Context & Research
This page will be showing the context and necessary research required in order to find out how to make a modification for the game Fallout 4 as my final project. This will involve design ideas and inspirations, codes and conventions, game-play mechanics, technical research and everything else in between, so sit back and relax as I find and discover what to look for when constructing my very own mod!
Also, for the smaller things that I discover whilst making my mod, check out my blog linked below. It shows my development stages on this project and also has a lot of research updates included! So stay tuned to those updates as and when they come out, as I will be updating it often.
First, I will begin with my project proposal which gives an insight into what I wish to achieve for this project, after which my S.W.O.T analysis is where I will be discussing my Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that I have come across during my time on this course and what I may face in the future.
S.W.O.T Analysis
Strengths
When thinking about what I have learned over the past year, producing an environment for level design is something that I feel I can do well as I’ve proven this in previous units and that designing assets that can be integrated into the level design that is both functional and suit their intended environment.
Additionally, being able to break down an idea and expand it into something bigger is something that everyone is capable of, but the ability to carefully select the appropriate and most feasible options is again another strength that I have proven and have achieved in my past work. This along with my ability to source the relevant information and research required for my projects shows that I understand the context of what must be done in order to fully realise my potential, and continue to further push myself to explore and experiment with new programs in order to improve my work.
Weaknesses
Some of the communicational skills that I have difficulties with when problem-solving may hinder my progress during this unit as in previous units I have not effectively voiced any concerns or issues that have arisen, I feel that this may cause unnecessary stress towards the final weeks of development as I struggle to overcome any issues during this time. Another weakness that seems to still be present is in my time management and allocating tasks correctly and efficiently, as in past projects I have become distracted and too focused on a particular element of my work which can cause my work to come to a standstill.
However, my imagination can get the best of me as I try and add more content that would increase my workload which in turn will cause unneeded stress resulting in a poorly presented final product. Finally, creating detailed concept art is something that I have always wanted to achieve in my work but am unable to produce due to my own skills and the overall quality of the final product, this can affect my workflow negatively during the initial stages of development.
Opportunities
This final project will enable me to implement the correct time management strategies to aid my production and better utilise my workflow with the use of various tools such as a Gantt chart, an in-depth to-do list and more detailed blog posts showing my progress. Another aspect that I look forward to is being able to reflect on my audience feedback that I will receive and respond to in the production cycle of my project so that I remain on track and don’t become distracted by adding any unnecessary additions to my work that may not be needed.
By obtaining more additional sources of feedback to inform the development of my production will assist my project in its later stages of development as the additional information can be used to correct any possible issues that may arise. Furthermore, increasing the level of challenge towards this final project by means of developing new techniques through the use of new programs such as the Creation Kit and others, I will be able to expand my skills across all areas of games development.
Threats
When thinking about what could be considered as a threat to my final project, a new engine environment is one that is most relevant as I currently have little experience with the Creation Kit. This will involve the use of multiple new programs which will be required to produce assets and implement them into my project in the new engine and due to this new engine environment, many challenges will be faced throughout.
Another aspect is my time keeping as this may be an issue-based off of any problems that might arise whilst develop this project as I may discover issues or barriers such as the potential inability to use the required programs within college premises or the availability of information not being apparent and only available through specific searches and extensive research.
However, the overall accumulation of this project will be my greatest threat as I have never attempted anything like this before in past projects this is due to my personal quest to continue to push myself with developing new skills and progress further in the world of games development and onto even bigger projects in the future.
Secondary Research
A brief history of Mods and the Games Industry
Creating Mods for games has been one of the most vibrant and creative scenes in the world of PC gaming since its start in the early 1980s with mods being created for games on the Apple II and Commodore 64. With this history of great games that have been tweaked, improved and expanded upon, by hobbyists, coders, and professional developers many of these individuals have gone on to create many of the well-known games we all know and love.
One of those games being Id software's Doom released in 1993.
(Image credit: id Software/Bethesda)
Did you know? the founders of Id software were aware of their fans attempting to create their own modifications for the popular title and as a result of this, they decided to create a WAD file (Which stands for "Where's All the Data?") which contained all of Doom's maps, sprites, and textures that would allow their fans to create their own levels. This proved to be so popular among fans that the developers went on to create one of the first user-friendly tools to allow their fanbase to easily create their own mods and build their own levels which led to more ambitious mods that added new monsters and changed core elements of gameplay.
With these development tools being so popular and as a way for talented young developers to make their own mark, one popular modder who was known for their level design being Tim Willits who created the Empire and Raven series of maps for the original Doom and Doom II, this would land them a job at Id and ultimately becoming a lead designer at the company for the years to come.
Over the years many of these modders have grouped together and formed various online forums where they can share information and show off their creations for all to see, an example of this is the website Nexus Mods. Originally founded in 2001 as a fan site, Nexus Mods has gone on to have over fifteen million registered users as of February 2019 and the site continues to grow every day. Now even more developers are creating tools for their fans to use and create their own content with such as the Creation Kit from Bethesda.
Bethesda has embraced mod development for both Skyrim and Fallout 4 by including a mod browser built into both of these games alongside the creation club for more curated content, by doing this, many of the mod authors which work independently and as freelancers can work alongside Bethesda and interact with the developers on a much more personal basis by receiving critical feedback to ensure that their content meets their level of quality.
