Designing A Games World: Formative Submission - Year 1 Games Art (Ryan Cudworth)
Designing A Game World
By Ryan Cudworth
For this project, we have been given the task to design a game world. More specially we have been given two sets of prompts That will have to use together to help us create and design the environment for this assessment. For the first promises that we have been given a list of around five different environments in which we can choose to use for our assignment, And for the second we have been given Also five different cultural artefacts That will have to pick from and choose design details and shapes within them to help us design and crate environment. We are supposed to take these two different prompts and somehow figure out how to put them together in a way that would work. We have free range on which type of environment And artefacts we choose and how we decide to put it together.
Will have to create Around 100 different concept sketches just for the basic style and look for our environment. These concepts sketches are supposed to give us a general idea of what we want and also help us to develop new ideas taking on what we have to create much more solid ideas for the final product for this assignment. Will also have to go into and research the source material for this assignment, which will be The prom that will give to us Mainly researching what they are what they are used for and anything else that we can find of significant value for our assignment. Will also have to look into the cultural Side of everything mainly to do with the artefact that we have Chosen and what is used for and The place where it has originally came from, Which will hopefully give us more ideas into maybe that kind of style that we should go for for our environment. And also doing research into world building and logic looking into how we can expand the world for our environment and give meaning behind what we create it being more than just simple sketches we all need to be able to give character to the environment that we want to create.
My Choices
For the type of environment that had chosen to do for this assignment, I had decided on doing the interior of the Wights Tome. The reason for this is that the only do I feel more comfortable doing an interior instead of trying to model a whole outside of the building, I felt like I had more inspiration and ideas for a tomb setting. The photo creating enclosed and Claustrophobic Kind of interior covered with graves urns and skeletal remains really hit the sweet spot for me and the design for it. I believe I would be able to do really well. Not only that, but with it being tomb for Wight Kinda makes it feel like this is a boss area of sorts maybe fighting some undead creature Which also made it even more enticing to choose for this assignment. As the type of artefact that had chosen to do the assignment, I had decided to go for the Berber Silver Diadem from Southern Morocco. The reason I had chosen to go for this type of artefact not any of the others is mainly because of the design for this artefact. As soon as I saw that I instantly knew that it would work really well for the type of environment that I wanted to go for it’s large block bill if it’s deep grey metal Instantly gave me a full idea of how I wanted This environment to look. Not only that, but all the additional Add-ons and Shapes to the artefact also gave me a lot of inspiration for the environment and also gave me a lot to work with. Aside from how this artefact made me vision how I wanted my environment look I was also very interested in looking in and researching the cultural significance of this artefact and figure out more behind the culture and where it’s from.
Concepts Sketches
For my concept sketches, I had to create around 100 Different concept sketches, The reason for this is that when we go into the game art Franchise We won’t be surprised by the amount of work they will have to do but even having to do maybe more work and more concept sketches then what we have given for this assignment. This work is to help us be prepared for our next steps after university.
To start with for these concept sketches I wanted to try and combine the themes of a tomb and the artefact that I had chosen I tried my best to keep that in mind with every time I sketch something with for my concepts. Making sure that I really try and embrace the theme of the environment and the style in which the artefact gives me to incorporate into the design. Most of my sketches, you can see that I’ve used a lot of circles as a type of secondary shape within most of the designs. Since a lot of small circles that help to fill up and decorate the design of the artefact.
Some of my concert sketches that I had drawn were thinking about how a certain object would look for this environment and how maybe I could style it differently wow some other design that I had created would you get the general layout for this environment. With me drawing out some sketches of different layouts for this environment thinking about how I would place stuff where what the shape of the room could be and any other little details that may have popped into my head wow drawing. Do you think that maybe some of the outside might be a little bit too big for this project and will take a lot of time to design and fill up But that is the reason why this is to get out my general ideas and see what would work and what wouldn’t work for this assignment.
Overall, I think I’m very happy with the concept sketches that I have managed to produce for my first formative submission for this assignment. I do you think there are some aspects of the concepts that I could’ve improved the partner and maybe I could’ve drawn a lot more different designs and variations And try to better incorporate the artefact into the designs for some of my sketchers. But overall, I believe that for a My first set of concepts sketches for this assignment. I think that I have landed in a comfortable position where I have been able to get across what I’ve wanted my Environment to look like also left plenty of room for me to expand upon and really dive deep into how I want this assignment to look.
