Gathering Material

88-91


"Once you are committed to designing your game you need to consider the details. To develop the idea you must start to gather material that will inspire your work. These pages suggest some valuable reference sources."


Ganasutra often has post-mortems of game production, written by game designers. Making further use of the internet is something I'm confident enough in already, I know many places to look in order to gathering information about games and gathering information that may help when designing my own.

Gathering first-hand material is an excellent practice to develop. Images, local surroundings, see things put into a different context, turned upside down, enlarged or reduced inside. Thinking of dimensions in this way is not something I do often although I do recall it being effective at manipulating ideas and information. I have used cameras to take pictures of poses, textures and architecture that I have made us of in later projects and intend to carry on doing so.

Mood boards are something I am very familiar with although in all honesty I do not refer back to them all that often, but the times I have I have found to be useful. I try to make the moodboard mean something and inspire small fragments of stories, tiny ideas, vague scenarios that will stay in my head that I can dwell on and think over however long I like, ask myself questions about the feasibility of such locations and what role it (whatever it might be) will play in my game, and why it plays this role, and how, and where and when.

The Computer Game Design Course

Pages 78 to 83

Opening with a paragraph explaining the process of inspiration for games and how important it is to be both original in a market crowded with companies that want to jump on the same popular bandwagon, and how in the cases of case studies such as Deus Ex, real life experiences and interests by the developers of the game contributed to the overall polished feel of the game.

"The problem with inspiration is that the more you seek it, the more it can seem to elude you. There is no magic formula that you can follow to make you creative and give you the ability to have good ideas on demand. The best practice for any would-be designer is to seek out as many different kinds of experiences as possible. This doesn't simply mean playing a lot of games - you will only end up making more of the same, but entails looking far and wide into other cultural activities such as literature, art, philosophy, and history. Getting that illuminating flash of inspiration is always a rare occurrence, but with research and preparation it is possible to give the sought after insight and a little help."


Case Study one details some of the thought processes and influence behind decisions made by Warren Spector and Harvey Smith, designers of critically acclaimed Deus Ex. Warren started originally with table top games which influence the story. There are real world environments and monuments such as the Statue of Liberty. There is the option of choosing a violent or non-violent way of getting through a level, for additional freedom of choice for realism. I would also add that from my own experiences, the player can relate to the character more as the player is using the in-game character as a medium of expressing their way of interacting with an otherwise fictional reality, meaning the game is more immersive.


Case Study 2 regards Nintento, introducing designers Satoshi Tajiri and Shigeru Miyamoto, who attributes his inspirations to be the countryside and it's wealth of natural features, which provided the material for design in the future. Satoshi on the other hand enjoyed collecting bugs and a discovered love of games meant that he came to love the Nintendo GameBoy, and his desire to allow people to enjoy collecting weird beasts from the surrounding countryside and trade them gave rise to the concept of Pocket Monsters, and I'm sure just about everyone knows where that idea has gone since then.

Pokemon features a collective element meaning the character is rewarded for time dedicated to playing the game and amassing a larger collection, a concept also reflected in RPGs and MMORPGs, and other games lately that have introduced achievement systems such as Gamer Score.

Sketchbooks and notebooks have been where I have both noted ideas and inspirations that have suddenly popped into my head, or have given inspiration in the form of a randomly drawn shape or object that may spark an idea and develop into something else. As the book states, 'a sketchbook or notebook is a place where you can let your imagination run riot', which is always great and always has been and always will be! It can also be used to demonstrate early initial thought processes that can be reflected on or built upon.

The 'Question the status quo' segment I found myself in agreement with despite never fully thinking of it before, especially when detailing the part about the health packs. It didn't occur to me when this change occurred and it has almost become the norm, now. Call of Duty 2 introduced it, where instead of unrealistic health packs being applied by moving over them, the edges of the screen would flash red and connotate danger. This segment alone has definitely made me realise one thing: I will be keeping an eye open on all future games and comparing it to the genre and it's predecessors, noting any changes that challenge the status quo.

