Ned Bunsem Modelled

After taking a break and lowering the weapons polycount i returned back and started to finish the model of Ned Bunsem by completing the modelling of his arm and hand and then added the glasses after mirroring the model of Neds body as most of his shape and body is symmetrical where as his hair and the freckles on his right cheek are not but i will be adding them through the texture process. I think looking back at this model there is room for improvement, just like anything else but i feel that where i am at it and comparing it to my previous model this model shows my modelling skills have improved to where the model is much smoother and the methods of coming up with a model such as Ned as i learned to keep any figure modelling in a T-pose and to work from a cube and extract into the shape you are working with. Considering the amount of faces used in the model my thoughts are at a stage where i am confident in the stage at which the model is currently at but feel that their is an improvement that can be made where i could lose faces and once again i believe that working at the scale i am currently at is why i am trying to go into much detail with the modelling of the character and as this model is aimed at IOS and Android devices which had been reminded to me from one of the feedback i received, then perhaps the need for a lower amount of faces is expected and i should lower the faces but when doing so i came across many faults in the shape of the model and when removing certain edge loops that they will become a problem once animating so i had decided that i will try to keep the model at the current stage where i do believe it is at a level which acceptable for an IOS and Android platform.

Weapon Polycount Lowering

As mentioned in the previous blogpost i had gone overboard with my polycount which is evidently shown in the above video and i had planned to go back and model the weapon to where it shows the design of the weapon and having a better polycount. So i had started with the current high poly model and started to remove unnecessary edge loops to lower the faces and in the process retain the weapon shape to where it is visually similar to the design and is recognised by that fact and not needing a second glance. As you can see in the video below the amount of faces has been lowered by near half of what it had been and still retains the shape and look of the design so i am happy with the stage at which it is at however i still feel i could lower the faces more as i am looking at the weapon at a large scale where as when it come to being used the weapon will be a much smaller size, a size can get away with a smooth shape but another factor is that i need to finish off the Ned model as well as the other but i feel the use of the weapon at the end of the projects is in a pose so lingering on the model is not necessary for now.

Modelling the Weapon and Character (Ned Bunsem)

With my role covering the character and concept art side of the project i had done much of the concept art and the designs and ideas for the characters which the next step of my deliverable was to produce a 3D model of the character and have him rigged and animated. So rather than jump into the deep end of modelling a full character, i decided that since it had been a few months since my last use of Maya that i should model something quickly and simple to reacquaint myself with tools and modelling. So i chose to model the weapon which was simple in it's design and could serve a purpose in posing the character so there is a use later on. I kept the model close to the design and i believe that perhaps in doing that i had gone overboard with the polycount and which is why i will have to go back into the model and lower the polycount to where the model retains what it is trying to show but also keeping the polycount as low as possible.

After the weapon model i was ready to take on a much more of detailed model coming through the modelling of the main character. I tend to start a modellign process by starting with a cube and then extruding to the design however i tried a new process in which you use a plane and mould that plane to the design, this process had been one which i had seen Chris do. But when i had tried the same method i couldn't get the process right as i ended up starting with the plane but once i tried to mould the shape of the design i wasn't able to form the shape correctly and rather than carry on and refer back to my comfortable method as this will allow my pace of modelling to be much quicker and i feel that the plane method will be best suited for a simpler model such as the weapon. Once i had gotten the modelling process underway i had confidently been able to model the shape of the character from head to toe and have come upto the modelling of the arm. Throughout the modelling of the character the design was rounded but simple so i had to keep the smooth round look for the model going for all the areas but i had come across problems where the model would have uneven edges and wouldn't be smooth. So i started using a method in which i could smooth the model then remove those additional edges and vertices so the polycount would stay the same and through that smooth tool i could maintain a smooth and rounded looking model without any additional edges. With that in mind my next process is to finish off the model and then work on the texture.

Canadian Mountains

Ive had the idea looking at some of the desserts I researched how they represent mountains quite well, So thought it would be a good idea to look at some beautiful land crape pictures of the Rocky Mountains in the hope of gaining influences. As you can tell from just looking at the images the potential development for the idea of having ice cream to represent these features. Theres also plenty of ways in which we can take this idea and develop it to include interesting obstacles in the game level which you have to avoid. Maybe having to make your way through the mountains jumping from ledge to ledge, or with the potential idea of you been able to eat your way through the ice cream. maybe incorporating some kind of avalanche and snow falling off which you have to avoid, just adding extra depth to the gameplay.

