Bilal Hadji Game Designer Portfolio 2
How to Work in A Games Studio
📝︱Week 1: Introduction to Game Studio & Week 2: Working in a Game Studio
We were given various briefs from various companies i choose the one focusing on Candy Crush. In this brief we were tasked with reimagining the game to welcome a new generation of gamers, and make it the topic of conversation amongst the youth. Working by myself i brainstormed some ideas, creating sketches of some of these focusing on how to make to improve the game whilst remaining on brand.
Project 1: D&AD New Blood
CONCLUSION
What went well?
I was able to come up with lots of ideas that fit the goals listed. I think the improvements I came up with were unique, check the game's theme, and matched the aesthetic aspects already included. I also liked that I extended off existing characters/aspects within the game as these are already known by players and would love to see more of them.
What went wrong?
Because candy crush is such well developed game it was originally difficult to come up with ideas that weren't already implemented into the game.
What to do next time?
Research what players enjoy in games and maybe look at other games as examples of what can be done within Candy Crush or whatever my task is
🎮︱Week 3: The Whole Cohort Project
Our assignment was to develop a top-down multiplayer game, as shown on the left. This manual comprises all the works produced by this project's Bradley and Gianna department.
Scrapyard Scramble - ART MANUAL
Above is an Art Manual showcasing the appearance of my group's game and its various components. Within our team we delegated various roles to each other for example one person would focus on designing the UI and another characters, doing this for every aspect of the game.
Scrapyard Scramble - POST MORTEM
We created a collabrative post mortem document reflecting on the project: the highlights, downfalls and rooms for improvement as seen above.
Project 2: Local Multiplayer Project - Whole Cohort Project
Weekly Breakdown Of The Process:
(13.02.2023) The design team came up with ideas that were not possible with the team and resources we had, they didn’t share the same focus and coordination I believe was necessary and made the work of the art team more rushed due to being provided a list of things to make quite late into the project.
(14.02.2023) Every Tuesday we have a meeting (Until the 7th of March) and this was the first.
(17/02/2023) I completed sketches in procreate of 26 characters when I did my sketches I showed them to the art team asking them to vote for the 4 they liked best out of my sketches.
(23.02.2023) I finished 3D modelling one character
(22.02.2023) I completed another 3D model of a character character then updated the assets from our list.
(24.02.2023) I curated sketches of the starting menu and the numbers for the logo, creating a simple but well made design.
(28/02/2023) I drew more sketches of item icons then sent them to the design team asking which they like most.( I have good )
(03/03/2023) Using the design team’s feedback, I edited the best icons in photoshop to make them better and I finish the starting menu sending this to the design team.
(3.03.2023) In class we had a meeting where we discussed both positive and negative feedback from the producers
(06/03/2023) Within the art team someone had created a skybox, sending this to me to remake with more texture and details.
(07/03/2023) I started to make logo for the title.
(07/03/2023 ) I created a series of logos/fonts sending this to the design team asking for their input.
(08/03/2023 ) I made the skybox more fitting to the plan and as similar to Monument Valley 2 art style. Later in our group chat I saw someone needed a pickup icon, I helped by doing this in photoshop, also making the player colour slots
CONCLUSION
I enjoyed my role and felt that my skills were very useful to my group and made useful contributions and assisted my teammates as well.
It was also an interesting experience with working with others and having to work off their feedback and critiques to my work.
I found it difficult working with such a big group of thirty people as it was my first experience, and felt like coordination and communication was at times difficult and that often led to work being rushed or unfinished.
Also I found working with the design team quite challenging as they would often come up with new ideas, scratching the previous ones which I felt was hard to work with.
📔︱Week 4: Documentation
Here is the media design document by the art group, detailing the work done for the project and its journey towards the final product.
💼︱Week 5: Professional Etiquette
We explored the different formalities that need to be put into place when working within the industry. In particular, we focused on the idea of professional etiquette, looking into the various things that play into this for example our communication skills, our attitudes or teamwork skills things like these play an important role in how you present yourself which will help you develop in the industry.
Additionally, we also focused on presenting ourselves socially and branding ourselves. In the sessions we looked at doing this through the use of websites such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Artstation, this allows you to showcase your portfolio and helps you make connections which is important in future employability. The idea of professional etiquette also transfers to this aspect as you are presenting yourself to an even larger audience and need to do this professionally to showcase your abilities and hopefully allow you to prosper in the industry.
