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Sunday, 8 November 2015
Saturday, 7 November 2015
""Plot is overrated": game narrative is all about your characters"
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/213337/Plot_is_overrated_Game_narrative_is_all_about_your_characters.php
In an article on Gamasutra, written by Mike Rose, Tom Abernathy, the "narrative lead at Riot Games, and Richard Rouse III of Microsoft Game Studio, discuss structure for narrative in video games." They "not that in games, when we say that a game has a great story, we're usually talking about how great the characters are, rather than the plot itself." I am not sure I fully agree with this point, as I do appreciate games for the story, a good character on it's own may not grab my attention enough if the story is boring. When I think of my favourite games, Final Fantasy VII, IX, and Metal Gear Solid, to name a few, I remember both the story as well as the characters. I suppose what made Final Fantasy VII a memorable game to me, and many others, was perhaps indeed due to the characters, especially Aeries, due to her death being very emotional. Additionally, the twist of Cloud's memories not being his own, was another memorable moment. I suppose you can't have a good story in games without the characters, as the characters further the story, thus the two are interlinked. Aeris on her own was not a particularly interesting character, neither was Cloud, however what happened to them or what was revealed about them made them interesting and memorable. This is seen in the newer Final Fantasy games, where the similar character archetypes are shown, for example Lighning being similar to Cloud, however, the characters and story are considerably lacking in comparison, which is why they are less successful in my opinion. However, when you look at other games, such as The Witcher, you see more of the character development, and you form more of a relationship with Geralt, and in some way that overshadows the plot. This shows the difference between a story-driven RPG and a exploration-driven RPG.
"People remember characters, and they care about them... Focus on character first, and align character motivations with player motivations."
Concerning character design, I came across this image highlighting the issue of copying other artists' work. The new League of Legends character, Kindred looks incredibly similar to Chiara Bautista's characters of the moon lady and the wolf. This has caused a bit of a stir for Bautista's fans, thinking that Riot stole the artistic ideas from her. However, the idea of black and white, yin and yang, wolf and lamb are not particularly original, nor new. This highlights the struggle of creating original work and avoiding copying other artists.
http://imgur.com/gallery/8hONl
In an article on Gamasutra, written by Mike Rose, Tom Abernathy, the "narrative lead at Riot Games, and Richard Rouse III of Microsoft Game Studio, discuss structure for narrative in video games." They "not that in games, when we say that a game has a great story, we're usually talking about how great the characters are, rather than the plot itself." I am not sure I fully agree with this point, as I do appreciate games for the story, a good character on it's own may not grab my attention enough if the story is boring. When I think of my favourite games, Final Fantasy VII, IX, and Metal Gear Solid, to name a few, I remember both the story as well as the characters. I suppose what made Final Fantasy VII a memorable game to me, and many others, was perhaps indeed due to the characters, especially Aeries, due to her death being very emotional. Additionally, the twist of Cloud's memories not being his own, was another memorable moment. I suppose you can't have a good story in games without the characters, as the characters further the story, thus the two are interlinked. Aeris on her own was not a particularly interesting character, neither was Cloud, however what happened to them or what was revealed about them made them interesting and memorable. This is seen in the newer Final Fantasy games, where the similar character archetypes are shown, for example Lighning being similar to Cloud, however, the characters and story are considerably lacking in comparison, which is why they are less successful in my opinion. However, when you look at other games, such as The Witcher, you see more of the character development, and you form more of a relationship with Geralt, and in some way that overshadows the plot. This shows the difference between a story-driven RPG and a exploration-driven RPG.
"People remember characters, and they care about them... Focus on character first, and align character motivations with player motivations."
Concerning character design, I came across this image highlighting the issue of copying other artists' work. The new League of Legends character, Kindred looks incredibly similar to Chiara Bautista's characters of the moon lady and the wolf. This has caused a bit of a stir for Bautista's fans, thinking that Riot stole the artistic ideas from her. However, the idea of black and white, yin and yang, wolf and lamb are not particularly original, nor new. This highlights the struggle of creating original work and avoiding copying other artists.
http://imgur.com/gallery/8hONl
Friday, 6 November 2015
Inspiration from Asian fashion
Since the majority of games that I play are from Japan (e.g KoF, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy etc), I thought I would look into Japanese street fashion, as it is also something that has always interested me due to how interesting some of the styles there are.
