My interest in games goes beyond just playing games, I’ve always taken a keen note of how games are designed, what role the music and audio play and the narrative of the games. During my time at Bucks College Group, where I’ve been completing my Level 3 Extended Diploma in Games Development, I’ve had an opportunity to learn more about the entire process of creating a game – all the way from ideation, research, concepts, storyline, audio, development through to completing an entire game.
One of the first projects that I undertook on this course was to create a game level in the style of a new Fall Guys season. For this, I needed to consider previous game mechanics used in past seasons, whilst creating ideas of my own. This project taught me the value of continuity, whilst keeping the mechanics simple. It is often the simplest game mechanics that give the players the most enjoyable challenge. However, game mechanics only work well if the level accommodates them. Understanding the connection between these two aspects will underpin any future game development ideas that I have. Along with implementing game mechanics, I also had the opportunity to experiment with audio and cinematography in the form of jumps scares and cutscenes when I created a horror game. This genre is one which I did not have much experience of before creating the game however, I realise now how these games need to balance between multiple aspects of design, for the game to be successful and one important consideration for me was to match the game mechanics with the psychological effects that I wanted them to produce.
For my Final Major Project, I got to use all of the knowledge I gained to make my own flight simulation game. During my time on this course, I have realised that I am particularly interested in and adept at environmental design, creation and pulling all the pieces together to create entire levels and worlds. I’m particularly interested in creating VR environments as I feel that this is an exciting way to interact with new and existing game concepts. My dream is to continue down this path and further my skill at a degree level with an ultimate goal of working in the games industry.
Douglas Sjostedt Game Development Portfolio 