Queens Project Post-Mortem

I have learnt a lot in the past semester. In particular, I have realised just how much my teamwork skills require further refining. Part of my problem is that I find it difficult to contribute within small areas of a project rather than having full-reign over everything. This ineptitude isn't rooted in a lust for power or anything comparable to that; rather, it is brought about by the simple fact that when I feel passionate about something I want to protect it. This is not a good thing at all and I really need to work on it for future team based endeavours.


This semester has passed-by faster than any semester prior. This, most likely, is due to how hard everyone has been working to juggle this project amongst other course related commitments. It pushed my endurance dial into the red zone but luckily I am now versed enough in dealing with demanding projects to not succumb to severe stress or depression. In fact, if anything, I am now far better at picking-up on the early signs of these feelings and counter-acting them accordingly. For me, meditation and contemplative exercise can be a real godsend at times.

So, on with the story.

 

A screen-shot of our level

Our group project began with the team trying to devise a name. With the project being orientated around that of the survival horror genre, we wanted a name that accurately reflected our artistic intentions. So there we were, shooting possible names at one anouther: 'Team Decaying Apple?;' no; 'Team Morbid Ant Hill?'; no; 'Team Electrically-Conductive Fermented Soup Bowl?;' hell no!; and then, finally, 'Team Drowning Fish,' to which the general consensus was 'uh, yeah, okay then.'

By the point of 'Team Drowning Fish' finally gaining popular vote, the question of who would lead the team had bounced around the room a fair few times but no conclusion had yet been reached. I couldn't believe my luck when finally a verdict seemed to be drawing closer with everyone seemingly swayed toward the idea of running a democratic group with no elected leader; that was precisely what I had wanted! Team Drowning Fish, the leaderless group — that's who we were!

The project task, in short, was to create a survival horror game level bearing an aesthetic that in some way resembled the Queens Building on campus. The team went about a few walk-abouts in the said building and the high extent of everyone's creative capacity was immediately evident. The sheer quantity of ideas cascading about in our discussions combined with the leaderless dynamic of our team, made it such that most of the first month was spent trying to arrive at a final design concept. Had we no time-limit, the leaderless dynamic would have worked perfectly as it allowed for everyone to feel engaged, but of-course, sadly, idealism is fairly often thwarted by the cold darkness of reality when put to the test.

We remained leaderless throughout the project, but over time, different team members seemed to organically form their own areas of specialism in which they had higher authority. It seemed to work well.

Eventually our idea was cultivated into something that felt interesting and unique to all of us. We decided that creating a level in which the Queens Building is occupied by an evil cult to be an exciting and not overly cliché idea. As a cult could pretty much constitute as anything, this idea gave us a lot of leeway in what territory there was available for us to explore.

The Cult of Cthulhu gave us a lot of inspiration, particularly within the satire department. During a YouTube video in which the cult's 'high priest' explains the benefits of joining them, he decides half-way through that it's a good idea for him to take-off his shirt and start flexing his muscles!

One of the ideas that we all very much liked was that of having a cultist's lair right at the end of the level that would be candle-lit to contrast the other forms of lighting to be shooting about the level.

In fact, contrast became a very important part of our art style. We identified lighting to be one of the most prominent ingredients to the Queens Building aesthetic, and decided early on to create an environment of contrasting lighting types that would effectively lead the player around the level.

 Towards the project's midway point, a clear sense of segregation had become evident amongst team-members. It seemed that in crossing the bridge between 'talking about ideas' and 'executing ideas,' a couple of team-members had decided to stay behind. This grew yet more and more apparent in the weeks to come.
 

A screen-shot of our level



Perhaps, if I were to identify a stage of the project in which I learnt the most, it would be around-about this period.

I certainly could have dealt with the matter of a split team far better. I was working myself incredibly hard and was appalled that such a case was only mutually applicable to a few other team-members. I could have dealt with the situation far better by not letting my emotions affect my decisions and having focused on what would help the team, rather than what would help alleviate my feelings of injustice.

Towards the end of the project, the team became more and yet more aware of the regularity at which the clock was ticking. We decided which areas of the project to prioritise and where it was necessary to make sacrifices. In retrospect, while at the time every small detail that we had to drop felt like a punch in the stomach, the overall level hasn't suffered much at all from this minor lack of polish.

The final product really isn't that bad at all. I had some very talented artists in my team and the best of their work really stands out in the level. I never know how to feel about my work but as the team seemed to like it, I suppose my contributions must have had some worth.