First stage of researching

Our final year project is in a way similar to the BA6. We’re setting out own learning agreement and brief that will carry through to BA8. 

BA7 is focused on the researching elements of the project and production. Our learning agreements are all based on elements of researching.

 

LO1 is looking for in-depth research into games culture and converging cultures relating to my study and practice. My project is taking me down the path of researching in writing technique and styles as I’m looking to move into the games industry as a narrative designer. Already I’ve got myself a reading list through research and discussion with English graduates and websites with writers and editors recommendations.

What I’m doing for the moment is reading books on creative writing, character creation & development and plot & structure. I’ll also be reading short stories and referring back to literature pieces I’ve already read and breaking down what aspects of these pieces of writings gripped me as a reader – character vs plot.

My research report is tying in closely to my studio work as my research report will be a reflective journal documenting my study in writing and writing techniques.

In addition I am going to be applying for the Daiwa Foundation Scholarship.

The scholarship is for 19months stay in Japan. If successful I will be studying in a Tokyo University learning the Japanese language. It also includes work placement relevant to each student’s career goals and a homestay opportunity to enhance their experience and understanding of Japan.

The success of this scholarship would be extremely beneficial to me upon my return to the UK. Having the language skills and understanding of another culture are bonus skills especially in such an internationally diverse industry. With Japan having been a large influence in the industry, the skills and experience developed through this scholarship would certainly help me enter the games industry and add further influence to my narrative abilities. 

http://www.dajf.org.uk/

BA6: Directed Study

Sarah Fletcher

1001685

http://studiomao.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Directed%20Study

Directed Study

Continuing on from last term was the outside brief given to all years on my course. Only 10 teams were selected to go on from the sellsheet stage and my team was one of them.

My team (Maochell Studio) consisted of Carl Ellis, Michelle Marham and myself.

I came up with the original idea for the game and bought Carl and Michelle in on the project.
Carl and Michelle's main focus was to create the concept artwork and visual design of the game to support our pitch and design document. Michelle then went on to design the supporting mobile application.

We worked together a lot on fleshing out the design of the game, bringing in features and taking some out.

We all participated in the pitch, mostly designed by Michelle and Myself. I wrote most of the design document, with Michelle doing the interface and mobile application pages.

Unfortunately I can't share any of the details about the game itself here as our game was the one the clients chose to go with.

Working on this project felt like I was doing another complete project as we were often required to go in and meet deadlines before the day of the pitch. It was a valuable expierence though as Igot to create the design document and have more practice with that and pitching. The feedback was the most valuable but the extra project did heavily interfer with the schedual I planned out for projects 1 and 2.

BA6: Progression Portfolio

Sarah Fletcher

1001685

http://studiomao.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BA6%20Project%202

BA6: Specialisim

 

Sarah Fletcher

 

1001685

 

http://studiomao.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BA6%20Project%201

Showreel

Before making my own showreel, I had to look at how others have made their showreel. In order to do that, I had to look at what my role is. This is the question that left me confused for most of the course until a couple of weeks ago and I decided that I am a Narrative Designer.

Originally, I thought I was a Game designer and while I do enjoy designing games, the area I want to focus on is the narrative behind the game. The foundations of the game. It's the narrative to a game that I'm interested, not so much the game play itself. That is why most of the games I player are role-playing games (and usually strategy or turn-base). I'm in the same mind with films and animation: its the story I want to know.

So I looked up the term, unsure if its an established role and it is, although still young one.

http://narrativedesign.org/2011/09/what-is-a-narrative-designer-3/

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9

Finding showreels for this was hard and came up fruitless. So I looked up writers (like I did with website design) as well as directors.

One example I looked at showcased the writers script and then the final production of it so I decided to go with that, showcasing that I'm a writer and then I can develope from the original written document, to script, storyboard and then final production.

https://vimeo.com/14303579 (I cant seem to be able to embed videos from vimeo on here)


My own showreel can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/42486549

I used music from: http://dig.ccmixter.org/dig?user=cdk which is free to use. 

Evaluation

My original proposal stated that I'd create the backstory for a game design, a design document, a storyboard and two pieces of concept art.

Unfortunately, the research and writing of the narrative took up a lot more time than I had estimated and due to an extra project, I had less time.

I don't have a design document or concept art however, I wanted more experience in creating design documents and although I don't have one for this project, I did create one for the other project.

Scripting was more difficult than I thought it would. Matching up the narration to the imagery proved to be a bit of a challenge.