FMP - Research&Links

Theme:

For the theme to the project I chose to do fairy tale.
This could either go to the happy bright fairy tales or the dark twisted fairy tales like those by the Grimm brothers.

I chose to do this for the fact that it had two rather opposite starting points. So the first thing that I had to think about doing was whether I was going to go the dark twisted root or the dreamy root.

Previous to the project I saw some images on while on the internet that has slightly influenced my thoughts to this project.

This is a place in Japan called Shirakawa-go. This is a picturesque place that already looks rather dream like. Whether it is covered in snow or in the throws of summer this place is just beautiful, all the colours complementing each other, like the blues and oranges and the greens and reds.




https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QyP_321jaDOZFkIhdXp4kNh4Y4Etz2F9T9fooHc66EE/edit?usp=sharing

Blizzard Contest - Created Character and Audience Feedback

Render of Character:

Feedback from World of Warcraft Audience:

This is a screen shot of me posting the images and render of my model onto a 3D online forum for people to critique and give feed back about my work.

Some feed back that I have had:

''The normal mapping should be baked from a high resolution model and then applied to the low resolution model. Doing it from the painted texture is an older method to use.'' Robert

"I think the character looks good and that it would fit within the Warcraft world" Kristian

"Personally I think the model looks good, but I feel as though it is too blocky and sharp in areas.." Elizabeth

"Lighting within the scene should of been more mid range, rather than really dark and really bright. However it also gives it a very unique look in a way" Sarah

"Colours on the model are well linked and blend nicely together to give it a good unified look." Patrick

Blizzard Contest - Concepting&Making

Concepting Ideas:

For begining ideas I was thinking about what type of creature to make for the WoW project. I looked into creatures and NPC's that already exist within the world. I looked into making some similar characters and some other more outlandish characters.
I made some little critters and some hulking giants.

As can be seen from the image below I shilouetted some quick characters so that I would know what kind of character I would like to begin with.

The characters were then gone over with line so that there was some more difining detail about the character.

The idea that I went with was that of the human type character, and that they would be an NPC rather than a roming character.
Linked with the research I looked into some Greek Mythology and the gods and goddesses. I wanted someone that would be powerful, but would also be different.
I wanted a warrior that the players could talk to and get a mission from.

For idea generation I looked at the goddess Enyo. This is the goddess of war. This is someone who some people might not know about. I took an image that someone drew as a representaion of her and then adapted that idea further expanding on what it could of been that this character would of worn.

In the image below you can see a number of quick concepts of ideas that I had for the characters costume and hair and sheild. I asked a couple of people that I knew and played the game world of warcraft, which of these designs where there favourites, I did this quickly because I wanted to be able to get on with the more indepth concepting of the NPC for the short amount of time that I have to create this character.

I took the three most liked and then drew them out again but this time in more detail. This was because I wanted to see more of what this character could be and whether it fit the image of a warrior.
Again using there opinions I was what it was about these characters that drew them in gaining more character specific feedback of the audience.

Then using this information I made this character that is a mix of these characters, trying to meld them together while still keeping them simple so that they will fit the astectic of World of War Craft.

 

After this I coloured in the final concept and this is what I ended up with. Using the internet I then got some colour reference for the colours palettes that WoW would use.

After this I then made some ortho grapics for my character.
As you can see I have a front back and side of the characer.

In the image above you can see there is a difference between the character. The hair and cape of the character have been shortened so that it would be easier to manage during a battle. Due to the fact that she as been designed as a Spartan like charatcer.

For this character I also created a piece of art posing the character charging. This was so that the character was put in motion and it would make the character look alive.

After this I looked for reference regaurding the female human within WoW, because I wanted to know the proportions of the character. Taking this into maya I then made a low poly character mesh of just the body.

I then modeled some armour and also started the cape of the character.

 

1024/1024 - Hand Painted Texture.

 UV's over the painted texture.

 

Specular Map

Normals Map

Ambient Occlusion Map

Rendered Sceen of World of Warcraft character.

