Weekly summary

This Monday we had a pub quiz in our lecture which was fun, the questions varied from the name of some characters in video games to releases of consoles and questions about some of the games industry's creators or artists.

In Z brush this week I didn't get much done of my model as I was watching my tutor show us how to retopologize our models with tools such as Z remesher. I spend most of the session listening and taking notes.

In contextual studies this week we looked at games as Experiences, such as using VR, flow and embodiment. Flow has been mention before in a lecture this is where the player is in the zone, so focused on the task at hand we were shown this with the game DOOM. We were also shown a game called 'Catacomb' which is a very disorienting game were the room is all coloured with no contrast as you move around the room it seems to change and then you can easily get lost and trapped.

In the workshop session this week I carried on with my final concept piece for the art test.

Art Test project Monkey Island

This week I have been very busy and managed to complete the project. I am very happy with the results and I think I worked hard in this project. I did enjoy the project a lot and believe I have been improving and getting a little quicker in my work speed.

This is my final twilight state character, as you can see I did stick with the barnacle design which I think works well. I didn't want to go to over the top with the differences from normal to twilight. The body shape has stayed the same and clothing, but now with added barnacles, starfish, crab, longer beard and eye design. I think this design looks a little creepy, this is what I wanted to go for making it look a little dark.

With the call out sheets I wanted to keep them well informed and easy to understand using colours and styled text. I also made the appearance on each using the same text font and adding a title for each with the font that I thought matched the theme, I also did his with the background.

This is my character in his shop in his normal state. I wanted to show the character behind his shop counter to make it seem more engaging with the scene. I added objects to match. I have also added lighting to this with the candles giving them a glow effect.

This is the twilight state shop scene, I have changed and added a few different objects to match the twilight state, I think both of the concept piece came out well. Overall this project has been very enjoyable I feel that I did well with the character design and have gotten good feedback from people who have seen my designs so far, which brings a confidence boost.

weekly summary

This week we were given our new brief which is to do fictional art test. We all got to choose to do which ever test we wanted. The options where to do a character or environment and asset pieces in 2D and there was also a 3D or development art test too. I chose to go with 2D character design, with this you had to create a shopkeeper character themed from the 1990's game series 'Monkey Island'. The character had to have a normal state and a twilight state. The project consists of two final design drawings of normal/twilight state, callout sheet for both and concept pieces for both characters in their underwater temple shop. The art style for this project had to be like from the Telltale gaming company. I am really happy with this project as I really enjoy the Telltale games and I really like the style of the games too.

In this week’s Z brush session, I added more detail to my model, it is now starting to gain characteristic and looking more like a creature which I am happy with. I have added teeth, to do this I used the displace brush and then used the move brush to place the teeth in their right place. I added scale like textures to the model using alpha brushes and I added with horns using the snake hook brush, I found this was the easiest way to achieve the horns. I made the stomach thinner also, as before it was too bloated looking and did not look anatomically correct with the shell. I have also made the neck longer; my tutor had helped me with this. I do really enjoy Z brush but I am still finding my way around the programme, there is a lot to take in at times.

On Wednesday we had a contextual studies lecture on games as sports, we looked into the history of sports as games as way back as the Romans. Games back then were entertainment, I guess the same applies today, but sports had a big social side to them, hundreds and thousands of people would go to the Colosseum in Rome to watch fighting in the arena. We also looked at the E sports market size, the total global gaming market in 2015 was $74.2 billion, with E sports a massive $892 million (2016).

On the Thursday we had our last anatomy lecture, we looked at sex differences, proportions, body types. This was a good lecture to end with I felt by the end of the lecture I had a better understanding of the human body and its proportions and differences I will take this knowledge with me. 

At the end of the week we had our workshop session, in the session I mainly did research for what my final twilight character could look like and what form the character could take. Also by the Friday I had the final design for the normal state drawn out. I was given some guidance on how to approach the painting process in a telltale style. I decided to go with the telltale walking dead series, with a touch of the game 'The wolf among us'.

