Role Meets Alpha.

So it's been over two weeks since my last (game dev) blog post, and there's much to report.

Where I left off:

- Approaching Alpha
- Compromised level design implemented.
- Asset Designs

Approaching Alpha. 

We managed to hit our Alpha target which was great. I'm really happy with what we managed to get done, and with this in mind, I feel confident that we can deliver something we can stand by.

Promotional Composition

So the above image is something I put together quickly to demonstrate  the games' ethos in one image for reference/presentations etc. 

Below you can see a quick screen recording I took of our Alpha. As it is Alpha gameplay footage, the animations and assets in general are still to be refined. There's merely "Something" there for every asset we will have in beta. By beta the game will play and appear much stronger. Also a lot of the assets are slightly out of position, which may cause the footage to be slightly confusing first time round. 

Final Boat Asset.

Compromised Level Design Implemented.

I don't think I generally need to go into this part of the development, but I'll say a bit about it anyway because I love the theory behind it.

Below is the template of the level we had to quickly devise the other week. I'm no expert level designer, but I'm quite delighted at how it turned out. 

We decided to blend the game's tutorial into the beginning of the level. Because we've been going for the whole simplistic/expressive approach throughout, it made sense not to clutter the game with words and diagrams. Afterwards, the player is introduced to the cause and effect nature which is where we had originally hoped the level design would evolve around.

The Level Template I worked from.

Step One: "Tap the screen to begin". The player taps and straight away they're aware that this is your input.

Step Two: You are halted by a barrier in the form of a bolt. The player taps again - the moon rolls on, and the player recognises the ability to alter the environment, not the moon. In addition, there seems to be a lantern hovering just above this bolt. Hmm.

Step Three: The player again taps to be moved up the lift and is then thrown onto a pulley system by a windmill, and the cause and effect notion is first witnessed. The player sees an object propelled across the screen. If the player taps then two lanterns float up into the sky. If these are released at the correct times the player can take them out, gaining a score of 10 for each one. Ah, the lantern at the beginning makes sense now.

Step Four:  The ending to the level is something I really think turned our great (with regards to gameplay). At the moment the art for it really sucks, but bear with me - it's just alpha*.

So at the end of the level the moon is rolling along in the grass, and there appears to be nothing in sight.

And then you drop into a ditch.

This mechanism I feel is our biggest nod to Limbo. You re-spawn a short distance back, immediately. So the player knows they have to do something between this point and the ditch. So they tap again. They might tap straight away, at which point the spring comes to light, and it becomes clear how to get over the ditch.

And then you fly under the firework display into (currently) oblivion. There will be a layer of trees at this section and the player will be re-spawned at the same point as the ditch death.

You then need to tap again, and eventually the player figured out that you have to tap to spring the moon at the right time, to land in the firework display, to then tap again at the right time to set off the firework and tow the moon into the sky, thus completing the level as the moon transforms into the sun and turns the night into day. The players' score is then displayed.

I feel this final mechanism works well as a final challenge as it allows us to demonstrate the idea of time as a crucial skill element in the game, and in terms of difficulty is by far the most difficult task in our little level.

Thanks,

*For Alpha the quality of the art was no important. we merely need to be certain it could be programmed in to the game. The actual artwork can begin to be implemented now.

Modelling with a low budget.

Having done several concept development sheets for this module, I decided to begin some low-poly modelling practice.

I decided to do one of the Digital Tutors 3D tutorials focused on modelling with a low budget. The tutorial ties in nicely to my PDP as the reference image is rather stylised:

Not my work.

In the lesson the artist is not supplied with a model sheet.

Instead he uses basic model sheets which aren't directly from the character, and only uses these to directly reference the early stages.

After that it's all about looking to the concept art, and throwing in your own creative nuances to define/flesh out the model. Ultimately however, the final model stays relatively true to the original concept.

Early propotions

Beginning to refine.

Current State

When creating models at a low budget it's crucial to consider if something can just be normal mapped instead of modeled in. The tutorial drew at attention to the idea that if the strength of the silhouette of the character is affected by leaving out extra polys, then it makes sense to model them in. This was the reasoning behind the armor topology you can see around the torso of the model. From the side angle the armor, even when mapped would seem strange.

I'm going to continue working through this tutorial (it's taking me longer than I would like to work through than I would like) and try and become more efficient in my modelling. After all, one of the core interests of this project for me was to scrutinize sketching in 3D. And if I'm taking too long then it defeats the purpose. In the meantime, I'm also going to experiment with the costume design of my child/adult character and consider the modelling restrictions of the costumes, allow the concept art to fuel the ideas for cyclic animations for Lynn's module, and begin a high quality piece of concept art for the adult version of the character in a dynamic pose.