The best example of this I have at hand is an upcoming title, Guild Wars 2, an MMORPG, is not going to feature end-game raiding content, unlike most, if not all other MMO games, including long-time kingpin of the MMO market and arguably most successful MMO of all time, World of Warcraft. This change I feel to be very strange, but I feel very intrigued as to how ArenaNet, the developers of Guild Wars 2, will overcome this and how end-game content will play out.

Independent Games Developers are on the rise again. As detailed, there are still many smaller developers that employ a small number of people and develop games either by web browsers, PCs, or the mobile phone gaming market. Because these independent developers are not tied to making large profits and therefore do not need to develop sure-fire hits they an experiment by making games that explore themes that are not normally explored.

I find most games developers have been bought out by larger companies or by merging, but this segment also made me realise that when you are not focusing on profit, there is more room for experimenting as there is less of an expectation and demand. Whilst larger companies are compelled to deliver, smaller companies are boundless, to an extent - their funding may be their only limit.

Progressive Maya Work

I went back to my old, earlier versions of my work to analyse and evaluate my progression and it's fair to say I've gone a long way from where I started.

I made many different saves in case I lost anything or needed to restart it, or wanted to do another version of it. I had files of the car tyres and the signs so I could import them into my main scene, and many different versions of the car I made, saving a different version when I made significant enough progress, e.g the original car model, the coloured car, coloured car with windows and a final model car.

I made a few playblasts of the animations that I built upon and around, environment included, in order to do my animation.

In this I'm not using the coloured version of the car I didn't like, and rather than reanimate it with the coloured car, just left the grey one as a placeholder. I eventually found the colour I wanted, as evidenced in the final animation. But this looked more pink than red, despite using UV mapping to colour it. I eventually just went with a red Maya blinn.

Here you can see the animation really getting it's barings. The crates being smashed into allows the car to slow down as it goes up the ramp (and it also looks pretty awesome whilst it's doing it). This was to make the scene a bit more exciting and simply test my own skills. I had encountered a MASSIVE problem at this point, I couldn't get the car and the tyres to be angled as one as I hadn't grouped them. When I learned how I went back and keyframed in the angles so that the car and the ramp aligned to be parallel, instead of the car remaining unnaturally horizontal as it went up the ramp, flew through the air and landed.

Here you can still see a lack of background, something I realised I needed to include one way or another, but just kept focused on the road it would drive along and that I would build the environment as necessary around it. This means I am not limited as I make the animation by the environment. I used a UV mapping desert texture I ended up not using as I didn't like it compared to another one that I made later on. I also changed the sign by removing the rectangular sign underneath the circular part, as I didn't feel it necessary to include more writing on the sign.

Animatic

Using my storyboard and some of the scenes I knew I would include, I produced the animatic for my Little and Big animation, displaying the rough timing I will use in each scene. The camera angles are not always the same but it does show the car basically doing the same thing and the time the camera spends capturing what happens. Some of the shots have descriptive words to better illustrate what is happening, as a lot can happen in the space of one shot (as in the case of the car stopping, reversing and going again when it pauses to read the big ramp's danger sign).

I didn't put an audio to it since at this point I hadn't got the audio I wanted prepared, though it may have helped to have it. I plan to use the animatic when producing my sound as it may help with the timing.

Maya Movies

I thought I'd upload a few videos of my early Maya work demonstrating my progression as I learned how to use it and got a grasp of the animation processes.

It is only two of a few videos but ones that best illustrate the learning curves and processes I went through to get where I am now. It's a complex piece of software and I don't expect to completely master it any time soon, though it'd be great if I could keep learning at the rate I am. I think the next set of Maya work I do will come along a lot easier as I know the ropes a little more, now. I can spend more time doing the work than learning how I will do it, which did take a long time.

