Forgetfullness

I was showing my work to a friend yesterday and I realized I had some things missing from here, one being the lighting assignment we spent like half the year on in 3d for games. So here are my screen shots from that. I should note that the lighting is all that was changed and all the assets and level design are property of Unreal.

Original Concept Paint Over:



Final Product (Top:Before; Bottom: After):



It changed a little bit from concept to completion because when I did the original concept I wasn't aware of all the cool things I could do with lighting. It was a really good learning experience.

Currently Playing: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days

It seems appropriate that at the beginning of this very long summer I start playing a game that revolves around counting the days. I've had this game in my possession for a while but haven't had the time or interest to play it. Honestly, even though I have played every other KH game out there, with much excitement and exuberance, I felt as though maybe I had grown out of the franchise. Kingdom Hearts was the first game I played on the PS2, Christmas day I believe in the year 2002. Coincidentally this was the same day I decided I wanted to be a game designer. It was so beautiful, it's beauty further enhanced by the fact that the last game system I owned was an N64 and there was quite a graphical leap there. I was easily hooked and reeled in, mesmerized by the pure feeling it evoked in me. But that was just a moment. Growing up and away from that I realized that it wasn't the most wonderful game ever made and went on to play new inspirations.
I digress...
358/2 days is not quite as beautiful as KH1 because even though I am playing it 8 years later it has the graphical disadvantage of being released on the Nintendo DS. It's still impressive for a hand held though. It's definitely not the big gray game boy I carried around in the little pink bag embroidered "Elizabeth" when I was a little girl. I seem to be running on nostalgia today...
This game is a lot like all the others, more like its console counterpart than the previous handheld KH game, "Chain of Memories", but there was one thing, a pretty small thing I guess, that stood out to me as being kind of special, and that is what the game calls "Intel missions."

The idea behind these missions is that you go to a new world and try to figure out everything you can about that world, the people who live there, what happened there, how things work in that society etc. without talking to anyone, just exploring the clues left behind. One example would be seeing claw marks in a castle and from that deducing that a beast lives there and is involved in some kind of struggle. What's this then? A lesson in environmental story telling? Yes, it is sort of given to you in a very direct way while in most games it's up for player interpretation and observation, but a lot of the time these very small details go unchecked by the average player anyway. It teaches you to pay attention. It really appealed to me because, as you all know, I have a bit of an affinity for deduction and pretending to be a detective, but also because I love environmental story telling.
What is unfortunate however, is that the game stops giving you these Intel missions pretty early in the story because your character is better suited to hitting things with the key blade than doing anything meaningful I guess. What really bummed me out was that there was no Intel mission for Wonderland...I really would've like to see how the game explained that one.

In general 358/2 days isn't bad, it's fun, got a decent upgrade system (known as the panel system) that feels a bit like packing UV's in Maya, a simple combat system, game play is a bit repetitive but jumping around worlds constantly keeps things feeling fresh, and I have no clue whats going on with the story, but hopefully that will sort itself out by the end.

So I guess I haven't grown out of it completely, it's sort of the same way I feel about Disney World. I don't want to buy into it, but when I'm there I just can't help it. Nothing like Disney magic to bring out your obnoxious inner child.

Lol^ amusing google image search result

I think next I'm going to play Metro 2033 and see how it compares to the book. Should be interesting.

The sacrificial altar was disguised as a throne...

So this is it. Today is the last class of game design II. We successfully spent a month creating a concept for a game that couldn't be made, and made a totally different game in the span of about two weeks. I'm fairly proud of us. Since I was put on the tech team but then ran out of things to contribute there I decided to do some art for todays class. The concept of our game revolves around aztec/inca cultures and my biggest contribution to it was the idea and implementation (with help of course) of a sacrifice mechanic in which one player from each team must reach the goal point as the sacrifice for your team to win the game. It's a team oriented game where three classses must work together to reach this goal.

So the art I did for today are some concepts for what the Sacrificial Altars may look like for each side. one side revolves around a snake god, (sort of like Quetzalcoatl) and the other around a sun/cat god (like Tezcatlipoca) Its supposed to be dark comedy so the style and characters are cute, but its also very bloody and violent, in an exaggerated way.

It will be interesting to see just how far we go with this over the summer/next semester.

game pics

Something Fun and Something Done

Well I haven't updated on my character for a while, but for all intents and purposes she is done. Could be better but this was my first attempt at a character and I should move on. We are in the process of rigging right now. We aren't going to animate them but we are testing them with the default unreal animations which is...interesting. You can see from the victory pose below. I also got someone to photograph my game for me and I should have those pics tomorrow :) Vic is for Victory!

And lastly, this is totally unrelated but I like it so here it is. This was just something fun I did for my friend Kelsey. We had an art exchange and this was my contribution. Roller derby pin up! We went to the roller derby for the first time a while back so I thought it might be a nice memory.

Face

Here is just a progress shot of my face sculpt. We learned this neat trick to import the 3d model into photoshop and merge the face image right onto the mesh. That's why it looks pretty creepy with the texture on (left) but it's helpful. She's starting to look more human than porygon! I do like sculpting, I wonder if that will be helpful at all in the future...


OH YEAH

Just as a side note here: My mod of Clue, Flappers and Philanderers, from last semester got into the Best of Ringling show this year! I worked really hard on that and I loved every second of it, play testing, taking photo ref and even creating the art assets. I'm really happy and honored that it was one of four to get chosen for the show. Thanks to my play tester's and everyone who put up with me while I was working on it. I know I get a little crazy sometimes, but that's just because I'm passionate :). I still need to take better shots of it for my portfolio, when I do (after I get it back from the gallery) I'll put them up here.

The invisible woman

Just a progress shot of the sculpt on vic, I've only done her clothes so far. Don't mind the collar, it shouldn't be black but the normals are facing the other way and mudbox doesn't like that.