Furthermore, we also looked at the idea of motivation more distinctly, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Intrinsic motivations are ones that come from within oneself, these will often bring greater satisfaction than extrinsic motivations which are driven by external sources and are often done as a result of a promise of reward or avoidance of consequence. By distinguishing our motivations for performing tasks we can begin to understand our role as professionals greater and hopefully produce better pieces of work.
Social Media
LinkedIn is a professional networking site, that allows you to write articles, join groups, submit images and videos, and plan offline events. Creating a profile is a good way to present yourself as here you can list out your qualifications and experience allowing you to create and maintain connections that can help you find potential job opportunities. It's filled with people sharing opportunities you can take part in or apply for. Creating a profile is a good way to present yourself and your expertise and makes it easier to find my future employers.
Instagram is a more traditional social media however its main focus is the sharing of photos through posts and stories which can be particularly useful to artists wishing to showcase their portfolio to a wider audience. Instagram provides you an easy opportunity to grow by gaining followers which can open up the possibility to job opportunities through things such as commission work or being noticed by employers.
ArtStaion
Artstation is a platform used by artists to display their works. Similarly to Instagram, this social media is a very place to present your portfolio to an audience of like-minded individuals and possible employers. Being on a platform filled with artists can create a greater sense of community and possibly could help with motivation and idea generation.
💬︱Week 6: Formatives
We presented our work to our teachers, where we recieved feedback that would allow us to improve and add to our work to ensure it was the best outcome possible.
💀︱Week 7: Post Mortem
In this session, we were introduced to the idea of a post-mortem document which is created after a project has been concluded and discussed the various ups and downs of the game project and how these can be improved the next time. Such a document allows both a team to reflect and improve but also allows individuals to identify their strengths and weaknesses as contributed to the team which is vital when seeking improvement. We looked at 'Slime Rancher' and 'Serious Scramblers' as examples of post-mortems, here we saw them listing the details of the game, how it was developed and for long and then its success but also the developer's feelings when developing it. They discussed what went right first providing images and steps of the process they also discussed what went wrong and how this could have been avoided or changed next time looking at player reviews to get a greater understanding of this. These examples showcased how a post mortem should be conducted to be effective.
🪐︱Week 8: Creating a World Building Document
In this session we discussed the aspects of world-building we asked ourselves what should be included and came up with examples such as what species live on this world or what technology exists in the world, questions like this allow us to explore various ideas and create a better an image of what we want to create, making this immersive for people introduced to this world. We looked at some examples for example looking at 'God of War' we looked at all the details included for example the culture and history through the use of the environment, characters and their clothing and also objects featuring intricate carvings reflective of real life artefact, by doing this the game was able to achieve a realistic and immersive feel making the world they created feel real. We then explored in detail how to make our worlds unique for example through the creation of a new language and how to go about doing that.
Project 3: Worldbuilding
Weekly Breakdown Of The Process:
(17/03/2023) When imagining my ideal world, I decided that it should be in a faraway galaxy where people do not exist.
When I began planning the world I was creating I decided I wanted a planet in a faraway galaxy with properties and organisms completely different to those on Earth. I looked at famous examples of world-building as inspiration and to give me an idea of what I needed to consider for example I looked at Pandora from the Avatar series.
(20/03/2023) I made drawings of my planet and objects, firstly by creating a range of unique resources my world has, what special properties they possess and then sketching them out. I then consider the setting of my planet creating a sketch of that with three planets orbiting it and it possessing a ring similar to Saturn's however containing dust of the special energetic ores of my planet.
(22/03/2023) I made drawings of the environments and animals. I decided what type of climates I would have in my world drawing a range including deserts and forests. I also wanted all the organisms on my planet to have a very unique ability so I thought it would be interesting if they were all able to photosynthesize including animals. I made some drawings of animals that could be found on my planet.
(24/03/2023) I decided I wanted a humanoid species living on my planet so i created the Watan people, sketching them out and creating their unique alphabet/language. I looked more into their culture, economy and technology also producing some sketches based on this, using real-life events as inspiration for this, adapting it to fit the natural aesthetic of my species.
(24/03/2023) I complied my sketches together and explained in detail the different aspects of my world, expanding on each to fully illustrate my world and make it feel immersive and real. This can be seen in the PowerPoint above.
CONCLUSION
What went well?
I enjoyed creating a world of my own I think I was able to add unique qualities to my world, particularly through its resources and also the characters/species' ability to photosynthesize which allowed me to have many ideas. I was able to include a lot of interesting details that made the world feel more immersive through religion, economy and travel which are vital to world-building in particular the creation of the language of my world's people went well as it was something I hadn't done before and I was able to keep it to the theme of my world and make it look unique.
