Update: Easter Projects.

Just finished the design document, which makes the entirety of the tree project finished now, even though I actually finished it last week it took until now to remember to update the blog. Whoops.

The project as a whole went off without any major hitches, the one problem throughout was a small rendering annoyance that was fixed with help from Mike.

I am pleased with the final results and now I just need to crack on with the reef project, which is currently as far as silhouettes…

I really would like to get everything out of the way just to get some free time over this holiday break, free from the stress and worry of things to complete something I didn't manage to get at all over Christmas.

If this actually happens I’ve got a load of paints and a spare canvas left from my A-level art course I would love finally do a painting on, as well as being able to dig into the stack of games I’ve acquired over the terms that are either un played or 30mins in.

Elements of Game Design Part 4

Elements of Game Design Part 4

How do level designers construct and decorate the environment to assist navigation through the level?

Level designers construct and decorate in certain manors to cater to the objectives of the point in the game, however different types and genres of game have very different approaches as a result. In the Bethesda game Skyrim the main additions to assist in navigation are focal points, these serve three main purposes:

 1, being a functional purpose, helping the player orient themselves in the environment, they will always know their position in relation to various ones.

2, is purely visual, an aesthetic function and creating visual appeal to the area.

3, Creates a point of interest in that area, drawing on the curiosity of the player to investigate and explore. In single player maps you may define multiple focal points using architectural structures, landscape elements that help the player to travel from one focal point to another.

In multiplayer maps, you can have one or two focal points. These help to orient the player in the environment as they spawn. Players will always know where they are in the environment no matter what happens so they are not disoriented. 

Where as games more like Blizzard’s Diablo III uses limitations in the playable map to steer the players in the correct direction. Games like this are unlike Skyrim in environment design because of the lack of choice, the story is linear and there are no deviations, but Skyrim is much more of an open world sandbox where a player is able to write his own story in one sense, make his or her judgements as they go along.

How does the environment influence the atmosphere of the

game?

Once again I can come back to Skyrim and Diablo for this one.

The different environments in Skyrim and Diablo III completely after the mood and atmosphere of the game, for example: the Mountain ranges surrounding Riverwood near the start of the game provide and calm, peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, almost like a leisure holiday within a game.

However other areas like the Nordic ruins evoke much more sinister, evil atmospheres, the dim lighting combined with an almost monochrome colour palette really emphasises these effects.

Is there a balance to be struck between realism and stylisation that supports or hinders the player’s belief in the game world?

In my opinion it depends entirely on the game, some games like call of duty thrive on the realism they create for their experience, where as other games like Team Fortress with it’s cartoonist and styled approach really work well as is.

It depends on the nature of the game really if the story is based around real world events or dates a more realistic approach to the level designs will ultimately be more successful in the current game market.

In the realms of fantasy and science fiction however the realism gives way to creativity and imagination, but having said this the game world still need to include similarities to reality to sell the ideas, you can make an obscure fantasy world with all it’s individual elements, but one will know what they are because they can not relate them to a real world item, for example in Halo the alien spaceships and weaponry certainly look different to human ones, however you can still tell clearly that that is a gun and that is a spaceship because they are based off real world items that players can identify.

Illustrate an example of an

environment you particularly like – who designed it, what real life equivalents does it pay homage to, does it reference existing film or literature genres?

Once of my favourite examples of a beautiful environment in a game has to been The Frontier in Assassins Creed 3.

The lead artist on this project responsible for designing the Frontier Environment. Research, style guides, tech development and pre-production was Marc-Oliver Bouchard.

As you can see the work produced is incredible, I myself has a great interest in the beauty of untouched wilderness, there's just something about it that is so enticing. Another reason why this has to be one of my favourites is that realism and similarity to real world counterparts and so the ability in game to climb and explore areas that I might never get a chance to discover in my life.

External References from:
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/level_design_tutorials/how-to-plan-level-designs-game-environments-workflow.php

http://marc-olivierbouchard.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/blog-post.html

Personal recollection.  

Elements of Game Design Part 3

Elements of Game Design Part 3

Think of the characters you've encountered in books, TV and in films. What are your feelings towards them?

Depending on the role and genre a well portrayed character can make you respond in any number of ways. In the series of book ‘The Mistborn trilogy’ By Brandon Sanderson the main protagonist is a girl called Vin, now in the first instalment she is described in depth as shy, alone, and terrified, she is within an inner circle of a thieving gangs, and is used for bait while the crews make the robberies, she is brutally beaten by the leader to keep her from leaving.

Within the first few chapters the emotions brought up for Vin are incredible strong feelings of pity and sadness towards her, the idea of a young girl being beaten near death just to keep her in line is a disturbing thought.

