I feel a slight sadness that this module has come
to an end, it has certainly been the highlight of my year so far. I've been
introduced to many new aspects of game design throughout, though this can
mostly be narrowed down to the corporate side of things such as management
structures, and the pitching process, as well as all the knowledge I gained
on animation for games. However, I do also feel a slight sense of relief from
the modules end. The formation of our group saw the coming together of various
sub-groups in the class that normally didn't have anything to do with
eachother, this led to the surfacing of some apparent 'clashing of
personalities', as well as a slight rift occurring in the group at large as
everyone basically kept to the sub-groups they were used to, and I fully admit
I did this too, but even so I was left wondering whether we'd actually be able
to work together successfully, thankfully as you may know this was not the
case.
Still, I feel this brings me to the biggest
problem our group suffered, and I think that was a general lack of
communication. For example, throughout the project no one really seemed to have
a definitive idea of what our game was and wasn't going to be/be about/do, I certainly
didn't but I know why that was. A lack of effort to closely follow the
development of our game outside of my own role. Yes we had an easily accessible
Facebook page where certain people posted important info about their own
progress but it was all nothing I really paid particular attention to, and I didn't
delve into the group drop box to find out everything I could, I was quite happy
working on the stuff I needed to work on rather than passionately watching over
the project as a whole. Perhaps that wasn't really my job though, and to be
fair if our team was using the Agile management structure then I guess no one
needed to really do anything more than what was required of them, but I still
feel like I should have invested myself more into this project. I generally
blame my social anxiety for these types of things. I can normally deal with the
ones that require talking to people I don't normally speak to if I have
to, but I’m sure everyone would agree they'd feel far more comfortable working
in a group with people they're good friends with on the whole, and in some
respects I feel that everything would have turned out better if this had been
the case. Still it's a given that the ability to work comfortably within a
group of unfamiliar people is essential to anyone wanting to go into the
industry or hell work comfortably in any job for that matter. Even so, I still
feel like there's some area for improvement there on my part.
Speaking of myself however, I should discuss how
I think I personally fared in this module. I feel I coped well with my role, I made
sure I met my deadlines, as well as making sure I discussed ideas thoroughly
with my co-animator Tim before using them. I was really surprised and impressed
by just how well my animations turned out, and though it was incredibly
frustrating at times I would gladly do it again as I believe I could do them
even better. From research through to production I really enjoyed the animator
experience and have come out of the module feeling that I may well have found
my profession at last. Though even with all the knowledge I have gained on
animating in Maya and the animation process, I realise I have only scratched
the surface.
Overall I greatly enjoyed this module, it has
been at times fascinating and my anticipation for gaining a place in the
industry has never been higher. If I were to be given the chance to do this
module again, as mentioned before I would try and invest more of my time and
interest in the project and generally try to be more sociable within my group,
even if that just meant posting on the group Facebook page more. As for my work
within the project I feel I could have saved the Small Character from its
importing problems by making sure the model was consistent in all the files, so
being a little more thorough would be where I would improve things in my work,
I also believe that the knowledge I’m currently gaining in our Animation for Games
module would see some improvements to my animations were I to do it again,
though thankfully the course was running parallel to my work so it did see some
benefits.
Finally, though I may gripe about how things were
a little tense and divided in the group, this did seem to fall away as time
went on, especially when everything started coming together (though it was
definitely still there under the surface!) Its incredibly gratifying to see
your own and everyone else’s work coming together in a playable prototype, and
I really thought this created more of a team spirit towards the end of the
project.
I am now greatly looking forward to the next time
I get to experience another group project, be it in my final year, an
internship or in my first paid job in the industry.
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