After looking over my research on Reward and Punishment, I felt that it was stepping too far away for the subject of Coherent worlds, so instead I went back to looking at Character and True Character to create a Coherent World.
Why is a Coherent World Important?A coherent world is a world which can be completely fictional yet still clear to understand and believable. It is necessary to create a fictional world that is believable so the viewer or player can be easily immersed into a foreign world that yet still makes sense. Without coherency within gaming worlds, players will find it harder to fully absorb the world before them and lose focus on the main story or character. An example of lack of coherence would be to see a sports car whizzing across the desert of an old western, with a young teenager donned in denim and nylon behind the wheel. These futuristic assets would not make sense in a late 19th century setting because they we’re not invented at this time. The feeling of being immersed in this old cowboys and Indians setting would be lost completely. However, if we add a mad professor and explain that the car is actually a time machine, suddenly the world becomes believable again and thus coherent. This is a good example to show that fictional worlds can be strange and impossible, as long as there is evidence to support its reason for being there, and these things that are out of place explained, the world will keep its coherency.
There are many different elements that aid in making a coherent world, not only must the physical world make sense, but so must the narrative, and characterisations. Characterisation is an important element in creating a coherent world because without a believable main character, the immersion is lost. Ultimately, the main character is what links the player to the gaming world, and through which they experience it. The main character needs to make sense to the player so they can connect to them and fully take on the role. Just like an actor understanding his or her role in a play, the player must understand what role they are playing to be fully immersed. A bad example would be to take a character like Professor Layton, intellectual, gentlemanly and calm and place him into first person shooter, like call of duty. These characteristics would not suit a battle torn soldier and instead confuse the player. However, if our hero was put into a pressurising situation that showed his true character to be a cold blooded killer in the heat of battle, the player would then accept this.
What is a True Character?
Robert McKee argues that a characters characterisations are a false personality of someone they would like to be, and that their "True Character" is only shown when they are forced to react under pressure. An example of this can be seen in the character of Sam in Lord of the Rings, through out most of the saga, he is the nervous side kick hidden in the shadows of Frodo’s heroics, dreaming of nothing more than a quite life in The Shire. Yet when Sam is put under pressure, or his friends life is in danger, his true character of a brave and fiercely loyal hero shines through. This loyalty shown when we see his true character makes his actions believable and understandable, its clear he would not leave his quiet, safe life for no one other than Frodo. If Sam did not show this brave loyalty, the audience would be confused as to why he would embark on such a dangerous journey and therefore the story world would not be coherent.
How does a True Character establish a coherent world?
A true character is necessary to establish a coherent world because it helps reinforce the players belief in the narrative world. A character with depth, shown through the “true character” draws us into the character as well as the gaming world, whereas a flat character can be hard to connect to and therefore disconnect us from the surrounding world, because as I mentioned before, the character is the link between the gaming world and the immersion of the player. An example of this can be seen in the character of Tidus’ from Final Fantasy X, his character is that of a cocky, carefree, sports star focused solely on himself and his career, yet as the game proceeds, his true character shines through as a compassionate and caring hero . The players role as Tidus is to aid the saviour Yuna as part of a group of guardians in her quest to rid the world of Sin and bring eternal calm. Without seeing this “true character” of compassion from Tidus, his aiding of these other characters would not be coherent because his characterisations would not match his actions. His compassion and care for not only Yuna but the other guardians as well is what the player holds onto when we see him make the final sacrifice at the end of the game. In conclusion, characters can be mixed and diverse, as long as their true character reflects their actions and placement in the world.
Player input onto character
How I have used this.In my own project, “Fred”, I have had to think hard about how to present my main characters characterisation as well as her “true character”. The story is based around Fred losing her memory, part of which will be her characterisations. The player will learn of Fred’s character as the game progress’ yet will start out with a basic naive and confused character, adding more characteristics as the game progress’ as well as hints of true character shining through at important scenarios of the game. It is important that Fred’s character is coherent with the rest of the world, yet not be too obvious to give away too much of the mystery too soon. For example, if the game gives away Freds true character of a protective daughter who is in fact much cleverer than she pretends, then this will take away a lot of the mystery of “who is Fred?” and make little sense to some of the earlier actions. At the beginning of the game, Fred is naive and needs a lot of help from another character, if her true character was shown here, it would not make sense that she could not work things out on her own.
