Project Romantic Pencil

The ending of our introduction to game analysis and game design course is coming up really fast now. The assignment is to design and pitch a space shoot 'em up game inspired by two randomly selected words. Our words are romantic and pencil, which seemed really difficult at first but I think we have been able to take those words and create something that is new and different.

I have been chosen from my team along with another team member to go up on stage next monday and present our game. Today we got to go up in front of our teacher and two teaching assistants aswell as the rest of our team to test our pitch and get some feedback. Even though we did not finish our pitch until last night it went really well. Of course I got nervous several times during the pitch but I feel I was able to control it and hopefully, with a lot more practice, it wont be too intimidating doing it in front of the entire class and teachers.

The feedback we got was generally positive but we also got some great tips on how to improve both our pitch and our design, altough at some points the feedback was a bit conflicting as they did not always completely agree with each other. Our teacher did say when we were asked which our words were, that he was sorry about that, however when we were finished he said that he was not sorry anymore and that he loved it.

We have been working really hard on this project, many nights have been spent passing things back and forth on skype and we have had many (and long) group meetings. I have learnt a lot during the process although I have felt most of the time that we have no clue as to what we are doing. I have been leading the "art part" as I was chosen as the Lead Artist early in the process and I have gotten a lot of practice in planning and thinking of what needs to be done and delegating tasks, as well as creating art.

At first I felt that we had some difficulties communicating with each other and it was difficult to combine our thoughts and ideas since we are very different from each other. Now i feel that we have finally learnt how to communicate and come together as a team. We still have a lot to do but I think we are in a good place considering the work and time we have left.

First Time

We have now started working on our major assignment and it's become really apparent to me that it is the first time that anyone of us is doing it. There are so many things to think of and it is hard to remember them all and harder still trying to do them in the right order. I think we have the information we need, we just need to learn how to use it and I feel that we are sorting things out as we go. We will probably do things very differently the next time around though. I really feel that I am learning how to do things, or rather how not to do them. This assignment really allows me to learn things that you cannot truly comprehend in the classroom.

It is also a challenge working in a group with five people who have very different ideas and ways to look at things but I feel that we have now established a good common ground where everyone feels on board with what we are doing. We just need to listen to each other and try to understand where the other person is coming from and I think we are on our way to accomplishing a good teamwork.

We have now been working on this assignment for two days and I finally feel that we have put together the groundwork which will allow me as the Lead Artist to take my team of artists and start on our part of the work. I have given them tasks such as trying to figure out a style that will appeal to our target group and sketching a layout for the interface, though I am not really sure if that is a task we need to do this early in the project. As I said it is the first time I am either designing a game or being Lead Artist and I am not 100% sure of what to do or when to do it but I make descisions and go with them.

Major Assignment

Our major assignment for the introduction to game analysis and game design course is to design a space shoot 'em up game that is supposed to be inspired by the words romantic and pencil. I did find those words rather difficult to incorporate into that genre, I first thougt the only thing you could do was something with pencils, either being one or shooting them, and writing love letters.

However I thought it would probably be really boring and way to obvious. It felt like just taking the words and not actually doing anything with them rather than being inspired by them. So I did what you always should do with your first idea no matter how good they seem and threw it in the bin. Then I tried to figure out something that was a less literal interpretation of the words, trying more to be inspired by them than directly translating them into a game.

I thought instead of doing a game about someone trying to get home to their love through a vast enemy territory, not knowing if their loved one was still there or still waiting for you, completely made in pencil art.

The assignment: the Presentation

I was chosen from my group to go up in front of the rest of the class and show my PowerPoint-presentation. It made me really nervous and I felt my mind go blank and I did not know what to say. I had made my presentation so that it would speak for itself as I did not want to break the mood created by the music and pictures by spekaing.
It went rather well I feel, thinking about how I felt the panic when I realised I was gonna have to go up on stage, I did not feel as nervous when actually standing there. And I did manage to make everyone laugh (purpousely).
It felt like good practise though and I am glad I got the experience. One thing I probably could have done better was to prepare a short list whith the things I wanted to say and perhaps prepare the speaking part a bit better as I tend to blabber and forget everything I have thought of when I am put in the spotlight.