Angela Buchanan, Week 9 PPJ, Blog Post 9, GMAP 378

2D art, interface, texturing

I focused on refining the interface more this week. This included cleaning up instructions, adding missing elements, and reflecting any changes.

A big challenge for me this week was finding a way to the score and timer bar stand out. I tried a few different methods until I decided to try adding gradients to the sides. While it was a very simply solution, I felt it worked most effectively. My other methods seemed too bulky and thick compared the smooth gradient. Additionally, the gradients can be placed on-top of the dash as well, making the dash environment look less flat.

I also made some art to fill the blank space on the slot machine. Originally, before the aliens had their own console, that space was going to be used for slot instructions. Now it's just for decorative purposes.

Positive Content   

-  I don't expect to have to any more tweaking unless absolutely necessary.

- Found a nice, simple solution to make the time and score bar stand out more 

Negative Content

- Didn't work as much on the sell as I would have liked to

Work and hours

Instruction screen update (1 hrs)

Just a general update to fix changed instructions, add any missing ones, and fix any errors in previous ones.

Time and score bar visability fix (1 hrs)

My first method used a faded pixelated shadow effect, but I felt this looked to clunky and clashed with other interface elements.

The gradient also adds a stronger sense of space to the dash, so I decided to stick with that solution.

Slot screen art (.5 hrs)

The process for this went smoothly.I looked at some slot machines for minor influences, aside from that it was a simple asset to make.

Sell Tweaking (.5 hr)

I tweaked the sell as much as could with the amount of time I had remaining. I expect to do more next week, but the game tweaks had a higher priority.

Total Hours: 3 hrs

Post Mortem

Things that went right

- Overcame interface design challenges (Making things visual and quicker to understand)

Working on the interface was my biggest task for this project. The game heavily relied on players being able to quickly pick up and adapt to the instructions. At the same time, we wanted players to clearly know their progress.

This was challenging due to the chaotic nature of our game. With so much going on, good design is important to make the interface stand out. I knew without a good interface, the game would not be playable.

Taking feedback and using some of my own ideas, I felt I was able to establish a strong interface that has made significant developments throughout the term. Aside from some text instruction, the majority of our interface is visual, making it easy for the player to quickly grasp information.

- Managing more people

Communication is my weakness, regardless I felt I was able to communication more effectively this term with both the programmers and the artists. I managed to keep relatively up-to-date with instruction changes through the term and during meetings I encouraged the programmers to voice any needs or requirements for particular assets. 

As for the artists, I provided feedback when possible and helped direct some design decisions.
When asked for advice, I responded quickly.

Additionally I made it clear where all assets could be found and included direct file paths to assets during my updates.

- Produced a lot of work

The interface alone required a lot of components, updates, and changes. Along with that there was the slot machine (Another big project of mine) and the icons. Both tasks required a lot of attention and updates and took the majority of my time.

Despite this, I still managed to complete other tasks. Generally texturing, but I also took care of some basic modeling.

Things that went wrong

- Miscommunication and organization (Lack of firm leadership skills)

I prefer to have heavy influence over projects I work on, therefore I tend to lean towards leadership roles when possible. However, I struggle with effective communication and organization (The state of my desktop folders and desk support this fact),

I do feel that this negatively impacts the project.I did take initiative and attempted to prompt discussion on the art side of things, but the clarity of my words and lack of firm voice does not draw much attention.

Additionally, I felt folders could have been better organized and I could have contributed more documentation that set down a specific workflow for artists. I plan on relying more on reference documents like this for future projects to help add direction where my voice cannot.

- Insufficient planning early on (Game concept art)

I have mixed feelings when it comes to concept art. At the beginning of the project it contributed a lot to setting the mood, however many ideas expressed in concept did not make it's way into the game. Concept art also requires a lot of work, which takes time away from asset production.

During this term, there was game-flow concepts, which I ended up not assigning further as I felt they were not useful. I felt there was a strong disconnect concept and what was actually produced (alternatively, I felt there was also disconnects from ideas stated and concept produced).

Instead, I stuck to a reactive approach for assigning tasks. However, I felt I still should have set some side time aside to plan out and predict art assets ahead of time. I did some this, but not to the extent that I should have.

- Difficulties distributing work

This is partially due to the insufficient planning and organization, but I had difficulties assigning tasks.
Better communication while game were being built would have allowed me to create a stronger asset list that could've been in place sooner.

Additionally, the skill and style differences of artists made it hard for me to make decisions regarding task distribution.

Honestly, I'm still lost on how to effectively manage skill and style differences of artists. When you're working with deadlines, it's hard to make decisions for when assets need to be redone. Especially when those assets take a lot of time.