Art test Monkey Island.

Because I have enjoyed this project so far I wanted to get straight into the project so I felt like I have gotten quite far this week with this project.

 These are the body shapes that I was happy with, my final image was based on these body types.

These are just some rough head designs for my main final shopkeeper character.

 This is my final normal state character. I am very happy with this painting and the design of the character in general. I tried to keep the Monkey Island theme going in this painting, by making the character have a bigger upper body and smaller legs and feet, by what research I did do on the characters of the game I found that most of the male characters had a similar body type. Overall on this piece I think I got the theme quite close to the brief, the art style in the form of Telltale I did try but it was a lot more difficult that I had hoped. Overall I think the Telltale style does show through a little by the adding of the solid lines on parts of the figure.

This was the mood board piece I had done in my workshop session this week. I have decided to stick with this idea for my twilight final state design.

These are just a few quick sketches of some Twilight state head designs.

Contextual Studies, Games as Sports Task

Take your two example games for the essay:

How inclusive are they for differently able-bodied players, do they make assumptions about the player’s body-type or exclude those with certain disabilities?

Pokemon Go - The game itself can be played by all ages from children to grown adults. If the player enjoyed watching the cartoon when they were younger or if a person is a fan of the franchise already this will give the player more possibility's to play. Some people who may have certain disabilities may struggle with this game as it is very active, the game makes you walk miles if it has too just so you can catch certain Pokemon or battle some gyms. People with disabilities such as Autism may also find this game difficult to play if not accompanied by a friend or carer depending on the players ability's and needs. They may struggle with the social aspect of the game, as it does bring big groups of people to popular places making the area very busy which may not agree with someone who may have low social skills.

Majestic - This game can not be played by children, the age for this game is 18 onward, this draws many away from this game already. I believe this game isn't for everyone because of it's topic on conspiracy. This may only interest a certain audience. People who are blind or deaf will also struggle to play this game because of the elements of communication that you receive in this game from such forms as being called, emails etc..., people with learning disabilities may struggle with this game also but the game does give the player a lot of information to process and put together logically, this can be difficult for some.

How does the meaning of your games change when they are played competitively or by a speed-runner?

Pokemon Go - The fun of the game will be taken away if you try to complete it as fast as you can, it would also be very difficult to collect all of the Pokemon in a certain amount of time. The only way that the player could make it easier to collect all Pokemon would be by downloading or using an app that shows you the Pokemon in the area and how long they will stay there for. The hype of the game would not last if you could play this game on a speed runner.

Majestic - I think to complete this game in a time limit it would be impossible as the player relies on the game itself to update you with information to progress to the next puzzle. If it was possible to obtain all the needed information to solve the story the game would be pointless.

Weekly Summary

This is the first week back from our Christmas break. Our first session this week we had a lecture on colour theory and how to use colours correctly. It was good to go over this again as the last time I did was a few years ago back in college.

This painting is using the Analogous colour harmony, the middle colour of the wheel shown here is very much more dominating than the other two, you can see this is the featured back area of this painting this is the portion pulling the eye to the back of the painting to the higher value of the blue hue. The other two hues on this wheel are much more saturated than the other middle hue on the wheel. The painting is giving off a cool temperature, but the skin tone here can bring a sense of warmth to the upper part of the painting.

 This painting is using Monochromatic colour harmony, this painting is using just one hue to give this painting it's atmosphere. The hue in this painting is being altered by different saturation and value adjustments. The painting is a lot darker in the foreground and going into lighter a hue the further the distance. The painting in itself has a cool temperature all round, With the added mist to this painting it does not give this painting a warmth feel at all.

This painting is using a complementary colour harmony. These two colours can work well together in a painting but if not used correctly they can conflict each other. The painting has a warm temperature because of the orange tones nearer the front and middle then changing into cooler tones at the back. The painting become quite saturated at the far back with the two tones mixing. This painting is very busy even though I think the painter has not done a bad job with mixing the two tones together.

