lethegamesbeginmollyea

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Week 6 review

My target for week 6 was to complete any outstanding work along with completing the evaluation and game cover. I feel that I have achieved this target although I did struggle with my time management at times.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Evaluation

I started this project by looking into a variety of important social issues such as racism and sexism. I decided that I wanted to explore as many of these social issues through this project as possible as I feel that they are all extremely important. My concept for this project was a game in which an evil group of the higher class who call themselves the ‘pure’ decide they want to eliminate those they deem ‘Impure’ by having them compete in sick and twisted games. One day the ‘Pure’ take their schemes too far and put a child into these games, Two other competitors make it their mission to protect her and defeat this evil organisation once and for all. The story of my game explores social issues such as corruption, racism and sexism. The people the ‘Pure’ deem ‘Impure’ are those who are not White, straight, male etc... and the reason that they are able to carry out these horrific games is because their government is corrupt and desperate to 'Purify’ their world which is slowly falling into ruin.

Throughout this project, I have completed a series of researches on different movies, games Tv shows etc... that have links to the themes and ideas I am focusing on for this project along with other things such as various artists. These researches helped me develop, strengthen and refine my ideas for characters I wanted to create and what I wanted my game cover to look like. From this, I created a series of sketches, 6 character concept sheets and a cover for my game which I decided to call ‘Impure child’. My researches have helped me build up contextual information such as how these social issues can impact society and what themes and ideas would work well with my concept. My researches also informed my decisions of what aesthetics / styles I wanted to work with for this project as I had to evaluate what themes / styles would or would not work with my concept.

Examples of problems I encountered during this project include making sure my character's designs fit with the ideas I had with each character. I had very specific ideas for each of my characters and it was very difficult to illustrate and capture these ideas through my designs. I overcame this issue by looking at a lot of reference material of characters I felt had elements that I wanted to incorporate into my character designs. While I do still feel that there is a lot of room to improve with these designs, I am happy with the planning process and basis of the designs overall. From this project, I feel that I have developed a better understanding of how to create an effective character design, effective composition and effective colour schemes. I am happy with the progression and development of my work so far and hope to develop this further in the future as I still feel that there are many ways I could improve. For example, I feel I always struggle to create enough development sketches for my projects. I focused on this area for this project and, while I am satisfied with the results, I still feel as if I could potentially push this further in the future.

In conclusion, while I feel that I could have pushed myself further in certain areas, I am satisfied with the overall outcome of this project as I feel I have learnt a lot and discovered a lot more about my strengths and weaknesses and how to potentially improve on my weaknesses in future. In the future, I feel that it would be beneficial for me to spend more time on my character sheets and plan out my project more thoroughly with more in depth steps. I did create a checklist for myself for this project however I do not feel that it was in depth enough. Overall, while I am very satisfied with the outcome of my game cover, I feel that my character sheets could have been much better if I spent more time on them. Adding to this, in future I would like to work on better time management and see if I can use this along with a more detailed plan to focus on improving the areas I feel I am not as strong with as others.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Peer review - overall review

Good idea development with mind maps and research on a range of themes, the process of how you have chosen your themes is clearly visible. In addition to this you have shown how your chosen themes work with the ideas you have for this project as well as backing it up with research. There is also visible evidence of weekly targets and reviews that helped you keep up with the work, you have also explored different themes for different shows/games etc... as well as explaining how they have influenced your ideas. You have also further developed and refined ideas along with creating sketches for your characters with explanations about your aims for said characters, as well as researching different art styles which also link to your work. you could strengthen this by adding more sketches and a larger variety of art styles along with multiple facial expression, in addition to this you could look into further movies, Tv shows etc… which explore similar themes to further influence your ideas and strengthen your project.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Week 6 target

My target for week 6 is to complete any outstanding work along with completing the final steps of the project such as the evaluation and game cover. 

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Week 5 review

My target for week 5 was to complete my final outcome character designs along with looking into things such as my target audience and possibly create some additional sketches. Overall, I feel that I have mostly achieved this target however there are still some tasks I have left to complete.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Game cover

For this cover, I wanted to illustrate all Three main characters. I made this decision as they are all intended to be playable characters and therefore I feel my cover would be effective if it featured all of them. I also wanted to showcase all of my characters unique colour schemes which I feel I have achieved with the lighting effect I created for this cover. I feel that the colour scheme I chose to work with is very effective and visually appealing which is another aspect of this cover that I am happy with. Overall, I am very happy with the result of this cover. It was initially very challenging for me to generate ideas for this cover and I did not have high expectations. However, as I began to sketch out my ideas, I felt that my thought process was much more clear and organised. This cover was definitely challenging to create and I had to improvise with what works best with things such as the font (This is something I struggle with a lot when creating things such as covers). However, I felt that I overcame these challenges successfully and I am happy with the result of this cover overall.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Game cover experimentation

While creating my game cover, I experimented with different layer types and filters. These experiments lead me to create some interesting alternate versions of my cover and, while they are not as effective as my final outcome, I still think that they are interesting and they definitely helped me when it came to refining my final outcome. Overall, I feel that these alternate covers made my final outcome more effective as each one of them was a learning point on what would / wouldn’t work.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Game cover cover creation process

In order to create my game cover, I first created a sketch of my characters and planned out my composition. After this, I then created a line art layer in order to refine the sketch, I then set this layer to multiply. My next step was to fill in flat colours on each character, this gave me a much better idea on what the finished cover would look like and gave me ideas on how I could create effective lighting effects by working with the characters unique colour schemes. Next, I added some basic shadows /  highlights using multiply and overlay layers to add more depth and detail to my characters. I then experimented with different lighting styles until I found one that I was happy with, I chose to go with Blue / Pink lighting as it matches my characters colour schemes and ties together the overall themes of the piece. Finally, I added a background using skyline and pattern PNGs that I found on google and added text using a Squid game font which I then added texture to using a multiply layer. I created these lighting effects by using the gradient tool along with overlay and multiply layers. Overall, I am happy with the outcome of this piece and I feel that the methods I used while creating this cover were very effective when it came to achieving the effects I wanted.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Outcome comparison (FMP)