Blizzard Contest - Research

Blizzards World of Warcraft Competition

Audience of World of Warcraft

For this project we are looking more into the audience behind the product, and see what it is that they would like the character to be I will be looking at what the company wants and also what players would like. So I am going to be asking some World of Warcraft gamers, what they would like to see in a new character.

Looking for inspiration for the character creation for this competition, WoW took some inspiration from the game Dungeons and Dragons with all there monsters and character creation.
Dungeons and Dragons is an imagination based game and there is really nothing that actually visualizes the environment other than the descriptions given, so a lot of art for the game that was found was fan based, so other people drawing there impersonations of what the game would look like.

The art that people make for this game is largely gritty, shying away from perfect beauty. This is something that helps me visualize the type of world that Dungeons and Dragons is.
This is were I see it differentiate from World of Warcraft because even though they have the gritty characters, the art is totally different. The art for this game is very saturated. The colours and design of this game is very clean. It does not seem to be at all influenced by the look of real world objects that are packed with detail.

Lots of the races within these games are seen to have there own outfit theme.
Elf/Drow Gothic
Pandas Chinese
Dwarfs Medieval
Orcs Welded and forded

Within World of Warcraft there are a number of races, and also areas that the characters could be in. So this is also a thinking point that I should go more in depth about. There areas like forest, underwater islands, temples, highlands, lava planes and also many more, so for whatever character I create I should think of linking it to one of these, so that the character is more integrated with its surroundings and looks like it should be there.

Another thing that I have noticed about some of the npc's is that a lot of them have some sort of weapon and Armour, this is so that it is believable that they would also be able to survive within this game, or that they are completely eccentric characters.

When designing my character I am going to try and keep inside of the norm of World of Warcraft, I think that this would make my character more interesting due to the fact that the would be more integrated within in the existing story arc of the game.

These are some of the characters and creatures within the game, as you can see they have slightly different styles to one another, this is something that I would also look into, to see what kind of themes go with the races, the the elves and drow being dressed up in slightly more Gothic clothing.

For my character I want something that would bring some new content to the game, in the way of a secret mission or task.
So I want someone that would link to there surroundings and does not look out a place. For the creation of my character I am going for the look of someone that would fit within the environment of The Pig and Whistle Tavern.

Mythology
gods, symbols - lore

One of the things I wanted was something to give the character substance, and something that was distinctly them, this is why I thought of mythology and what comes with that. These people are talked about and also recognized fairly quickly when talking to people of particular crowds.
I wanted this character to be synonymous with mystery and danger. I wanted someone who would be unknowingly dangerous to the wrong people.

For my character I would look to place it within a temple I changed this from the earlier placement since I wanted the character to be a little more exotic, that was dedicated to warrior like gods.
My character is taking the look of a Greek warrior. This would be an NPC within the game, someone who would show up to teach those who seek destructive powers. This is a character based of the Greek goddess Enyo, goddess of Destructive War.

The shape I am giving this character is that of a human female. This sounds a bit bare, but with the time that I have for completing this project I did not want to make it impossible for the time frame by making it difficult.

Games as Art - Research

Research:

This is to think about games that are ''not games''.
This basically means games that are not classed as a game because someone might only see it to be a game if it has a ''win/lose'' scenario.

Games that can be put into this category:

Dear Esther - This is a first person game where the player explores an island listening to a narrator read from letter fragments, in this it is suggested that the voice is of her husband and that that woman that you are playing is dead and was killed in a car accident. This game has semi-randomly generated voice clips, meaning that if you play through it a couple of times and then each is slightly different. In this game the character can do no more than just walk around the environment.

Stanley Parable - This is a first person game, and as the character all you can do is press buttons and also open doors. This game is told to the character though a narrator. As the character is going though his day he can do as the narrator suggests or he can go his own way, and if that is to happen the narrator will try to adapt to what the character is doing. There are six possible endings to this game.

Gone Home - This game is about the main character coming home and then finding that the house is deserted and filled with secrets. As the character you walk though finding out what has happend to everyone though letters and a journal from the characters sister.

