Eoin Matthews
Game Designer
Carer Development Plan Blog
Hello, and thanks for stopping by my blog as I work to build a career in game design! As an aspiring game designer, I know first-hand the difficulty of breaking into the video game industry. This blog chronicles my individual development as I work towards professional objectives.
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I'll be talking about the basics of game design, programming languages and game engines, potential career pathways and employment openings, and more. I've started this blog to keep track of my experiences and educate others on this journey.
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You can view my career development plan here.
Concept Phase
Week 1
I began delving deeper into the creation engine and reviewed my notes and documentation so far. Despite having a basic understanding of the engine, I spent significant time refining my ideas to decide if the project was worth pursuing as my skill gap analysis found in my career development plan, states that I have significant gaps within scripting. Along with the mood boards and mind map, I also created a pitch introducing the project's themes.
Week 2
I focused on defining and refining its scope. To do this, I created a work breakdown structure, a Gantt chart, and started outlining my hack and plan. My goal was to stay on track and avoid over-scoping, which could lead to an unfinished project. I reviewed all my ideas from the previous week to determine what needed to be done. The work breakdown structure helped me evaluate what could be accomplished during each production week which aligned with my time management skill in my CDP.
Pre-Production Phase
Week 3
I hit the ground running by immersing myself in its capabilities and how to utilise them. I started with basic tutorials and reading the wiki, then found Arcane University, a Discord server for creation kit users to share information and ideas. With these resources, I generated ideas for my level and designed its basic layout within the engine, while still getting the hang of things, which relates to my action plan found in my CDP where Papyrus is a skill I need to learn within the course of the project.
Week 4
I connected my level with the Fallout world by utilising a comic book found in the player's house, and designed a unique cover in-game. I explored implementing basic combat by creating a nav mesh for the AI to follow and adding two enemies with random items - one melee and one ranged - with the latter using a patrolling route. Additionally, I researched and implemented a locked door that the player must hack a terminal to access which applies to some of my documentation skills such as technical knowledge in the CDP.
Production Phase
Week 5
I spent additional time on my level design by expanding and refining it. This enabled me to incorporate small details, improve lighting, and adjust the overall ambiance to highlight distant planets and asteroids. These efforts have positively impacted my game design abilities in my CDP. Additionally, I researched project cleanup to ensure my mod doesn't affect the original game by utilising an external program. This helps avoid problems like incorrect textures or malfunctioning puzzles in other parts of the game.
Week 6
I concentrated on testing the mod for external use. I completed level placements, performed initial dress and lighting passes, and followed tutorials to ensure proper execution. To verify the art asset and terminal function correctly, I tested the project by exporting it and sending a zipped file to a few friends. This required some coordination skills. Later, I added more items to the hangar level's set dressing to enhance its overall theme and added more lighting.
Week 7
I finished the Hangar Lighting and managed project tasks like paperwork, thesis updates, and scope reviews. The project was large, and although my objective was broad, I realised that it needed to be more focused for my FMP. So, I narrowed down the number of areas to three: the hangar, crew quarters, and cargo area. I plan to add NPCs, combat, and puzzles as required to these areas. This showcases my adaptability in being able to adjust the scope of the project down to an acceptable state so that I can guarantee a stable release.
Week 8
I concentrated on testing and finalising the level placements for a complete level. Besides, I spent additional time on administrative tasks and started putting enemies in the level for combat. I chose strategic locations and behaviours for each enemy to make the player's experience more engaging and challenging. By the week's end, I was sure that the project was on track, content with the progress made, and pleased that I could improve my CDP skills by prototyping these elements.
Testing Phase
Week 9
The focus this week was on setting up the quest for the level, and towards the end of the week, material swapping was done for the majority of the interior, along with some minus addressing and lighting improvements. Although progress was slower this week, some important aspects of the project were still addressed, such as the quest setup which involved utilising my scripting skill and improving the visual quality of the level design as stated in my CDP.
Spring Break Week 1
I devoted around 80 hours to completing various tasks. This included implementing puzzles, scripting sequences, addressing most of the rooms, adding more NPCs, optimising and tweaking with light boxes, setting up the end sequence, adding dialogue to the terminals, more optimization, and updating the quest. This week involved using all of my available game design skills found in my CDP to ensure quality and completion.
Spring Break Week 2
I completed the optimization of the level and made tweaks to various scripts. I also finalised the quest sequence and uploaded the project to the Nexus Mods website. The remaining time of the week was spent on performing minor bug fixes and project administration. This involved using the various scripting tools required for the creation kit and in doing so improved my scripting skills found in my CDP.
Week 10
I had to prioritise other projects with closer deadlines. As a result, not much progress was made on the level itself. However, I still managed to use some additional time to work on project administration tasks, such as updating documentation and organising files. Which reflected an improvement in my time management and documentation skills in my CDP.
Polishing Phase
In summary, I have incorporated feedback to make the necessary changes to the mod and fixed bugs to prepare for its release. The final version is now complete and will be released on the Nexus Mods page for greater visibility and exposure, helping me achieve my career development goals. I plan to continue expanding the mod's depth even after its initial release.
