Sunday, 27 November 2011
The Final Concept Piece
Once I had gone through the iterative process of designing the characters and assets, I planned a piece of concept art. Initially, I was going to use Photoshop to create the final piece, but I as my student verification was extremely delayed, I had to begin work on another program. I had used Setchbook Pro before, but decided against using it for the concept piece as its colour and opacity settings didn't work in a way I was used to. Instead, I began work on Gimp. This free software is extremely capable, but on my PC it is extremely buggy. I found that it was constantly crashing, and I was losing as much work as I was doing. I continued with it anyway (saving extremely regularly) but was forced to leave some elements of the picture really quite low in detail, as I was never able to get the tablet sensitivity functions to work properly. I feel that the Concept Piece showed the style of the game, but couldn't quite show the level of detail I wanted. Hopefully, when I get Photoshop up and running, I will be able to post a piece which actually shows the characters expression, and perhaps incorporate a soldier demon into it.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Project 2: Concept Visualisation
After receiving the feedback from the pitch, I began work on the next project, which is to continue with the concept of Feud through an iterative process, to a stage where it is visualised in a way in which I would picture the final game to look. I began with a stage of silhouetting. I felt that as the lead characters were going to be two men in normal dress, and two of the main enemies, the "possessed" and the "crazies" would be basic civilian models, i would not apply this stage to them, and instead began work on the demons. I made one page of silhouette ideas of different kinds of demons, including the demons worked on in my first project.
From this I chose a few different ideas, and began another stage of silhouettes to explore ideas in how each individual demon class would look best. I stuck to the most important demons, that would be most likely to appear in the final game. The first being the soldier demon, then followed by the drowned man demon (who represents a fear of water), the tree man demon (a friend of mine has an interesting fear of tree roots), and then the shadow demon (fear of the dark). I then took the soldier demon to the next stage of design, as I had found a design within the silhouettes that I thought looked suitably eye catching and memorable. I illustrated it to show details such as its size and how it would approximately look in 3d.
I then applied this later stage of development to the two main characters, I made model sheets of the antagonist, including 4 images of what kind of clothes he would wear, and once a costume was decided I created orthographic views of him (side, 3/4 angle front, 3/4 back, front and back). I then went through the same process for the protagonist, and also created some character sheets to show his expressions and poses.
From this I chose a few different ideas, and began another stage of silhouettes to explore ideas in how each individual demon class would look best. I stuck to the most important demons, that would be most likely to appear in the final game. The first being the soldier demon, then followed by the drowned man demon (who represents a fear of water), the tree man demon (a friend of mine has an interesting fear of tree roots), and then the shadow demon (fear of the dark). I then took the soldier demon to the next stage of design, as I had found a design within the silhouettes that I thought looked suitably eye catching and memorable. I illustrated it to show details such as its size and how it would approximately look in 3d.
I then applied this later stage of development to the two main characters, I made model sheets of the antagonist, including 4 images of what kind of clothes he would wear, and once a costume was decided I created orthographic views of him (side, 3/4 angle front, 3/4 back, front and back). I then went through the same process for the protagonist, and also created some character sheets to show his expressions and poses.
The crucifix plays a pivotal role in the game as well, so I went through the process of narrowing down the best Gothic crucifix style.
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Preparing for the Pitch
After coming up with a concept for the games mechanics, story and style, I had to create a 10 minute pitch to my tutors for assessment. For this I would need to find the most important elements of my idea, as 10 minutes is a short time to try and cover all elements of a whole game. The pitch acts as a mock pitch to companies such as publishing companies with the aim to sell the idea, and gain funding for the project. For this pitch I would (very briefly) cover; the games approximate pricing and platform (£5-£8, Onlive/Xbox Live Marketplace), the important elements of the plot (the main characters and most important events), the core mechanics, and the style of the game.
I also had to create a sellsheet. My sellsheet acted as a poster, showing the style of the game and its potential for advertising. I learned after that more information should really have been added to the sheet, as it showed the style of the game quite strongly, and gave a rough idea of genre and target audience through the image itself, but gave no indication of how it would play.
I also had to create a sellsheet. My sellsheet acted as a poster, showing the style of the game and its potential for advertising. I learned after that more information should really have been added to the sheet, as it showed the style of the game quite strongly, and gave a rough idea of genre and target audience through the image itself, but gave no indication of how it would play.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Gameplay And Mechanics
The view would be an approximate isometric angle, similar to Diablo, where the camera would follow 'rails'. The lack of player control over the camera would free up the right thumbstick/mouse for aiming. Assuming the game is played on an Xbox 360, the direction of the right thumbstick would directly correspond to the aiming direction of the protagonist. The left thumbstick would move the protagonist, directly corresponding to the angle of movement on screen, similar to the right thumbstick. If the protagonist is armed with a firearm, the player would aim with the right thumbstick, and right trigger would fire the weapon. Use of the crucifix could be holding the left trigger and aiming with the right thumbstick.
