I'm next going to try out Cat's robot character, and am also waiting for finished/updated designs from Tom and Jay so that I can get used to their characters before I attempt the magazine/marketing poster.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
Some quick sketches
Just some more quick sketches of different characters. Trying to get a feel of their personalities by their posture, etc I guess.
I'm next going to try out Cat's robot character, and am also waiting for finished/updated designs from Tom and Jay so that I can get used to their characters before I attempt the magazine/marketing poster.
I'm next going to try out Cat's robot character, and am also waiting for finished/updated designs from Tom and Jay so that I can get used to their characters before I attempt the magazine/marketing poster.
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Lucretia continued
Yeah I know...Lucretia again sorry. This is actually quite an important part of my project though as this is the beginning image for my animated rotation.
I'm using reference from the wonderful site Pose Maniacs which is proving to be incredibly useful and helpful.
Hoping to have some full body character sketches done by the end of tonight that I'll upload later.
As of now, have a full bio:
Name: Lucretia
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Rank: Warrior
Height: 5"2
Personality: Very aggressive and unpredictable- she has to be kept in check by a higher ranking warrior. A very capable fighter, it is difficult to check her urge for battle. Lucretia wields both long range and melee weapons. Although Lucretia is known for being a quiet and intimidating woman, she's not a stupid character, and is very much capable of working out a situation and has a fantastic eye for battle.
History: Lucretia has no special background story explaining her rather odd personality. She is what she is. She learnt to fight at a young age as was the custom of her people.
A very independent character, Lucretia has spent the past 9 years moving from mercenary band to mercenary band, looking for the best war zones and battles. She has most recently attached herself to the crew of the Waterbug, and much to her bemusement feels comfortable and at home on board the ship.
Lucretia
A single close up of Lucretia, and an ultimate version to her costume that I had forgotten to upload.
I want to redesign her sword to be less Katana like to be more of a European like design- maybe like a Viking long sword.
I've also decided what I will animating for the character selection screen- Lucretia will draw her sword aggressively, look angry, etc.
As Lucretia is my chosen final character to work on, I know have to begin to think about a bio for her- Name, age, gender, height, history, personality etc.
I have a very basic idea so far, so in my next post I'll be writing out a more detailed bio about her.
So far I have:
Name: Lucretia
Age: Undecided
Gender: Female
Rank: Warrior
Height: 5"2
Personality: Very aggressive and unpredictable- she has to be kept in check by a higher ranking warrior. A very capable warrior, it is difficult to check her urge to fight. Lucretia wields both long range and melee weapons.
History: Undecided
I'd also like to have a partnered character that would act as a lead for Lucretia- they'd keep her under control, stop her from destroying things, killing unnecessarily, etc. I'll ask the rest of the group what the personalities of their characters are like, and if nothing would fit, then I'll quite happily create a more simple side character, maybe more of a quadruped design then a biped would be fun and would be some variation to the game.
I want to redesign her sword to be less Katana like to be more of a European like design- maybe like a Viking long sword.
I've also decided what I will animating for the character selection screen- Lucretia will draw her sword aggressively, look angry, etc.
As Lucretia is my chosen final character to work on, I know have to begin to think about a bio for her- Name, age, gender, height, history, personality etc.
I have a very basic idea so far, so in my next post I'll be writing out a more detailed bio about her.
So far I have:
Name: Lucretia
Age: Undecided
Gender: Female
Rank: Warrior
Height: 5"2
Personality: Very aggressive and unpredictable- she has to be kept in check by a higher ranking warrior. A very capable warrior, it is difficult to check her urge to fight. Lucretia wields both long range and melee weapons.
History: Undecided
I'd also like to have a partnered character that would act as a lead for Lucretia- they'd keep her under control, stop her from destroying things, killing unnecessarily, etc. I'll ask the rest of the group what the personalities of their characters are like, and if nothing would fit, then I'll quite happily create a more simple side character, maybe more of a quadruped design then a biped would be fun and would be some variation to the game.
