L3 Extended-Audience Project

Audience Project.

In this project I will be exploring different franchises and picking a certain franchises style that we must work in. The audience is the employers of a franchise that we want to work for in the future. This project is a great way to see how we adapt to different styles so in the future we can work for various companies.



Project Timetable:

Here is my first plan of a project time table. I am going to try my best to stick to this so I don't come off track when planning this project. To hit most of these targets I have to be on time when it comes to my work otherwise I am going to fall behind.

This is not my final plan/draft I will probably change it in the future depending on how I keep up with the work load.

Asset List:

• Characters
• Props
• Environments

Mind maps:

Game Companies that interest me:

In the picture above I have selected some companies that styles interest me and examples of the type of games that they make. After thinking through what style would suit me best I think Nintendo is definitely in my top 3. The reason I decided to keep Nintendo in my top three is because the company has a lot of variety in their certain game franchises that I could work in the style in.

Game franchises styles that I had considered to work with:

In the picture above I have selected 10 different franchises I would like to work in. One being my my favourite, second being a similar style to the first option and The third option being a different style but a style I find very interesting and unique.

What type of assets I am interested in making:

Here are some assets I have considered making. I have numbered each individual section from one to three. One being my first choice, two being my second and third being my least favourite of the bunch but still an option.

Company research:

Nintendo:

Sega:

Bandai Namco:

After researching all of these companies I found out that there really isn't much information on them besides the basic history for the company and the game they make. I cannot find any information on their artists or their software.

Stages that inspire me:

All the pictures above are screenshots of in games stages that I liked and decided to compile the all into one place for inspiration.

Photographic Reference:

Here are some pictures I took myself for some primary research, even though the internet can be used there was some angles that I could only get when taking my own pictures. These stages are ones that stand out to me because they are very appealing to the eye.

10+ Ideas:

Work in progress.

5 Ideas:

Work in progress.

2 Ideas:

Work in progress.

Final Idea:

For my final idea I have decided to create a smash bros themed stage. The reason for this is because I like how open the style for a stage is in smash bros. You can create any game and it could be imported into smash brothers aslong as it fits the age rating bracket.

Dissecting their art style:

Here are two levels taken from smash brother Wii U. This is the most recent instalment in the franchise and the most graphically advanced. So i decided to dissect the two level by picking out the colours in each scene to get a basic idea of what colour pallets they use for certain themed stages.

Project Proposal:

This is a presentation I did in front of my peers, the objective was to present our ideas and gain feedback and suggestions on the topic.

Software I am using this project.

In this project I am using Photoshop to digitise my art. I am also using Maya for the 3D modelling and I am using unreal engine to apply animated texture on my model.

Silhouettes:

Here is my stage silhouettes that I created in Photoshop that are based off of my previous designs. What I like about the silhouette drawings is how it really helps break down the frame of the sketch and just shows the base shapes. This can help later on when it comes to modelling my stage.

Initial Thumbnail Concepts:

Here is a few designs I have done on Photoshop. I decided I wanted to change the effect of the stars in the background and to see what type of style I preferred.

Here is my first concept sketch of a mushroom themed level. The reason why I chose this theme was because I like the idea of making a cartoony environment based on the wilderness, I like the concept of characters playing in on a huge battlefield but when you re evaluate the stage it is just a bunch of characters fighting in a tiny back garden.

Here is a screenshot of me re making my stages in photshop and adding detail.

Iteration sheet – Colour Pallet:

Here are some colour pallet swaps I have done to experiment with the levels design. I decided to use the website :https://coolors.co/ to help with these colour pallet's. What this website does is it randomly generate colours with codes that can be placed into Photoshop so you can use any colour you want in Photoshop.

Choices from peers:

Here is the votes from my peers. the reason why I asked for feedback was so I could narrow down what people like to see whether it is cool and calm colours or something that is very bright and really contrasts again each other.

Here is a screenshot of the website:

Iteration sheet – Lighting:

Iteration sheet – Composition:

In the GIF above I have created four different views to give some examples of how composition works. Doing this helps me gain more knowledge on how the way an image can be portrayed due to the way it is shown off for example the first image is still, flat and in the centre. It is not the most eye catching image of the bunch but pictures 3 and 4 have more of a grand present because of the angles.

Iteration sheet – Traits:

Modelling Test:
Here is my own personal reference:

In the picture above is my first concept sketches for this concept. My favourite from the bunch would have to be the pyramid stage.The theme I was going for was an Egyptian based(this is one of the reasons the stage looks like an upside down pyramid.) What I like about this concept the most was the flipped perspective of the pyramid and made it a stage the you can play on the base of it. I imagined making an actually pyramid and the idea didn't stick with me.