ConclusionIn conclusion to this presentation, I have established that character and “true character” are two separate entities used to create a character that belongs in a coherent world. The character provides a shell for us to play through and the true character gives reason for every thought action and speech the main character makes. Therefore creating a coherent world.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Contextual Studies: Reward and Punishment
While researching things to talk about for my contextual studies presentation, I often found myself referring to rewards and punishment, and how a balance between these two things must exist to create a coherent world, so I have decided to focus on this topic. The balance between these two is important because a game that rewards the player too much can make it too easy and thus boring. This works in the other direction, a game that punishes the players actions too much can make the game hard and seem unfair especially if there is no apparent reasoning for this.
Physical In Game Rewards: Money, Items (better weapons), points etc.
Player Satisfaction:
I have divided these types of rewards and punishments into different groups
In game rewards and punishments:
Characters Moral: Good characters get rewarded, Bad characters should show some sort of punishment, if not it is not just or coherent.
In game laws/Rules: Law enforcers etc.
Player rewards and punishments:
Game Difficulty: Player choices that can effect how easy or hard the game play is: these are often combined with game moral choices.
Player Satisfaction: Things that do not affect the game play, but rewards the player for completing a task (e.g. FFX-2 bonus ending for completing 100%)
Examples of reward and punishment in games and why these create a coherent world:
GTA series: I have looked into the Grand Theft Auto series in a previous blog. Ultimately, the police are your enemy in this game, yet there are still rules set in place so you understand why they come after you.
And example of this would be, while roaming the city, if you're character commits a crime, only then will the police come after you. The more severe the crimes, the more police and more force. This type of punishment creates a coherent world because we know the setting is of a real city and therefore expect these reactions to the breaking of such laws. Without this, the player would not feel fully immersed into the gaming experience. The main point of the game is you're playing as a criminal, therefore the player expects a body of law enforcement to react to their actions. Part of the fun in these games is to do something bad and the thrill of getting caught or trying to at least out run this as long as possible. If you did not get punished in someway for this, that fear would go and so the excitement would be lost.
Bioshock: You have the choice to Harvest or save a Little Sister
Fable:
Final Fantasy X-2:
Portal 2: Some games reward the player for being fully immersed into the game. An example of this can be explained through a personal experience of mine while playing the game Portal 2. In Portal, you play as a young woman named Chell, seemingly trapped in a laboratory forced to undergo puzzles described as tests. Your reasons as to why you are in this laboratory is kept a mystery throughout the game. In a section of the game, I was informed that the scene in front of me was the result of a "Bring your daughter to work day" which intrigued me and so I began looking more closely at each project. They all presented the idea of being created by young children, and the last one lead to the discovery of a project made "by chell", the same name as the main character.
Reward and Punishment is necessity for games that require the player to make choices:
Look at Fable 3 and Heavy Rain.
Physical In Game Rewards: Money, Items (better weapons), points etc.
Player Satisfaction:
I have divided these types of rewards and punishments into different groups
In game rewards and punishments:
Characters Moral: Good characters get rewarded, Bad characters should show some sort of punishment, if not it is not just or coherent.
In game laws/Rules: Law enforcers etc.
Player rewards and punishments:
Game Difficulty: Player choices that can effect how easy or hard the game play is: these are often combined with game moral choices.
Player Satisfaction: Things that do not affect the game play, but rewards the player for completing a task (e.g. FFX-2 bonus ending for completing 100%)
Examples of reward and punishment in games and why these create a coherent world:
GTA series: I have looked into the Grand Theft Auto series in a previous blog. Ultimately, the police are your enemy in this game, yet there are still rules set in place so you understand why they come after you.
And example of this would be, while roaming the city, if you're character commits a crime, only then will the police come after you. The more severe the crimes, the more police and more force. This type of punishment creates a coherent world because we know the setting is of a real city and therefore expect these reactions to the breaking of such laws. Without this, the player would not feel fully immersed into the gaming experience. The main point of the game is you're playing as a criminal, therefore the player expects a body of law enforcement to react to their actions. Part of the fun in these games is to do something bad and the thrill of getting caught or trying to at least out run this as long as possible. If you did not get punished in someway for this, that fear would go and so the excitement would be lost.
