Capstone Project - Initial Ideas & feedback

 Important Information:

- Proposal deadline: 26/01/2026

- Summative deadline: 08/05/2026

MLOs:

Knowledge & Understanding [research]:

MLO1 - 

Systematic and comprehensive research into contemporary cultures, art and design and aesthetics for an original concept. [Benchmarks, artists, observational sketches, general research]

MLO2 -  

Systematic use of research into employment opportunities conducive to your personal creative goals. [Research job roles in my chosen field, techniques of this particular job role and how my project relates to what I want to do in the future]

MLO3 -

Evidence an appreciation the impact of contextual, historical, and technical considerations can have upon your work. [How will certain topics or software limitations influence my work. What software do i intend to use?]

MLO4 -

Develop detailed plans for high-end Games Art content that include appropriate copyright and IP considerations, production logistics, and non-disclosure agreement. [Create a copyright and IP infringement statement, NDA agreement and why they are used, and time management tools to help me produce this project. This will be the project proposal]

Skills & Attributes [Practical work]:

MLO5 -

Utilise relevant technologies, industry-standard workflows, and techniques to professionally develop a project within self-designated parameters. [Create assets using a creative pipeline, hit targets and complete deliverables]

MLO6 -

Employ both accepted and innovative solutions to problem solving when producing Games Art in service to a professional quality project. [Use creative problem solving, push your limits]

MLO7 -

Identify and plan a suitable working process to efficiently fulfil a self-initiated project with consideration to industry-standard outcomes [Create and stick to time management tools. Document your process in a Devlog]

MLO8 -

 Apply professional self-motivation, time management and communication skills in the completion of extended projects. [Retain motivation and continue to work towards your goals]

MLO9 -

Develop innovative solutions to problems when working in a Games Art Development environment demonstrating skills in negotiation and conflict resolution. [Gather and implement feedback from a range of audiences. Explain personal conflict resolutions with design choices]

MLO10 -

Demonstrate appropriate, informed understanding of ethical and environmental considerations and evaluate their impact upon the games art industry. [Consider how your game may cover certain topics.]

Idea generation :

For our introduction to the capstone project, we spent 8 minutes jotting down some preliminary ideas for what we might like to base our FMP around. The ideas are loose for the most part [except for two which I had been thinking about over summer break and have a good idea of how I might execute them] and explore a range of topics and deliverables that I might like to explore. My top 3 ideas at this stage are:

- Caveman Airbnb resource management game, comedic and lighthearted in theme.

- Module for Desoter with a storyline exploring the more political themes mixed with puzzle based gameplay.

- Vermis-esque fake videogame manual for a biopunk/anatomical themed game.

Though, I do like the idea of making more miniatures to 3D print, however i think that the top two ideas fit more with what I would like to do for a job after university, that being an illustrator and developer of tabletop games. [It sort of links, however i want to be more on the 2d art and writing side than the miniature production side, but I won't say that I entirely wouldn't like to explore that job pathway?].

We then discussed some of our ideas with our peers, and the idea that drew me the most was the project I had dubbed "Hotel Bunga" [A very unserious name for a very unserious game]. When it comes to making projects/games, I tend to go towards very serious topics. Several examples of this involve: Elysium: my body horror/sci fi dungeon crawler, Desoter: A sci fi game involving heavy themes of political corruption and slavery, and my fan works for the very gory Mystery Flesh pit national park. Hotel Bunga would be an absolute 180 from these very heavy themes, and I think this change of pace could help both explore different directions for my art style and also the way i make games in general.

My capstone project interlinks a lot with my personal professional development within the last year, I gathered some very vital feedback from a customer at a market I attended a few weeks back who enquired about if I had any plans for more family-friendly and light hearted works. Looking at my table which was half populated by my darker games compared to some few more whimsical games, I could see there was definitely a lack of that within my work. I think this project will be the perfect opportunity to develop something to meet that request and also push myself in general to try something completely out of my comfort zone.

Below are some of my notes on how I think Hotel Bunga may work. I was very inspired by the Far side comics and their comedic approach to cavemen, and I think the premise of a caveman running an air bnb is very charming.

You can see that originally I was going to make this game into a TTRPG, just as that sits more within my comfort zone. However, I was given some very good feedback that perhaps my idea would lend itself to a board game more so than a roleplaying game. The main points given to support this is:

- Resource management fits better with a board game

- People would be more willing to playtest a board game as it is quicker to start and pick up

- I thought relating to that point, younger audiences would be more likely to play a board game with more linear rules.

- I have never made a board game before [except for the card game I made in the last year of college] 

This last point is an excellent one, and I think really pushing myself to do something different and not being afraid to fail is a lesson I really need to learn. When this idea was first suggested, I found myself [and even now I am still a little worried] wanting to shoot down the idea because I just didn't know how I was going to do it, but I think that is half of the fun of it. I will never improve if I never dare to try something new, and so I am going to give it a go. [Which also means i can play some games with my friends for research which is always a plus :) ].

Next steps:

Now that I have a strong Idea in mind, I'm going to create a Kanban/gantt chart for how I am going to approach this project, then begin completing my Project proposal, and most importantly, begin sketching up some concepts for what I would like to do.

Just as a very rough thought, this is what I predict I will be creating as my deliverables:

A board, decorated with a map of some kind

Perhaps some cards? creature cards? crafting recipes? furniture cards [perhaps the furniture can be placed on the back of the creature cards?]

^

a ruleset

Tokens?

Box art

Ideally, If all goes well, I would like to invest in getting a physical copy of my game produced, this will require me to research the cost of producing game assets and printing them. I may also like to look into the logistics of creating a copyright or protecting my IP?