Revised Concepts

So at this point I’m still torn between 2 ideas: my VR witch room and “hot punch.”

Idea 1: Witch Room

For researching this idea I’d watched a lot of tutorials of the Unity engine and how much I could do with the code. I’d also play some VR game that have a heavy focus on interactivity. Randi also mentioned the possibility of adding an escape room element to the project which I may or may not go through with depending on the tone I want to convey. For that I’d have to do a lot of research into the design of escape rooms. As far as software I’ll be using Unity, ZBrush, Maya, Photoshop, Substance Designer, and Substance Painter to create the game and it’s assets. I may or may not get around to incorporating music and sound effects (possibly my myself if I have the time). I’ll have to learn how to incorporate the physics engine in Unity into my game and how to do detailed modeling in ZBrush and Maya. I’d also have to learn more texture work from the Substance Suite and Photoshop.

Idea 2: “Hot Punch”

This one is the project I have less technical experience in. I’d need to figure out which engine could accomplish what I want from the game (Unity or an RPG specific engine). With this game I want to make solid mechanics 1st so this requires a lot of reviewing of other RPG games (particularly table top RPG games) and how they handle team mechanics. I’d also like to aesthetically show off the world building I could show off in a crazy world like this. As far as research I’d be watching a lot  of Game Developer Conferences (GDCs) and book by indie developers explaining their process. I’ll really need to learn to get it finished because the sprite work is not going to be industry quality and I’m very new to sprite work. I also need to learn to keep a careful eye on the mechanics to make sure they don’t stack in a way that would break the game or make it unfun. I’d like to get a clean 20-25 minute demo/tutorial ready for the final presentation with a team for 4 distinct characters.

Senior Thesis Ideas

It took me a lot of brainstorming to come up with 2 ideas let alone three so the third isn’t as fleshed out as I’d like it to be. These are three ideas I had:

1. Constructing a 3D environment in VR that a person can interact with. I was thinking of retooling my animation final from last year (a small witch hut) and giving it more polish. People could move around the inside and possible interact with some objects.

2. An team based RPG I’ve had in the back of my mind for the past few years. This one would be the most technically challenging as I would require me to do a lot of coding in Unity and play testing. This one is a fun idea, but I think it works better as a side project for me to go back to every couple of months rather than a dedicated one.

3. Something to do with cooking? That’s all I could really think of for this one. I’m trying to think back to my project map and what I enjoy and cooking is up there. Maybe a sort of interactive cookbook? This idea still needs a lot of refinement, but it’s fun to think about.

Porfolio Map

http://ault.immtcnj.com/thesis_fall_18/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IMG-6495-1.jpg

When making my portfolio map I realized that I didn’t have a lot of experience or work to show for my time in IMM. I unfortunately transferred fairly late to this major (junior year) and have been taking as many IMM classes as I can to get experience. This resulted in my two maps having no differences. I’ve worked very hard on all my class, work, and personal projects. I’d be happy to include any of them in a portfolio.

My main issue is that I need to build up more environmental and texturing work for my portfolio. I’m taking a texturing mini course this semester that will help me build more texturing portfolio pieces. I need to work on creating more high quality pieces in my spare time to add to my portfolio.