I found these photos on http://tokyofashion.com/photos/
I chose these photos in particular due to certain elements in them which I liked, for example, the first photo reminded me of the League character, Yasuo:
I liked the cape and hat, however the under clothes look quite casual. What reminded me of Yasuo was perhaps the blue of the cape, and how the cowl looks like Yasuo's. Additionally, the shamisen that he is playing reminded me of the flute that Yasuo plays, and the hat worn is connotative of a typical Asian, which is also the vibe given off from Yasuo as well.
I liked this photo below, as it is a very simple outfit, yet the designs and colours make it appear more extraordinary and eye catching. I also like the hair style coupled with the glasses, it makes it look effortless and casual, yet there's something extra there. I think this type of outfit would be perfect for a costume design for a fighting game. It is also something typical that a girl could wear, if it was her style.
I liked this one because I liked the colours of the girl, the hair coupled with the dress, it's cute yet edgy, again something that could plausibly be in a fighting game. I also liked the hairstyle, it's girly and cute, but the girl looks a little tough.
I liked the floral eye patch in the following photos, I thought it was very cute and original, and interesting. I also love the dress in the second image,
Below is Minori, who specialises in Shironuri makeup, which means "white painted face". Her art, and her makeup explores natural themes. Some of her makeup incorporates flower petals, and she had a series featuring the four seasons as a makeup look. On top of her amazingly artistic makeup, her fashion sense, and costumes, are very extravagant and over the top, so they match her makeup as well. I find her to be a very interesting person to take inspiration from.
Below are two links about Minori and shironuri makeup.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/meet-minori-shironuri-fashionista-making-waves-streets-tokyo-1450199
http://gloomthzine.com/2013/04/17/shironuri-makeup-tutorial/
Monday, 26 October 2015
Interesting article titled: Repelling the Invasion of the "Other": Post-Apocalyptic Alien Shooter Videogames Addressing Contemporary Cultural Attitudes
I came across an article titled, Repelling the Invasion of the "Other": Post-Apocalyptic Alien Shooter Video games Addressing Contemporary Cultural Attitudes. I found this when I was searching up "themes occurring in shooter games", to find out what style my characters would fit in, e.g post-apocalyptic, sci-fi etc.
The article talks about how alien invasions in video games is becoming a common occurrence. It states that "scholarly works have dealt with videogames addressing issues like post-9/11 culture, but little attention has been paid to the alien invasion games that, while trading in the same fear of destruction, have transcended these political and cultural concerns. Instead, they address deeper held Western ideas, such as a Eurocentric view of the world, which features a sharp distinction between Insiders and Outsider "Others," and the related theme of US reputation overseas."
The extract below, talks about how the aliens in GoW actually symbolise foreigners, due to their humanoid features, and how it could be a metaphor for a racial/cultural divide.
In the Gears of War series, for example, human beings have been attacked by creatures that have risen up out of the ground and destroyed most inhabited areas. These creatures walk on two legs, have the basic facial structure of human beings (eyes, mouth, nose), and speak in a form of garbled "English." These physical traits signify that they share a foundational genetic similarity with the humans themselves, and this opens up the possibility of reading them as signifying a different race than the protagonists. The skin color of the creatures, called Locust by the humans, as well as their uneven skin texture mark them as different and "Other." The protagonist characters in the Gears of War series would not all be considered White, with the main group including a man coded as Black and another coded as Latino, but with their English and their mannerisms they all signify American. The Locusts' speech, which can be understood to contain words like "Die Ground-Walker" as if it was spoken with a severe rasp, connotes that the language spoken by them is related to English but foreign at the same time. All of this points to the aliens being coded as human-like enough to understand, but as being racial and culturally different enough to repel. It is in their similarities that the connection can be made that these creatures do not simply denote a completely alien race attacking the humans, but instead they connote a race of humans that is strange and foreign to the protagonists. It should be noted that anthropomorphized alien creatures are not only common within the science fiction genre, but also make sense in shooter games for movement and aiming purposes. However, the addition of "garbled" English and features so closely resembling humans pushes this feature towards "Othering."
