Elements of game design ,level design 

level design as what i can tell takes a huge amount of planning 

 and researching is key of course to find something really interesting that fits the brief the easiest way to do it is to find something that already exists because imaging something and having to design the hole world around so that make sense is alot harder. when we have so many things our history has already not to mention our planet has a vast amount of amazing places natural and mad made some of the natural things in life could look fantastic in game an make an awesome level.

like the alpes one of the most amazing sights ive ever experienced being at the top of a massive snow covered mountain.  

for another form of example some of the amazing environment art in farcry 3 set of the Indian and Pacific Oceans the artwork looks amazing lots of beaches and foliage .so far what ive seen of the game look like the best parts of the levels and really helps the gamer feel like somewhere else i chose this reference because its a mass of realistic natural elements i think during environment design a strong scene would be a mix of both man made an organic  aranged in a way that lets the game play flow well.

ive noticed in allot of games depending on the type of game which i think is massively important to know when designing a level,  is that they use man made things like crates and little shacks for the players to hide behind and take cover an shoot back ,because its a first person shooter .as well looking aesthetically pleasing the environment designer when planning out a level will know what parts of the level are destruct able but just from the this image looks like some really cool environment work.

after the research has been done an all the concepting been done alot of the time they do mock ups of the level orthographically images design laying out where things need to be, then "white boxin " 

just really quick white boxes laying out the level in 3d so that you can get a better feel for your level because its all well an good looking at your level on paper actually scrolling through or walking through in a game engine get a real sense of the game and what the audience will see. in and out of every process there would be art director of some sort helping you push your work further all the time so hopefully u can get the results that you want in the end .

i think  environment design a well as being art is a very technical function skill that is a very high end subject that takes a huge amount of experience and deserves allot of respect. as high for me as architect just for different purposes and you would have to have a high understanding of what your producing an technical aspects of things like architecture layouts and how the level flow is , and where your trying to get to and achieve in that level or scene 

http://far-cry.ubi.com/fc-portal/en-US/home/index.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj8cbC2YnwU

http://jasonhalvorson.posterous.com/white-box-level-designing

war of the worlds

2005 movie

after finishing my concept i designed to watch the film and write a review of the war of the worlds  to see how my design might fit into the world me design being an organic blood harvesting tripod.

my opinion on the film may be abit bi est from being one of my favorite childhood films so im goin try to be open about the film, from the get go i enjoyed i think the way the characters were introduced instantly showed of there personalty which i think is important in this kind of film .the main character tom cruise instantly comes of as bit of wise ass but in charismatic way even threw some of the bad times in the film he still manged to be abit funny but as the films evolves i thing u get abit more of grasp of his personalty bit lazy bit realy does love his family and throw himself straight into danger without a second thought but i think maybe in the film they mad a little to smart an very level headed in his reactions to what was going on around him not just a panic craze for example when the tripods find him an the deluded stranger hes very good at sneaking about an he pulls out a mirror to distracted the alien and the way he new to grab grenede before the tripods took him .but i can see how this is a speilberg film an how it made the film alot more epic, apart from that i think tom cruise did a great job of acting an playing several diffrent emotion like a strong father who brakes down under presure an overcoming it an letting go. roby is obviusly anoyed  with his father about the divorce always acting abit of pratt almost an winding up his father by calling him by his first name but he also very carrying for his mother an sister ,but he has alot of fight in him always trying to join the fight an get revenge on the aliens after destroying some of there world . the daughter played by dakota fanning who i think did amazing job in the film is obviusly a mommy's girl an mabye abit spoilt with ensiety issuse but i think she did very well considering the situation i think dakota did a great job from a young age understanding the level of what what was goin on an being able to act around pretend dead bodies and death people blood an dust. i chose to write about the characters idivudly because i think its good to know an read characters and being able to show there traits an personalty through design work .

steven speilberg obviously a great director i realy enjoyed the way this film was shot making simple things look more epic with dynamic filming like 360 spins showing the chacter emotions an flying through house in an interesting way, which brings out the best thinks in the characters an i think his most creative scene was when the alein find them in the house an shooting the footage from intersting angles making the scene look allot more sneaky an more complex making it seem a few times that they were very close to being caugth.

normally when i watch films that are a while back an early twenty first century the cgi and special effects annoy me because i think my mind has bein ruined by awesome cgi like avater an transforms but i think the special effect were very good in this not just the cgi but the camera tricks an the way it was shot really pulled of i know its only done in 2005 but still think it was great obviously some good design work behind the scenes an aliens.

overall i would rate this film a 7 defiantly worth a watch 

war of the worlds project brief 

war of the worlds project our project is to design one of the war of the worlds tripods in own style so straight away i thought because of the last vehicle project i would go for something organic an i know i based my vehicle project on animals like bats so this time i wanted to designs something from organic plants so i went of an found some refence images that gave me a strong idea of shape and form.

  

 i really like the shapes but i wasn't a fan of the colour they looked to happy where as i wanted mine to be aggressive terrifying monster              

i think especially the head peice was strongly infulenced by plants but i dont think the face is good enough yet or scary enough i think it looks to generic so i went into more detail  but i try ed design the head after i designed  the humanoid foot soilder slash/pilot so they look like the same species#

i really think the humanoid helped push my design forward i think im ready for my orthographic images 

      an then i decide to do some quick sketches once i had my design nailed down did some little concepts  

finished my design that im happy with and ready to get my sculpting  on the go

Elements of game design part six : visual composition

William wu’s concept art on assains creed who I thought would be a great master to base my blog about visual composition because he seems to have an immense understanding of composition . the main thing that in these paintings he’s trying to convey is different weather . in the first painting called taking flight I thought was amazing not necessarily very hard composition or in depth in the in essence it’s a simple layout just a diagonal composition but if you silhouetted the character an the bird you would still have a very clear understanding of what was happening Connor the main character realizing his bird into flight but I think the little things in the image show what the artist was going for in the way that the trees bring the image forward an light bouncing of the inner side an behind the eagle reflecting Connor head to make it stand out .a quote from the art director “ the snow covers everything to is basic shapes. It makes it unique to compose a scene because all you see is silhouette, the plain surface. less is more on ac3 “I think the key words from that quote would be silhouette and less is more that’s the main reason I chose this artist because he doesn’t have to put in mass detail but has a clear composition and shape .

the second paint is one of the more classic painting of ac of Connor from a height looking down on a scene planning his attack the artist would have a good understanding of how the game plays an how strategically u need to be but the way the composition is awesome but what I think brings it to life is the backdrop an the minute simple details of the mist and the made made fires and the smoke coming up from the heat but again if u brake down the image very clear silhouette.

This image called white light , white heat which I think just from the title gives you instantly more knowledge into the image I think this painting show how much of a master concept artist William wu’s really is without having to go into to masses of detail it look very realistic an he dint even have to paint an of the faces because the speed thatches trying to convey and the white breath flowing out there faces showing lots of cold an exasperation from exercise an adrenaline and you can get all that just from the angle of the heat an how much witch I think is incredible also the mist covering people in the foreground of his chasers everything seems empty white but nothing is empty at the same time everything has information going through it almost looks like single point perspective going backwards from Connor foot.

In conclusion I think knowing your environments inspires your composition whether its big white trees making composition or damaged buildings going of into the distance. an knowing different reactions in the paint like speed blur and heat smoke fire mist