Revising the to do list
1. Character designs
Lucretia (done)
Switch (done)
Thea (done)
Heroic captain (done)
2. Leviathan designs
Initial designs with basic colour and textures (done)
3. Character turn arounds
Basic Lucretia- front, back and side views (done)
Om Nom the Leviathan- side, above and front on views (done)
Detailed animated Lucretia turn around (in progress)
4. Environmental designs
New world map
Waterfalls
Jungle
Desert
5. Creature designs for environments *
Quadruped
Biped
Flying creatures
"Pet" creature
6. Promotional products
Facial sketches of others characters (In progress)
Magazine poster
Disk cover
In game propagander *
8. Modeling
Zbrush modelling *
Clay modelling *
9. Final Piece
Character selection screen design
Character platform design
Simple animation depicting characters personality
Animated character rotation (In Progress)
Work to be done over Easter holidays:
Character selection screen design (Week 1)
Character platform design (Week 1)
Detailed animated rotating Lucretia (Week 2)
Marketing poster (Week 3)
Simple portrait of Lucretia for character selection screen (Week 3)
Lucretia (done)
Switch (done)
Thea (done)
Heroic captain (done)
2. Leviathan designs
Initial designs with basic colour and textures (done)
3. Character turn arounds
Basic Lucretia- front, back and side views (done)
Om Nom the Leviathan- side, above and front on views (done)
Detailed animated Lucretia turn around (in progress)
4. Environmental designs
New world map
Waterfalls
Jungle
Desert
5. Creature designs for environments *
Quadruped
Biped
Flying creatures
"Pet" creature
6. Promotional products
Facial sketches of others characters (In progress)
Magazine poster
Disk cover
In game propagander *
8. Modeling
Zbrush modelling *
Clay modelling *
9. Final Piece
Character selection screen design
Character platform design
Simple animation depicting characters personality
Animated character rotation (In Progress)
Work to be done over Easter holidays:
Character selection screen design (Week 1)
Character platform design (Week 1)
Detailed animated rotating Lucretia (Week 2)
Marketing poster (Week 3)
Simple portrait of Lucretia for character selection screen (Week 3)
Wednesday 17 March 2010
New plans for final piece
As I said in my last post, our group has dramatically changed our plans as to what we are going to produce as assets for this game.
Originally we were going to attempt a ridiculously long teaser trailer/cut scene for the game, and then realised that it was intimedating members of the group and was also killing morale. Basically, it was too much, in too little time, and also way too much for our abilities to handle. So yeah...waaaaaay too ambitious.
So what we are doing now is the character selection screen.
Here are some examples from existing games such as Tekken to help illustrate what I'm going on about.
So the first screen would be sorta like this, although with only the boxes containing the character portraits. The player would move the cursor along until they choose what character they want, press the selection button, and then the camera would zoom out to a full figure of the chosen character. The character will then do a short animation that will reflect their personality type, and the camera would zoom back in slightly to focus on the character standing on a platform, like below.
Although our screen will show the characters full design, the character will also be rotatable, and next to it will be a bio, detailing the characters name, age, gender, history, etc.
The environment and the platform will be 3D and modelled by Cat I think, and the characters will be 2D. Everyone will be drawing a full length detailed picture of their character, so that everyone will get a chance to show off their style, have a chance to try different things, and so that it is also easier to recognise who's work is who's.
So I need to decide which of my 3 main characters I'm going to use for this, although I'd love to do more than one, I guess it depends on time as I also have loads of other stuff to do for the game.
I think I'm gonna go with Lucretia for the moment- I'm going to have to think of some kind of action to animate her doing that will illustrate as to how mad and psychotic she tends to be.
I'm way more excited to be doing this than the original idea. I feel I'll be much more useful and able to help with this idea, rather than a daft trailer :P I'm excited about the project again XD
Originally we were going to attempt a ridiculously long teaser trailer/cut scene for the game, and then realised that it was intimedating members of the group and was also killing morale. Basically, it was too much, in too little time, and also way too much for our abilities to handle. So yeah...waaaaaay too ambitious.
So what we are doing now is the character selection screen.
Here are some examples from existing games such as Tekken to help illustrate what I'm going on about.
So the first screen would be sorta like this, although with only the boxes containing the character portraits. The player would move the cursor along until they choose what character they want, press the selection button, and then the camera would zoom out to a full figure of the chosen character. The character will then do a short animation that will reflect their personality type, and the camera would zoom back in slightly to focus on the character standing on a platform, like below.
