So since my last post, it has been basically creating new designs for guitar weapons and texturing some of the older versions with something to show off in-game. First off, we shall look at the textured models.
Textures for the Keytar Laser and Shotgun Banjo. It's straightforward really. It helps keep the features from meshing in so you know what the object is, and we can go into ZBrush or Mudbox and give it some cool features later.
Now onto something a bit more interesting.
New versions of a Banjo and Guitar, as well as a Bass design for the character. The Banjo was made to have more features to it, and was modeled more after a revolver than any other gun.
The Bass Guitar is given the biggest body and the biggest stock. The weapon it is modeled after is a flamethrower. Hence, the tiny tank of gasoline and the nozzle at the end.
The Guitar was modeled after one of the more famous Metal themed guitars. However, the gun features are toned down, this one having only a sight and a trigger.
And AJ has said he would like to feature these in our Alpha presentation, which is very exciting. I hope our class loves the designs on these as much as I do!
A new week, and new things to make. However, a bit of new things to think about.
Been playing Nintendo's new system, the Wii U, and it is a great piece of hardware. The use of the Wii U Gamepad as a new controller is fun, and it's nice to see Nintendo getting up to date with online connectivity. What's more fun is the use of non synchronous gaming, wherein the player with the Gamepad is playing a different game from those who have the Wii-Motes. Something maybe to consider as a gameplay aspect for different characters.
Only thing disappointing is the lack of software to make use of it, but it's a launch. Bound to happen anyway. But onto the weapons!
Simple concepts for the Guitar Blaster, Keytar Laser, and Banjo Shotgun. Next thing is to make a cool design and texture these suckers!
So along with the textured models for the prototype, my job was to
texture the models I made as assests in the game. Pretty
straightforward, so here are pics of the new textured models.
These were the ones I finished (sorry for the TV, the outer rim is black, so it matches the background a little too well).
The building is unfinished at this point, but this might be a good thing as we can label it with anything we desire.
For this sprint, we, as the art team, were tasked with making some assets to put into the game. Various objects we can texture and give to our level designer to lay around the area.
Now as I stated before, or maybe not, the older models I made for the prototype will be included as assets in the game. What I am here to do today is show off some newer stuff which will be included. Now bear with me, they have not been textured yet, but in the future I will showcase some models which will be, whether I made it myself or someone else on our team did. Right now, it's getting the assets made so the level designer has something to work with.
Been playing a lot of Valve games recently, so for my garbage I picked something simple. A broken piece of 2x4. Easy to put in, easy to spot, easy to texture.
Now on to the nitty gritty. Here we have a drinking fountain, complete with nozzle and button. Fairly simple again, and it will work well with the park benches from before.
Now to give the feeling of gritty within out level, garbage is needed to lay about the streets. What's more garbage than old TV's? Used some new techniques to make the screen a bit better looking, and who wouldn't want to make an old style antenna again?
Lastly, a building. Build it as a convenience store or laundromat or whatever our artists feel like this could be. Now then, as you can see the models is extruded inward. These were made to make the windows, which will have transparencies when we texture the building. It is hard to see, but there is a sliding door in the front, and the sign on top will be used to come up with clever names for our building.
Yay, more art concepts! Seems a bit redundant as of late, but what can we do? We are still trying to find out what our characters should look like. However, I was tasked with something more awesome, and that is designs for the weapons.
Although not too well when it comes to characters, I can draw objects like no other. I love designing weapons especially, and I got to have fun with this one.
4 unique weapons, all based on instruments. The left is a long range sniper guitar (sorry for being cut out a little, the scanner at home does that, and my sketchbook is a bit big). The bass has flamethrower attributes, as the bass gets its sound out in large wave blasts. The banjo became a shotgun. It works in the context of red neck bluegrass, right? And finally the keytair laser. What's more science fiction than keytairs and lasers anyway?
Another concept for the guitar, but also with concepts of how the player could hold it, fire it, and swing it as a blunt weapon. And every metal image needs the sign of the devil, and our hand is holding the pick of the band.
So far it's been just thinking up new ideas, but now modeling has begun, and it's definitely my time to shine. Some of the objects being created are already made, like the stop sign for the prototype. By Tuesday I shall post all the objects I created for the team, if work doesn't get in the way.
So for this weekend, the art team was tasked with coming up with a
design for an environment and regular enemy we can use like crazy in our
levels. Here is what I came up with.
(Please note, I have no pencil sharpener or Photoshop, so the coloring was done with a better form of crayon)
The enemy I came up with has demon like features in his horns, tail, and
legs. He is simple, easy to edit, and menacing enough to go up against
the hero. What I like is his unsymmetrical arm. It can be used as a
bashing element for his attack.
For the environment design, I went for an interior look. The pentagram is shown in detail, but on the sides are office motivationals to give it that desk job look. This can be used as a basis for a fighting arena our character comes across.
So art-wise, this is what I came up with. I do hope some designs make it in, but next week is modeling, and it will be a time for me to shine ever brighter in this project!
