gAME DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIO
JORDAN SMEE
Curriculumvitae
technical identity & skills audit
Level designers and more importantly technical level designers are an integral part of the production pipeline within games and within the industry as a whole. They are the individuals who construct and create the levels and level systems that work within games, they can determine which areas players have access to and when they have access to them alongside scripting different events, cut scenes or other elements within their levels.
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A technical level designer specifically not only work on the levels but act as a technical reference point for their team, on the constraints and other limits that could affect their design workflow. They have to make sure they are able to optimise systems and debug and find reliable fixes to issues before the end of production.
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Technical level designers work with the game design team primarily and also co-operate with programmers, artists and QA to ensure that the levels that are being created match the mechanical constraints, the artists concepts and are fun to play.
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When it comes to progression in this role, and with most roles within games. Technical level designers can progress to a senior position/head position wherein they lead their team, and from there they could become a producer etc. for the entire development team thus working directly under the heads of a studio.
Technical Level Designer
Lighting artists are individuals who are tasked with creating and maintaining different lighting within a variety of levels and level types within games. They have to be able to create lighting that fits the artistic vision of the projects they are working on creating different moods and atmosphere through the placement and colouration of the lighting they create. Additionally, they must be able to create a consistent lighting style as well throughout the entire project they work on so that there is no discrepancy between levels/stages.
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Lighting artists work with a plethora of different job roles within the industry, they work closely with the artists so that the look and feel of the environment closely matches the mood and themes that the artists envision whilst also working with the level designers and programmers to ensure that the lighting they create isn't too intrusive and demanding on the target audiences systems.
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Again like most roles, lighting artists can go to a senior position and a head position where they will then lead a small team. Furthermore, they can also be promoted or apply for a producer position so that they are put in charge of the project at large.
Lighting Artist
Narrative designers/writers are brought into projects in order to create and develop the story and interactions between the player and the surrounding world, its characters and its setting. They work with the design teams to ensure that narrative delivery is done and well and they help to iterate on those deliveries through the project to make sure that they are done effectively.
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When it comes to progression for writers many are brought in as temporary help so that they can help build upon the pre-established story or help push narrative devices and delivery properly.
Narrative Designer/ Writer
Events & networking
CULTURAL ESSAY ON GAMES
Gaming Culture and how LGBTQ+ characters are portrayed in the gaming industry
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Games are culture, or at least they are a culture, one that “reflects social issues, but also shape social matters and drive their transformation” (Daniel Muriel, 2018). One with many smaller sub-cultures spanning the different games, genres and niches that are etched out within the medium, for example; a gamer interested in Massively-Multiplayer-Online games (MMO) would find solace within groups dedicated to World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004) and such games whist staying away from groups that perhaps prefer First-Person Shooters (FPS) like Destiny (Bungie, 2014).These small groups make up the sub-cultures that are prevalent within games and the games industry, now the previous example is not 100% accurate many sub-cultures collide and mix in different ways and one person would not be dissuaded from one genre for solace in another all the time. However, when it comes to the diversity between genres, games and niches within games one cannot, not look towards diverse cultures within the world for comparison. Our differences whether that is race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity make up a large factor in how people view the world alongside what actions are taken, groups associated with etc. and these differences also blend into games and the games industry. A good example of these differences blending and shaping the games industry and games as a whole is gender diversity, games have tackled LGBTQ+ characters in more recent years, the latest example of this being Neeko the latest character revealed for the Massively-Online Battle Arena game League of Legends (MOBA, Riot Games 2009) who is openly confirmed to be a lesbian. (Jackman, 2018)
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Nevertheless, game designers have tried to address the subject of LGBTQ+ characters and the way they are portrayed in explicit way as opposed to characters of other sexual orientations and genders. (Flanagan, 2014). The first attempts of this were not always successful and well received for example; in 1994, Streets of Rage 3 added the character Ash a character “dressed in leather attire, he fights the player with his go-go boy sidekicks. While Ash was present in the original Japanese version of the game, he was later removed to protect the innocence of American audiences (though he could be re-added with a cheat cartridge)” (Flanagan, 2014). Now for many recent attempts at inclusion have been a step forward, more representation is a good thing of course, is the natural reaction. However, many who identify as queer, transgender or bisexual etc. find that textual representation is not that important instead what they want is for acceptance within the gaming communities they interacted with as many played games online, to quote Adrienne Shaw's study on the piece "My first project was a virtual ethnography of a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender gamers. In addition, it turned out... many of them did not really care for representation. [...] Homophobia in gaming communities was much more important to these players than was textual representation because many of my interviewees played games online." (Shaw, 2014) what Adrienne discovered was that many LGBTQ+ players felt that the games industry would eventually crack the gay gamer niche as may other industries before them had and so the focus was instead to create a more accepting environment for the players who identified differently.
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Sony sponsored the annual London Pride and was met with an array of pleased responses from players and industry professionals alike. (PlaystationUK, 2017) Nonetheless, that did not stop them from also receiving a series of bigoted responses as well from those who believed the move to be a PR stunt, whilst others bemoaned a discriminatory view of LGBTQ+. What came out of the negative responses was a large centre of support from other heterosexual gamers standing up in defence for those of LGBTQ+ orientations listing off the slogan of “forALLthegamers” in many of their responses. (Phillips, 2017) This divide in the community is an interesting juxtaposition and highlights the differences seen within the games community, where even those who are negative have a slight divide some have bigoted responses towards LGBTQ+, but others believe moves like this are purely a business move to favour a market they have not captured yet. This move has also now started a movement for other companies to follow suit and many ask why this was not a move that many other companies had not already made seeing as how accepted it was by fans and entertainment giants and has shown that the support for LGBTQ+ is out there as opposed to a decade ago. (Phillips, 2017)
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In conclusion, although a minority of people within gaming communities still hold bigoted views, the cry for further diversity and acceptance towards different gender identities has intensified in recent years and pushed large and small companies to try to find ways to bridge the gap in the fight for more diversity within games (Beck, 2018). In turn, this has had an effect on large segments of the communities and sub-cultures within games as 84% of people interviewed for an IGDA survey say that diversity is an important issue and in turn are showing a large showing of support for these moves within the industry even if the change is slow. (Beck, 2018) In comparison to a decade or two ago these pushes for inclusion would not have even been a topic of discussion or would have been removed for western audiences, as the cultures and viewpoints in the real world affected the cultures and ideals within the gaming industry. (Flanagan, 2014)
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Bibliography
Beck, K., 2018. MashableUK: The video game industry has a big diversity problem, study shows. [Online]
Available at: https://mashable.com/2018/01/09/video-game-diversity/?europe=true#dgPjPogchOqp
[Accessed 27 November 2018].
Daniel Muriel, G. C., 2018. Video Games as Culture. Considering the Role and Importance of Video Games in Contemporary Society, Abingdon: Routledge.
Flanagan, J., 2014. Issues. [Online]
Available at: https://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11910/lgbt-video-game-characters/
[Accessed 21 November 2018].
Jackman, J., 2018. Entertainment. [Online]
Available at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/11/20/league-of-legends-lesbian-neeko/
[Accessed 21 November 2018].
Phillips, T., 2017. Eurogamer. [Online]
Available at: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-06-05-playstation-to-sponsor-london-pride-2017
[Accessed 21 November 2018].
PlaystationUK, 2017. Twitter. [Online]
Available at: https://twitter.com/PlayStationUK/status/870928048832565249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E870928048832565249&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurogamer.net%2Farticles%2F2017-06-05-playstation-to-sponsor-london-pride-2017
[Accessed 21 November 2018].
Shaw, A., 2014. Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture. 1st ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.