Game Update

Me and Ifraz met up today and discussed some potential ideas in which direction we should take the game. We talked about the gameplay and the interface of the iPad and the controls, swell as some further ideas on the enemies.


Ned Bunsen Gameplay

Moving on towards Ned, we have provided him hopefully with very simple controllers for the casual market. Obviously the way in which the character moves, were thinking of just having him do a steady walk, cause after all he is a fat out of shape character, so he won't be able to run but not to slow. He can jump, just enough for him to be able to dodge attacks from cockroaches, and were thinking of having him been able to duck but were not finalised on that idea yet. For the conrol pad where thinking of having a slider in the bottom left hand of the screen, which will slide to one side depending on the direction you want the character to move in, As well as having a jump button which will on the bottom left. One of the main features of gameplay in which is designed to be compatible with the iPad touch screed devices. When ned the main character shoots we want to have it so you flick the gun in a certain direction which will shoot at the enemies, and the harder you flick the faster the shot will be. This feature will kind of make it into more of a action packed frenzy game. add a lot more excitement value. We have also decided that Ned can shoot backwards aswell, and in many directions very fluently and fast as we are planning on including quite a few enemies within 1 screen however we want to get the balance right so we don't completly ruin the landscape and with the game been playable on iPad the size of the screen is something we really have to consider. Another special abilility is that incase you run out of ammo or you just want to use this as a weapon you have the ability to fart which works the same as the shooting motion you just flick towards the characters however this doesn't kill them, it only numbs them, so if you wanted you could fart then switch to gun and shoot, it will only keep the enemies numb for around 5 seconds. Were thinking of having a button on the tool left maybe which you can switch between powers, also the farts are unlimited however we like the idea that you have to shake the iPad which will fill up then you fart. which will release 3 flicks before you have to shake again.

Enemies Gameplay

We've decided to come up with another character to the game which will be flys which Ifraz will be designing, to add to the Cockroaches. The flys will not be at floor level and be in the sky or on the landscape, however when they see the player they will react and come towards the character. Thats when this gameplay feature comes into action which we have previously mentioned. Were thinking no more than 5 enemies on the screen at once. The idea of the flys is that if they touch ned you loose a hit point, were not decided on how many hit points your allowed as I think that should wait till we test the difficulty of the level. The cockroaches will be armed with a gun swell. and they will fire at you which you can avoid by jumping. If the gun shot hits you were thinking of instant death, as the gun they have will be some kind of poison as there involvement in the story is there trying to poison the food. They will walk in a cycle like guards and when they see you they attack. Also you have to shoot the cockroaches in the front as the harden shell well protect them from your fire.

Weaponry
Whilst were pretty much decided on Neds gun were not allowing you unlimited ammo, and were making the player have to refill by when you go past a checkpoint you will be back to full ammo, similar to a refill station, or maybe not a checkpoint, depends on level design. The other idea was checkpoint at end of every dish. Depending on what part of the level you are, for example Canada is a desert level, so the gun will be firing potentially a chocolate sauce, or cream. we haven't decided on this yet. Then for the main meal which is in America a tomato ketchup gun. And in Mexico were thinking of a kind of salsa sauce.

Heres a quick sketch I did of what to potential user face for the game could be.

Theres still a lot we need to plan, but for this session we came up with a lot of potential ideas to develop. Theres still areas we need to look into such as health bars, story, Combo System and the genre.

Temple Run

A game I have been playing a lot recently is Temple Run which is available on the iPad, which is the market where heading towards in having the game been able to be played on this device, so I thought it would be a good source of research. Firstly the game has been so successful and has already gone viral and there are even parody videos on Youtube.

