Week Summary

Last week my tutor sent an email about a position going at Rockstar Lincoln as a QA tester. I have known about ‘Rockstar’ in Lincoln for a few years now and I know that they do focus on QA testing and localisation testing only. I decided to update my CV on the weekend and add more relevant details such as the promotional work I done over in London for EGX Rezzed a few weeks ago for ‘Codemasters’ via ‘Splatter group’. As soon as I updated my CV I decided to apply for the position at Rockstar in Lincoln as a QA tester. An hour after submitting my interest for the position I received an email from Rockstar giving me the opportunity for a video interview. I was very surprised as I applied for the job not really thinking I would be successful as I have applied for a few jobs in the last few weeks with no success, I also didn’t include a cover letter for this application. The video interview is one-sided in which it seems I will have two answers five questions, I have a few days to complete this interview. On the Monday I done my research on what questions they may ask and the company and what the position may entail and what the QA process may involve. I won’t know 100% on what questions they will ask so I thought if I do my research now I will feel more prepared.

Also on the Monday, I went into University and decided to just do some experimental work on what  designs I could potentially develop for my final piece. I considered maybe doing a radar piece for the map design which a player could navigate while still in game that is interactive by the robot. Very similar to fallout 4 with the Pip boy but instead the robot will be using a hologram piece through the robot’s hand.  Also one of my tutors came over and had a look at my character. They said it was balanced well and looking good but if they could add to it they would add more support to the middle of the model. They said it could do with construction in that area such as another pole or two to hold the weight of the model. I do understand and can see what they mean and I do also think it could benefit. The reason I did not edit the model and add this is because it is quite difficult to go into the modeling stage again when things have been posed,poly-painted and the topology has been altered to suit, also time is a big factor as well. I took the feedback aboard but decided I do not want to change my model anymore at this stage unfortunately. 

These where some quick hologram designs I was doing before I changed my mind and wanted to create a retro theme UI. I think these examples are too technically advanced in appearance. I think more of a dated design will suit best. I did also like to practice with the different blending options and effects here as well.

I do like the thought of doing a retro radar for a map screen.

Also on the Monday I went to the lecture by Sebastian on how to make a good CV and what employees may like to see. Even though I updated my CV recently it was still very good to know certain details on what to add and what isn’t. I will keep the information in mind and I have written a few notes on the subject. I will go into my CV and edit areas which I think could be improved.

On Tuesday, I decided to do the video interview for the QA position at Rockstar Lincoln. I decided to do it quickly because I felt quite nervous about the video interview and I didn’t want to drag the matter on as I found I wasn’t focusing on my current project. I felt prepared as much as I could for the interview as I did do my research over the last few days since being offered the video interview.

I’m not sure if I can go into much detail about the process but I did have to answer five questions on a time limit. The questions were related to QA and general questions on why I would want to work for the company and skills etc.... After the one-sided interview was completed I did not know what the outcome would be. The interview felt unusual being one-sided. I found it made the process a little more awkward than it should be because I wasn’t getting a reaction back or being able to read a person’s body language, but I tried to make the experience as if I was talking to a person by being as natural as it could be. Overall, I thought I did well enough, the research helped me in the preparation and what questions they did ask I felt I had a quick response time due to the research I had done beforehand.

Also on the Tuesday I decided to produce some quick UI maps designs. I wanted to get a feel for the style and keep it to a retro theme as much as possible. I decided to not go for a round radar effect as I felt it did not flow well with my design. 

This was a test with a radar PNG I found on Google images. I place it on top of my image and edited some areas such as positions and put a screen overlay on top to make it transparent. I feel the roundness of the radar does not suit and flow well with the rest of the model personally. 

These are two rough UI map ideas I came up with, I tried to keep it to a retro theme, and to use less information to portray what is being shown. I will put both ideas together to create a final idea. 

Here I put one of the designs on top of one of the render images to get an idea of what it may look like. I do not think it looks to bad but I do think it needs some solid colour instead of it being coloured lines and no background, just to bring out a little and to make it clearer.

