Generation of Ideas - Fantasy Fighter

My first concept for an idea on my personal project was to develop a fantasy based fighter around a mythological theme. So I first looked at the obvious types:

• ·         Greek Mythology
• ·         Zodiac (different types)
• ·         Roman Legends

With the idea of being a Character Developer and looking at all the appropriate fields such as art and story, I was going to develop a hand book with all characters explained and informed in, different pictorial evidence of them from perspective shots, turnarounds, emotion etc, back story with links to other characters, clothes design and weapon design.

Using the Zodiac as my final idea for the basis of this project, I was going to base each character around a star sign and then an extra 4 around the elements, which 4 star signs are grouped into. Each characteristic of the character, the feel to them and overall look of hem would be made with the thought of zodiac in mind.

After talking with Mark and showing my project to him, he informed me that the area of fantasy I'm delving into is it a bit too easy and not setting myself up much of a challenge. Also instead of developing with final pieces of character design, due to my need of improvement in traditional & digital art, we thought of making:

• ·         Book containing my progress through the year of tests I've done with art styles and how I've developed them myself
• ·         5 (or more) final pieces which demonstrate my skills I've learnt over the year and  showing them in some perfectly finished pieces.

With this in mind, as I still wanted to do something with the fantasy theme in mind, instead of starting from scratch and basing my whole idea of imagination, by suggestion, I was to look into more obscure religions, myths and legends and demonstrate a theme of work through this. Some ideas:

• ·         Mesopotamian
• ·         Charity of the Gods
• ·         Hyperborean

From here, I'm going to research these and find any other obscure myths and legends and develop a project which could use both story and art together to build up my confidence in these areas of game design. Creatures, important people & references, plants and objects, using references from these areas to develop my own interpretations of the being and also any back-story if relevant to the being.

3D Skip 1st Project

For the first day back into modelling, we re-capped our first year at this time and created a skip. The only difference this time being that there were to be textures added as well, painted on.

I was pleasantly surprised myself that even though I was still rough around edges and needed assistance, I found the task not very hard and could understand the steps Ken was teaching me and that I was doing.

Showing my my skip:

Half impressed. While I think that the skip model isn't too bad, I appreciate the fact that I could do more to make it more crisp. But as this was design to be low-poly, I think this is appropriate.

When it comes to the texturing, as this was the first time, even after last year's project, of hand painting textures, i found it pretty easy to pick up and start. I do think I could of done it better but from this simple model, i've learnt 3 things which I will take into account the next time I paint textures.

1. When creating the UV map, really take into account the size of what each individual part is
2.  Always count the green lines that appear in Photoshop as part of the specific piece
3. For more realism, each individual part could be developed instead of overlapping the sections like I did

Overall, I think i've learnt quite a bit of the basics for the texturing process of model creation. From this i've learnt certain key areas which i'll pay attention to on the next model, when I create and then texture by digital painting.

Idea Generation

Generation of Ideas - Fantasy Fighter 

My first concept for an idea on my personal project was to develop a fantasy based fighter around a mythological theme. So I first looked at the obvious types:

• ·         Greek Mythology
• ·         Zodiac (different types)
• ·         Roman Legends

With the idea of being a Character Developer and looking at all the appropriate fields such as art and story, I was going to develop a hand book with all characters explained and informed in, different pictorial evidence of them from perspective shots, turnarounds, emotion etc, back story with links to other characters, clothes design and weapon design.

Using the Zodiac as my final idea for the basis of this project, I was going to base each character around a star sign and then an extra 4 around the elements, which 4 star signs are grouped into. Each characteristic of the character, the feel to them and overall look of hem would be made with the thought of zodiac in mind.

After talking with Mark and showing my project to him, he informed me that the area of fantasy I'm delving into is it a bit too easy and not setting myself up much of a challenge. Also instead of developing with final pieces of character design, due to my need of improvement in traditional & digital art, we thought of making:

• ·         Book containing my progress through the year of tests I've done with art styles and how I've developed them myself
• ·         5 (or more) final pieces which demonstrate my skills I've learnt over the year and  showing them in some perfectly finished pieces.

With this in mind, as I still wanted to do something with the fantasy theme in mind, instead of starting from scratch and basing my whole idea of imagination, by suggestion, I was to look into more obscure religions, myths and legends and demonstrate a theme of work through this. Some ideas:

• ·         Mesopotamian
• ·         Charity of the Gods
• ·         Hyperborean

From here, I'm going to research these and find any other obscure myths and legends and develop a project which could use both story and art together to build up my confidence in these areas of game design. Creatures, important people & references, plants and objects, using references from these areas to develop my own interpretations of the being and also any back-story if relevant to the being.

