Additional 2D Game Assets

Some final 2D assets I made a couple of days ago for the games project.

Final Version of Twig Lantern

For the game project I have created a new version of the checkpoint: a twig lantern.

However, this version needed some work. The inside of the lantern needed to be more nest-like and brambly.

Unfortunately, this model did not work with the current set up of the level. After discussion with my team it was decided that the handle needed to be changed to vines. Below is the final model:

Additional Game Model: Twig Lantern

For the game project I am working on, we are replacing the original lanterns with more natural twig lanterns. Personally, I like this decision as it will make the overall theme of the game more natural. Based on this design:

I have created the following model:

I believe this will work with the current design of the game. Below is a quick mockup:

Additional Game Assets

Some additional assets for the games project.
A small 3D lantern, less ornate than the original (shown below side by side):

Additional 2D background vine elements:

3D Model Development

For my games project I am creating several 3D assets which need to be modeled and animated. To start with I began by making some ‘prefab’ models to help my team gauge the scale:Of these, the only one needing to be resized was the bamboo water feature (it was half the necessary size). After this feedback I began modelling the assets, using the concepts I had previously created as a reference:As we are still in development stage, these are ‘first pass’ models which I will go back and fix up if time permits. All of my models, including the poly-count, are shown below:For the firefly, I have created a quick looping animation:

For the bamboo water feature I have created a looping animation:

The animation for the branch:

Menu and Credit Screens

Here are the main menu and credit screens that I have created for our games project.

Main menu:Credit Screen (we will be adding text to this and it will scroll slowly):

Branch Render Test

To see how the lighting, skinning and movement would work I created a extremely quick test of the moving tree branch. I used a cone as the tree branch and simply added bones and a skin modifier to it. There is also very simple lights to demonstrate how it might look. However I expect the final product to look different (and much better) as we are using the lighting within Unity.

Please note that, as this is just a test, I have not adjusted or fixed the smoothing groups, skinning or lights and used basic render settings.

New Team Name, New Logo

It turns out that there is already a games company called United Front. So we have changed our group name to Audeamus which is a Latin phrase meaning ‘Let us dare’. We thought this would be appropriate for our ambitious but determined attitude. Below is the logo design that I have created:

Game Concept Stuff

Working from my firefly concept (below) I have started fleshing out some concepts for our game pitch:Here is the moodboard I created. I have chosen images for the overall feel, stylization, use of colour and depth, lantern designs and colour palettes.
Using this moodboard and reference images I began developing some more concept sketches for the game.

Firefly model designs:Refinement of designs:
Title Artwork Concept – Version 1:Title Artwork Concept – Version 2:

After these I started to work on visualizations of the different interactive elements: the spiderweb, the normal lanterns and corrupt lanterns.

Visualization of Spiderweb:
Lantern design sketches:

Lantern Inactive:

Lantern Active (note how the branches have moved away):Cursed Lanterns:Here is a collage of the main aspects of design that give the game its feel and theme:Below is the visualization for ending of the game. At the moment we are thinking that the fireflies will leave the forest and return to the sky, as it they had been stars trapped on earth.
This is all for the moment, might be doing more concept work later.

A New Games Project

Once again, the game students have been given a new brief and just four weeks to design, create and complete a game. This time, however, we will be presenting the final project to industry professionals. So the pressure is on!

I am in a group with the game students David, Jayden and Stewart. Sam McLean (audio) will be in control of the audio and Vanja (animation) is possibly going to be helping out with the art and animation. Our team is called “United Front” as we are a collaboration of multiple disciplines and are all striving together to create the best game we can. I have created the following logo for our group. I chose to use strong geometry to match our name and attitude (it is a very basic logo):Today we got together as a group to discuss game ideas and concepts. The brief is rather tricky this time so we have a lot to consider when creating this game. Below is my contribution of rough concept ideas (plus sketches). Although most of these are unfeasible, we have started to seriously consider one of my concepts:I really look forward to creating this game and am quite positive that we will be to achieve our goals!

Game Character Concepts

For my games project, Trove of Thieves, I have come up with the initial character design. As we have limited time, I will make one character and two different textures. My character design is below:

Of course, these are just concepts and will be simplified when I model the character. The thief wears a hooded cloak and the hood will definitely be up so to eliminate the need for hair animation (I just drew it down for the concepts).

In addition to this I did a very quick sketch of the thief running with the hood up.

For this project I will be doing the following with this character:

• Modelling
• Unwrapping
• Texturing in the two different palettes
• Rigging
• Idle animation
  • Transition (although this might be handled by Unity)
• Run cycle
  • Animation of hood and cloak
• Basic death animation

For the run cycle I will be aiming for something similar to this (as suggested by Ben Lovegrove):

Game Project Aesthetics

Working with the my games group I have created some basic aesthetics for the game. Our game is a isometric turn-based multi-player in which clans of thieves protect their base while attempting to infiltrate their opponents. The main objective is seizing your opponents gold and all moves are based on 2d6 of probability. The game will be stylized and “cartoonish” in aesthetic. Here is the mood-board I have created for the game:

I have taken inspiration from Towerfall: Ascension, Bastion, Escape Goat, Besieged and Monument Valley. I love the colour palettes of these games and the stylized character designs. The smooth, painted textures of the 3D games (Bastion, Besieged and Monument Valley) are want I want to aim for – although this may be a bit out of scope.

Below is the refined colour palette for the game:

The two clans of thieves will be blue and pink respectively. Different traps will be depicted in the different shades. The cave environment will be mostly depicted in shades of purple. Various HUD aspects and other important items will be depicted in the golden shades of the text.

Taking all this into account I have tried to develop a logo which mostly accurately represents the game. My final design is below:

Here is a quick breakdown of my design:

• The colours reflect the palette of the game.
• The text and chosen symbols demonstrate the fantasy, rogue-ish setting
• The golden text and gold coins show the games main objective: gold
• The dice demonstrate the chance aspect of the game
• The two daggers show the combat and defense mechanisms
• The opposing colours of the daggers show the 1 versus 1 multi-player

Collaboration with Games

On Wednesday we got the opportunity to sit in on a Games Studio 1 class. In the class we looked at choice vs chance, different types of choices and different types of information. It was extremely interesting as I have been interested in games and game design for quite some time.

In addition to this we were given the option to collaborate with a team to make a game based around the “Turned Based Citizen” brief. I jumped at this chance and have been placed in a very good team with Shaun, Ben L and Harley. At the moment we already have a basic concept for the game, although we still need to flesh it out in order to pitch it on Tuesday.

My role within the group will mainly be art direction and animation. We have very different learning outcomes so I will be able to hit a lot of mine without taking any away from them.

I will be doing the following things:

• Art direction, colour palettes and character concepts
• Some character and environment modelling
• Unwrapping
• Texturing
• Looping and transitioning character animation
  • Walk cycles
  • Action cycles
  • Idle animations