On Wednesday, I have felt the pressure of everything that’s gone on recently due to hand in being very soon and my surgery and now the anxiety of hearing back about the video interview from Rockstar. I tend to just focus on one thing at a time but recently it feels as so many things our going on but I feel confident with my work flow I feel like I will get it done in time so I decided to now start one of the final UI elements for my character. I thought it would be best to just get on with the final design for my UI as I have been feeling just unsure on what I would like the UI to look like, I want to set a theme down. I still want to go for a retro theme and I aim to produce one of the UI elements for the project this week. I personally don’t think it will take me that long to produce the UI elements for this project. I have decided to create a character profile menu that will be placed on top of a rendered image of my character. The aim of doing the UI is because I would like to embody an in-game representation of a character using and interactive UI. If a player was playing as my character in a videogame they will be able to see the UI in front of them as a hologram which will be slightly transparent which they will then be able to see the in-game surroundings, I want it to feel like real time gameplay.

The two images above of the globe and wires are not my own but I will edit them into my piece. I have practiced with creating lines in Photoshop but I struggled to get a clean effect like these.

The three images above are edited pieces of mine. The head is a rendered image which I used altered effects to change it and suit my piece. And the full body piece is using the same method. I then created my own battery piece by using the shapes tool features in Photoshop.

On Thursday, I had finished my final UI design for the character profile hologram screen. I knew the UI element of this project would not really take a long time to do. Because I know there’s not a lot of time left till hand in so I have been working as many hours of the day as I can. 

Here is my final character profile piece that I will integrate onto two rendered images a close up view and a full body view. I decided to not go with to much information on this design as I believe it will not be that clear to the viewer viewing this piece. I wanted to keep is as simple and easy to understand. 

I added a character damage and level feature. The wired globe behind the robot silhouette shows a meter. When that meter rises to the top of the globe that means a level is gained. The more the player progresses in game such as killing enemy's or taking over a enemy base the player will level up and become stronger and gain benefits. The damage feature is fairly simple. If the player takes damage it will show on certain damaged areas on the silhouette. Example of this is the red colour on the arm, this area is badly damage where yellow is slightly and blue is mild damage. To fix damage areas the player will need to have enough scrap metal that the player can find in game, when you have enough you can go back to any of your bases that you have taken and find someone there who can fix you up. Another feature is the battery life that is in the certain of the silhouette. This works as a energy bar, if it hits red you are vulnerable and need to get back to base to charge. The player will find that their attacks will be less effective and slower speeds. 

This is a test image to show my design on a rendered piece. I made sure to place the piece back to front so us as a viewer see that the text is backwards where the player who is controlling the robot would see a front view position. I tend to now add another screen to the other hand such as a map screen.

Also on Thursday, I got an email back from Rockstar Lincoln. Good news! I got through to having a studio interview. They would like to have the interviews in the next week. Very nervous about this as handing is very close but I will have to find the time to head down to Lincoln to have the interview. I emailed them back and told them that I am free on bank holiday Monday as this is when they are starting the interviews. I heard back quickly on the matter and they have booked me in to have my interview on 7th May next week. I am very happy that I’ve got this far I did not really expect it, but I am quite nervous next week but it is very good news. I will continue to do further research for my interview.

On Friday, Gina Jackson from ‘Imaginati Studios’ came into the university and gave a lecture. Because I was one of the students who played and put myself through for the QA brief playing the game ‘The planet of the apes the last frontier’, this lecture especially designated to the people who put themselves forward for the brief. The lecturer went on for some time, she mainly was asking on feedback about the game, what everyone thought about it even the students who did not play the game she still wanted to hear from them. She told us about the game, what the features are and how it plays and showed us some gameplay footage. She went over some of the questions which she put forward in the brief. She then went through some of the answers given and wanted to know our thoughts. I also learnt a little from the promotional side of the games release and about budgets etc… These aren’t always things that you consider when a game is being prepared for release. It was an interesting lecture and it was great to hear other people’s opinions on the game, it also made me think of possible answers that I could have given back in response in which I did not really think of at the time. I hope when the game is released on other consoles it does well and the feedback is accounted.