Final Year Project for a 3D College Degree program?

FavoredSoul

Hey guys!

Im interested in knowing what kinds of things people have done or are doing for a final year project, for whatever game art college degree they've done or are doing, or, what they would do if they were in such a position!

Yeah, its that time of year for me, and I have the next two weeks to figure it or I get the chop. Unfortunately, I feel like an idiot and don't know what's suitable. You're probably thinking, why dont I just confer with my teachers, or ask other students in my class about what they're doing for their projects... well, my situation is kind of complicated. You see, i'm the only person in my class/degree wanting to do a 3D project in game art, so I therefore have a serious lack of peers / people who can help me out.

I could say to my supervisor that "I want to do a 3D character for my major project", but I simply have no idea how I would go about pitching to him that such a project is significant enough. Same would go for an environment. What makes these kinds of projects significant?

If it helps, im mostly referring 3D projects involving character, or environment work, that sort of thing, cause thats where my interests lie.

If you can help me out in some way, thanks a million!

IEatApples

I built a character customisation editor for my project, was kinder rubbish looking back but learnt tonnes doing it. My Honours question was something along the lines of "What effect does character customisation have on game play and story?"

Mike Yevin

what specifically is your degree in? just game art in general?

if so the possibilities are nearly endless, and as long as you can provide some form of timeline for yourself (what you'll be doing daily/weekly/monthly during the project) and make it realistically doable within the time given.

for my final project i was told to get into a group, delegate responsibilities and create at least 1 working level in the game engine of our choice. i believe we had two or three months total to create something original.

Sukotto

I've been told my many graduating students that making a playable game is nearly impossible in one year. You have to get your programmer on lockdown and keep him working, same goes for yourself.

You could just make all the models for a game, like a 3D pitch bible including characters, environments and assets.

Zpanzer

Whats your time frame? Also, if you're from 3D College Denmark and only have 5 weeks, I'd say use them on challenging yourself.. I used 5 weeks on creating my first character ever, and while some people will say "do what you're skills are", I thought I would be better of dedicating the time to challenging myself and getting out of my comfort zone and evolve myself. In the end, the grade doesnt matter so do something you find fun and challenging, and maybe if you're up to the challenge, do something you've never done before. My latest school project is a marauder which totally got me out of my comfort zone and forced me to adapt.

FavoredSoul

Okay, cool, thanks for the input guys.

It is something of a generic degree yes. Drawing, 2d animation, digital painting, 3D for props/environments, that sort of thing; its fairly unrestrictive. I pretty much have the rest of the year to complete it, with only one other class running simultaneously; crazy amount of time I reckon. I like the idea of doing a mix of character/enviro/assets, so I think I'll just pick some kind of theme and then see where it takes me.

In general, do you guys think there's much a difference between choosing fantasy vs scifi?