Unit 69 Assignment one- Drawing concept art for computer games

Why Concept Art Is Useful In Any Video Game

Concept art is used in games as a possible rough sketch for a model and /or a environment. They can be used to generate ideas or to create a certain mood in a area or object. Concept art is a idea you have in mind for video game (it's often written about or drawn roughly) and will be useful for when you develop your final product because you have an idea on what you're aiming for. Many artists will get inspiration on a creating concept art by reading the plot to gain a rough idea on what the mood of the environment and/or character should be like.

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/community/conceptart/               page 9

The picture above shows the first stage of creating concept art (which is creating a rough drawing). The picture above is concept art for a elf race in the Warcraft games. The next step is usually passing it off to a illustrator to create a more detailed image in preparation to create a 3D model. This piece of concept art is quite early in creation but the general feelings i get from this is the feeling of them very in touch with nature and perhaps there home is in a woodland setting. The image above makes me feel slightly intimidated because the faces of the elves are so unusual and to me they almost look fierce.

This is a more detailed image of this particular elf race.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0a/b1/63/0ab16357bcc9aa8354e6bdbbcf28b5f1.jpg

.
This step is very important for creating character models because it will give the people who designs them a much better idea on what and where details need to be added. As you can tell from the two images above  there have been many changes. Foremost amongst them is the change in facial features. The male does not have a set of antlers and both do not have leaves in there hair. There clothing and weapons do make them look primal which suits them well because in the game they mainly live in wooded areas. The uses of the colour green in the background amplify's this feeling additionally the male elf's long beard and there clothing adds to this.The main colours here seem to be brown, purple and green and to me these colours completely add to the feeling of them being primal and/or deeply connected to nature.

These are the male and female character models for this particular race.
http://www.scrollsoflore.com/gallery/albums/wow_renders/Night-Elf-Male-Warrior-2.jpg
http://oi61.tinypic.com/dvlilj.jpg

The picture above shows what the models look in game. I think the main differences in from the concept art and the models is that the male looks less muscular and much less primal. Since the game has many sets of weaponry and clothing which would allow you to modify what you look like.



The Feelings Generated By These Images
The main feelings generated by the first image was the feeling of them having a strong relation to nature, I feel this way because of the of the antlers on the males head and the leaves in the females hair. This feeling is amplified by the second image because of the color of the clothes mostly because I associate the color brown with trees and dirt.

A Elf city
http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/d50f2b06-6390-4370-8529-3c2245ac58c5/94d64e10-58d5-4875-87b0-d25355b29d95.jpg


This is the main elf city in world of warcraft. Because of the abundance of trees/shrubbery and water i feel that this greatly adds to feeling that they're heavily involved with nature. When i looked at these images one of the first things i noticed was the abundance of the colour purple (especially in the second and city image) and to me the colour purple symbolises mystery and magic.

t  

Unit 6: Critical Approaches to Creative Media Products

Introduction:
Questionnaires are a fast and efficient way to gather general information on a subject. Obviously there are some disadvantages in using questionnaires such as the inability to gather detailed answers. But there was no reason to go into extensive detail for the answers I wanted. Additionally the questionnaire was online so I received some answers which were not serious answers so these will have a negative impact on the feed back I've received.

To get a more detailed idea on what I should aim to do in my game I created two questionnaires. One is about the killer clowns from outer space film and the purpose of my questions in this was to find out what people thought of the film and what they enjoy/didn't enjoy about it , I also asked what they would change in the film if they had the chance to. In my second questionnaire was aimed specifically at creating my game. The main questions revolved around what genre to make the game and suggestions on what they recommend me adding to the game.


The results I gathered
On my first questionnaire I learned that the majority of the people has neutral feelings towards the film but nobody thought the movie was good. When asked 60% of the people didn't have a good or a bad opinion of it, a further 30% thought it was very bad. 10% of the responses s were not serious answers. When asked what they enjoyed about the film the majority said that they enjoyed nothing however a few people enjoyed the humor in the and the "cheesy 80's vibes". When I asked them what they would add/change in the film the main answers were not to make it at all or no more Mike.

In regards to my game i'm making 50% of the people wanted a horror game, 30% wanted a survival game and 20% wanted a shooter game. When asked what features want they want to see in my game the majority of people wanted a stealth element in the game. Other things what I will consider is hanging bodies of cotton candy too link it a little better to the film and possible character progression. I wanted recommendation for the age rating i should make the game, I asked this so I could find out what content I should add into the game. The majority wanted at 18+ or a 15+ game. (80%). I asked what view point they'd like the game to played in. 20% wanted to play in 3rd person 80% wanted to play in 1st person. I think playing in first person will amplify the effects of any horror I would add.

The majority of people either did not like it or had no feelings for it 

The majority of people want a horror game

Final Decision For My Game
The game style for my game will most likely be a survival/horror game. I will accomplish this by having a small amount of weapons...each one you'd have to find however you'll start off with a melee weapon. The majority of the weapons in the game will be melee weapons however you may be able to find a rifle or a shotgun of some kind as well.

