Ben Matthews - Environment Artist. Asset Development.

A very important part of designing a level and making it feel realistic is asset development. Assets are objects in the game which flesh out the environment, they tend to be everything apart from the roof, walls and floor of the level.

Want to Know What Game Assets Are? Click Here - http://conceptdevelopmentbendavis.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/what-are-game-assets.html

The most obvious place to start when designing assets for a library would be the bookshelves themselves. Since they are likely to be the most common asset within the game. I wish to design a variety of shelves to create a sense of variety and choice for the Game Designer. I constantly referred back to the mood board I had created for inspiration.

After looking through My mood boards and doing some further research I settled upon this design for the book shelf. I modeled half of the shelf then using the 'Mirror Geometry' tool I duplicated it and mirrored it down the +X axis. I then combined it to the original half and merged the vertices together. This created one whole object. Once I had created the main bookshelf I duplicated it to experiment with multiple shelf configurations. I also made a variation of the shelf with an open cupboard at the bottom. Allowing the game designer to create puzzles using the shelves themselves.

Here You can see the variations I created.

After I finished modelling the bookshelves I created a variety of other assets for use in game. I used previous research to create assets that would work in this time period.

I created set piece that I thought would work well in a library environment. A large desk with an opening draw.

A wooden chair.

I also modeled a variety of open and closed books. These will be dotted around the level.

I also created a wall safe hidden behind a painting.

I modeled an old style wooden table. Along with a broken bookshelf.

I also made a book stand.

And lastly I put all of this together to create a small example scene to demonstrate to My group what the game may look like.

I added new assets to this as I went along, such as a tankard, an ink pot complete with a quill, a plate with traditional Germanic food. And a candle holder, this gave Me the idea that it could be an object the player could choose to pick up to help them light their way.

I started to play about with the assets I had created and took some renders using turtle. Just to try and get a feel for what the final game may look like.

Craig Lang - Game Flow

12/10/2015


Craig Lang


Using the rendered Grey Box designs from my environment artist I decided to try and rough out an idea of the game flow for the level.

I used different colours each represent a puzzle and connected each room which the puzzles will take place. I also numbered each puzzle in the order they would need to be solved.

Ben Matthews - Environment Artist. My Documentation. Puzzle List.

Together with some input from the group I put together a structured list of puzzles to help build a basic story and game play. Please use the floor plan to help visualize the puzzle layout.

Ben Matthews - Environment Artist. Designing a Grey Box Level.

The team I'm working with consists of one of each of the following:

• Game Designer
• Concept Artist
• Character Artist
• Environment Artist

I have assumed the role of Environment Artist for this project.

We have named our team, Ethereal Games.

We were given a brief by our tutor. We have to make a point and click game based around the words World War 1 and Library. We decided that we were going to make a puzzle/ murder mystery game based within a Library. The game will be based in Germany. I have to create an environment using only 100,000 tris. This is equivalent to an environment found in a GameCube game.

I'm not allowed to use normal or bump maps in any textures. Meaning the entire level must consist of low poly objects.

Since I am The Environment Artist I began looking into Architecture that was typical of this time period. I mainly focused on Libraries and old buildings in general, Victorian architecture was common of this time period so I narrowed my initial research to revolve around Victorian era buildings.

Research Into Old Libraries.

 I noticed a very common trait that exists within these old buildings. The interiors are mostly made of wood and marble with the occasional touch of iron to make up spiral staircases and banisters. However I feel that creating complex structures out of iron will burn through the tri count I am limited too. Any intense detail I wish to add in will have to be done through textures.

Whilst discussing the premise of the game it was suggested by a member of the team that We stylize our game. We decided to use Gothic/ Goth as the style of our game. This works well considering Gothic actually originates from Germany so it fits in perfectly with our game. It will help to add an old rustic feel to the interior. It will also be easier to create a spooky environment.

I then started to research old Gothic buildings/ architecture. Luckily I don't have to model the exterior, only the interior. So I don't have to worry about burning through the entire tri count on the outside.

