We were tasked with creating a mood board and sketches of how the world will
look. I am not particularly fond of that so I'd rather take the explanation
approach.
The game is set in the in universe version of the modern day mixed
slightly with a futuristic touch. My DLC uses the same Era setting as the
main game just in a different location.
Ambiance/ mood
While the main game focuses on the night streets of vinyl city, the DLC
takes place outside the city, what was initially going to be 3 locations
was narrowed down into 1. Garasumachi A town outside Vinyl city, the town
is inspired by Visual Kei a sub-genre of rock that is very popular in
japan. The town is comprised of costume shops, concert halls, prop stores,
music shops, etc. It gives off a haunted atmosphere like a ghost town, due
to the death of one of their greatest musicians.
Culture
Visual Kei (ビジュアル系) is a movement among Japanese musical artists
with influences based in Glam Rock, Goth, Punk and traditional Japanese
clothing. Female visual kei fans are referred to as "bangya" (バンギャ), a
shortened form of the English phrase "band girl." -(Aesthetics wiki). A
sub-culture that started in the 80s heavily influenced by early 80s
Japanese Goth rock and Post-Punk bands in its visuals (particularly bands
like Auto-Mod, Madame Edwarda, Phaidia, and Die Zibet).
Ecosystem
The location in question is inspired by the peak of the visual Kei genre
in the early 2000s. It is inspired by the Shibuya crossing and revolves
among the underground/ indie concert scene popular with the youth’s of
Japan. Garasumachi however is also part ghost town as a curse has driven
out most of the youths from the town, leaving only a few of them left.
The rumor that the better you get the more likely you will have an on
stage death is quite strong
Geolocation
As stated previously, Garasumachi is a semi abandoned city. Think of it
like Shibuya if no one lived in it. What was once a bustling city full
of youth there to experience rock/punk culture is now empty except for a
few shops here and there.
Architecture
The streets of Garasumachi is filled with concert venues, boutiques,
music shops. The narrow alleyways are often flooded with wisps causing
the place to feel like a maze sometimes. The most notable place is an
underground club called “Pollux” where one of their brightest stars met
her end.
Genre: Action, Rhythm, Combat
Target Audience: The Target audience for this DLC is music
fans. Specifically fans of Visual Kei. Alice is a ghost designed for
this genre.
Theme
The theme of the character is death. Other than the genre being visual
kei which is the main inspiration, Alice herself dies on stage and
remains in the concert hall as a ghost. Her cuffs having chains on her
symbolize the fact that she cannot move on. Her skull on her waist was
something she has a fascination with when she was alive, it was also a
gift from her band on her birthday. They all symbolize death and the
feeling of unable to move on in some way.
Hierarchy
The Hierarchy of Garasumachi is similar to the rest of the game. The
Greater a musician you are, the better facilities you have access
to.
Transport
It takes 3 hours to get to Garasumachi by foot. You are better off
riding the train, despite the foggy station and the rusty railways.
It takes 30 minutes but be sure that you don’t stay on the train for
more that 5 minutes after leaving the station, Its not a guaranteed
that you’ll be seen again.
Project 1 - Concept Art
In the end the one game that I decide to work on is No Straight roads.
This is due to the stylish art style and the experimentation that I could
do with the characters. I wanted to flesh out their characters more
and the dynamics they would have with one another. I refined the
characters from their static from views to more dynamic 3/4
views.
Figure 1.0: Character Refinement 3/4 view
Variations
I tried 4 variations for each a character but ended up going for 2
charcaters whom I’ve named Nico and Alice. Nico in this case just has
different aspects to his design changed, as for Alice however I tried 4
different themes on her.
Figure 1.1: Nico Variations
The first being the default lightning, since she died by
electrocution when the light fell on her. The second was a card theme
rather a spade, the third was candy princess, though I feel like that
one specifically would be a skin. And the last one is a uniform, which
despite its punk aesthetic is quite common in v-kei fashion. I ended up
going with the first, because honestly, you can’t beat the
original.
