FMP? FTW!

For this project i would like to design a brief i could possibly look into using for my FMP. Obviously this is a very rough cut and will most likely change along the course of my progression through the year.
I enjoy the 1930s/40s mob Mafia scene as I think it is the most interesting era to present day. I am not doing the future as I want other people to be able to relate to what I am creating.
I want to use this 'noire' period as a core art style on which I can introduce different fictional styles like the introduction of superheroes / steam-punk.

This game will most likely unfold as a 3rd person action adventure featuring environment and logic puzzles and a heavy 'cause and effect' story line. This mainly being a choice based system that will effect future character alliances. In the game you will fight along side a Semi NPC character which will fight and follow you but the player can jump in and take tactical control of their power using both characters in unison during a fight. The side-kick will also assist with puzzles and utilise their own powers for each unique puzzle instance.

The Characters

The main character:

this will be a masked super hero who is very dark and mysterious and doesn't talk but is spoke for through the side-kick. His powers are telekinetic based, being able to throw objects and debris as well as pick up, pull and push objects. As well as these superhero based powers he will come across various weapons and use a slick hand to hand combat against his foes.

Tri count: 12,000

1024x1024 D/N/S

Sidekick:

This will be a NPC that can be somewhat guided by the player in combat and puzzles. They are a smaller more agile character that darts around using their unique teleport ability, they will most likely be female (or animal or even a robot) and will be dressed somewhat similar to the main character.

Tri count: 9,000

1024x1024 D/N/S

Vehicle:

The main character will have a motorbike that fits with the times, when ridden the NPC will dart from building to building behind him keeping up.

Tri count: 15000

1024x1024 D/N/S

Environment:

An inside of a mansion with towering columns and lots of destructible elements with possibly a courtyard aswell.

Tri count: N/A

Scenery:

I will have various scenery including vases, statues, desks, chairs and other household items.

Tri count:2,500

1024x1024D/N/S

Weapons:

The main characters weapons will be duel long pistols,

Tri count:2,000

The NPC weapon will be some kind of melee weapon (if they are humanoid) Retractable batons.

Tri:1,000

1024x1024D/N/S

Software

Concepting:

Photoshop

Pencil and paper

traditional media

Modeling:

3ds Max

Z Brush

XNormal

Level design

UDK

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

:D

These last 3 weeks have been a good time to reflect on semester one, I feel I have really started to push my self and have put a lot of time into studying, coursework and personal practice. Easily 200% on last year so lets hope it shows. :)

I'm feeling really confident in all areas of this course at the moment and although I have room for improvement and I don't feel like my own standard is what it should be (its close, okay). But I'm doing everything I can and I can see from what I started at the start of this summer to now, how steep my learning curve has been.

The work has'nt been too hard over the holidays as I tried my hardest to stay on top of everything. The only things left were some therapeutic models I could sit down and really get into.

Now im just ready for next term and group projects, that i really want to be a part of and i hope we work efficiently as a team and produce something amazing. :D

"most developers will produce early versions of a game that has either placeholder art or simple white, grey or orange"

Well well well, I never knew about that side of the game development process. I would have thought that all the art would have been done first then they would make stuff fit, or at least make a basic mock on paper that they know will work, then do the art then fill it in.

Its really interesting to know even vast great scenes with beautifully designed environments and buildings were not based around the art but the art round them. I remember seeing behind the scenes on games where they had the grid style walls and colourless objects, most memorably in Ratchet and Clank. In the game there was a whole secret 'museum' of behind the scenes artefacts and play test items to play with. However even after seeing these I imagined these were just untextured and simplified for testing and that they were just toggling the art on/off as they worked.

I suppose this is so they can know if puzzles/jumps can be completed etc.

this makes an artists work even more interesting with a new level of problem solving they have to achieve. I love stuff like this and which I knew about it earlier. I cant wait to move on to UDK projects and really get to feel like I'm part of a bigger picture.