PDP3 - Skills/ Weaknesses/ Improvement Areas

Skills:

- Knowledge of Genres (read variety of books)

- Story Development (characters and overall subject)

- Medium Traditional Drawing Skill and anatomical knowledge

- Software Understanding (Photoshop/Vegas)

- Individual and Team Based Worker

- Can follow direction

Weaknesses:

- Deeper understanding of digital art on Photoshop

- More extensive knowledge on art styles, drawing techniques and anatomy

- Be able to use a 3D Software for different areas in Games

- Knowledge of a Level Design Software

- Refine my verbal and written communicative skills

- Confidence. (More assertive and stepping up to roles)

Area Improvements:

- Knowledge of specific areas in Digital Rendering and perfecting my own artistic style. Developing my own style shall serve as a basis to develop and learn other contemporary styles used in the industry.

- Strongly confident on my traditional and digital drawing skills in different styles. While i've been working on my traditional art skills, I want to bring them into a digital format and perfect them both to industry standard.

- Be able to use to a semi-professional standard apiece of 3D software. With not very much knowledge in this particular field, i'd like to develop my understanding of 3D creation.

- Be majorly confident in my anatomical knowledge and be able to place it to paper. Anatomy always being an issue, depending on the style, i want to try and understand anatomy much more and how I can transfer that to paper.

- Refinement of my verbal skills for presentations and written skills for written coursework. Clearer voice, better body language, proof reading and more intelligent words boosting up these skill areas.

Bad Design Work

Product Name: Wild Fire Poster Design

Developer(s): Curtis Elam

This particular poster design I decided was an example of bad design as in my personal opinion, it misses some of the vital areas in its design to create the visuals needed to attract the intended audience. It hits the important basics but doesn't extend further than that to make it individual and more unique.

The main factors and elements that I will explain further in detail are what I thought really needed improvement as they don't blend well together on the piece to make the poster suits its advertisement purpose.

Firstly, the font and the font colour used for the poster really doesn't suit the purpose intended. Especially the colour. The colour doesn't have great contrast from the rest of the picture so the eye isn't brought to that certain element of the poster. Using the same tone and spectrum of colours; eventhough I think sticking to a selection of colours is correct as it doesn't make images ugly if a wide variety are used, using the same shade for foreground and  background can make them blend into each other. When the piece is there to stand out and catch attention, having the element like this really doesn't fit with its original purpose of advertising itself.

Secondly, the use of filters for both of the images used to make the picture blend don't work. Adapting the image so it looks like the trees are shooting up towards the blacked out soldiers. Using fire based colours to suit theme of the documentary, the use of yellow has been over-used and make the photo blending look hazy and not pretty to look at. Adding the filters, the colour contrast from black to yellow is too much and while, when advertising you want to catch the viewer's eye, sometimes being too bold can really make people turn their attention away from the poster.

Finally, to improve the composed poster, I would say adding more imagery or blending the pictures more effectively with each other could give it more of an sufficient design. The pictures don't have an interesting design to it as there just stacked on top of each other with filters and adjustments making the contrast between them less obvious. Adding more related imagery and more blending filters to make it more interesting and attractive to the eye. Overall, adding more design elements to the picture and blending the imagery or adding more imagery could overall change the effectiveness of the piece.

To conclude, overall the design aspects of the poster really don't complement each other well and overall ruins the effectiveness of its design purpose and doesn't amplify the effect it's been created for. By adjusting colour contrasts and using the images more effectively, the overall design of the poster would be more suited for the purpose its intended for. Using really ineffective filters that doesn't blend the imagery well making the composition ineffective for the use it's been created for. By adapting the changes that I've mentioned, I think the design of the piece would be more suited to it's intention.

Good Design Work

Product Name: The Hunger Games Poster

Developer(s): Ignition

This poster which was designed for the recent release of multi-billion pound film, "The Hunger Games". The hunger Games was based on the first of the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. As the film was already set to have strong fan base due to fans who have read the books, the film was well liked by both the readers and the non-readers of the series.

I personally do think that this poster is a good example of design as it really catches someone's attention due to various factors. From the colour, to important information, to design and overall concept, the poster has been intricately created to persuade people across the world to watch the film on various media displays.

