September References List

Reading:

• Campbell, J. 2008. Hero with a thousand faces. 3rd ed. Novato, California: New World Library.
• Booker, C. 2005. The seven basic plots: why we tell stories. London: Bloomsbury.
• Patnode, J. 2008. Character modeling with Maya and Zbrush: professional polygonal modeling techniques. Oxford: Focal Press
• Wade, D. 2012. D'artiste: character modeling. Australia: Ballistic
• Wade, D. 2007. D'artiste: fashion design. Australia: Ballistic.

Watching:

• The Gnomon Workshop: Character design pipeline. [DVD]. Narrated by Thierry Doison. USA: The Gnoman Workshop Inc.
• The Gnomon Workshop: Creative character design techniques. [DVD]. Narrated by Neville Page. USA: The Gnoman Workshop Inc.
• Digital Tutors. 2012. Methods for painting realistic skin tones. [Online]. Available from: http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/842-Methods-for-Painting-Realistic-Skin-Tones. [Accessed 26^th August 2013].

To Investigate:

• Tillman, B. 2012. Creative character design. MA: Focal Press.
• Mattesi, M. 2009. Character design from life drawing. MA: Focal Press.
• Freeman, D. 2004. Creating emotion in games: the craft and art of emotioneering. Indianaplois, IN: New Riders.
• Gray, C. and Malins, J. 2004.Visualizing research: a guide to the research process in art and design. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• Laughey, D. 2007. Key themes in media theory. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
• Noble, I. and Bestley, R. 2011.Visual research: an introduction to research methodologies in graphic design. Switzerland: AVA Publishing.
• Mayra, F. 2008. An introduction to game studies. London: SAGE.
• Creswell, J.W. 2009. Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. London: SAGE.

Character Pipeline

Knowing at the least that I want to go down a character design route rather than an environment one (or possibly a mix of both), I've drawn out what I think is my general pipeline approach. I tend to do a lot of visual research for inspiration in design as well as improving on basic anatomy skills. I also have a method of production I almost always follow; working in pen or pencil to sketch, scanning that in, then digitally enhancing and painting from there. I would like throughout this project to explore new ways and methods of designing characters, such as looking into silhouettes, shape theory, colour theory, and other exercises to help with creativity.

Meeting with Lynn Parker

I had set up a meeting with the Computer Arts programme tutor, Lynn, for today at 11am in Whitespace. All previous blog posts from this point was the progress I had at the time, and I wanted to run my ideas by her before beginning to refine things.

So, I showed her all my work so far, and she said I was in a good place, that it's good I came prepared, and that I was quite far along for just the first week of class. She said I had many ideas covering a wide range of topics, and that now I really needed to narrow things down and concentrate on a theme. I was aware that my ideas were a bit all over the place, but that was intended so I could get my thoughts down and think about their potential. Lynn did say though, not to focus too much on the research question we'll eventually revolve our projects around, as many people had fixated on it previously. But for now I feel comfortable focusing on a theme and idea, not the worded question. As I had a lot of written work done, Lynn said I should really get stuck into just creating things rather than just thinking about them.

From my many project theories from the previous post, I like three quite strongly that I pointed out. First, I'm interested in creating the culture of a world through the designs of the characters and environments and looking into visual consistency in games. Second, was the idea revolving around customisation. I myself really enjoy it, but I think I like experiencing and researching it, but don't think I could make a creative project around it due to probably needing coding if I were to make an interactive artefact  Lynn also mentioned that while customisation is recent, it isn't highly current. My third preference involves main character and NPC designs and comparing them.

At this point, Lynn pointed out she was interested in the NPC companion idea, and that's got me thinking about it too. She said it was current and popular, so there'd be recent research on it, and the project would show more employability than the others. I really started to like the idea of it, and think it has loads of potential. Such a theme would allow me to incorporate elements from the other ideas to inform my work, so it's a good starting point. It allows me to investigate not only character design, but also gameplay, which would be more interesting. This route would also be suitable for pushing my skills in to 3D character modeling, which I haven't done before and is a good skill to show off in the exposition. I found this meeting really helpful just to get another person's perspective on things, and talking it out to start focusing. For now, I'll start looking into games that have companions as main characters, and begin doing some design exercises.

