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Miles carr
- FMP -
Miles carr - final major project
Secondary
Research
Initial Idea
My initial idea was to create a detailed, 3D environment (In Unreal Engine 4) that the player can walk around and interact with different objects. The goal is to walk around the environment in a first person camera, collecting gems whilst also collecting mysterious notes that gets revealed to the player at the end of the game. These mysterious notes will hint the player towards clues in relation to a murder. The 3D environment is going to be a simple map, walking through a forest and making your way towards a cliff. Now although the main aspect of the idea is the mountain range/forest detailed environment, the gems and the notes are collectibles that are extra to intrigue the player into playing it as a game as well as a walk around simulator. This should also help keep things interesting for the player. I want to make sure I manage my time appropriately by making sure I stick with the idea and not try to go into too much detail as time is of the essence. There are many inspirations towards making this map which should help me have an idea how natural the world should look and how different aspects of the map should visually look. I really want to try and immerse the player into this environment and having the collectibles should further this immersion.
Fandom (Unknown). Outlands HL2EP2. Available at fandom.com (Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
style/Setting
I want to have a start and end point with brief moments to walk around and take in all the scenery. I will also have ambient sound around the area. Sound may contain leaves brushing the floor, trees swaying from the wind, the river flowing and animals making noises. There will be a heavy focus for lighting and sound as this will help immerse the player into this reality as they walk and watch the world around them naturally alive. I want to try and connect my map as close to reality as I can, so this would mean making sure different world objects are placed as naturally as possible, sky box related objects are places as noticeably and naturally as possible and anything that the player is not meant to see is covered and away from their line of sight. I want to assure that the camera is in a first person perspective with nothing covering the camera that is going to distract the player from the map itself. I want to dedicate time to make sure that the lighting has been placed accordingly, the sound is clear and matches the criteria of the scenery and to make sure that the effects I add make it real and not too much of a fantasy.
Artist Research
Viktor Antonov
Viktor Antonov is a video game art director for valve and has worked on many titles such as Half Life series. This contains Half Life 2, Half Life 2 Episode 1 and Half Life 2 Episode 2. As stated on Fandom.com, he has been in the video game industry since 1996. He set up a company called "The Building" which took various tasks for movies, television series and video games. Although he worked on Half Life 2 and received most of his publicity from there, he also worked on games such as Counter-Strike Source, Dishonered and even Quake II. He worked on two movies called The Prodigies and Renaissance.
He has a big impact on how I want my art style to look like. I like the ambient effects that he uses across all his maps, showing detail as well as the mood of the world. He uses gritty, windy weather which as I said in my initial idea is something that I am going to focus on sound wise, and he also uses as much realism to the objects as possible which matches my desired criteria.
Fandom.com (2016). St.Olga. Available at: fandom.com
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Fandom.com (2016). Viktor Antonov. Available at: fandom.com (Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Fandom.com (2016). Viktor Antonov. Available at: fandom.com (Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Fandom.com (2016). The Coast. Available at: fandom.com
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Fandom.com (2016). The Coast. Available at: fandom.com
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog has made a library of games such as the Uncharted Series which I have mainly been researching as it fits the art style I want to further develop in. Because this company, Like many others, work in bundles of groups, it is difficult to to do research based on one artist on a game like uncharted that has many influences towards my initial idea. When they create the uncharted games, it is clear to see that they put as much realism into the effects, props, world as possible. This is what I aim to do. When playing their games in the past, they never fail to create realistic worlds as most of them are based on semi-real locations. They always have quality sound and effective foliage in their exploration areas. They usually have plenty of space for the player to look around and move around, its almost like they did this deliberately as they want to focus more attention onto the world itself. The world effects in the games are really effective and help create dynamic shadows, fit for effective lighting. Their cave systems in Uncharted 4 have this mysterious feel to them. This complements the atmosphere with the sound and lighting that they add. This goes back to my initial idea as I want to draw some focus onto lighting, sound and shadows. I also want to make it as realistic as I can make it in UE4 so Uncharted might give me a push and inspiration in the correct direction.
LogoLynx (2014). Naughty Dog. Available at: logolynx.com
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Iamag (Uknown). Uncharted 4. Available at: Iamag.co
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Iamag (Unknown). Uncharted 4. Available at: Iamag.co
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Ian mcque
Ian mcque
Ian Mcque is an art director who works (or worked) for Rockstar Games. He helped with doing the opening sequence into Grand Theft Auto 2. As of now, he has websites everywhere of his work and now goes into freelancing taking any jobs for game related projects. He has 2 websites, one of which shows all of his current and past work and his aspirations for the future, and another were he sells his work online from £12 to over £20.
His work inspires me as he has done a lot to get to where he is now. He has taken on many jobs to try and build his job and life. The effects he uses for his art pieces such as fog, smoke and fire are the kind of effects I want to implement in my map. He really uses the effects to build off the environment, which again as stated in my initial idea and my settings description. I really want to use his method to my advantage when I'm building it into a 3D environment instead of a 2D landscape image.
Twitter (Unknown). Ian McQue Profile Picture. Available at: twitter.com
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
IanMcque (Unknown). Ian Mcque Art. Available at: Iamag.co
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
Iamag (Unknown). Ian Mcque Art. Available at: Iamag.co
(Accessed at: 17th March 2019)
The whole point of this section is to outline different art styles or environment styles that could benefit me in some way. Given that I am making a 3D environment/game in UE4, it would be in my best interest to study and take a look at different examples of artist work, mainly from games. For example, I have researched Viktor Antonov who worked on Half Life, Naughty Dog as a whole with their model creating and level design, and lastly, Ian Mcque who worked on cut scenes for Rockstar games.
This research has helped me understand and study the ways people and businesses take on challenges when making games. After doing this research, I understand the effort and responsibility it takes to try and make a game/3D landscape. I should try and take this work as inspiration for something I want to be able to do for my project. I am mainly going to be taking inspiration from Viktor and Naughty Dog as they have specialized more in the 3D landscape zone. I will be taking a look at the landscape work they have done as well as the game mechanics they have ported into their games.
Meaningful Explanation
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