Bye for now :)

Motion Studies.

Below are some motion studies for the adult version of my character (who you can see again here). 

The adult version of the character was designed with an agile, confident figure in mind. And as such I've attempted to capture and emphasize that nature in these studies. 

I'm pleased with the way the bottom action sequence turned out. I tried to make the poses as dynamic as possible. I wanted the contours of the character to follow the line of motion as tightly as possible, and I feel that that really highlights the fluidity of the characters' actions. 

In the other sketches I've attempted to cover as many animation principles as possible (anticipation, solid drawing/weight, arc, follow through).

 I think the next thing I'm going to do is some animation tests for this personality with a suitable rig. And also some motion studies for the child version of the character. 

Creating Cyclic Animations for Video Games.

So I wasn't able to complete my 11 second club submission. Very depressing.

My terrible time management skills are mainly to blame for this. I really need to establish some sort of timetable for working on each module, because I'm finding that by meandering between modules on a whim I'm often left spending too much time on certain areas.

But anyway, back to animation.

As I think I mentioned before this coursework is focused on creating cyclic animations for video games, and as such the animations should pertain to ones you would expect to see in games, and should be realised through an appropriate video game character rig.

Now, the other week I had my first mo-cap session. Mo-cap is something that has interested me since the VFX trip to London I went on back in 2012. Then recently, I attended a talk by Jonathan Cooper, the lead animator on Assassin's Creed 3.

The talk was titled "Animating the 3rd Assassin" and in it he detailed his mo-cap & animation process for the Assassin. The quality of animation that can be achieved blew my mind. Johnathon explained the process, which involves skilled actors and state of the art suites, and how he directs the mo-cap process, applies it to a mesh, and then tweaks and refines the data it to create one awesomely animated character.

Towards the end of the motion capture session I was allowed to direct a dying animation - which I really enjoyed. And the almost-immediate feedback you receive with mo-cap really lets you iterate like crazy.

I'd like to book out the motion capture suite sometime soon, but before I do that, and this was heavily pointed out, I need to meticulously plan everything. Just as a producer for a game of film considers time and budget, it's great to get into this mode of thinking and practicing professionally.

In class we were shown Johnathon's showreel, which included a walk, a sneak, a run, and a breathtakingly impressive quasi-free-running sequence.

This array of animation really makes sense for the Assassin.

That's what I feel made the showreel really pop. The animations are so strongly rooted in the context and personality of the character.

So, to begin an interesting workflow, and also allow me to use my time as cleverly as possible, I'm going to be tying in this animation module with my Low Poly Modelling class.

I've never actually done this before, although it's often suggested. So I guess I'm quite excited about, because it means I'll be more focused on mutual assets, which I reckon can only be a good thing. Quality over quantity and all that.

So yeah, the reasoning for tying these modules.

Well, for Ken's module I'm interested in the translation of both the transition of stylised concept art to 3D, and also the way in which a characters' adult character model compares to the child counterpart. I think this leaves a nice scope to take the 3D model of the child and the adult and use cyclic animation to convey their individual personalities. It would also provide a good chance to provide context to the characters animations. I think using the characters' back-stories, which would be devised in LPM through the concept art, will provide interesting situations which can in turn be animated for this module. Hopefully I'll get around to re-wording this as I feel I might be rambling or perhaps unclear.

I guess for rigging I'll need to look into using Mixamo or something similar to get the rig. If not, i'll just use the essence of the characters, and a downloaded rig. Naturally I'd prefer to use the actual models.

That's all for now, folks.

The First Meeting with Dayna and Co.

Meeting

At the end of last week myself, Mus, Kayleigh and Sam all met up with Dayna to have a chat about the Interactive Classics project. 

The meeting was really interesting and I think it would be nice if we met like this regularly. This was suggested during the meeting, so it looks like that will probably be the case. 