In Z brush this week I continued with my Swamp creature. I did manage to add a bit more detail in this session. I was mainly spending most my time in this session getting a more solid shape and definition.

In contextual studies this week we looked at games as learning tools. I found this lecture quite interesting especially the part were we where told that the game 'Minecraft' is being used in some schools to teach children certain subjects like science. I think this is a brilliant way or teaching children. Most children nowadays who know the game and associate Minecraft as a fun past time, so when the children play this in schools they will be learning the subject as well as having fun. This is a great way to keep children's attention and I believe it will be used more in the coming years.

Also this week we had a VFX guest speaker come in called Lorene Bettker, she has worked on Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the new live action Beauty and the Beast. Her job in the industry is a lighting technical director. Although she does film this was still a lecture that I did take notes on and her experiences with employment,portfolios and the interview process was still good to know.

Also this week I was busy finishing my two final development pieces.

Development project


The focus this week for my development project was to get my snow soldier and samurai warrior characters completed to their final stages.

The second final piece that I completed was the snow solider, I found this to be the most difficult painting to complete because I was unsure on the design. Overall with the second piece when I was finishing up and adding the detail to the characters clothing etc...I started to get more into the painting and finally ended up with my final outcome. I added a snow mountain background with added characters and space craft for a added touch. I think the background for my second piece is stronger than my final tribal painting one, although I have a long way to go with learning how to paint backgrounds.

My final piece that I finished this week was the samurai warrior. I wanted this character to be very sci fi like, by doing this I added the glow lighting to his Armour and weapon. I added a dead persons hand to the painting to give the impression that the warrior has killed his enemy. I placed my character in a forest environment as I felt this to be the right setting, maybe I was influenced by a Tekken character called 'Yoshimitsu' as he is seen in a scene like a forest in the games. I added a lot of detail to this character with added blood and dirt for example, I did this because I wanted the viewer to gain a sense of story to the painting by adding such details. Overall I believe this is my strongest development final piece out of the others. I enjoyed the project and felt I had learnt a lot by doing this project. 

Contextual Studies, Games as Learning Tools Task.

Take your two example games for the essay:

Write a couple of paragraphs on what skills or knowledge these games might teach you, or might be used to demonstrate:

Pokemon Go and Majestic.
Pokemon Go - This game teaches you the importance of exercise, the game wants you to move to progress and to succeeded in catching all of the Pokemon available and while you move the possibility of the eggs that you have collected may hatch. The game also teaches you that you need to have a strong level Pokemon (CP) to stay the longest in a Pokemon gym, the aim is not to be booted out. 

Majestic - This game increases your logical ability because of how the game send you messages, emails or calls and gives you as the player clues to solve puzzles to develop and open more understandings of the story.

How transferable are these skills/information?

Pokemon Go and Majestic both transfer skills as keeping the player aware of others and surroundings, team work can be included, logic, both games also give the lesson that you must keep on going to achieve your final outcomes, you must work hard to get what you want from both games, if that is more Powerful Pokemon so you can battle other trainers, or to gain more information to fill in the gaps in a story that you must solve.

What kind of world-view does your game encourage, how might it make you see things differently?

Pokemon Go - may make you see people joining together forming friendships, being social and showing a more healthier attitude to lifestyle because of being more active and sociable.

Majestic - May make you see people coming together sharing information to help each other solve the story that game provides. And you my see people helping others with some of the logical clues who may struggle and working together to receive a final outcome.

How transparent is the game about the ways it manipulates the player?

Pokemon Go may manipulate the player by the achievement system in the game itself. Depending on how many Pokemon types you catch, how many miles you have walked all give the player a sense of achivement and doing so can keep the player from drifting from the game.

Majestic may manipulate the player by the calls, messages, emails etc..., that you receive at anytime of the day, the game could take control over some people's everyday tasks, thus keeping the player glued or waiting on what to come next. This can bring anxiety to the player as it can bring them out of reality.