Project Idea Theories

After identifying the elements that I enjoy and find interesting within the previously mentioned domains, here I've begun to mould them into research questions, and plot out routes that I could investigate in depth as part of that idea. This will hopefully identify how substantial an idea is to me, in no particular order.

How can game aesthetics affect gameplay, story, and player experience?

• Are players more immersive when the aesthetics are more interesting? Does it make a lasting impact, make the game and story feel more like a believable world, or make the game more memorable than if the aesthetics were limited?
• Do players launch straight into gameplay or spend time taking in the environment? Does this change between low or high aesthetics?
• How much do players care about what their character looks like? Does this change between having a pre-set option and character customisation, or the ability to change outfits?
• If players were given the ability to change their character or environment, does that make them care more about them?
• Do players think differently about aesthetics for characters and environments? Would they prefer one with high quality over the other, or a balance of both?
• How much can aesthetic lead gameplay or story? Is this genre dependant?
• How much does initial impressions of the aesthetics affect the player in decisions to buy the game?

Is there a balance between aesthetics and practicality for designs in games?

• Is there a balance of making a character or environment originally appealing yet believable in practicality?
• Is there a balance between acceptable extravagance in character design and going overboard? When does it become too overdone?
• How dependent on genre is the level of extravagance in character design?
• What makes a character more memorable visually; the physical features like the body, face and hair, or the fashion design?
• What makes an environment memorable without a character to back it up?
• When do designs become too cliché? Is there a balance between stereotypes and originality?
• How do aesthetics affect gameplay mechanics? e.g. Assassin's Creed, climbing materials. Is it better to have them blend in to be seamless in environments, or stand out to be easier to use?
• Is there a difference in aesthetics between the main environments and optional or side ones? Is more detail given to main areas? Between open world and enclosed areas?

How important is character and environment design in creating a cultural style and world in games?

• How useful is it to be able to identify characters based on their design in relation to their environment and expectation of interaction, and vice versa?
• What is the balance between functionality and aesthetics, in both anatomy and fashion? Is a character's design fit for their purpose? i.e. Their occupation, the environment they live in?
• How can a non-existent character or environment be believable, and what breaks the sense of disbelief? How far can real world physics go before fantasy and imagination comes in?
• How can an environment or character's personality be portrayed through their design? How much does this depend on our expectations, and how far can this go before they become stereotypical?
• Does visual style effect the appeal of a character or environment? How dependant is this on genre, and our expectations of a genre specific style?
• How can a character be appealing to a large audience? How effective is the design, before the character become animated? Outside of story, how can their personality be shown?
• How important is visual consistency between characters and environments in making the game world believable?

How important is customisation to gamers?

• How important is personal appearance to gamers when dealing with their characters or environment?
• Having customisation in a game, does it make it more immersive by putting the gamer's own stamp on things?
• How much time is spent on customising? Is there set levels? i.e. gamers who dabble then gamers who spend hours doing so?
• Is there a balance between elements looking good and still having good gameplay? With a customisation option, do players constantly change things, or is customisation focused on until it reaches its peak, then never changed?
• Are there distinctions in dedication when it comes to the scale of customisation? i.e. Loads of time spent on characters, but not on designing a large environment.

How would a constant interactive NPC companion affect gameplay?

• Would this make the game more immersive if the companion's welfare and life depend on the player, instead of just their own character's, especially if there were repercussions?
• Would this break the sense of disbelief in a game world, or make it feel more lifelike?
• Would the game world be more believable if you could switch point of view between the characters, or would it be better to see things only through one pair of eyes?
• Would companion be preferred over an AI to relay how to play the game and feed information to the player?
• Would people enjoy a companion or find them annoying? Can there be a balance?
• What if the entire game is based around the companion, and you as the player, are the helper instead of the main character? Your actions would influence the world, but only through the companion. It's their story being told, not yours.
• Is one companion preferred to a larger team of characters? Is it more personal?