Research Into Gothic Architecture.

German Gothic is actually very similar in a way to Victorian architecture, which is great for Me as it makes designing the Library much easier.

I'm going to aim to try and keep the level design simple but intriguing, i'm hoping to add in pillars to most of the rooms along with intricate woodwork. Unfortunately i'm limited with the tri count and i'm not able to add in detail through normal maps. So any intricate detail will be added in through diffuse textures.

Research Into Old Victorian Furniture.

 I'm hoping to be able to fill up the level with low poly assets to flesh out the environment and add an extra level of realism. This will also help Me convey the Gothic style by designing Gothic furniture and dotting it around the level.

In terms of the level design itself I have looked through old architectural designs; however, unfortunately due to both WW1 and WW2 there are very few examples of floor plans/ layouts left. Most old German buildings were destroyed within this period of time, along with floor plans, some of which were burnt by Hitler during his infamous book burning of 1933. This has made searching for old German floor plans a nightmare, all I could find were old church floor plans. So I have decided to use the reference I have already gathered to create my own design.

I gray boxed the level/ floor plan in Maya. The process of actually creating the level helped open My eyes to the limitations of level design. For example the doors have to be wider than doors in real life, this is so the player can get through them easily without getting stuck on the door frame. The corridors have to be wide enough to fit the player, assets and the camera's field of view; but at the same time be small enough to create a confined space to convey the feeling of claustrophobia. 

Gray Box Level, Ground Floor.

Since we are making a puzzle game I wanted to add in secret rooms for the player to discover. I labelled the secret rooms on the floor plan above.

Gray Box Level, Upper Floor.

You can see here in the upper floor plan how I have added a balcony area overlooking the main entrance. In the late 19th century/ early 20th century it was common for buildings to have a grand entrance to convey a sense of wealth to guests. This is something I want to convey in My own building/ level design. I have added place holder pillars into the gray box design to show roughly where I plan to add them.

I have also added in an astronomy tower/ office. I thought this would be a nice touch and could serve as a unique area for the player. The round shape of the office also contrasts nicely between the square rooms of the library making it a memorable room for the player to explore.

                                                                                                               

Gray Box Level, Ground and Upper Combined.

 Here is the completed gray box design (without a roof) pieced together. I have left the roof off for now to allow the game designer easier access to plan out the players route, and place cameras around.

I have given a copy of this gray box to the game designer to begin prototyping code for use in the game. However this may not be the final level We use in the game. The floor plan is subject to change throughout the design process.

Rastislav Smolen - Character artist -

Hello , I am back with new work to present myself :D . I am currently working on as a character artist in team . My job is to develop Character with movement a mainly personality. Our game will be about World War 1/ Library.  So that was start. I started gaining ideas of mad professor or scientist. First man , come to my mind was PhD. Frankenstein.  So I made some research. So I created Mood Board.

I had picture in head . Very intelligent, gentle but rude , sarcastic funny and bit coward. So I my first sketches was out of my image. I had a free time in Costa - Coffe and I saw really funny looking guy and I quick sketched him really fast ... KEEP IN MIND these are just sketches.

So he was sitting and waiting for his SO.And he was so kind to sit there for few minutes and let me finished the drawing . He was not that old but I needed PhD. professor , old looking .So I added few wrinkles and glasses I was happy with finished drawing . Even my team-mates decided to use it as main character.

wounded scientist

I was happy to make my main character on one go . But I thought that a didn't make enough work so I  draw some more.

Himmler WW2

Next part, of process was clothing and basic look of the character every part of this job is still in process just quick drawings and base ideas that come to my mind . I had and idea of suit or stereotypical teacher outfit.   

I tried to combine suit with the professor outfit. First I draw with refference just quick look . Why just quick , because I don't want to create something already exist's and get too evolved in real life.   

                         This is combined form . Next time I will upload more finished version .

Thank you for reading , Hope you enjoyed.

