Dynasaur!

One of my first sculpts using Z brush’s dynamesh tool. Sculpted and painted in 4-5 hrs, I can see this being another badass tool to add to the concepting process, Artists like Ben Mauro have been using this process for a couple of years, I’d heard of how good dynamesh was, but I had no idea how much faster it would make sculpting. This little critter is a Troodon, known for their general dinosoariness and apparent lack of lower teeth according to my model.

VEHICLE PROJECT

I was very excited at the start of this project, as I'm a massive fan of codies’ racing games, and to get a vehicle brief set by them was always going to be exciting. But the brief was so open that I found the idea of choosing any vehicle in the universe to make a little overwhelming, especially for a massive car/military vehicle nerd like me. On the first day of the project I concepted a range of ideas, from racing cars to futuristic military trucks. But I ended up sticking a bunch of ideas together to design a vehicle that combines all of the things I love about cars. Basically an over the top racecar. The general basis for the design could be described as a Max Rockatansky's interceptor having a metal love child with a GT car.

Coat Collaboration

Here’s a short project I did early last summer for a friend who wanted to develop his degree show a little more as his project had been selected to be displayed at the graduate fashion show at earl court.  His project was titled Zero Waste Menswear, and the idea is kind of self-explanatory as the clothes are for chaps, and the pattern designs have zero wastage, meaning that when the fabric is cut for the separate parts, arms, pockets, etc. nothing is thrown away, so every part has a purpose e.g. the semi-circles from the arms cut into the back are used as pocket flaps. The idea may sound very simple but the great thing about his project was that it didn't compromise the design as in theory you could do this with any pattern just by sticking all of the offcuts onto the elbow, but this would of course make it look shit. Anyway, he asked me to 3D model the coat, so it could be animated and cut apart to show this in a clearer way. We only had five days, but we were pretty pleased with the results in the end, there are just some screens from Z brush below, but if you click on this link: http://zerowastemenswear.tumblr.com/ you can see the final rotation animation we created, with together and exploded 360 views. We were unable to animate the “explosion” as there was a slight hiccup during the project, in the form of me being involved in a cycling accident on the 3^rd day of the project, and sustaining a minor brake on my right arm. This was a massive pain in the arm, but I soldiered on with my arm in a sling and managed to throw together an impressive piece of work if I don’t say so myself. Not to offend anyone who likes clothes more than the average human, but It may have gone completely over the heads of most of the visitors of graduate fashion week but there was some definite interest from interest from the tutors of Nottingham Trent, which could be useful in the future if they ask me to get involved in a similar project.

Rooftop

Originally this project was the NYC rooftop project, but after some cool, quite clearly not NYC rooftops made by last year’s 3^rd years the projects brief was widened to any kind of rooftop. I wanted to still create a grounded environment, so I chose an urban, modern day/ near future rooftop. I wanted to give it a near future cyber punk setting, so I’d have a little more freedom on what to design and put into the level, but also so I could experiment with some more interesting colour palettes. I ended up choosing a bleak and quite liner palette and light setup heavily inspired by the Tyrell office scene. Whilst researching I looked a lot at Michael Mann’s cinematography for his awesome night time lighting and screen compositions.

I still want to do some more work on this project, as it definitely needs a bit more clutter, but also some layout changes are needed, as I don’t think I'm really taking advantage of the triangular layout as much as I could. Also some lens flare wouldn't go amiss.

3rd Year

Looking at this blog it may appear that I have faked my own death, but I assure you that this is not the case, I have simply been doing too much colouring in to write anything! (and possibly sleeping and drinking).

Review of the second year

For the second year I knew there was going to be a sharp increase in the workload, and more self-management was going to be involved, which I was quite looking forward too

I was very excited about the game production projects going in, as I knew what they were going to be, and had some tips and tricks learnt from the previous cohort. Also as the projects were to be set simultaneously, allowing us to manage our time independently, I was keen to get ahead, but after I had done a substantial amount of work on the trash project to get it out of the way, I realised I had miss read the brief. I assumed it allowed alphas, as they are a great way of cheaply creating believable ground debris, but it turned out it did not allow alphas, which I had based most of the model on. It was a irritating setback, as I thought I was getting ahead, I was now in fact behind the majority of my fellow students. I then chose to complete the chest project first, as the majority of students chose that first, so it made more sense to work on that as we could tackle problems together and help each other out. The self-time-management didn’t have much effect on the group, as the midterm checks on projects acted as hand ins and as people were working on the same projects simultaneously, everyone still worked roughly at the same pace. This continued through the next two projects up until the start of this year, when we began the dreaded group project.