The article talks about how alien invasions in video games is becoming a common occurrence. It states that "scholarly works have dealt with videogames addressing issues like post-9/11 culture, but little attention has been paid to the alien invasion games that, while trading in the same fear of destruction, have transcended these political and cultural concerns. Instead, they address deeper held Western ideas, such as a Eurocentric view of the world, which features a sharp distinction between Insiders and Outsider "Others," and the related theme of US reputation overseas."
The extract below, talks about how the aliens in GoW actually symbolise foreigners, due to their humanoid features, and how it could be a metaphor for a racial/cultural divide.
In the Gears of War series, for example, human beings have been attacked by creatures that have risen up out of the ground and destroyed most inhabited areas. These creatures walk on two legs, have the basic facial structure of human beings (eyes, mouth, nose), and speak in a form of garbled "English." These physical traits signify that they share a foundational genetic similarity with the humans themselves, and this opens up the possibility of reading them as signifying a different race than the protagonists. The skin color of the creatures, called Locust by the humans, as well as their uneven skin texture mark them as different and "Other." The protagonist characters in the Gears of War series would not all be considered White, with the main group including a man coded as Black and another coded as Latino, but with their English and their mannerisms they all signify American. The Locusts' speech, which can be understood to contain words like "Die Ground-Walker" as if it was spoken with a severe rasp, connotes that the language spoken by them is related to English but foreign at the same time. All of this points to the aliens being coded as human-like enough to understand, but as being racial and culturally different enough to repel. It is in their similarities that the connection can be made that these creatures do not simply denote a completely alien race attacking the humans, but instead they connote a race of humans that is strange and foreign to the protagonists. It should be noted that anthropomorphized alien creatures are not only common within the science fiction genre, but also make sense in shooter games for movement and aiming purposes. However, the addition of "garbled" English and features so closely resembling humans pushes this feature towards "Othering."
These same signifying dynamics are present in other videogames of the same subject matter. The Resistanceseries also depicts humanity under siege from an alien force that is threatening to take over all areas of the world. The creatures in this game, known as the Chimera, also walk on two legs and have the basic movements and characteristics of human beings. The connection between alien and human in this series is even more direct because the Chimera are "created" by incubating human beings in pods to "convert" them. They emerge from these pods with eight eyes and different colored skin, signifying their connection with humanity along side their "Otherness." In Resistance 2 (Insomniac Games, 2008), the protagonist Nathan Hale gets up close and personal with these pods as he encounters an infested small town where they hang from the very walls of idyllic small town homes. Not only does the presence of the pods containing half-formed Chimera in the homes of the humans signify the connection between the two species, but also when Hale breaks open the pods there is an unmistakable splash of blood that sprays. Blood is an important theme throughout these games because, as Michel Foucault states, blood signifies and is "a reality with a symbolic function" (1979, p.147). In this case, the red blood that breaks loose from the pod, along with the half-formed Chimera that falls out, signify the connection these creatures have to human beings. Some games are even more blatant about the connection between humans and the invading "alien" forces. The Killzone series depicts a post-apocalyptic world where a group of humans were forced to leave and live on the planet Helghast. These former humans, now known as Helghans, attack the remaining humans. The Helghans must wear respirator masks due to the Helghast atmosphere, but they are direct descendants of the human race.
