During this project, I was the art team lead, meaning my primary responsibilities were to ensure everyone had work to do, that they were getting that work done, and that the artistic direction of the project remained consistent and of high quality. Early on in the project, the work was split up such that these became pretty much the only tasks I completed.

The work for the art team began sorting through a collection of Synty asset packs Brian had provided us to see which would best fit the style and setting of our project. After looking through them all, we initially believed we would have to look to outside sources for good low-poly fantasy assets, but luckily, one of the artists revealed they had access to a fantasy castle asset pack that had everything we needed in it. From here, Lu, Elijah, and Kyra began practicing using the assets in Unreal while the design team finished the blockouts of all the levels, Aaron, Aidan, and Elian got to work importing and retargeting all the animations for the game, and Jacklynn got to work on assisting with the level blockouts and creating UI art.

After the preparation was done, it was then quickly decided who would be working on which levels. Kyra would work on the castle grounds, while Lu and Elijah work together on the first floor of the castle. Aaron, Aidan, and Elian were still setting up all the animations, but when they were finished with that, Aaron would take the basement, Elian would take the second floor, and Aidan would take the chapel. Around this time is when some of the problems with the project began, as we were now in the alpha phase of the project. The schedule we went with involved the art team and design team alternating who was working on the levels and who was playtesting the levels each week. This quickly resulted in instances of miscommunication, confusion about what to be doing, and redoing work due to the lag in level versions. I was able to keep everyone updated on what they needed to be doing, and eventually, we got into a bit of a rhythm with the work, but the schedule was inefficient nonetheless.

Things went pretty well for the art team once things were stabilized and a pattern was established. I would start the week by checking in and assigning people's tasks, I'd have a couple of other check-ins during the week, and I'd remind people to record their work on the weekly devlogs. Any problems that arose, I would handle as quickly and efficiently as I could, any questions an artist had would be answered by me or by a fellow artist, and I would go around providing feedback on people's work periodically. Aaron, Aidan, and Elian eventually finished the animation work and got to work on their levels, and Jacklynn, in addition to still creating UI art, also created and fully arted the Prince's bedroom.

Eventually, it came time for polishing, during which the work slowed down for the art team. We were a little ambushed by Brian dropping all the promo work on us in the final weeks (creating trailers, adding images and slideshows of art to the itch page, etc.), but we managed to get everything finished for our side of things. I put together some slideshows showing the levels through their iterations, and Jacklynn and I organized the itch page for the game to make it look nice.

Overall, the work the art team has put together on this project is amazing, and I would encourage all of them to add this to their portfolios. As for me, while I didn't do a whole lot in terms of making the art, the team appreciated my leadership and told me I was an effective lead. I made sure team members were communicating and was pretty good at keeping things organized on the team. I think the one thing I would change in the future would be to involve myself a little bit more in the work, whether that be through feedback and direction, or actually making stuff myself. There were many times when I was very hands-off with the team due to everyone being able to handle their work well enough. That did not stop the team from completing their work effectively, and I will be adding this project to my portfolio to showcase not only my skills as a leader but also to show off the work my team was able to accomplish.