What are the important factors in design and gameplay between main characters, interactive NPCs, and normal NPCs?

• How important is it to have a game world culture and looking unified between playable and non-playable character types?
• Is it more preferable to have the main character blend in with NPCs, or stand out? Or with interactive NPCs against non-interactive NPCs? Is there a balance to making sure they belong to the same world?
• How dependent is character variation on file size restrictions?
• What is the limit of the number of character variations before it's noticed it's becoming repetitive? Is it a solution to have the same models but use different textures and colouring? How important is having variation to the believability of the game?
• How important is it to have realistic NPC reactions and interactions? How strong is the impact of NPCs in the believability of the game?

Is using morality as a mechanic useful to allow the player to make the game their own?

• How would morality affect the design of characters and environments? Would it be preferred for the design to be pre-written, or should the player's decision affect it? Would this make the game more realistic?
• Can the design of characters or environments affect the expectations of the player?
• Would players take more care in their decisions if their actions made a direct affect on the design of the environment or character?
• Is it more immersive with consequences, not just in design, but in the story ending?

How does level design and storytelling in terms of quantity effect gameplay?

• Is there a balance in the size of the world and it's story, where the player is satisfied but still challenged?
• At what point does it become too much? i.e. Very high levels of detail can become an overload of information and not completely taken in or remembered.
• When does it become too stretched that the player forgets NPC names, where they can find them, of places they need to go when it's by word of mouth and memory. Is this a simple case of the UI having all these details, or does that make it less personal and make it obvious you're playing a game?
• Would people prefer more areas to explore and less story, or smaller areas and a deeper story? Is this genre dependent?

Is there a set structure to character classes in games? Why?

• Are there set archetypes for character classes; classics that are always used?
• How do you keep classes from getting repetitive and boring? What can you do to make them feel modern? When doing so, how much do you keep familiar, and how much is original?
• Is there a gender bias in character classes? i.e. Only males are the muscled heavy weight type? Can this be changed positively?
• Are definitions actually necessary in games that allow you to learn any skill, instead of only those that fall within your class? If not, why are they used?
• How strongly are classes defined by the balance of roles between characters? i.e. A team of three have to have one of each rather than all the same type.
• Are the same personality types always assigned to certain classes or roles? When does this become too cliché?
• How dependent on genre are games with classes ? Or are they just not defined as strongly?

Is there a set structure to environments? Why?

• Are there set archetypes for environments; classics that are always used? i.e. enemy dungeons, character's home etc.
• How do you keep dungeons from getting repetitive and boring? If games can be so big, why not make the worlds smaller and use file size for varied environments instead of reusing them?
• Can there be a balance of repetitive environments before they become over used? Is there a simple solution of using the same models, but changing the textures and lighting?
• Are there stereotypical expectations from certain environment designs? How far can this go before it's cliché?
• How do you take a classic environment and make it modern? When doing so, how much do you keep familiar, and how much is original?
• Are certain environments always used for the same roles?

In games with large worlds and information, how would a dedicated UI effect gameplay?

• Would players prefer menu systems with information sections to refer to if needed, or be annoyed at such a quantity of menus?
• Would it be a case of dependency on design? Make it blend into the story, like an interactive journal or computer screen, rather than an obvious game menu.
• Would such provided information improve gameplay or immersion in cases when players forget information and want to refresh themselves, or when they enjoy reading on story elements?
• E.G. -
• How to play: Instructions to remind players of skills.
• Characters: A list and description of all the quest related characters you've met.
• Places: A list and description of all the places you've visited.
• Bestiary: A list and description of creatures and foes you've faced.