Maya Storyboard

Because I had made a car model I thought I would base my animation on a car. After a few moments considering and brainstorming ideas, I figured a way to introduce my car into a scenario that could be appropriately titled 'Little and Big'. The idea was that an arrogant driver would find a little but still dangerous canyon over which he would drive over via a ramp, then continue over to a bigger ramp and attempt the same thing - only he fails, and falls to uncertain circumstances.

The first thing I had to do was come up with a storyboard. I decided I would try and stick with the same camera angles throughout but in the end realised I would have to change some given the size of the map I had to make, and I had thought of better ways.

The plan was that the car would pull into view and the front tyre and bonnet would be visible next to a sign that would warn of the dangerous canyon ahead. It would then show the entire side profile of the car, then look above the car down the road it will drive on, and it would pick up speed as it drove forward. I skipped the third above the car shot because I found it a bit pointless and decided it would be better if the camera simply followed the car on from the side. The car then goes up the ramp and lands rather smothly. The axis I have on the car demonstrates how I originally intended to do this, similar to how I made the pendulum. However it was easier just to keyframe and graph edit it. Instead of pulling up and repeating the process with a bigger ramp, in the actual animation, he drives through a tunnel to where the dangerous ramp is - noticing, but not heeding the warning of the Big Ramp "Dangerous" sign. He goes up it but the ramp is so big he is unable to pick up enough speed and falls short of the necessary distance, falling to his .. well, assumed demise.

It's cartoon violence at best.

Toast Animation

Whether to class it as 2D or 3D I'm unsure since it's a mix of both. I decided to stop looking at Snotr and turn to YouTube, when I found this. Animation art by Geoff Mcfetridge.

I have seen some strange stop motion animations over the years but this takes the cake; not only is it done entirely by burning images onto slices of bread, but it is done so well you almost forget about the bread to begin with. The natural colouring also creates a nice atmosphere in the animation similar to a sepia effect.

The actual animation is not the subject of the video but the medium. It doesn't necessarily focus on story or narrative, character development or even cinematography, but does extend the message that to do an animation all you really need is a camera, and in this case, a toaster and lot of bread.

It makes an enjoyable watch and shows the advantages of stop motion, albeit computer programmes could probably fake something that looks real enough to be plausible.

2D Animation - Day and Night

http://www.snotr.com/video/7891/Day_vs_Night

Supervising Animator Tom Gately
Animation Manager Richmond Horine

I thought this was was a very creative 2D animation, using simple characters who are seemingly transparent rather than opaque, who represent day and night. The animation does have a sort of storyline as both Day and Night come to respect each other's differences and learn to accept each other.

There is also some interesting animation in the 'background' of the two different characters, some 3D, some photographic. The practical uses of this sort of animation could go beyond this but I feel that this animation puts these effects to good use.

I don't think of it as a fantastic, great animation though. I'm not a violent person but my preferance is with action, and whilst the cartoon fighting is amusing, it is not as gratifying or as thrilling as something The Gift was - although undoubtedly the production costs between each of them are likely tremendous.

3D Animation - Get Out

http://www.snotr.com/video/8369/The_Arctic_Circle

Made by Kevin Parry, this was an enjoyable little stop motion animation. I haven't looked at stop motion a lot even though it is one of the most influencial genres of animation on me, with names like Nick Park having a big impact on my childhood. The film is very minimalistic in it's evironments but what I like most is the character expressions told entirely through their eyes and eyebrows, which is comedic but authentic at the same time. Kevin does a good job at bringing otherwise lifeless toys to life and we can tell what they are thinking regardless of the fact that there is virtually no dialogue.

Sound however, is crucial to the animation because of this. The story makes enough sense to be a story, but not enough to be a progressive narrative. It is hardly a Hollywood worthy script, but then again, it is hardly supposed to be Hollywood worthy to begin with. It was an enjoyable animation and made me smile, which is what it's all about at the end of the day, and inspired me to pick up my interest in stop motion again, or at least give it the same attention I used to.

