November 19, 2012 01:26
November 15, 2012 20:49
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Let The Internship Begin!
The School of Computing has been working on a project for people that have suffered spinal cord injuries, and while I don't know all the specifics for it, we the team that I joined was hired to make a new environment for the device known as the Treadport. If you want to know more about the project, you can read an article and watch a video of how the device works.
I'm the only artist in the team, so I will be in charge of making all the art assets for the game. There will be different modes or challenges to the game to try and measure peoples performance. The game has to include these modes: 10 meter test, 6 minute test, a snipe hunt mini-game, directed collection, and a destination quest. There is no HUD or input to this game, so we've had to come up with a different way to get all these modes into the game by creating one map where patient spawns. Then the patient will have to walk to the activity that he or she would like to do and then we will load the next "room" where the activity will take place.
I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but the setting has to be a farm, so with that in mind I've started to work on some of the land marks that will be placed around the main map. They will be: a barn house. a wind mill, water silo, grain silo, and a house. They all need to be big enough that the patient will be able to see them from anywhere in the level. Here is the basic level layout that we've talked about in the past and its what I'm working off for the moment:
I will post a render of the barn house as soon as I'm done with the model. I want to finish this post by saying that I'm really excited about getting this internship, it will give me much needed experience not only working on more art, but also working with a new team and being able to get all this done.
Thanks for reading!
November 12, 2012 21:14
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First Time Doing Digital Painting
This shows my first (left) and final (right) try at the assignment. |
I looked for a sketch online that I liked and that I could use to do the assignment for since I didn't know if I could create one that I would like. After doing a quick search for geisha sketches, I found this one that I really like from a Deviant Art member called Melody ( link to her original sketch ) and I loved it right away.
I took it into Sketch Book and did a quick trace, and after getting help from people in my group I made some modifications to the sketch like: rounding out her face a bit to give it a more feminine look, as well as giving her bigger feet, and changing a bit her left elbow.
The picture above shows my first try, and I think I didn't do a good job with the color palette since it looks a little too dark. I redid the assignment after doing the changes I mentioned above with a new color palette, and I think it looks much better than my first try. I also found that it took less time and I was able to put in a little more detail in the shadows the second time around.
My classmates and professor have suggested that I should keep working on it and add a pattern to the dress. I will definitely keep working on it and add a pattern since it would make it look so much better, I just have to find some reference images that I like. That is all for now, thanks for reading.
November 8, 2012 19:06
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Progress on Final Project for Game Art 3
Bridge to cross a narrow part of the lake. |
This is the main gate to the garden. |
This is an itsukushima or a water shrine. |
November 5, 2012 00:00
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First Thoughts About Assassin's Creed 3
Anyways, as you all know Assassin's Creed 3 was released this last week, and being the fanboy that I am, I pre-ordered it and everything. I only managed to stat playing it two days ago, and I've only been able to put the controller down to eat and do homework. Its amazing how much each game changes as time goes on, and each game always has things that they do better, and some that I wonder why they changed them at all when they used to work so well.
One of the things that I really liked about the previous games was that whenever you used your pistol, it was always really quick when it reloaded for the next shoot. Maybe this wasn't very realistic, but its a game so whatever... Anyways, with this game they introduced full sized pistols (not just a little pistol hidden in your bracelet) and the reloading takes FOREVER!!! This might be more realistic to the time period than the other games have been, but you can't get your players used to one thing and then switch it on them. This has made me almost not count on the pistol at all since I can usually kill an enemy in half the time that it takes to reload the pistol, and maybe this is exactly what they wanted for people to use the pistol less often... but I still don't like it.
One thing that I really like was the way that they changed the fighting system. Before, it was almost pointless to try and fight the enemies, since it was easier to just stand in once place holding your block button and counter your enemies' attack. They have gotten rid of the block button, and replaced it with a parry that only work for a split second, so you have to time it right and also have to take action in the fight more than the previous games.
Also, I'm glad that they also added some of the other weapons like the rope dart. This thing is amazing, it lets you choke your enemies if you are standing above them and then you can reuse the same dart, or you can hang them from the ledge you were standing on and consume your dart.
I could keep going and going about how much I love AC3, but I think I will stop for now, this way I can make another entry in a few days after I've advanced much further in the game. Thanks for reading.