The part of the group project I was most worried about before beginning was the group itself. As I dreaded a group of lazy people, or people who lacked initiative. But I was pleasantly surprised by my group, and found them very motivated and good workers, well for the first few weeks anyway, but as the project went on, we fell back as a lack of a strong plan made some people lose their work ethic and initiative, making the project as a whole stutter. I’m not happy with the final outcome of our group project, as I don’t believe it shows the work of seven creative people work over nine weeks.

Coming into the second year, I had heard about “the second year blues” which I was determined to avoid, by using good planning, but this was kind of took care of itself as the group worked together up until the group project. I really enjoyed the first stages of the group project, but later I lost my enthusiasm as much of the group’s efforts waned, and I had to increase my own workload to make up for it which caused some stress.

This summer is going to be a very long one, and I don’t plan on wasting any of it, so I have already planned numerous projects to complete over the summer, with the goal of producing a portfolio of at least 6 new, professional quality projects. Also I have started a new blog separate to my critical studies blog, where I want to show personal work, and show my progress on projects throughout the summer and beyond. The projects are primarily hard surface modelling projects, leaning towards vehicles, but I also want to create a character, building upon what I learnt in the mortal engines/self-portrait project, but this time utilize the current standard character workflow, of a low poly base mesh to high poly sculpt, then retopologised and baked to the final mesh.

Life changing or career building

This is a very interesting topic that I have discussed a lot with fellow pupils. As the complimentary mix of traditional art and 3d art is the main reason I chose this course, as I believe that at least a basic understanding of things like art direction, colour theory and composition are needed for even the hairiest of asset monkeys.

Striking a balance between the traditional liberal art learning, and game production can seem like a tough job, as they are very different disciplines. But after the first few technical hurdles of learning the main 3d skills, modelling becomes a much more creative feeling task. I definitely feel as though our course approaches teaching our subject in a very successful way, although there could be a little more direct teaching in game production of new methods, such as retopologising, and high poly modelling, as these are widely used methods throughout the industry. The course does get around this with the fantastic student social learning, where new skills, techniques and ideas are passed around, effect making a constantly evolving curriculum. If this continues at the same rate it is currently at, there shouldn’t be much of a risk of students skills becoming irrelevant to industry standards, at least for the students who are more in touch with industry news etc. and I think the effectiveness of our course, and how relevant it’s curriculum is to industry can be proven by our skillset accreditation, and our reputation among some close British game developers.

Our art based course can also give us an edge in mastering inevitable new programs. As when the technology and software change, those only versed in the programs, will be left with nothing. Where I believe that our more art based teaching gives us the skills to be more versatile, and pick up new skills, workflows and programs much faster. A key skill we learn in visual design is artistic judgement, as learning to draw, is primarily the skill of “learning to see” .This is where we learn to break down a seemingly complex thing, and work out how to recreate it with line and tone on eh page. To help us do this we learn about complex topics such as anatomy or how light reflects and refracts of surfaces. This gives us a knack on telling if things look correct, as we develop a much more vigorous way of evaluating things visually, complementing our modelling skills, even when working from ample reference material. I see things frequently when playing games where assets look slightly off. Even in triple A titles like Forza Motorsport, where developers get direct reference images, blueprints and even 3d models and scan data from manufacturers, artists can still mess up, making cars that look a little off. In understand in that case, modelling cars perfectly can be difficult, as cars bodies can be very subtle in design, but it is still quite shocking to see in a multi-million dollar game. Probably the worst triple A developer for this is Bethesda. Where frequently assets have comically disproportioned scaling, or poorly made speculars, making metal look plastic and wood look like, well plastic again.

Creativity, the talent myth and craft

Almost everything is creative in some way, as if the task someone is doing is remotely different from something they have done before, it will challenge the mind to think up new things they will be forced to change their process by drawing from previous experiences. If someone has a reason for doing an act, that act is a creative act, or at least the thought process behind it is.