On further brainstorming, I decided to stick with the idea of just the protagonist being cursed with aging. If multiplayer elements were added to the game, it might be essential to add a time limit to both characters though, to balance the gameplay. This would probably require testing to see if this is necessary.
On further brainstorming, I decided to stick with the idea of just the protagonist being cursed with aging. If multiplayer elements were added to the game, it might be essential to add a time limit to both characters though, to balance the gameplay. This would probably require testing to see if this is necessary.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
What I would keep/change
As my project requires me to 'reimagine' the game, keeping the same title, I felt the most important thing to keep would be the 'feud' between two characters. The adaptation I would make on this is rather than have them as powerful sorcerers, I would have them as priests in a modern day (or perhaps 1980's) New York City, one of which has lost faith. They would both be tested by the Devil and BOTH be cursed with aging and told only 1 can survive. I chose this setting because the Catholic Church makes for a widely recognisable religion, and its Churches hold a great deal of reverence. It could also create the opportunity to have Catholic Churches as safe zones, replenishment areas and save points, which could also hide transitions where the last part of the map is deleted from the PC/consoles memory, and the next area is loaded, and therefore avoid loading screens. Churches would greet the protagonist with choir voices, and his timer would not go down while he is inside. The two characters could be brothers, however this is not essential, as the element of family is already created by priesthood.
Another element I would keep would be the general camera. I would make the game entirely 3D, but have a 'from above' camera. This would need to be adapted of course, as the cameras in the original are essentially static, switching from area to area as you explore, and always from exactly the same angle. This was a very effective system at the time, but a modern audience would demand more exciting visuals, which this system would not be able to show. My adaptation would be to put the camera on rails. Most games which have this style of camera are very linear, such as Too Human, and Dante's Inferno. The system I would create is one where there are multiple 'rails' for the camera to follow, and there would be a drift from rail to rail, depending on which path the gamer would choose to go down. This is inspired by specific scenes from 2 separate films; Constantine, where John Constantine is storming the building towards the end of the film, and Silent Hill, where Rose is hiding in the bathroom from the men in hazmat suits. These scenes show what interesting and artistic effects can be created with a following rail camera. The main reason I would like to use this camera angle is because it could free up the right thumbstick/mouse for aiming, without turning the whole screen (similar to gameplay mechanics of Dead Ops Arcade in Black Ops). I am confident the loss of camera control will not take from the enjoyment of the game, as fairly recent games have this style of mechanics and are great fun and highly successful, such as Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.
Having come up with the basic movement, i thought about the rest of the core mechanics. Another reason I chose to make the characters priests was to create a gameplay model that would loosely resemble the original. Rather than combat, the protagonist would run from civilians who are unknowingly enraged by the presence of the antagonist and engage in exorcisms to increase the time he has left. This could get dry and repetitive though, if it is the only form of action to happen within the game. One way to avoid this could be to have a turning point in the game where fully fledged Demons openly spawn (emerge from manhole covers, jump through windows of boarded up buildings) onto the streets. These could be simply killed, either by shooting them, or using the environment, such as traffic or trash can fires. This could liven up the gameplay, as not all enemies could be dealt with in the same way, and Demons would create a break from standard humanoid opponents. This would all have to be set up in a way that is not offensive to the Catholic church. I believe this would be ok, as the player would be rewarded for essentially avoiding deaths, in fact it would be possible to avoid anybody dying in the whole game, assuming the gamer succeeds.
Another element I would keep would be the general camera. I would make the game entirely 3D, but have a 'from above' camera. This would need to be adapted of course, as the cameras in the original are essentially static, switching from area to area as you explore, and always from exactly the same angle. This was a very effective system at the time, but a modern audience would demand more exciting visuals, which this system would not be able to show. My adaptation would be to put the camera on rails. Most games which have this style of camera are very linear, such as Too Human, and Dante's Inferno. The system I would create is one where there are multiple 'rails' for the camera to follow, and there would be a drift from rail to rail, depending on which path the gamer would choose to go down. This is inspired by specific scenes from 2 separate films; Constantine, where John Constantine is storming the building towards the end of the film, and Silent Hill, where Rose is hiding in the bathroom from the men in hazmat suits. These scenes show what interesting and artistic effects can be created with a following rail camera. The main reason I would like to use this camera angle is because it could free up the right thumbstick/mouse for aiming, without turning the whole screen (similar to gameplay mechanics of Dead Ops Arcade in Black Ops). I am confident the loss of camera control will not take from the enjoyment of the game, as fairly recent games have this style of mechanics and are great fun and highly successful, such as Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.
