Misc. - Research

I wanted to carry out research for each of my roles in order to have better knowledge across all my specialized areas. This would help when it came to making decisions linked to these roles and to better lead the pipelines related to these roles.

Scrum Master

For my primary role as Scrum Master, I wanted to look further into the roles and responsibilities of the job, rather than just taking it as being a role based around organization and planning. I found that, while following the best project management practices, holding stand-up meetings and keeping the team on track are both very important, it is also crucial to teach the entire team about Scrum principles and ensure they understand what's to be included in each sprint and why.

"The Scrum Master helps new members understand the scope and vision of a product and ensures work does not slow down. It is their task to make sure that the team follows Scrum practices and rules while working." - Madan, 2022, Scrum Master Responsibilities - Teach Scrum Practices and Principles.

From looking into this, I now know that the whole team should be involved in using Scrumwise and aware of the Scrum practices we're working with, and with this information they can make sure productivity is always high. From this research, I've been able to coach the team in marking their own story points as done and deciding the hours they need to complete each one, as well as creating new items to be placed in the backlog. I was also glad to see that motivating the team was an important role of the Scrum Master, as I have already been doing regular check-ins with each member of the team to see what they're working on, how it's going and how they're feeling about the work they're doing.

"The Scrum Master hosts daily team meetings to get updates on the progress of the project, address potential roadblocks, and ensure that the project is on track." - Madan, 2022, Scrum Master Responsibilities - Keep All Parties on Track and Informed.

3D Modeling

For my 3D modelling role, I wanted to look into the different software the team could be using to create 3D assets and also decide on the modelling techniques we would use. As some members of the team prefer Maya over Blender or vice versa, I wanted to look into whether one was better than the other. The results of my research showed that Maya was better for sizeable professional projects and could simulate natural elements like water and fire and is also good for simulating things like cloth and hair, whereas Blender is better for sculpting and includes something for the entire animation pipeline, and can combine 2D elements with 3D models.

"Maya is ideal for modelling, texturing, lighting and rendering – its vast features include tools for particles, hair, solid body physics, cloth, fluid simulations and character animation." - Coggan , 2022, The Best 3D Modeling Software: Paid-For Options - Maya

"Blender boasts a highly impressive 3D modelling and sculpting toolset and is considered a completely viable alternative to paid modelling programs." - Coggan , 2022, The Best Free 3D Modeling Software - Blender

"Autodesk Maya is our choice for best 3D modeling software for animation (it was actually one of the first commercial 3D rendering systems to introduce hair and fur)." - Pickavance, 2021, The Best Modeling Software of 2022 in Full - Autodesk Maya

"Blender is different, providing the entire pipeline from modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking to video editing." - Pickavance, 2021, The Best Modeling Software of 2022 in Full - Blender

From this, I now know which software to be using for specific elements, but for the most part the opinion of the team matters most. Luckily, we experimented with using both software in tandem while creating and texturing models and this worked perfectly, so this will be the basis for our 3D production process for this project too. When looking into different modeling techniques, I decided that, since we're aiming for a low-poly art style like Silent Hill, a mixture of Box modeling and Boolean modeling would be used to create our assets, along with some simulation for effects like smoke and fire.

"What makes box modeling its own type is that we start with some primitive object, such as a cube or sphere, and we use classic modeling tools to create a shape from it. " - Selin, 2021, Different Types of Modeling - Box Modeling.

"With boolean modeling we start with a model and cut away or add other object to it to create a new shape. This is closely tied to box modeling, and we often use the two techniques together. " - Selin, 2021, Different Types of Modeling - Boolean Modeling.

Lastly, I wanted to look at some tools in Maya for effectively modeling objects. I learned about the Extrude and Bevel tools, along with the ability to add extra edge loops to a mesh, and the polygon tool, which will be especially useful when looking into more complex props.

