Proposal:
With my proposal I am working in a team alongside my partner, Joseph. This is my personal proposal which will show:
- Section 0
- Section 1
- Section 2
- Section 3
- Section 4
- Section 5
Section 0: Title, Completion date, Devs
Date Of Completion: June 18th, 2019
Name Of The Game: Ellie-Jane’s and Joseph’s Game
Devs: Ellie-Jane Wright and Joseph Hannon
Section 1: Rationale
Over the past seven units I have gone from starting off in September from not knowing anything about how games are made to being able to make a realistic playing card, simple character rigs and animations which can then be used to create a bird with a simple path animation (which works very well to make it look like a fully detailed 3D model). With the last units that I have just completed I now know how a heads up display (HUD) works and how to program a game to make it have certain actions when collision boxes are triggered or when a health bar needs to decrease. With all of this new knowledge I know that I am able to create something new and exciting which will push myself and my partner Joseph to being challenged to create something that has never been seen before.
Section 2: Project Concept
For this final unit project it was mainly inspired by a game that I loved to play and still continue to do so today. That game is a Nintendo GameCube classic known as ‘Luigi’s Mansion’. This project was also inspired by another Nintendo game known as ‘Splatoon’ and finally an indie game known as ‘Bendy and the Ink Machine’. For the actual concept of the game we want it to be a multi-story building that the player is trapped within with limited health and needs to find a way out while completing tasks to aid their escape. The concept will be developed further in pre-production because we’re not entirely sure if this is the final concept that we want to go with and develop for our Unit 8 project.
Inspiration Behind Concept:
Luigi’s Mansion: (No Commentary)
Bendy And The Ink Machine: (No Commentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVH3_l7Ch1w&feature=youtu.be
Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion: (No Commentary)
Five Nights At Freddy’s: (No Commentary)
Section 3: Evaluation
Joseph and myself will evaluate our work using our classmates and tutors playing the game at many different stages to get feedback and further ideas for development. This could also include solutions to problems that we may have along the process of production. With the pre-production I personally will discuss the ideas that we develop with my tutors to make sure that they’re not too ambitious or not ambitious enough. Furthermore, if we develop the idea of the original concept this could effect pre-production time because if we change the concept entirely then we would have to make sure that everything is planned and thought of properly.
However, there will be regular evaluations with myself and Joseph to see how effectively we have collaborated, used our time and how the overall production is going.
Section 4: Project Action Plan And Timetable
Pre-Production:
Production:
The reasons why the table for production is not complete is because myself and Joseph haven’t fully developed the idea yet, so a more detailed version will be created when we finish pre-production.
For why there is no table for post-production is because we’re not entirely sure how the game will develop and what the final project will look like. Post production will have it’s own time table when it’s relevant to think about that kind of task.
Section 5: Proposed Research Sources And Bibliography
Proposed Research Sources:
For the proposed research sources, I will mainly using the internet as my main research source. However, I will also be using magazine articles, Books and any other source I come across.
Bibliography
Book Example: The Art Of Splatoon:
Video Example:
Q And A To Do With The Development Of A Game
Behind The Scenes Of Development Of Chapter Three For Bendy And The Ink Machine
Helpful Tips And Tricks For Unreal Engine:
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
Game Development Podcast:
https://player.fm/series/game-design-daily
Game Website Showing New Ideas, Information And Discussion:
IwAR3aXbseGcNo8pWh0L4eGBL2b-jxe-82Ey9lhMowHXYKEBUqkDdKKKo63IE
How Virtual Reality (VR) Headsets Are Used For Other Things:
https://www.livescience.com/53392-virtual-reality-tech-uses-beyond-gaming.html
Pre-Production:
Story:
You play as Finn Wolfston, a 17 year old anthropomorphic wolf (animal with human features) who grew up not knowing entirely who his father was, where he worked, or what kind of person he was…This left many questions that gave Finn determination to keep on pestering his mother about his father’s occupation and identity, But he never got any answers. His mother would always tense up at the subject of Finn’s father as she would either not reply entirely or have the simple command of telling Finn to ‘Drop it’. (This means to stop talking about the subject of his father and forget about it). But this only made Finn’s curiosity grow more and more. One fateful day, Finn decided he’s had enough of waiting for answers so he takes matters into his own hands. He discovers his fathers occupation after many hours of hardcore researching. His father worked at some sort of testing facility, but that’s all he could find out. The next morning, Finn decided to head to the location of the facility to get some answers, which was a foolish choice. Why? He found himself on the top floor of the facility after blacking out due to some sort of gas. The only way Finn can possibly escape is to go from the top floor down. During his escape he will find out more answers than he asked for…With the aid of two mysterious characters. Will they actually help Finn? Or betray him?