Having come up with the basic movement, i thought about the rest of the core mechanics. Another reason I chose to make the characters priests was to create a gameplay model that would loosely resemble the original. Rather than combat, the protagonist would run from civilians who are unknowingly enraged by the presence of the antagonist and engage in exorcisms to increase the time he has left. This could get dry and repetitive though, if it is the only form of action to happen within the game. One way to avoid this could be to have a turning point in the game where fully fledged Demons openly spawn (emerge from manhole covers, jump through windows of boarded up buildings) onto the streets. These could be simply killed, either by shooting them, or using the environment, such as traffic or trash can fires. This could liven up the gameplay, as not all enemies could be dealt with in the same way, and Demons would create a break from standard humanoid opponents. This would all have to be set up in a way that is not offensive to the Catholic church. I believe this would be ok, as the player would be rewarded for essentially avoiding deaths, in fact it would be possible to avoid anybody dying in the whole game, assuming the gamer succeeds.
Feud (1987)
The original game has a relatively simple story. Two twins (Learic and Leanoric) are powerful sorcerers. Leanoric (antagonist) casts a curse of aging on Learic (protagonist), giving him, or the player, only a day to defeat his brother before he dies. To defeat his twin, Learic must collect items and ingretients for his spells to use against Leanoric.
Feud's gameplay was interesting for several reasons. As the main essence of the game was not based around combat, there was an element of tension as there was 1 enemy to avoid, as he is too powerful to defeat.
The general movement and display of the game is interesting aswell, as although the game was entirely 2 dimensional, it had an illusion of 3 dimensional games, as it had a kindof isometric view, similar to that of the adventure RPG game Diablo, and early RTS games such as Warcraft and Age Of Empires.
Feud's gameplay was interesting for several reasons. As the main essence of the game was not based around combat, there was an element of tension as there was 1 enemy to avoid, as he is too powerful to defeat.
The general movement and display of the game is interesting aswell, as although the game was entirely 2 dimensional, it had an illusion of 3 dimensional games, as it had a kindof isometric view, similar to that of the adventure RPG game Diablo, and early RTS games such as Warcraft and Age Of Empires.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Introduction
The objective of this project is to create a Game Design Documen, suitable for presentation to publishers, financiers and developers.
I will have to re-imagine an existing Intellectual Property (IP) to meet the demands of a modern audience. I will then have to prepare this in the form of a pitch to my tutors.
I will have to cover all elements of the game in my pitch, including narrative, prototype artwork, core mechanics, and even research into proposed audience, platform, and marketing.
The existing IP I was selected to have was Feud (1987). Feud was released for the Atari 8bit era consoles, it was entirely 2 dimensional and had a relatively simple narative.
Bibliography (Images and information)
Feud, (1987) UK, Binary Design, Mastertronic
Diablo, (1996) USA, Blizzard
Warcraft, (1994) USA, Blizzard
Age Of Empires, (1997) USA Ensemble Studios, Big Huge Games, , Robot Entertainment
Constantine, (2005) USA, Francis Lawrence
Silent Hill, (2006) USA, Christophe Gans
Call Of Duty: Black Ops, (2010) USA, Treyarch, Activision
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, (2010) USA, Blizzard
Diablo III, (2012) USA, Blizzard
Xbox, (2001) USA, Microsoft
OnLive, (2011), Onlive
Dead Rising 2: Case West, (2010) Japan, USA, Capcom
Limbo, (2010) Denmark, Playdead, Microsoft Games Studios
Photoshop, Adobe
Sketchbook Pro, Autodesk
Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud_%28video_game%29
http://weddingsevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/st-patricks.jpg
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7300000/NYC-St-Pratick-s-Church-new-york-7336609-1920-2560.jpg
http://www.globalgraphica.com/category/chinatown-nyc/
I will have to re-imagine an existing Intellectual Property (IP) to meet the demands of a modern audience. I will then have to prepare this in the form of a pitch to my tutors.
I will have to cover all elements of the game in my pitch, including narrative, prototype artwork, core mechanics, and even research into proposed audience, platform, and marketing.
The existing IP I was selected to have was Feud (1987). Feud was released for the Atari 8bit era consoles, it was entirely 2 dimensional and had a relatively simple narative.
Bibliography (Images and information)
Feud, (1987) UK, Binary Design, Mastertronic
Diablo, (1996) USA, Blizzard
Warcraft, (1994) USA, Blizzard
Age Of Empires, (1997) USA Ensemble Studios, Big Huge Games, , Robot Entertainment
Constantine, (2005) USA, Francis Lawrence
Silent Hill, (2006) USA, Christophe Gans
Call Of Duty: Black Ops, (2010) USA, Treyarch, Activision
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, (2010) USA, Blizzard
Diablo III, (2012) USA, Blizzard
Xbox, (2001) USA, Microsoft
OnLive, (2011), Onlive
Dead Rising 2: Case West, (2010) Japan, USA, Capcom
Limbo, (2010) Denmark, Playdead, Microsoft Games Studios
Photoshop, Adobe
Sketchbook Pro, Autodesk
Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud_%28video_game%29
http://weddingsevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/st-patricks.jpg
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7300000/NYC-St-Pratick-s-Church-new-york-7336609-1920-2560.jpg
http://www.globalgraphica.com/category/chinatown-nyc/
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