Figure 1.2: Alice Variations
Figure 1.4: Alice's Rough colour variations and idle
Figure 1.4: Alice's Colour variations 2nd draft
Battle Arena
Figure 1.3: Battle Arena Concept art/Thumbnails
The arenas Are designed with the characters play style in mind and how
would they fight against the protagonists Mayday and Zuke. The cottage
would be a tutorial level with Nico introducing you to the new
mechanics in the DLC.
Alice’s concert hall inside of club Pollux would be where you’d
have to fight against the first boss in game. She sends ghosts after
the player and can shoot electricity from any angle, in order to
complete the level players have to disarm the electric barriers to
deal damage.
But beware she can send you back via sound waves of her guitar. Lastly
we have the theater’s battle where the players go inside the character
as the character themselves is the stage for battle. Players will have
to destroy the puppets in order to get to the electric boxes in order
to activate the transport mechanic and take the fight to the top.
Expression Sheet
Figure 1.6: Alice's Expression sheet
I gave her 6 expressions that showcase what her personality is like. She
was a very expressive person when she was alive and still continues to be.
Alice's ears express a lot and is a core part of her
character.
Weapons
Figure 1.7: Weapon's design
I had 2 ideas in mind going into this. The first was to highlight her
ability to manipulate electricity. and the other one was based on the
elements that made her a goat. Why a goat? Alice is a goat because it made
her look like a demon in someway. Goats are somewhat linked to evil and
sin and I felt like it would suit her ghost aspect a lot more. In a world
that is filled to the brim with weird and wacky characters, where you
could have screen heads, people that can grow as large as trees and cage
you in one, a virtual mermaid idol mech piloted by four kids, and whatever
DJ Subatomic supernova is, I felt like its not too out of the
circle.
Silhouettes studies and comparison
Figure 1.8: Silhouette studies of boss and minions
In her level design there are 3 kinds of ghosts that are obstacles that
stop you from getting to your goal. The first one are the blob ghosts.
They just block the players from getting to their destination. If you
defeat all the blob ghosts then the second type appears which are the bell
ghosts who appear not only to block the player but they also tell Alice
the player's location so she can strike them with lightning, unlike before
where the lightning strikes were random. The last type of ghost are sheet
ghosts, they are harder to defeat due to increase speed but there are
quite few of them. They also block the player's sight for 2 seconds. These
ghosts are Alice's friends after she died and keep her company, especially
the blob ghosts who are known to be friendly and act like puppies around
her.
Turn Arounds
Figure 1.9: Alice turn arounds_Default
Figure 2.0: Alice turn arounds_Jacket ver.
I was advised to give her a jacket to see how it would function by my
lecturer. Her design was initially very plain that being the so the jacket
was in place to improve the design. I also wanted her base design to stand
out so I gave her more elements to it. First I lightened up her skin tone
to make it more vibrant to match the game's over all vibe, next I gave her
the skull she wears on her waist, gave her a 4th ripped player to giver
her a more interesting silhouette than that of an upside-down flower and
to signify, yes, she is a ghost. I gave her the chain cuffs at the end of
her fish-net gloves once again to bring home the ghost motif but also to
symbolize that she is bound to the place she died for all eternity, or
until someone finds her stolen guitar, or exorcises her.
Feedback
General: The base is there, now you just have to make it interesting.
Personal: Take a look at the game and compare it to yours. You'll see the game is more vibrant in color.
Reflection
Findings
I found when creating the characters was that I can't do all three during this semester. And I learned a lot more about my favorite music genre more than anything this sem.
Observation
From what I saw most students were still putting together their character concepts during this time. I get that it was probably harder for them since some of them were taking 3 specializations, but I feel like the concepts could have been more better for a lot of students.
Experience
Working on this module this semester was honestly the most therapeutic thing I could get during the whole semester. I actually looked forward to classes this time around and I had the time to work on it. I loved working on this module and everything that comes with it. My only regret was not being able to finish the full concept for the dlc, due to working on the 3D model non-stop.
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