Level 3 Games Development
By Eoin Matthews
UNIT 3 Introduction To Pro Practice
Here is my group project on Shigeru Miyamoto in which we give a brief insight into Mr Miyamoto's life
The topics we covered included his current work, his past work and what inspired him to pursue a career in games development.
During the presentation as a group, we each had selected a number of lines of text to read so we created a short script to read from, And so that we had an equal amount of topics to cover in the time we were given. In the final few slides, we included a short quiz relating to the topics mentioned to engage our audience.
If given more time I would have cleaned up the powerpoint some more with less writing on certain slides as was mentioned on our feedback form.
I feel like the presentation when well and that I didn't talk too fast or mumble as much as I thought I would do, I was engaging the audience by keeping eye contact with them for most of the presentation only turning away to change slide or to point at parts of the slide.
EGX 2018
Developer Showcase – Excalibur Games
I will be attending the Excalibur developer session at EGX they are known for developing Jalopy, a simulation, adventure game based in Germany during the 1990s. They have also published Euro Truck simulator developed by SCS Software back in 2008, Which is another simulation game involving delivering cargo to various locations. I have chosen to view the Excalibur presentation as I own and have played both games for countless hours and I am Interested in their new game that they are announcing at EGX.
- Whilst exploring Excalibur's website I have learned many interesting facts about them.
- They are a division of Contact Sales Ltd who is a publishing company with multiple titles under their belt.
- Excalibur where founded in 2004 based in Oxfordshire.
- Only 9 people work at Excalibur.
- Successfully funded Shoppe Keep via Kickstarter in 2015 and sold upwards of 120,000 copies of the game.
- Excalibur was nominated for Indie of the year award following the success of Shoppe keep.
- Along with PC releases on steam, Excalibur are licensed to launch games for Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Boss, T. (2018). Excalibur Games Press Page. [online] Contact-sales.co.uk. Available at: http://www.contact-sales.co.uk/press/#history [Accessed 19 Dec. 2018].
The mystery game that was announced was Willowbrooke Post. A game where you have to take care of your parent's post office whilst they are away which leaves you wondering where they have gone and why did they leave. The art style is this retro pixel art, similar to animal crossing on the Nintendo Gameboy.
The game will be coming on steam early access at some point in the year which I shall be buying to get my hands on the game and figure out the mystery of Willowbrooke Post.
And during EGX I was unable to play the demo for Willowbrooke Post as there were a fair few people trying out the game at that time. I learned from the developer session that the time period is around the 1950s but with modern technology and during the day you’ll be serving customers and sorting their post but during the night you may have to discover mysteries. The game was discovered by Excalibur games when they were searching on the Internet and found an early build of the game online.
The person who developed the early build of the game had made games with unity in the past, but these games were not as successful and because of this, they had chosen to improve their pixel art skills.
Then they even went onto speak about when developing a game as an indie studio or as a developer you get many creative freedoms that allow you to implement certain themes or references into your game. With the storyline in Willowbrooke Post, they went on to explain how many of the characters will have a narrative story arc and much depth to bring their characters to life which will be needed as you can write to NPCs and they will write back to you and that the game will have multiple endings. The gameplay is interesting as well when sorting post you have the option to open letters to either are further yourself in a quest or just to be nosey and find out more about a certain character, other activities and interactions include being able to cook and learning new recipes to cook meals to give to characters to improve your relationship with them, the ability to write letters using select sentences and phrases and to wrap parcels in different wrapping paper.
This is the Gamification of working at a post office.
When talking about creating assets for the game they went on to say that not everything that is made makes it into the final game.
Other than that I look forward to seeing more about the game and finding out more about the story of Willowbrooke Post.
One Indie game that I wish to see and play is Sunless Skies. A steampunk styled space exploration game in which you take control of your own steam locomotive within an old dystopian London in SPACE!
Whilst at EGX I was able to play this game and I was able to talk a little bit to the developers and ask them various questions. The game itself is a successor to their previous game Sunless Sea although you don't need to play it to enjoy Sunless Skies as it has different themes and mechanics.
When speaking to the developers I asked about what inspired them to go for the style they had and how long it took to conceptualize art for the game. They went on to tell me that they had been creating concepts for the game for a few years with multiple ideas not making into the final build of the game.
