Semester 1 - Complete!

Semester 1 is done! All my current blog posts, up to and including this one, are intended to be included in my submission. Even the WIP (work in progress) posts! In my learning agreement I set out how long it would take for my 2D adaptation documents to get completed (and that ultimately I was unsure, but had a target time frame in mind), that's why the Resident Evil 2D document is still a WIP. I still want the work I've done on it so far to be included though!

So how did the semester go? I think it went fairly well. Every piece of work I completed was satisfying to finish and left me feeling like I'd learned something new, and was more ready than ever to tackle the next piece of work. This semester was more about setting up the foundation for my adaptation documents, and my 4 week project and 2D VS 3D documents both got me into the right headspace for comparing the mediums of 2D and 3D. Both projects let me analyse games and tropes resulting in me gaining a greater understanding and appreciation of both 2D and 3D, and the thought processes behind every facet of designing games in each medium. Researching and writing my essay had the same effect!

I'm also happy with how my first adaptation document is going. In all honesty I would have liked to have gotten more done, however it took me a while to figure out the best format and mode of working. Resident Evil was a good game to start with, as it's fairly straightforward to understand - though that doesn't mean the adaptation process is particularly easy! I ended up focussing on getting more of the text written describing all my analysis and thought processes as opposed to the visual aspects of the document, such as drawings of game screens and level design plans. This was partially due to the fact that my approach in the end was to make a plan document getting down all the thoughts in my head on paper before actually turning it into a written piece, and before the semester was over I wanted to prioritise translating those thoughts into a presentable format.

Next semester I want to speed up my process so I'm able to get to the visual elements quicker, as it's helpful to have more visuals to go from, even though my writing is quite thorough in an attempt to describe my ideas. Ideally by the end of next semester I will have completed - or at the very least be on the verge of completing - my second adaptation document. Let's see how that goes!

See you in the next one!

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