 Here is my first concept that I decided to make in Maya.
This style I am trying to work in is smash brothers a 2d fighting game but when you pause the game you can play around with the perspective. So i decided to get picture of my model from different angles.

 When it came to uv'ing the model I decided that I should remove the stage lips because I could not find the uv of them so I removed them to save time.

 After removing the lips of the stage I decided to take some screenshots to show what the stage look like from a different perspective.

Here are my Uv's below, I decided to label each individual face so I knew what exact face I was looking at so when it came to giving it an actual texture I knew exactly where it would go.

 Moving onto the uv's I decided to label each face so i know where my paintings are going to show up. In the picture above is the UV itself with some text on it and below is the same uv just with colours added.

 Here is what the uv looks like when it is applied to the stage.

 Here is some more perspectives shots.

 Another thing I noticed wrong with my uv's was the distortion of the text for some reason certain text stretches,shrink or becomes wavy. I am not too sure why it does this but I am going to do some research online to try and figure why it turned out like for future reference.

The last screen shot is where I am now with my Uv'ing I am starting to add some brick work sadly I didn't hit the record button on the capture device so all of my footage is gone so you cant see my thought process, my mistakes and all of my findings.



Game Concept:
The concept of my game is pretty similar as the game smash bros. If you are not familiar with the playstyle the game is a brawl game where players have to knock each other off the stages with items and special abilities. The last player on the stage is the winner.

Project Backstory:

For my project I decided to create a stage in the style of smash bro's, the level is set in space where three heroes have been abducted by chrono the time lord. Being the lord of time chrono takes them through various portals and parallel universes. This is why the stage is set in space.




Guidance from tutor:
This was all a project break down that my tutor Chris ran through to show me the basic steps of how to model a stage,create a texture for the stage and animate it.  To develop this concept I need to research into Unreal and document it all myself.

Texture from animated stage:

Side by side comparison:

Texture                                                                        Original animation where texture was taken                                                                                        from.

Unreal material screenshot:

In the screenshot above I have taken a screen capture of the materials attributes so later on when I need to reference it I have it ready so I can use it as a guide when I create my own.

Footage of tester stage:

After being show how to set up my stage I decided to record the process of how the material looks and how the level. The reason I decided to document this was I could reference it later on when I have to re create this test stage.

Unreal research:

Freeze transforming:

In the clip above I do some experiments with freeze framing. Freeze framing is when you set a model/asset to a certain point so if the model is edited in anyway or moved from a certain location you can reset it and the model will return to its previous state.


Central pivot points:


In this clip above I experiment with central pivot points. Central pivot points are certain points of an object where it can be rotated. I experimented with this because it can help when trying to rotate a model at a certain way.
What is new in Maya 2018?

https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/maya/features

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-73BF7546-3BF2-44F3-9192-15A024CEC173-htm.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-89E3E944-01A3-452E-9518-D7F7D997DF8A-htm.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-DB3385DD-F644-458C-B7A3-769E7FA97E69-htm.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-48F3C654-3CC5-499F-96E7-34A852416F68-htm.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-48F3C654-3CC5-499F-96E7-34A852416F68-htm.html

Link to artist work that I used as the background:

https://www.artstation.com/lambertant

Animation over my ambient occlusion:

Here is a quick times lapse of my model with an animation over it. The reason why I have done this is because I am planning on combining the 2d animation with my 3d model for my final concept piece.

The end result of animating the bottom half.:

Promotional Concept Art:

Here is my final concept piece which is set in space I decided to upload an image for those who just want to view it as a still image. I am pretty happy with the animated base,they normally take a while to do because I have to paint each individual line with the bucket tool but I am glad I got it to work for this piece.

Concept Break Down:

In the picture above I have dissected my concept so I can explain why I designed it like this.
First thing first is the platform they are normally used to get to higher items,abilities or opponents. The arena it self has sharp edges so they can be used as a ledge for characters to hold onto when they are trying to get back to the stage. The base is a design that is normally used so I decided to keep the original base design from smash bros for aesthetics.


