Project 3 : Game For It

The Brief

This is the brief I was given for Project 3: Game for it!

HND Yr 1 Computer Arts & Design: Animation Brief
Notes from client meeting:
Building on the skills and techniques you have learnt so far this year: the challenge, here, is to
create a 30 second game trailer, to be used on television and online, to promote pre-sales of a
simple 3D game of your own original and unique design. The development of this trailer must be
rooted in thorough research of contemporary computer games that informs the quality of the
animation and it's aesthetics should be of a standard that reflects this research.
Project Approach:
You will be designing and making a trailer for a simple character based 3D game. To have a
chance of standing out in such a busy market you should be as imaginative and original as you
possibly can. The sole purpose of your animation is to sell the game you design. The games
market is exceptionally competitive. So you must think carefully about the affect this animation is
likely to have on your audience, and firstly: who is your audience?. Your trailer will need to be
exciting, captivating, visually distinctive, and have a hook that leaves your audience urgently
craving for more!
This is an exciting project technically and creatively. Lectures and workshops will be provided
throughout the project to enable you to take your 3D skills to the next level. You must keep your
ideas simple though. Quality not quantity.
Pre-production:
Choosing from only one of these 3 categories you will research the appropriate area of the current
games market (documented by mood boards) as well as researching the use of audio in games
trailers of the same genre (provide links to examples), generate and develop a varied range of
game ideas (minimum 3) which you will pitch to your class mates and lecturer:
• Role-playing game
• Shooter
• Platform

Your game trailer will need to include:
3D At least 1 environment (You will design and create this in Jody Gallagher's class)
No more than 1 low poly bipedal character.
Refined character animation demonstrating a good understanding of a minimum of 5
animation principles.
Lighting creating a sense of mood and atmosphere
Audio You are required to write a report (300 words +/- 10 %) detailing your intentions for
creation of your audio:
• Identify the game genre you have chosen
• Cite a minimum of 3 examples of games trailers that use audio in a way that is particularly
relevant to your ideas.
• Analyse these examples identifying what makes them particularly effective.
• Identify a range of sources of audio you may use including both stored (existing) audio and
recordings you will make.You must plan, create, and use at least 1 looping audio file within your trailer (your ideas for this should be identified in this report).
• Demonstrate an understanding of copyright law and how to obtain copyright.

Your audio must be recorded and edited before production begins.
Audio Report 300 words (+/- 10%) Submission Date 9 am Friday January 25th
In preparation for your pitch you must prepare an outline of your 3 ideas, addressing the below
points for each idea. (I recommend answers of no more than 2 or 3 sentences for each point here)
• A summary of each games central narrative and main objective
• Outline your target audience
• The unique selling point/s of the game
• The games overall aesthetic or visual style including a description of intended mood and
• Atmosphere
• Character backstory
• Summary of your trailer's story and how it will get your audience hooked
Pitch (Assessed) 9 am Monday January 21st
During the pitch you must present your mood boards and identify these qualities for each of your
ideas. Following the pitch and subsequent feedback one of your game-trailer ideas may be given a
green light (by your lecturer) for further development. If not successful at this stage you will be
provided with feedback with which to improve your ideas before you will be given the green light.
Using your mood boards as a starting point you will then fully develop your selected idea using :
• Character development sheets (initial ideas sheets, pose sheets, model sheets, and
construction sheets)
• Environment development sheets, (initial ideas and then further development of selected
idea-[You will do this with Jody Gallagher])
• Thumbnails (minimum 3 versions)
• Storyboard (must include correct aspect ratio (16:9), shot numbers, frame timings, audio
descriptions)
• Your process throughout the project must all be continuously documented on a page of
your blog dedicated to this project.
Based on your thumbnails you will receive feedback highlighting points to change before creating
your final storyboards.
Pre-production Assessment Submission Date: 9 am Monday February 11th
Production:
3D Pipeline for this project:
Modeling
Surfacing & Texturing
Rigging
Lighting
Animation (character & camera)
Rendering
You must render to exact technical specifications as stated here, the render files must be backed
up to a clearly labelled DVD along with all other project files (as you did with 666)-one copy to be
submitted to your lecturer and one copy to be retained by you.
Render Specifications:
Resolution:1024x 576:
Frames Per Second: 25
Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)
File format: Sequential frames .tif (16 bit)
3D Model low poly characters and environments in 3DS Max
Surfacing and textures.
Rigging characters including weight mapping.
Lighting
Animating including animation principles (5)
Refining and rendering (.tif uncompressed image sequence)
Post-Production:
Using the skills and techniques you have developed throughout the year so far, namely in the
areas of Compositing and Editing (using Premiere), you will now bring all the various aspects of
your game trailer animation together and adjust the final edit to make the very most of the
production work you have created. 

Your final animation must be exported with the following
technical specifications:
• Codec: H.264
• Resolution: 72 dpi
• Frame Size: 1024x576px (Square pixels)
• Frames Rate: 25 fps
• Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)
• Audio: 320 kbps / 44.100 kHz
• File format: MP4

All your Premiere project and source files must be submitted on DVD to exact specifications
identified on Moodle for your last project.
Project Assessment Final Submission Date: 9 am Wednesday 1st May

Unit Outcomes embedded within this project:
DDX32 35 Digital Audio For Artists And Designers:
1. Research and analyse sources for audio.
2. Capture and edit digital audio.
3. Produce digital audio material for an art or design project/s.
DV5W 35 Art and Design Project
2. Develop Concepts for a Project
3. Produce and Present the Final Project
DV9C 34 Portfolio Production
1. Select a range of art and/ or design work for inclusion in a portfolio
2. Sequence, edit and present selected artwork and/ or design work
3. Present a completed portfolio of art/ design work
F1H2 35 Freelance Working Skills
2. Produce and evaluate a self-promotion package.