GamesJam Review

 Creating The Classroom:

We started the creation process by getting accurate measurements of the room and making a rough top-down sketch to help visualize what we needed to create. We then looked around the classroom and took some more in-depth measurement of things like doorways, windows, and working out the angle and height of the ceiling.

Once we had gotten these measurements, Ethan began to Grey Box the room in Unreal to create a base shape and size for us to work in. I then looked around the room for things that would need to be 3D Modelled and decided to start with making a keyboard. I started by measuring the keyboard and created a cuboid in these dimensions to be my base shape to build on. I then measured the size of the area that the keys are actually located, how far apart the rows are and the size of the keys themselves. From this information, I created an area for the keys to be created.

I took some more detailed measurements, as the keyboards have quite visible switches and these would be included in my model. This gave me enough information to begin the construction of the keys. Not all of the keys were the same size, but the switches were all 1cm by 1cm so I didn't have to worry about creating multiple different sizes. The keycaps are 1.5cm by 1.5cm so required me to create a larger space of the top of the switches, and then bevel back in to create the height and slant of the keycaps. I did this for most of the normal sized keys, but there are many with different sizes so for these keys, I could create the same key but I would have to adjust the position of some of the edges and polys so that they would be the right size. My initial creation of the keyboard was nearly 2000 polys, so it required me to cut out as many as possible without changing the shape. This wasn't too difficult, as all I had to do was detach the keys from the board, make the base of the board one poly, and then move the detached keys back to where they were and then reattach them. Just doing this removed 600-700 polys from my model, making it far more suitable for our purpose.

I also made some models for the monitor, computer and mouse, as these are major parts of the classroom. I kept these models far more simple after I made the mistake of going far too in-depth with my keyboard model. I managed to do all three of these models quite quickly and made them look decent as well. I spent the rest of the time I had making a chair model, as, like the electronics, these are a big part of the classroom. I had some difficulties getting the shape down, even starting with a basic design and building up from it, but I eventually managed to create an alright chair model that could be placed into our level.

During this process, I learnt a lot about using 3DS Max and about 3D Modelling in general. There were many tricks that I learnt, such as using the detach tool to remove certain parts, allowing for the cleaning up of a model, and how useful the slice tool can be, especially for creating straight and uniform lines, such as the base design for a complicated model.

GamesJam Participation:

Taking part in this GamesJam was a very fun experience that taught me a lot about Games Development, as well as working as a team and to a deadline. I not only had to relearn how to code, but I also had many new things to learn, as well as discovering my way around UE5.2.1. As well as this, I had to come up with mechanics that would work in our system and fit the theme that we were following, and they would have to work within our level without requiring too much to be changed.

I was teamed up with Will and Evan, and we decided that I would be the coder for our team, with Evan being our level designer and Will being the artist. This team dynamic being created very early allowed for us to quickly delegate what needed to be done and just crack on. Being the coder, I created the code and implemented the mechanics, animation, art and UI into our levels. There were many difficulties with the creation of a game in such a short amount of time and I had many setbacks, but also many successes. I think one of the best moments for me was when I got our wall jump mechanic to finally work, as I had been working on it for many hours and discovered a way to make it work in the way I wanted. While it wasn't perfect, I had actually gotten it to work so it was a huge success and allowed for far more to be done with our level.

We stuck to the theme of the GamesJam and created a 2D platformer that revolved around this theme. We took inspiration from Hollow Knight, and looked into the mechanics and level design that it used and put our own style on this. We did have plans to add in combat and enemies to fight but due to the time restrictions of a GamesJam, this was on the bottom of our list and unfortunately never happened.

Reflection:

I think that both of these projects helped me improve massively as a games developer, and allowed for me to build myself in multiple areas. I have learnt a lot about how to use software such as 3DS Max and Unreal Engine 5 and have learnt many tips and tricks that can speed development up and make life easier when using these platforms.

I think it was very important for me to experience having an important part in a big, time-constrained project, as I now understand much more about how important it is to sort out things that need to be done, as opposed to advanced features that should be added last and general prioritizing in the development line. I also learnt that communicating what is being done within a team can make it far easier for all members.

I think that personally I could have done far better with prioritization, as I got distracted with features and models that weren't the most important to have done, as well as time management, as I would sometimes get engrossed and spend too much time and put too much detail into one thing, when I could have made multiple in that time that would have been just as good.

Suggestions for Improvement:

I think that the GamesJam was very enjoyable and overall a good and simple experience. It wasn't hard to enter and what was being asked for was very clear, as well as the rules being clearly stated. The only thing I struggled with was uploading the game, as I had never done it before and there was no instructions or help. Being marketed as a GamesJam for beginners, I think this could be rather important information to have.

I think that both the classroom recreation and gamesjam project were quite successful in general. In the classroom recreation, we could have done with some more models to fully flesh out the room and make it more like irl, but what we had in the room was good and the actual shape and size of the room was very accurate.

Our GamesJam project was definitely successful, but with more to work on due to the tight schedule. We were unfortunately missing some textures on objects within the world, and had a few rather important features that didn't work the best, such as the time up screen not displaying score and our mechanics being a bit janky. I feel the level design may have been a bit simple and the space wasn't fully utilised.