New Art Style For Alien vs Pirates MMORPG

26/03/2015

Due to my game now being changed to a mmorpg i need to rethink about art styles so it will suit my new game design. The art style I originally decided for my story driven game was Assassins Creed Black Flag with a mix of Chivalry Medieval Warfare. However now my game has changed to a mmorpg I am going to change this because I feel my first art style will not suit a mmorpg. The following are art styles I have assessed.

Guild Wars 2

 Firstly I explored Guild wars 2 art style, I would say this art style is semi-realistic this is when games may want to look realistic, but they don’t take place in a realistic setting. Or maybe they want to use more colour. The semi-realistic style captures these environments. They tend to be fantasy oriented titles. I really like the style of guild wars 2 and I am considering using this art style.

World Of Warcraft

 Secondly I research the art style of World Of Warcraft, the style used here is cartoony. This style goes in the opposite direction of realistic, The style is usually colourful and over the top. This style is prevalent in flash games, handheld games, and most Nintendo games, but there are other obvious examples as well.

Tera 

Tera was the third game art style I explored, this art style again is semi-realistic. It seems to have a more bright colourful pallet than Guild Wars 2, although there is still some similarities.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

 Finally I examined FF XIV art style, again this is a semi-realistic art style. A lot of recent and new mmorpg seem to be heading down the route of semi-realistic.

From exploring and researching the above art styles I have come to the concluion of creating my design around semi-realistic, I will be following in the footsteps of Guild Wars 2 however I want my game to have a darker colour pallet and be similer to the mmorpg Age Of Conan Unchained. I think doing this will make my art style suit the theme of the game, it will also aim my game at a older audience I am currently aiming for a audience of 16+. An example of Age Of Conans art style is below.

Game Change

24/03/2015

Before today I was developing a story driven first person game. However today I have been considering a mmorpg game similar to WOW, Guild wars 2, Tera and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. The reason behind this is because by changing my design to a mmorpg it will be more appealing to a wider audience. Also many mmorpg's are based around fantasy which can allow me to push my characters out of the realistic box, for example many fantasy mmorpgs have a class or profession which provide the players character magical power. Due to my game being set in the early 18th century, I knew that witch craft, black magic and voodoo was very popular at this date in time, so I thought instead of mages, priests etc. they would be replaced with witch craft, voodoo and black magic however I will need to create more suitable names for the professions. I will also have to design several classes for each race, humans/pirates and aliens. I think by doing this it will give me a wide range of designs to take into a 3d sculpt.

I will be exploring mmorpgs classes and professions to see if I could create a twist on them and implement them into my game. I will be exploring the classes and professions of the following games.

World Of Warcraft
Guild Wars 2
Tera
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
and others i can find smiler to the above.

Game Research

Pirate Games

The following titles are games i have explored so i can get a better understanding about how other games have portrayed pirates. I will be looking for key areas such as; speech, movement, clothes. The reason why i am looking at the areas listed is because by doing this i will be able to bring my pirate to life by applying them key areas to my design. The game titles i have looked at are; Risen 2: Dark Waters, Assassins Creed Black Flag and Ravens Cry.

Firstly Risen 2: Dark Waters, to gather research i watched a few cut scenes from the game. The voice acting in this game was rather poor, so i wouldn't want to implement this into my design. Again the characters movement in this game wasn't great either, it seemed very basic, it didn't make me believe i was watching a pirate game. However the clothes design was very pirate like, i will be gathering reference materiel from this game for my design on clothes.

Secondly i researched Assassins Creed Black Flag, for my research i watched cut scenes from the game. The speech in this game was done very well, the voices suited all the characters, I will come back to this game if or when i need to show how my character design would talk/sound. Movement in this games cut scenes was all done to a high standard the main characters all had there own unique movement, some would have a heavy sway where others would stand tall and strong, i like this as it shows the characters as having there own personality without even speaking, i will come back to this game if or when i need to design how my characters movement would be. Finally the clothes were also perfect for what i am looking for, they suit all the character design and they also fit the time period very well.

The final game i gathered research from for the above key areas was Ravens Cry, the speech in the game was okay but i don't think i will be referring back to this game when or if i need speech for my design. The characters in this game had there own unique movement again, i personally liked the way the playable character walked in the cut scenes because he had this walk which was comparable to him saying "I'm a bad ass, fear me" which i guess is what most pirates wanted, to be feared. Finally the clothes, they again fit perfect for what i am looking for and i will be referring back to this game when required.

Other games i may look at are:

Age Of Pirates Series
Galleon 

Pirates of the Burning Sea

Sid Meir's Pirates.