Concept Art For Characters:
For both of the concepts for Willow and Fifi there are seperate designs for concepts, this is where the games were used as inspiration for designs as well as my own creativity. I am not saying the designs are copying the actual assets from the games I was inspired by (As this is known as plagarism), Instead I am saying that I have taken inspiration (which means that I was drawn to the ideas that other developers that made the games had. This means that for example, If I was to really enjoy the ‘Spyro The Dragon’ series, I could make a game inspired by Spyro’s creativity and unique feeling with everything in the game.
Willow:
‘Withered’ Willow:
- Colour Palette: Darkened pastel colour palette used for Willow.
- Stuffing and patching shows ‘experimenting’ and withering over time.
- Bow will be found beside the body as it’s too damaged beyond repair to wear.
- No models are required, Just a 2D graphics sprite.
- Eyes will have a brown gradient.
- All colouring and line art will be completed via wacom intuos drawing tablet and stylus.
- Softwares Required: Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator or Microsoft Paint.
Willow:
- Colour Palette: Pastel colours.
- Bow will be on right ear.
- Model is required for the ‘end’ of the game.
- All colouring and line art to be completed via a wacom intuos drawing tablet and stylus.
- Softwares Required: Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator or Microsoft Paint
Fifi:
‘Withered’ Fifi:
- Colour Palette: Darkened pastel colour pallete of the original pastel colour palette for Fifi.
- Broken crown with ‘Diva’ engraved onto it.
Fifi:
Inspiration:
For the inspiration behind both of these unique characters they were based off of my pets. Willow being an English white golden retriever and Fifi being a calico cat (we don’t know exactly what breed Fifi is, since she was someone else’s cat before my family took her in). With both of these as inspiration I had used my own personal art style I have developed over years of practice to create multiple designs for each of them so that if myself and Joseph liked assets from more than one of the designs I would be able to create a separate design which would combine the both. (This is known as development).
Inspiration also struck my creative flow when I was playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf a few days ago. One of the characters is known as Isabelle and she has uniquely shaped ears which I took inspiration from for Willow’s iconic ears. However, with some of the designs, they were inspired by other games myself and Joseph enjoy to play and communicate about.
These include:
Splatoon:
Why Splatoon?:
The reason why we decided on Splatoon as part of the inspiration was because of the bright colours used in ‘Turf Wars’. This has high contrast but the colours work in harmony. This inspired myself to want to use pastel colours (Something I try extremely hard to avoid) and make a game with it.
Splatoon 2:
Why Splatoon 2?:
With the added on DLC (Downloadable Content) known as ‘Octo Expansion’ takes place inside a maze like subway station. This inspired having the maze layout for our testing facility. For the inside of the ‘Octo Expansion’ it is known as the ‘Deep Sea Metro’ which has darker shades of grey and black for a colour scheme.
Bendy And The Ink Machine:
Why Bendy And The Ink Machine: Chapter 3?:
The reason why myself and Joseph chose chapter 3 was because we knew that the layout of the building in chapter 3 was the inspiration for the layout of out building with multiple floors and dangers along the way. Another reason why we chose chapter 3 instead of any of the other chapters was because this one has the most character development and tells the stories of the characters which answers unanswered questions that I have had from playing the previous two chapters.