3D Animation - Little Tombstone

http://www.snotr.com/video/8725/Little_Tombstone

Another animation, produced by http://www.studiodesaviateurs.fr/index.php, I found this one to be much more preferably to Get Out. Not only since there is a little action, but the mood is more tense, the audience are kept guessing and assuming on what would happen, and not to mention the good cinematography. The narrative is nothing I've seen before, but I can hardly say I wasn't expecting what happened, it almost felt predictable. Regardless, the music score was great and the animation was beyond amazing, the artstyle captured the essence of Western films.

This website in particular has been very useful to me in gathering these animations and short films, and this is another hidden gemstone amongst short animations. Again I noticed the colour drain as the first man fell dead and remained that way throughout the rest of the film, the only other colour of note being red. The film was very reminiscent of a Clint Eastwood western.

3D Animation - The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore

http://www.snotr.com/video/8752/The_Fantastic_Flying_Books_of_Mr_Morris_Lessmore

This is a brilliant short film with an enjoyable length, well considered cinematography and narrative, an appropriate music score and creative original ideas throughout.

I found the story to be quite moving and took note of the consistant changes in colour to reflect the atmosphere and mood. There is nothing I particularly enjoy the most about the animation because it is near flawless, my only criticism being I like a little more action. It has a little bit of everything in it.

It has been nominated for an Oscar for the animated short film category, and I believe it would be well deserved it it wins, though I wouldn't know of many other animations capable of challenging it unless I simply have yet to find them.

3D Animation - Get Out

http://www.snotr.com/video/8735/Get_Out

The only thing I found confusing about this particular animation was the end, but I don't give it away here. The animation itself is good quality, but it doesn't seem either narrative or character driven. Instead I feel that this animation is out to give a message, although even I'm a little vague as to what that message might be. It isn't a candidate for my personal top ten of animations, though regardless, it was still enjoyable to watch.

The animation artsyle reminded me of something I have seen before. Though I mean this in a negative way. Whilst I appreciate that the animation itself is quite nice, it doesn't offer me anything I haven't seen before.

Although, it seems it was made as a dedicated animated film to the director or animator's family, specifically their parents. I think this makes the animation worth it in the end as it has a deeper meaning behind telling a story or fleshing out the progression of a fictional character.

It was produced by http://www.studiodesaviateurs.fr/, a French company, rather than a specific freelance animator.

Steven Spielberg

Any Steven Spielberg film that is released nowadays I take an immediate interest in, it is almost like brand trust; any film he makes i can come to admire from a filmmaker's point of view. Most of his films are instant classics; Saving Private Ryan shocked film audiences with the bloody 20 minute opening scene but was praised for the realistic, savage brutality of war and the portryal of the D-day and Operation Overlord landings. Close Encounters, the Indina Jones series and Jurassic Park were all the films I used to watch in m youth and I would be lying if I said they had no impact on my own style.

ET was probably the first Spielberg film I saw, and though I haven't re-watched it, I plan to. The latest Spielberg film I saw was Super 8, which I thought was quite similar in many ways to ET, perhaps just because of the time in which the narrative is set, but I would also say the directing methods, cinematography and art style that Spielberg makes use of is still very much his own, and not so generic and commonplace. Whilst I can't pick out individual scenes as I can with James Cameron, I think it falls down to the fact that his art-style portrays your role as an audience in the film as very subtle, I often forget I am watching a film, and no over-dramatic camera angles separate me from immersing myself within it.

I can trust Spielberg to deliver an immersive, narrative based experience. I don't think of him as cinematography centered or considerate as I do with James Cameron and  Hitchock - though he doubtless considers them.

Hitchcock

It would be rude to speak of directing films and not credit or at least mention Hitchcock for his pivotal role in shaping the way films are directed today, establishing many foundations and essentially laying the brickwork for modern directing methods. The first work of Hitchcock I encountered was Psycho as part of a study for critical writing in English classes back in High School. I had heard about the film before, the famous shower scene and the music that played with it was something we had discussed before watching it and something I knew about way before even that, as it has become somewhat of a pop culture reference to anything scary.