All of these examples of narrative elements speaks to the connection of the alien forces to humanity and yet "Others" them so as to make them easily killable. This distinction between "Other" and normal, as a feature of media texts, is a process reminiscent of the seminal social psychological work of Henri Tafjel that discussed ingroup and outgroup dynamics. Tafjel states:
in order for the members of an ingroup to be able to hate or dislike an outgroup, or to discriminate against it, they must first have acquired a sense of belonging to a group which is clearly distinct from the one they hate, dislike or discriminate against (1974, p. 66)
In these alien invasion videogames, the ingroup is established as the normal Western human beings and the outgroup established as the "Other" aliens, which stand in for the broader cultural "Other." This coding and the added element of symbolic violence serve to attack cultural "Others" without complicating gamers' identification with game protagonists. Blurring the lines between human and alien helps to reify cultural fears of those that are different through serial violence done to the alien "Others."
This to me is an interesting theory, however, I do not agree with it. Having played Resistance, it seems to me that the Chimera are simply an alien race. Following sci-fi films and the idea of aliens coming to take over the earth and wipe out humanity. It makes sense. It does not seem to have a deeper meaning. However, it is definitely interesting and something to keep in mind when designing characters that appear somewhat alien, yet human. The human features enable the player to more easily empathise with the character, however, this would also have something to do with the story when developing a character that is meant to have much more symbolic meaning than just alien.
This to me is an interesting theory, however, I do not agree with it. Having played Resistance, it seems to me that the Chimera are simply an alien race. Following sci-fi films and the idea of aliens coming to take over the earth and wipe out humanity. It makes sense. It does not seem to have a deeper meaning. However, it is definitely interesting and something to keep in mind when designing characters that appear somewhat alien, yet human. The human features enable the player to more easily empathise with the character, however, this would also have something to do with the story when developing a character that is meant to have much more symbolic meaning than just alien.
Thursday, 22 October 2015
Progression
Now that I have a clearer idea of the questions and areas that I am interested in concerning character design, I decided a good way of progressing the project would be to find out how to actually design a character. I came across a video by CUBEBRUSH on youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EY8UNy4RQQ, which details the steps to take when designing a character.
In the video Arnold Tsang (artist at Blizzard) is credited for the list. Here is an article featuring Tsang on character design concept art: http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/24/5541390/blizzard-character-design-concept-art
At the start of the video there are three main categories: genre, theme and class. These are the fundamentals to think about when creating a character. However, as I am not working to a brief set by someone, I will have to come up with my own. I feel a good place to start is by picking a few genres, such as FPS, RPG/ MOBA and fighting games, and designing characters for those genres. Depending on time, I can either pick a few themes, such as horror, fantasy or sci-fi, and do a few sketches or refined paintings for each game genre. This will enable me to build up a varied portfolio, whilst also improving my creativity and flexibility as an artist.
The genres I will design characters for will be fighting games, Shooters and RPG/ MOBAs. I picked these three genres and FPS and RPG/MOBAs are currently quite popular, and fighting games will enable me to make a lot of different characters and I can have more freedom to experiment with design and clothing. So now that I have picked I will have to do the relevant research on each genre to find out what types/class of character are featured in each. This will be my initial point of research. Next I will make a list of different themes that are commonly featured in these games, and will finally have a selection to choose from to form the basics of my character. For example, FPS, sci-fi, horror, tank, and this will help me greatly as a starting point.
In the video Arnold Tsang (artist at Blizzard) is credited for the list. Here is an article featuring Tsang on character design concept art: http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/24/5541390/blizzard-character-design-concept-art
At the start of the video there are three main categories: genre, theme and class. These are the fundamentals to think about when creating a character. However, as I am not working to a brief set by someone, I will have to come up with my own. I feel a good place to start is by picking a few genres, such as FPS, RPG/ MOBA and fighting games, and designing characters for those genres. Depending on time, I can either pick a few themes, such as horror, fantasy or sci-fi, and do a few sketches or refined paintings for each game genre. This will enable me to build up a varied portfolio, whilst also improving my creativity and flexibility as an artist.