I do believe that in a way a kind of talent does exist, as there is defiantly a difference between some people who are good, and some people who are incredible, I think this “talent” comes around from a genuine love for something, which has not been brought around by any other necessity, than the person just wanting to do it. As enjoying a creative process can create a kind of virtuous circle, where a person when attempting something for the first time, finds it very interesting for whatever reason, and this interest draws them into it, making them want to do it more, and or better. It’s a drive to be better, that is almost unconscious, as for them it does not take physical effort to make themselves try harder, they just will because they love what they do, and with this mind set anyone will be able to achieve pretty much anything. People can be incredibly creative even outside of the world of art and design.

James Lovelock, a hero of mine, showed
his passion for what he did from a young
age, and kept at it, in a way, developing
his own talent

For example there is a very well-known scientist called James lovelock. From a very early age he found science very interesting, and would proactively try and answer his own questions about the world. He didn’t have any proper training through his young age, and completely taught himself, only entering formal education for science at an older age. But this game him a much broader knowledge of science, and a much more hands on approach, which would be much to his favour later in life. He’s currently in his early 90’s, and is still one of the world’s most influential scientists, he has worked at Nasa, invented the Electron Capture Device and the formulated controversial Gaia theory, which he is probably best known for. But for me, his invention of the ECD, and what he used it for, is by far is most significant achievement. The Electron Capture device, he developed it around 40 years ago working alone in his own home, is still the most sensitive chemical sensor ever created He lived in the same area of England all of his life, and took walks in the country side throughout his life. And he noticed that as time had passed, views that used to be clear as a child, were now much hazier, clearly caused by man-made particles within the atmosphere from industrial processes. He knew he had to prove this somehow, but to do so would be incredibly difficult, as they would be incredibly sparse, but with his ECD he tested in his local area, employing his sister to take readings, and proved the existence of CFC gasses in the atmosphere. It was the first undeniable evidence that human’s activities were having immense negative effects on the atmosphere, he later tested with the same results in the south pole, the most remote part of the world, which had a massive effect in the science world, and has been noted as being a huge starter to the Environmental movement. But all of that just came about because of his love and, I kind of hate saying this word but “passion”  for the subject, which caused him to excel exponentially, and make him one of the greatest minds of the 20^th and 21^st century.

Learning 3d tools is a technical hurdle with a learning curve that eventually plateaus when it becomes apparent that the only limitations are the creative talents of the artist. It’s at this point when you realize that it can be a very creative process, and becomes satisfying to work and kind of play with, as if you were sketching or rough sculpting. Learning how to draw is first and foremost leaning how to see, not literally, but knowing how to break down an image, process it and reform it on paper or on the screen of a computer. I think that process can be taught, but the subtleties and fine hand eye co-ordination artists can achieve can only be achieved by years of practice. A point beautifully proven by Giotto, as when he was asked by the pope to prove his artistic talents, he picked up his brush and in red paint, painted with one stroke a perfect circle.

To sum up my idea of what I think talent is, it’s a kind of deep set passion for a subject, which forces someone to want to improve, without them feeling taxed.

An introduction to the Game Industry From generalist to specialist?

Now nearing the end of my second year, and moving ever closer the end of the the course, I think it is now be time to start thinking about specializing in a specific art discipline. I don’t what to set myself on a narrow path, but game art is still quite a flexible and changing profession, so im not scared of working myself into a rut. Out of all of the disciplines of game art: Environment, UI, VFX, vehicle, character and concept artists, concepting is by far the hardest to get into, and if I’m honest with myself, it is still the most interesting to me. There are so few required, in comparison to other artists so getting employed as a concept artist anywhere will be very tough. By far, environment artists outnumbered any other team, with easily ten times the amount of artists as in the concept team. There are also specialized teams within art departments, which vary between developers, including a weapons teams, character teams etc. but what I find most interesting are vehicle teams. As many British developers like Codemasters, they work primarily on racing games, and they have large dedicated vehicle teams, which design and model all of their games vehicles. I find this very appealing, as the team uses their knowledge and passion for motor vehicles to design and model more convincing cars. This is very evident in Dirt 3, where the level of detail in the vehicles not just graphically, but technically is astounding. Also the design aspect is very exciting, as to design convincing rally cars for instance, a level of expertise is needed, from knowing about automotive design trends, engineering ,race homologation , vehicle dynamics and racing history. For me, doing that as a job would encompass all of my passions, and to be able to capitalise on something I have an interest, hobby and love for is immensely exciting. So currently my idea of a dream job is a lead vehicle artist/designer at any racing game or vehicle heavy studio, namely Codemasters, Rockstar north, Criterion Games, evolution studios, Playground Games, slightly mad studios, sumo digital or reflections. Another great fact is since Gran Turismo 5 was a bigger let down than Disney Land Scunthorpe, Britain is the only county in the world who makes awesome racing games now,(with the possible exception of the Forza Series(which is getting a spinoff series made in Britain anyway!)) so surely, if I can get myself up to a professional standard at modelling vehicles, I should be able to walk into a job. It’s probably not going to be that easy to put it lightly, but I can give it a good stab, and even if I fail to become a vehicle artist, the same skills can be easily transferred to environment art, and they can have equally, if not larger teams.