I have expected the film to have little interest for me, given I was naive and unwilling to give any film without explosions a chance. However, I dare say this film by it's self introduced me to the horror genre and got me interested in watching more horror films.

Hitchcock's work I find inspring, in this sense, and my interest in the horror genre has grown since the day I watched that one film. I have also since watched Vertigo and The Birds. I find it interesting that he makes a small, cameo appearance in the films he makes as a pedestrian or just a stranger.

Hitchcock has been an inspiration and admiration for me. Other directions such as Steven Spielberg have also been influential but I would feel out of place mentioning the more modern, successful filmmakers without at least addressing the director who potentially gave them the ropes of directing.

We said Hi to the Police

As mentioned, we had a run in with an authority officer whilst filming outside Liberty Park during our first film. We gave her our details and she basically explained that it was so they could tell anyone who called them if they were suspicious that they knew about our activity and it had been acknowledged by a police officer as safe and not intending to cause unrest. I asked for the officer's details in the back of my flipbook.

When we found out we had no battery and summarized we had to let it charge for over an hour, and waste filming time, the group became a little restless. I composed a makeshift storyboard sketch in agreement with the rest of the group so that we knew what we would be filming, from which angle, and roughly how long it would last, so that we could cut back on how many takes we do and how much battery we waste. This meant we could get the filming done and get the footage we need quicker and more efficiently, rather than arrive at the scene, think of the storyboard and then start thinking of ideas that might be cool. I put the focus on what we needed to get done, not what we thought would be a good idea that we could use.

Early Development

Reflecting back on my first storyboard for my instructional video, I can easily see the relation between my earliest idea and the finished product. The opening shot is still the same, if different in duration, and I instead let text do the talking rather than introducing the ingredients vocally. Close ups of the pan and food cooking away, a close up of the knife cutting the ingredients, all ideas I utilized in both my storyboard and in the film itself, alongside improvised ideas such as zooming. One of the ideas I scrapped was the clip of me draining the rice as the rice I had didn't need draining of water because it was measured.

James Cameron

Cameron as a director has contributed a great deal to film. The Terminator franchise has been one of my favourites, though the third and fourth films in the series were noticable not as gripping, and after I learned Cameron sold the rights to the Terminator films after Judgement Day, it was easy to see why, as Cameron wasn't working on them.

I recall Cameron in several interviews I have watched on YouTube, one of which I have already mentioned, where he is discussing actors, characters and the roles they play and his thought processes behind them. Cameron states something roughly along the lines of 'if the T-800 is like a human Panzer tank, the T-1000 had to be like a Porsche," which I found to be an insight into the way Cameron wants his actors portrayed. He has one many awards for many different areas and frequently works on his films as more as just the director; he also writes, edits and produces some films. He has directed two of the highest grossing films of all time, Titanic and Avatar which earned over $4 billion combined, without adjusting for inflation.

I acknowledge I'm far from Cameron's status or quality, but I do acknowledge myself as able to write. I've done enough creative writing and I think I'm up to the task of writing a full script. Post production editing is not my strong point and it's a disadvantage I intend to address. Though I do often acknowledge it's uses and know what I want from footage when I get to the post production film. Producing is something I read up as knowing a good network of people to work with.

Cameron is one of my directing idols because he has a clear vision of what he wants to get out of a film and I can familiarize myself with that. I don't not think of myself as uncompromising and narrow on a group project, though if I were to fully write, direct, and produce my own film at some point in the future, I would still appreciate input - but would not compromise on something I did not even slightly agree with. I would have an idea and I would see it realized in my own way.

My Role as a Director

"Directors are responsible for overseeing creative aspects of a film under the film producer. They often develop the vision for a film and carry the vision out, deciding how the film should look, in other words they make their vision come to life. They are responsible for turning the script into a sequence of shots. They also direct what tone it should have and what an audience should gain from the cinematic experience. Film directors are responsible for deciding camera angles, lens effects and lighting with the help of the cinematographer, and set design with the production designer. They will often take part in hiring key crew members. They coordinate the actors' moves, or blocking, and also may be involved in the writing,financing, and editing of a film.

