Monday 20 October 2014

Maya: Lip Syncing Part 1-3



Maya: Head Modeling Part 1,2 & 3

Unsmoothed Wireframe, Smoothed Wireframe and Smoothed

Character Design: Concept, Style and Research


               After some thought I have come up with the concept of an app type game called 'Sugar Cave' (or Sugar shrub, I haven't decided). The aim, or mechanism, of the game is to gain points by consuming falling peices of sugar and sweets caused by the erupting cave but at the same time protect the young of the creatures from being crushed by these objects. The twist is that each character is only limited to one movement whether it is a bounce, diagonal stretch, upwards stretch or

expansion and they have to be unlocked to be used as the game progresses between levels.

              To make the game more interesting and commercially pleasing, as the young can be developed by the player between levels, They will also be able to be customized with unlockable items bought with the points gained.


Top: Rough idea of main characters. Bottom: The different variations of young that can be customized 


In terms of the style and appearance of my characters I have looked at other already existing Iphone games such as 'Cut the rope' and 'Angry birds. I will like to take in the simplistic techniques of character design they've used that make them so distinct and apply them to my ideas.




I will also use Cut the rope as inspiration for my mechanism as they ask the player to do similar things in terms of the dragging, pressing and pulling of the character or object across the screen to reach an objective.




Sunday 19 October 2014

Archetypes: The Goodfellas





The Hero: Henry Hill - Henry Hill is the protagonist of the film, although what his story is about does not necessarily make him worthy to be called a 'hero', the film is narrated by him and is a true story based on his life.

The Sidekick: Tommy DeVito - Tommy was with Henry when they were young and were being taught about the life of crime by Jimmy Conway and stayed beside him ever since.

The Maiden: Karen Hill - Karen was the girl in the film that caught Henry's eye and although he found another woman later on in the film we was interested in, he still ended up back with Karen by the end of the film. Everything that Henry went through she went through.

The Wise Old man: Paul Cicero - Although many would label Jimmy Conway the wise old man because he was the person that Henry initially looked up to and eventually ended up taking under his wing, I think Paul Cicero is better suited because he is the wiser and older version of Jimmy and is who Henry took direct orders from at a time where Jimmy seemed to be depicted as more of an equal to Henry rather than a mentor.

The Mother: Tommy's Mother - Throughout the duration of the film Tommy's mum is the only person that conveys the qualities of a realistic mother of a mafia member. 

The Child: Spider - Spider is depicted to the audience as the young and innocent boy who works in the bar and is used by the director to portray extent of Tommy's recklessness when he kills him just because he finally stood up to Tommy's abuse. Alternatively, Tommy can be seen as the child as he is the small and uncontrollable one out of the trio who is always getting them into something.

The Shadow: The Gambino Family - There are many interpretations on who could be the shadow as Henry, Tommy and Jimmy, the main protagonists could be seen as the shadow themselves. However in regards to who is the shadow to the trio I would think it to be the Gambino Family who were the Highest mafia bosses and were who eventually had Tommy killed as revenge for Billy Batts, a made man and presumed member of the family.

The Shapeshifter: Jimmy Conway - Jimmy Conway is the shapeshifter because towards the end of the film when Henry was labelled a 'snitch', Jimmy became a more darker character in the perspective of the audience as he seemed he would 'get rid of' Henry just as Henry witnessed him do to countless others. 

The Trickster: Tommy DeVito - Tommy is also seen as the trickster because he is getting himself Jimmy and Henry into trouble with his antics and short temper and it was this quality that resulted in his death just over mid-way of the film.


Character Design: Initial ideas


After getting the cards with the words that would act as my environment, mechanism and character I had a distinct idea of what kind of game I will be focusing on. The words were:


Elasticity
(Squash & Stretch/ Bounciness)

Consumption
(Edible/Removal)

Candy
(Treats & Rewards/Obesity)


            






                 These words immediately reminded me of a type of Iphone app game like angry birds or candy crush with the main objective having something to do with the player pressing, pulling or dragging something across the screen so I knew I wanted my game to share similar qualities to this.

I also realized that two of these words (Candy and Consumption) work pretty much hand in hand together and should be used to my advantage whether it meaning the environment will be made of Candy and the objective is to bounce around some how to consume it, or if the objective is to remove aspects of the environment to gain treats or rewards.