Week one, Year two

I have now finished the first week of year two of my university studies in-game design and graphics. We have had a lot to do but it have been a great time.

This week I started a new course, 3D Computer Graphics – Theory and Application 1.

We started with an exercise of analyzing screenshots from different games and how elements of art had been used to create them and how they were used to achieve a mood or what happened in the picture. These were the screenshots my group had to work with.

The Evil within

In this picture they have used a lot of diagonal lines with the trees, the ground, tents and carts, to make you look towards the center of the picture. The low-key value colors to the side in the forest and the high key value colors in the center make you want to look towards the center. It’s a very dark and cold atmosphere and the only safe and warm colors are the torches and the man one of them lights up and it makes him look like a good guy trapped in a bad place.

Far cry 3

In this picture they have a lot of warm colors that makes it look like a paradise. A lot of soft shapes are used in the screenshot, even the mountains are round and look like a nice place. The placement of the hang glider make you look towards the left of the picture where you see a car and a house. Something that you would go towards if you were in a jungle and look for safety, but the car is hurrying away from there and the house or hut is burning. Making the jungle look a lot more inviting. Placing the camera so high up making you look down creates the feeling of a moving action scene and that nothing safe can come of landing close to anything or anyone down at the ground. But the house on the mountain is horizontal with the camera and looks a lot more inviting and safe. It doesn’t feel like you fall when you look on that, it feels like a place you want to get to.

Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor

The way they have composed this screenshot is that they have placed the human above the orc in such a way that he looks like he is dominating the orc, not just defeating him. The man doesn’t look like a nice guy even though he is killing something that looks evil. He looks more like a mercenary that does what is necessary to survive and what benefits him. He has a lot of cold colors with the light from his hand and the clothes that emphasize this. The orc with his bloodstained clothes look warmer than the man. But the man looks nicer because he has smoother shapes on him and the clothes. The Orcs has a lot of sharp edges that make him look more evil and everything he wears is rough and worn down.

Watch dogs

In this you look up on the character and he has his arm stretched out horizontal with the camera. With that and the pose has and what he does you can clearly see it’s an action scene. With the rain and the car, a lot of shiny surfaces it looks cold and not that inviting. The man is dressed in clothes that look durable and easy to move around in. He also covers his face which make it look like he probably isn’t against the law he is what almost all things in the picture is pointed to so it leads the sight to him, it’s all about him. He has a lot of round shapes making him look like the good thing in the picture but yet it looks like he is against the law so he is probably a vigilant. The surrounding things in the picture has a lot of sharp edges to them and make them look more dangerous than the character.

The next day we started using the 3D software and at the last half of the class we got an exercise to create a small level with only the help of simple shapes, like making a test level for a game.

We worked in pairs and we got key words to work around and get inspiration from and what game we would make the test level for. The three games we had to choose from were Mass Effect, Uncharted and Journey. The words we had to work with was, magic, desolation, danger, suspense and solitude.

I and the one I worked with decided to make a level for the game Uncharted and used the key word solitude. We the game because my partner had played that one and I had I barely played any of the games to choose from, I only knew about them. We decided to make a level inspired by Tibet because we thought the key word solitude could work really well with it. So to apply this to our level we made it look like a place that no one had been in for a long time. Everything was empty, a dead tree and some broken structures. So it looked like no one was there to take care of it and the player that would go around there would be alone.

Here is 3 screenshots from our level, we used the 3D software Maya.

After that we shared our work with other groups and looked at their levels. 2 out of three thought it was solitude and one thought it was suspense because it was so empty that anything or anyone could just pop out at any moment to attack the player.

One interesting thing I saw several had used for their level was that everyone that used Journey as their game had put it pillars and broken bridges in their level. So they all used them as they were an iconic part of the game. So you could easily see what game they had chosen just from that feature.

Well that was it for this time. I will have a new post out next week or maybe two.