As real as it gets

Recently we had a talk from Del Walker and ex student who graduated last year and has recently been snapped up by Blitz games. He came back to tell us all about what it was like making the transition from student to employee of the real deal. He told us how he went about it and the processes he went through to improve himself over the course of the last 3 years telling us what we should expect. It was refreshing hearing it from a real ex student knowing that this was how it really was, we got all the grit on the interviews and some encouraging and inspiring talks about members on his team and how much everybody worked to get to were they were. Del seemed to be really at home already at Blitz and it really got me motivated to achieve what he had. Im hoping we get to hear from other ex 3^rd years who find time to tell us about their experiences.

Compose Compose Compose

composition is quite often looked over and dismissed by art novices who cant really see beyond replicating or throwing together ‘cool’ ideas. In actual fact composition is one of the most important elements to art. Guiding the viewers eye around the work, showing story, meaning and design can all be achieved by the way the work is laid out and composed. From being into art from a young age I have been taught about how pictures can be unbalanced and be ‘heavier’ in parts pulling the viewers gaze into a void of colour, this usually occurs from the lack of or over abundance of subjects in a certain side of the work, and absence for example to the left of the work would pull all the attention away and half the picture, ‘theoretically’ would not be there. One can achieve a good composition by using scenery to carefully boarder and present the focal point of the piece, this of which does not want to be too far from the centre but at the same time hardly ever right in the middle.

Since year one I have tried to achieve exciting composition in all of my pieces, from painting through an archway to using vanishing points to guide the viewer’s attention to where I want it to go.

When working on imaginered work you can use everything you know and see in other work taken from real subjects. Artistic eye is important for seeing what will work best without exact reference, and knowing how things should behave. Work should always be self critiqued and analyzed every step of the way until the final piece is exactly what you wanted, most pictures are not the artists first attempt of the one piece but most likely a final comprised of tests and experiments to see what works best and using their artistic judgment to correct what they see. This is especially important when working in 3d because even when you have the reference it is hard to view exactly what you want to view and it takes a lot of judgement to fill in the gaps left by the 2d references you have at hand, this can be down to logical reasoning or true understanding of the subject both of which should be practiced and incorporated into your work. I have found this useful when doing this years 3D design, especially the self portrait, there are a lot of places you cant see or get a good picture of and it is down to anatomical understanding and judgment that helps fill those spaces and achieve something that looks viable and something you can be proud of.

Blitzzz

The other day we were visited by Jolyon Webb and Aaron Allport who we met in our first year, they returned to give us another talk on the games industry and what we should expect. Just like last time it cleared up a lot of questions and thoughts I had about the industry and has given me a clearer picture on what I want to do once the course has ended. Recently I have been confuse as how I want to take my work with the 2D and 3D aspects but they explained the roles in detail and also what other positions involved and I really clicked to what the industry was asking for. I now feel inspired for the rest of the year now and really want to prove to myself that I’m dedicated to this as much as I love the art.

Its also reassuring that they explained the process of getting into the industry from how to get your foot in the door to the interview process, what to do and what not to do.

For now I’m going to keep expanding my skills and allow myself to fall into an area I feel comfortable and pursue it from there, my mind changed so much last year I’m hoping it settles faster this year.

GameCity

Me and steve visited GameCity in Nottingham last weekend and it was the first time I had been to a proper game convention (after missing Eurogamer Expo), even if it was a small one. The main tent was set up in the square but when we arrived we couldn’t find anything at all and looked around for ages. All we came across was a exercise demo tent showing off every consoles new views on self health and how their games will assist in self fitness, and an EA set up with a few games on that didn’t really show off anything we hadn’t seen before. After consulting the map we went in search of several locations only to find out they were all bars and places to eat and nothing to do with games. We were honestly about to give up when we came across a small café which was hosting a small mini game related to Gamecity, from here we could ask where the hell everything was and how to get to the main events.

From then on things started looking up, we found the live demo for Crysis 2 and managed to beat the que for that followed by talking to some people in the media industry covering the event. At one point we were watching a live game workshop and were invited in after explaining we were on a games course, where we were shown what they were working on.

After a lot of demos and talking we finally went and qued for the main event, the Kinect talk by Rare. It was the first time we had seen the Kinect device first hand and got a good insight into the future of the product from Rares point of view, some live demos and a extensive Q&A session.

To be fair it was a really interesting visit for a small set up and will defiantly be attending next year.