The Vertical Slice Project has been a huge learning experience in many ways. From day one, there was a big adjustment due to the much larger team size. Coming from semester 1 (and first year for that matter), I struggled to have the same voice that I did in a much vaster team. I learned that I had to be more confident – and a bit louder – to get ideas heard, and I pushed myself to do this in discord calls and in Monday afternoon classes. I also learned a lot of technical skills in this project. My UV mapping abilities improved a lot, simply because I had to do it so much. Also, I learned a lot about modelling and texturing characters and props – and with that, a greater understanding of design and narrative.
Concept design was a huge part of this semester for me. Bringing forward the theoretical skills I’d learned in semester 1 with the values and depth, I pushed myself to do a lot more interior design concepts. I was also able to incorporate graphic design a lot this semester as well, being art director. It was super fun to make brand design concepts and in-universe logos for the game, and also bringing everything together in the end with the key art and poster was really satisfying. Everyone really liked that outcome.
What I wish was a bit different this project was the game outcome itself. As cool and successful as the game demo was, I couldn’t control it and a lot of my work didn’t get implemented in the end. I understand that level design takes a lot of time, and perhaps I would schedule better and more around this if I were to do this project again (although with other assignments and some slow communication, this wasn’t easy). Regardless, it was fun to create a vast portfolio around a cool game concept – with a dedicated team of people. I was very proud of all the work I did, and I’m excited to continue development in every area.
See ya, second year!