Although our screen will show the characters full design, the character will also be rotatable, and next to it will be a bio, detailing the characters name, age, gender, history, etc.
The environment and the platform will be 3D and modelled by Cat I think, and the characters will be 2D. Everyone will be drawing a full length detailed picture of their character, so that everyone will get a chance to show off their style, have a chance to try different things, and so that it is also easier to recognise who's work is who's.
So I need to decide which of my 3 main characters I'm going to use for this, although I'd love to do more than one, I guess it depends on time as I also have loads of other stuff to do for the game.
I think I'm gonna go with Lucretia for the moment- I'm going to have to think of some kind of action to animate her doing that will illustrate as to how mad and psychotic she tends to be.
I'm way more excited to be doing this than the original idea. I feel I'll be much more useful and able to help with this idea, rather than a daft trailer :P I'm excited about the project again XD
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Character sketches
Some sketches of characters that will be featured in our game.
First off is Tom's character, who doesn't yet have a name.
Second character is Dave's character, currently called Wip.
Just getting used to everyones characters before I start designed marketing posters for the games.
Also, our final idea for the project has changed, which I will update in my next post.
First off is Tom's character, who doesn't yet have a name.
Second character is Dave's character, currently called Wip.
Just getting used to everyones characters before I start designed marketing posters for the games.
Also, our final idea for the project has changed, which I will update in my next post.
Monday 15 March 2010
Hair? Or no?
Which one to go for? o.O Mohawk methinks?
This is Ike, the captain at the begining of our game, who sacrifices himself to save the players character and the innocent population of the Ark who are left to die.
This is just the initial concept for this character, I'll develope it more once I show the rest of the group and am given the green light to do moar.
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Om Nom!!
Yes....the Leviathan that attacks and destroys a city and attacks the Ark is affectionatly known as "Om Nom".
Om Nom is the product of many hundreds of years of nuclear and chemical waste. "She" (and I say that loosely), is a massive monstrosity, a deformation, a creature totally out of place. Her massive size makes her constantly need huge amounts of food.
Before the attack on the city, the Leviathan is just a legend- a sort of futuristic and much scarier Loch Ness Monster if you will. People talk about it, and it's a story used to scary children into behaving, but no one has ever seen it and brought back hard proof of her existance.
Right, so to design this I realised that I would have to make her look like she belonged on earth, and wasn't just dumped there, or looks the way she does cause it's pretty.
I looked at a lot of existing Leviathan concepts, and disliked many that I saw, until I came across a more whale based design. So Om Nom became a giant, mutated whale. Yeah.
(Click image to view larger...same with the image further down).
The above image is the initial head shot design I did. It was to get a basic feel of her head shape and structure, her colouring and also the textures. As she lived for years and years so far down, she'll be covered in barnicles. She has developed gills, as well as a lung system. Also, just because she's the biggest, baddest thing in the sea doesn't mean that her prey doesn't fight back- she's covered in battle scars, and has chips and knocks in her plated armour.
After the design was approved by the rest of the group, I went on to design her body structure, and provide Cat with a turn around of Om Nom so that she can model her.Yup...that tiny little whale along side her is a Blue Whale. I'm not sure yet as to whether that this scale is realistic really...if it prooves to be daft then I'll scale her down.
Also, those tendrils are very much like the lure an Angler fish uses to draw in its prey. Om Nom has control as to how much they glow, pulse or flash, which can cause varying degrees of stun. Being so large, she's no where near as swift and agile as her prey, and so has to use ambush methods in order to ensure a meal is gained.
So yup; this is Om Nom. Once Cat has modelled her, I'll be doing (or rather attempting) the texture map to give her colour and what not. Yup....
Om Nom is the product of many hundreds of years of nuclear and chemical waste. "She" (and I say that loosely), is a massive monstrosity, a deformation, a creature totally out of place. Her massive size makes her constantly need huge amounts of food.
Before the attack on the city, the Leviathan is just a legend- a sort of futuristic and much scarier Loch Ness Monster if you will. People talk about it, and it's a story used to scary children into behaving, but no one has ever seen it and brought back hard proof of her existance.
Right, so to design this I realised that I would have to make her look like she belonged on earth, and wasn't just dumped there, or looks the way she does cause it's pretty.