What went wrong?
Personally, I found it difficult to do the project as I provided specific criteria or tasks I needed to complete as with other projects and it was a lot vaguer and left for me to decide which made it hard for me to start the project.
What to do next time?
Next time I think I will dedicate more time to creating a personal checklist early on of what needed to be done through the help of my classmates as inspiration to ensure my project is more organised and the research can be conducted where necessary.
💠︱Week 9: Games Accessibility & Inclusivity in the industry
We live in a world with myriad types of people, many of whom may need greater assistance when performing tasks that may be typically easy for all. Accessibility in games comes in many forms, each as important as the other.
For example, visually many things need to be considered: providing different settings for people with colour blindness, providing brightness options for people with sensitivity to light or partial blindness, adjustable sizes of UI for people who may need to be larger or smaller also the addition of subtitles can make games significantly easier to play for a variety of people such as individuals with hearing impairments.
Another way that games may be difficult for people is through controls: offering different difficulty levels, and creating a variety of controllers that are suited to an individual's particular needs.
Audibly also many things can be done, with abilities to control various sound aspects of the game for one or even provide various language options.
Such aspects of the game can seem small but can make a tremendous difference to people and make the gaming world more welcoming and is why it is so important to consider during game development as it introduces a whole large new audience to your game and allows it to be enjoyed by many more.
Subtitles Font Size & Caption
Subtitles can reflect the dialogue within the game as shown in the image on the left from The Last Of Us Part 2 but can also be used to transcribe game sounds as shown in the image on the right from Minecraft. These can be useful for the hearing impaired but also for players who mainly find it easier to take in information by reading it rather than listening to it. Additionally, it can also be useful within games where there may be lots of audio at one time, allowing players to keep track of what's happening. With subtitles, however, it is also important to have many language options which may be difficult and expensive to implement accurately for some game companies, especially indie developers but can really boost a gamer's experience.
Controllers
Controllers are being designed to be more comfortable and easier for users to through their design. This can be useful even for gamers without physical disabilities however can be life-changing for those with them. Adaptive controllers are being customised to fit the personal needs of disabled individuals. For example, Xbox's Adaptive Controller shown in the bottom and top right images includes larger buttons that are easier to press whilst still maintaining the precision of a normal controller also these buttons can be customisable assigned to Xbox outputs to fit a gamer's personal needs this furthermore helped with the ability to add external switches, buttons or joysticks. Similarly, Playstation are introducing Project Leonardo as shown in the top left image which includes a range of swappable components in different shapes and sizes, allowing players to choose what fits them and provide a more enjoyable experience.
Color Blind Options
The dots have symbols overlaid on them when a player activates the Colorblind mode in order to distinguish between dots that are the same colour. These icons are merely used to denote the dot's variation in colour because they have no specific meaning in the game.
Some games have colourblind options for specific types of colourblindness as shown in the right image from Destiny, these provide a generalised optimised setting configuration that will work for most people. However, the option to have more customisation when it comes to colours, brightness as shown in the left image from Overwatch can also be useful to allow for more personalisation and consequently a more fitting and more enjoyable experience playing.
⌨️︱Week 10: Being an Indie Developer
An indie developer is one who creates games either as an individual or smaller group and isn't being supported by a larger game publisher or company. Such a role comes with various benefits and risks as we discussed in today's session and what things need to be considered when choosing to become an indie developer. The main benefit of being an indie developer is having greater creative freedom, allowing you to design what you want without the added pressure of deadlines and time restraints you may face working for a company, this may contrast if you are working for a client as a freelancer. Your work as an indie developer is nearly solely dependent on your motivation and this may vary especially with the lack of stability that comes when working independently however with the correct amount of balance and focus many will find they prosper in such roles as compared to working within larger companies. Financing may be a challenge as you are responsible for your money and budgeting both for your projects and also dealing with the corresponding taxes depending on what you are working on. Many responsibilities come with this role such as marketing, publishing, dealing with clients and finding a workspace whether this be in your home or renting a specific location to work and meet in. Such things need to be considered when deciding your career path and if such responsibilities and freedoms are suited to you and your work style.
Finally, we were brought up with a challenge to complete which was to design a pitch for my own company, I worked with Kamran to complete this challenge.
Project 4: Accessible Storybook
Gameplay Unity/Android
Here is the completed gameplay of the digital storybook in Unity/Android.
