Phase 4 Presentation

The aim of this presentation was to inform music students of my project, what it's about and what sound/music contributions I am considering. As well as putting together a concise summary of my game and intentions with it.

I began by explaining the essential experience and what players are able to do within the game.

Essential Experience – To provide an immersive first person simulation, 3d, parkour puzzle game, where you attempt to escape the famous Fukushima Daiichi plant during the 2011 tsunami.

Players will be able to:

Navigate through different rooms, taking or creating their choice of route.
Interact with certain objects and buttons/features.
Witness the devastation that occurs to the environment around the station.

To create the correct atmosphere and tone to the game, visuals and sounds will play a big role in establishing a dramatic, adrenaline - filled, urgent experience.

I followed this up with my goals. Being very passionate about my project and how it is perceived as well as the messages it sends is very important to me, therefore clearly explaining my aims was important within this presentation. Both for the game and for my personal interests.

I categorized my aims into 5 sections, with the first 4 being the priority. Fun isn't really my focus - it is more a "quality of life" feature within my project. I think if I focus on making the game "fun" then that will take away from the overall experience and message I want to show. The main aims are educating the player, developing adaptability skills and encouraging reflective thinking around the theme of nuclear energy.

After that, I had a slide dedicated to gameplay. Where I explained in more detail as to what the player could find and interact with. Some examples I gave were buttons for doors, vents, boxes to reach higher hights...

Then I showed my playground level that I have created in Unity and used for prototyping movement mechanics.

Next, I covered sound within the game. As it's a simulation, sound will play a huge role in creating the environment, bringing the immersion to higher levels. I mentioned that I am not sure what kind of music track the project would need, specifying that too upbeat and happy would be insensitive and sad would not match the tempo of the game.

Following on, I showed a mind map and a colour palette generated from images inside the Fukushima plant to help illustrate a better and clearer understanding of what visuals I am aiming to achieve.

I explained that the art style I am aiming for is one that is similar to a game called Portal. Within that, the game features graphics that can be classified as realistic, but not hyperrealistic. If I had a lot of time and the skills to create hyperrealistic graphics, I would go for that, as it would only add to the dramatic nature of the setting. So as a compromise, I will attempt to create realistic textures/graphics which are close enough to reality to be recognisable.

My next slide featured a brief outlook on what I am aiming to do next. Researching additional topics that I require more information on. Designing assets, levels and other aspects of the game.

Planning everything thoroughly and adjusting my scope appropriately.

I included an extra slide, if I managed to cover all the content within the 8 minutes I was given, I would show another prototype. Luckily, I was able to, and so I showed a second prototype, which I made in Minecraft. This prototype included some route opportunities to explore, as well as what the interior features of the reactor could include (flashing lights, controllers, buttons, pipes, platforms , etc).

Feedback:

Overall, the feedback I received was positive. Music students understood the concept and had a picture of what I was aiming to achieve. It was also noted that the minecraft demo at the end was really helpful in putting everything together. For further prototyping - including sound, I can record minecraft gameplay, then put my own sounds over it that I intend to use within the final game to see if they would work as intended.

Music Track:
I spoke to two students from the music department regarding a track for the game. They both suggested implementing something that was subtle and simple. Which would be ideal - the music should be in the background, if it is present, and not take away from the sound effects. The music track should enhance the experience without drawing attention to itself.

I am happy with where I am at currently and am excited to continue in semester 2 with developing my project!

See my project proposal here: https://projectnuw.notion.site/Parkour-Project-f8270655ebd442cf8ef4d68ac9d727b9