Among the sleep - In this you play a two year old child who has a teddy who is basically the narrator. As the child all you can do is wonder around the environment and also trough and pick up objects and open things. There is a monster that you have to hide from and memorys that you have to collect to make the game go on. In the end you find that the monster turns out to be the childs mother who is a drunk and that the teddy was a safety blanket from the farther, who comes to pick up the child at the end of the game.

What I find similar about all these games is that they all seem to have some underlying dark themes, and this seems to be something that can be portrayed farly easily in slightly different different ways, and another thing that ties them all together is that they all have some sort of narration.
Dear Esther has the man reading letters at different points within the game. The Stanley Parable has the narrator guiding the player, or correcting it self. Among the sleep has the childs teddy talking to the audience, explaing what is going to happen or what they can do to progress.

Using this idea, I have made it so that the character 'Toni' will be trying to answer questions, or explain things, so that it looks like the bunny is saying it, and not her.

When looking into what game I am making for this project I looked into the age and type of audience that I wanted to pin point. I went for people in their teens, and studying to be a child psychiatrist. I wanted something that was thought provoking and also showed an issue that is not widely talked about.
I wanted a story of a child that was scared to tell the story her self, so she would use her teddy as a buffer, so it was the teddy that would explain what happened, so the child her self would not get told off. The audience it self would know that the child is doing this, and its not actually the teddy. However the child would see this as a safety net and think that no one would find out that it was her that told the psychiatrist what had happened at home.

This idea closely resembles the game above among the sleep, in the fact that the child had a teddy companion and there is hints at abuse towards the child. In among the sleep however, only one parent is accountable and the other comes to 'save' the child.

I wanted to be able to make something that would be interesting to the player, but also keep the story from being a 'game'. I wanted something more of a story teller, but instead of using triggers while the player is walking scene to scene, I wanted something that you would have to click on as though the player was probing the child to give answers to the questions that they are asking.

In this game there is no win or lose state. The session with the psychiatrist just ends, and they will probably allude to there being a next session for the child. you can just walk straight through, or you could click on everything available, doing so does not mean that the player has done 100%, since it does not matter whether you do so or not.

Games As Art - Work

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1C1iJdOl6xtdTQZhea-SQ-ZyXhbOGX61Ixnvx0eD1jkk/present#slide=id.p



For my work I did a Presentation that would slide though my work and thought process.

Slide 2:
This is the slide that shows the initial ideas that I went though, I looked into different emotions that I could portray within my chosen media.

The media that I went with was a 2D interactive story, that would be created within Construct 2.

Slide 3:
These are the chosen ideas that I then gave a purpose, or character to, it was these ideas I then looked at to see which one I thought I would be able to accomplish the best. I wanted something that was thought provoking, and also made the player feel something when interacting with the scene.

Slide 4:
I then further narrowed down on 3 ideas that I generated earlier, and then did a quick sketch for each, this was so I could visualise what I was I would possibly be drawing for the end product, and see what one felt more natural and which stood out to me more.

Slide 5:
This is information about the chosen project, just explaing what will happen wth the story, and what I wanted the idea to focus on.

Slide 6:
This is some image research that I did for the creation of the teddy. This was looking into the feel and art of the chosen character.

Slide 12:
This is then a bit further into the design process, after looking into the shape and line art of the teddy and going from the drawings in my sketchbook to creating them on the computer and refining the ideas further, and then colouring the characters, becasue I thought it would be a bit too generic to have a girl with a pink toy.

Also with the child within the story, I concluded what it was that I wanted the story to be about, I wanted it to focus on a child that was unwanted due to a gender issue.

In the interactive story it is not really picked up on that she is the older child, but the character 'Toni' has a younger brother, who is only about 3 weeks old. The parents dote on this child, since it is the one that they have always wanted. 'Toni' is now pretty much ignored in favour of the other child.

