Project Evaluation - [WEEK 16]

Teamwork -

Initially, when we were first sorted into our groups i felt a lot of anxiety being around new people and working on a project together, i worried that i would disappoint my team or let them down with my work, and this really made me stress about this project. However i found that my team and i ended up working really well together, i enjoyed working collaboratively and i feel a great sense of pride in the work we have created as a team. It made me feel more confident in my own abilities too, getting feedback and bouncing ideas off of each other to help us figure out the direction the project was going to go in and what was required of each of us to work towards our end goal. I was supported and i tried to help support everyone equally and in the end i found i really truly enjoyed working with my team and I'm very glad i was pushed out of my comfort zone.

As for my role as the 2D lead i thought it was nice being able to look into and develop the visual style of the game, a few things i really enjoyed doing was making the visual reference guide and researching into my chosen artist, then applying that style to a 3D setting and seeing how all of our ideas came together in somewhat of a mixed media style setting that is vibrant and visually unique, i love how my team interpreted my ideas and everything works so well together. I also liked how some of my sketches were built upon by other members of my team, adding things that i missed to make our idea even better. I think although i produced a lot of assets for this project, i perhaps should have stayed more in my lane of 2D creation, i found myself straying a lot into the 3D category when perhaps i should have been creating more concept pieces to flesh out the world much better. If i had more time to work on this project i would have perhaps liked to explore the weather machines a little more, how they function, how they look, as i feel this is an intrinsic part to our games lore that we could have developed a little more. 

Our final title screen [Art by Niamh Quigley - 2025]

2D assets -

With my 2D deliverables, such as my thumbnails, 2D assets, texturing, concept art and NPC designs i think i overall kept to a consistent art style that aligned with my 2D research, i am most happy with my concept pieces and my exploration of 3D draw overs and environmental art. I find both environmental and architectural art to be a weak point of mine, and so pushing myself to do something i felt a little less confident in led to me discovering a method i quite enjoy and helps me create more interesting and realistic looking buildings. On top of this i really enjoyed opting to draw the flora elements of the game as opposed to the fauna, this isn't something i would usually do and i have found quite a bit of enjoyment in creating my plants for this project, i do feel my shading and rendering, and making sure to include a range of textures in my art could be improved, but this is something i feel more confident working towards in the future. As for my texturing work, i was quite happy with the unique look of our final models, and whilst some of the textures don't fully align up this is something i think i will improve on in time, and is more of an issue with UV mapping. I did find it hard to figure out when to stop adding texture to a model, i wanted to keep them simple looking yet with a good range of hues within each element, and in some cases such as the snakeskin tree i worry i over textured it and detracted from the overall look, this is something that will require more trial and error in the future to ensure i get a good looking end product.

My favourite 2D asset :)


3D assets -

3D modelling was something i found myself really really struggling with last year, and so i took the initiative this year to try to do more modelling to help build up my skills. By using the orthographics i made, i found it really rewarding to take something i had made in 2D and see it as a 3D asset, and i think without the stress of specific project requirements i was able to test out a method that worked for me. I definitely have a lot more improvement to do, especially in areas such as UV mapping, retopology and baking, the latter two options would have probably made our game more optimized. I tried to do some problem solving within my 3D elements too, i briefly looked into rigging [upon speaking with my tutor i found i would have to weight paint my model to get it to move properly, and although i followed a tutorial on a personal project of mine, i thought it better to wait until i have the lesson on rigging to figure out how this works so that i do it correctly] and how to import my models into Unreal engine. I had hoped to do more with unreal engine but unfortunately due to my pc i wasn't able to run it, and getting into confetti outside of uni days is a struggle due to where i live. Despite this, i tried to work alongside my director's instructions on what she wanted me to create for this project, i also spoke a little with the 3D artist who gave me advice on how to improve my models in the future such as baking and retopology which i covered previously. 