Rusty Lake Hotel (Not for the easily scared):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQuJW2jBjv8
Why Rusty Lake Hotel?:
A bit of context first. Rusty Lake Hotel is part of the Rusty Lake series. I enjoyed this game out of the entire series but this is because of the horror attributes that it contains. I do agree that the game is quite dark, like any horror game but this is because that makes the ‘Rusty Lake’ series unique as a horror and puzzle game. The inspiration from this game isn’t with the actual game play, But instead the art style.
Super Mario Odyssey
Why Super Mario Odyssey?:
For the reason why I was inspired by Super Mario Odyssey is because of the creative flare it gives off. It’s very different to any of the other main series Mario games. Odyssey allows people to not have to follow the story and have a chance to explore to come across references to some of the older games (Super Mario 64 mainly) and to also see some of the older characters that nobody had heard anything about for years. (Pauline).
Another reason why I was inspired by Odyssey is by how colourful it is. Odyssey has so many bright colours that make all of the 3D models stand out from the landscape. When I saw this I felt inspired to do something which involved colours and character design. This is how I came up with the idea to add my two pets into the game. (Fifi and Willow).
Concept Art And Development Of Designs:
Fifi:
Here you can see all six designs on the page that I sketched them on. The four colours that you can see is a possible pastel colour palette because this will have a bright contrast with the room that both Fifi and Willow will be eventually found in by Finn. Another reason is because in my experience of drawing as a hobby, I always avoided pastel colours because I didn’t feel confident using them. So now I am challenging myself to use them to create a character. It may sound unrealistic to some people but I am determined to make this work. This is why I researched pastel colour palettes since I knew I would eventually find one that I could show to Joseph and that we would compromise on together for Fifi’s design.
Design 1:
Design 2:
Design 3:
Design 4:
Design 5:
Design 6:
Willow:
Here you can see all six designs on the page that I sketched them on. The four colours that you can see is a possible pastel colour palette because this will have a bright contrast with the room that both Fifi and Willow will be eventually found in by Finn. Another reason is because in my experience of drawing as a hobby, I always avoided pastel colours because I didn’t feel confident using them. So now I am challenging myself to use them to create a character. It may sound unrealistic to some people but I am determined to make this work. This is why I researched pastel colour palettes since I knew I would eventually find one that I could show to Joseph and that we would compromise on together for Willow’s design.
Design 1:
Design 2:
Design 3:
Design 4:
Design 5:
Design 6:
Finn:
Design 1:
Design 2: (Redrawn Design 1 in my style):
Production:
Updated Production Schedule:
12th-17th March:
- Line art and colouring for 2D graphic dialogue sprites.
(If not completed they will be done at home throughout the week upcoming to the 18th of March).
18th- 19th March:
- Texture creation for 3D Models.
25th-26th March:
- Sound creation and blueprint editing.
1st-2nd March:
- Blueprint editing for health bar and creation of health bar.
23rd-30th April:
- Editing of blueprints or sound editing.
7th-13th April:
- Dialogue Creation for 2D sprites.
14th-21st May:
- Refining placement of 3D models and other crucial assets.
Blog Updates:
Blog updates will be done every Monday and Tuesday evening. This is because then I have more time to write a detailed report on production and keep the time I have in college strictly for production purposes as if problems do come up (Which they always will do) I have enough time to focus on the problems and find a solution, which gives me a good opportunity to update my blog with that crucial information.
Production Notes: Day 1 And 2 (12.03.19-18.03.19):
12.03.19
The first day of production, I brought in my small Wacom drawing tablet hoping to be able to use it. This didn’t go to plan since the computer wouldn’t load the software. This meant that I couldn’t use my drawing tablet for the Photoshop work I wanted to do. I could possibly do it out of college but this would mean purchasing a license for Photoshop (Which could be very expensive).