When comparing my more recent character sheets to some older character sheets, I can see that my newer character sheets demonstrate more of the character creation process and I feel that my newer designs look more well thought out and planned. However, since I only completed Two character sheets for the previous project compared to this project where I have completed Six, I have also improved when it comes to time management as I do not think I would have been able to achieve this for previous projects. While I do feel that my newer character sheets are particularly better than my previous character sheets skill wise, I feel that I have improved in many other ways and I am happy with the overall progression and development.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Outcome creation process

In order to create these character sheets, I first completed a basic pose sketch. I then went over the sketch in block colour and added in the rough shapes of the characters clothes, hair etc... After this, I went over the lines to create line art. O then used this to create a more refined version of the block colour sketches. After this I added in some basic highlights and shadows using overlay and multiply layers along with backgrounds and extra details. Overall, while there are areas of this process that I feel could have worked better, I am satisfied with the overall result.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Character sheet : Aurelia

For this characters design, I wanted to convey a very feminine and innocent feeling toward her. I did this by giving her a very light and colorful design along with giving her extremely feminine clothes and accessories. I also made this decision as I feel that this would help create a more interesting dynamic among the ‘pure’ class as her husband Septimus has a very dark color scheme and is clearly very sinister looking. I wanted this character to have a simplistic colour scheme but also one that stands out, I feel I have achieved this with the bright dress and bold accessories on his clothing. Overall, while I do feel like I could have potentially made this character design much more effective if I had more time, I am happy with the overall result of this character as I feel I have succeeded in conveying her in an innocent and feminine way.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Character sheet : Septimus

During the creation of this character sheet, I decided that I wanted to give this character darker clothes in order to illustrate that he is the most evil and corrupt and that he is the leader of the corrupt organisation in control of these games. I also attempted to give him a relatively blank stare / facial expression for the same reason as I feel that clearly illustrating the fact that he is the main villain within this story is important. Adding to this, his darker colour scheme makes him stand out more against the other ‘pure’ characters I have created as their color schemes are much brighter. Overall, while I would like to have been able to add further details to this character if given more time, I am happy with the overall result as I feel that I have conveyed the main traits of this character.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Character sheet : Fabian

I decided that I wanted this characters colour scheme to be quite simplistic and light, I did this as I wanted Septimus’ character design to stand out slightly more than Fabians as he is second in command. I also made the decision for his design to be slightly more simplistic for the same reasons. Furthermore, I also wanted this character to look less evil than Septimus to suggest it may be possible to persuade him to betray Septimus. Overall, while I do feel I could have made this character design more effective, detailed and neater if I had more time to do so, I am happy with the overall result as I still feel that I managed to successfully convey the ideas I had for this character.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Character sheet : Kane

During the process of this character sheet, I decided that I wanted this character to appear as if he has been trapped in these games for a long time. I did this by not giving him ‘normal’ clothing items such as shoes. I also made the decision to make the clothes he is wearing to look ragged and as if they were just found lying around. I felt that this decision would help me illustrate the fact that this character is a strong fighter as the fact he doesn’t have as much ‘protective’ clothing compared to some of my other characters which demonstrates how much of a strong and capable fighter he is. I wanted this character to have a simplistic colour scheme but also one that stands out, I feel I have achieved this with the bright hair and accents on his clothing. Overall, while I do feel that if I had more time to focus on and refine these designs they would be more effective, I am still satisfied with the outcome of this character sheet.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Character sheet : Jade

I decided that I wanted this character to appear mature and capable of taking care of and defending herself. I decided this as sexism is one of the many issues I tackled during the creation process of this game. I combatted this issue by creating a strong female lead character, able to defend herself and by creating a character who is not sexualised. Her outfit fits well with her main skill focus of stealth, but her clothes aren’t so small and skin-tight that she is overly sexualised. Her outfit is relatively mundane and the colour scheme is quite simplistic in order to not have her body be the focus of her design. Overall, I am satisfied with the outcome of these designs however I do feel that, given more time, I could have further refined this design and made it more effective as there are some details I am unsatisfied with.

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Character sheet : Celine

I decided that I wanted this character design to be very innocent and child-like as I want to focus on the fact that this character is a child (Preteen - 11/12/13) and someone the other characters are meant to protect. I feel that the fact this character is a child will portray the ‘pure’ as more evil and twisted as putting a child in a death game is considered extremely morally corrupt and I wanted to highlight that the ‘pure’ are evil. Throughout the games, I want this character to be kept away from any violence that may take place within the game. I plan on doing this by using a system where each level is suited for a specific character to ensure that this character will never be in a level where fighting or violence is necessary as her main focus is intelligence / puzzle solving. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome of this character design as I feel it conveys my ideas for this character very accurately. 

[lethegamesbeginmollyea]

Art style experimentation

For these experiments, I took portraits of 5 people who resembled One of my characters for this project and experimented with drawing, painting and art style. I first drew an outline over the images I was using, I then duplicated this layer and completed a coloured version. This gave me a better understanding of the facial structures of the people I was drawing. After this, I re drew these images in various different styles to experiment with and explore what type of style would work for the character I want to create. I then coloured this version to see what worked with my drawings and to see if the original facial structures I had drawn worked for my own versions as well. Overall, I am very satisfied with these sketches as I feel that they have given me a much better understanding of how human facial structures work and how I can use this to translate into my own work.