"This is one of the most efficient tools to utilize on different occasions because of its simplicity and versatility. In fact, with the extrusion, you simply select one or more faces or edges and execute the extrude command." - Furneri, 2022, Maya For Modeling, Extrude Tool

"One method, as we’ve covered, uses the Multi-Cut tool for adding new edge loops, but if we want to add evenly spaced edges close to the borders, the Bevel tool makes things easier." - Furneri, 2022, Maya For Modeling, Bevel Tool

"For instance, sometimes you start from a blueprint with well-defined shapes and proportions; a good approach is to create a basic shape that follows the profile of your reference image." - Furneri, 2022, Maya For Modeling, Polygon Tool

UX Design

For UX Design, I wanted to look into tasks and skills related to the job that I wasn't already aware of or needed brushing up on. I needed to take a serious look at user research again, as I had forgotten that much work was needed to identify a demographic early on. So to put this into practice, I have added the need to create personas to represent our target audience into our backlog on Scrumwise.

"...build user personas based on your research to help you identify the most important elements of the product or service." - Coursera, 2022, UX Designer Tasks and Responsibilities - Analyze What You've Learned.

I also looked into different ways to conduct user testing and found that we will more than likely be using remote user testing to test our game. This testing will probably be unmoderated to ensure that test participants give their true reactions to the game. It would be an assessment-type testing to see how players react to the game and to find out how satisfied our target audience is with our product. Overall, from the methods I was able to look into, I believe that session recordings would be best for our user testing, as we would still be able to observe participants' natural reactions to elements of our game and see whether they run into problems while playing the game.

 "Conversely, an unmoderated test is done without direct supervision; participants might be in a lab, but it's more likely they are in their own homes and/or using their own devices to browse the website that is being tested." - HotJar, 2022, 3 Types of Usability Testing - Moderated vs Unmoderated Usablility Testing.

"Remote testing doesn’t go as deep into a participant’s reasoning, but it allows you to test large numbers of people in different geographical areas using fewer resources." - HotJar, 2022, 3 Types of Usability Testing - Remote vs In-Person Usablility Testing.

"Session recordings are a fantastic way to spot major problems with a site's intended functionality, watch how people interact with its page elements such as menus and Calls-to-Action (CTAs), and see places where they stumble, u-turn (go back to a previous page quickly after landing on a new one), or completely leave." - HotJar, 2022, User Testing Methods - Session Recordings.

UI Design

Researched principles of UI design, to ensure that the player doesn't end up being left in the dark too much during the game, while also not cluttering the screen unnecessarily. I also want to make a UI that fits in with the game world, so I wanted to learn more about how to do this effectively. One small but crucial principle was keeping the UI consistent - so as not to confuse the user and keep them familiar with what they're looking at, and so using certain patterns and screens that blend well will be easier to use.

"...using similar design patterns, identical terminology in prompts, homogenous menus and screens, and consistent commands throughout the interface." - Maze, 2022, Golden Rules of User Interface Design - Make User Interfaces Consistent.

Another principle that stood out to me was providing feedback, which may be easier to do effectively on a website. For our game, the feedback in the UI would involve messages stating whether the user has successfully carried out an action or not, or if there's something happening that the player needs to be aware of.

"For example, when users are asked to create a password, your UI should offer information on how strong it should be"- Maze, 2022, Golden Rules of User Interface Design - Provide Informative Feedback.

Another principle was that of preventing error, which can be achieved effectively with user testing, which links back to the UX design.

"As a designer, you need to ensure everything works as intended by testing the design with users before launching." - Maze, 2022, Golden Rules of User Interface Design - Prevent Error as Much as Possible.

Scrum Master (Keywords/Search Criteria: 'Scrum Master Responsibilities', 'Scrum Master Roles')

Madan, N. (2022) Scrum master roles and responsibilities [updated], Simplilearn.com. Simplilearn. Available at: https://www.simplilearn.com/scrum-master-roles-responsibilities-qualities-article (Accessed: October 14, 2022).

3D Modeling (Keywords/Search Criteria: '3D Modeling Techniques', '3D Modeling Software Benefits', 'Useful Box Modeling Tools')

Coggan, G. (2022) The best 3D modelling software in October 2022, Creative Bloq. Creative Bloq. Available at: https://www.creativebloq.com/features/best-3d-modelling-software (Accessed: October 14, 2022).