.

    

BEFORE & AFTER: From before, my lines lacked finesse and were quite messy. Now my lines are more deliberate and sparing and my use of the COPIC markers has certainly gained me a new style.

BEFORE & AFTER: From before, my digital art lacked detail and style and after my artwork has matured and become more sophisticated with more attention to detail and finer execution as well as better use of colour.

Defining Personal Art Style through Practice

My personal art style has certainly developed and matured over this whole project period. At the beginning I feel that I did have a style and it was fairly obvious to others that my artwork was created by me and had features that one would relate to my work. Features such as a certain set attention to detail, cute characters, well made anatomy and sketchy lines. I feel that now my art style has become a lot more sophisticated and I am starting to embrace more of my graphic design past within my own work which shows within my sketchbook as well as my final game. That less is more. I feel even though I have not fully discovered my style, I feel I now know what aspects of my style I would like to focus more on.

Life Drawing & Anatomy

By partaking in the life drawing sessions that were run by Abertay as well as learning to draw time and time again from reading books and using internet reference, I feel that my drawing ability, accuracy as well as sense of speed has drastically improved and you can somewhat see this within my sketch book. I feel that before I was a lot less confident in being able to draw something fairly fast, and that now I am able to draw something a lot faster without much hassle as well as it being far more accurate.

Character Design

My character deisign skills did not drastically improve as it was not the key focus, although if you look at my semester 1 work and compare it with my semester 2 work, it is evident that my work has improved and the various different designs I created of the Destony character in my sketchbook show that I have developed this further to a certain extent also. I feel that there is still much room to grow within this area in general.

Environment Design

Comparing my initial environment attempts for my Flash game as well as the initial Unity attempts of the Destony game, it is evident that this part of my own ability has improved also. I am now able to direct a theme for each environment a and merge the style, art, assets as well as music to suit that level. This is something that I had little experience with beforehand although I now feel very confident with the structure of planning from deciding on a theme, then a style and then the colours and finally creation of assets. 

3. Develop my personal writing style to convey information in a succinct manner (Research and Dissertation)

Finally, my writing is probably the thing I am most happy about improving as it has always been a big demon that I felt inadequate with for a large part of my life, despite always getting very good grades back in school. I feel that by researching, reading the books that I have read and most importantly blogging so regularly and being critical of each post that I have improved immensely  Not only that, but I have also learned to touch type within this time as well as type significantly faster. 

BEFORE: As above, I was using far too much hyperbole.

AFTER: Now I am using far less exaggerating words and actually notice when I get carried away in academic texts.

BEFORE: I would do the same as the bad above example and get the reader bored with random jargon and complex uninteresting explanations.

AFTER: Now I am able to be more succint and get to the point ad well as only mention what the reader is looking for when they skim your content.

Use of Exaggerated Language

After my lecturers Lynn, Ian and Dayna noticed my over excited use of hyperbole in my academic writing, they told me that when you are writing something academic you have to be careful how excited you get as for something to be of valid use to other academics, it has to be critically viewed and proven of it's worth rather then the horn of it's own value being blown. I did understand this initially, although somewhat got confused with using intellectual and appropriate creative words with using unnecessary hyperbole. I am really glad that they noticed this about me, as it has also made me realize how much of a passionate person I am in nature as well as being humble enough to accept my flaws. I have now effectively improved in this area and you can also see this by viewing posts from my 1st semester and comparing it with my 2nd semester posts which are far more critical. 

Succinct Writing

My writing is now full of a lot less jargon and big words with little appropriate connect, which I found myself doing a lot of the time when I wanted to sound smart. I have improved in this area and am now able to say what I wish to say with far less words and keep every sentence and paragraph with a purpose or 'one' single concept rather then being all over the place and not really saying anything worthwhile. This has improved a lot due to my lecturer Dayna who has humbled me with his academic writing knowledge as well as pedantic error checking. I am now far more confident in my writing.

Clear Methodology

The methodology of my project was quite unclear at the start of the semester and was just full of different theories that although were interesting, it didn't seem like any concrete would for form my project. Now it happens to be the case that my project has been simplified and that I know exactly what I am doing as well as writing about. This was all put into context once I created my own critical framework. Due to knowing more about my own design process, I was then able to write up a much clearer methodology in my dissertation that was succinct and to the point.

Literature and Research

Reading found research and literature is something I did a lot of during semester one, although I always found it difficult to show how much research I had been doing as I had always done so much but never presented it well. Now at the end of semester two, I have recorded and written about a large amount more then I ever did in semester one and have been able to record it in a more relevant way that flows far better within my dissertation. I also have read books that I hesitated to read during semester one such as the Media Deisgn Theory Book and various other books as well. I feel that my research skills within  these areas has become more organised and I am less afraid to dig deep within the research and able to present it in a succinct manner in my writing.

That is it for my reflection, If you want to find out more, please listen to my podcast.