November 1, 2012 20:28
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Drop Drop Submitted to IGF
October 28, 2012 03:10
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Sleeping At The Lab
October 14, 2012 21:09
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Utah State Capitol Building - Model Done
October 6, 2012 20:46
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Utah State Capitol Building
One of the last assignments that was due this last Tuesday was to work on a replica model of a building in Salt Lake City. I decided to work on the Utah State Capitol building and I managed to get most of the model done, but not enough to move on to doing the textures for it. Here is a quick render of where the model is at:
September 25, 2012 20:10
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Game Arts Final Project Idea
September 23, 2012 22:15
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Back to Pre-production
So my task for this weekend was to write up a 1 page document on how the level could look like, along with some possible color pallets. Here is what I came up with:
Overview:
- At this point, we have talked about making the environment look run-down and abandoned.
- We still want to make it look like a city, but at first it will look dry and lifeless.
- Once the player has reached the bottom, the parts that have been hydrated will look new again.
- Dilapidated/Run-down
- Abandoned/Desolation
- Dry/Parched
- Cold
- Revitalized
- Energized
- Warm
- Back from the dead
- “Phoenix rising”
Dry/Dead |
Hydrated/Alive |
September 12, 2012 02:58
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Redesigning Our Thesis Project... Again
Screenshot of the low poly teddy bear I made, tri-count is at the top left corner. |
September 6, 2012 02:48
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Sketching a Weapon
For this week, we were suppose to create five things all bases around a common theme which are: a hero, an animal sidekick, a villain, a weapon, and a vehicle. I've been having a lot of issues with most of them, but here is my best sketches from the group.
September 4, 2012 03:14
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New Semester
So at the end of last semester, we were told that our game needed a lot of work because the player couldn't really tell what was happening most of the time. (Refer back to this post to know what the game is.) So over the summer, a couple of the producers worked really hard to come up with a new game idea that still involved falling as a game mechanic, but that was far more appealing that Graviators. The product of their work was: "Drop Dead: Zombie Divers".
There really isn't a narrative at the moment, but the premise of the game is that the player chooses a zombie from a group of other zombies and then drop it off a skyscraper. The player will then use the Kinect to control the falling zombie to dodge obstacles in the environment and make it all the way to the bottom and... splat! Along the way, the player would be able to find power ups and multipliers to get a higher score which is also affect on wether you reach the bottom or not.
We worked really hard to have a playable demo by the first day of class, since we wanted to make sure that the professors could see that we had taken the feedback we received seriously and had done something about it. The professors loved the new idea, but there was still one problem... zombies.
The professors think that zombies are over used in todays game market, and if we want our game to stand out at the IGF we should do something a little more original. So they told us to stop development of other assets (for us the artist) and work on developing other ideas and test them out in the game to see how it feels. So far we have been working on things like: scarecrows, clowns, teddy bears, and other crazy stuff.
Our next meeting as a group will be this next Wednesday, so thats when I will give an update on what I've been working on (I've been doing the scarecrow and teddy bear btw) and see if its still something that we want to do. In my opinion, I don't think that zombies are a bad idea. If the game is good, who cares if its zombies or mummies or bears falling.
What I think we should be focusing (and this is a little more for the producers) is on making a cohesive narrative for the game that makes sense and that it isn't too complicated. It could be something as simple as the narrative in Angry Birds, but they get really complicated really quickly and then it doesn't make sense.
Hopefully they will have something nailed down by next time, because this whole thing is actually making me kind of nervous since we don't have time to be experimenting this late in the year when IGF submissions are due at the end of October. Anyways, thanks for reading.
August 29, 2012 23:45
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Influence Map Revisited
So I finished my influence map completely after class on Tuesday night, and I had a chance to label everything which seams to be the norm. I don't think I have to do this on my blog, but we had to explain our influence map to the whole class as to what each item is and how they relate to us and how they influence us.
- Disturbed was one of the first rock bands that I listened to, and up until today they are still one of my favorite bands. I was really sad once I found out they had disbanded after releasing The Lost Children album. But I have to say that my favorite song is still Down With the Sickness since it was the first song I listed to from them.
- Assassin's Creed is one of my favorite game series, the story line is really good and they have kept me coming back for more since the first game. I have to admit that the first game wasn't that good, but there was something about it that made me want to buy the next. After that, I was completely hooked and I can't wait for the third one to come out this year. The one thing that I hate is that I don't own a PS Vita so I won't be able to play Liberation.