The second game that I will be looking at is called The Bradwell
Conspiracy, based in the year 2026 in the newly built Stonehenge Museum you have to discover the mystery of what happened to everyone and what triggered the explosion that caused everyone to disappear.
During my time at EGX, I was unable to play the demo for The Bradwell Conspiracy but I was able to have a little talk with one of the developers about the game. Similar to Sunless Skies I had asked them about concepts and how they came to deciding a narrative for the game. I also spoke of a book that I had been reading and how I could use that as a good place to start developing from as the theme I have chosen starts with that book.
Career Pilot
Whilst in a tutorial session I was shown what career pilot is and how I can use it to further my knowledge into potential job roles within the games industry as well as what the chosen roles require.
Below is my selection of roles that I wish to pursue and my thoughts on why I had chosen them.
-Computer Games Developer
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/games/job-profile/computer-games-developer
I have chosen this job role as I have a keen interest to help develop games, whether its to decide what a game would look like and how it would play out or being able to create original ideas or creating something new from some concept art. Aside from that, I would be very interested in creating the code for a game to work although at this current time I am not very skilled in creating code, I will be excited to learn more towards it. As salaries and work hours are not too grand and are to be expected I would be able to continue to work 30-40 hours a week as I would enjoy the work and the final goal of creating a game. One interesting requirement for this role is to first become a QA tester in which I will go into further detail below.
-Computer Games Tester
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/games/job-profile/computer-games-tester
The first job role I will be trying to attain would a QA tester, either at a publisher, games developer or testing company. In this role, I would be able to test out the newest games whilst also being able to provide feedback to the developer's including bugs that I have found and suggesting fixes. As this would be an entry-level role only requiring a good standard of English and a passion for video games. As this is an entry-level position I could get a work placement after doing some research on what's available and where the work hours are variable I would be able to have a second job whilst expanding my skills to do with games development.
-Software Developer
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/games/job-profile/software-developer
With being a software developer I would be working in a team to produce software to a client's specifications, whilst working within a development team I would be discussing the requirements set by the client, taking part in design meetings, writing code, fixing problems within the code, documenting the development process and maintaining systems once they are up and running. This role is quite a difficult one to get into as I would need to acquire a degree in computing or a relatable subject, this still won't deter me from trying. As this is a position that requires a degree or equivalent qualification it has a salary to match along with a 40+ hour a week schedule due to meeting deadlines and having to travel to meet clients an fulfil contracts.
EGX - Reflection
Having attended EGX 2018, I have learned a great deal about the gaming industry, from indie games to AAA games and how they difference from each other in terms of how publishers control certain aspects of a games development to how an indie game developer may have many obstacles to overcome in regards to time frames, funding or creative differences within the team. As this was my first time attending EGX I was overly excited and overwhelmed with how much was going on, from the merch stands to the huge developer sections showcasing new and upcoming games such as Metro Exodus and Spiderman not to mention the wide selection of indie games many of which I was unable to able to play due to only having a limited amount of time. One of the Indie games that I was able to play was sunless skies, a space-age victorian, space exploration game where you pilot a flying steam engine, encountering many things from other hostile steam engines to the great unknown just waiting to be ventured into. Aside from playing the games and buying the merchandise, I learned that anyone can get into the games industry, as long as you apply yourself and believe in your ideas. Overall, I had a blast and will be one hundred per cent attending all of the days next year with my fellow peers.
The Indie Games Sector
What is an Indie Game and why is it different to a AAA game?
An Indie Game is a game had made without the funding of a publisher initially, that can eventually be funded if a publisher agrees with the ideas of the game and thinks that it will make them money in return. Although a basic indie game has got fewer man-hours regarding a AAA game, they can be considered sometimes better than the leading AAA title due to the content there is in the game for example, a deep and immersive storyline that can grip the player and make them feel involved in the world, or certain mechanics that are unlike any other game. Take Braid, for example, its time mechanics are unlike any other game that was released at the time; taking notes from the Prince of Persia franchise, the developer Implemented his own twist on the time mechanic using it to solve puzzles in a 2 D environment.
What good can come from making an Indie Game?
