this project has been different for me. Normally when i approach a project i produce as much sketchbook work as i can and then piece it together a few weeks before the hand in. this has gone wrong often in the past, where i feel i've not created enough work before its time to hand in, and have to work on my project when i should have been presenting and organizing it.
as i said this project has been different, in favor of the less is more strategy, i've been organizing and presenting my research and development (not a whole lot of development at this stage) into something much more presentable and much more readable. in doing so ive created something that to my eyes dosnt look like the 300-400 hours i was aiming to work for on this project, but i must admit the whole thing looks much tidyer and more organised. thats where i'm trying to get the marks from this year.
this year i feel ive made great improvements with my work digitaly in painter, its still not great but its coming on quickly. drawing people is still a little bit of a problem, but thats where i'm going to be working next year. i also feel my presentation has gone well so far, or at least its better than last year! and i think that ive made some nice looking peices of recearch.
its been a real strech to get out of my sketchbook, an artifact that has served me well in the past. but this has encoraged me (along with this scarecely populated blog) to digitise my work and to think about how i will be posting it online. however its not been a painless transition, as i said the blog is not as full as i would have liked. i used it only to post key moments in my designing, and not many of them made it online. also i feel that the volume of work ive produced this year has been considerably lacking on all the other projects that ive done, and i dont mind admiting that its worrying me.
all in all though im both nurveous and exited about this hand in, ive done something new for me this year by worrying about the volumes of work less and the presentation of it more. i hope the gambit will pay off!
Monday, 26 January 2009
Sunday, 25 January 2009
ok so my last post was a month ago. and considering that the hand in is tomorrow i really should have kept this more up to date. but hey blogging was just a habbit i couldnt get into.
in the past month ive been focusing on working in painter, in kind of four different directions really.
one has been learning to do portraits heres my last attempt:
i didn't think it was going all too badly untill soemone told me it looked a lot like me... this freaked me out and ive not plucked up the will to continue this peice! i went on to other work.
like the composition work, all i wanted was to see if i could work out just a man standing around looking moody. and something that would look profesional. i... think that last one was too much to ask for! but here it is anyway:
im not all that impressed with my ability to work in painter, but its a defineate improvment. so at least its all going in the right direction. lastly i was seeing how i could use painter as a design tool. i was using a kind of a paper doll like method to layer clothing... you draw a tshirt and see what it looks like in different combinations with other clothes. its not much but this kinda thing could be used with all kinds of sketches and doodles and i think would save a whole lot of time designing and redrawing things (as i inevitably do!)
this is one of the images produced from this kind of design work:
and thats it for now... wish me luck with my hand in, i guess i will be continueing this blog next project.
in the past month ive been focusing on working in painter, in kind of four different directions really.
one has been learning to do portraits heres my last attempt:
i didn't think it was going all too badly untill soemone told me it looked a lot like me... this freaked me out and ive not plucked up the will to continue this peice! i went on to other work.
like the composition work, all i wanted was to see if i could work out just a man standing around looking moody. and something that would look profesional. i... think that last one was too much to ask for! but here it is anyway:
im not all that impressed with my ability to work in painter, but its a defineate improvment. so at least its all going in the right direction. lastly i was seeing how i could use painter as a design tool. i was using a kind of a paper doll like method to layer clothing... you draw a tshirt and see what it looks like in different combinations with other clothes. its not much but this kinda thing could be used with all kinds of sketches and doodles and i think would save a whole lot of time designing and redrawing things (as i inevitably do!)
this is one of the images produced from this kind of design work:
and thats it for now... wish me luck with my hand in, i guess i will be continueing this blog next project.
Friday, 12 December 2008
I haven't updated this thing in so long! I've been a little busy and negligent of this blog.
well since i last updated I've finished researching writing and planning. the research is now organized into pages like this:
not so bad huh? they're basically copys of the scrappy bits and pieces that i have stuck into my sketchbook and annotations re written. i might do some more for the designing ive done... but i want to get it all finished so i can chose the stuff i want to hand in. im about two and a half weeks behind shedule now, hence the lack of posting! but its cool, i mean ill just have to work harder right?!
the dissertation isnt going well however. most of the recearch i have picked up is rubish! homo ludens isnt as helpfull as i had've hoped, and im struggleing to get hold of the frued peice i wanted. ive got the sections about hypnotisim finished. its a shame thats not what the bulk of the dissertation is about. oh well ive still got pleanty of time.
well since i last updated I've finished researching writing and planning. the research is now organized into pages like this:
not so bad huh? they're basically copys of the scrappy bits and pieces that i have stuck into my sketchbook and annotations re written. i might do some more for the designing ive done... but i want to get it all finished so i can chose the stuff i want to hand in. im about two and a half weeks behind shedule now, hence the lack of posting! but its cool, i mean ill just have to work harder right?!
the dissertation isnt going well however. most of the recearch i have picked up is rubish! homo ludens isnt as helpfull as i had've hoped, and im struggleing to get hold of the frued peice i wanted. ive got the sections about hypnotisim finished. its a shame thats not what the bulk of the dissertation is about. oh well ive still got pleanty of time.
