For Activity 1, we did some rapid ideation to come up with our concept and then followed up with our own individual research using WGSN (while we still had it) and other sources to expand our knowledge of trends, opinions, and tools regarding Game Design. I looked into articles regarding not just gaming but also what makes "play" enjoyable and why do we crave it. I also looked into the rising trend of "retro" style indie games.
I found I gained a lot from educating myself about the state of play and how it benefits people on a day to day basis. I also found my research on retro game trends to be quite valuable to me for inspiration for the art direction of our project going forward, allowing me to understand why games are made in retro pixel art styles and how it could benefit our small team for this project. As for my other team member’s research, it was very worthwhile to see just how varied of articles were explored, I learned a lot about Unity, the psychology of gaming, and sandbox games specifically.
Action Research Phase 1
Action Research Phase 2 For Activity 2, we explored our inspirations and vision for the project, creating our own personal moodboards of our specific tastes, played games, and wants for the project.
Project 1: Concept
The first pitch we developed is “Pixel Plateau”, a 3D sandbox game created using Blender (which would later be scrapped for MagicaVoxel), Unity, Aesprite, and Figma. In the game there will be a customizable floating island that you can customize with a wide-variety of different objects, environments, characters, and more. Create your very own island to your liking in a 3D environment of your creation.
We recieved alot of feedback about the scope and the features of the game, being a broad topic, it had a bit of an identity crisis being compared to many different games in the genre, each of which had their own identities, audiences, and direction. Going forward, we kept this in mind as we continued to carve out the concept.
Project 2 consisted of our group fully diving into the software and seeing how things work and adjusting our approach and the scope of our idea to fit the time remaining in the term as well as the logistics of achieving our project goals. We divided the work between group members, with Tim and Mikaela focusing on learning Unity to build out the fundamental groundwork for our game and Callan and I working in MagicaVoxel to create models/assets. Through Action Research, I explore the tools of how to create models efficiently in MagicaVoxel and explore deeper how to implement that into our game concept. (We ultimately decided to move on from Blender as restricting the models to be voxel based was deemed the most efficient route forward)
For Project 2, Callan and I were responsible for getting on this software and learning the basics on how to build models, environments, and how to bring it over to Unity for use in Pixel Plateau. While Callan focused on building the ground tiles and blocks, I created props/assets.
Through watching tutorials I was able to understand the essentials of MagicaVoxel in order to develop an effective workflow creating, texturing, and exporting models to be used in Unity at a high output volume. Due to the simplicity and intuitive nature of MagicaVoxel it was quite easy to pick up and apply external knowledge of similar design software to.
Action research was applied through first researching about the software, then experimenting with it myself, using both my experience playing around and the tutorials to create models before finally having said models be critiqued by peers and exported to Unity for testing.
Action Research Phase 1 MagicaVoxel is an open-source, free beta program that uses low voxel styled 3D modeling. Voxels are the three-dimensional pixels that make up a model. In this style, these voxels are at a large scale, generating a pixelated effect similar to how pixel art is created with 2D sprite art. With this software, the goal is to create retro, sprite styled models to be used in our game, giving it a consistent pixelated style without needing to create individual sprite textures for models made somewhere like blender or c4d, or needing to apply any external filters to achieve this effect. By having the models themselves be low-poly in this voxel artstyle, this effect is achieved in a streamlined and efficient format. I started out by learning the basics, following tutorials like this one from shutterstock to get a feel for the tools and how to create models.
Action Research Phase 2 At first when I brought a model over, Unity had automatically set the scene to be in a 2D sprite format which confused me at first as my environment did not match the tutorial. The model had the textures already but it lacked the base lighting and would not respond to any lighting I put in place and when rendered, only appeared as a 2D flat sprite with no depth. After restarting Unity and creating a new project, I was able to then import the model into the default, 3D environment where I was then able to complete the steps of the tutorial to import the model and then create a new material to attach to the png texture sheet that is exported with the OBJ.
The collapsible composition for each OBJ model in a Unity workspace. Contains the OBJ, mapping, and material.
Project 2: Prototype
Our final prototype at this stage is quite simple, focusing on the essentials to test before moving forward. The code was developed by Tim and Mikaela, while the models were made by Callan and I. The following demo from Tim showcases the implemented feature of placing objects on a grid, deleting them, and drawing them.
Module 3: Product
Research
For Project 3 I stuck to my role as an asset developer (3D and UI) and focused on finalizing the user interface and model lineup for the game to hand off to Callan and Mikaela/
Action Research Phase 1
The background boxes were created using a paid pixel-based art program called Aesprite. Whereas early on we were just using a pixel filter on some UI elements, making real pixel art was a lot more gratifying and effective. I was particularly inspired by Stardee Valley when designing these boxes. To add depth I added subtle highlights and shadow to the rounded corners of the box stroke. To save time, I used the symmetry tool so I could work on both sides at once.
