When we first started this project
we were advised to create a mind map showing the different avenues
that we could go down in the creation of our game ideas. In the brief
we were told to consider things to do with the game idea such as the
setting, whether it was going to be in a natural or and cityscape
environment. We also needed to consider things such as the atmosphere
and the character and how they would be subjected to the environment
and the story that they would find themselves in. In my mind map I
wanted to have a branch exploring the different ways that I could
create the characters and the environments but also have branches to
help me plan out things such as the genre. When creating my mind map
I was advised by my lecturer to think of mixing two different ideas
or genres to see what actually went together. He explained that
mixing two genres or ideas that may not seem to match could actually
work together and make an idea that was different to others done
before.
My idea that I was having was
intended to be inspired by the 1940s era gangland noir theme. I
wanted the game to take themes from the black and white old style
films such as the dark oppressive cityscape setting, the tall uniform
building always looming over the setting and the heavy darkened
streets filled with crime and violence. After talking to my lecturer
and thinking about his suggestion to mix two dissimilar ideas into
something that is unusual but works, I decided to think about what I
could mix it with. Since the original idea is of the 1940s era crime
noir I had some difficulty selecting an alternate genre to go with it
but did not ruin the idea and make it seem stupid. Of these I thought
about mixing it with the fantasy genre through use of an arcane item
that could switch the bearer into a mirrored reality with things
different but then have him grow paranoid about which is the true
world.
If I did mix the idea with an
alternate genre I wanted it to only have a secondary role in the idea
so it did not cause too much disruption to the overall theme of the
idea. After I had my idea thought out and written up on the side of
the mind map my lecturer advised me to slow down due to my already
planning out my whole idea after only creating a mind map. Instead of
focusing on the idea I was suggested to gather reference of other
media products that had the same theme or affect that I was going for
so that I could better plan out my future sketch in order to get the
closest feel to what the idea I had in my head resembled.
Researching on the internet I found
different TV shows, films and games that resembled the same 1940s era
crime genre and/or the noir style that I had to base my concept art
on. Collecting these images I included them in my sketchbook with
accompanying notes and annotations about what pictures I thought were
effective and why and what themes or ideas the reference gave me to
use when creating my concept art. Recurring themes that I saw running
through the images was things such as the loner type main character,
usually working as a police officer, the tall utilitarian style
buildings that blocked out the sky, and finally things such as the
examples of crime like guns and gangsters. Things such as the
clothing and cars piqued my interest because their inclusion
instantly brought it to the attention of the viewer of the style of
the era or the setting and would needed to be included into my
concept art in order to give it the theme and the signs of being in
that particular era.
Now that I had the bulk of the
planning and development sorted I turned my attention to getting the
preliminary sketches and concepts done that could better showcase my
idea. I created four images showcasing different themes or ideas what
the idea was. To do this I wanted to play to my strengths and focus
on the environments rather than character due to my belief that the
setting and atmosphere giving a greater message of what the game
would be about and how it would be created better than a character
image would be able to. Of the four images, three of them followed
the theme of different cityscape examples such as the tall
claustrophobic building suffocating the streets below showed in the
first image. The second was an interior setting of a cabaret club/bar
that in my mind is an iconic interior setting to that kind of setting
and era. The third was another landscape but better showed off the
landscape of the cityscape and included my idea of including the
iconic era car style that would instantly give a sign to the viewer
of the idea of the game. In this one I heavily drew inspiration and
reference from the research pictures I had gathered earlier. Lastly
the fourth image was a character shot of two miscellaneous character,
shadowed by the dark environment and standing in an intimidating
posture wielding a gun. Again this image drew heavily from the
reference pictures, especially the one that feature character shots
with shadowed features. However the sketches were criticised for
being too finalised and detailed for being mere sketches of idea,
although I was told that the concepts that I had created were very
well done.
For my final piece I wanted to
create a more finalised piece of one of the concepts that I had
already created, for this I chose the third concept as I felt that
this showcased the most of what my idea was about. When creating this
I tried to take as much care with creating it as possible. This
involved using digital software that I was more comfortable using
than traditional art. Luckily the only real problem that I
encountered when creating the final piece was the time it took to
make it. I wanted to make this one in colour to show off more of the
dark tones and atmosphere than the original plain one. Originally I
wanted the light of the street lights to add area of colour to
everything that they illuminated to show how the light physically cut
through the darkness of the setting but when I put this into the
final image I thought that it made the piece look worse than it would
have without it and decided to return it to a normal glow I did
encounter a problem were I was unable to include the car in the final
image and this I felt harmed the overall feel of the final piece as I
felt that the car was vital to how to the viewer the era of the
concept.
Overall I felt that this project was
a good and enjoyable one but it was severely held up due to my part.
If I had managed my time better and put more work into the project
then I feel that I could have made it far better than it was in the
end. If I had done this project again I would have managed my time
far better and more effectively to the different parts of it.
Spending too much time on my concepts was a bad move as it took too
much time away from the project that I could have spent doing more
work on the sketchbook overall. I also regret not being able to have
included more rough sketches and designs to showcase what my idea
actually was I feel that my work in this project is severely lacking
and disappointing but if I were to do it again then I would have
spent so much more effort and time into it.