The director works closely with the cast and crew to shape the film. Some like to conduct rigorous rehearsals in preproduction while others do so before each scene. In either case, this process is essential as it tells the director as well as other key members of the crew (director of photography, stunt choreographer, hair stylist, etc.), how the actors are going to play the scene, which enables them to make any necessary adjustments. Directors often use storyboards to illustrate sequences and concepts, and a director's viewfinder to set up camera angles.

The director also plays a key role in post-production. He or she works with the editor to ensure that the emotions of the scene and the close ups, mid shots and wide or long shots appropriately reflect which character is driving the narrative. The director also advises on the (color) grading of the final images, adding warmth or frigidity to the composition of the shots to reflect the emotional subtext of the character or environment. The director will sometimes participate in the sound mix and musical composition of the film. Promotion wise, if a director is well known his name and image is used to promote the film alongside the stars of the film, but having an image is not the primary function of a director, as they are judged off of their creative talent and ability to run a production. It is the second most powerful "behind the scenes" profession, behind the producer."

Wikipedia's summary of director I felt more connected to in the second film more so than the first one. I always referred to the original storyboard and worked closely with the storyboarder regarding and discussing shots and general cinematography. However, I felt I did most of the above things more in the second film more than the first.

I composed a plan of what to do and how much time we would spend doing things when we found out we had a limited amount of battery to work with. I gave my input on the script and we reviewed lines before filming, and pre-discussed and choreographed the fight scene in the script, and discussed what lighting and mood we were looking for in the shot we were taking so that the rest of the group understood. I suggested that the focus of the camera should stay on Tim, as from a narrative value, my character was a ghost - never really there and not always the focus. I made use of the natural lighting by filming exaggerated shadows and other impromptu decisions such as including foilage in the shot.


I gave out most of the acting instructions where necessary, including but not limited to where and when to enter or exit the shot, minor mannerisms that contribute to the realism of the situation e.g breathing into hands, and scene where Tim falls over. I considered what shots were appropriate and which ones weren't, and made sure to include a variety of both long shots and closer shots, making use of the landscape, and minor decisions from whether to pan in which direction in the shot, or whether or not we would employ the use of a slow or quick zoom.

I made judgements on what would work best with the rest of the film and which gave the right mood. I didn't compromise on any takes I wasn't happy with and was very careful to avoid continuity errors where possible. One example of this was remembering there were other pedestrians in the shot where I walk out of the residence in the first film, who would not be behind me in the second. I had the scene shot again with fewer noticeable pedestrians which worked better with the next shot we took. Another example in the second film was to cut out the clip of a climber's helmet in post production that we didn't notice whilst filming - despite waiting for them to get out of shot.

On the first film I didn't play much of a hand in the post production at all - Wizzy and Yoni came in on a friday and did the editing. On the second film I wanted to see the post production myself and arranged the timeline. The film clips in total came to over 7 minutes and I shortened it down to just under 4. I suggested altering the storyline slightly under the impression that the film strictly had to be 2 minutes long, and if we shortened the clips down too much, they would not have length enough to create any sort of dramatic effect. That decision had some mixed feedback, but clearly more criticism than necessary. I decided to let it go and see if the film could be shortened enough, and whilst it didn't have the lengthy shots and dramatic effect I filmed for, we had enough footage to work with and it came out well. 

I browsed for sound effects from the BBC library such as wind, footsteps and other sounds that we may have ended up using or not using altogether, and gave my opinion on what music we should use before making a joint decision with the editor on what track to use. I then asked the storyboarder whether he wanted a track, to which he asked do we need one? I respected his input as a storyboarder, but I felt at least the first half of the film with no dialogue would have been good with music.