Idea Mindmaps

I began organising my thoughts on project ideas by making mindmaps, one for characters and another for environments, both containing elements of storyline within them, and leaning towards games more than any other platform. I thought about elements of each area that I like, what I think could be better, and what I find interesting etc. While I have other interests outside of these two subjects, I felt these are the ones I'm already familiar with and confident in. This project lasts a year, I don't want to get bored of it part way through. They both have a wide range of directions I can go down, and allow for a number of outcomes in terms of method and execution. From here, I'll try and narrow my choices down, and evaluate each idea by forming it like a research question and looking at its potential.

Character Design Mindmap

Environment Design Mindmap

Skill Set & Gaps

I've decided that taking a look at my skill set would really help inform my decision on what I should do for this project. I want to go down a route that I'm at least confident in, but at the same time still want a challenge and room to explore. I need to think about my technical ability, mostly dependant on software and technology, my creativity in certain areas, and the challenge of completing this all within one year.

	Art Skills	Technical Skills	Personal Skills
Strongest	> Concept Design: Characters > 3D Modeling: Architecture Environments > Digital Painting	> Photoshop > Maya	> Organisation Skills > Visual Research
Medium	> Pencil Sketching > Graphic Design > Concept Design: Architecture Environments > 3D Modeling: Organic Environments > 3D Texturing > 3D Animation	> Illustrator > Flash	> Time Management > Text Research > Communication of Ideas
Weakest	> Concept Design: Organic Environments > 3D Lighting > 2D Animation	> Mudbox	> Public Speaking > Essay Writing > Critical Self Evaluation
Non-Existent	> 3D Modeling: Characters > 3D Rigging > 3D Dynamics

Initial Thoughts for Direction

For a few months before university started up again I had been thinking about what direction I wanted to take for my project. So I started by evaluating what I like doing, what I'm good at, what I could get better at, what's current in the industry, and what skills are important for employability etc.

Throughout the years there have a number of areas of computer arts that have snagged my interest, and the decision to specialise in only one to showcase will be hard. This project needs to focus on something that I truly enjoy, that I feel comfortable with, yet dedicated to so I can challenge myself. But I don't just want to do it because I like it; I want the results of this project to represent an area I'd like to go into in the creative industries, and to show my capability. A section of the Handbook conveys this well:

“Your topic should be neither trivial nor superficial, and similarly should not feel limited by a context which is too large or complex to be addressed entirely within the project time scale.”

Looking at myself, I tend to think as a designer as well as an artist. I want my work to look good, be appealing and fit for its purpose, but I also want to know how everything works, how it all fits together, and what's the story behind it. I think I kind of dabble in many areas, but only in certain places of production. For instance, I love the initial stages of character design, and less so when doing a digital painting of that character. It's the opposite with environment design; I'm not fond of the initial concept stage and prefer going straight to modeling and level design. What is present in all my interests is the story behind it. I want to know everything about it, instead of just making it nice to look at. So now I'll try and weigh my interests against potential for a project idea.

1.) Character Design: I find that when I look at character art, I lean towards profile sheets, concept designs and simpler digital paintings like portraits, rather than full on action pieces. When designing them myself, I tend to focus on the fashion side of things before physical traits such has the face and hair, and then showing more personality through body language. Character art can convey so much life and personality, and there's so many ways to tell story and background through little details, and I find it fascinating to break down. I think characters are just easier to relate to than any other subject like environments or technology, and they can evoke much stronger emotional responses.

2.) 3D Environments: With games in 3D, I've always loved being immersed in an environment by being able to walk about it instead of just looking at it. Making such virtual worlds allows you to believe you are really there, and makes the story more immersive and interactive. With level design, I loved planning how players could be drawn to areas I want them to by different means, such as lighting, interactive elements, and sounds etc. With renders, I enjoy the atmosphere and character that could be shown in details, and the crispness from it being 3D. 3D modeling has so much potential across different industries, from entertainment like films and games, to educational like historical re-enactments, or informative like planning what your building is going to look like before committing to it.

