Thursday, 21 April 2016
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
BA2B, intro and updates!
Research Report Proposal
Submission:
4pm, 22nd April 2016
Context: In order to prepare you for a larger body of academic text in Year Three, we provide the opportunity to explore, devise, revise, and study initial research topics whilst being supported by the close guidance of the course team. As you will each have a variety of interests relating to your specialism, game development or the wider creative industries, the aim is to identify, discern and articulate enthusiasm for a particular area of investigation in preparation for the completion of your Research Report in BA3a.
Brief: This 1,000 word Research Report Proposal will identify key areas of investigation, document initial research areas and relevant supportive material. The Research Report will be realised and adhere to a particular style and form of writing (Extended essay, Industry report, Technical report, Reflective report, Editorial) as outlined in the Research Report Guidelines document, available on the VLE. The chosen style of writing must also be identified within the 1,000 word proposal.
Theory:
Psychology
⦁ I am interested on how a game affects psychology
⦁ I am interesed on why a game affects psychology
Emotion
⦁ I am interested in why an emotion response is created
⦁ I am interested in how an emotion response is created
Developers and games:
⦁ Harry Gregson Williams
⦁ Martin O'Donnell
⦁ Nobuo Uematsu
⦁ Koji Kondo
⦁ Yoko Shimomura
⦁ Adam Skorupa
⦁ Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz
⦁ Greg Edmonson
⦁ The witcher 3
⦁ Metal Gear Solid
⦁ Super Mario
⦁ The Legend of Zelda
⦁ Final Fantasy
⦁ Xeno Blade Chronicles
⦁ Uncharted series
Initial research sources:
Websources:
McElvany, Trisha (2013) The Psychological Effects of Music in Video Games: https://tmcelvany.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/the-psychological-effects-of-music-in-video-games/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Vass, Lachlan (2013) The Role of Music in Video Games: http://the-artifice.com/the-role-of-music-in-videogames/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Mcdonald, Glenn (2004) A History of Video Game Music: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/a-history-of-video-game-music/1100-6092391/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Playing with your mind: The psychology of sound in video games http://www.amplifon.co.uk/resources/playing-with-your-mind/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Bloom, Molly (2014) From 8-bit to orchestras: How does video game music affect you?: http://www.brainson.org/from-8-bit-to-orchestras-how-does-video-game-music-affect-you/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Foster (2013) An Overview of the Psychological Implications of Video Game Music: http://msumusichistory.pbworks.com/w/page/61603924/An%20Overview%20of%20the%20Psychological%20Implications%20of%20Video%20Game%20Music [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Solarski, Chris (2013) The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185676/the_aesthetics_of_game_art_and_.php?print=1 [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Madigan, Jamie (2010) The psychology of Immersion in Video Games: http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/07/the-psychology-of-immersion-in-video-games/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Next steps:
Give brief details of your research plan including the types of research you will conduct, contacts and visits you intend to make, etc.
Primary Research
⦁ Play and take notes on The Witcher 3 and/or series
⦁ Play and take notes on Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain
⦁ Play and take notes on Uncharted series
⦁ Research further into psychology of sound and art
Secondary Research
⦁ Research the collation between audio and art
⦁ Research video game audio
⦁ Research video game art
⦁ Research video game psychology
Summer Plans
⦁ Attempt to visit talks and events
⦁ Conduct surveys and questionnaires
⦁ Contact developers with questions
⦁ Draft base structure
⦁ visit library/book shops
Timeline
⦁ August: Compile pages of easy to read notes, with quotes and the referencing to go with them
⦁ September: Break down step by step process for first draft
⦁ October: Compile first draft
⦁ November: Fine tune draft
⦁ December: Type up in full
Collaborative Game Production
Submission:
4pm, 22nd April 2016
Context: This project is a microcosm of industry production. Small teams will work together to produce the concept art, assets, environments, and game design required to realise a playable game prototype. To continue the development of employability skills, each team will engage with production pipelines and processes covered to date, collectively work toward a common goal.
Brief: You will organise into teams and claim responsibility for roles/tasks within the production pipeline, as demanded by project. You will work to the theme: ‘One-Button Game’. All games must be created using UE4. Game development is laborious and multitasking is anticipated for each adopted role (based on your chosen specialism). For example; when the pre-production phase is over, concept artist(s) may engage with texture creation, documentation or asset production – or any other aspects demanding attention to ensure completion of the prototype. A list of possible tasks / alternate roles has been provided in the ‘Specialism / Alternate roles’ table below.
