Alyssa's Blog

Author: Xinran Han

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2.2 Collaborative Unit

Week 1: Collaborative Unit Introduction

Group Formation: 6 members

Xinran Han ( MA 3D Computer Animation) Wenxi Liao ( MA 3D Computer Animation) Aner Chen ( MA Virtual Reality) Xinyue Yuan ( MA Virtual Reality) Jiaheng Zhou ( MA Virtual Reality) Guanglin Lu ( Visual Effects)

Brief Choice: Departure Lounge

Link to Miro: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVLquh8Uc=/

Meeting 17/1/2025 (Initial Idea)

In a future where environmental crises threaten the world, five strangers from different regions face unique dilemmas. Each brings their strengths and challenges, working together to solve global issues caused by geographical conditions. Through gameplay, players naturally develop essential survival strategies.

Game Design & Mechanics: Players are randomly assigned to different countries, each with a unique survival indicator representing their resources. Icons on their wrist dice reflect their region’s conditions: forests (intelligence), deserts (water), islands (survival), and open areas (environmental solutions).

Each session lasts 10-15 minutes, requiring players to strategize individually while collaborating on global survival. Resource attributes vary, encouraging trade, equipment installation, and teamwork to overcome challenges. The final resources determine survival status (housing, food) and ranking.

Meeting 21/1/2025 (Refined Idea)

Core Game Mechanism: Players collaborate to nurture a plant seed, each responsible for different plant growth conditions: soil, water sources, and air quality. Players influence these environmental factors through decision-making, ultimately determining the plant’s final growth outcome.

  • Soil: Infertility and pests.

Plant Growth System: The plant grows based on a scoring system. Each player’s strategic choices affect the score differently (-3 to +3). The total score determines the growth phase, shaping the plant’s appearance.

Visual Reference:

Categories
Design for Animation, Narrative Structures and Film Language

Week 12：Presentation

Presentation
Categories
1.1 immersion 1.2 animation

Week 12：Summary

Showreel

Design Proposal Presentation

Categories
Design for Animation, Narrative Structures and Film Language

Week 10 & 11:Referencing (Harvord Style) & Submission Details and Support

get to know how to reference games:

Presentation Outline：

1. Introduction to Player Agency

2. Question and Answer: is the Auther dead？

3. Life is strange

4. Baldur’s Gate 3

5. Summary

During the writing process, I gained new insights: the importance of balancing the player’s agency and the author’s intent. Now, I no longer see them as opposing forces, but rather as complementary aspects of storytelling, emphasizing this collaboration.

Opinion: There needs to be a balance between player agency and the author intent

Discovery: Although Baldur’s Gate 3 has significantly higher freedom, especially compared to Life is Strange. However, in terms of cinematic language, Life is Strange better expresses the story and immerses the player in the emotions brought on by the story. High degree of Play Agency is a limitation as well. It is not just increasing the freedom that will result in a more immersive game. It requires the author to bring detailed character design and plot design.

Categories
1.2 animation

Week 11 Body Mechanic Spline

Categories
1.1 immersion

Week 11 Finishing the Project

Project Progress:

I made a cloth for the goddess character through Marvelous Designer 10, and imported the cloth simulation animation into UE. Apart from that, I finished all of my camera animation and rendered using the setting I learned last week in class. The game overrides made the rendering process really fast. After this project, I think I’ve got a better understanding to UE5:)

Categories
1.1 immersion

Week 10: PostProcessing & Rendering in UE

PostProcess Actor: adjust the color balance, blooming, and exposure…. in real-time

LUT: high-resolution screenshot > Photoshop adjustment > copy the layers to the LUT file > using the new version LUT in UE

Rendering: enable Movie Render Queue > create new settings and save > enable game overrides to get a faster render > Use Console Variables for a higher command

Project Progress:

This week I animated the hand I got online in UE and imported the animation into UE.

SyncSketch is useful for analyzing key poses from a reference.

I tested the animation in the UE sequencer. There was a small problem with the card’s location. In order to fix that, I had to use a emissive material for the card. The result turned out to be beyond my expectations:)

Categories
Design for Animation, Narrative Structures and Film Language

Week 9：Critical thinking for research topics

I realized that my topic was still not specific enough, especially there is not many article supporting it. So I decided to shift the focus to the relationship between player agency and authorial intent, which felt more specific but was closely related to interactive storytelling. As I delved deeper into the literature, I noticed an interesting evolution in thinking about this issue over time. For example, Barthes’s 1968 theory of the death of the author posited that readers’ interpretations would ultimately override the author’s intent. However, later researchers proposed a more collaborative relationship between creator and audience, in which both parties contribute meaningfully to the narrative process.

This shift was a turning point for my research, and player agency will be my main focus, giving players the ability to shape the story within the boundaries set by the game developers. At the same time, authorial intent is crucial to ensuring that the story retains its coherence and emotional impact.

Case Study: Baldur’s Gate – player freedom

Categories
1.1 immersion

Week 9: Rendering in UE

This is another session for catchup.

Project Progress:

This week I made another Niagara particle animation, which is a cloud simulation. My original plan is to model the shape and create a translucent material for it. But, the result did not entirely showcase my idea. So, I choose Niagara again for this one. All the Niagara effects are now using the fountain effect.

Categories
Design for Animation, Narrative Structures and Film Language

Week 8: Online Tutorial

After receiving feedback, I reached out to academic support to refine my proposal. The updated topic now centers on real-time ray tracing and its impact on player immersion in cutscenes.

The new title: The Development of Real-Time Rendering in Video Game Cutscenes: A Comparative Study of Player Immersion Before and After Ray Tracing

Research Objective: This study aims to explore the impact of real-time ray tracing technology on the visual quality and player immersion in video games, focusing on how real-time rendering has evolved before and after 2018, when ray tracing technology was introduced for consumer-grade gaming hardware. By comparing games released before and after the introduction of ray tracing, the study will investigate whether and how this technological advancement has led to a fundamental shift in narrative design, cutscene integration, and player engagement.

Research Question:

  • How has the introduction of real-time ray tracing in 2018 influenced the visual quality and storytelling impact of real-time rendered video game cutscenes?
  • What differences can be observed between games developed before and after the introduction of ray tracing in terms of lighting, reflection effects, and overall player immersion?