Fame, fortune, you name it! If you make a good and relevant game that will be enjoyed by the masses, you could get anything from developing a game. But all great developers start at the beginning at some point. To develop a game, you must know what you want to put in the game, because at the end of the day you’re making a game for yourself, with your own blood, sweat and tears. But good things do come from developing a game. You learn new skills such as making concept art, developing assets, creating stories. When developing as an indie developer, you’re able to show the world what you can do and give people new ideas for the future or even give yourself some idea on what you are going to do next.
What are the main drawbacks and Negative impacts?
With the good comes the bad. As I saw in Indie game the movie, developing a game can come with many struggles at work and in your personal life. New pressures are brought upon you that you need to balance and work on to produce your own game. As I’ve been told many times, don’t burn a candle at both ends. Financial problems are another drawback of making games in the Indie sector, Indie developers don’t have near enough the same level of funding compared to a AAA developer, take Rockstar for example, they have spent millions on the Grand Theft Auto games, these games look amazing, but then they have the development staff numbers to be able to produce these games.
Personal Thoughts.
I rather like indie games. They offer something different than a normal AAA title might not provide, one of the most recent indie games that I have bought has been a game called Tacoma, A short narrative adventure set in a high-tech space station in the year 2088. You are an investigator who must find out what happened to the crew members aboard the space station. On the station, you can watch Interactive augmented reality recordings of the crew members and how they went about their lives before they disappeared. The game takes around 2 to 5 hours to complete depending on how long it takes you to solve the puzzles or by just wondering the station, taking in the atmosphere and admiring your surroundings.
My Thoughts on working at Valve within a Flat Structure
The way Valve approaches staff management is very different from most businesses, they use a method called flat structuring in which there is little to no management to report to and employees are encouraged to work together towards decisions made within the company. From Greenlighting a project on steam to requesting amenities for the office. This method provides less supervision towards employees and promotes them to be more involved with each others work.
-Pros-
-Gives employees a higher level of importance/responsibility within the company.
-Allows for a streamlined decision process when working as a team.
-Lets employees decide where and whom they work with within the company allowing for a smoother workflow as they may work better with a certain group than the latter.
-Cons-
-Mentoring is not available to help grow an individuals skill in a particular area and only peer reviews can help so far.
-Very little guidance within the company for new employees, only a book can get them so far in what they wish to pursue.
-Many talented people within the industry are less likely to work in such a manner and prefer to work in a more structured manner.
Personally, I would still love to work at Valve as their rich history within the games industry with games that I grew up with and played for endless hours after school and what they have achieved as a company with steam and multimillion user platform supplying gamers around the world with games, films, software and music beats that of any other service currently available to use.
As long as I play games I will still hold Valve to heart as one of my favourite developers.
Below is an organisation chart that I have created depicting the structure at the now-defunct Blitz games and its development team. As I have shown in the chart below, there are many levels included in order to make a game. From junior artist to publisher there are many people involved in the process, along with additional help from outsourcing contracts with either other companies or individuals to help assist in the process of anything from art to QA testing.
Although similar in structure, the core development team has many management roles for the different teams involved, such as a Design manager who manages the designers who overall design of many aspects of the game, to the Art manager who makes sure that the art and animation teams are working towards the same goal and are producing the desired content.
Contract types and employer responsibilities
These are the key types of employment contract:
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full-time and part-time contracts consist of a fixed amount of hours given in a week, 40 hours a week is standard for full time and 16+ hours is the standard for part-time. For a full-time contract, an employer must provide at least 28 days paid annual leave along with allowing the employee at least 48 hours of rest per fortnight. The same applies to a part-time contract, but with less holiday entitlement as they are working fewer hours. Also, an employer must provide Statutory sick pay if the employee is sick for more than 4 days in a row.
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fixed-term contracts involve a timeframe in which the contracted work must be completed by a future date, these contracts are used by employers to fulfil certain tasks or projects by a given date either given by the employer or client if they don't want to commit to employing the person on a permanent basis. Fixed term employees are to be treated the same as full/part-time employees.
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agency staff are hired through recruitment agencies who deal with finding the right person for the right job as specified by the employer or client for a fee which the employer would pay as they don't have to deal with the initial recruitment process. Agency staff have no fixed term contract and can be let go with little to no notice.