Bioshock: You have the choice to Harvest or save a Little Sister
Fable:
Final Fantasy X-2:
Portal 2: Some games reward the player for being fully immersed into the game. An example of this can be explained through a personal experience of mine while playing the game Portal 2. In Portal, you play as a young woman named Chell, seemingly trapped in a laboratory forced to undergo puzzles described as tests. Your reasons as to why you are in this laboratory is kept a mystery throughout the game. In a section of the game, I was informed that the scene in front of me was the result of a "Bring your daughter to work day" which intrigued me and so I began looking more closely at each project. They all presented the idea of being created by young children, and the last one lead to the discovery of a project made "by chell", the same name as the main character.
Reward and Punishment is necessity for games that require the player to make choices:
Look at Fable 3 and Heavy Rain.
Monday, 21 November 2011
Composition
Composition is important to create an image that is appealing to the eye and draws the viewer on a journey around the image towards the focal point.There are multiple types of Compositions that can be used to create such an image.
Rule of Thirds: Divides the image into thirds, and where these lines cross, gives 4 focus points.
Divine Proportion: This is creating a perfect swirl that draws the eye to the focus point
The "L": Frame within a frame
The Cross: Vertical Leading line and horizontal is the stopped. Usually the main focus will be on the leading line and the stopper line will show a contrast in colour or light (e.g. top half show lots of light with little shadow, bottom lots of shadow with little light.
Iconic: This composition is used a lot for hero poses, it pulls focus straight into the centre on multiple angles.
Below are 3 images by the artist Loish, each showing a different style of composition.
This image shows the rule of thirds, two thirds make up the surreal arms and tentacles, and the main focus of the sleeping girl takes up the final third. Her face appears in the top right section which the eye is naturally drawn to.
Here, Loish has used an "L" composition, with the buildings towering and framing the main focus of the boy jumping.
This is a good example of an Iconic composition. The bottom of the top diamond framers her face almost perfectly. The peacock, the girls body angle and upper arms follow the diagonal line, and lower arms follow opposing angled lines almost perfectly. Even the bottom of the jacket flicks out to follow the angle of diagonal line.
Bibliography
http://loish.net/
Rule of Thirds: Divides the image into thirds, and where these lines cross, gives 4 focus points.
Divine Proportion: This is creating a perfect swirl that draws the eye to the focus point
The "L": Frame within a frame
The Cross: Vertical Leading line and horizontal is the stopped. Usually the main focus will be on the leading line and the stopper line will show a contrast in colour or light (e.g. top half show lots of light with little shadow, bottom lots of shadow with little light.
Iconic: This composition is used a lot for hero poses, it pulls focus straight into the centre on multiple angles.
Below are 3 images by the artist Loish, each showing a different style of composition.
Bibliography
http://loish.net/
Using Light
Lighting is so important when creating images because without light there will be no colour, no form and no distance. Light reacts in number of ways when it hits an object, these are:
Absorption: This is where all of the light is absorbed
Reflection: This is where no light is absorbed and all of the light bounces off the object at a 90 degree angle.
Refraction: This is when light hits a translucent surface and the light is bent at an angle through the surface (like a bubble)
We see colour depending of what colour is absorbed and what is reflected. For example, a green object will absorb every colour except from green. A white object will reflect all colours ad absorb none whereas black will absorb all colour and reflect none.
Diffused Reflection is what happens when light hits an uneven surface, each ray is reflected at different angles at random.
The Fresnel Effect, this is used when describing how the angle you see light at can change what you are seeing. A good example can be seen in pictures of water, where the light hits the water further away, light is reflected of the top of the water and this is what is seen, whereas at a sharper angle where the water is closer to the viewer, light can be seen to refract and begin to show what is under the water.
Another tip to remember is when multiple rays of light cross, the more intense the light will be.
Shadows are the result of light being blocked by an object, depending on the intensity of the light, the darker and sharper the shadow will be. Shadow also gives distance, it shows hows far the object is from the light source, again the closer the light, the sharper and darker the shadow.
Sub surface scattering is when some light is reflected and some refracted. A good example of this is looking at someones ear when a bright light is shining behind it. The refracted light will give off a glowing effect.
Colour is simply a trick of light, and colours will effect each other. For example Red and Green will compliment each other, add green and reds will stand out more and vice verse.
This is an image by Loish, here the light source seems to be coming from the jellyfish as well as an outdoor light source. The jellyfish is showing a good example of subsurface scattering and gives of an orange glow.