However, on a lighter note, the main protagonist in the popular sci-fi TV show Stargate SG-1, Jack O'Neill produces a very different set of emotions.

In most episodes the Lieutenant instils a likeability, you feel inclined to prefer him over other characters. Other emotions include is humour, the whimsical styling's of the character along side his individual personality provide a contrast from other character as he pokes fun in situations.

As films go, Dr. Alan Grant from Jurassic park evokes much more serious body language making the viewer look at him as an almost authoritative figure, you would listen to what he has to say. As the story progresses and the tension rises when the dinosaurs escape feelings of dread and fear creep in.

What techniques do you think are being used to make you respond to these characters?

In books, I think it’s the level of focus, where the levels of description lie in a passage of a book determine the emotions a reader will feel.

In TV and films alike the emotions rely much more on the performance by the actor, their facial and body movement alone can provide enough information to gauge the scene and create distinctive emotional palettes.

However external factors such as shots that display dangers that the character has not yet notices but the viewer can see also evoke powerful emotions.

How much is dependant on the script? The acting? The appearance?

That depends entirely on the medium.

In TV and films it can be much less, it all depends on what the actors can bring to the able in bringing the individual roles to life within the scenes.

As previously mentioned their body language can provide powerful emotional triggers for the viewer.

For books however the power and influence of the actor depends on the writer and publisher, the emotional must be conveyed differently though description to obtain the same results.

What sort of stories do you find completely irresistible? Why?

In my opinion stories that can keep my entertained over long periods have to have characters that the viewer will get emotional attached to, will yearn for more from their favourites, and plot that viewers can really get involved in, they can really delve into that universe and feel like they actually know the character personalities.

External References from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistborn:_The_Final_Empire

Personal recollection.  

Elements of Game Design Part 2

Elements of Game Design Part 2

What does an art director do?

An art director in the game industry is the “captain of the ship”, the one responsible for setting the visual tone, quality, and style for the game. They are at least indirectly responsible for every object, texture, level, character, and effect that appears in a game. This is a profound responsibility.

The art director will work closely with the lead artist and the game designer to communicate his vision for the game across to the teams of artists.

Who are they responsible to?

Most art directors will be responsible to one of several team managers who act as  liaisons between the artists and a number of people such as the project/ creative managers and or the producer.

This is hugely important in game teams, where there is so much information flying around, critical decisions and changes being made to the design.

Do you think it’s a creative role?

Yes and no, the art director is responsible to setting the style and tone of the game, and so needs to be highly creative and highly skilled in communicating his vision across to a diverse team of waiting artists. However he is creative indirectly, he is not directly creative. The art director will forge ideas with the lead artist, but he will not actively bring them to life in the creative sense, he merely watches and corrects mistakes to suit his vision.

As well as this the art director has extra roles that are not usually associated with an artist, the business side, he is responsible to relay budgets and limitations for the project, manage time frames and deadlines. All in all I think it’s a balance between creativity and business.

How is art direction in games similar to or different from film, for example?

Art direction is very similar in both games and films. Communicating an overall style and vision of a project is vital and key for both roles irrelevant of the type of end result.

Both act as liaisons between managers and artists and require critical business skill to relay information regarding schedules and budgets.

The type of designs and ideas that come from the art director are very similar as well, both games and films require characters designs, props, clothing styles, settings etc. In both roles the art director must have business and creative talents in order to succeed.

What qualities do you think you’d need to develop if you wanted to become an art director in the future?

In my opinion, the four most important abilities that would have to be essential to obtain in order to succeed in an art directors job would be.

 1: creativity and vision, the ability to explore new ideas, design whole worlds, styles, colour schemes, making every last element visually pleasing and relevant to everything else.  and assess their value in the shortest time possible.

 2: Communication, being able to convey these ideas accurately and efficiently to masses of people and to maintain these ideals throughout the length of the project. 3: Business like management, to be able to keep under control of budgets, schedules, limitations of every fine detail, as well as managing feedback, correcting artists work, making sure it aligns with the styles previous established. Finally 

4: experience, as if all that wasn’t enough to be able to do everything on that list will require vast amounts of experiences and confidence, to correct mistakes to keep to the initial styles and scenes.

External References from:
http://www.blitzgamesstudios.com/blitz_academy/game_dev/company_structure

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/159200430X/ch11lev1sec2?portal=oreilly#X2ludGVybmFsX0h0bWxWaWV3P3htbGlkPTE1OTIwMDQzMHglMkZjaDExbGV2MXNlYzImcXVlcnk9

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131369/keeping_up_with_the_sims_managing_.php?page=2

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2402/day_in_the_life_phillip_bossant_.php

More of an update from the last, I’ve just finished the gladiator project…

I’m really happy with the character, the end result both meets the requirements of the initial brief and looks visual please and actually looks somewhat like a gladiator to boot!