A reason for This is game is so simple to play, there are very little controls to master, and these effectively work well with the iPads touch screen and tilt, such to the impact that I don't think this game would be half as successful been played on a video games controller.The way in which you swipe your finger up to jump and swipe left to turn left at a controller allows a more fluent gameplay and feels like you are in more control as your doing the movements with your hand instead of just pressing a button. What I really like about Temple Run is the fact there is no ending. It is designed so in theory you can play forever in a continuous cycle. There is no finale which I think is great, normally when people complete a game they tend to never revisit. But with the high score gameplay I found myself playing this game a lot trying to improve on my score and outperform my friends scores which can be uploaded onto the servers for all to view. Aswell as you are able to buy new characters and new powers which keeps you playing to unlock these assets so you can improve on your score. It just adds extra gameplay. And the way they try to get you to like the game on Facebook, is a great tactic to use as it gets people on Facebook informed about the game through there friends liking the game.

Towards thinking about our game through playing Temple run there are a few ideas I'm thinking about. Instead of it been a standard side scrolling plat former we should have some kind of Highscore gameplay, however to this point I'm not sure at what exactly, whether that be quickest time or combo points. The other thought I have had is that to get a bit of attention, Im thinking that the players have to like the page on Facebook to get a new weapon or costume or something along those lines.

Character Poses

Now that i had done the colour variations of all characters and the weapon and we had chosen the colours of these designs i was able to form the whole of these areas together and show what could happen in the form of concept art. So i began each design by quickly sketching up what the scene what entail to which would then be redone in a more clearer and clean visual. From that instance i will be able to add the basic colour layout of all the area of the scene and then finally add the lighting to the scene as well as the shading and shadows. Also in the final scenes with the lighting i added the background shade to give a sign of th edirection of light but also this can be changed into the food landmarks as the backdrop.

In the above three stages of the scene, i had done a design showing the main character in Ned Bunsem attacking the mini boss/ obstacle the cockroach of the level with his water gun weapon which has tomato sauce as it's ammo to which when hit onto the enemy it covers the enemy and makes them stuck in a shell of sauce. That is what i am trying to show through this design that Ned is using his weapon in spraying the cockroach and trapping the cockroach to prevent any more damage to Ned's food landmarks.

In the above three stages of the scene, i had done a design showing the main character in Ned Bunsem attacking the main boss of the game the rat boss with his water gun weapon, shooting the tomato sauce at the oncoming rat boss who is able to not be stopped by the sauce and this is where the gamer would have to work his way through defeating the enemy.

In the above three stages of the scene, i had done a design showing the main enemy character in the rat boss posing on what would have been the Eiffel 'cheese string' Tower portion of one of the levels but as we chose to do another level i thought that doing a quick pose concept art would help in showing what could have been as we mentioned doing food landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower as an upside down cheese string and so i felt i should quickly do a design of what it would have looked like.

In the above three stages of the scene, i had done a design showing the main character in Ned Bunsem attacking the cockroach mini bosses when his ammo is all out and his attack comes in the form of realeasing gas through burping and farting which we felt worked and limited the weapon to ammo and when the gamer is all out he is able to burp and fart to knock out or cause the enemy to become dizzy for a moment allowing the gamer to get past.

Main Enemy Characters, Cockroach Mini Bosses - Colour Variations

Once i had done with the cockroach turnaround design i started with the colour combinations by looking back at the research and found that the shade of the colours used for the cockroach are what distinguish the cockroach from other insects and so i began to use very dark and between light and dark shades for the colour combinations on the cockroach to show that the character is neither as evil as the rat nor good as Ned but in between but on the side of bad. So i went along with this and use more of the dark shades of colour but also colours that are between the light and dark aspects of colours such as the oranges and the browns and from this i began to work around the colour combinations to use not the one aspect of colour combinations but use different colours for the body, limbs and back shell of the cockroach. Once again there wasn't much of a difference of colours and so i kind of lingered on the same area of colours which although don't look too close to each other it is very instant if you look back at each of the colour combinations as the only difference is the brighter aspect of the colour which makes the choice in the cockroaches colours limited however in the final colour combination cockroach i tried to merge most of the colours used and single out certain areas to which i feel will work quite well if chosen.

In fact we had deciced together that the final colour combination is what worked well because it uses various colours to distinguish certain areas and allows the character to stand out. Also we felt that because the colours don't linger in either dark or light colours but instead in between it works well as it holds that creepy, crawly instinct when seen based on the colours.