This is another image by Loish, here she has used the Fresnel effect, the water at the top of the image, closest to the viewer, shows light completely reflected and the hairs reflection as it fades back. the light source is clearly coming from above the water, being refracted in all directions under the surface and losing intensity as the water becomes deeper.
This is another image by Loish, here there is an clear intense light source coming from outside of the bus and light is being refracted in the water of the goldfish bowl and reflected onto her chest, arm and leg. The blue from her shirt is also being reflected into the bowl.
Bibliography
http://loish.net/
Absorption: This is where all of the light is absorbed
Reflection: This is where no light is absorbed and all of the light bounces off the object at a 90 degree angle.
Refraction: This is when light hits a translucent surface and the light is bent at an angle through the surface (like a bubble)
We see colour depending of what colour is absorbed and what is reflected. For example, a green object will absorb every colour except from green. A white object will reflect all colours ad absorb none whereas black will absorb all colour and reflect none.
Diffused Reflection is what happens when light hits an uneven surface, each ray is reflected at different angles at random.
The Fresnel Effect, this is used when describing how the angle you see light at can change what you are seeing. A good example can be seen in pictures of water, where the light hits the water further away, light is reflected of the top of the water and this is what is seen, whereas at a sharper angle where the water is closer to the viewer, light can be seen to refract and begin to show what is under the water.
Another tip to remember is when multiple rays of light cross, the more intense the light will be.
Shadows are the result of light being blocked by an object, depending on the intensity of the light, the darker and sharper the shadow will be. Shadow also gives distance, it shows hows far the object is from the light source, again the closer the light, the sharper and darker the shadow.
Sub surface scattering is when some light is reflected and some refracted. A good example of this is looking at someones ear when a bright light is shining behind it. The refracted light will give off a glowing effect.
Colour is simply a trick of light, and colours will effect each other. For example Red and Green will compliment each other, add green and reds will stand out more and vice verse.
This is an image by Loish, here the light source seems to be coming from the jellyfish as well as an outdoor light source. The jellyfish is showing a good example of subsurface scattering and gives of an orange glow.
This is another image by Loish, here she has used the Fresnel effect, the water at the top of the image, closest to the viewer, shows light completely reflected and the hairs reflection as it fades back. the light source is clearly coming from above the water, being refracted in all directions under the surface and losing intensity as the water becomes deeper.
This is another image by Loish, here there is an clear intense light source coming from outside of the bus and light is being refracted in the water of the goldfish bowl and reflected onto her chest, arm and leg. The blue from her shirt is also being reflected into the bowl.
Bibliography
http://loish.net/
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Project 2: Final Development of Fred
The Fred I chose to be developed fully was the second Fred, I felt she looked more unique and would appeal to a teen audience more than the other two.
This is the character sheet for Fred: As you can see I have experimented with colour schemes and expressions.
This is the Model Sheet for Fred: Her main colours are greeny/blues and oranges. Her hat, gloves, shoes and scarf are orange because these will stand out as main points of movement in game.
Finally, this is an image of Fred at the end of a maze corridor, deciding which way she should go.
This is the character sheet for Fred: As you can see I have experimented with colour schemes and expressions.
This is the Model Sheet for Fred: Her main colours are greeny/blues and oranges. Her hat, gloves, shoes and scarf are orange because these will stand out as main points of movement in game.
Finally, this is an image of Fred at the end of a maze corridor, deciding which way she should go.
Contextual Studies: Presentation Research
For my presentation I have decided to focus on Character vs True character, and how the two are necessary in creating a coherent world when the games character has moral choices to make.
True Character vs. Character
My hypothesis: Many video games involve “enemies” to your character. To be a coherent world, the player must feel a sense of reason by defeating these enemies, whether it’s for self-defence (example: people attacking you) seeking justice/revenge (enemies are “evil” ) or some other significant motivation. If this is not apparent, the player can lose contact with the character, having no relation to the character or their actions.
