Synoptic Progress.

We are coming to the end game of our projects and its safe to say that there is a more visual ending in sight.

By this I simply mean that its safe to say that there will be something by the end of the project and MVP can be shown by deadline. I have struggled a lot since the beginning trying to prioritize my coursework, placement & other personal projects all ready for the end of year.

Now I’m going to try and push myself to learn programming to thus understand not just how it works but also how to structure code in the future.

Visual the game is coming together a more assets are pushed through, I have also contributed into making other graphics and fixing some, there have been instances where some of the maps were not working, thus I went onto Photoshop and added the characteristics needed such as extra lighting on brighter colors or the need to add more white to an alpha map.

Speaking of which, this also was shown to be really handy when it came to creating emission maps although this time I used after effects to give the glow a more revealing effect then adding a drawn over effect so therefore the player can realize that the effect is active and working as it should be.

This was then taken into account, so I then moved onto using the emission maps in programming, So firstly with the help of one of my tutors. There was two scripts created; one for the door and one for each button so therefore the player can open the door via a key-code.

Speaking of which, the key-code would be shown on a tablet placed on the far back corner of the room which would have to be traversed by the player, read, and then the player would follow the code shown in chronological order.

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Synoptic Project: Something visually new for gameplay.

I have tried to make gameplay easier for a player to follow; To do this I could do many things environmentally.

Light leading, sound, linear design, breadcrumb method (I’ll get to that later) etc.

But instead I wanted to try something new and introduce myself to the world of video effects in unity. So I went about researching how to play videos in unity as maybe a transparent floating icon to help the player understand the mechanics visually.

So I went about creating the icons first and foremost, it came in many different forms but I settled mostly around this design with a few tweaks.

Synoptic: Filling out the tutorial room.

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It’s coming to the end of week 5 and we’re now in full control of our slippery slide from last week. With the burn down chart completed and updated, development can now go into full swing; lets start with Unity and all of its bits and bob’s.

Firstly, we now have a working mechanic that opens the door when the button comes on collision with another object such as a ball (that was actually set specifically). This was used by the animator window which I’m yet to understand as I needed some assistance coming into this entirely new tool.

It works by having an animation made to a specific object then, placing it within the animator depending on when you want said animation to occur or what you want it to be played in connection with or have connections for that matter.

Animator showing open and closed states

I then proceeded to start the code with the help of the tutor as I had no idea how to link the animator and a C# script together. And this was the final outcome…

Pressure activated door.

What its like doing 2D animation in After Effects.

Now that lovely looking chap there is me… still on my placement and was in full swing of recapping my storyboard for my 2D project for an in-house client. And it’s to basically create a full animated ‘How to’ video which to everyone sounds easy.

Honestly, I now know how they do it so well.

It’s not just by simply creating a composition and getting on with it, it takes a little bit of prep before hand. And this is what I am doing in the photo.

Let’s take a closer Look…

Getting to grips with animation & Motion Graphics.

Since my synoptic pitch I have strongly come to grips with how to use animation and more of the fundamentals such as squash & stretch, composition, anticipation etc.

Wednesday just gone, I was to create a birthday celebration template like that of Facebook’s, but obviously with my own twist.

With my laptop being able to only handle 2d motion graphics, I seemed more comfortable with the task I was given. Firstly I started by setting some placeholders to figure out where the rest of the assets will appear at the end of the animation.

But it’s not just about coming in and starting a piece requested by a client, it’s also following through with the client on a project to make sure their views are being visually shown to their standards. This also links in with Pre-Production and I will touch up on this on another blog relating to the upcoming Synoptic project.