Title	The Evil Within
Genre	Survival, Horror
Selection of content	Dark, atmospheric,
Construction of content	Survival, Escape,
Narrative conventions	Witnessing what happened. Surviving and escaping. Elements of stealth.
Codes and conventions	3rd person game. No health bar. Bloody screen to show you’re injured. Hard to kill enemies and limited resources.
Target demographic	18+ both sexes

Title	Outlast
Genre	Survival horror.
Selection of Content	Dark, claustrophobic, atmospheric
Construction of content	Survival, escape, hide,
Narrative conventions	Escaping the area, hiding from enemies.
Codes and Conventions	1st person game, No health bar, bloody screen or character effects such as limping to show you’re injured. No way to kill enemies
Target Demographic	18+ both sexes

Title	My game
Genre	Survival horror, shooter
Selection of content	Dimly lit, exploration
Construction of content	Linear, objective based
Narrative convention	Objective based, elements of stealth, finding weapons. Difficult enemies
Codes and conventions	No health bar, limited and hard to find ammo, Traditional weapons, Mostly melee weapons,
Target demographic	Adult

Media Text
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q97yE2zkNvs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2qITQHud2I&t=20s

Outlast and The Evil Within are immediately recognized as horror games just by watching the trailer. The grotesque creatures also show it is a clear horror game. Both trailers show that they're set in a dark, foreboding and evil looking place which are full of dangerous and hard to kill/immortal enemies. Both show and gore in the trailer and as you can tell from the trailer, you will have to do a larger amount of running from the enemies instead of going in there to kill them all. In the posters below you can tell each one depicts a scene of horror. The Evil Within poster immediately draws your attention to the barbed wire wrapped around the person's face and you can tell that the person is screaming. To me this symbolizes that the game is not for the faint of heart and that this is certainly a adult game. The Outlast poster clearly shows that it is also a horror game but in a different way. Outlast brings your attention to a rather aggressive looking figure in the background. You can instantly tell this figure is evil by it's very sinister grin on it's face and the brightness in its eyes. In addition to making it look more scary, the color scheme (black and green) to be indicates the color of a dark place (almost like it's in a night vision camera) and it shows that the area is dimly lit.

Poster for The Evil Within
http://8-themes.com/6328-poster-game-the-evil-within/

Poster for outlast
http://www.redbarrelsgames.com/games/outlast/

Genre

The genre of these games are all survival horror games. The evil within also has some elements of a shooter game. I think what makes a good survival horror game is the perhaps the feeling of isolation you can get from them. Most survival horror games are single player so that you can get the most out of the feeling the game is trying to convey, whether it is shock, fear or any other kind of emotion. In my opinion Outlast is the better survival horror game due to lack of weapons or any way to defend yourself. Once you in contact with a enemy your only choice is to run and hide. I was to take inspiration from this for my game except you will get a way to defend yourself but nevertheless the enemies will be very hard to kill and there will be one which will be impossible to kill.

Selection of Content
When you play both of these games the first thing you will notice is they are both set indoors and and are both set during the evening. Each of the environment's they're set in is usually dark or dimly lit, however when some kind of lighting is used it is usually used to illuminate a important location.The enemies usually are deformed or possess some form of disfigurement. Some have burn scars, some are missing limbs, some have parts of there flest exposed but almost all of them look like they're malnourished which i believe add s to the horror because if the rotting and possible missing limbs are not obvious enough that should make it obvious. The enemies weapons are also varied but they are often things like jagged knives, machete's or butcher cleavers.

Construction of Content
Both games are set in a indoor environment. In many ways having a indoor environment can limit your exploration of the game however for these kind of games it it perfect. The enclosed spaces and the imminent threat of a enemy gives the feeling of claustrophobia because there are less ways you can run and if you get cornered you are guaranteed to die. The layout of the levels is almost maze like and it is easy to get lost.

Codes and Conventions
Outlast is a first person survival horror and The evil within is and 3rd person survival horror game. The HUD allows you to see the events unfold right in front of you within interference from a health bar or any thing else like that. You will get messages appear on your telling your next objectives occasionally. Your health usually determined by any blood what appears on your screen or something what happens to your character such as limping. Both games are photo realistic and the characters each seem normal to me. The player character looks like a ordinary person on the enemies in both games and all of your enemies do look like something what you'd expect. The scenes in the levels are often blood and gore filled and the lighting is something you need to get right in a horror game because i believe it is one of the most important things to get right, if it is done right the lighting alone can instantly tell you that this place is very dangerous.

Target Demographic
I believe that these kind of games are tailored towards both sexes equally because many people enjoy horror games and movies. Unlike the shooter genre i believe that the horror genre is suited to both sexes. These games are created for adults only and I wouldn't want a child to play these kind of games especially since they are very gory games and have scary scenes. I suspect these games are mostly brought by people living in urban environments because that is where the majority of the game stores are.