Block Out/Uv test/Ambient Oclussion rendering:

Ambient Occlusion renders:

Photoshop Paint Over:

In the gif above I have created a paint over of my 3d model. I created the rotating animation with a gradient filter and rotated it frame by frame. After rotating it frame by frame so it loops, I put each frame in order so the spinning wheel runs as smooth as possible.
Testing my level:

Final Model








Final Model Ambient Oclussion:

Here is my model with the ambient Occlusion applied, what I like about this image is that is shows its shadows under the lip of the stage so it does not look flat. I also like the shadows under the platforms because it helps show depth.

Final Model WireFrame:

In the image above I have taken a render of my model with the wire frame on so you can see all of the intricate lines that make up my asset.

Texture Maps:
Platforms Uv's and textures

Main stage Uv's and textures:

Here is the main body of the stage with its UV's/the texture UV's and some screenshots of what it looks like when applied,

All together:

After reviewing my model I decided that the UV's where a bit too messy and are not the best to be placing my work on so I decided to re design my UV's. I went to seek advice from my tutor and he suggested I remade the model because the model it self had a lot of problems due to the mistakes I made in the past. He then also recommended the 3D cut tool so I could get a nice clean UV so my model will be easier to texture on later on.

Fixing my uv's:

After creating a very complicated I decided that I needed a cleaner approach when it came to uving something that was easier to work with when painting.

Here is the texture when it is applied to the model.

Here is a radial(round) rainbow test to see how the model takes to colour.

Here is the texture applied to the model.

Here is another colour I done to see how linear(straight lines) applied to the model.

Here is the texture applied to the model.

The last texture test I done was a diagonal texture I wanted to keep experimenting to see how and where the colours would apply to the model and I wanted to try and find a texture I was happy with.

Here is the texture applied to the model.

My process in unreal:

Here is a quick video of me setting up material for my stage and platform. I have never made my own material in unreal so creating an animated one was very new to me. There was a few times where I got stuck so i seek some help from a peer and was recommended I flip the texture from vertical to horziontal so I could get he animation to go in the right direction.


Final Maya Render:

Unreal Engine Render

In the gif above I took various screenshots of my model so it could be seen from various perspectives. What I like about this the most would have to be how the two textures contrast against each other. They look very similar but the stage texture is moving downwards and the platform textures or moving horizontal.

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Here is my final unreal engine video from this project, in this video
I do a quick demonstration of my model from all perspectives so the model can been seen in real time instead of it being sped up and hard to see.

Evaluation:

For this project my goals where to choose a game company style that we want to work in. We then had to choose an asset that we could draw and model later on so we could create a concept piece and a 3d diorama.

I achieved all of this by researching into Nintendo, Epic games, Unreal and Maya. These where a big help throughout the project because I had to research Nintendo so I knew more about the company and so I could analyse the type of stages they make in smash bros. I also had to research into unreal and epic games so I had a bigger understanding on how the company was born and how their software works. I also researched into Maya 2018 so I could keep up to date with what is new and see if any of the new tools could help me at this point of time.

At the start of the project I was pretty nervous because I don’t normally work in other styles I normally go with my own style so throughout this project I had to adapt to my style into the Nintendo style so I hit my goals.

Throughout this project I did have a hard time trying to get my head around Maya when it came to certain faces hiding in my model or just Uv’ing because I made quite a few mistakes. It does take me a while to rectify them but in the end I ended up rectifying them by planar mapping my whole model, and stacking faces together. To fix this issue I need to see the possible problems before I make them.

In this project one of my main targets which I set myself was to get my model into Unreal and create an animated texture. I have never used unreal so it was quite different from most software I normally use. However I had some guidance from my tutor and after that Unreal didn’t really seem too challenging I just needed some time to get used to the interface.

 One of the main things I like about Unreal is that you (the player) get to interact with model and you get to see your asset come to life.  Another target I felt like I hit was actually getting the model imported in unreal and actually test it, at first it didn’t work properly because the collision was messed up because I imported my model and the platforms in the same fbx file. To get around this problem I saved the stage as its own FBX file so they had their own collision box and after this the character dummy played on the stage flawlessly.

This project has helped me gain more knowledge in Maya and unreal. I know a lot more tools in Maya than last year and in unreal I know how to create my own materials for assets. For my next project I need to work on my time management because I put so much time into Maya my 2d concept piece did suffer I had to spend last time making that because there was a lot more goals I had to hit in Maya and unreal.

Overall I feel like I have done a pretty good job I am pleased with the outcome but for future projects I will have to adapt a lot faster then what I did in the project otherwise I might come across more problems.  Every project I do I gain more skills and always learn things that I have never knew. This is one thing that makes that makes the game industry great because it always changes and as a game design student I enjoy the challenge.