Main Enemy Characters, Rat Boss - Colour Variations

Once i had done the turnaround design of the rat boss character i started to look back at the research and noticed the rat characters are very limited in their colours as they usually have the full body colour with exceptions such as eyes, nose, hand and feet, tail and other minor details but because i had not gone into much detail the rat boss character was able to stick with about four or five colours. For most of the colours i chose to have a darker shade of colours to give the character colour backing that this character is evil through his dark colours to his design and that's why i feel that looking back now at all the colour variations together there isn't much of a difference. Where as the final colour combinations i tried to go in a different direction in the form of having a bright white colour covering most of the rat and this was done to make the character seem much more dominant and outstanding in the fact that nothing else is as clear as this character who seems to be singled out making him the head of the whole game. However as much as i like the fact that the white singles the rat out as the head guy i feel that one of the othe rcombinations of colour will suffice as the main enemy character as the dark colours show that this character likes to hide much of himself with the use of his dark contrast of colours and is seen as a deadly character because the rat boss is not clear as the final coloured rat but instead is similar to most rats but from the dark shade is seen as a bad guy as good and bad are seemingly inevitable in their representation of light and dark colours throughout cartoon shows as well as games.

Myself and Tom both decided that the second colour combinations will work well as it holds that near dark brown shade of colour which distinguishes the character as an enemy and as the main character on the enemies side. The reason we also chose this shade was to keep some of the colours that are basic instinct when thinking of a rat as a brown shade with scrawny features.

Ned Bunsem Colour Variations

Once i had designed the variations of the clothing for Ned Bunsem i was ready to add colour and what i began to use for the first turnaround was to keep it traditional in the use of a white shirt and vary the colour of the trousers and tie but overall kept the clothing to look like they go together but as much as i could try to have different colours. However there were some colours that i had to as much as i could to try and avoid and those were the colours of Peter Griffin from Family Guy's clothing as that would indicate much clearer, the similarities of both characters designs. The next set of colour variations i began to do were of the jumper and with this design i was able to use various colours which i tried to change for the jumper where as the other pieces of clothing such as the trousers could be using the same colours as used in the previous turnarounds clothing. So with the colours for the jumper i tried to go with some of the bright and absurd colour combinations to make the jumper hideous to wear but is comforatable for our character to wear and went with colours such as bright red, brown, blue, green and orange/brown. The final set of turnaroun colours that i had to do was for the vest and boxers which i felt could be some colour combinations which are best kept hidden underneath trousers and so decided to use colours such as yellow, orange, blue, green and red. With the vest however i tried to change the light aspect of the colour and along with the usual white vest i added a hint of light blue, purple, red and went as far as having the colour pink fully visible to make the characters vest seem like he has stained it through sweat or other means as shown alongside his visible stain.

We decided that using the jumpers set of clothing would fit the character as it helps with his nerdy image where as he vest piece of clothing makes him look like a slob and the other is too similar to another popular character. But also we decided that the orange/brown with the red 'N' is the colour scheme we should go for as it is eye-catching and also a hideos colour scheme which we felt fits the characters image.

Ned Bunsem's Weapon Turnaround & Colour Variations

Above are the colour variations of the weapon that we had chosen to go with and when i looked at water guns i noticed that the colours were very bright and vivid in the choices. So after we chose to go with the water gun weapon because it made the choice seem more grounded where the other weapon choices would have looked out of place but this choice is accepted and so from instance i designed the turnaround of the gun and a turnaround for the sauce and also displayed the use of the sauce within the gun. From that moment of when i completed the turnaround design i began to do variations in colour combinations and accepted the very bright, stand out colours where all aspects of the water gun stood out and this is why so many of the colour combinations seem bizarre in the choice of having purple and orange or in the case of the last colour design, multiple colours and for that reason i used colours which wouldn't go together but in fact make each area that it covers stand out.

The weapon colour scheme of choice that we decided on going with is the first colour scheme this was because the colour blue is known as one of the most liked colours within the public eye and is also a light colour which easily identifies the character as a good guy but also because the areas of the gun stand out as the colours used clash with the base colour of blue which helps to showcase areas of the gun.