In games where you play as a villain or play against the law, there usually needs to be a higher evil or corrupt government to give the player a sense of approval for their actions. An an example of this can be seen in the Grand Theft Auto game series. In these GTA games, the main character is playing against the side of the law and the story takes the player through different acts of corruption, including drug dealing, arms and weapons, and murder. As a sandbox game, there is a certain amount of free will for the player outside of the main story. The player can drive how they like, attack who they like and pretty much commit whatever crimes they wish within the game, they are rewarded yet punished for these actions (murdered victims drop money, yet police will come after you) and so this free will gives the player a sense of justice and choice to be morally abiding or not. In a game about crime, without the risk of punishment, the game would not be creating a coherent world.
Superheroes: Very black and white Good vs. Evil
Not all games produce such a black and white outlook on good vs evil. Often the main character is stuck somewhere between these two contrasting sides and their character and True character must reflect this understanding of not being wholly good whilst still showing a sense of right doing. A character I chose to look at is Ezio from the Assassins Creed series. Like many superheroes, Ezio has two identities, "The Assassin" and "Ezio Auditore de Firenze" who, on their own would not make sense, yet together create a sense of cohesion in the world.
The character of The Assassin: If we look at the character of "The Assassin" on his own, he is a murderer and someone to be feared. Without the character of Ezio, we would not be able to relate to this character or understand his actions.
The character of Ezio: It could be argued that this is Ezios "true character", he is shown to be a young naive adolescent, who is thrown into the role of being an assassin to seek vengeance on those who killed his brothers and father, to protect his surviving family and to bring down a corrupt government to save his home. These reasons for a corrupt lifestyle are all easy to relate to, and so creates an understanding of why the player must commit such crimes as assassination and theft, creating a coherent world for the player to understand.
True Character vs. Character
My hypothesis: Many video games involve “enemies” to your character. To be a coherent world, the player must feel a sense of reason by defeating these enemies, whether it’s for self-defence (example: people attacking you) seeking justice/revenge (enemies are “evil” ) or some other significant motivation. If this is not apparent, the player can lose contact with the character, having no relation to the character or their actions.
In games where you play as a villain or play against the law, there usually needs to be a higher evil or corrupt government to give the player a sense of approval for their actions. An an example of this can be seen in the Grand Theft Auto game series. In these GTA games, the main character is playing against the side of the law and the story takes the player through different acts of corruption, including drug dealing, arms and weapons, and murder. As a sandbox game, there is a certain amount of free will for the player outside of the main story. The player can drive how they like, attack who they like and pretty much commit whatever crimes they wish within the game, they are rewarded yet punished for these actions (murdered victims drop money, yet police will come after you) and so this free will gives the player a sense of justice and choice to be morally abiding or not. In a game about crime, without the risk of punishment, the game would not be creating a coherent world.
Superheroes: Very black and white Good vs. Evil
Not all games produce such a black and white outlook on good vs evil. Often the main character is stuck somewhere between these two contrasting sides and their character and True character must reflect this understanding of not being wholly good whilst still showing a sense of right doing. A character I chose to look at is Ezio from the Assassins Creed series. Like many superheroes, Ezio has two identities, "The Assassin" and "Ezio Auditore de Firenze" who, on their own would not make sense, yet together create a sense of cohesion in the world.
The character of The Assassin: If we look at the character of "The Assassin" on his own, he is a murderer and someone to be feared. Without the character of Ezio, we would not be able to relate to this character or understand his actions.
The character of Ezio: It could be argued that this is Ezios "true character", he is shown to be a young naive adolescent, who is thrown into the role of being an assassin to seek vengeance on those who killed his brothers and father, to protect his surviving family and to bring down a corrupt government to save his home. These reasons for a corrupt lifestyle are all easy to relate to, and so creates an understanding of why the player must commit such crimes as assassination and theft, creating a coherent world for the player to understand.
Project 2: Developing Fred
These are the 20 best character developments I chose, developed from 6 silhouettes.
Once I had completed my silhouettes and developed 6 different silhouettes, i took 3 of my favourites and began to develop these designs. The 3 I chose to develop are, the one top right, combination of the first two on the fourth row and second from left on bottom row. Experimenting with different colour schemes and clothing designs. Each one was very different to the other:
My first Fred looks much older than intended and her clothes too regal. I stopped developing her after I got to that point and focused on another style of Fred
My second Fred looks more younger with attitude which is better suited to the character of Fred
I really liked this style for Fred so decided to continue developing this.