3.) Visual Storytelling: This is a concept that I've tried to implement in most, if not all, of my work through the years. Giving something a story, even just little quirks, gives it just a little more spirit and life. Giving something a personality or background can cement into the real world, give it something people can relate to and identify with. Visual storytelling can be told in so many ways and has so many platforms, from illustration to animation, to games and movies.

I am aware that for junior jobs and small companies, they won't have an artist just for character concept etc, but will expect the artist to be much more capable, go through most of the pipeline from design to production, 3D and texturing to animating etc. Depending on what direction I go, I'll try to show as many skills as possible without spreading myself too thin.

Personal Outcomes & Objectives

• Improving technical skill in chosen method, i.e. digital painting, 3D modeling etc.
• Becoming more knowledgeable in my chosen specialisation.
• Identify my own pipeline, research existing pipelines, and compare to industry standard.
• Explore different research methodologies to inform my own.
• To be continued...

Honours Year Summary

So, here it is. Honours year. Exciting as it is intimidating!

We had our first lecture today, and were introduced to the basics of what's expected. We were given access to the relevant documentation we'd be needing, and I've been reading them to familiarise myself before the seminar on Thursday. I think this information from the Handbook summarises honours well:

“The honours project requires the selection of a specialist area of inquiry framed by a research aim. The research aim will require that you carry out background reading and investigation to gain further insight into your research topic. Based upon this insight, you will select research methods and activities which will help you to explore the area theoretically and practically. You will then implement these methods and develop a final outcome for your research. This outcome will be evaluated and reflected upon within your written work, and will help to point to possible future work beyond the honours year.”

The five modules we have for this year are to be considered as part of a whole, and shouldn't focus on them too individually. They are as follows:

• AG1064A: Professional Practice
• AG1084A: Honours Project
• AG1085A: Pre-Production
• AG1086A: Concept Development
• AG1087A: Research Methods & Dissertation

We will be assigned a group mentor in semester one, then a project supervisor in semester two, who we will keep regular contact with. Lynn Parker is the Computer Arts programme tutor, but we are allowed to approach staff with interests aligned with our own for advice. We will also supervise pitch and crit weeks.

These are specific exercises we must complete and submit throughout the year:

• Progress Presentation 1                               Week 4 - > 14^th October
• Progress Presentation 2                               Week 8 - > 11^th November
• Research Proposal                                      Week 12 - 13^th December
• Concept Development Document                 Week 17 - 13^th January
• Pre-Production Portfolio                             Week 17 - 13^th January
• Ethics Form                                               Week 17 - 17^th January
• Showcase Infrastructure Form                      Week 20 - 7^th February
• Progress Presentation 3                               Week 21 - > 10^th February
• Progress Presentation 4                               Week 25 - > 10^th March
• Honours Project Portfolio                            Week 34 - 12^th May
• Learning Contract                                       Week 34 - 12^th May
• Honours Year Blog                                       Week 34 - 12^th May
• Supervisor Meeting Diary                             Week 34 - 12^th May
• Dissertation                                                Week 34 - 16^th May
• Final Presentation                                       Week 34 - >12^th May
• Exposition Set Up                                       Week 35 - > 19^th May
• Showcase Opening                                      Week 35 - 23^{rd May}

This blog, as part of my submission, is to be a detailed record of my final year and should contain evidence of the following:

• Identification of skill gaps and subsequent development of technical skills
• Examples of and critical reflection on creative and artistic practice
• Understanding of and critical engagement with relevant theories
• Personal reflection on my honours experience

My aim for this week is to thoroughly read through all the documentation provided, and get any questions I have about the project in general answered now. I want this blog set up looking nice and how I want it, and I'll draw up a draft timetable for a weekly schedule. I think having a routine will work well for me as we have little practical classes and staff contact this year, and it'll help set specific time aside for work and studying. Eventually, when I have a more thought out plan for my ideas, I'll make a gantt chart or work schedule to help organise things and manage my time more effectively for each task.

Let's begin!