I looked at a lot of existing Leviathan concepts, and disliked many that I saw, until I came across a more whale based design. So Om Nom became a giant, mutated whale. Yeah.
(Click image to view larger...same with the image further down).
The above image is the initial head shot design I did. It was to get a basic feel of her head shape and structure, her colouring and also the textures. As she lived for years and years so far down, she'll be covered in barnicles. She has developed gills, as well as a lung system. Also, just because she's the biggest, baddest thing in the sea doesn't mean that her prey doesn't fight back- she's covered in battle scars, and has chips and knocks in her plated armour.
After the design was approved by the rest of the group, I went on to design her body structure, and provide Cat with a turn around of Om Nom so that she can model her.Yup...that tiny little whale along side her is a Blue Whale. I'm not sure yet as to whether that this scale is realistic really...if it prooves to be daft then I'll scale her down.
Also, those tendrils are very much like the lure an Angler fish uses to draw in its prey. Om Nom has control as to how much they glow, pulse or flash, which can cause varying degrees of stun. Being so large, she's no where near as swift and agile as her prey, and so has to use ambush methods in order to ensure a meal is gained.
So yup; this is Om Nom. Once Cat has modelled her, I'll be doing (or rather attempting) the texture map to give her colour and what not. Yup....
Character Designs!
So after deciding that everyone in the group was to do at least one character concept, I decided to do a few more, as it's what I want to specialise in. I also took this as an oppertunity to blow the dust off some older characters and develope them into stronger personalities.
First up are these guys: (click on the image to see a large and detailed version)
From left to right are: Jason "Switch" Briggs, Lucretia and Thea'nor.
Only Switch and Lucretia are older characters, and here is what I developed them from. Please bare in mind that these images are very old now ^^'
Original Lucretia Designs- These are from Jan. 2007 >.< Another, very recent version of her costume- This was done a couple of months ago before I moved away further from the cheesy look, and give her the more sci-fi design that she has now.
The image below is the newest and most simplfied version of her design, and although the anatomy sucks (I used a reference for the above images, but not the one below), I think it shows her costume pretty well. It fits her personality, whilst being much more pratical than her older designs, and manages to retain just a hint of cheese :D
Although I have the other 2 characters, Lucretia is going to be the main one I focus on. I hope to try and do a 2D pixel sprite of her at some point (as long as I dont run out of time!)
Switch is based off another very old character, and I'm finally happy with his design also.
Cringe worthy Switch portrait- Although you can't see it from this image, Switch's design has changed hell of a lot. Well, his costume design anyway, which I also think fits the game much more. Unfortunatly I don't have the original full body design, but believe me when I say that I based nothing of his new design on it.
I decided to keep Switch's personality very much the same- he's a very friendly, easy going character, who is very much aware of his good looks, resulting in him being as vain as a peacock and thinking he is quite the ladies man.
Oh look! Another awful older drawing >.<
If you've read this far, then you deserve a bloody medal. Not much further to go now, I promise!
Thea, is a totally new character, but is based off another old species of mine. Thea is really only there to look pretty and give the game a kind of sex appeal I guess? *cringe* Haven't thought up much of a personality yet.
And with that, I shall end your misery and this horribly long post >.<
Thanks if you got all the way through this!
First up are these guys: (click on the image to see a large and detailed version)
From left to right are: Jason "Switch" Briggs, Lucretia and Thea'nor.
Only Switch and Lucretia are older characters, and here is what I developed them from. Please bare in mind that these images are very old now ^^'
Original Lucretia Designs- These are from Jan. 2007 >.< Another, very recent version of her costume- This was done a couple of months ago before I moved away further from the cheesy look, and give her the more sci-fi design that she has now.
The image below is the newest and most simplfied version of her design, and although the anatomy sucks (I used a reference for the above images, but not the one below), I think it shows her costume pretty well. It fits her personality, whilst being much more pratical than her older designs, and manages to retain just a hint of cheese :D
Although I have the other 2 characters, Lucretia is going to be the main one I focus on. I hope to try and do a 2D pixel sprite of her at some point (as long as I dont run out of time!)Switch is based off another very old character, and I'm finally happy with his design also.
