CREDIT POINTS: 20 / UNIT CODE: MEA517
FHEQ LEVEL:5 / SCHOOL: Media, Arts and Technology
UNIT DESIGNATION: Traditional / Programme group: Computing and Digital Arts
Unit delivery model: CD Max & Min Student No: N/A
TOTAL STUDENT WORKLOAD
Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal timetabled sessions for the unit. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and independent study in support of the unit.
PRE-REQUISITES AND CO-REQUISITES: None
UNIT DESCRIPTION
This unit translates conceptual and visual understanding developed in the Level 4 unit; Character Design into the digital world. Students will appreciate that good characters please players visually and function as the motivation for continuing playing the game. In generating characters students will balance pictorial seductiveness with the necessity for characters to remain partial symbols. The unit will elucidate how aesthetic relates to player engagement. The technological constraints of polygon counts and frame rate versus visual detail are identified in the unit.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of the unit, students should be able to:
Knowledge and Understanding
K1 Select appropriate computer tools to create a digital character.
K2 Understand the relationship between art and culture.
Cognitive Skills
C1 Analyse the personality type and the qualities that are required for player engagement with the character.
Practical and Professional Skills
P1 Utilise current industry software to create characters.
P2 Demonstrate awareness of technological constraints and necessity for economy in 3D modelling.
Transferable and Key Skills
T1 Conduct research into character attributes.
T2 Work effectively to meet deadlines.
AREAS OF STUDY
The term character is used to represent a wide range of protagonist and antagonist icons, and not only the human form. Students will study the representation of characters in video games and how the player relates and understands the meanings of the imagery. Students will investigate the social and cultural influences in game characters and methods of appeal to audiences. Character geometry will be created by professional methods and students will be introduced to the concepts of ‘level of detail’, sculpting, skinning, rigging, use of controllers and animation. On completion of the unit the student will be able to translate the character from concept to digital using appropriate software.
LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY
The unit is delivered through a structured programme of skill acquisition using current industry software. The key tools and processes to create meshes that faithfully recreate the original concept are experientially developed. Students are encouraged to creatively apply techniques that add individuality to their digital work. The interpretation digitally of idiosyncratic physical properties is encouraged to differentiate levels of subtlety of perception among students.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGY
Practical and professional skills focus on the degree to which fluency of digital creation is demonstrated. The ambition and perceptiveness of students in describing ‘character’ is an identifiable cognitive skill. Over the duration of the unit, students will be required to develop a thoughtfully selected portfolio of materials drawn from the activities and preparation tasks. Critically students will be required to reflect on the ways in which the materials may be used or are useful to them in their academic and professional lives.
ASSESSMENT
AE1 weighting: 100%
assessment type: Portfolio
length: Document with selection of materials /digital work
AGGREGATION OF MARKS
No departure from standard University regulations.
RE-ASSESSMENT ARRANGEMENTS
Reassessment will require students to create a new study concept and digital character design in accordance with the brief.
Unit Author: Adam Barton
Unit history:
Unit Approved/Year Implemented/Code / 2010 / 2010/11 / MEA517