'Toni' is a 5 year old child, and has grown up as a boy. From since she can remember, she has been dressed and talked to as if she was a boy, and since her brother has been born she has had hardly any interaction with her parents at all.

That is why the teddy in the story is now blue, to hint towards a boy, and being rather steriotypical about it.

This is the point that I moved onto creating the 2D environment for my game.

This was something that I wanted to be interatcive and thought provoking. This was something that was important to the feel and meaning of the game. In this game, you can walk room to room, in where the character lives. The two rooms that I am going to make are the bedroom and also the kitchen.

 The images above are coloued and drawn in this style, to show that this is something that the child could of drawn the image. This is because in the game, the child is asked to draw what they are talking about as they go.
Thi is also the reason as ro why there are limited colours within the scenes, its becasue with crayons, which was the effect that I was going for, so there would not be a large range of colours in different hues.

This is the character Toni, this is her dressed as a boy within the psychiatrists office, due to them not having access to any other clothing, than the clothing she bought with her.

This is the psychiatrist character, this is a character that I wanted to look smart, but also someone that a child would feel comfortable around, and would not mind talkind about their troubles to.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1C1iJdOl6xtdTQZhea-SQ-ZyXhbOGX61Ixnvx0eD1jkk/present#slide=id.p

Induction Project - Create a Character.

3D creation of Character bust.

For the induction project for the second year of college we had to take our characters that we created over the summer and then create a 3D bust. I first did the orthographic image in back and white,this was because I wanted to get the detail down first and make sure it looked right.

Orthographic

Orthographic in colour

After that was done, I then replicated the colours from the stationary pose of the character and then applied it to the orthographic.

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These are pictures of the final clay model, using the orthographic above I molded the clay that was a two part air drying clay, to make it so that the bust resembled the image on the paper.
Using clay tools I was able to get quite a bit of detail into the clay and also using rubber brushes to smooth down the clay where it looked like it was cracking.

Background: this is the background image that I used for the rendered versions of the computer 3D model. I wanted it to be a leaf background so that it would link into the back-story.

 This is the first render that I did of the model, This was done in Maya. This character has a 3 lights on her, a soft light, a brighter light and a rim light. As you can see the model also has a marble texture.
I did this because I wanted it to look like an actual carved bust, and marble is usually a material of choice. I also remembered that there were a couple of things that I forgot at the back of the model, the collar and the back chain.

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This is the model that I made from all sides, as can be seen there is detail that can be seen from all sides, this is the best that I could do with my time and skill. If there is a future project I hope to learn from mistakes made in this and better myself in the next.

Render

This is the final render of my characters bust. As you can see the material of this bust is different, i changed it because my character is a leader and I wanted this to be something that could be made by one of her followers. And since importing thing and just getting their hands on things would of been hard, I wanted it to look like hardened dirt and that the plant life would take it for one of its own.

The lighting in this is slightly different from the one before. This one has a light that gives the image a slight green hue. And the rim light is not as intense as the one above.

In small groups, peers within my year gathered around our work and then we discussed what we did with our work. We then gave negatives and positives to all the work seen. So we each spoke a little about our work and the our peers then assessed it.

The style of character does not really carry through all the work, but this was mainly to do with the face.

The render was too dark so some of the detail was lost in the shadows of the scene, also due to some of the lights not looking right, I was advised to use ray tracing. This will help with the realism of the scene.

The art work was said to benifit from more contrast in the shadows and then have a source of light that was defined, so that the observer would be able to know where the light was coming from, instead of just a generic light where I think that it might benift the picture.

A good thing that was mentioned was that the model had a good amount of detail, and that it had good assests to it, like the skull crown and the shoulder pads.

Evaluation

I think that for my first time of using MudBox I did a good job in using it. I was able to successfully complete a bust of my character that resembles the character that I created.

I would of liked to have been able to get more detail into the collar, I would of liked there to be tears and holes in it, But I was unsuccessful in getting that to happen.

The thing I like most about this is that in 2 weeks I was able to use a new piece of software and make a character with techniques I had only just learnt from the tutor.