Moving Forward after 'R&D'

Now we have reached the end of our research and development point, I have been reflecting on moving forward with the project, and how we may need to approach things slightly differently with the building phase.

To this point, there has been lots of focus on production pieces and developing the unique IP. I think the first significant shift in my work will come with the more technical aspects such as Mech turnarounds, paintovers and UV textures. We have already started visiting this with the initial assets and WOSD turnaround, but I think a key area we are lacking in is environments that show the game space. Rhys began blocking in Unity and playing around with the camera, so I think the next important stage will be to produce paintovers that give a sense of how the level will look for the player. I have created lots of eye level environment concepts, whereas the player will have more of a birds eye view looking down, meaning rooftops will be a big focus aesthetically.

Another aspect we will need to consider, is creating an efficient pipeline. I will be producing most of if not all of the Mech turnarounds, and painting the textures. This may leave me with some time to model minor assets, but the turnarounds and textures take time, so I will likely be focusing in those areas. Adam is a fast and confident 3D artist, and also has experience efficiently unwrapping UVs. Tim and Rhys also have experience particularly with hard surface models and in Unity from previous projects, so will likely be working on the environments. Tim and Adam are both sharing coding duties. Although these are not strict binding roles, hopefully it should give us some sense of efficient workflow.

Ultimately, I will be happy as long as 90% of my focus is on painting textures and creating concept art, that is considering Adam is happy modelling and texturing for the majority. We did both come into the project with concept art as our key skill, and I do not want to hijack all of the Photoshop aspects moving forward. I feel that now creating an effective pipeline should be our key focus if we hope to create 2 rich playable environments.