The genres I will design characters for will be fighting games, Shooters and RPG/ MOBAs. I picked these three genres and FPS and RPG/MOBAs are currently quite popular, and fighting games will enable me to make a lot of different characters and I can have more freedom to experiment with design and clothing. So now that I have picked I will have to do the relevant research on each genre to find out what types/class of character are featured in each. This will be my initial point of research. Next I will make a list of different themes that are commonly featured in these games, and will finally have a selection to choose from to form the basics of my character. For example, FPS, sci-fi, horror, tank, and this will help me greatly as a starting point.
Monday, 19 October 2015
Costume sketches
Taking inspiration from the characters previously mentioned in this blog and trying to come up with different and interesting costumes.
With these designs, I liked the belt as it added more femininity/ a girly element. However, I do not feel that I will take any of these designs further as they lack originality, so they are merely for practice purposes.
Below are some random sketches of clothing from different clothing websites and TV series'. The top page is influenced by Japanese fashion and also a lolita-esque style.
This bottom page is influenced by Once Upon A Time, so fantasy, typical RPG clothing.
New custom brush
I created this brush using this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkV3TfhCHPU as I really like the effect and the tutorials on the channel. I also enabled pen pressure which works nicely to create different values, as can be seen below. I had to disable it for a while due to Photoshop bugs.
Sunday, 18 October 2015
Questions on character design in games
Is the artistic design of the character enough to suggest the character's personality/ disposition?
How big of a role does the artwork play in comparison to the character's personality?
How does the look of the character affect the players initial perception of them compared to the actions of the character?
Is character customisation really important?
Can character customisation greatly affect the relationship between character and player, even if the character's narrative (characterisation) does not change despite the customisation?
Is there enough variation in character design to satisfy players?
Is the art style of a game always indicative of the intended audience?
Is identifying with the character always important? For example, MOBAs have many characters that you can play, it's not like an RPG where you may form an emotional attachment to your character. Or even DOOM where the character has no name, as the protagonist is supposed to be the player. (http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Doom's_protagonists)
Not all video game characters have a back story or even anything to say, there are just there visually. How impactful is their design; is it enough to make them significant in some way.
How the different elements of character design come together to form a complete character. For example, voice actor, animation, expressions, clothing etc.
How big a part do culture and society play in character design?
Umbrella:
Explore the different elements that go into character design.
How big of a role does the artwork play in comparison to the character's personality?
How does the look of the character affect the players initial perception of them compared to the actions of the character?
Is character customisation really important?
Can character customisation greatly affect the relationship between character and player, even if the character's narrative (characterisation) does not change despite the customisation?
Is there enough variation in character design to satisfy players?
Is the art style of a game always indicative of the intended audience?
Is identifying with the character always important? For example, MOBAs have many characters that you can play, it's not like an RPG where you may form an emotional attachment to your character. Or even DOOM where the character has no name, as the protagonist is supposed to be the player. (http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Doom's_protagonists)
Not all video game characters have a back story or even anything to say, there are just there visually. How impactful is their design; is it enough to make them significant in some way.
How the different elements of character design come together to form a complete character. For example, voice actor, animation, expressions, clothing etc.
How big a part do culture and society play in character design?
Umbrella:
Explore the different elements that go into character design.
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Follow on from Regina
I was searching for a character the other day who I remembered being female but dressing to pretend to be male. It turned out that this character was King from King of Fighters. In my search for King, I found a character, Elisabeth, whose costume design reminded me a little of Regina's from Once Upon a Time, in terms of the tailcoat and mixing that tailored feminine look with a little bit of masculinity.
Below is King. I suppose the reason this character is so believable or works so well, is because she is somewhat reminiscent of those pretty boy Japanese characters, the effeminate males that are often seen in Asia and in games. Other examples of feminine looking characters can be seen in the Final Fantasy series, where they used Gackt as inspiration for the character of Genesis.
Even her clothing, is not particularly masculine, as it can sometimes appeared to be tailored, therefore making it look more feminine. However, her shoes, bow tie, and gloves do strike the viewer as masculine items. King was the first character I came across in games who is female dressed or rather disguised as a man. On further researching I found that a few of the Guilty Gear characters appear very effeminate, for example, Bridget who appears to be a girl entirely (as can be seen below).
