General Environment Research
(to be added)
Chinese Medicine Store
Taiji Maru 3
Wildlife Reserve
(to be completed after Interim presentation if I decide to do 3 environments)
May 2010
Monthly Archive
May 31, 2010
May 31, 2010
General Research
My supervisor Tanya suggested that I look at short snippet character intros. Two character intros from the Borderlands video game. The narration is the same but the character intros are told in very different ways using different storytelling techniques.
Zhang Lian (main character)
Here’s some images of clothing, hair, bracelet, swords, medicine gourd etc which I used as reference material in the development of Zhang Lian (Chinese Herbalist).
Wambua Odayo (main character)
Dressed in military camo colours, wearing either a ranger-style floppy hat or beret and armed with a semi-automatic rifle. The rangers also use jeeps to cover large distances or to transport the dead remains of poached game or captured poachers.
Tomas Van Buren (main character)
I want this character to be big, brutish and have an anger management problem. I am modelling Tomas on a para-military/mercenary soldier/special forces type character.
Here’s some links to his military background and the endangered species his wife was protecting.
Maritime Special Operations Forces (MARSOF) are part of the Netherlands Marine Corps
Rhino poaching in South Africa
Northern White Rhino pushed toward extinction
Northern White Rhino Info on IFAW
International Rhino Foundation
White Rhino Conservation Project
Jun Tanaka (main character)
May 31, 2010
My chosen aesthetic
After researching the aesthetic of fighting games from the ’80’s to the present, I conclude that many of these types of games:
– use non-realistic character and environment portrayal (often either anime or comicbook styled)
– have a rich and vibrant colour palette
Other Aesthetics
I looked into other various aesthetic treatments as well, such as Anime, Semi-realistic, Fantasy. I may draw on elements of these in my game aesthetic although I’m trying to avoiding mixing and matching in case I confuse the target audience. Some examples follow.
May 31, 2010
Shot List
Here’s my draft camera shot list for my storyboard for my 3D modelling showreel pitching a video game demo.
Storyboard
Here’s my storyboard for my 3D modelling showreel pitching a video game demo (wireframe menus, game interface layout, camera shot sketches etc).
(to be added)
Research for Shotlist and Storyboard
Here’s some materials I drew on in preparing my shotlist and storyboard.
Camera angles
From looking at the screen captures below, I’ve worked out that their are about 4 – 5 different camera angles used in the one environment. I am considering using this technique for my showreel.
Character Vs Character
Character Profiling
May 31, 2010
Video Game Title
I researched titles of fighting genre video games currently on the market. I found the following:
– Many of the games had a by line under the title (especially if the game had multiple versions in a series), eg. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Budokan: The Martial Spirit, Darkstalkers – The Night Warriors
– Many of the games had a fighting or action reference, eg. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Virtua Fighter
I also researched other video game titles including first person shooters, sandbox-styled games, serious games etc. During this process I decided that I wanted a title which reflected the social issue being presented in my game.
I came up with the working title “Endangered” because it reflects my social issue (endangered species), it’s a punchy one-word title and it has a connection to the concept of dying/mortality/combat that suggests it’s a fighting game.
I researched whether there were any video games on the market with this title. I only found “Zoo Tycoon 2” which has an expansion pack called “Endangered Species“.
Video Game Narrative
Here is the basic narrative for my video game.
Narrative
Game Character Brainstorming
Here’s my initial brainstorming on my characters based on indepth research into authentic names, physical appearance, attire and possessions, historic and geographic references and martial art styles. My characters’ profiles may change as I move into detailed Research, Development and Production.
Here’s my concept drawings for some of my characters.
(to be added)
I found the following videos useful when I was writing my characters’ backstories.
Game Environment Planning
Tanya and I agreed that my modelling showreel should include 4 highly detailed modelled characters, 2 of which will appear in their highly detailed “home” environments. The other 2 highly detailed modelled characters will appear in their rivals home environments. The other 6 characters in my game will appear only as waist-high 3/4 profiled models. Here’s my initial planning on which characters will be highly detailed and appear in their home environments.
Here’s my concept drawings for my environments
(to be added)
May 25, 2010
Research Project: Updated Design Brief and Timeline
Posted by brobeee under Research ProjectLeave a Comment
Having refined my Research Project scope and clarified my objectives, I have updated my Design Brief and Timeline.
May 25, 2010
I reflected on my 222.453 VCD Research design brief (see page 16 of my Working Paper http://brobeee.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/working-paper-final-revised.pdf) and further refined the scope and clarified the objectives of my Research Project. My conclusions follow:
Audience
My target audience:
– already enjoys playing “video” or console games and interested in technology (computers, social networking, cellphones, tech toys), entertainment and traditional media (movies, music, television, science fiction, fantasy, comics and anime)
– is not overly interested in current affairs but open to learning about social or political issues if the information is presented in a way which they don’t have to go out of their way to access it
Game Genre
My game genre:
– will be semi-realistic, with character anatomy modeled with “hero” proportions
– will have a stylized anime aesthetic
– will have a global focus – each character will represent a country or group’s political views on the issue of endangered species
Game Play
My game play will:
– have a tournament-based fighting structure
– have only one operational game mode with two methods of game play (Versus mode – Player Vs Player or Player Vs CPU)
– provide for a team of characters from one side (promoting resource conservation) to fight against an opposing side (promoting resource use) – Note: game play does not allow bouts between characters from the same side
– provide for characters to compete individually – one on one – in a bout where the winner is the first to win three rounds
Narrative
My game narrative will:
– be set in the near future, with some fantastical elements but be reasonably believable
– have embedded messages about endangered species
Characters and Environment
My game characters will:
– possess unique and distinctive martial arts skills
– be divided into 2 teams of 5
– include 4 to 6 characters completed in detail (with developed back stories) and 2 to 3 fully rendered environments (which aid in narrating selected character profiles)
– the remainder of characters will be 3D modelled head or half-body 3/4 profiles (without supporting environments)
My tournament environments will:
– show the ‘Player 1’ character (selected by a human player) matched up against the ‘Player 2’ character (selected by a second human player) in a tournament-styled environment
– the tournament-styled environment will be the “home” environment of either player 1’s character or player 2’s character
Game Mechanics
May 19, 2010
The aim of 222.454 Research Project is to produce a final design solution to the research initiated in 222.453 VCD Research in the first half of this year (see my blog http://brobeee.wordpress.com/ for my 222.453 research).
My final design solution will be a 3D modelling showreel which will pitch a video game demo, in the fighting game genre, addressing the issue of endangered species. The working title of the video game is “Endangered”.
Research Project "Endangered" 