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Questions and Results:
Following my formative feedback meeting, I created a survey to gather both internal and external opinions of my artwork.
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Conclusions:
What was effective:
- Even with minimal exposition, responders were able to identify the environment as post apocalyptic, using descriptive words such as desolate, barren, or wasteland.
- Responders were able to correctly identify multiple functions of the base with minimal exposition. These functions included safety and shelter, a reclaimed home base, and separation from surroundings.
- Responders liked the colours, textures, materials and style of the guarded fence.
- 6/16 responders were able to correctly identify the launch pad before it was revealed to be one.
- Responders agreed that once the context had been revealed they could clearly see that it was a launch site. Therefor having clear exposition before players are introduced to the environment might help them understand the surroundings and context more easily.
- 7 responders agreed the environment looked like a post apocalyptic Florida without any extra comments or suggestions.
- Lots of responders agreed the environment looked post apocalyptic but had suggestions to make it look more like Florida.
- 10 responders liked the launch pad design and thought it was accurate.
What needs to be changed / implemented:
- Many responders incorrectly identified the water as snow, which changed their perception of the environment significantly. As Florida would be flooded in a post apocalyptic event such as this, it is imperative to me that the waters appearance is obvious.
- Many responders struggled to understand the scale of objects in the artwork, especially the bollards and fence. The scale of the bollards needs to be reduced and the fence potentially enlarged. However this issue may be resolved when more objects are added to the camp, providing a better reference for the scale.
- Responders thought the guarded fence looked too thin and flimsy, and that it needed more guard towers around the perimeters. To make the camp feel realistic to players, this is definitely something to consider.
- Responders thought the gate and guard towers would benefit from contrasting with the fence more, so that they would be easier to identify.
- With minimal exposition, many responders were not able to correctly identify the launch pad, several believing it to be a radio tower or an underground bunker. The design of the launchpad could be more detailed so players can identify it easily in the future.
- Responders suggested to add more debris, nuclear waste, marshes and swampland to help the environment look more like a post apocalyptic Florida.
- Responders thought the launchpad would benefit from more details, such as soot from jet propulsion, wires or metal arms to hold the rocket.
Useful comments from responders:
- “The tower in the middle is a brighter red to presumably help inhabitants find it when they are lost.”
- “Add more contrast or shadows (like from the structure in the middle to show how much the sun is beating down).”
- “I feel more debris and unnatural colours may help to facilitate a post apocalyptic wasteland.”
- “Could be a bit darker and more miserable looking; maybe make the edges of the snow ashier/muddier. But keep the red bright”
These comments were useful and gave me ideas of things to implement to make the artwork more effective:
- Make the launch pad a saturated bright red.
- Darken the environment.
- Add more shadows to show the sun beating down.
- Add more debris and unnatural colours.
Next objectives:
I think it will be really important to implement the changes I’ve listed in my design, however as we only have a short time left before the playtest, I will stick to my current objective of completing the resource camps, so the environment feels more full and the players objectives are clearer. If I have time before the playtest I will try to implement as many of these changes as I can, but if not then it can wait till after the playtest for now.
I also think introducing some context about the environment to the player at the start of the playtest / vertical slice will help the player understand the world better from the beginning.
This survey has helped me achieve the following learning outcome: A2 experimental methods to advance your discipline-specific ideas.
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