BF – We were happy to host Winnie Walker today from Alcester Grammar School this week. As part of our sessions, we went through several game design and development aspects and processes with the intention to develop understanding of the game production pipeline.
WW – I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities and experiences Skewb Climate has given me, in teaching me about the gaming industry and the different roles there are to explore. This work experience has inspired me to build more of a portfolio and investigate further into where a future in gaming can take me.
Game Art
BF – Alex and Mikhail kindly delivered workshops where they talked about various techniques and methods involved in the game art pipeline. Asset creation is one of the most important facets of the production of a quality gaming experience.
WW – The workshops with Alex and Mikhail were fascinating, from learning about how the ‘digital sausage’ is made to the various software used and how the industry will look in the future. Having forensically studied concept art and art books for games and movies, being shown how the idea is refined into the model, then how they fit into the digital world was invaluable. These workshops have motivated me to work harder to improve my digital art, as well as teach myself Blender to build my skill base.
Game Design/GDD
BF – We went through all the core components of Game Design principles – What, Why and How. The focus here was on the player experience and how we as designers want them to feel at any point during the gameplay and cutscene sections.
WW – Learning about the Game design Principles has been vital in informing my design choices for my concept. I’ve been show how tone, atmosphere, setting and plot is used to create an emotional impact on the player and keep them invested.
Ideation for a new project
BF – We took a hands-on approach to this where we walked through all the steps to create and develop a new game idea and flesh it out with interesting and engaging features. Winnie went on to document this and formalise the rough idea into a solid Game Design Document (GDD). This forms a strong source of truth for full scale development.
WW – Working on a Game Design Document has been a practical exploration of how to present and outline a game concept to a team as a point of reference, and to potential investors. Using the Design Pillars and constantly asking ‘why’ has help me evaluate and refine my concept. Initially, my concept felt vague and generic, but through laying out my ideas and creating Design Document, I now have a clear vision of the character, plot and mechanics, and look forward to developing the project further.
QA for an existing project
BF – We sat through an existing project demo and critiqued the user experience in a proper QA setting. This aspect is often overlooked and left too late for some projects and it’s important to understand the value of having good testers on your team. We successfully identified several bugs and have a plan for solving them.
WW – It was interesting to see the process for a project and how teams respond to client feedback. It’s important to look critically at a game to find ways to improve user accessibility, and I’ve seen the criteria used to improve the quality of the game. I’ve also found it useful learning the means in which bugs are reported, which is a crucial step in development.
Conclusion
BF – It was great to have Winnie with us to share some of our work and help us in the development of our processes and game production.
WW – My time with Skewb Climate has been incredible experience and has help inform my options for the future. I’ve learned so much about the development and production process, and I look forward to sharing my experience with Skewb to my peers.
By Ben Fowler
Ben Fowler is Technical Lead at Skewb. To speak with him about this topic in more detail, you can connect with him on LinkedIn.
