Planting Ideas, Growing Skills: A Designer's Leap into a Gardening game
I’m Pia Holtel, a 3rd Creative Media and Game Technologies artist. My team and I worked on creating a gardening game focused on data visualization for Smart Cities. My responsibilities spanned across concepting gameplay, researching, designing UI, and even transforming my 2D artwork into 3D models - a new and exciting challenge for me.
I never had to take on that many designer tasks in a project, but it was a fun and challenging opportunity to broaden my skills. Still, being without a designer for the first five weeks was a struggle, so we were very happy when Abdulla Almheiri, an experienced designer, joined the team. He brought structure and a clearer direction, which I am very grateful for.
Despite the initial hurdles, I learned a lot throughout the project. As a 2D artist, dabbling in 3D modeling was completely new for me. My knowledge of it was basic at best, but by the end, I felt confident navigating the 3D modeling software and even found my own workflow. I also got hands-on experience with UI design, which was something I hadn’t done much of before. Plus, I dove deep into research - everything from what makes farming games fun, to optimizing 3D models for mobile devices, and even how to care for plants and animals in a virtual garden.
While I would have loved for our final product to be more polished as my perfectionistic tendencies see all the imperfections and what could have been improved, I need to remind myself that we weren’t asked to deliver a final game. We were asked to deliver a nice concept. And considering that I’m relatively new to 3D, I’m proud of what I made and that I could see myself improving.
I’m happy and grateful I got to work in a lovely team, and I am proud that despite the struggles we had and problems we encountered, we were able to make a cute little gardening game.
Working with Smart Cities was great. Everyone was friendly and welcomed us at eye level. We had bi-weekly client meetings to show our progress, and always received helpful feedback. During the client presentations we not only got good tips and inspiration, but Smart Cities also ensured no one left the meeting hungry - a nice bonus. I can recommend working for them to anyone who looks for friendly and kind clients that offer a variety of fun and interesting projects.
In September, IMT&S is starting and with that my fourth and, if all goes well, final year of my study. I’m not sure yet where I’ll be after my graduation, but in the best case I’m sitting behind a desk in a fun office with cool coworkers, creating characters, and telling stories with my art.
Pia Holtel
Student Creative Media and Games Technologies
Ready for a New Challenge?
Did this story spark your enthusiasm for Smart Cities as a dynamic learning environment? If so, we’d love to hear from you! As a research group, we’re always eager to meet new students and explore opportunities for completing your graduation project or internship with us. Interested? Simply send us a WhatsApp or stop by our office (G6.25). We look forward to connecting with you soon!