Unity
Android App
Weekly Breakdown Of The Process:
(9/4/2023) I researched kids' books to get an idea of the aesthetic and storytelling. I also looked at general accessibility to reading to plan what aspects I could include.
(13/4/2023) I began to plan out my story using Freytag's pyramids as a guideline and then a creative writing piece to help generate ideas.
(19/4/2023) Using my creative writing and story plan I began to plan out my pages using a storyboard with each panel representing a page and I did this for 33 pages.
(21/4/2023) - (25/4/2023) I refined my storyboard and then began converting the panels into detailed illustrations for each page, I removed some panels from my storyboard due to time restraints and also because I felt like they weren't important to the story and not worth the effort. I drew these on Procreate as I felt like it was the easiest software for me to draw on and add the level of detail I wanted.
(26/4/2023) -(27/4/2023)I watched tutorials on how to create the book programme deciding on using Unity and also including some effects, I then began to export my drawings into PNGs to Unity and added them to the pages.
(28/4/2023) When everything was completed I recorded my gameplay and exported to a mobile app.
CONCLUSION
What went well?
I think I was able to create a unique and interesting story that was suited towards my target audience. I was able to research how to make an accessible storybook and include certain aspects that I looked at in my project. I was able to create cute characters inspired based other children's books which I think work very well for what I needed.
What went wrong?
Creating a well-developed story and including everything I needed to was very time-consuming and difficult to complete. Also sometimes I had glitches with certain software which only made the process more time-consuming.
What to do next time?
Next time I might try to aim for something for a more achievable and manageable goal that didn't require the same time and effort. For example by making a shorter story or maybe grouping certain pages together into one.
EPILOGUE
To begin with I want to discuss where I think I went well during my journey, what I enjoyed and where I think I grew my abilities and mindset. The unit was very cohesive, and the skills and information I learned in previous tasks I would find myself using in future tasks for example with Accessible Storybook, I used the skills I has learnt from my World Building task and intertwined this with the information I had learned about accessibility to create an interesting story and world and also include features that allow me to present that story to young children with certain disabilities. Notably, I enjoyed Project 2 the most, as working within a bigger group was reflective of what working within the industry might be like with the different teams and roles, this taught me important teamwork skills. I felt like I made a good contribution to the project and was able to even help other members of my team whilst also feeling supported.
I was able to explore and learn about skills and information that will be important to me not only moving on to the next year of the course but also in my future career. For example, the information on networking/professional etiquette, working as an indie developer and the self-reflection through a post-mortem was very insightful and gave me a better idea of my options and how to achieve them but also how to always be reflective of my work and use my mistakes as opportunities for growth.
Furthermore, there was lots of opportunity for research in particular the research I did and information we were provided on accessibility within games was of particular interest to me as someone with a disability myself as it showcased how game designers are implementing features to make the gaming world accessible to me and how I can be considering these things when making my own projects to make them fun and approachable to people within the disabled community.
Additionally, another thing I enjoyed was the opportunity to expand my creativity and explore outside of what I typically do. For example through the world-building task, I have typically more focused on character design and less on the actual background lore behind them. It allowed me to think deeply about different aspects that are important for designing a world from scratch and how developing this well creates such an immersive and interesting world I couldn't achieve just by drawing.
Moving on to the sections of the unit I found difficult or that I didn't do very well. The most notable challenge for me was working by myself for many of the tasks this was particularly difficult as I felt like I didn't have full support as I didn't understand certain aspects of the task or how to begin with them without clear prompts to follow, particularly with the Candy Crush and World-Building tasks. With each, I had to essentially start from scratch which involved me having to generate ideas which were difficult originally however after completing this the rest of the project became much easier.
Moreover, although I enjoyed Project 2 sometimes communication between such a large group was challenging and made it hard to progress at times, with certain teams not necessarily agreeing with each other or some other teams not meeting deadlines causing delays to others. However, dealing with these was important to learning skills about working in the industry as it's impossible for teams to work and I was able to see how to comprise and adapt to sudden changes or certain disagreements.
In addition,
Conclusively, although I did face challenges I think they were useful experiences and insights into working in a gaming studio and still taught me important skills, particularly the importance of time and organisation both on a personal level but also when working with a team. I think moving on from this unit I will try to improve by setting myself personal goals and establishing a good schedule for me to complete my work which should help me when doing my work in the future. Despite my challenges, the unit was very beneficial and enjoyable and I think what I learnt will help me in the future.