An internship with TMsoft

Roughing it in the wild west of mobile games.

The internship at TMsoft I interned over this semester TMsoft

Goal: to create a mobile game that functioned properly on the iPhone by the end of the semester.

The index I: Idea and conceptualization II: Working on the team III: Conclusion

Part I: Idea and conception A: the concept. B: Where it started C: The pitch D: Conceptualization to creation

B: Where it started A: originally prepared in Game410 as an

assignment. B: added to my portfolio website as an example

of a Hollywood 2 sentence pitch

A: The Idea This premise is done in the Hollywood 2 sentence pitch

format. The premise: Top down action fighting game, with buddies

who can join in the brawl (up to 4), and NPCs who are just fighting to fight as well! Just fight and fight, fight, and do more fighting, with an emphasis on different game modes, get drunk the fastest, (“Hiccup!”), break the most things in the bar, defeat the most NPCs (“Oy!”), or just beat the hell out of your opponent, be they human or special NPCs.

C: The pitch

I was offered an internship with TMsoft. We met over a phone conference. He asked our

group if we had any ideas I pitched the idea and it was accepted.

D: Conceptualization to creation The original concept was: a top down 2d

brawler. Designed for the 360, to be put out through XNA.

This was changed to a first person 3d brawler for the iPhone.

My task. As a designer, these changes added to the job

in many ways. My task: to design a system that would be first

person fighting on a system that had no pre-designed controls, essentially a clean slate in a genre that had very little exploration.

You can count on one hand, the number of first person fighting games there are.

II: Working on the team. A: Designer

Beginning Middle end

B: Artist 2d 3d Texture art

C: Advisor

A: Designer My work was at the exact beginning,

middle, and end of the project. In between, my job was different.

The beginning My tasks:

Game design document creation Discussion/revision/implementation Game design document update.

middle Todd Moore came to UAT for Tech forum.

He worked with the team Had meetings to discuss the design. Provided general direction.

Changes were made to accommodate for program limitations. The design document: Updated Revised implemented the changes

The end With most project, there were more ideas

than were possible. My task:

To revise down the scope find possible fixes discuss the changes/revise communicate the changes to the team.

B: Artist Due to personnel shortages, I was tasked as:

A 3d modeler 2d artist Texture artist

All except 2d art was a new skill for me.

2d art As a 2d artist I created posters for the bar. I learned about:

Filters in Photoshop Alpha mapping Quicker ways to use Photoshop.

3d artist We had a shortage of 3d modelers on our

team. I had to fill this gap. As a 3d artist I learned:

Basic 3d modeling through practice Unwrapping Exporting as texture maps.

Texture artist We had 2 other texture artists on the team,

my task was to texture my own assets. I learned:

How to organize a texture map Texture a texture map appropriately to show

dimension

C: Advisor As the designer I found my role on the team

was being the advisor to the team leader. I provided a point of view Unbiased opinion Helped to narrow scope when it got to big.

What I learned How to function as a team member more

effectively. How to narrow the scope of a design as a

designer. Better Photoshop skills The ability to use Maya at a basic level Texture art.

I talked about: The offer for the internship the idea My roles on the project What I learned

Conclusion This was a good experience I learned a lot from my boss and my team

leader. I worked hard and now I have a game to

show for my efforts.