The point of this sketching exercise was to help develop and refine my ability to record and display ideas, an essential factor for when sitting with a client. The time limit of less than fifteen minutes per sketch (minimum of 5 drawings), tested my perfectionistic tendencies when using the mediums of pencil and fine pens; yet I found a particular enjoyment of leaving sketches unfinished. These illustrate the thought process behind the sketch and act a reference for future work or improvements on that particular idea.

After walking around the campus, capturing visual features or textures that stood out, I recorded a total of seven drawings of various media/techniques. This can be seen through the variation of pen pressure, line thickness, tonal gradience and even the overall scale of the sketches, some more detailed than others. I think that the 5-minute pencil sketch of the chapel window, with tea staining to link to the age of the architecture, shows the most successful observation. The whole layout has been captured and certain markings suggest depth without being excessively intricate, and so encapsulates the appearance of a working drawing. The best mediums for this type of sketching would be a mixture of a biro pen, as well as pencil, to allow for quick movement and harsh lines.

The low-poly style and visual aesthetic of my game unfortunately doesn’t match the graphical view of 3D software, such as Revit or AutoCAD. Although, through the use of pen and pencil, I can still capture the graphic and clean lines created in a digital drawing. This sharp imagery is present in the initial sketches, using a concept of sky-scraper city in a sphere, and is the environment idea I wanted to develop in further detail.

The final level design story boards show a series of this concept at different perspective views, including a basic birds eye view showing key features (e.g. the player spawn point and assets). The boards also highlight the scale of the buildings in comparison to the game character, being a child the angle of the skyscrapers appears exaggerated to make the player feel small. Expanding on this concept is the length of the road, with leaning buildings to create the illusion of the extensive distance of the level, and lead to the planting area (edge of the dome).

For this particular digital drawing task, rather than just a screen shot of the model in AutoCAD, the finished sketches are presented in the personal title blocks designed in week four. These sheets allow me to show these 3D models at multiple perspectives, in a professional and stylish layout, and offer all the relevant information (e.g. paper size or drawing notes) that would be required in a commercially presented CAD drawing.

The three objects or products I constructed are a wooden mallet, a concept for a table lamp, and a design of a basic package box with a euro slot. Using the view port and formatting tools, the structure of the objects can be visualised at differing angels, as well as exposing the bare bones of the drawing and indicating at what CAD tools were used. For example, the 2D wireframe format clearly conveys the extruded components of the more successful objects, such as the hammer handle and the lamp pole. In comparison, the packaging box was surprisingly more challenging to design, and although I like this idea it lacks high quality finish a 3D drawing should have.

This particular task is very similar to the 3D models exercise, through designing and constructing the logo, and represents all of the CAD skills learnt throughout my first semester. The final logo design was meant to be printed using 3D printer, however our whole department was unable to do so as no working machines were available at the time. Prior to this task I had already mocked up a game logo (made in Adobe Illustrator), for presentation purposes, so having to create a truly 3D logo on AutoCAD offered an opportunity to improve my original designs.

This began with the initial logo sketches, simply adding curvature to the text and a sphere symbol, making the designs appear less flat. The quick ‘orange circle’ mock-up (made in Adobe Illustrator) emphasise this point, the shape is still at flattened perspective, even though it is at a slanted angle. The components of the final logo of the sphere and stand model, were easy to extrude, however manipulating the text to a curved arch was very tricky (see my attempt in a model space screenshot). In the end the final logo was exported into Illustrator, as it offers a wider range of distortion tools, where the text was shaped the an arc. Instantly enhancing the rounded surface of the sphere and increasing the depth of the overall composition.

Below are the examples of work I produced for the project, and as well as this CAD work I also contributed creatively in other ways. The initial research was heavily curated by myself, partly because I enjoy how inspiring and insightful the process can be, but also value how it shape the ideas of other team members. During the ideation stage (see inital sketches in game enviornment storyboard task), we all shared and intigrated skills from our own specialism. Sometimes meaning that a prefered task or design, more suited to a particular team role, was carried out by another person in the group. For example, the digital production the level was done by the 3D designer, rather than myself as the CAD artist. This sharing of roles reminded me of the importance of comprimise, and flexability in team situation.

The name for our game is ‘Scorched Earth', set a future scenario where the earth has dried out as a result of global warming. Humans have been forced to seek shelter and live in small cities covered by a 'proctective' dome, as the air is full of harmful pollutants. The basis of the game is set on the main characters desire to be free and breath clearly again. At the beginning of his escape the character finds a letter from his sister, revealing a hidden sapling, that if planted at the edge of the sphere could absorb and purify the air. This game objective conveys to the importance of plant life in cleaning the air, and the dangers of air pollution such as smog. Informing the player of the basic action of planting trees, will perhaps inspire more awareness of sustainability in regard to forest biomes. Along the way there is an option to also collect climate themed posters, acting as an extra and more verbal link to the climate protection requirement in the design brief.

In terms of CAD drawings, the main software utilised was AutoCAD, as it was the perfect platform for sketching the objects and 3D models. Using this software offered an opportunity illustrate my newly learnt capabilities with the tools, in constructing simplistic objects and refining the composition photoshop. Other digital work was created in Adobe InDesign, including the game logo and letter asset, as this software also combined photoshop produces the best quality outcome. The work hand sketched throughout the project, for both the inital and final stages, was the level design and other functional storyboards. Although this method is often more time consuming, using a pencil offers more flexibility in producing either a quick drawing or a more detailed sketch.


Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of this project, including how it would be similar to the conditions of working in commmercial setting. The project's strengths was through the a strong game narrative and consistant theme, with the areas to improve being based on the games replayability. As it didn't generate the feeling of achievement or danger with specific mechanics, and would likely not keep the player immersed till the end. However, despite the time constraint and uncertainty with Unity, the educational and climate design requirement was covered at a considerble level. Alhtough the actual game application was not completed to the standard desired, the journey of the project as a whole has developed both our specialist subjects, and ability to work as a team in an organised manner.