The project as a whole had its ups and downs especially in the last week, trying to finish this as well as staying on top critical and 2D work, which may explain why the next three blogs will be posted in about 24 hours haha.

All in all I think my major flaw in time management, leaving things until a later date just because I can is not a good mind set, I need to drastically alter this and quickly if I want to stay on top on my work and life in general.

Here are some final renders of the gladiator, I actually managed with my horrendous time management to hand paint every texture, giving me a huge feeling of self satisfaction and wondering why I didn’t do it from the start, why the hell did I rely so heavily on photos for texture??

The two major speed bumps in the project were the unwrapping and the rigging.

The unwrap was fairly daunting from the start of the project, the thought of unwrapping a messy organic form just put me off, and it only got worse when the actual time came around. The tutorial on blackboard could only help me so far with it being a PDF so I searched online for videos until I came across this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjqY8i_-Xe0

He managed to clear up everything in 8:00, then I was on my way

It was brilliant :D

With that dealt with I set out texturing which went down no problem, but I fell at the final hurdle in the form of rigging once again it was another language to me, with the tutorial saying to use the physique modifier and everyone in class saying use the skin modifier. Luckily with the help from some friends in the labs within a day I was once again back on track.

All in all I’ve enjoyed the project and am proud of the final outcome, there are some bits I would like to redo and change, but at least I now know the error of my ways.

Elements of Game Design Part 1

Elements of Game Design Part 1

What is gameplay?

I believe that gameplay relates to the way in which the player interacts with a game, excluding factors like graphics and sound, gameplay is more the experience of the game and how the mechanics of the game are set up to create the experience, good or bad, the gameplay can make or break a game no matter how immersive the world or how well written the story, bad or unwise choices in the gameplay and or game mechanics can really ruin the overall game and the enjoyable experience that external factors like the graphics and sound strive to create.

In summary without going into to much detail on the topic delving into different gameplay types, I believe that the term gameplay is meant to signify the experience either individual or communal that player receive while playing a game.

Who are the leading lights in game design?

In my opinion the companies at the top of there field in game design are the ones that consistently produce triple A games that reach worldwide sales, these games become household names for their distinctive design and gameplay. Companies like EA with titles like Sims, Fifa, Crysis, Dead Space and Need For Speed and many more. However companies like this are only one side of the argument from my point of view, these high end businesses are too set in their ways most of the time to create something individual and innovative, too scared by the unknown, will they make a profit on the game? And so settle for much safer options. Although this produces big game titles, it keeps the industry stuck in a circle of repeating the same things over and over with very little change. This is where smaller companies come into their own and rise to the top of the list for game design in my eyes. A recent example is Thatgamecompany’s game ‘Journey’, a much less well known company, the game was released solely for the PS3 journey broke out from the shackles of normality and genre rules and made it’s own, the game focused on immersing the player into the very emotional story and did so immensely well, earning several ‘game of the year’ awards and an incredibly positive overall reception.

To sum it up, I believe that the leading lights in game design really depend on what you class as successful design, be it world popularity due to following the same strict rules and plots, or new out of the box thinking to produce a new experience, writing your own rules almost.

Where does game design take place in the modern developer? Is it a single person’s responsibility?

In a word, no. Game design takes place in a skilled team, where teams of people have there separate responsibilities that are spread out to handle various parts of the game.

The design takes place through out the company itself, many different departments will together to achieve the end result, this team will include designers, artists, programmers and Game Testers all working in unity.

Do different games require different design principles?

In my opinion games of the same genre do not require different design principles, they all require musical scores appropriate to the style, believable visual environments and immersive writing and gameplay.

However games outside the genre do not change the design principles, more alter them to fit, they still require all those elements however they change slightly from a horror to adventure, everything will be altered to match the style and feel of the game, that’s why the music and gameplay style in Dead Space has a distinctive horror and gripping tension feel, where as Journey has a much more relaxed musical score with a much more simplistic approach.

What is important for you when you play?

When I play a game the single most important factor for me in the immersiveness created by the game, and that for be being the sound and plot. I can overlook areas like graphics and gameplay so long as the story and musical score is engaging enough to keep me wanting to play.

Now graphics and gameplay do matter, I do find it fascinating to see how designers want to the player to engage with the characters, environment, but without a gripping story and immersive soundtrack I find it more to be a shell of a game.

External References from:
http://uk.ign.com/top/video-game-makers/1

http://www.joraypublications.com/entertainment/current-top-game-design-companies.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(2012_video_game)#Reception