Postmortem

As I float towards Re[Mod], I think back on our attempted game, Empirical, and wonder what could have been. It certainly was a high-scope project- essentially the scale of a single level from Bioshock- and we got closer than I could have imagined to achieving the goal.

I can't really speak on the challenges Amos and Kai, the designers faced. Nor can I touch the programming difficulties. My understanding and specialty lies solely within the realm of the art, and the Environment. In that regard, I am quite proud of the end result. 

Early in the process, the main objective of figuring out exactly how such a large area could be modeled, constructed and polished by one person, was quite the mystery. Thanks to a well crafted pipeline I think not only did we manage to build a believable space, I also think we created a place that has a sense of genuine atmospheric dread. 

I would have loved to have an animator, of course, as the enemies are quite... stiff. But I think the shader did it's job, and made them not a total loss.

In truth, I think our main trouble was communication. Despite living so close to one another (with the exception of our programmer), loads of relevant and important information of Kai and Amos's fell through the cracks thanks to shoddy note taking and the occasional un-constructive meeting. A producer would not have been wasted here. 

I think perhaps we could have pulled off our intended gaol if we had pulled the scope back a bit, design wise. We shot for extreme depth, but that depth wasn't necessarily apparent without playing at least ten minutes of the game, which most faculty didn't reach. Many, in fact, didn't leave the tutorial, meaning they didn't even get a sense of the art. In a way, we may have been doomed from the start- having a game that doesn't really get started until an important but lengthy tutorial meant that an estimated 2/3 of faculty didn't actually play the game itself, and of those only half left the lobby room, which is purely just an atmospheric entryway and serves no gameplay purpose. 

I think, however, those who played more of the game saw what we were trying to do. What's more, they saw what could be achieved with just one dedicated Environment artist, which made me a rather hot commodity after cuts. My adoration of Environmental narratives was a perfect fit for Empirical, and hopefully I will be able to pass this along, in some fashion, to Re[Mod].