At first our group was unsure, we initially wanted to make a tower defense game as this could quite easily relate to a one button system, but our idea was solid, we fell into a cliche hole and decided against a tower defense game, instead we went with a "soap box" style racing game where an individual would let gravity (and some help from boosters) race to the finish line.
The above silhouettes are from our first idea, we based this first idea on a 80's style "neon" theme, akin to a double dragon sense of art
My first Piece of work was to source text that would be used in game, I narrowed it down to several different fonts (some of which are not present on the above image) and let the rest of the group pick which one they found most appealing, the chosen font can be seen below in other images (two were chosen).
Once the text had been chosen I then went ahead and iterated some different icons and buttons to get a work flow established, this proved to be useful when I received critique, as my first ideas were very flat and unimaginative and needed a lot of work.
After a simple group crit, I proceeded to take comments into account and iterate further adding upon the last image, i added outer glows and embossed the buttons, the left hand set it added a suggestion of reflection with the gradient tool and embossed each one, the middle section I added an outer glow and again use the gradient tool to pick out brighter spots so they looked to be emitting light, the final section I did the same as the middle section just without the outer glow. I still didnt feel happy with these so I put them to the side for a a small period of time.
The next 5 images (below and above) are main menu mock ups, these were to help visualise placement and see how orientation effects outcome.
The following images are a mixture of iteration and final outcome of the UI, I enjoyed working on this and felt very comfortable doing so, i am very happy with my outcome and hope to do more like this in the future!
BOOST NOT READY
BOOST READY
EXIT GAME STATIC
EXIT GAME MOUSE OVER
EXIT GAME BUTTON CLICK
RACE STATIC
RACE MOUSE OVER
RACE BUTTON CLICK
SPEED DIAL NO BOOST
SPEED DIAL WHILE BOOSTING
RACE TIMER SURROUND
Transforming the Mundane Group Presentations:
29th February 2016
Brief: You are in a team comprising students from Games Art & Design, Graphic Design and Design for Publishing. As a team you have been given a mundane object. Your task is to find a way to transform, and re-purpose the object you have been given. You are all creative thinkers and creative practitioners. To start with, we only want you to consider that you are creative people and you are faced with an unfamiliar problem as a creative challenge. As you go through the collaborative process, you will naturally bring your creative instincts, skills, knowledge and - potentially - specialisms to bear on the project.
You will: Communicate your outcome within a three minute presentation containing images of your object. It is essential that this presentation is visually engaging and creative. It can be supported by additional physical elements (such as the object itself) and demonstrations. All members of the group/team must take part in the final presentation. The presentation may take the form of a digital presentation and/or a performance. The presentation format is entirely up to you; it should be derived from the ‘story’ you are trying to tell. You must also submit supporting material that documents your working efforts. All individual team members must document and evidence their contribution to the project. You will also be required to complete and submit a group/peer evaluation form.
Things to consider:
• Audience – who is this object for originally and has this audience changed?
• Consider a narrative for your object – does it have a story to tell? How you re-purposing the object, and why?
• Consider its history, materiality and physicality. What are the object’s characteristics? What is it good for? What is it bad at? Is the object a metaphor for something else?
• Consider how your solution visually communicates. Are you communicating a specific message and how are you making this clear, engaging and entertaining?
During this unit of work we were tasked to collaborate with other courses to create a piece of media that relates to the brief, our subject was "cup" and our emotion was "serenity".
The following slides take you through our thought process and how we landed at our outcome
The below video is our final outcome, the project was a fun one, our group was great with no hiccups what so ever, hope to work with them again!
4pm, 22nd April 2016
Context: In order to prepare you for a larger body of academic text in Year Three, we provide the opportunity to explore, devise, revise, and study initial research topics whilst being supported by the close guidance of the course team. As you will each have a variety of interests relating to your specialism, game development or the wider creative industries, the aim is to identify, discern and articulate enthusiasm for a particular area of investigation in preparation for the completion of your Research Report in BA3a.
Brief: This 1,000 word Research Report Proposal will identify key areas of investigation, document initial research areas and relevant supportive material. The Research Report will be realised and adhere to a particular style and form of writing (Extended essay, Industry report, Technical report, Reflective report, Editorial) as outlined in the Research Report Guidelines document, available on the VLE. The chosen style of writing must also be identified within the 1,000 word proposal.
Games Art and Design
Research Report Proposal
Name: Alexander S Crisp
Type of Research Report:
extended essay / industry /
technical
/ reflective / editorial
Topic Outline:
Provisional
title: Audio and Art: The psychological effects in game.
During
my reserach report proposal I would like to tackle how art and audio
relate within game, and how that relation can create emotion and
suspense. I will be using The Witcher 3 and The Witcher series in
general to tackle such a topic as the score and visuals within this
game are ground breaking and portray a great sense of art and audio
collation.
Within
the first part of my report I will cover how audio and art relate,
this will be done by taking a step by step guide of some scenes from The Witcher series (2 minimum) I will first walk through picking out
visual effects, such as, how the scene has used lighting, whether the
colour has been saturated or de-saturated to create visual emotion
and selecting key camera angles and shots to portray certain
psychology. After I will then go into audio, I will pick out key
elements such as, audio cues, style of music used, level of volume
and if it fluctuates. I will then blend the two and go into detail
about how features within each subject relate to each other and why
that works.
The
next portions of the report will answer my other questions, like how
emotion is created, why a relationship between the two even exist and
what that relation can create within our minds, all these things
determine the psychology behind it and the effect it can have on our
emotional response.
Its
that relation that interests me, how the audial effects of sound can
be changed to many things to change the mood entirely, for example,
happy music over gory scenes can create quite a creepy atmosphere.
Within
my report I am hoping to tackle such questions as:
How
does audio and art relate?
Art
and audio: The Psychology
How
to create emotion?
The
meaning behind the relationship
Why
does audio and art work well together?
How does audio create emotion?
How audio can be perceived differently
Audio as an art-form
Significant images / artefacts /
theories / practitioners / companies:
Attach images that have inspired you to research in this area together with details of theories you are interested in and information on artists, designers, practitioners, companies and who will be important for your report.
Theory:
Psychology
⦁ I am interested on how a game affects psychology
⦁ I am interesed on why a game affects psychology
Emotion
⦁ I am interested in why an emotion response is created
⦁ I am interested in how an emotion response is created
Developers and games:
⦁ Harry Gregson Williams
⦁ Martin O'Donnell
⦁ Nobuo Uematsu
⦁ Koji Kondo
⦁ Yoko Shimomura
⦁ Adam Skorupa
⦁ Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz
⦁ Greg Edmonson
⦁ The witcher 3
⦁ Metal Gear Solid
⦁ Super Mario
⦁ The Legend of Zelda
⦁ Final Fantasy
⦁ Xeno Blade Chronicles
⦁ Uncharted series
Initial research sources:
Websources:
McElvany, Trisha (2013) The Psychological Effects of Music in Video Games: https://tmcelvany.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/the-psychological-effects-of-music-in-video-games/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Vass, Lachlan (2013) The Role of Music in Video Games: http://the-artifice.com/the-role-of-music-in-videogames/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Mcdonald, Glenn (2004) A History of Video Game Music: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/a-history-of-video-game-music/1100-6092391/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Playing with your mind: The psychology of sound in video games http://www.amplifon.co.uk/resources/playing-with-your-mind/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Bloom, Molly (2014) From 8-bit to orchestras: How does video game music affect you?: http://www.brainson.org/from-8-bit-to-orchestras-how-does-video-game-music-affect-you/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Foster (2013) An Overview of the Psychological Implications of Video Game Music: http://msumusichistory.pbworks.com/w/page/61603924/An%20Overview%20of%20the%20Psychological%20Implications%20of%20Video%20Game%20Music [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Solarski, Chris (2013) The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185676/the_aesthetics_of_game_art_and_.php?print=1 [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Madigan, Jamie (2010) The psychology of Immersion in Video Games: http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2010/07/the-psychology-of-immersion-in-video-games/ [Accessed 20th April 2016]
Next steps:
Give brief details of your research plan including the types of research you will conduct, contacts and visits you intend to make, etc.
Primary Research
⦁ Play and take notes on The Witcher 3 and/or series
⦁ Play and take notes on Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain
⦁ Play and take notes on Uncharted series
⦁ Research further into psychology of sound and art
Secondary Research
⦁ Research the collation between audio and art
⦁ Research video game audio
⦁ Research video game art
⦁ Research video game psychology
Summer Plans
⦁ Attempt to visit talks and events
⦁ Conduct surveys and questionnaires
⦁ Contact developers with questions
⦁ Draft base structure
⦁ visit library/book shops
Timeline
⦁ August: Compile pages of easy to read notes, with quotes and the referencing to go with them
⦁ September: Break down step by step process for first draft
⦁ October: Compile first draft
⦁ November: Fine tune draft
⦁ December: Type up in full
4pm, 22nd April 2016
Context: This project is a microcosm of industry production. Small teams will work together to produce the concept art, assets, environments, and game design required to realise a playable game prototype. To continue the development of employability skills, each team will engage with production pipelines and processes covered to date, collectively work toward a common goal.
Brief: You will organise into teams and claim responsibility for roles/tasks within the production pipeline, as demanded by project. You will work to the theme: ‘One-Button Game’. All games must be created using UE4. Game development is laborious and multitasking is anticipated for each adopted role (based on your chosen specialism). For example; when the pre-production phase is over, concept artist(s) may engage with texture creation, documentation or asset production – or any other aspects demanding attention to ensure completion of the prototype. A list of possible tasks / alternate roles has been provided in the ‘Specialism / Alternate roles’ table below.
My first Piece of work was to source text that would be used in game, I narrowed it down to several different fonts (some of which are not present on the above image) and let the rest of the group pick which one they found most appealing, the chosen font can be seen below in other images (two were chosen).
Once the text had been chosen I then went ahead and iterated some different icons and buttons to get a work flow established, this proved to be useful when I received critique, as my first ideas were very flat and unimaginative and needed a lot of work.
After a simple group crit, I proceeded to take comments into account and iterate further adding upon the last image, i added outer glows and embossed the buttons, the left hand set it added a suggestion of reflection with the gradient tool and embossed each one, the middle section I added an outer glow and again use the gradient tool to pick out brighter spots so they looked to be emitting light, the final section I did the same as the middle section just without the outer glow. I still didnt feel happy with these so I put them to the side for a a small period of time.
The next 5 images (below and above) are main menu mock ups, these were to help visualise placement and see how orientation effects outcome.
The following images are a mixture of iteration and final outcome of the UI, I enjoyed working on this and felt very comfortable doing so, i am very happy with my outcome and hope to do more like this in the future!
Transforming the Mundane Group Presentations:
29th February 2016
Brief: You are in a team comprising students from Games Art & Design, Graphic Design and Design for Publishing. As a team you have been given a mundane object. Your task is to find a way to transform, and re-purpose the object you have been given. You are all creative thinkers and creative practitioners. To start with, we only want you to consider that you are creative people and you are faced with an unfamiliar problem as a creative challenge. As you go through the collaborative process, you will naturally bring your creative instincts, skills, knowledge and - potentially - specialisms to bear on the project.
You will: Communicate your outcome within a three minute presentation containing images of your object. It is essential that this presentation is visually engaging and creative. It can be supported by additional physical elements (such as the object itself) and demonstrations. All members of the group/team must take part in the final presentation. The presentation may take the form of a digital presentation and/or a performance. The presentation format is entirely up to you; it should be derived from the ‘story’ you are trying to tell. You must also submit supporting material that documents your working efforts. All individual team members must document and evidence their contribution to the project. You will also be required to complete and submit a group/peer evaluation form.
Things to consider:
• Audience – who is this object for originally and has this audience changed?
• Consider a narrative for your object – does it have a story to tell? How you re-purposing the object, and why?
• Consider its history, materiality and physicality. What are the object’s characteristics? What is it good for? What is it bad at? Is the object a metaphor for something else?
• Consider how your solution visually communicates. Are you communicating a specific message and how are you making this clear, engaging and entertaining?
During this unit of work we were tasked to collaborate with other courses to create a piece of media that relates to the brief, our subject was "cup" and our emotion was "serenity".
The following slides take you through our thought process and how we landed at our outcome
The below video is our final outcome, the project was a fun one, our group was great with no hiccups what so ever, hope to work with them again!
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