Task 14: Elements of Game Design, Part 5: Planning and Concepting

Task 14: Elements of game design, part five: planning and concepting

The idea of planning and concepting comes as an essential tool for an artist in the games industry. Because of what the process, that the artists go though, gives them in terms of input to a certain idea that would eventually end up merged with other ideas to result in a final project that stands out, taking all the best and coolest parts of each idea and combining them.

                This process has to begin at the basics. Thumbnailing images of various ideas helps in building a strong set of maybe one hundred different thumbnails, which would then be whittled down variety of ideas, about fifty, sixty thumbnails, these are including the best of the former one hundred to take on even further. The next step in this initial stage would be to further cut down the number of ideas that an artist may have to a realistic ten to twenty plans, which would make for a good selection of quality plans to choose to work with to then build a final project from.

                Another key part to the planning and concepting is the placement of the subjects in the images that the artist is producing, thumbnailing would again be sufficient here as it allows an artist to experiment with the placement, tweaking the images in each progressing sketch. Speed is also a key factor when producing the thumbnails for viewing and taking ideas from, this method ensures that all angles have been covered and cut or included within the final and makes sure that the decisions made are for the better and faster outcome.

                As mentioned earlier, the speed at which an artist produces concept work or thumbnails is key. In thumbnails the more that are done, the better the input of ideas will be for when the project is set up and running, planning for seven hours and then creating a great final piece in one hour or two is better than spending seven hours on a final piece that was only planned for an hour or two and turns out not too great. It just improves an artist’s decision making throughout the final piece almost on a subconscious level, as they would have used parts from one thumbnail that looks great, that they never would have thought to include if they hadn’t of gone through the thumbnail process first in order to get this idea.

                Organisation is vital to how well and how good a project looks and feels. If there is no organisation like; lack of time management, poor motivation and work ethic, a project will fall apart. Managing time well is tricky at first but reaps benefits when used properly, a decent amount of work gets done and keeps stress levels almost none existent, which helps produce the best work, under stress, work can be rushed and some key elements will be missing that can only be included through processes that stress tends to try and skip to finish the project faster. Keeping a good time and work management produces better work and then an artist can have time to correct mistakes that they may find in their work.

                These are the skills that i believe are the most important to get to grips with and start practicing, on a regular basis. 

Task 13: Review of the First Year and Ambition for Year 2

Task 13: Review of the first year and ambition for year two

The first year for me was a huge step for me. I was introduced to 3d software for the first time and a whole new way of working and learning. Although taken back by the new experience, I slowly became accustom to this and started to really enjoy it.

                I did find the software 3ds Max, at the start, rather hard to get to grips with. Although it was a steep learning curve, i feel that this was the reason for my motivation. I wanted to learn how to be good at using Max because I was very interested in what I could create with this software if I worked at it. So that experience really did me some good, i created models such as the Darlek, wheelie bin, building, tree and gladiator and I thought I improved in my skills with each model.

                Visual design was more of a comfort zone for me in the first year, as I had been doing this in my previous school and college work, I enjoy picking up a pencil and paper and drawing and image. Sketching and traditional art media were what I was used to, so the principals of how to draw were there and i didn’t feel like i had to learn everything from scratch. I was interested in learning techniques that were told and shown to me. My ability in traditional art media has improved a lot from what i got from the lessons and I have started to see what I’m drawing in a different way, for example, the colour theory, I now look for more than just the shades of one colour, I started using colours that I would have never thought would be in the senses or objects that I was observing. The single and two point perspectives really helped me in particular as i had always struggled to draw scenery in the past especially when drawing city landscapes and buildings have always been tricky.

                In critical studies I especially like the group discussions I enjoy learning how the industry will see my work, whether or not a piece will be noticed or whether it will be glanced over, i found these talks very helpful in that aspect, also, the lead up to a final product and finished project, the process that the game goes through and the different styles or artists that the elements get worked on. These were documented in my personal research which I enjoyed doing to study the history of the industry that i hope to get into. I very much find the viewing and study of scenery and character reference in the visual stimulation class, very insightful to how a character is portrayed in a game and how scenery and environments help set the mood of a particular set level or cut scene.

                The first year was vital for me to experience the kind of work effort expected in university, and I’m pleased overall with my progress in everything that I’ve been taught.

                In the second year I Intend to try and explore the modifiers and advanced tools available in 3ds max to be able to build more realistic models, and aim to increase my knowledge of topology in a mesh, flow lines of anatomy, how they are helpful in animation, and I want to improve my abilities with rigging character meshes too. I hope to better my drawing capabilities through increased variety of media both wet and dry, and how to properly capture expression and emotion in my pictures by more regularly creating drawings and digital pieces. I want to learn a lot more about how industry runs and works, so i look forward to continuing with the blog research, the group talks and the visual stimulation classes.