Project 3 - Post Mortem

Project 3 Post Mortem - Latex Basic

Project 3 tasked us to create interactive MusicVideoGames based off Audio clients visions. This was the first group project so far in Studio 2 and the final product we produced is something I personally am proud of. The process in which the game came about, I am far less proud of. From the beginning this project struggled due to poor communication. This was a prevalent problem throughout the entire project but thankfully didn’t hamper the final product.

After initially contacting our client and having a meeting to assure his vision was secure and we were confident in what he wanted us to create for him we were able to pitch the game to our class. With a good reception of idea on a Monday we got cracking straight into work. Isaac's vision was a first person walk down a Tokyo back alley. His ideal vision was to have neon lights and signs that would light up where the player looked which would allow them to place colour where they wanted. This was a metaphor for how people see goodness is a bleak modern society. With his idea clear we got straight into making a prototype of just a one sided street with some signs with the light up mechanic. Wednesday of that very same week our prototype was up and running with some mock up models from our asset creation team member and basic functionality in the on rails movement and neon colour-look mechanic integrated. With this only being a three week project it got us off to a fantastic start. Having these things done and ready to tweak and polish gave us time to all work on assets for our specific districts, this gave each area a more distinctive feel and utilising our asset creators earlier modular work it was simple and quick to piece together.

This was a huge benefit to the project as it gave us the time necessary to polish many aspects of the game which really made big impacts on the player experience. For example on the very last day of production an introduction was placed into the game where the player steps off a train and immediately sees a train line map which lights up, introducing the player to the core mechanic of the game giving them the skills and then time to use them throughout the rest of the game. This alongside the construction of our separate areas was a great way to implement each of our strong foundations in level design to further create a cohesive narrative for the player.

On this project I was incredibly fortunate to have a team that were artistically amazing specifically at modelling. This created from the very beginning an amazing asset creation pipeline. Our main asset creator in the early weeks was able to push out a huge amount of really modular assets which could be used in any of our 3 distinct locations in the game. Most of those were used in his residential area but I utilised many of his structures for the commercial district which greatly increased my ability to make a vibrant area by giving me the time to work on unique neon signs. With our functionality in the game really early we were able to focus a good portion of our time on these assets and by creating them all with MagicaVoxel a tool we all had prior experience with we were able to create a great quantity at great quality.

I was tasked with being the project manager for Latex Basic and it was something I was ill prepared for. I had been a project manager previously where the main problems came from team members not completing work and having to pick up all the slack whereas this project was very different. Every member produced work, not always on time, but the work was there in the end product. This project was far more about people management than project management as I had full faith in both team members to get quality work done as I had previously worked with the both of them separately and knew they were fantastic game designers. The three of us however were all incredibly different in almost every way. Work ethic, personality and process were different for each member and trying to strike a balance so that I could get the best outcome for everyone was incredibly difficult and certainly something that didn’t work 100%.In every project I have worked on so far at one time or another there have been communication issues. Latex Basic was no exception. Writing via text has been a huge issue, the reason behind that is it is incredibly easy to misunderstand others via instant messaging taking things totally out of context. This is due to the lack of tone and expression which you gain by having in person meetings. We were able to resolve all of our problems by having a series of meetings which were incredibly beneficial to put everyone on the same page. Not only did it give everyone a sense of what the others were comfortable achieving but aired any concerns which were met with strategies to move forward. Even with this though the team was able to band together and produce a fantastic piece of work which I personally was a huge learning experience working on especially as it is the kind of work you would be tasked with in an indie game studio.

This project was a learning experience in many different ways, what we were able to make was fantastic and met and surpassed our clients expectations. Overall I am proud of what we were able to achieve and am proud of the whole team.