Dayna was switched on to the project idea after reading a book by French renaissance writer, Francoise Rabelais. The book was Gargantua, and is a fine example of 16th century satire. One of the sections in the book describes the protagonists' plight to find the perfect item to wipe his butt with - and this was the section Dayna favoured most:

I have', answered Gargantua, 'by a long and curious experience found out a means to wipe my bum. The most lordly, the most excellent, the most convenient that was ever seen. I have wiped my tail with a hen, with a cock, with a pullet, with a calf's skin, with a hare, with a pigeon, with a cormorant, with an attorney's bag, with a Montero, with a falconer's lure. But to conclude, I say and maintain that of all the torcheculs, arsewisps, bumfodders, tail-napkins, bunghole cleansers, and wipe-breeches, there is none in the world comparable to the neck of a goose, that is well downed, if you hold her head betwixt your legs. And believe me therein upon mine honour, for you will thereby feel in your nockhole a most wonderful pleasure, both in regard of the softness of the said down and of the temporate heat of the goose, which is easily communicated to the bum-gut and the rest of the inwards, in so far as to come even to the regions of the heart and brains.

The Story Mechanics

I've signed up to the next Story Mechanics lab session. I'm really looking forward to this because I haven't really got any idea what it'll be like. The session is titled "The Protagonist", and is going to be held near the end of this month, but the date is yet to be confirmed.

Personal Thoughts

I previously expressed an interest to focus on the interactive side of the adaptation process; but I didn't really have any real thoughts on what I wanted to achieve.

During the meeting I began to think about the way "O' Brother, Where Art Thou" was created. I love the indirect idea of adaptation, and the way in which the story is taken and applied in a completely different context. So sort of using the original stories' events as a vague guide to tell your own story.

That lead me on to thinking about folk tales and the way in which they were spread because of the important strong life lessons they preached. And then I started to think about how interactive story telling could harness these lessons. So say if I was to take something like the original tale of Cinderella from the Grimm collection (which differs greatly from the Disney adaptation, and can be read here), or at least the purpose/lesson from it, and weaved it into a new context, in which you make the decisions. Basically a half breed between an adaptation and a Choose your Own Adventure! book. I think this idea is still pretty crummy, but I normally need to go through a bunch of these ideas before the good ones start arriving. So I'm not too worried as I have an avenue to start looking into at least.

That's all folks.

Various Life Drawing.

Here's some life drawing from the past few weeks that I thought turned out OK.

First Pass level design in place.

After 6 weeks of waiting interesting level designs we (Skully and I) finally decided to just sit down and decipher one which we could make in the remaining time as best we could. 

I had previously created a critical framework for our designer which in theory would facilitate more relevant and dynamic level design for Role. 

Framework (apply these questions to every mechanism design once it's been made.)

-Does it consider time as a skill? Y/N

-Is this design simple enough for the player to conceive? Y/N

-Consider how the design will simulated through 2D physics. 

-Does the mechanism fit the context? Y/N

-Consider the amount of work required to create it. Clever, simple designs are the core charm of this short project. 

Also, the games we highlighted as our main inspirations back in week one were written down for her as she hadn't checked them out despite our teams' regular referencing to them. Pretty unsettling. 

We refer to Limbo every day. Play Dead, 2010.

As I think I mentioned before that the level designs we were receiving totally jarred with the ethos of the game and obviously hadn't been considered for any length of time as she would change them and scribble different designs on a whim while pitching them. 

I really hope noting these points doesn't seem unprofessional but it's generally just a play-by-play of events. 

So we still needed a final design and the ones she was bringing us all neglected to consider the fact that the mechanisms are on their own layers and so, for example, some mechanisms could not impact others. She was looking at the game like a 2D picture instead of considering the level like a 3D space. 

So I quickly threw together a simple mock-up of part of our level to demonstrate how to picture it when designing (See Below).

This seems to have helped her a lot.

We now have an ending to the first pass level design and I will be creating the assets as fast as I can until the submission.

One interesting thing about the beginning of our level is the "fan" which begins to blow the player once the screen is tapped.

The context for this is a boat's propeller. Basically the start of the level will be at the water's edge and the boat will be dangling from a crane with the propeller's exposed.

Animated sprite sheets are in our beta version plan. However, I'll still make the sprite sheets so that they're ready for implementation when we're in beta development.

In anticipation of the sprite sheet I decided to create some 3D reference footage for the propeller because I don't fancy the idea of animating the side-view of a boat propeller from imagination.

So I'll begin rotoscoping that footage after I've made all the Alpha art for this level.

I've also spent some time designing the boat that will be attached to the propeller.

I took some inspiration from Ian's McCue's work and from the Junk boats of Ancient China for the shape and for the colours I referred back to my older boat design. Although I don't think they gel as well as in the older design, and in general I feel the designs are very weak; so I'll need to refine that.

I also threw the Player (moon) in to demonstrate the scale of the designs.

Also, any opinions on the current stance of the logo would be appreciated.

There were quite a few designs I drafted which I liked. But some didn't fit the context - like this one: