Week 9 - Reflective Journal

This week marked the beginning of the next module on concepts and contexts. We had a couple of lectures and workshops, going over what work we need to produce, and how to utilise references and mood boards. For this module, we need to create two finalised design sheets in either 2D or 3D, as well as four development sheets, all presented professionally. We were told to look at FZD School of Design for good examples of design sheets and how to lay them out, as well as the school's youtube channel on advice on gathering references for our work.

I decided I wanted to work on a 2D character design, and began generating ideas using a method I learned on my undergraduate course. I made three lists, one of characters, one of objects, and one of places. I then wrote them out on colour coded paper, and picked each one at random. Character gives me a rough base of what to design, the object tells me a tool they use, and the place tells me where they're from. Each of these things influences the character's design.

Colour coded paper for character, object, and place

I kept picking papers at random, and noting down the results and any initial ideas I had. I also doubled up some of the papers, which had some interesting results. I eventually narrowed thirty-three ideas down to twelve, and then twelve down to three, at which point I began gathering references, to get inspiration for each idea before deciding on one.

Idea generation on post-it notes

The three I began working with were:

• Monarch + Hook + Theatre

• Sailor/Witch + Hook/Dagger + Underwater/Graveyard

• Witch + Guitar + Desert

Monarch + Hook + Theatre - References

Initial ideas: 

• Disgruntled theatre worker/old actor
• Obsessed with queen character from a play
• Dresses up in costumes, cobbled together from different plays and backstage equipment
• Uses Vaudeville hook as a weapon
• "Haunts" abandoned theatre

Sailor/Witch + Hook/Dagger + Underwater/Graveyard - References

Initial ideas: 

• Ex sailor/fishermen
• Tends to underwater graveyard of those lost at sea
• Uses magic to help them breathe underwater
• Communicates with spirits
• Wears sea glass, shells, and bones

Witch + Guitar + Desert - References

Initial ideas:

• Lone wild west witch
• Plays magical guitar/banjo
• Rides American bison 
• Dark clothing, wide brimmed hat, poncho with cape-like qualities.

My next step is to start rough silhouettes and sketches, to see which character feels the most comfortable to work with on this module. I'll also continue gathering more references in order to eventually put together a mood board of the character I choose.

Week 7 & 8 - Reflective Journal

Following reading week, we had a peer review - an opportunity for us to show our work to a small group of fellow masters students and receive feedback. Unfortunately there was a lot of confusion around what it was we were meant to be showing, as many of us believed it was meant to be a showcase of work created so far, and not the personal case study presentation we would be showing a week later. Whilst some people had the beginnings of a presentation ready to go, most had not yet started, myself included. Still, we decided to showcase our reflective journals and game jams, and give each other feedback based on those. A wall of text with some images isn’t the best showcase of what I’ve done, though I had my life drawing and concept art work there too, which my peers responded well to. 

I think when I realised I still had a week before my presentation, I relaxed too much, and even though it was done on time, I could have dedicated more to practicing and refining it. I aim not to make this mistake again this year.

My presentation a week later went well. I am usually shaky when presenting, and become tongue-tied easily, which can cause big pauses in my speech and causes me to get more nervous. But, as it went on I felt I was covering each slide well, and kept it within a good frame. I think overall I wish I’d showcased my work more, and had more discussion on my ambitions to be a concept artist, but I'm happy with how it went.

I realised that working more on my presentation than I normally would have - writing notes, practicing what I wanted to say - greatly reduced how stressed and anxious I was. Keeping on top of work and time-keeping has been a bit of a challange for me, but I think being more relaxed improved my ability to present and the quality of my presentation.

This module was a great learning experience, and I'm looking forward to the next.

Week 6 - Reflective Journal

The last six weeks have been a very new learning experience for me. I applied to this masters course with the intention of improving my skills as a 2D artist, to get back into concept art and character design, and to learn more about the process of game development. I feel now, despite a shaky start, that I am well on my way to doing what I intended to do.

Maintaining a reflective journal has been incredibly useful over this time, as it has pushed me to think more about my aspirations and what I can do to help myself achieve them. Writing out explanations of the lecture subjects and doing my own research also helped me better understand what each lecture was about, and how each subject could benefit/change my work. The lectures on development synergies have also shown me ways of improving team work and collaboration, as has my experience of the two game jams. Working in a team where everyone has a different role (designer, artist, programmer, etc.) was new for me, and a bit of an eye-opener to what my role as a 2D artist may be in a future place of work. This also lead to using the Kanban and Scrum methodologies, which also aided in my understanding of agile cycles and their benefits.

Attending classes outside of my module, such as year 2 life drawing sessions and year 1 concept art classes, has been a great opportunity for me and shown me new techniques for character concepts and designs. I plan to go forward taking more of these classes to continue improvement, and intend to potentially look out for other classes in environment art, and 3D software such as ZBrush. The classes in which I've been making a Sea of Thieves themed asset have been a good introduction to ZBrush, as well as a good refresh for Maya. 