Cringe worthy Switch portrait- Although you can't see it from this image, Switch's design has changed hell of a lot. Well, his costume design anyway, which I also think fits the game much more. Unfortunatly I don't have the original full body design, but believe me when I say that I based nothing of his new design on it.
I decided to keep Switch's personality very much the same- he's a very friendly, easy going character, who is very much aware of his good looks, resulting in him being as vain as a peacock and thinking he is quite the ladies man.
Oh look! Another awful older drawing >.<
If you've read this far, then you deserve a bloody medal. Not much further to go now, I promise!
Thea, is a totally new character, but is based off another old species of mine. Thea is really only there to look pretty and give the game a kind of sex appeal I guess? *cringe* Haven't thought up much of a personality yet.
And with that, I shall end your misery and this horribly long post >.<
Thanks if you got all the way through this!
To do list?
This is the third time I've had to type this out now D: Blogger keeps throwing a massive hissy fit >.<
As our group is quite large, and we have longer than usual to do a project, our work load is going to be much bigger.
So here is what I plan to take on, (this is going to turn into a horribly long post >.<) and although I may not do everything, I hope to try a lot of new things as well as my usual comfort area concept art. If there is a "*" next to anything on the list, then it's an optional thing that I would like to do if I have enough time.
1. Character designs
Lucretia (done)
Switch (done)
Thea (done)
Heroic captain
2. Leviathan designs
Initial designs with basic colour and textures (done)
3. Character turn arounds
Lucretia- front, back and side views (done)
Om Nom the Leviathan- side, above and front on views (done)
4. Environmental designs
New world map
Waterfalls
Jungle
Desert
5. Creature designs for environments *
Quadroped
Biped
Flying creatures
"Pet" creature
6. Sprites *
Lucretia
Creature
7. Promotional products
Magazine poster
Disk cover
In game propagander *
8. Modelling
Texture mapping
Zbrush modelling *
Clay modelling *
As our group is quite large, and we have longer than usual to do a project, our work load is going to be much bigger.
So here is what I plan to take on, (this is going to turn into a horribly long post >.<) and although I may not do everything, I hope to try a lot of new things as well as my usual comfort area concept art. If there is a "*" next to anything on the list, then it's an optional thing that I would like to do if I have enough time.
1. Character designs
Lucretia (done)
Switch (done)
Thea (done)
Heroic captain
2. Leviathan designs
Initial designs with basic colour and textures (done)
3. Character turn arounds
Lucretia- front, back and side views (done)
Om Nom the Leviathan- side, above and front on views (done)
4. Environmental designs
New world map
Waterfalls
Jungle
Desert
5. Creature designs for environments *
Quadroped
Biped
Flying creatures
"Pet" creature
6. Sprites *
Lucretia
Creature
7. Promotional products
Magazine poster
Disk cover
In game propagander *
8. Modelling
Texture mapping
Zbrush modelling *
Clay modelling *
The plot...or other...
A long time in the future, in a place not so far away...
The year is 3022
You are a high ranking military officer in the Global Government;
mankind has all but destroyed the planet- the polar icecaps have melted covering the planet in water. What is left of the land masses are inhospitable for humans, and the water is highly toxic and undrinkable due to its corruption from chemical and nuclear factories under its surface. Food and fuels are hard to come by and are rationed by the government and sold illegally on the black market.
Man kind has been forced uner the waves to leave in gigantic under sea cities, on one of which is where you, the player, begins your quest.
It's time to get off this planet...
Within the largest underwater city, Poseidon, the Global Government has built a gigantic ship fittingly named The Ark, loaded with as much fuel and food as the government can gather, as well as important individuals, the Ark prepares to leave earth when suddenly a giant Leviathan, having scented the large amount of food horded into one place emerges from the deep and begins devouring the city and ship.
Mr.X (we need a name!), the selfish and corrupt leader of the Global Government decides that rather than going down with his ship, or saving his crew or anything honourable like that, he and his First Mates gather up the fuel and food and escape in one of the ships cargo vessels...
Meanwhile you and your superior are forced to load up another cargo vessel with as many survivors as possible. Your superior sacrifices himself to get you underneath a closing airlock.
Your ship launches and flies speedily after Mr.X but unfortunately he escapes...
15 years pass...