My first Fred looks much older than intended and her clothes too regal. I stopped developing her after I got to that point and focused on another style of Fred
My second Fred looks more younger with attitude which is better suited to the character of Fred
I really liked this style for Fred so decided to continue developing this.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Contextual Studies: Genre
Genre is the term for category of literature or any other media. Genres have certain characteristics that make them such genre, for example, a Tragedy genre, would include suffering, unfortunate events etc. However, many films, literature and games involve multiple genres.
A short exercise showed me that when we assume a genre, we read the story in a very different way. A short passage given the title "Murder at Marpelthorpe" was read to us, and automatically, my mind was put into a murder mystery, certain lines stood out, such as the clock being half 10 because i expected this to be a clue further on in the mystery. However, when given another title "The Personal History of David Marpelthorpe" how i listened/read the passage changed completely, instead my mind focused on the people, such as the crying infant in the background, I assumed would be a family member to "David Marpelthorpe".
We then answered a quiz where we had to name the game based on one image and then we discussed what genre we thought each game belonged to:
The Path - Thriller, Dark, Horror
Zelda: Twilight Princess - Adventure, Fantasy
Final Fantasy XIII Versus - Role Playing Game, Fantasy
Myst - Adventure
Dead Space - Survival, Sci-Fi Horror
L.A. Noire - Noire Thriller, Detective, 40s/50s Crime Drama
Heavy Rain - Drama, Noire Thriller
Angry Birds -
Alan Wake
Mortal Kombat
Red Dead Redemption
Resident Evil 4
A lot of the games had multiple genres, shared similar genres, and it could be argued that they all fall under the "Fantasy" genre because they're all make-believe. This task showed us that multiple genres can be combined to create diverse gaming, just like multiple characteristics make up a personality.
We then split into groups and were given the task to flip a genre on its head by taking one of these games and giving it the genre of another. We were given the game Angry Birds, and asked to flip it into a noire thriller. This was an entertaining task, we started by thinking about all the things that make a noire to us, like black and white visuals, mafia type gangs and office scenes where the shadow of the blinds cut across faces. We decided we would give a new story to the birds, the birds would be an infamous gang fighting against a corrupt law enforcement represented by the pigs. The birds would throw cream pies (influenced by Bugsy Malone, a children's noire thriller) at corrupt police stations in order to break their gang members out of prison. This showed us that keeping the same game play, but changing certain elements can completely change a game.
A short exercise showed me that when we assume a genre, we read the story in a very different way. A short passage given the title "Murder at Marpelthorpe" was read to us, and automatically, my mind was put into a murder mystery, certain lines stood out, such as the clock being half 10 because i expected this to be a clue further on in the mystery. However, when given another title "The Personal History of David Marpelthorpe" how i listened/read the passage changed completely, instead my mind focused on the people, such as the crying infant in the background, I assumed would be a family member to "David Marpelthorpe".
We then answered a quiz where we had to name the game based on one image and then we discussed what genre we thought each game belonged to:
The Path - Thriller, Dark, Horror
Zelda: Twilight Princess - Adventure, Fantasy
Final Fantasy XIII Versus - Role Playing Game, Fantasy
Myst - Adventure
Dead Space - Survival, Sci-Fi Horror
L.A. Noire - Noire Thriller, Detective, 40s/50s Crime Drama
Heavy Rain - Drama, Noire Thriller
Angry Birds -
Alan Wake
Mortal Kombat
Red Dead Redemption
Resident Evil 4
A lot of the games had multiple genres, shared similar genres, and it could be argued that they all fall under the "Fantasy" genre because they're all make-believe. This task showed us that multiple genres can be combined to create diverse gaming, just like multiple characteristics make up a personality.
We then split into groups and were given the task to flip a genre on its head by taking one of these games and giving it the genre of another. We were given the game Angry Birds, and asked to flip it into a noire thriller. This was an entertaining task, we started by thinking about all the things that make a noire to us, like black and white visuals, mafia type gangs and office scenes where the shadow of the blinds cut across faces. We decided we would give a new story to the birds, the birds would be an infamous gang fighting against a corrupt law enforcement represented by the pigs. The birds would throw cream pies (influenced by Bugsy Malone, a children's noire thriller) at corrupt police stations in order to break their gang members out of prison. This showed us that keeping the same game play, but changing certain elements can completely change a game.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Project 2: Character - Initial Designs
This is the next stage to my development of Freds Character. After making the 100 silhouettes, I took 6 designs I liked, drew them into photoshop and began making some sketches over top.