I will still need to be aware that even if I do specialize to get into industry, when I’m there, my future isn’t set in stone, and moving around disciplines and companies is inevitable so I should keep my skills focused, but not let my all round art skills go rust, as I may need to draw upon them later.

Interaction Design

 Since the dawn of time, well at least very early on in the timeline of video games, the joystick has reigned supreme as the controller of choice, or at least now part of our controller of choice, as for along time it has been the most efficient way to controlling intuitively an x and y axis type motion. Now with two of these on a controller, for the now almost fully 3d game world, it seems a silly idea to question if it is the best way of controlling games.

There is also the non-mainstream market, usually the “enthusiasts” with large, complex and expensive mock cockpits for aircraft simulators, or racing seat and wheel setups for cars. I admit I have a racing wheel, and many times I have tried to mock up a more realistic seating and wheel position, usually involving a few pillows and the odd selection of clamps and hard back books. But this heightened sense of immersion will always excite, so I think these are definitely here to stay, as long as the vehicles or machines they are replicating keep the same controls.

I think the traditional dual stick game pad is here to stay, at least for the next decade and there will always be a place for the hard-core enthusiasts basements Boeings and bedroom rally cars. But the future of motion controls is a tricky one, I think they are also here to stay, but in what form I have no idea, as motion control is such a broad term, encompassing movable controllers, to now with Kinect to controller. There is also the mobile market to consider, with their touch screens, which are becoming ever more accurate, and now developing things like ultrasonic feedback, to finally give some sort of ergonomic feedback to what kind of feels like I’m trying to rub a stain of a mirror. Interestingly in this world of dying buttons on mobile devises, Sony and chosen to cover the new PSP Vita in buttons and touchy feely bits, possibly in a reaction to the sparseness of current mobile game controls.

Personally I’m a fan of buttons, that may have been the weirdest statement I’ve ever had to write, but it is true as it seems strange to just throw away almost a century of ergonomics and replace it with a sheet of glass, or the wave of an arm. But I have found motion controls to be very fun to use, I’d say the best examples are Archery on Wii Sports Resort, where the controls felt fine enough for accurate shooting and was very intuitive, so the whole family could play, it did cause an embarrassing case where my dad beat me at a computer game, but it was fun, even if it did look eerily too much like the fake TV families you see playing games together. Dance central on Xbox with Kinect is also an oddly, but hugely entertaining game, although it should be bundled with alcohol, as there is no way the game can be played sober.

Sound For Games

Sound is a vital feature in creating a believable and immersive world, and in video games especially. As audio can be recorded directly from the real world and put into a game, the audio will always be ahead of graphics and animation as the linchpin for making a world believable.