We received feedback that the experience was a bit confusing from the start so we made sure to include a proper introduction to the game with instructions, controls, and overall context and rules. These were all assembled using Figma with icons from Icons8.
Action Research Phase 2 Once the UI was complete on my end, I then moved on to refining the models created in Project 2 and developed a set of new ones to fill out the library of assets to choose from in the game.
Whereas before I eyeballed the colours for each model, when coming back to them and talking with Callan, I started using a consistent colour palette that he used for his terrain models. This helped bring a sense of unity and consistency to the overall visual design of the game.
Another thing that made me come back to these models was the style and sizing of them. After seeing Mikaela and Tim’s demo in action it became apparent just how important sizing is for a grid-based experience. My old tree model was a bit too asymmetrical and overhanged over too many squares awkwardly and overall looked a bit out of place. To fix this, I stuck to making objects contained within a 32x32, 64x64 or 96x96 cube.
Once I got a hang of things, making models enmasse with MagicaVoxel became more fun than work. I was able to pump out a multitude of models in a short period of time. Using a mixture of the primitive shapes, symmetry, and drawing tools I was able to create simple models efficiently. When developing the new models, I would procedually send screenshots to the team to get opinions on the art direction and sizing. I would then take this feedback and iterate on the design more. While I did want to make more models in total, we had to keep our scope realistic to finish the project on time so I settled on letting there be at least 2 models per theme, acting like a taste into the types of models this game would have as a proof of concept / demo.
Project Product
The final resulting game prototype has a lineup of 17 models and is fully functional with the ability to edit, draw, remove, rotate, and place objects along a island grid. The game was developed just enough to have a fully functioning demo that contains the core features and concepts we wanted to include. Even with the limited selection, users are able to interact with the island and personalize it with their own combinations of assets and arrangement of the terraforming terrain objects and tools. While we initially planned for it to be launched on an online website platform like itch.io, we settled on just an exe program for now as it would require alot of optimizing to be ready for the web.
Research Summation
We learned a lot about how to create an efficient workflow of model creation → game development. The experience has been very fun and engaging and was an excellent learning opportunity for us as designers to get a taste of the game design world.
We now feel empowered to try new things with action research and embrace the opportunities to learn more about tools we have not used or are not fully comfortable with.
Through conducting research via tutorials online, recieving feedback from one another and peers, and through hand-on action research we were able to achieve something greater than the sum of our parts. I learned alot about modelling and user interace in the context of the gaming industry which was my main goal for the class. The three projects to me, were in the format of "crawl, walk run" where in the beginning, our concept was ambitious but unrefined and vague, then after doing research, testing, and developing, we carved out and refined our approach and in turn, our product which we then we were able to bring straight to the finish line with the workable demo with full UI and a series of models developed by myself and Callan.
Action research is something that came very natural to our group as our workflows as a whole and individually followed a similar strucutre even before the class. Through collaboration we were able to strengthen this apporoach to learning and designing to create new and exciting things and achieve most of our goals.
Reflection
Through several weeks of research, testing, experiementing, and implementing we were able to create an optimal workflow that worked for all four of us. I felt empowered as a designer to work on what I love most . . . designing! It was very gratifying seeing my designs and concepts be brought to life in a video game and having ownership over that facet of the design.
The experience working in a team with very specific roles was very efficient and interesting to see executed in this project. The workflow allowed those in the designer role (Callan and I) to develop and design while the programmers (Tim and Mikaela) tested and implemented the models and features with communication between both parties for iteration and refinement on both ends. This workflow allowed me to inform my design and focus on the most enjoyable parts of the process for me which is the conceptualization and more artistic contributions to the projects.
Through watching tutorials I was able to understand the essentials of MagicaVoxel in order to develop an effective workflow creating, texturing, and exporting models to be used in Unity at a high output volume. Due to the simplicity and intuitive nature of MagicaVoxel it was quite easy to pick up and apply external knowledge of similar design software to. I am a very hands on learning so this type of learning style works great for me as I learn best by experimenting in procedural increments and finding opportunities to learn more where there are gaps in my knowledge through my general interests and curioisity as a designer. This class has proven to be a worthwhile experience, while I did not doubt that it would end up being as such, I was a bit intimidated by how much freedom we were given. In this class alone I have seen the most variety and creativity in projects I have seen in a single group of students and I am in awe and so proud of my team and everyone else for creating their projects for Special topics. My skills have grown but also my ability to learn, and manage myself in a high concept project like this when working with a team. I look forward to working on more large projects like this in the future alone and with a team.
Project 1: Concept