Monday, 3 November 2008
the plot
the game was always going to be heavy on the narrative side, i mean to create a lusory (sp?) attitude in a sorcery fantasy world you need the player to engage and be immersed with the protagonist.
i spent a while developing the plot, and it isn't quite done yet, and a final draft will have to be part of my submission. or perhaps i could work it into some of the artwork or make some storyboards for it?
anyway here is a plot synopsis for Thurmaturology (working title, but its not a bad one!)
A boy named Jackuan Grey lives outside of the sleepy middle american town (implied that it might be somewhere in luisiana,) in a swamp with his Gandma Issabelle Grey. his mother and father are dead, and his grandma works him hard. he finds himself in love wtih a young woman from the neerby town of Janville, her name is Michelle De'veoulle. (note: Jackuan is unaware of her last name, this is a sign of how out of touch he is with the village and how out of touch with her he is.) Michelle however is spoken for, and is dateing a local boy, Jamie Ian Belle, who appears at first glance to be a thug, he peddles drugs regularly, has a violent temperment and has a gang of youths as goons.
needless to say Jackuan thinks that he is better than Jamie, and sets out to impress her. it hardly goes well, as soon as Jamie sees that Jackuan is making a move on his girl a fight breaks out. Its a fight that Jackuan looses, and returns home to find his grandmother less than sympathetic. She tells him that he should leave Michelle alone, and implys that she has evedence that they are in love, after all how could she have known about Jamie, Jackuan told her nothing about him.
Jackuan thinking that his grandmother knows more than she is letting on, attempts to find her diary, instead finding the Thurmanonicon. a powerfull grimore writen by his grandmother. thinking it to be a joke, but hoping this knoweledge is real, he casts a spell to see his love Michelle. but is interupted by his granmother, who scorns him. later on that night she decides that Jackuan should be taught magic, because she fears that he will sneak into her room and steal the book and use it to great ill without her guideance.
and so jackuan learns divination, a seris of spells that deal with dicerning secets, and seeing the unseen. and discovers that there are a long string of grave injustices within the town of Janville, and should he choose he can use his powers to try and help rectify them. however the story is driven forward by his learning of the next school from his grandmother, illusion.
once illusion has been learnt, Jackuan will begin to discover three other schools of magic, but his grandmother will refuse to teach him, for these are most unnatural of magics. conjugation, evocation, and necromancy. eatch school draws its powers from a lesser devil-deity, and tho the first schools he learns may have limeted power and scope for their uses, the last three schools have devistateing concequences, on those around him and on his own health.
whenever the player makes Jackuan Grey use a spell from the schools of Necromancy, Evocation or Conjugation. he looses more of his soul to the devils, changeing and twisting his appearence, and harming those around him. further more when these spells go wrong they tend to have utterly devistateing concequences. a Necromancy spell gone awry might render a large portion of the town zombie infested and the zombies not under your controll.
if the player keeps Jackuan from using these devistateing powers and only using the first two "natural" magic schools then the ending isnt a nasty one. he discovers that Michelle and Jamie are realy meant for eatch other, and that it would be best if he forgot about his silly crush on her, and full of heartache he leaves town.
if Jamie peverts his form using dark magic he finds its influence harder and harder to resist, haveing lapses in controll over the dark forces, hearing voices in his head. and turning the town into a hell on earth, killing Jamie and wounding Michelle who realises what kind of monster you have become, and kills herself in dispair for the loss of her love Jamie. distraught and under the three devil's influences Jackuan kills his grandmother for ever letting him learn magic before breaking down and crying in the middle of a now desolate ghost town of Janville. and that is where the credits roll.
i spent a while developing the plot, and it isn't quite done yet, and a final draft will have to be part of my submission. or perhaps i could work it into some of the artwork or make some storyboards for it?
anyway here is a plot synopsis for Thurmaturology (working title, but its not a bad one!)
A boy named Jackuan Grey lives outside of the sleepy middle american town (implied that it might be somewhere in luisiana,) in a swamp with his Gandma Issabelle Grey. his mother and father are dead, and his grandma works him hard. he finds himself in love wtih a young woman from the neerby town of Janville, her name is Michelle De'veoulle. (note: Jackuan is unaware of her last name, this is a sign of how out of touch he is with the village and how out of touch with her he is.) Michelle however is spoken for, and is dateing a local boy, Jamie Ian Belle, who appears at first glance to be a thug, he peddles drugs regularly, has a violent temperment and has a gang of youths as goons.
needless to say Jackuan thinks that he is better than Jamie, and sets out to impress her. it hardly goes well, as soon as Jamie sees that Jackuan is making a move on his girl a fight breaks out. Its a fight that Jackuan looses, and returns home to find his grandmother less than sympathetic. She tells him that he should leave Michelle alone, and implys that she has evedence that they are in love, after all how could she have known about Jamie, Jackuan told her nothing about him.
