And that's a wrap...

As of now I've officially submitted my work and finished my MA degree. Now just comes the setting up of our degree show, which is going quite well thankfully. :)

I ended up publishing two videos to Youtube - one showing my full forest, and another focusing soleley on the particle effects. Here they are if you would like to take a look:

I feel as though I should feel a sense of relief and freedom, but in all honesty I just feel quite sad to see this chapter come to an end.

I'm extremely proud of the work that I've done and submitted, and this whole MA experience has been an absolute pleasure. The UCLan Games Course feels like more of a family than just a university course, and it's an honour to have been able to be a part of it for so long. It's rare to find a place with so much creativity, passion but also with the amount of care people have for one another. It's a truly special place, and if you ever get the chance to study there I'd say do it in a heart beat.

I feel that I've grown as an artist and as a person, I've learned so many techniques which I can now take forward with me and use in future. I also now feel that I can actually open UE4 without panicking, so that's a good sign at least. ;)

It feels like the right time to leave this blog be now - I want to be able to come back to it and reflect on my journey. Sure, my journey will continue, but I feel as though this chapter should be left as is.

Thank you so much for sticking with me throughout my MA, I've had a wonderful time and I hope that you have enjoyed reading along with me. <3

Adding Life to the Forest...

I've now gotten to the stage with my forest where its foundations are done, and it's now time to add the finishing details. 

At the moment, said details are more characters! These are the things I'm most excited to add, as I put a lot of heart and love into their designs. Here are some of their 'hiding' places within the forest so far:

I've added some more characters than those pictured (some of which I've already lost... I guess that's a good sign?), but I do still have a fair few left to add!

There's also a giant tree stump in the middle of one of the paths (as suggested by Elliott - thanks buddy!) for the player to walk under. There are some fireflies hanging out in it, too, so if by any chance you manage to miss their magical lair, you at least get a taster of them here. :)

These are just a static image, however there is some animation in there! The fireflies in the top left image float around (as shown in my previous blog post), and the slug & snail bounce up and down on top of the log as though to greet you joyfully. 

I still need to add my dancing weed friends, and I'm hoping to get Berryl doing a little bob also. Not too much to do, but enough to add some more character to the forest at least!