Week Two

This week has mainly been getting a finalised idea of what it is that I am going to create in Maya. I drew up some sketches of what I want to include in my final piece, and took a realistic look at the time scale and the amount I needed to create. I also finalised my storyboard and came up with a complete story as in the beginning I had slightly missed the need to leave my game. I had established that you would end up in a strange world and would have to work your way out as if you had found yourself inside a labyrinth although I hadn’t established the need. As Phil mentioned the game play may seem like to much of a preferable environment and 'why would anyone want to leave.' This was a point I had totally missed! To sort out this problem I established that in order to leave certain sections there would be tasks you would have to complete on a time based system, of course as the game offers an entirety of alternate options if the player does get stuck they do have the option to try an alternate route but offering bonus's and clues in the forms of maps may lead the game player to persist. More back to the point, the need to get out of the game is the fact that 'The Statues Graveyard', which is within the first level of the game is where you would end up if you did not leave in time. If the game an taks are not completed in time you will be cast in stone forever stuck, unable to leave.
Another aspect i have established is that there will be no gun/sword violence within it - for the sole reason that i feel it would be unappropriate for the asthetics of this idea. I would like the need to escape from creatures within the game to be the cause for fleeing and not retaliation as like the scene from 'Pan's Labyrinth.' This clip illustrates alot of i deas i have for this game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YD2PFF31E

After looking at all of my pre-vis work I decided that I was going to create a mock up of the introduction to my game, as if you had just started it for the first time and include the main aspects of my game theme. I’ve decided that there will be only one or two points at which the camera and environmental aspects will alter to reveal the theme of the entire game, but I need to decide the best way to this, as in the final thing it runs the risk of being more confusing than exciting.

What I intend to do, is using my given image, is have it as if it were real but then move and reveal that it was not the landscape but rather an image of a landscape set out to deceive you. From this hopefully the viewer or game player will be able to grasp the idea that not everything is as it seems in this game.

I also hope to be able to animate door to show the endless possibilities for the game. For instance I would like to be able to show it opening normally, and then opening by sliding down the wall and on to the floor, and then once re-opened reveals a concealed door.

Overall I want my game to be totally interactive but also very possible for the game player to take an entirely different route from another. If I had a group of people working on it with me and well as the time and the funds, I could see this game being totally different from most others and with the extra people, would enable it these almost endless possibilities. I guess as with most design work it comes down to, 'if I had......' and in this instance I don’t, so I’m going to have to try to illustrate what’s in my mind, onto paper - fingers crossed it works!!

I have been thinking about the 'narration' of the game, not in a literal sense but I feel there needs to be some way to add intrigues to certain parts of the game as the game player could feel lost and frustrated or may miss something intended to be seen, and so I have come up with this; an assortment of coloured spheres floating in the air with a glow coming from them. These can float from and to certain areas or hover over aspects that may be important to the game, they will not be visible for the entire game, and in fact the time at which you would probably see them most would be at the beginning when there are new things to learn. They would double up as almost the sidekick/friend, although they would be entirely VISUAL and nothing else.

I have also been designing my main character who is going to be around throughout the entire game. He is also the character that appears at the beginning of the game enticing the main character to follow....hence the journey begins. Below are my final 2D design. Looking at it now im very pleased although i had a horrible 'seen it beofre' moment, when i was thinking about 'Monsters Inc' i have to say now that i didnt copy it however similar it looks (how annoying!)

Name: DINNYWIG

Size: 50cm

Strength: 100x its own weight