Development: Environments

Chinese Medicine Store
I’ve blocked in some building placeholders for a street mockup and will consider whether to model the chinese medicine store, the street outside it, or both.

Taiji Maru 3
(to be added)

 

Development: Main Characters – Zhang and Van Buren

Zhang Lian (main character)
Here’s my character model development and associated feature items that I’ve built/created/modelled for Zhang. I’m also attaching her updated profile.

Additional backstory development for Zhang:
From years of research and experimentation with tiger bone products, Zhang has recently perfected a potent tonic which gives her super-human speed for a short period of time. She has told no one of her discovery, keeping her receipe a closely guarded secret. Although sourcing tiger products is getting more difficult due to rarity and the expense, Zhang can’t see herself stopping anytime soon. Zhang keeps a small supply of her tiger tonic in a medicine gourd which she consumes before a fight (much like Asterix).

Reference: Tiger bone article

Tomas Van Buren (main character)
Here’s my character model development and associated feature items that I’ve built/created/modelled for Van Buren. Here’s his updated profile as well.

 

Research: Modelling

ZBrush Tutorials
I will try and use this feature of ZB4 with Maya. ZBrush 3.5 didn’t have this feature as they were developing it for ZB4. Here’s a tute showing it working in ZB4 but for use in 3DS Max.

Modelling Techniques
The modelled heads below were variations created from the single male and female low poly base meshes on the left. After talking to Tanya and Scott Spencer, I’ve decided to use the same technique to quickly generate my 10 different characters that I will model (4 fully-modelled bodies, 6 half-body torso’s).

Nicholas Collings

Character Poses
Dynamic Figure Poses – “Being able to draw figures which get emotion across with their body is the most important thing” – David Finch.

Sketches of my characters in poses which convey emotion.
(to be completed after Interim presentation)

 

Research: Game Interface Design

Gamepad Controller Usage
I want to use a gamepad controller to navigate through my game menu choices as this will simulate an actual “playstation” type game menu that I’m designing my game for. I used the youtube video below to install and operate a playstation 3 controller on my pc running windows xp.

Gameplay
Here is an example of a traditional fighting game interface with 2D characters and 2D environment. Fighting/combat is restricted to movement along a 2D plane.

Recent game mimicing the traditional “characters moving along a 2D plane” even though the environment and characters are 3D.

The latest version of Mortal Kombat (series no.9) reviewed at E3 (2010). The creator, Ed Boon has taken all the best parts of the previous 8 versions and incorporated them into an authentic, high quality, fast-paced masterpiece.

Character Selection Screens
Some examples

Character (In game) Bios

 

Research: Environments

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)

 

Research: Main Characters

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)

 

Research: Game Aesthetic

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.

 

Planning: Showreel

Shot List
Here’s my draft camera shot list for my storyboard for my 3D modelling showreel pitching a video game demo.

Shotlist for storyboard

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

 

Planning: Narrative, Characters and Environments

Video Game Title
I researched titles of fighting genre video games currently on the market. I found the following:

– Many of the games had one or two word titles, eg. Karate Champ, Soul Calibur, Tekken, Shogun Warriors
– 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.

Characters

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.

Environments

Here’s my concept drawings for my environments
(to be added)

 

Research Project: Updated Design Brief and Timeline

Having refined my Research Project scope and clarified my objectives, I have updated my Design Brief and Timeline.

Design Brief – Refined Final

RobTimelineFinal