As a consequence of this, I decided on a backup plan. Which was to continue research and get more designs for Fifi and Willow completed since they were required to look ‘withered’ (What I meant by this was that they have been played with and torn apart making them seem old and withering away).
18.03.19
Sound Research:
Luigi’s Mansion: Gloomy Manor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW073cZERYI
Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion: Escape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko94YRCWaT0
Shifty Boo Mansion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSnZ5gXx7ME
Bendy And The Ink Machine: Hello Bertie:
Little Nightmares: The Death Waltz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpXDxY7oSYY
Pokémon: Lavender Town:
Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild: Blood Moon Theme:
Super Mario Odyssey: Ruined Kingdom: Crumbleden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfGEcJqcRlU
Five Nights At Freddy’s: Ultimate Custom Night: Official Soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3IjGKsX_KI
Cuphead: One Hell Of A Time:
Cuphead: Carnival Kerfuffle:
Luigi’s Mansion: Boolossus Battle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaT7GrCvrOA
Slender: The Eight Pages: Pages 1-2:
Don’t Starve: Main Theme:
Don’t Starve: Creepy Forest:
Don’t Starve: D.R Style:
Don’t Starve: Dusk:
Don’t Starve: Danger:
Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild: Windblight Ganon Battle Theme:
Five Night’s At Freddy’s 3: Bad Ending Theme:
Minit: Minit’s Awakening:
Minit: Ghost House:
Splatoon 2: Octarmaments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5If-MqmnKY
Splatoon 2: Bomb Rush Blush:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPXNU-MISE
Super Smash Bros Ultimate: Overworld (Super Mario Bros 3):
Script Writing:
Here you can see not only part of the introduction but also character bios. This will help when I am making individual scripts for Finn, Fifi and Willow since they are all separate characters with different designs, personalities and ages. The reason why I did this is because for our game, Dialogue and story are the two main things that we’re focusing on. This is because I love writing creatively and designing characters to be able to tell a story to people who may not know much about myself or my personal life. But this also helps myself and Joseph get a chance to fully develop our ideas and challenge ourselves to things we may have never done before.
19.03.19
Today will be yet again focusing on sound and ambience. This is because not only will we need sound for the different levels but sounds for events, such as dialogue being triggered, sounds to indicate which character is talking but also sounds to give the player indication of dangers.
Sound Research:
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time: Gerudo Valley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8GRDNU50b8&t=90s
Alice In Wonderland Wii: Off With Her Head:
Alice In Wonderland Wii: Knights Of The Red Queen:
Alice In Wonderland Wii: Snud Queast:
Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild: Master Kohga Battle:
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time: Deku Tree:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdD7_L2VSxI&list=PL8D1E4637261C45EF&index=3
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time: Boss Battle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9oCI0zM8Y&list=PL8D1E4637261C45EF&index=14
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time: Zelda’s Lullaby:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEKYmeYohbw&list=PL8D1E4637261C45EF&index=25
Dialogue Sound Research:
Undertale: Sans Dialogue Sound:
Undertale: All Character Dialogue Sounds:
Undertale: Temmie Dialogue:
Texture Creation:
Table:
Chair:
Table Legs:
Welcome Sign:
Pipe:
Normal Map Definition:
A ‘Normal Map’ is used to show depth inside of textures created by using red, blue and green to show levels of depth and also where different textures are on that texture. For example, a wooden texture would show where the wood is raised and lower in places on that texture.
Diffuse Map Definition:
A ‘Diffuse Map’ will show where all the colours and different textures will go onto your texture map. They are the most common type of texture map because they are used as simple guidelines for things being mapped out.
Specular Map Definition:
A ‘Specular Map’ is used for highlighting where light will reflect off of the texture map by being fully grey scale. The lighter the grey scale in a certain area, That’s where the light will reflect off of the strongest.
25.03.19
3D Model Discussion:
Sprite Art:
26.03.19
Ellie's Game Design 