Self Reflection

When I look back on the progress I have made on my blog, I think now that a blog entry showing the videos of what my level looks like now would of been nice, however with the website not uploading them, that idea had to be scrapped.

Character Designs: Another thing that would of been handy would of been my character designs being completed rather than having James Shaden finished at stage 3, leaving Dilby and Rider at stage 2. The designs in appearance came in 3 stages, stage 1 was the rough pencil drawings, stage 2 was the refined, black pen drawings and stage 3 was a finished photoshop version. This would of been completed but unfortunately for me, I have a drawing tablet with a pen that doesn't want to move with me, so I had to try with a mouse, I had Nicholas Rider partially finished at stage 3, however it was still messy and I didn't want to throw it on to my blog in such a messy state.
Along with main character designs, I wanted to add images of what the N.P.C's would of looked like in the game, but due to time being a factor I didn't have, I had to make do with only 1 type of N.P.C. being designed, and that was the elite soldier (enemy N.P.C.) which conveniently I had done in my art assessment and was something to add to the blog. But with that character I did a 3-d model too, however, it would of been the only 3-d human model on the blog and I personally thought it would of been better if I still had the models for James Shaden and Nicholas Rider, but since they were on my lost hard drive, I couldn't use them, so I left out the Elite Soldier model. And looking back now, I think I should of added it to the blog.

Screenshots: I could of added the screenshots of my 3-d, untextured models of my level, however it had slipped my mind like a few other things. Along with 3-d models, I now think back and realise that I should of tried to add more props in to the design, even if they were insignificant and served no purpose, it would of added more of a story to the level, as the placing and textures of said objects would tell a story in themselves, such as what conditions are like there and what the effects are like on the objects.

For natural environmental things, I should of added more rocks to the wasteland, because even though a few optional missions may of required to go to a location out there, a few more rocks would of given the place more feeling rather than plain barren floor with nothing else.

Particle Effects: For other environmental add on 's, I would of included particle effects for dirt flying past in the wind and obscuring the players vision at some point, however I did not know how to make the particle effects go in a direction like it was being pushed by the wind, so I left it out, or else it would of made the level look very odd with a ball of dust floating just off the floor, and though it may of added more effect to the level, I didn't want to risk it. And speaking of particle effects, I should of had fire occurring in some places of man made section of the map, however since I was in a hurry with the temporary terrain, I didn't have time to decide where to add it.
Flare: And with 1 more to add to the visual effects of the map, I regret not adding a flare to the general location of where the sun was in my skybox, however, I had experimented with flares before and unfortunately they didn't not go well at all, so I thought my skybox without a flare would of been good enough, since it was a post apocalyptic looking level and the sky in that level was meant to be obscured and the sun was meant to be blocked off to a degree by the clouds, but a small flare would of increased visual effects just that little bit extra.

Textures: Too further add to the list, I see now that I should of added the textures and bitmaps that I had used in the level so I could show my use of texturing and my capabilities in it. However I wouldn't have added every texture I used as there would be too much room taken up. Also to add to textures, I should of tried to include bump maps to them to make the effects of the textures look even better, however I do not know how to do that, so I had to make do with what I already had.

Interfaces: I feel that in the interfaces section, I should of had more detail to the health and energy bar, and that I should have also included a menu when the player first plays the game, however I didn't add one because I couldn't think on what kind of background to have for it that would of been suitable for the style of gameplay. Along with that, I should of also shown what the interfaces would of been like for the "Mission Log", "Options" etc.

These are the things that I can think of at the moment that I feel should of been included in the blog, and I do regret not adding them, whether it was because I didn't feel it would of been right or if I couldn't.