Assignment Research
I’ll now be going into researching what I have been given for this assignment looking into any sort of information that would help me design or create this environment. What kind of information I can pull from different sources that I might be able to use And also making sure that I don’t accidentally make anything that could be harmful or discriminatory to any sort of community or group of people, Especially when it comes to doing research for this artefact that I’ve been given since it directly comes from the community of people who would probably not be very pleased if I were to miss use or even accidentally Insult or hurt them with any designs that I create for this assignment.
Just out with I’ll be Doing some research into the source material that I have been given for this assignment, Which will be the environment that I have been given and also the artefact that I had chosen. To start with as I have said before for the environment that I am chosen for this project I decided to go with the interior of wights tome, And for the artefact, I have chosen to go with the Berber silver diadem from Southern Morocco. First I looked into some tombs read up about them. For those who don’t know what tunes are mainly underground structures that are off variating sizes, That I used to house the bodies of the disease, The amount of bodies within a tomb depends on varying factors and what kind of tomb it is. Right well known tunes are those that are within Egypt that has housed The dead remains of Egyptian royalty. With many of them being discovered, but still some that are thought to still be hidden. Some tunes are known to have a large and confusing layouts for the main reason to confuse and diverge grave robbers who would try and steal from the dead. Tombs have become a very staple part of Modern communities while it is no longer a common for people to create tombs as elaborate as they did back in the past, The idea of tomb still exist within med such as movies, books and games with the confusing layout and theoretical traps it makes a very intriguing and interesting environment that many people to this day wish to explore, Which makes it a perfect environment to choose for my environment. For the next part, I’ll be looking into Wights. Wights are known as either sentient being or creature, That is usually depicted as an undead or wraith-like monster within most modern depictions of this creature. These creatures are usually used within fantasy settings like within games books or even the very popular board game DND. They are usually use for their scary nature and interesting law behind them. Because of this, I believe that this makes my environment a little bit more interesting, Since it’s not just a typical monster like a vampire or werewolf, something more interesting can be explored in different ways. And the fact that an being like this is used in term with the setting of a tomb makes it much more interesting and opens a lot more doors for this assignment. Thirdly, I’ll be going onto and researching the Berber silver Diadem. This artefact is a very rare and very old piece of jewellery from southern Morocco. It is worn as a headpiece That typically features silver plaques that’s Commonly within the shape of three Large doors side-by-side to each other. It is Also typically adorned with 12 coin like adornments that hang from the bottom of the headpiece, and they also decorated with different adornments And have even different shapes carved into them. From looking at different versions of this antique, it seems that they can come in wild range of different shapes with different adornments all over it but as long as it keeps the shape of the three doors You can still be class as a Berber silver Diadem. By doing all this research on these different parts of this assignment I have definitely gained a lot of information and ideas from doing and looking at all the different research and images. I’ll definitely be taking what I have learned from my research and try to incorporate it into my own work.