Game audio is rarely given the attention it deserves, but the technology and thought that goes into it is becoming more and more complex, overtaking TV and film in pushing the boundaries of how audio can effect and improve a players experience. Ever since games have been on the market, they have always had audio, where even in the early 70’s with games like “Computer Space”  the games included sound effects like rocket and explosion sounds. In the early years of video games, audio helped give games their own identities, as low detail graphics made some games hard to distinguish from each other, it also would have been a great way to find a particular game you wanted to play in an arcade, by listening out for its unique and distinctive low bit rate beeps. Much like a matting call of a wild animal, although with a result as far away from matting as one can possibly get. Theme songs have come along way technically in games, from the beeps of the early 70’s to the fast paced rhythm of Pacman’s tune, to the ludicrously catchy Mario notes, to the orchestral metal gear solid music, singing monks of halo and now to the Hanz Zimmer composed soundtrack of call of duty. The fidelity and complexity of the music may have increased drastically, but the attention placed on the theme song and how integral they are to the experience has diminished. I’m sure if you asked a child today what the Mario theme tune is, they could respond instantly, but the call of duty theme I so dull, characterless and forgettable, I’m sure Hanz Zimmer couldn’t even hum that anymore.

 Also a key part of audio in games is the soundtrack which plays during gameplay. Due to the nature of game experiences lasting from six to thirty plus hours compared to films (one and half to three hours), games often have to have much larger soundtracks. Many games companies like EA and Rockstar were born out of record companies or companies heavily involved in music, so as soon as the technology could allow it, developers added licenced music into video games. Also it could help the sale of both parties, with certain music being featured on a game, making it more attractive to certain demographics, and intern the video game playing music to wider or new audiences. Licenced music is primarily used in racing games, as it could nicely breakup a much less dynamic soundscape of tyre screeches and engine revs. But the success of using a licenced soundtrack is most notably in the grand theft auto series, where the soundtrack could really ground the world in reality. Vice city did this best as it’s soundtrack tied in so incredibly well with the games visuals and feel, the game felt like an over the top museum tour of the 80’s. It’s character has since made it the fan favourite of the series. Along with its vivid colour pallet and Scarface/ Miami vice inspired characters and environments, the soundtrack that really sells it to the player.

As video games are interactive environments, some of the most advanced audio technology is used by developers to make worlds that have to react to the player. Audio in games has always been dynamic, starting with sounds programed to start and stop when certain player actions occur, then volume changes as player proximities to sounds changed and now where more than ever developers are shifting the focus more to audio tech in a way of rising above competitors. For Halo Reach Bungie developed the largest selection of different audio tracks for material interactions and an immense mixing system. For the recent Battlefield series Dice used high dynamic sound ranging, to dynamically lower volumes of background effects to emphasize louder audio to give more visceral and explosive sounds. And 2xl games moved away from the traditional racing dame sound effects techniques, and recorded racing vehicles directly. Using dynos attached directly to the axles which could apply resistance to perfectly record engines and drivetrain sounds under the stresses they see in real life, as opposed to other games where engines seem to sound a little detached and too studio engineered.

We are sure to see evermore complex techniques developers use to make games sound even more visceral and deep, as whatever changes happen in the games industry, weather it be genre shifts or new platforms, audio will always be there.

Game Engines

Game engines are pieces of software that developers use to build video games. They act almost like a chassis to build a game upon, usually using visual methods of displaying information, such as file structures, and programing structures like UDKs Kismet, as engines need to be usable by an entire games dev team, so although more layers of complexity will always be there for specialized work, such as scripting and shader building. There are countless engines on the market from Epic’s Unreal 3, Rockstar’s RAGE, Valve’s Source, Crytek’s Cry 3, Codemaster’s Ego 2, Blitz’s Blitztech, Dice’s Frostbite to Unity Technologies Unity. Many games use “heavily modified versions” of other engines, this is the case with all of the call of duty series, which uses a Quake based engine, that has been so developed, it is now called the IW (Infinity Ward) engine. In addition to full engines, there are also middleware programs, which add features to complex and expensive for a developer to develop themselves such as physics and lighting tech. The best known of these is probably the Havoc physics engine. Which is used in the vast majority of games for physics, which essentially entails collision, mass, momentum and gravity simulations. Other middleware programs like Bink video, used to make cut scenes and the indirect lighting Beast Engine, first used in mirrors edge, are now part of the Unreal engine as it was absorbed in a Google type takeover.

Developers are turning to more modular engines to reduce cost, and the with current slower turnaround of consoles, they make more sense, as tuning performance issues and a more regular but smaller updates make it easier for developers to work with. For example with Valve’s source engine, first used over ten years ago in Half Life 2, is still being used recently in a developed form with releases like Left for Dead 2 and Portal 2.

