Project Nautilus is a first-person underwater exploration game where the player operates as a drone for a shady megacorporation called Isthmus Corp. This game contains an immersive drone HUD, an expansive world, and a narrative rich immersion for the player.

Senior year spring semester has come to an end. These past couple of months have been very valuable in gaining better game production skills. I have worked with many great aspiring artists, designers, programmers, and producers. I also had the chance to work with an amazing teacher who helped our team every step of the way. Without all of these people, Project Nautilus wouldn’t be what it is.

As a game artist working on Project Nautilus, I have gained a lot of new experiences that will help me within the professional industry. Crystal, the lead artist, was incredibly helpful and supportive throughout the whole process. Herself, as well as Blade (the other animator/rigger on the team), supported me and taught me new skills throughout this entire semester. I was able to learn more about GIT as well as learning new tricks on how to rig different aquatic life. Something that I found incredibly helpful throughout the semester, was having a specific Art Team meeting. Because all of the artists on the team share similar experiences, it was helpful to learn and sometimes vent to one another. This really helped the artists feel like a solid team.

Throughout the semester, Isthmus Studios experienced a lot of communication issues. All of these communication issues set our team back a bit, therefore some weeks ended in more of a crunch. With all the communication issues, some team members ended up feeling overwhelmed with all the work they had to finish by a specific deadline, whereas others felt like they didn’t have enough work. Towards the end of the semester, our team was able to overcome most of the communication issues we had. In the end, this resulted in our team being able to figure out how to work together and resolve issues within a professional atmosphere.

Through the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly, Isthmus Studios was able to complete our game! I am ecstatic that everyone on the team worked so hard to help produce a pretty good quality game that will be released on Steam! Throughout our whole Champlain College experience, every single member on the team has worked hard to get to this moment. Of course there are things that we all wish we could tweak within the game, however we were able to produce playable game.

It’s definitely sad to be leaving Isthmus Studio behind, however the experience and knowledge I gained while on this team will stay with me as I apply to jobs within the industry. This was an amazing experience, and I am so grateful to all the members who worked on Project Nautilus.