Wow, what a rough couple of weeks it has been. Leading up into Anime Banzai, a local convention in Layton, I worked a ton on costumes and preparing for the convention that having time to update this blog have been hard pressed. It did not, however, mean I haven't been working closely with the group on our project. Far from it. I have done everything they have asked me to do, and now I can finally show off all the concept art I have done for our full group.
A lot to show off, but each is my version of what the game could be. Whether it's an enemy, a weapon, or even the main character, the choice is up to the team if they want this sort of style in the game.
So after making some initial concept art, I was given the task of making some objects to fill our environment, as well as texture the city (which won't be included until the team thinks the final texture will be best for prototype).
Without further ado, I present the items I modeled and textured for our prototype!
Not much to say really. Basis stuff for a prototype, but I did learn more about text and using the same model over and over to make work easier.
Over the weekend, I went out of town. So for our prototype, instead of making models or 3D objects, I did the artwork for what would become some of the textures and designs for the prototype. So here they are and what each mean.
So here is a concept for the hero. During our talking about how to show the enemies and player in the prototype, we thought it would be easier if they were common shapes. So he is rendered as a cube, and has each side a different side of his body. However, I felt we needed a new concept that strayed from my original pitch. Instead of being a rock star, I figured our main character had to have the look of an up and comer. He is here for the fun of it.
The enemies were a little harder because of the different shape (I had a small forgetful moment and drew characters in the wrong shape or forgot how the shape functions). But here, we have a security guard, and demon, and a hooded boss demon to contend with. I made both a security guard enemy and still frame so it can be used in the level as a humorous backdrop.
To save on space, I rendered 3 different repeating patterns for the levels. The top half is the street concept. The bottom is the same level, but on each end. It is the inner office level, and it begins with white walls and ends in blood smeared walls.
This was rushed, but the top half is where the satanic ritual takes place. The bottom is office items which could be scattered. Desks, clocks, computers, money, shoes, whatever could be in an office.
Some of the various things which could smother the walls as you progress through the office level.
And lastly is the final still when you complete the level. It gives off the graphic novel vibe as it pans out to the helicopter flying away with the big cheese. It is not colored because I feel it wouldn't of done justice being colored by me. It needs to be done by a computer!
For my first bit of work for this project, I was asked to design concepts for the level, enemies, and various things to make our game what it should feel like. Here is what I came up with so far.
I was asked to make a "suit" seem evil and devilish, so I made a "suit" that is evil and devilish. The basic concept is shown on the left, with some cool head designs in case we go with something other than what's given.
What do you get when satanic people in corporate offices worship something? Hopefully something along the lines of this.
For what might be considered our chase sequence, I came up with what it might look like, or even what might be splattered about the walls and platforms we will be scaling along the way up.
I decided on my own a concept for what could chase us down the hall. Cerebrus, the Dog of the Underworld in Greek Mythology, is a pretty scary guy. I mean, one ferocious head is enough, let alone three. And since this is the music business, making them a sort of bodyguard is kinda funny. Clothing on a dog is hilarious, even if it is just a pair of shades.
What makes up the other half of our game is definitely the music genre. Although it has been steadily declining as of late, there is no use denying how powerful and fun these games were, and maybe still is. To this day, I try and get friends together, dust off my instrument peripherals, and jam out on one of the many downloaded songs I had for Rock Band 2. So let's see what I think should be in our game.
Before Rock Band included a microphone and drum set, there was just the guitar (and occasionally a bass guitar), and I think Guitar Hero was at its peak with this game. It had a polished design, great music, and smooth gameplay. I really wanted to make myself play this game to continually get better and better.
So what worked? The character design really felt solid in this one. I could really sense the genre each character represented. I want our characters to have that same sort of design philosophy. Along with that, but how the music was played felt polished and flawless. When we are bounding through levels, I feel we need that polished gameplay so those who play it over and over again can expect what to press and really feel like a rock star.
And if we can make our music sound as great as the set list to this game, that wouldn't be so bad either.
Mario Paint was a real weird game when it originated for the Super Nintendo, but more people know it today by it's music composer sub game, shown below.
This version of Mario Paint is now available on your computer (through a ROM hack), and youtube has tons of videos of people making songs with this composer. I think having some form of this in the game would be a very cool addition. Whether that's being able to use sound bytes for specific attacks and jumps (representing what button you hit) or even a player being able to make their own track list for the background music.
Although this might be a huge hurdle, it would nonetheless be a cool addition if pulled off correctly.
The last game I would like to go over is Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. Essentially it is just like any other Japanese RPG (role-playing game), but now the battles are fought using something similar to a timed button mission.
One of the discussions our group had was for how our boss battles would be managed, and I think this game is the perfect example of how it can be accomplished, especially when multipalyer can be managed. By building our combo, the players can unleash the full power of their instruments. Each player can have a special grid, similar to Rock Band or this game, and if things are executed correctly, the player can attack the boss. Maybe the harder the riff, the more damage can be done. If it doesn't work, the players have to rebuild their combo and try again. But this game can help paint how the game could look when fighting the boss. As they sit on the side, the players attack using the power of rock!
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