Spring 2016 Thesis Wrap-Up
I was a senior IMM major at the College of New Jersey, and this spring marked the end of my Senior Thesis. A milestone to say the least, the class consisted of two semesters worth of planning from concept to actualization, with two showcases to show off our work — one at the end of our first semester, used to prove concept, and one at the end of the spring semester, in order to show our product.
One of the aspects of our thesis course that I appreciated was our ability to have free reign over what we would like to create. Being such a versatile field, IMM houses many students with differing abilities, talents, and pursuits, and this is reflected in their theses. It makes the Spring Showcase an accurate portrait of the major as a whole, and I think it also gets the best out of the students participating.
For myself, I have always been passionate about creating a narrative. I enjoy creating visual, interactive experiences that leave an impact on the user. In this case, I felt that the best way for me to implement that narrative was through a video game, which is a platform very dear to me, and I produced a demo for a larger game that I intend to complete. Through a game medium I would create an interactive experience with a high value on story, game play, and visual design.
I decided to make a game based on a color inversion mechanic, where the player would switch between two characters, Esther and Ethan, to solve puzzles in order to move forward. During the puzzle-solving aspect of the game, players would be playing a 2D platformer, but during cutscenes the game would act as a visual novel. My game was entitled, Esther.
The hardest challenge this process presented me with was in the coding for the game. I am not a natural programmer, and have always struggled with writing code. However, with enough research and personal skill growth I was able to accomplish my demo. I would highly recommend lynda.com to future students, especially if there is an aspect of your project you are struggling with. The tutorials there were incredibly helpful.
I also would recommend that future students do their best to stave off procrastination. An easy obstacle to become overwhelmed by, careful planning and goal-setting are really beneficial to keep yourself from procrastinating too much. Were I to go back and attempt my project again, I would make a stricter production schedule and plan deadlines before I need to meet them. Say I need my art assets no later than the 13th, I would plan the deadline for them to be the 10th, in order to give me extra days to act as a grace period.
Tools Used: Adobe Photoshop, Unity, Clip Studio Paint, the Unity Asset Store