From my next piece of research, I’ll be going into the cultural significance, Within the two were prompt that I’ve been given for this assignment. Looking into any cultural significance kind of traditions around the areas of tombs, wights, Berber silver diadem and southern Morocco. Mainly be looking at errors in which these concepts into twine with Southern Morocco, Since my artefact is directly from there, I think it would be best to See if any of the other things can correlate with that location and any significant importance that may help me with this . To start off with, I’ll be looking into tomb, See if there’s anything like it within Southern Morocco. A matter of fact within southern Morocco It seems that there are many different tombs within its land. Some of these tombs include Iron Age tombs, pre-Islamic tombs and also Saadian Tombs. All these tunes date back to around the 15th century and most of them are made out of Carrara marble from Italy. These tombs hold special significance within the community of Southern Morocco, They were used to hold the remains of the Sultans ancestors and we also use for a great way to show off ones great wealth and power use as a symbol to all. It seems that tombs are very important for the culture of Southern Morocco so I have to be very careful when depicting similar to it so not to offend anyone. For the next part, I was going to look at if there was anything particular within the round of wights The culture of Morocco, But sadly, I wasn’t able to really find anything but instead, I had seen how the people view and feel about the dead and spirits and all that. It seems that Morocco is very spiritual community of people, They respect the dead and feel highly about them. I had even looked at the ritual in which when a person dies What they do with the body after. From what I have seen, they wrapped the body in a white wraps and then perform ritual chants to to the body. When burying the deceased, they make sure that the body is facing towards Mecca, which is one of the holiest Muslim cities. What is the people will gift the body protection objects, Placing them around the grave since they believe that angels would like them and will come and protect the body of the cease. From looking at all this, it is very clear that the dead are very important for people within southern Morocco, I’ll definitely have to make sure that I tread lightly when Designing my environment, Since it will be located with a tomb, which is where many dead bodies are laid to rest. Overall, I’ll definitely get really taking consideration how I handle this project and make sure that I don’t do anything offensive towards any kind of person or group. Next on my research, I’ll be looking at the cultural significance behind the Berber Silver Diadem. But what I’ve seen this art event is very important and has significant value within southern Morocco. It is a headwear that is used and worn for weddings specifically those for royal weddings, whether they be a queen, king or an emperor. It is held as a great symbol of royalty within southern Morocco and is highly valuable. Also from doing some research into this diagram it is also seems that not only is it just a single item born by someone on their wedding day it is a full set of jewellery that is worn, Like items like bracelets, jewelleries rings all sorts and I worn for the special occasion. Within my research, I was Unable to find anything that links this art act to any sort of specific death or tomb, which kind of connection between the item and my theme for my environment, Allow me to explore an avenue of this being maybe a tomb for someone of royal heritage and maybe I could even design some sort of jewellery or even another piece of headwear that while closely looks like the diagram will have clear distinctions between it so not to get them mixed up or offend anyone.
All the information that I have gathered for the cultural significance between some of the themes within this project that I have chosen I definitely have a much more clear idea of what I want to do for my environment. I am thinking of underground tomb of some sort of royalty that has long past maybe on their wedding day to help create the connection between the day and what it’s used for, Incorporate some sort of fight or show an arena where a boss would show up where the character would have to fight the undead remains of this deceased royalty. This is just a quick idea of some thoughts I have from just doing my research so far. I may come up with something better but for now this is kind of the area that I’ll be aiming for this project.
And finally, for my final piece of research for this formative submission, I’ll be looking into doing some world building and logic research. To start off with, I’ll be going into how to do the process of worldbuilding and logic when it comes to creating something for a game. For world building the first step is to actually Think about the environment, Since it’s the most largest thing about the world with a game since that is where the player will be it is best to think what kind of environment you want for your game purposes it will have towards the character and the story, And also serve to help immersed character into your game. If I were to think of for my environment what I would want I know that I’m choosing to do the interior book too think about maybe the surrounding area around I could either go in two directions something very full of life to contradict the tomb or instead go for a dead and dark environment That would help to reason the tomb and maybe make it more terrifying in comparison. And I’m thinking about the environment within the tomb. I’ll probably go for something very dark secluded and maybe a bit claustrophobic. I think about the materials that we use for the environment any sort of shape design that may better to fit in with the style that I’m going for and help progress the story that I am trying to betray. After the second part of world building is different about the inhabitants within the game, Since that will be one of the main things that the character will be interacting with and getting their main missions from. Inhabitants with in the main reason why story progresses. My thoughts I think it’s very obvious. What kind of inhabitants would be down with a tomb since it’s not only just a tomb? It is called the wright tomb I’ll definitely have some characters that are in human maybe undead beings whether they are enemies or maybe some friends that you could find down there, I’ll have to figure out later on. The next part for Building a world for a game is to think about the culture within it. Buy