My favourite final asset i created


Director Review -

At the end of this project i spoke with my director and asked for her review on how i was as a team member, what i did well and what i could improve on in the future. I also wrote one for her as i think it is important to get feedback to help you become a better team member in the future [although admittedly i had very few improvements to suggest as she has been an excellent team member throughout the whole project]. I did not make any for the researcher nor 3D artist as they had not requested it and i didn't want to force them, though much like Niamh the director, i had very little improvements to give. Here is my Director review by Niamh Quigley:

Review/ Feedback of:
2D LEAD
KENNY LYCETT

Overall, Kenny has proven to be a very valuable member to the team. It’s clear to see that they have a strong understanding of the basic game artist pipeline, which includes the appropriate order of creating art for an idea. Without being instructed to, they straight away knew to create a variety of thumbnails and sketches, which then lead to iterations and colour schemes, before creating any final more detailed designs. This aspect I think is important, as being the director, my job is to lead people and guide them, not having to tell them every single thing to do in order to create good art and assets, this should be known to any professional artist within the industry. 
Additionally, Kenny showed great enthusiasm to the project, being very consistent with the production of their work, and keeping on track with their schedule. Even though I did not set any official deadlines, they were always quick and on time to finish the necessary work I set them. 
Kenny was also very active with communicating to the rest of the group, which made it very easy to progress with the production of this game idea. 

Honestly the only improvements I could suggest, is that they have a bit more confidence in making any mistakes, as I noticed they would often apologise for things that wouldn’t be seen as necessary to apologise for. Within the game industry, there will be many occasions where ideas, or art will be either scrapped all together, or completely re-designed into a different direction. Therefore, I think it’s a necessary skill to understand this and if a mistakes or misunderstandings happens, to still act confident and professionally. 
Despite this, there were hardly any mistakes created, and if something did need to be edited or change, Kenny would have a positive attitude and will work straight away to adjust their work to fit the requirements.

Overall, in my opinion, I think that Kenny is a reliable artist and team member, who succeeded and understood their role as the 2D Lead very well.
If I was to work in a group again in the future I would be happy to have them on my team again.

Time management -

Throughout this project i did use a range of different time management and project planning apps, first starting out with Jira [a Kanban board making website] which i found i didn't really connect with, i preferred the more structured use of the Gantt chart that our director made as i was able to figure out what i needed to do on each day, and i could see the percentage of what i had done already and what i had left to do. I tried to give myself time to accommodate for any illnesses or mishaps which in the end i did end up using some of this allocated time and got almost everything i wanted to do done [aside from the 3D models but i was advised to focus on something else]. I really find this method helpful and will be using it again in the future. Generally i did find it easy to stay motivated to create for this project as it was something i felt passionate about and didn't mind putting in extra hours to get work done.

Here is the link to our gantt chart - 
My final gannt chart with the predicted days and percentage


Final thoughts -

In summary of everything i have written, i feel my strongest points lay within my 2D concept art and asset generation and overall motivation to create for this project. I have absolutely loved working on this with my team and never felt dread or distain towards making deliverables, i found the subject we worked on interesting, the art style visually unique and i really feel a sense of achievement and pride with our overall idea. I can really see the potential of how our project could look if it were a finalized game and i am so glad i got to work with a team to take our ideas from just ideas into a physical collection of a project. Although i was scared at first, building alliances has given me insight into how fun and rewarding teamwork can be, and that i shouldn't let my anxieties stop me from meeting with new people because if i had given up when i felt that way right in the beginning, i wouldnt have this project that i feel so happy with. Going forward i hope to improve my 3D modelling and texturing skills, as well as further pushing myself out of my comfort zones when it comes to rigging and using unreal engine, on top of this i agree with Niamh's review, i do often feel very self conscious about my work and worry that what i am producing isn't good enough and i feel that shines through in how i communicate with people, i think this is something i need to work on as well as my social skills in general. Although it might not seem linked to anything, i think if i want to work in the industry in the future i can't be afraid to talk to people about my ideas. In conclusion i have stated this many a time already but i cannot stress enough how much i have enjoyed this project and how proud i am of my team, and i hope that shines through in the work we have created. :))

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