SMART Goals - I aim to use these SMART goals over the duration of my course to ensure my improvement and self-directed study:

Over the reading week I continued working on my journal entries, my Sea of Thieves themed asset, and some personal projects. I made sure to spend most of my time using the university facilities, as it encourages me to concentrate more on my work. The grounds of the university are also nice to walk around to take breaks, which I made sure to do to prevent burn-out. Breaks when working are important and beneficial and can help to "retain information, understand the bigger picture, cultivate your creativity, and embrace healthier habits" (Chignell, 2019). Previously, I have forced myself to battle through work, but I'm learning that small, frequent breaks help me work faster, and produce better work.

Fig. 1: Spence, 2022. Happy Halloween

References:

CHIGNELL, Barry. 2019. 'Five benefits of taking regular breaks at work'. [online] Ciphr. Available at: https://www.ciphr.com/advice/taking-breaks/ [Accessed on: 03/11/2022]

Images:

Figure 1. SPENCE, Nel. 2022. Happy Halloween. Private Collection: Nel Spence

ZBrush Model Images

Week 5 - Reflective Journal

This week's lecture focused on research, specifically research that supports ideation and game production. It is important to conduct research in order to make sure that the content and games we create will be a point of interest to our target audience, rather than something that will disappear into an oversaturated market -- something that can be seen on the Steam storefront, where the number of games on the platform nearly doubled each year between 2014 and 2017, and by September 2018 "over 6,000 games released on Steam; the majority of them [selling] fewer than 500 copies." (Wright, 2018). As of 2021, Steam housed over 50,000 games, and had over 10,000 game releases in 2020 alone (Dean, 2021).

Fig. 1: Singletary Jr, 2019. Steam Storefront

This has negatively affected both the AAA and indie industries, who now have to work much harder to make their games stand out amongst so many. This can lead to initial ideas being changed to avoid releasing a game into a deeply over-saturated market. Housemarque, a Finnish studio, known for the side-scrolling shoot 'em up Resogun (2013), released Nex Machina on Steam in 2017, an arcade-style twin-stick shooter. By summer 2018, the game had sold under 100,000 copies, pushing the studio to consider alternatives. Mikael Haveri, the studio's head of publishing, stated that at the time "“We never really considered the commercial viability of a twin-stick shooter in 2017.”" also saying "there [were] simply too many small developers churning out quality games in that style and genre" (Wright, 2018). As a result of this, the studio chose a "market-driven" approach, and had began work on Stormdivers, a multiplayer third-person shooter, as the genre was and remains popular even now. However, Haveri admitted that it was risky to attempt to break into this already ultra-saturated market, and as of 2020, Stormdivers appears to have been cancelled in favour of a new project. 

This highlights the importance of researching the current market, as well as your audience. It is not enough to rely on your studio name being recognised and your game being successful by association. Similarly, making a sequel of a previously successful game and hoping the recognisable title will benefit is not always enough. Lead writer on The Banner Saga 3, Alex Thomas, says "“I know a lot of indie developers that are friends of ours who put out a game that did great, but the second game comes out, and they expect it to feed off the community from the first game, but the players have moved on.”" (Wright, 2018).The small team behind The Banner Saga Trilogy claim it's their strong narrative which keeps players invested. Other games such as World of Warcraft (2004) keep players coming back with constant content in the form of expansions. 

Fig.2: Jurkic, 2018. Games with Unique Art Styles

For someone such as myself who wants to work in concept art, character design, and game art, researching an art style to both fit the tone of a game and its target audience is very important; "it's recommended to align the main features of the game and its expected user experience with the visual style... In Neopets, the stylized drawings for the characters/universe appeal to children, creating a solid bond between the game and the audience." (Rocket Brush, 2022). However, it's not always the best approach to assume "X style appeals to Y audience" and stick to it as a rule. An example of this would be the Animal Crossing games, which appeal to a broad spectrum of age groups, and uses a cartoony art style; "Animal Crossing: New Horizons focuses on relaxing experience with a strong emphasis on the non-violent social interaction... Animal Crossing implements that through cartoony and toy-ish forms that convey the "playfulness" and overall friendliness of the game." (Rocket Brush, 2022). 

It's also important to consider the story and theme of the game; "the art style should be able to enhance most of the game’s message, invoke feelings and emotions and help to further immerse [players] into the narrative." (Rocket Brush, 2022). The realistic style of The Last of Us (2013) would completely change the tone of a game such as Minecraft, which has a 10+ rating from the ESRB, but has a significant fanbase of children aged between 3 and 12. Similarly, using the visual style of Animal Crossing in a Call of Duty game, would completely change the atmosphere of the game, and in turn, appeal to an entirely different group of players. When considering an art style for our game jam, we took visual inspiration from Overcooked! 2 (2018), a game which appeals to and can be played by all ages. This made the designs easy to build for our 3D artist, but also had the potential to appeal to a broad audience. 

Fig. 3: Nintendo, 2018. Overcooked! 2

Ethics are essential to good research, especially if the research involves a level of risk. Risk usually arises if the research is dealing with sensitive subjects (racism, homophobia, etc.) or involves vulnerable participants (children, hospital patients, etc.). LOW RISK would mean the research presents no greater risk than those encountered in every day life, and doesn't involve participants or sensitive themes. MEDIUM RISK involves the potential for harm, but the likelihood is low, and can be further reduced by following correct procedure. HIGH RISK would have a much larger potential for distress or harm, and may involve vulnerable participants, unlawful material, or deal with subjects that can cause offence. High risk should be avoided, and low risk be the aim for research.