this I mean how In certain parts, do people live their lives? Do they celebrate anything, Do they have King, Queen or do they live in without control. This will give my environment more life into it Showing that there’s some sort of history and tradition to where it is. Of course this will be difficult since I’m doing the interior of a tomb, but I could probably use Either objects or Scriptures that could explain these cultures and I could even show how these certain people celebrate or mourn the death of their loved ones. This will be a very important thing. I’ll have to think about and try to include within my environment if I wanted to really stand out and show my thoughts for this project. After this, I’ll need to think of more stuff like how the environment will look how that represents who built it and for what reasons obviously this is for the dead but what kind of dead people are buried within the tomb. I need to make sure that I refine go over and revaluate all the work that I have made and make sure that it works with what I am going for. These steps will help me show others what kind of world? I’m trying to build for this environment. I don’t want people to just look at my environment and be like oh that’s a cool environment. I want to really see it and be like oh look at those interesting details. Maybe these people are like this or celebrate this I want them to think more about the world that could be behind this tomb. I want to see more of this hypothetical game since that is the main focus and reason for even doing this. In conclusion definitely taking these facts and steps when creating my environment. Try my best to incorporate them and make sure that I make the best environment that I can with a lot of world building incorporated into it. And finally, I’ll be talking about the I’ll be able to incorporate into my environment and what steps I need to do that. To start off with I need to get a clear idea what kind of law I want to portray with my environment. I need to focus on the core idea that this whole place will focus around. Since this is placed within a tumour, I would suspect that the Lord would be surrounded someone’s death Probably someone of high importance so probably some sort of royalty figure who has either died a mysteriously long ago or has some unfinished business that they want to complete. After doing that, the next step is to dive into some research and find inspiration for the core idea. Doing research for something like this is very important since you need to know how you should do it and however other people have done it before. Knowing that will be much more beneficial to me as I develop this environment. I need to look at maybe some murder mystery novels or something in the same vein royalty unit how they betrayed themselves any kind of issues that they would have. And also looking to research this whether there are any games that have the same ideas for a another piece of lore within their game. After doing the research, I’ll need to then develop the lore and the world that is within. Need to think about how this law will affect an interact with the environment outside of everything. By doing this, I will be able to Make sure that within this world this lore doesn’t majorly affect anything but also what is able to help fit into the story and the main mission of this game. And finally, after doing all that next steps are just to go back over refine and have people look over my work and see whether I can find anything else that I can add into it remove and see different perspectives That could give me new ideas and see things that I couldn’t see before. It is always good to go over and find your work so that Any mistakes that you have made you can fix or change in time so it doesn’t get too jumbled up and mixed into your work, So that will be 10 times more difficult to change it later on. And for getting other people to look over your work it just so that you can get a third set of eyes what you doing, Which will be very much more beneficial to you since Another person’s perspective on something you’ve created can help you develop and learn more seeing things you might’ve never seen before without their help.
In conclusion, I think looking over and researching how to create a world for a game and incorporate law within the same game was very beneficial for my thought process, Since I never really considered about incorporating stuff outside of my environment and thinking about who lives within it and what kind of story would be connected to this tomb. By doing this research, I have gained an understanding that these are important parts for my assignment and developing environment. These are the backbones in which holds my environment together which allows me to fully flush out my ideas and also get ideas for how I want it all to look.
This is some really well thought out work, I really like the vibe you're aiming to convey, and how well you've gotten it across in your thumbnail sketches. You've done some great research and world-building too, considering many different factors that add depth to your assignment, and laid it out in a concise, informative way.
ReplyDeleteIn future, consider trying to break up your sections of text with associated imagery, especially when it comes to research and word building influences. Keep up the great work!
I like the detailing of the urns as it reminds me of the diadem quite a bit, maybe you could use that kind of ornamental element on the walls of the tomb. Also, this was quite difficult to read as it doesn't have many paragraph breaks but you've clearly done a lot of research into this.
ReplyDeleteThe minimallist-esque style really does a good job of showing unique shape and form in some of the thumbnails, I like some of the interior drawings at an isometric perspective, I think more of this and other interesting perspectives would be cool to see
ReplyDeleteThis thumbnailing work is fantastic, I never thought about drawing in the way you did. Consider breaking up your paragraphs a little more next time, maybe using images from your research.
ReplyDeleteGreat start to your design concepts! I really like how you have done a lot of iterations to each concepts that you have created, it really portrays to how you incorporate your themes in your designs. However, it would be great to see some images/mood boards that relates to your research and theme. Overall, good job!
ReplyDeleteYou really added so much detail. I would recommend breaking up your text, it's overwhelming to view and it would be easier to digest for the reader. Maybe some mood boards and what colour would you use for your environment?
ReplyDelete