With UDK and Blitztech being able to create Full triple A titles for consoles, PC and titles for mobile devises. Most impressively with Epic’s infinity blade games, which incorporate almost all of the current features Direct X10 based consoles can muster. With a dwindling pc games market, and a growing mobile market, that demands efficacy as opposed to all out power, the console market and turnaround will dictate any major updates in engine tech. 

Documentation

Personal Project Design Document “THE FACTORY”

Brief



Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Cybepunk/ near future dystopianSci-fi, Action Fps

This project will function as a learning exercise, so I want to create a brief which forces me to learn as much as possible, namely efficient hard surface high poly modelling, baking, Rigging for UDK and animation. The project will be more about the learning process then the final outcome, so the content isn’t vital, but it should make a nice environment portfolio piece. also this allows a more ad hoc production method, where I can add more to the project when complete, or adjust aspects during the project. The project is heavily inspired by the turret factory sequence in Valve’s Portal 2, and specifically the assembly animation. The turrets are assembled which in Self-contained box, and has a cycle animation which shows the complete assembly of the turret, packing, and beginning of the next turret. I don’t want it to be a vanity project, but instead to have a focus on learning new techniques, and mastering old ones. The final result will large robot arm with two animations, small robot arm with two animations, 8 part robot, chassis/Box, Cardboard box, polystyrene inserts and computer monitor.

This Project will involve:

·         Visual Research/Mood Boards

·         Concepting

·         High Poly Modelling

·         Low Poly Modelling

·         High Poly Baking

·         Animation

·         Rigging Non-Deformable objects

·         Importing animation into UDK

·         Dynamic Lighting

·         Kismet

Time plan

Duration: 3 weeks

Week 1 Concepting, research, animation rig Half of modelling complete.

Week 2 All Modeming, texturing complete

Week 3 UDK importing, Kismet, lighting and polishing


Technical brief if built for full game


Factory Box: 25,000 Tris 

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Robot: 10,000 Tris

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Lead Character: 15,000 Tris
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NPC: 11,000 Tris 

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Vehicle: 20,000 Tris

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Concepting

Visual Research/Mood Boards

Research and mood boarding is something that’s been hammered into to me from college, and I think it is vital if you want to make a design as good as possible, as without it design development can lose direction or never get started in the first place.  I want to generate a mood board primarily of real-world industrial equipment, but also industrial designers work, and possibly some concepts from films. I intentionally don’t reference video games in mood board because on the whole they aren’t very good and creating new ideas, or believable environments, and my opinion is, if it’s already been in a game, there really no regurgitating something that’s been done before.

Concepting

For concepting I want to use a thee stage design process. Starting with initial designs drawn fast on paper, I will want to draw roughly 20 of these for the robot, and maybe just 5 or six each for the small and large arms, and for the box.

Modelling

High Poly Modelling

High poly modelling will involve modelling all of the detail and smoothness I can into the model. Nor budgets need to be adhered too, so this means chamfering everything and maybe a bit of turbosmooth!. High poly modelling begins with a low poly model to build out the volumes, and then a tools such as chamfering, bevelling and extruding can be iused to your hears content to add as much surface detail as desired.  Thought will have to be made about silhouette at this stage, as a too complex silhouette will be impossible to re topologise efficiently.

Low Poly Modelling

This low poly modelling will essentially be re-topologising the high poly meshes, I want to take advantage of 3ds max’s graphite modelling tools for this for a more efficient workflow.

High Poly Baking

This is quite a simple process when mastered, I have done it before, but there is always room for improvement, and this will be the first time I will have used it for hard surface modelling.

Animation

Rigging Non-Deformable objects and animation

Rigging a non-deformable object will be relatively easy to do, but adding manual constrains is a new process for me, so this will be included in the research stage of the first week.

Importing animation into UDK

This will be a heavy stage in the research stage, as I have only used matinee animations in UDK before, so I will need to learn this from the ground up.

Dynamic Lighting

This will have to be used for the entirety of the project, as non-static mesh’s cannot use baked lighting for obvious reasons.

Kismet 

I used kismet heavily during the group project, and I am well versed in its ways. It the primary reason for doing this project as I found it hugely exciting bringing a static level to life with its features, but didn’t implement it enough in our group project, so this project is kind of a reaction to that in some ways.