It can be argued that the games industry has a dubious relationship with ethics. From loot boxes and other gambling mechanics being marketed to children, to stories of devs working 100-hour work weeks, and toxic work environments, putting the industry under scrutiny. For artists and animators working on Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), there was a push to make violent animations appear as real as possible; "“You’d walk around the office and one guy would be watching hangings on YouTube, another guy would be looking at pictures of murder victims, someone else would be watching a video of a cow being slaughtered”" (Rivera, 2019). The potential negative effects of watching this kind of content, and then working to match it in a game, were seemingly not taken into consideration; "There was also no formal process, standard procedure, or guidance available from the start for anyone who might need to step back from the violent content, or felt that their work was starting to negatively affect them" (Rivera, 2019). This is an example of high risk research, with no procedures in place to protect the people conducting it. As an artist, this is something I frequently consider when looking for references for my work. Many people will have their own boundaries around the kind of imagery they are comfortable looking at, especially when depicting violent images. But, there is no need to make a team look at potentially traumatising content in order to create a more realistic gaming experience.

Research can be either qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative research can involve usability testing, user interviews, and surveys with descriptive questions. Quantitative research utilises user support metrics, product metrics (analytics), and surveys with open-ended questions. Essentially, qualitative research is usually far more time consuming but also more detailed, and quantitative research is less detailed, but allows the researcher to gather large amounts of information. Each has its pros and cons, as large amounts of info will lack detail, but detailed info takes more time to collect. It’s good to consider which will be best when producing a game, taking into account timeframes and what level of detail of information will be needed.

Another good way to conduct research is to engage with communities of like-minded people within your industry. Attending conferences and events can help with finding new ways of doing things, and aid technical aspects of your work. Similarly, getting feedback on your work from peers, or posting to social media is also helpful. In my undergraduate course, we were encouraged to give feedback on our peer's work as it was posted to their blogs, to help them pick the best designs from their concepts, or suggest new ideas. Collaboration and feedback from others has helped me greatly in the past, and something I value in my work. I hope to become better at collaboration in the future.

Asset building

Fig.4: Spence, 2022. ZBrush Asset Progress

I've made some good progress on my asset this week, and managed to add some details in ZBrush. Working with ZBrush is still quite a challenge for me, but I feel I'm getting to grips with how it works. The ability to create finer details in a program that feels more similar to working with clay feels far easier than working in Maya, though it's also interesting seeing how the two programs can be used together to create a high detailed but low-poly model. Whilst I don't wish to do much 3D work as part of my career aspirations, it is something I'd like to improve, especially to better understand the work and limitations of 3D artists I may work with in the future.

Fig. 5: Spence, 2022. Detailed Asset in Maya

As next week is Reading Week, I will have no lectures or classes to attend. Instead, I plan to work more on my 3D asset, refine my journals, and prepare for my viva presentation. I also hope I will manage to produce some personal work in this time, in order to practice using Photoshop more.

References:

WRIGHT, Steven T. 2018. 'There are too many video games. What now?' [online] Polygon. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/28/17911372/there-are-too-many-video-games-what-now-indiepocalypse [Accessed on 25/10/2022]

DEAN, Brian. 2021. 'Steam Usage and Catalog Stats for 2022' [online] Backlinko. Available at: https://backlinko.com/steam-users [Accessed on 26/10/2022]

Rocket Brush Studio. 2022. 'HOW TO CHOOSE THE ART STYLE THAT FITS YOUR GAME' [online] Rocket Brush Studio. Available at: https://rocketbrush.com/blog/how-to-choose-art-style-for-your-game [Accessed on 26/10/2022]

RIVERA, Joshua. 2019. ''I'd Have These Extremely Graphic Dreams': What It's Like To Work On Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat 11' [online] Kotaku. Available at: https://kotaku.com/id-have-these-extremely-graphic-dreams-what-its-like-t-1834611691 [Accessed on 26/10/2022]

Images:

Figure 1. SINGLETARY JR, Charles. 2019. Steam Storefront. [online] Shack News. Available at: https://www.shacknews.com/article/109349/steam-now-has-30000-games-on-its-storefront [Accessed on 26/10/2022]

Figure 2. JURKIC, Pavo. 2018. Games with Unique Art Styles. [online] Esports Talk. Available at: https://www.esportstalk.com/blog/best-video-games-with-unique-art-styles-15503/ [Accessed on: 26/10/2022]

Figure 3. Nintendo. 2018. Overcooked! 2. [online] Nintendo.com. Available at: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-games/Overcooked-2-1388792.html [Accessed on: 26/10/2022]

Figure 4. SPENCE, Nel. 2022. ZBrush Asset Progress. Private Collection: Nel Spence

Figure 5. SPENCE, Nel. 2022. Detailed Asset in Maya. Private Collection: Nel Spence