- Eragon (Inheritance cycle) is my favorite book series, which was written by Christopher Paolini. I've always been a huge fan of dragons and elves, and I really liked his style of writing and how it made the world come to life. I haven't been able to get around to read the last book, but I will get to it before the end of the year. I hated the movie that they did, I hope that they do a remake and do a proper job on the series this time since it has so much potential.
- The Dark Knight series is amazing, there is just no other way to describe it in my opinion. I absolutely love what Christopher Nolan did with the series and how me managed to make the notion of Batman seem realistic, but still close enough to the series that we could all be happy. I've watch the Dark Knight Rises twice on IMAX since its come out and I can't wait for it to come out on Blue-ray.
- Rise Against is another band that I really love, while I believe that it should be a bigger square than just the one, I didn't have the room to put everything that I wanted (and there was a bunch of stuff that I didn't include).
- This is a screenshot from the game Darksiders, and I put on here not only because I really like that game. I've passed the game a couple of times by now, and I also bought the collectors edition of Darksiders 2 (I got it mainly because it came with a life size copy of Death's mask). But the reason why it takes the biggest part of my map is because I want to be an environmental artist and I really like all the art in Darksiders with the post-apolitical look they gave the game while still maintaining everything fairly realistic.
- League of Legends is a really fun game, and I've been playing it for about a year now. I'm still not as good as my friend that introduced me to the game. That picture is from my current favorite champion, her name is Diana and I really like the concept of her art and how her kit works in the game. My main champion is Shyvana, and the only reason why I started to play her is because she can turn into a dragon. :) I have to admit that I play this game more than I should, but it would be really cool if I could work for Riot Games one day. Maybe I'll talk to them next year when I go to GDC once more.
- Eight and twelve are related, I don't know why I arranged it the way I did but they should be right next to each other. The reason why Mario and an SNES are in my map is because when I was a little kid, they were the first game and console that I owned. I remember playing Mario for at least a year before I beat the whole thing. I remember that after I played Mario the first day, I thought to myself: "one day, I'm going to make games."
- This picture is from a manga/anime series called Death Note. The reason why its the only piece that hold three squares is because I love manga and anime, and I didn't want to have it represented by only two squares. I picked Death Note to represent my love anime and manga because its a series that I really like and that I find really fascinating. There is probably a better picture I could have picked, but Death Note was the first thing that came to mind so I figured it should be up there. I actually have a small collection of manga in my room that I've spend about $600-$700, there was a time when I would buy a new manga book from Barnes & Nobles almost every week since I just couldn't get enough. Eventually I realized that I couldn't keep buying every series I liked, so I had to resort to reading manga on the internet. :(
- In case you are wondering, square ten says "Japanese Language" in kanji. I actually was in Japan for a month in the summer of 2009. I went to Japan as a part of a month long intensive Japanese language course through the University of Utah. I can't possibly explain how valuable this trip was for me, not only because I had always dreamed of visiting Japan, but because it was a life changing experience and I wish I could go back again. I took Japanese classes for 5 semesters, and I was never really good but it was enough to at least get around in Japan. But I haven't been able to practice for a while so I have now forgotten most of it, but I can still read hiragana, katakana, and some basic kanji even if it takes a moment to do so.
- This studio everyone should know, or at least I hope that everyone does. They have made some of my favorite anime movies, and I love the message that they have on each of the ones that I've watched. Hayao Miyazaki is a genius in the way that he can critique anything and still make an animated film that everyone can love. I haven't seen his most recent work, but from the ones that I have seen, Spirited Away is by far my favorite.
- Refer back to 8.
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The biggest thing about this version is that I added a pattern to the dress. A few people in my cohort said that they liked the improvements, but that the dress needed a pattern. I found a pattern that I really like and overlaid it over the dress and umbrella. Someone else had also mentioned that the shadow in the middle was kind of weird and suggested to make it smaller. The same person helped me get a quick and simple shadow, which I think adds a lot to the painting.
Now my concern is that the highlights aren't as visible anymore. I made some shadows darker, and fixed the geisha's right foot since it was just a bit off balance. Last, I managed to put some pupils in her eyes, many people said that she looked like a zombie without them. I will continue to work on it when I get a chance, hopefully this will even become a nice portfolio piece.
Thanks for reading.