Level Design

I have spoken before about environment design, which is the artistic design and direction of a level or environment within a game, but level design has a more direct effect on gameplay. Level design refers to any elements which effect gameplay within a level, whether it be the layout of paths, obstacles or sightlines through the level etc. Although both do need to work hand in hand, as the artistic design and setting of a level should directly affect every decision a level designer should make, as the environment will have been chosen, or designed specifically for its gameplay potential. E.g. Assassins creed is set in historic cities, which are low rise and tightly packed, allowing for easy acrobatic movement across them, or in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, which is set in a fictional California, allowing for vastly varying environment types, which still fit together in a believable way, as they are recognisable from film and television as typical Californian environments. There are situations where the level designer can have free reign to create whatever landscape they need for desired gameplay, these are usually in fantasy and science fiction games, where there is no precedent of what the environment should look like, the best game for this is probably portal, where the levels are uncompromisingly build for gameplay, as no reference to existing structures is needed. The environments are still grounded in reality, but have a modular and quite freeform arrangement allowing the designers to do practically whatever they want to, creating exciting gameplay possibilities with the games complex mechanics. As well as designing level features for the purpose of the interesting player traversal. A level designer must also design a level which can direct the player through the level relatively easily, preventing them from getting stuck or lost. There is a very fine balance in doing this, as you do not want the player to feel like there being led by the hand, as this will make the player feel out of control or feeling redundant, as any challenge will have been removed. Also you do not want to make the game too difficult to traverse, as the player will become lost and frustrated. There are countless methods of guiding a player through a level using the level itself, and not having to rely on on-screen prompts or audio messages, some of these are: arranging collectible objects, enemies or other objects such as ammo pickups or health packs along paths; using colour and light contrasts with illuminated areas or brightly coloured objects such as in mirrors edge  or by placing written messages within the level, allowing the player to find them themselves, thus rewarding the player and giving them complex instructions simultaneously.

As game’s mechanics become more complex, and levels also become more complex and convincing, level designers will be forced to think of more inventive ways of turning real world environments into playable, interesting and believable areas. 

Specialization

            I’m now at the halfway point of this year, and the course as a whole and I think it may now be time to start thinking about specializing in a specific art discipline. I don’t what to set myself on a narrow path now, but I think I need to start seriously considering what I want to do in industry.

Last term we had an incredible guest lecture and workshop from concepts artists: Mitch Small and the head of Codemasters concepting, Mitch is a previous student of our course, and is now a concept artist for Codemasters. Out of all of the disciplines of game art: Environment, UI, VFX, vehicle, character and concept artists, concepting is by far the hardest to get into, as there are so few required, in comparison to other artists. During the talk they mentioned the sizes of the art teams within the company, and by far, environment artists outnumbered any other team, with ten times the amount as in the concept team. They also mentioned specialized teams within the art department, including a very specialized weapons team, but what I found most interesting was their vehicle team’s work. As Codemasters work primarily on racing games, they have a dedicated vehicle team, which design and model all of their games vehicles. I found this very appealing, as the team uses their knowledge and passion for motor vehicles to design and model more convincing cars. This is very evident in Dirt 3, where the level of detail in the vehicles not just graphically, but technically is astounding. Also the design aspect is very exciting, as to design convincing rally cars for instance, a level of expertise is needed, from knowing about automotive design trends, engineering ,race homologation , vehicle dynamics and racing history. For me, doing that as a job would encompass all of my passions, and to be able to capitalise on something I have an interest, hobby and passion is immensely exciting. So currently my idea of a dream job is a lead vehicle artist/designer at any racing game studio, namely Codemasters, Rockstar north, Criterion Games, evolution studios, Studio Liverpool, slightly mad studios, sumo digital or reflections. Another great fact is since Gran Turismo 5 was a bigger let down than Disney Land Scunthorpe, Britain is the only county in the world who makes awesome racing games now, so surely, if I can get myself up to a professional standard at modelling vehicles, I should be able to work into a job. It’s probably not going to be that easy to put it lightly, but I can give it a good stab.

Whatever I chose, I do need to still be aware that of I do specialize to get into industry, when I’m there, my future isn’t set in stone, and moving around disciplines and companies is inevitable.