These are some hair designs I did for Fred, I wanted to get a unique shape for the hair and so, like the silhouettes, i simple made shapes to see what they would look like.
Contextual Studies: Character
There are many different aspects that make up a character within any media:
The signifier, which signifies how the character can be recognized. An example of this is Whinnie the Poohs red shirt he always wears. No matter what style this character is drawn in, his red shirt signifies to the viewer that this is "that" specific character, Whinnie the Pooh.
A characters name is also important, the main character in Fable is named "Hero" which gives connotations of heroism and being good, yet this is also an empty name, with the player being able to decide on what kind of hero "Hero" will be. Pip, the main character from Great Expectations, also has a name that gives ideas of something else. The name "Pip" leads to the idea of "Seed" which gives connotations of something being ready to grow and evolve.
Robert McKee argues that characters have characterisations, a false personality of someone they would like to be, and that their "True Character" is only shown when they react under pressure. An example would be Spider-man is Peter Parker's characterisation, a mask under which he hides, yet his true character is the awkward teenager.
Ezio Auditore Da Firenze:
The characterisation of this character is one of a suave, charming expert assassin, donned in a white hooded robe. A "hero" who roams the streets of Italy, fighting a revolution against those who are corrupting his country. However, his true character is one of a young, grieving adolescent, forced to take on this role in vengeance after his father and brothers are murdered. This "true" character is rarely seen, except in times of desperation and pressure. His physical character changes too, he is often shown wearing regular clothes, unhooded or semi-nude, as if to represent a sign of true self and/or the weakness he feels like this. A complete opposite to his "armoured" robed self.
The signifier, which signifies how the character can be recognized. An example of this is Whinnie the Poohs red shirt he always wears. No matter what style this character is drawn in, his red shirt signifies to the viewer that this is "that" specific character, Whinnie the Pooh.
A characters name is also important, the main character in Fable is named "Hero" which gives connotations of heroism and being good, yet this is also an empty name, with the player being able to decide on what kind of hero "Hero" will be. Pip, the main character from Great Expectations, also has a name that gives ideas of something else. The name "Pip" leads to the idea of "Seed" which gives connotations of something being ready to grow and evolve.
Robert McKee argues that characters have characterisations, a false personality of someone they would like to be, and that their "True Character" is only shown when they react under pressure. An example would be Spider-man is Peter Parker's characterisation, a mask under which he hides, yet his true character is the awkward teenager.
Ezio Auditore Da Firenze:
The characterisation of this character is one of a suave, charming expert assassin, donned in a white hooded robe. A "hero" who roams the streets of Italy, fighting a revolution against those who are corrupting his country. However, his true character is one of a young, grieving adolescent, forced to take on this role in vengeance after his father and brothers are murdered. This "true" character is rarely seen, except in times of desperation and pressure. His physical character changes too, he is often shown wearing regular clothes, unhooded or semi-nude, as if to represent a sign of true self and/or the weakness he feels like this. A complete opposite to his "armoured" robed self.
Project 2: Character and Environment Design
For our second project we have to bring a portion of our game to life by developing either a character or a section of environment. Artwork must reflect innovation and originality, from initial sketches right through to final concept.
I have decided to develop the main character in my game: Fred
I already had an initial idea of what Fred would look like that can be seen in the previous project. However, I have started back at the beginning of the design process to see where a full development will take me. To start I drew over 100 thumbnails using different shapes to get interesting silhouettes. Here are just some of these silhouettes:
My favourites from this page of silhouettes are the 4th one on the 3rd row, and the 3rd and 4th on the 4th row. All three give strong, recognizable silhouettes which is what I am looking for. Next I will develop these 3 silhouettes to design a black and white silhoette to give a better idea of more designs.
I have decided to develop the main character in my game: Fred
I already had an initial idea of what Fred would look like that can be seen in the previous project. However, I have started back at the beginning of the design process to see where a full development will take me. To start I drew over 100 thumbnails using different shapes to get interesting silhouettes. Here are just some of these silhouettes:
My favourites from this page of silhouettes are the 4th one on the 3rd row, and the 3rd and 4th on the 4th row. All three give strong, recognizable silhouettes which is what I am looking for. Next I will develop these 3 silhouettes to design a black and white silhoette to give a better idea of more designs.
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