Joshua Gardener - Concept Artist - General concepts

Hello i'm Joshua Gardener and i am the concept artist for Etherial Games;

Our Group Comprises of; 

Craig Lang as our Game Designer
Rastislav Smolen as our Character Artist
Myself as Concept Artist
Ben Matthews as Environment Artist

My Role;

As concept artist i am someone who looks at the earlier stages of production, working on the ideas we are using in the game, and focusing them to the point where our the other members of the team can use them in making final assets for the game slice we are creating. An example like,character artist for instance can then go and use my work to build a character model in unity. in this respect the concept artist has a lot of working in the early game, rather than the late game.

Progress and Setting Up;

Now at this point and time the team has already discussed some of the basic facts and ideas for our game, and we've got a little bit of a grasp on what is going to be going on in our game.

As our two themes of the game that were selected for us, we got; Library and World War 1.

From this we garnered that our setting was in an abandoned library, with the setting being the closing days of World War 1, and our main character was a professor who got caught digging too deep into some of the last projects aimed at trying to turn the tide of the war.

First Milestone Presentation;

For our first Milestone we had to present the material we had made so far in a bid to sell our game and test our concepts to our Publishers (teachers). For this i showed some various pieces of concept art covering some of the basis of design; characters, environment etc.

This was the initial image i gave the group on what i pictured our game to look like, with there being dynamic camera angles, with our character placed in the scene, and on top of that some closer views of what investigating various areas might cover. We have since changed this idea slightly, but the general imagery of using all of these ornate bookshelves, with camera angles that make good use of the environment and character placement for added atmosphere, have remained consistent. 

The character placement is now more akin to dino crisis and the old resident evil's.

Another aspect i got to show off was an idea for the layout of the level, based on some talking between me and Ben our environment artist, i wanted to have a go at constructing how the level might appear. And also to get an idea of how it would flow, at least from an aerial view. We wanted two floors, seating area's, some offices, and of course a lot of bookshelves. and i worked to combine them in a convincing and well constructed floor plan.

Moving on i wanted to start constructing the look of our character, and get a more rigid idea of the direction both I and the team wanted to bring him in; i started basing these idea's from a great idea from Rastislav and through some independent research. What we where aiming to capture here is a man in his late forties on-wards, with signs of age, glasses to indicate his intelligence or position.

All these aspects i made efforts to capture in different ways through some bust designs.

Lastly, to solve a problem that came up while discussing our character and his death, i wanted to show how our character might have died, following some inspiration from games like Murdered: Soul Suspect, i concepted the idea that our main character, Franz, had been shot once through the eye. this had obviously killed him, but in death the cause of death changes, the eye dulls and goes grey in colour, while its surrounding flesh becomes scripted with magical runes. this was my way of adding some flavour and flair to detail within our narrative.

That's all for this post, from now i will be breaking down the elements i have to concept, showing my research, development and finalisation of ideas to use within the game.

Paper Prototype

06/10/2015

We created a paper prototype to understand the look, feel and flow of our gaming concept.

We used ideas from the game design document, level and character concepts to help create the prototype.

We split it up into a 4 videos.

Craig Lang - Game Designer - Camera Coding

06/10/2015

Craig Lang

I've been creating a camera prototype in Unity. The idea is for the game to switch cameras when a player enters a new area.


I created two cameras with two box colliders and added this script. 

This is the final result

One Sheet

05/10/2015

One Sheet

We as a team created a draft one sheet for our game using the template provided by our lecturer.
We spent several meetings lasting 2 hours each session from 22/09/2015 - 30/09/2015 gathering and sharing ideas for our game. We converted our ideas into our first draft of the one sheet.

Craig Lang - Game Designer - Game Design Document Draft

05/10/2015

Craig Lang

For the past week I've been working on the first draft of the Games design document for our team project. I used the template provided by our lecturer as well as industry standard game documents such as Rockstar's "Race & Chase" (GTA) documents as reference.