Quick Pirate Sketch's

19/03/2015

Today i have completed a few of my my pirate sketch's on Photoshop, i wanted to use Photoshop as i can create my initial ideas much faster than i can on paper. To begin, i used a ready made image and i filled it with a dark grey base colour. The reason why i did this is because it makes my initial idea process much quicker, as i get further in the development stages i will be drawing the pirate fully myself. Secondly i started to get some quick reference images so i could make my ideas realistic the images below were used for reference.

The reason why i chose the above images for my reference is because i felt like there was enough detail and they represented pirates accurately. As i continue to develop my pirate character i will continue to gather more reference so i can make my design fit the time period. Below are my initial ideas.

Gathering Art For Pirates

12/03/2015

As pirates are one of my main assets i will creating, i will make sure i have a dense amount of concepts so i am able to create a be-livable and life like pirate. To do this i will gathering concept work, i will also be researching famouse pirates to see how they lived and surived a few of the pirataes i have found so far are: Black Beard, Hayreddin "Redbeard" Barbarossa, Benjamin Hornigold, Jean Lafitte and Francois l'Olonnais. The following are images i have currently found.

Infected Humans

12/03/2015

I will also be exploring many types of infected humans either zombies, aliens or something similar. From the information i find i will be creating my own infected human design around the years of the early 18th century. I will also be doing this using photoshop, i will also use a picture of myself to show how the infection spreads across the human face. Below are a few examples i have currently found.

Gathering Art For Aliens

12/03/2015

The following are a small amount of alien or sci-fi creatures i have currently found today. I want my alien to look unique, which is why i will be inspecting different types of aliens and sci-fi creatures. I think by doing this i will give my self more of a opportunity to create a very exclusive alien.

The images here are from games and movies such as District 9, Dead Space and Resistance fall of man. These are just a few games and movies i will be exploring.

Games To Research

12/03/2015

The Following is a list of pirate themed games which are based of pirates, the reason i will be looking into these games is because i want to get a better understand of how to portray a pirates lifestyle.

Risen 2: Dark Waters

Monkey Island Series

Sid Meir's Pirates

Assassins Creed Black Flag

Age Of Pirates Series

Galleon 

Pirates of the Burning Sea

Ravens Cry

I will also explore concept art for the above games so i can collect research for my own pirate development.

The second set of games i will explore are alien themed games, i want to explore the games to see how the aliens are shown for example how they stand, move, possibly talk etc. I think this will help me in my development stages. 

Resistance Series

Alien

Dead Space

Crysis Series

Half Life

Starship Troopers (Video Game)

Doom Series

Planet Explorers 

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Again i will collect concept art to use in my development work. By exploring the pirate and alien themed games, it will give me plenty of information, which i will be able to use to develop my assets perfectly.

Exploring Art Styles

Art Styles

12/03/2015

I have taken a look at different games, each have different art styles and look completely different from one another. The reason why I did this is because before I set out on sketching and creating pieces of work I want know what art style to follow also to I'm creating a story driven game so my art style must represent this. The following are games Ive looked at.

 

The first art style I explored was Crysis 3, the most realistic art style out of the games i looked at. I am currently considering this style because i want my game to be taken serious. With this art style my audience will understand thus making them more interested in the storyline.

The second art style i explored was the style of Battlefield Heroes, a 2009 third-person shooter action video game developed by DICE initially, now developed by Easy Studios. The game has a unique art style its very cartoon like, however still looks appealing. I think this art style would be perfect if i didn't want my game to be taken seriously and was also a arcade shooter.

 

The third game i explored was a mobile game called Blitz Brigade, this game was inspired by Battlefield Heroes however is a first person shooter. The style is simple and the colours are fairly simple. Again i would consider this art style if i didn't want to create a serious game.

Fourthly, i explored Assassins Creed Black Flags art style. Black Flag is a historical fiction action-adventure open world stealth game, the style of Black Flag is much more realistic than Blitz and Heroes, i think black flags environments style would fit my game perfectly due to my game being set at the same time period (Early 18th Century). I am currently considering this art style.

I also explored Chivalry Medieval Warfare's art style, a first person melee game. I really like the art style used here, i think the style in this game would suit mine due to the realistic approach taken again, also i think the combat used in this game would also work very well in my game.

Finally i took a look at Dirty Bombs art style currently still in devlopment and closed betas weekends available now and again. However the art style is in the middle of what i am looking for. It can look nice however it looks alot like the Source engine which isnt realistic looking for me. I will not be considering this ary style.

Final thoughts

After exploring the above games i have found that i want to use a realistic art style, i will be aiming to achive a mixture of Black Flag and Medival Warfare. The reason i have chosen these two games is because i feel like they best suit what i am currently aiming also i think i will be able to achive the quality needed for the two art styles. If i was to try and match Crysis 3 art style i think this would be a step to far for me as the 3d models and enivronment are of a high quality.