Modeling process

Just a break down of how i modeled Edlyn with some still renders i took from 3ds max:

she isnt finished yet the texturing needs alot more work

High poly character final concept

 After going through diffrent iterations of characters i got an idea from the butterflys i have in my bedroom of a fairy like girl with butterfly wings and this is the final outcome of that:

 The feet are incorrect, they look as if they are broken rather than suspended in flight

 

These are face concepts to help me get a batter feel for her, i also named her Edlyn

 

 These are the final turnarounds to help me in 3dsmax

 This is the design for the embelem that is on the back of her cloak

 Just some notes i wrote around her head to remind me of design staples like the button nose

Wings diagram

Character concepts

For the next module after the concept document we were to design and create two character models based on our year long theme, i decided to start with the higher poly character which was allowed up to 6000 tri's.

i have also now become aware that things in the games industry are not usually measured in poly counts but rather a tri count, which suits me just fine its was just an interesting peice of information i was not aware about untill my tutor told me.

i started this character with some sketches, the majority of which were not taken forward as they didnt go the way i wanted them to, i started quite a few of them by diving straight into the turnarounds which i have now discovered dosent work for me, concept art first to give the character some personalityseems to be my best way of dealing with the situation

i also decided early on these two characters would have a sort of toon art style as it adds some variety to my portfolio as i am doing realistic character models for my honours project.

here are some examples of the failed artworks:

overveiw of the game concept

"The player plays as a judge and juror to the soon to be deceased, deciding the best possible place for them to spend their afterlife peacefully so they don’t return to the living world as vengeful spirits. The player has the ability to enter the subconscious of the soon to be deceased which will manifest itself as an alternate world, each world they enter is completely different and usually revolves around the experiences of the person their personality and how they perceive the world be it depressing and dark or light and optimistic. The player then uses the information they have gained from their journeys within these people’s subconscious to judge them fairly and send them onto an afterlife they will be pleased with. If the player sends the player to the worst possible afterlife, they will fight against the decision and will return to the living world as vengeful spirits."

This is the final overveiw of the game i intend to concept, the game will revolve around a hub area which will be the end of life ward of a hospital, the game will be heavy on art style aswell as being a mature look into how diffrent we are as humans.

this is a quick overveiw of the mechanics of the game:

• ·         The different possibilities that the recently deceased have is all gauged, depending on the level the gauge changes, If the player gets the judgement at the end totally wrong, the spirit will return as a vengeful spirit .
• ·         The player will travel through the different worlds interacting with as much as possible to get the information necessary to send them to the most suitable afterlife for them.
• ·         The player will interact with memories, personality traits and puzzles to unlock information or even unlock a short timed conversation with the person’s subconscious.
• ·         The amount of time in the worlds will be timed and once left cannot be revisited once the person has passed on.
• ·         The player has a notebook that they can revisit either while making a judgement or before for reference of the things they have discovered in that particular world.
• ·         After each judgement the player will receive a score and be able to see how well they judged the deceased.
• ·         The game will revolve around a hub style area in which the player will be able to see who is closer to death as the colour will fade from them over time.
• ·         The game will work in real time so time spent in one subconscious is less time spent in another.
• ·         The player can go from one subconscious to another via the hub area until that particular mind is extinguished or judged.
• ·         Once a judgement is made that subconscious is locked.

it still needs allot of refinement as at the mooment it is ver manic.

backtracked update 2 - concept document

**this blog is a bunch of rambelings to get my ideas down to show my thoguht process**

after the theme was submitted and accepted i was given my first project, this is to create a concept document for a game.

I looked at the origonal ideas i had submitted as ideas in my project plan and wasnt 100% satisfyed after looking back on them. i then began looking into diffrent articles that were relavent at the time and ideals that could be twisted to a whimsical style.

I came to the conclusion of using people as a main focus point for the game, how peoples personalities affect the way they percive reality and the decisions and actions they would take within them, for example:

• a cautious pessimistic individual is more likely to make safe choices but still be dissatisfyed about the outcome because they could probably predetermine said outcome, pessimistic or "glass half full" kinds of people tend to be synical and sceptical to change and are creatures of habit.

• A child on the other hand sees things in a more fantatical kind of way, because they are still so innocent that logical thinking isnt overly apparent yet, their imaginations run wild and allow them to precive everyday things in a more fantastical story book kind of fashion, in which a forest isnt a forest its an adventure filled with monsters, treasure and traps, and where closed bedroom doors and shadows on the wall are the most terrifying things in the world.

I find this kind of really interesting, as humans we have our own ways of looking at the world due to the experiences, belifs and values that we hold, things that can be so personal we dont share them with other people, but they are still apparent through our body langauage and personalities.

For me personaly I precive the world through colours, diffrent colours have diffrent meanings and accociations and can alter my mood and perceptions, for example I have a unexplained dislike of the colour yellow, bright yellow to be exact, and therefore if I dont like certain places due to bad experiences such as Fazakerly Hospital in Liverpool I immediatedly think of the colour Cardamine yellow (primary yellow).

I wanted to concept a game that was more of an experience, a mature game that made the player think about their actions within the game and would give them something to think about after they had made decisions, i wanted it to be about people as i had already stated, but more to do with the poeple within the game, i wanted the player to build up an apethetic emotional response to diffrent characters within the game, be it one of affection, hatred or maybe even sympathy. I really didnt want the player to leave the game feeling indiffrent towards the characters and what they had done to them.

backtracked update

*this post was for progress between 27th september - 4th october*

After deciding on the year long theme, i wrote up a project plan for it, expressing my ideas and reasoning behind the choice of the teme "Whimsical worlds" here is that reasoning:

"Project Aims

I have chosen to base my Games Proposal around the phrase “Whimsical Worlds”, this theme was chosen to force myself out of comfort zone from an artistic point of view, making me learn new ways of looking at styles to make my own more versatile and less ridged. It was also a good opportunity to create different aspects of a game that worked correctly around a theme where nonsense and spontaneity were very apparent. This project theme is more geared towards the feelings the end user will experience while watching or reading something of whimsical value."

I then went on to give examples of ways of applying the theme throughout the four projects that will be undertaken this year, these are just ideas and may not be used:

 

"Professional Game Conception

·         Follow the rabbit - take inspiration from Alice in Wonderland and make the player attempt to follow a white rabbit or something of similar effect through a difficult to navigate forest, in an attempt to reach a goal with items that can be collected along the way.

·         Riddle - have the player follow a set of whimsical riddles to lead them to the next one to reach a goal.

·         Treasure hunt - combine the idea of the riddles with puzzles and have the player decipher clues and puzzles to lead them to an end goal or item, even an exit from a strange land.

Professional Character Conception and 3d Modeling

·         Goblin style humanoid character

·         Haggard old man

·         Witch style woman or girl

·         Concept for death

Professional Level Design

·         A Labyrinth in which the player must solve puzzles to proceed through gates, or the player must collect items or keys to proceed.

·         Creating a treasure style hunt that doesn’t allow the player to skip ahead of the tasks.

Professional Environment Design and 3D Modeling

·         Creating an environment that looks like an illustration without looking too busy allowing the player to decipher the world, think backwater gospel line work.

·         Creating a really colorful world that looks stereotypically fantasy.

·         Making the environment look like a watercolor illustration rather than realistic."