Early Beginnings

First day back at uni and the questions about what to do for my honours project begin. I did give it some thought prior to the start of my final year but it seems like my previous idea may either be too much for me or lacking in a major discipline to focus on, such as 2D art or 3D art. I do know i don't want to make my project 3D focused as i don't really enjoy 3D modelling and i know it's not what i want to do as a job.

My initial idea was to create a small game prototype consisting of maybe just a tutorial level, in this game i would experiment with creating methods of game play design and conveying information to the player such as in a tutorial. This was because i find most tutorials in games to be quite lazy, they generally consist of a wall of text instructing the player or a voice over instructing the player. They are very heavy handed and lack luster techniques that break immersion and ruin the illusion of the game. Now i am well aware that scope is a large factor in any project and as i am not that experienced in UDK and have zero experience with programming the game i would make would be extremely basic with the only real mechanics being along the lines of moving jumping and basic trigger based interaction, easily accomplished through Kismet. Doing this would allow me to experiment with designs using themes in the way that studios like "That Game Company" (the creators of Flow, Flower and Journey) do. That game company do very basic gameplay experiences in order to create thoughtful mechanics around themes.

One of the things i learned recently was from a web show called Extra credits where they dissect and discuss  elements of game design. The episode was about using mechanics as metaphors. Now i wouldn't be able to follow something like this all the way through since i can't program, i may be able to do a simple and manageable version of it. I will discuss it with my new design tutor. If making an actual small game prototype like this is deemed too much then i would inquire about just doing the design work. My issue with that is with eh presentation aspect of the project. At the end of the year this project will be displayed in a show and i can't figure out how you could display a game design without something playable.

My other option is to do a primarily 2D art focused project. I started out on this course with the intention of being a concept artist, i knew how difficult it was to get into but i enjoyed drawing characters. I figured i would grow as an artist, and although i have improved my skill in some areas i still feel that i am not capable of becoming a concept artist due to my lack of natural skill and my inability to create good art in any area but character design. I am very unlikely to get a job as just a character artist and this project is supposed to be about what will get me a job.
However if i was to do 2D for this project my favorite idea so far has been to do something along the lines of designing characters for a MOBA game such as League of Legends or Dota. I play League of legends frequently and always follow their champion spotlight blogs and videos. These show the processes that the developers Riot Games go through in order to create their incredibly varied and unique characters. Riot seem to have 3 main ways they like to create characters. 1) From a narrative 2) From a gameplay idea 3) Design a character first and then have story and gameplay follow. I enjoy making characters and this would help me shocase my skills, expand my designs methods and through character development i would be able to expand into working on other design areas outside of just character art, things such as weapon designs, vehicle designs and environment designs. This would also allow me to fulfill my interest in gameplay design as the characters would need to ad hear to the gameplay rules in such games. This may be limiting or it may be just the right amount for a focus and theme, i will have to inquire in my next lesson.