At the moment I am considering interviewing some local videogame industry professionals about the art for 2D games as well as UI design. I think I could learn some things about it that would help me with my own designs since this is one of my weak areas. Mainly because I am not a game designer and coming up with game mechanics which of course, have a major part in UI design requirements is really hard for me.
However, what this idea means is: if I do decide to seek advice from industry people I will have to reapply to the universities ethic committee for a new approval for my project as well as have to do a lot more paperwork which includes transcribing and analysing recorded interviews. So the question is: is it worth to undertake it considering the results that I’m most likely to get out of it?
I have also been toying with an idea of collaborating with other people. Possibly programmers or game designers to get help with my project as I do realise that my main weaknesses in this project are lack of knowledge about game asset implementation in to a game as well as game design and game mechanics. Last year I did not get lucky to be assigned on to a game design brief and ended up working on an animation brief instead, so the only game developing experience I have so far is from my year two Entertainment Design module which involved a group work on a small Flash game, some projects I have collaborated on as a member of Abertay Game Developing Society and as a team 'Tartan Paint' member for last years Dare to be Digital competition entry (Can watch pitch video here.) as well as Ludum Dare entry (Can watch project video here and read development process posts by Stewart Leadingham here.).
I think working with others would help me with the whole development process for this project as the technical or design input would be very beneficial. My supervisor also thought collaboration was a good idea if I felt it would benefit my project. I will look now for some opportunities to see if there is anyone I could collaborate with.
There have also been some changes regarding case studies for my dissertation. So far I have been given advice that Braid (2008)* may not be the most suitable choice as the art style was not the main concern of the Braid designer Jonathan Blow and perhaps Ōkami (2006)* is a much better choice. Since I have never played the game I will be borrowing a copy of it from the universities library to try it out. (Info about these two games you can find in my week 3 blog post.)
Also, this week I need to make a list of questions I would ask about game UI if I was going to interview someone working in the industry as next week I will discuss it with my supervisor to see if the information I am likely to get from it is worth the whole paperwork trouble.
Lynn has also suggested I play some games on a tablet to see how the UI and interaction differs from PC or console games. This would provide me with some information on UI and perhaps help me decide if I want my game (whatever that game will be) be for mobile device or PC or console. Also, study how interaction within games works and how interactive objects are presented on screen. In addition, I should also have a look what other, perhaps similar games to mine are already out there.
Overall, at the moment I feel really stressed and worried as I think I am still lacking knowledge in game design as well as some practical skills. On top of that, all the literature that I feel I need to go through to feel ready for my project seems to look more like a Mount Everest.
I am still making some media tests as I go along with my project as I want to try experimenting more with visual styles to help me decide what I really want my game art to look like.
* Number None, Inc. 2009. Braid. Microsoft Windows. Number None, Inc
** Clover studio. 2006. Ōkami. Play Station 2. Capcom
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