Jackuan thinking that his grandmother knows more than she is letting on, attempts to find her diary, instead finding the Thurmanonicon. a powerfull grimore writen by his grandmother. thinking it to be a joke, but hoping this knoweledge is real, he casts a spell to see his love Michelle. but is interupted by his granmother, who scorns him. later on that night she decides that Jackuan should be taught magic, because she fears that he will sneak into her room and steal the book and use it to great ill without her guideance.
and so jackuan learns divination, a seris of spells that deal with dicerning secets, and seeing the unseen. and discovers that there are a long string of grave injustices within the town of Janville, and should he choose he can use his powers to try and help rectify them. however the story is driven forward by his learning of the next school from his grandmother, illusion.
once illusion has been learnt, Jackuan will begin to discover three other schools of magic, but his grandmother will refuse to teach him, for these are most unnatural of magics. conjugation, evocation, and necromancy. eatch school draws its powers from a lesser devil-deity, and tho the first schools he learns may have limeted power and scope for their uses, the last three schools have devistateing concequences, on those around him and on his own health.
whenever the player makes Jackuan Grey use a spell from the schools of Necromancy, Evocation or Conjugation. he looses more of his soul to the devils, changeing and twisting his appearence, and harming those around him. further more when these spells go wrong they tend to have utterly devistateing concequences. a Necromancy spell gone awry might render a large portion of the town zombie infested and the zombies not under your controll.
if the player keeps Jackuan from using these devistateing powers and only using the first two "natural" magic schools then the ending isnt a nasty one. he discovers that Michelle and Jamie are realy meant for eatch other, and that it would be best if he forgot about his silly crush on her, and full of heartache he leaves town.
if Jamie peverts his form using dark magic he finds its influence harder and harder to resist, haveing lapses in controll over the dark forces, hearing voices in his head. and turning the town into a hell on earth, killing Jamie and wounding Michelle who realises what kind of monster you have become, and kills herself in dispair for the loss of her love Jamie. distraught and under the three devil's influences Jackuan kills his grandmother for ever letting him learn magic before breaking down and crying in the middle of a now desolate ghost town of Janville. and that is where the credits roll.
Monday, 20 October 2008
so far
ok so my thoughts have been a little over the place recently. I'm currently consolidating my ideas into a more manageable and easy to understand before handing them in as a finished document this Wednesday.
I've had a think about programs that i want to try and learn this year. and i think im going to try and learn mudbox and painter, i know how to get started with painter. but not nessicaraly mudbox, i wonder if there is a learnining version of the program around?... ive allready got painter and i think i will be picking nigels brains about that a whole lot!
further more the calendar im unsureabout. should i leave a few weeks to learn each program or not many?... i just dont know! this is what i'll be up to tomorow, the work calendar!
tonight im getting stuck into the final draft of my learning agreement, where i will talk about the programs to learn, the game idea, and what i aim to acheive at the end of this year.
wish me luck!
I've had a think about programs that i want to try and learn this year. and i think im going to try and learn mudbox and painter, i know how to get started with painter. but not nessicaraly mudbox, i wonder if there is a learnining version of the program around?... ive allready got painter and i think i will be picking nigels brains about that a whole lot!
further more the calendar im unsureabout. should i leave a few weeks to learn each program or not many?... i just dont know! this is what i'll be up to tomorow, the work calendar!
tonight im getting stuck into the final draft of my learning agreement, where i will talk about the programs to learn, the game idea, and what i aim to acheive at the end of this year.
wish me luck!
Thursday, 16 October 2008
locale
as well as struggling with ideas for what programs i want to learn/ use and what i want to produce at the end of this year. ive also not been able to work out where and when this game is set. i was thinking about somewhere in middle America, like Louisiana, but not. perhaps its just swampland and everyone speaks in a french/American accent with a southern drall. this is the kind of image i had in mind only at night, with a small vilage on stilt in the gloom illuminateing the environment a little, the water shifting under the moonlight. and a faint chatter of human ocupation can be heard on the wind.
the above bog is in the savanah, hence the change in colour of the mud. i think the mud needs to be darker, but i like the idea of alien trees. the below photo was taken by a "mike j" couldnt find his whole name on the website. once again the images are reproduced here without permissions. however they are generateing no revenue, and are only for reference.
you might be folled into thinking i am produceing environments again. this is not the case. i merely wanted a background of the kind of environment that my characters exist in. after all all characters are a product of their environment, inadvertently or deliberately so.
Saturday, 11 October 2008
influences
this is a gameplay video for a game produced by ubisoft called dark messiah, a game where you can chose any class or type of player... but mostly its a hybrid between a warrior a mage or an assassin.
this is a gameplay sample of the mage, and a nice example of a first person magic bassed combat system. and is one of my faveorate games in terms of awesome combat systems! and therefore probably influenced my decision to make my game a first person game.
and also leads me nicely as to the problems of my visuals... i want to make my game a hypereal caracature of a reality where magic exists in a more fantastical form. one with rules and order, but without scientific or technological shapes. and they need an overall "look" one that is iconic and eye catching and stylish but also not overworked! hmm this i will have to work on and come back to!
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