Because of this, the future of modding and creating custom content for videogames is bright, as new and improved hardware and software enables us to push the limits of mod development and subsequently game development as both modder and developer continue to work hand in hand and to help build a better future for videogames as an entertainment medium.
I have previously researched this subject more in-depth in my studies leading up to this project which you can find here.
Analysis of Relevant Games & Media
1950 - 1980's pop culture, post-apocalypse, retro-futurism, aliens, sci-fi, arcade titles, virtual reality
Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta
It's Fallout, it's got aliens and it is one of my main influences towards this project.
The Outer Worlds
I always enjoyed a game that took place in space aboard your own spaceship, so The Outer Worlds is a prime candidate for this project.
Forbidden Planet
This film is the origin of all sci-fi that came after it as it's special effects and acting paved the way for the future of sci-fi media, however its effects and acting can be a bit stiff and strange, but was way ahead of its time.
Codes and Conventions
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Market Research
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Audience Data
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Issues & Debates
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Historical Reseach
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Environmental Research
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Technical Research
With regards to the technical research, most of what this project will involve will be looking into how a particular game engine works and functions, like what I have done in previous units regarding the Unreal Engine and the various projects I have created using that engine. With this project, however, I am using a new engine with new tools where the methods and techniques that I have used before are going to have to change from what I'm used to, but by playing with the Creation Kit and exploring its many menus I can get a clearer understanding of where everything is and how it works.
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As you can see from the above images, both engines share a similar layout with the exception of the Unreal Engine featuring options that allow the use of playtesting directly within the program. This feature is not present within the Creation Kit as most elements are tested and created using a program called NifSkope which in itself is a program that is used alongside the creation kit as a means to open .NIF files, view their contents, edit them, and write them back out again. (.NIF files are a 3D model file format used by the Gamebryo game engine.) By using Nifskope I am able to change the texture, add animations and apply the various different texture maps used for 3D models with a view of the contents of the NIF file that can allow me to preview these changes. Additionally, I am able to import/export .Obj files to and from external 3D software such as Blender for use in this software.
NifSkope
Blender
Fallout 4's file structure consists of several BA2 files which are compressed data archives used by Bethesda Softworks in their games such as Fallout 4 and Skyrim, It contains 3d models, textures, meshes, sounds, and other data referenced by each of these games. By using BAE (Bethesda Archive Extractor) to open these files, I am able to view and extract all of the game's resources where I am able to edit 3d models using an external program like Blender or implement my own concepts into the game based off of existing assets.
This method can be used as references for size and to get a better understanding of how they work within the game to create my own interiors and custom assets.
The way in which I will be using this method is to look into the different interior sets used in-game then compare these to references used during my initial research phase and pre-production. Once I have found the right assets that match my concept I will view these selected objects with the use of NifScope and blender, then by using these objects as a base, I can start modelling my own assets as the size and scale would be correct and would save time later on during development.
Finally, the last element of my technical research towards this project is Substance Painter, as most of my previous assignments have been focusing on learning how to achieve the best quality models for my work with great results, with this knowledge and experience now at my disposal I can plan and learn how to texture a model correctly. This will be done through the use of tutorials found online and by trial and error as I learn Substance Painter's tools and brushes, then I will be looking at how to use layers effectively, masking my models and how they can work with my project to get the best possible outcome.
This will take some time to learn, but by planning out sessions throughout the week in between creating any content for this mod and this project I am confident that I will be able to produce higher quality textures compared to what I have produced in past assignments.
Reference Sourcing
I plan on utilising multiple sources for this project as although I have a great interest in this area of games development, I am still relatively new to the processes involved as I lacked the prior knowledge and experience on how to create content for this type of media, for example, 3d model creation.
My main source of information will be found through online tutorials, forums and through reverse engineering similar mods, as there is not an organised collection of information unlike with the Unreal Engine, which has a huge database of information for its users. Whereas, the Creation Kit has bits and pieces of information from creators and developers scattered across the internet which I will be using to assist me throughout this project. I will be including these additional links to this information on my blog posts where relevant.
Here are a few examples of what information I will be needing and where I will be sourcing it from.
Creation Kit Wiki
The Creation Kit Wiki is very limited in the information that it can provide, as it primarily focuses on development for Skyrim which uses a slightly older engine and different methods for production, that will not work correctly when developing for Fallout 4. Because of this inconsistency, I will only be referring to this information as a starting point as I continue to learn the basics for the Creation Kit.
Bethesda Mod School
The Bethesda Mod School is a series of videos dedicated to teaching newcomers the basics of mod development for Fallout 4, covering a wide variety of topics such as how to navigate the Creation Kit to publishing a mod online. These tutorials are going to be more relevant towards this project as they are more recently published with updated information, additionally, the creator of these tutorials has a platform where I can post questions if needed and receive help from other content creators.
ESV: Skyrim School
ESV: Skyrim School is similar to the Creation Kit Wiki as I can only get certain information from these forums as they are incomplete and have not been updated for quite some time. Although these tutorials are dated, they still contain bits of valuable information that can be used towards my project such as the section for Quest Design & Dialogue, where the creator has published a workshop dedicated to creating your first quest.
Each of these sources can assist me in my work as I can refer to them for any possible issues and questions towards this project. However, not all of these sources contain entirely accurate information and as such I will be required to improvise and adapt to this information in order to overcome any inconsistencies found.
With all of this research and information now in place, I can move onto the pre-production element of this unit and begin working towards my final project.