Firstly, the colour choices made for the poster are elements which catches a person's attention when viewing the poster. With fire being a main aspect of The Hunger Games as the main character was meant to be "The Girl on fire". Using reds, oranges, yellows, browns, silvers and blacks, the poster contrast well against every element making it visually gorgeous and due to that reason, it is a good piece of design as it advertises it's product well to the audience intended.

Secondly, the information displayed on the poser is sufficient for what must be displayed on this area of advertisement. Being a poser and not many people will stop and stare at it for more than 10 to 15 seconds, by providing the viewer with the film title, day of release, a catchy slogan and name of director/producer, it can really seduce a viewer to watch it. This pacific poster in my perspective has done this well as you can see the writing in bold letters; telling a viewer the important information without having to focus on the picture for too long.

Finally, how the poster is designed and how the message is conveyed through it is vital. If designed incorrectly,  the attractiveness of the poser can reduce significantly,  giving the audience no reason to go see the film. By creating a good layout, creation of rich imagery and a well accustomed font type and shape, a company can show the audience they intend to attract their product. In this particular model, I do think that the placement of the release date below the important names was a bad layout decision but the other elements complement each other well in there positions on the poster. Using the slogan at the top makes you want to read the page down for much longer as a viewer becomes interested on what the slogan represents in this film.

Overall, apart from the use of element in the overall layout, I do think that the design of this poster was done effectively and serves the purpose it was intended for. Through the 3 factors that I've talked about, all the individual elements and certain characteristics of them fit together on the piece of graphic design advertising the film effectively on paper.

Evaluation of Paper Prototyping

In the previous lesson, I and my assigned group (Joe G, Alan T, Sean B & Josh M) had to create a board game so we could learn the process of prototyping which is a paper based evaluating technique to find flaws and faults in game levels and design in both traditional and digital based games.

We had mainly 3 set rules to abide by when developing ideas for development. These were:

• ·         Must use a dice or coin toss in some form.
• ·         A Turn Based 2 Player Game
• ·         Able to complete in 15 minutes maximum
• ·         Game-play to occur on a specified surface

With them pre-requisites, we used an idea generation technique, "Random Word Generation". Using "CHICKENS" as our theme, we developed ideas from there and finalised with basis of the common joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?".

Playing as a chicken and the set board being a dual carriageway which you need to cross. With one player on either side, you race each other to cross the board. With a board of 15 tiles to 60 tiles, with one dice you have to cross the board.

The mechanic of the game is that at the beginning you are dealt with 5 cards from a deck of 40. These cards contain boosts and obstacles to hinder your enemy and help yourself. The obstacles are played before your dice roll (only one at a time) and can be placed in any place on the board apart from an area called the safe area. The obstacles either have certain conditions which are changeable through dice roll chance or block a space in the game which becomes  inaccessible to cross when placed in the tiles

The variety or cards include:

• ·         Traffic Cone
• ·         Barricade (3 Types)
• ·         Traffic Jam
• ·         Oil Slick
• ·         Citizen Help
• ·         Chicken Flight
• ·         Truck Smash

Using these the players can hinder the enemy player and help themselves cross the board. A game about chancing strategy, you must strategize well about the pieces placed on the board and it could be you go into your own obstacle when you get to the other side of the board.

With both the cards being important along with certain symmetrical tiles on the board which can influence the flow of the game, a player was meant to think ahead  and strategize a path for him to cross the board and reach the other side first.

After prototyping the game, a few elements were seen that would need changing or adapting better. These were:

• ·       The size of the board was too big. There was too much space to cross the board and with only 2 players, this was important. As we had a shortened down version of the board, maybe this was the reason, but from the test we decided as a team that this would probably need changing.
• ·        Adapting the dice roll better. The integration of dice could of been simpler and easier to understand.
• ·         Depending on if the playing board was decreased, maybe 1 more card because there wasn't a lot of variety.
• ·         More unique tile spaces on the board. On the board there was tiles such as pick up a new card and potholes which would cause different effects. These were hardly used on the board and hard to get to so if going back and developing the game, this would need to increase to make them more obvious for use.

      

Overall I could personally understand the importance of what paper prototyping does. Making me see unforeseen errors in the game which I couldn't of predicted. Errors which in both traditional and digital formats, could make or break the game when given to the audience.  I can especially see it being important to use when coming to level design; as you can a paper version of the level and see any points of unfairness, irregularities & possible glitches. Due to that fact, I would try and concept this prototyping test method before I try anything digital when it comes to developing levels and any design mechanics