You are the captain of a ragtag crew of miss fits aboard your starship The Waterbug.
Your goals are to survive in this strange new gallaxy and raise a rebellion, track down Mr.X and avenge the crew of The Ark.
Yes...it's basically a copy and paste job from DA, but this is our basic story line. We're still hammering out the details, so once we have a more polished version then I'll update with that, hopefully with some story boarding too. >.<>.<
Basically, the player gets to choose from a number of different characters designed by us, and this character is the one you stay with through out the game and who eventually becomes captian. You also have a lot of control over other characters and professions, choosing who you want for which mission, and what they do.
So far, we've decided that the player can choose from three options as to which angle to play from- First person, third person or over the shoulder. I think this will be a big advantage for the player, as they wont be stuck with just one view point. For example, I tend to avoid First person games, only because I find them much harder to control, and so don't enjoy them as much as third person games. So by giving the player more options, I think we're designing our game to be much more flexible.
Right oh! The next post will be introducing the character designs I have so far, and how I went about creating them.
The year is 3022
You are a high ranking military officer in the Global Government;
mankind has all but destroyed the planet- the polar icecaps have melted covering the planet in water. What is left of the land masses are inhospitable for humans, and the water is highly toxic and undrinkable due to its corruption from chemical and nuclear factories under its surface. Food and fuels are hard to come by and are rationed by the government and sold illegally on the black market.
Man kind has been forced uner the waves to leave in gigantic under sea cities, on one of which is where you, the player, begins your quest.
It's time to get off this planet...
Within the largest underwater city, Poseidon, the Global Government has built a gigantic ship fittingly named The Ark, loaded with as much fuel and food as the government can gather, as well as important individuals, the Ark prepares to leave earth when suddenly a giant Leviathan, having scented the large amount of food horded into one place emerges from the deep and begins devouring the city and ship.
Mr.X (we need a name!), the selfish and corrupt leader of the Global Government decides that rather than going down with his ship, or saving his crew or anything honourable like that, he and his First Mates gather up the fuel and food and escape in one of the ships cargo vessels...
Meanwhile you and your superior are forced to load up another cargo vessel with as many survivors as possible. Your superior sacrifices himself to get you underneath a closing airlock.
Your ship launches and flies speedily after Mr.X but unfortunately he escapes...
15 years pass...
You are the captain of a ragtag crew of miss fits aboard your starship The Waterbug.
Your goals are to survive in this strange new gallaxy and raise a rebellion, track down Mr.X and avenge the crew of The Ark.
Yes...it's basically a copy and paste job from DA, but this is our basic story line. We're still hammering out the details, so once we have a more polished version then I'll update with that, hopefully with some story boarding too. >.<>.<
Basically, the player gets to choose from a number of different characters designed by us, and this character is the one you stay with through out the game and who eventually becomes captian. You also have a lot of control over other characters and professions, choosing who you want for which mission, and what they do.
So far, we've decided that the player can choose from three options as to which angle to play from- First person, third person or over the shoulder. I think this will be a big advantage for the player, as they wont be stuck with just one view point. For example, I tend to avoid First person games, only because I find them much harder to control, and so don't enjoy them as much as third person games. So by giving the player more options, I think we're designing our game to be much more flexible.
Right oh! The next post will be introducing the character designs I have so far, and how I went about creating them.
Game on!
Right oh, been way too long since I updated this thing. I really need to get the hang of this so that I start using it when ever I create something new.
So... this term I am in a group with Cat, Dave, Jay and Tom, and our newest project is a Sci-fi and steam punk based game.
This would be our group DeviantArt account---> Wenches and Mead. God knows why we chose that name, Dave and I listen to too much pirate metal XD
So I guess I should start posting about this project then- early appologises about the amount of posts about to appear, but I want to explain my thought process and what not about each piece. Etc....so yarrr....away I go?
So... this term I am in a group with Cat, Dave, Jay and Tom, and our newest project is a Sci-fi and steam punk based game.
This would be our group DeviantArt account---> Wenches and Mead. God knows why we chose that name, Dave and I listen to too much pirate metal XD
So I guess I should start posting about this project then- early appologises about the amount of posts about to appear, but I want to explain my thought process and what not about each piece. Etc....so yarrr....away I go?
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