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
Once Upon a Time costumes- Regina, Evil Witch
Having watched Once Upon a Time years ago when it was first aired on TV, I noticed that a large part of the show's magic and immersion comes from the costume design and the designer's, Eduardo Castro's attention to detail. One character in particular, the evil witch, Regina, has the best costumes of the show, in my opinion, as they are usually quite elaborate and fierce which compliments her personality.
In episode 9 of season 1, Regina is shown wearing this outfit below. I really like this one as all the elements of the costume tie so well together to form a complete look, that is almost like a modern witch look. The hat is reminiscent of a witch, yet it is short, and not long and pointy. The dress part of the costume is almost like a 1600s Victorian dress with the waist flaring outwards. However, the inclusion of trousers and omission of the front skirt bit makes it seem very modern and empowering in comparison to a 1600s gown. The cape around the shoulders and chest, again is reminiscent of a witch's cape. This costume is fashionable as well as practical, which makes it so believable and striking, as it is rather unique, yet connotative of a witch, which is what Regina is.
The waist created by the dress portion and corset- type top makes her very feminine in shape, and mixing it with trousers also mixes in a bit of masculinity, dominance perhaps.
Her hair, being big and wild contrasts to the structure of her outfit, but it follows the curve of the hat and frames her face nicely. Again, it makes her look fierce, rather than having limp hair it's styled and big and noticeable. No part of the costume goes unnoticed.
The same style can be seen over and over again, as she often goes for that half dress. Many of her costumes do seem to be rooted in Victorian origins.
The very low neckline combined with being completely covered everywhere else, enables her costumes to be less sexual, but still allows her to be feminine and still look very fierce.
As can be seen from the above picture, Regina wears mostly traditional inspired clothing, but with that modern twist of a half dress and trousers. many of her clothes feature that defined waist and low cut top.
Interestingly, Snow White has a similar outfit, yet it is more modest, neutral and not as glam or fanciful as Regina's. It's more earthy and gives a softer feel to her character. The contrast between light and dark colours from Regina and Snow also indicate their allegiance and symbolise good and evil.
The short to long top is also a style that recurs throughout the series on multiple characters it seems. It is also a style I have always loved and been a fan of, due to the great feminine silhouette is can produce, but on top of that, it is feminine yet practical due to the addition of trousers. It is almost like old fashion mixed with new.
This costume below on Regina is reminiscent to me of princely attire, due to the regal colour and the sharp angles and ruffle sleeves. Again, I feel as though this costume represents a somewhat masculine female, for lack of a better description. A dominant female. This is due to the broad shoulders that features in a lot of her costumes, and in a way these dress tops are reminiscent of tailcoats, which I suppose is why they give the look some masculinity.
Tuesday, 6 October 2015
Trying out something new- inspiration from songs
I asked a friend the other day where he gets his inspiration from and he recommended that I look at songs to get inspiration. So I was listening to a song today, 'Goodbye' by Slipknot (lyrics http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/slipknot/goodbye.html) and there was a line that inspired me. The line is "how can we know where we are if the sun is behind us?"
Below is the general process of the drawing:
In terms of a character design, this is very boring, I could now think of how to make it more interesting for a shadow figure. However, I like the glow and could maybe work on it more to make it more elaborate. Overall I am happy with it but it is a bit more on the simple, boring side.
Another thing that inspired me to try out other ways of finding creativity, was discovering Chiara Bautista's artwork. Her art is so full of emotion and conveys themes and stories well with few words. I would love for my artwork to have more meaning, and not for me to just draw or paint for the sake of it to fulfill a job or something like that, but to have some deeper meaning behind it. Even if I am just drawing characters, I can still convey some meaning, whether it's in the clothing they wear, symbolism, or the emotions they portray. Chiara's work has really touched me and I find it absolutely incredible and unique, as, so far, I have yet to come across any similar work that has made such a profound impact on me.
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