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freelancers, consultants, contractors are self-employed or are apart of an external company, they deal with their own tax and National Insurance but may not be entitled to the same rights as the above contracts. But as an employer, you are responsible for their health and safety regardless.
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zero hour contracts are also called casual contracts and are mostly used for piece work or on call work such as a care assistant. This type of contract means that the employee must be on call, ready for work when needed, they can choose to not do the work permitted but are to be treated the same as the full-time and part-time workers. Being on a zero hour contract also allows the employee to seek out work elsewhere if desired.
GOV.UK. (2018). Contract types and employer responsibilities. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/contract-types-and-employer-responsibilities [Accessed 18 Dec. 2018].
Working In The Games Industry
Quality Assurance Tester - Sandbox & Tools - CryEngine
In this job role with the Crytek company, I would be required to focus on aiding the development team with maintaining and optimising their CryEngine software, the job tasks would consist of developing test cases and practising these cases, reporting issues to the development team and help to replicate these errors so they can be fixed. The skills I would be focusing on would be my experience with the CryEngine, using 3DS Max, Maya and with other game engines such as Unreal or Unity. By using and practising with these programs I would be furthering my skills and knowledge along with increasing my portfolio as proof of my increasing talent.
Other key skills and experiences that are desired for this job role are as follows, Knowledge in animation and game design, with these particular skills you would have to able to understand how the animation processes are implemented and created along with overall game design such as how key mechanics work, I would look into researching these topics with the use of animation and game design books and experimenting with examples used within these books.
Jobs and Skills
Here is a table that I have created showing an example of various jobs that can be obtained within the games industry, including what the job in question requires and what skills/abilities are required and desired for that particular role.
I have also included 3 job roles that I have committed further research into, describing what qualifications are required along with the career path of said positions, all references will be included within the Job Roles table below.
Market Trends
Here is my presentation on what Market Trends are currently and examples in which they can be used.
During my time at UCW on the 21st of November 2018, I started by experimenting with animation using Maya. At first, I found difficult as I have no previous experience with Maya, although after I played around with the different tools and settings, I was able to almost animate the character we got to use. Afterwards I was tasked with dressing a scene using Unreal engine, this I found to be easy once I got to grips with maneuvering the camera. The rest was a breeze as all the assets I got to choose from were already premade using blueprints, with this I was able to loosely create a small scene from TLoZ Ocarina of time, by increasing the scale of a tree and imposing a face upon it, the only issue I had with this is that there was no faces to use so I used a fish head and scaled it appropriately. Lastly I was tasked with sculpting Link using ZBrush another application I am unfamiliar with, as I am still finding my style when sculpting. I created a zombified version of Link to make up for my lacking skill in ZBrush which I wasn’t 100% pleased with but it was a good start and I wish to continue experimenting with 3D sculpting software. Overall, I found the experience of UCW extremely useful whether to apply for a course there which I will eventually do once I have finished my course here, provided I am able to acquire a position. With the software we used I am interested in the Unreal Engine and can’t wait to use it more during my time on this course.
Facebook.com. (2018). University Centre Weston. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/UCWeston/photos/pcb.2191216900897988/2191212967565048/?type=3&theater [Accessed 19 Dec. 2018].
Recently I traveled to the Warner Brothers Studio, during my time there I got to explore the different methods used during the production of the various films, such as character makeup and costume development, below are a few photos of my experience.
As you can see from the photos above, we were shown the storyboarding process along with a selection of different character costumes with an explanation on how they came to be chosen in the films along with a little backstory on how they obtained the different parts of the costume, for example, did you know that professor Umbridge’s broach was purchased at a charity shop by the props department for as little as £2 and is now worth thousands of pounds another example is that did you know that Hagrid’s face in the first film was a prosthetic mask placed onto the actors face with later films using animatronics instead.
Other points of development shown were how the costume department designed the overall look of key characters using swatches and mood boards, along with this we were shown the storyboarding process on how the camera would view the actors when it came to shooting scenes for the films. Overall the experience was amazing, and I learned a great deal of what goes on in terms of film production and development and would recommend going again to learn more about these processes and being able to see them in action.
Congratulations you've reached the end of this Unit
I didn't know what to put at the end of this unit, so have this GIF of Thor instead