Supervisor Meeting & Ethics

The hand in for the Ethics form is tomorrow, so not much work done overall since hand-ins. Going through the examples online I found were quite bad, they were so obvious in their mistakes, and what I really wanted was an example of someone who thought they didn't have any ethical concerns and how they justified not having any, as that is similar to my case.

I printed out my form for Ryan to check in our meeting, and we started by going over it. He said I might want to specify video/computer games in my project title, and that my description could be done in less words and detail. The wording was a little difficult to pinpoint when I was asked about how I could possibly make human subjects stressed. Basically, my questionnaire asks people to pick answers, and they might feel anxiety in doing so, especially in getting the wrong answer. But I intend to state that there is no true wrong answer except when obvious, like where siblings or a parent-child pairing can't be a romance. Then Ryan just checked I had the right boxes ticked, changed the participant number from 10 to 20, and reworded a few terms. He said not to be worried if it comes back, and that usually it only needs slight rewording etc. I would edit the document and print it off for him to sign after the meeting, and then handed it in.

Ethics Form.

Next I showed Ryan my Pre-Production Portfolio and Concept Development Document to update him since the holidays. A main point was a rewording of my critical framework to Character Design, Narrative & Character Performance, and Player Interactivity, and this made my action plan image much neater. We talked about the number of case studies I had, which normally he would recommend I cut down, but they were varied enough that I needed their full coverage for my research. Ryan recommended I look at Papo & Yo for their monster-pet-like archetype, and also showed me a design document for DOTA 2 which was really interesting. It showed the pipeline process for the game and how they created the characters. I'll be sure to look at this in more depth.

We went through all my work and research so far. Ryan says I've made good observations, and liked my silhouette designs. He enjoyed the size scale and pairing pages, as it solidified everything I've been working for. I said I wanted to backtrack on my final designs, iterate them a bit more with sketches or greyscale. He said as an illustration the final image characters were very good and he liked my style, but now I just need to push my anatomy skills and accuracy. We discussed how to further the designs with their clothes, armour and accessories, and how their designs could be different if styled for a different genre. I confirmed the final outcome was definitely not going to be a model, as that isn't important for my project. I had an idea that I could do a mock up of a popular duo in a game screenshot, showing the style in-game, possibly hinting at mechanics. Ryan wasn't too sure about this as he wants me to focus on the characters and process, and suggested getting a printed book. Overall, he said my work was excellent and he was impressed. The way I talk sounds professional, I direct the conversation well, and that I'm making connections most people don't. It was quite a confidence boost and I'm not too worried now about grades.