Francis Varley: Games Art 2024-25

 In this exercise I drew muscle groups in the body form memory, creating both a front and back. Ultimately, these were very rough and not entirely accurate: as this was from memory, gaps in my knowledge were shown and - looking at reference of muscle structure in the human body - I was able to see how to improve this diagram. From here I went about creating more detailed studies that attempted to show how the muscles weave and interlock throughout the body. In this exercise I found that this interlocking motion occurs much more frequently than I initially assumed; as such, I could identify how individual muscles "flowed" into other muscle groups, creating the wide curves that form the human body. This assisted me greatly in showing where and how the muscles interacted, particularly in poses that saw muscle bodies moved or rotated in a manner that I had not drawn in a studying manner before. By identifying the points in which the muscles connected, I could more easily identify...

 With designs for Microplastic enemy thumbnails done, I went back and refined my ideas for how the "Pellet" enemies may look. This is a part of my role as the 2D lead; providing the designs that my team members will select for adaptation into the final game. These designs work off the images produced by our director, adding more detail to them and altering specific forms whilst keeping the overall shape of the enemy the same. That is, these enemies - based off the "Pellet" designs - are largely spherical, yet I altered specific textures and details in the design to create a more visually unique enemy. As a group, we discussed how exactly such designs would be used in the game: we believe that our game will, with the camera being pulled back, have a largely simplistic style, and as such these more detailed designs may be used in loading screens or splash art, showing how the enemies look in a more detailed and close-up form. The initial Microplastic Pellet design, dr...

Group Feedback and Communication: As a group, we have been working cohesively to create the necessary pre-production assets for our project. Over the weeks of the project, we have been approaching our work and expectations in a professional manner, using a large group chat to communicate, with separate areas of this chat relevant to different aspects of the project. This has helped us to organise our work and show, clearly, where we stand between different aspects of our work. At a glance, we can see how much 2D art has been produced, our topics of research, and potential ideas for future developments. This has assisted us in knowing what each of us are working on. Additionally, the group chat allows for us to each give feedback on work, ensuring that produced assets continuously improve and that future goals are known. As the 2D lead, I have been receiving constant feedback, especially for thumbnail sketches and initial designs: this feedback has allowed me to narrow down avenues for ...

Presentation Reflection: I feel that I am, on the whole, pleased with how the presentation went and am happy with my contribution towards it, though feel that there is perhaps more I could have done - I feel that the writing I did do was fine enough for the presentation, though found myself worrying about the quantity of the writing I had produced. Peer feedback indicated that the writing I contributed to the presentation was enough, as the subject matter that I discussed was somewhat concise in form.  I feel that the presentation itself went very well, and - though nervous at the moment - felt confident in our pitch. I am very confident in our idea and believe strongly that we will be able to create it in the time we have for this project. I feel that our group works well together and that we have the abilities necessary to realize our idea: moving ahead, I will work to create more thumbnail sketches for the character, as well as the environment they sit within, and will create ap...

Presentation: Legal and Ethical Considerations: In our presentation, I have been given the task of curating our legal and ethical considerations. Much of this is opinion-based and based around our personal ideas for the game and its themes. As such, I have written the following:  -Our game will have a PEGI rating of 12. This is the age rating that will best fit our project. As such, our project will not contain excessive violence. -We don't want it to seem like characters are perfect people made imperfect by their mental health issues; these flaws are a part of their character, not a stain on it.  -We won't use copyrighted material in music, images or writing in our project. Everything we use in our project will be of our own creation.  -Our game studio and game name will be unique to differentiate our project from pre-existing media. -As we are publishing our game on Itch.io, our project will abide by Itch.io's terms of use. Character Ideation: My group has decided that ...

IMM Shapes: IMM - "Insert Multi Mesh" - shapes are additional Tools that can be drawn into a model, subtools that exist separately in a project and can be altered and sculpted in a manner similar to the primary Tool. There are a variety of different types of IMM, ranging from primitive shapes to industrial parts and humanoid meshes. Some IMM shapes - known as "IMM Curves" operate in a different manner, being drawn onto models in lines. The 3D form of the IMM is then constructed around this line. Dynamesh can be used to weld an IMM shape to a Tool. This can be used when an IMM is interacting with Tool geometry. Additionally, the "reverse dynamesh" operation can subtract from base shape. This cuts out matter from a model where the IMM intersects with the primary Tool. To do this, hold ALT when drawing in the IMM and then hold CTRL when activating the Dynamesh functionality. Zspheres: To access Zspheres, go into the Tool tab, Right Click "Simple Brush...

Target Audience considerations and project impact: For target audience considerations, we discussed that our game should be suitable for all audiences, with a fairly simplistic in-game style largely comprised of basic shapes. Though we still wanted our game to show locations like that of a human body, we did not want this to appear overtly gory or violent, instead abstractified in a cartoon manner based on real-world anatomy yet not graphic.  Additionally, we discussed the gameplay of our project in greater detail and decided that the game itself would aim for a more casual audience and would not have excessive difficulty or complexity, instead of focusing on the unique environment and theming it displays. As such, we want the game to appear visually intriguing and lean more heavily into the design elements of the levels, monsters and towers.    Developing Designs & Peer Feedback: With my preliminary research into Microplastics done, I went about creating a handful of...