Pre-Production

There's a variety of tasks that need to be completed before production can take place. These tasks are all apart of the pre-production phase.

The tasks that I'll be carrying out will be:

-Project Proposal
-Schedule
-Moodboard
-Asset Concept Art
-Environment Concept Art
-Image Planes
-Level Design Blueprint
-One Sheet

These tasks will be shown in the sections below.

Project Proposal

Schedule

The schedule shown below is by no means the final version. The version shown below contains the tasks and activities that I currently think will be carried out. Because of this, there will most likely be lessons where activities are carried out that aren't currently on my schedule.

The second schedule shows a slightly more updated and correct schedule.

Visual Influence Moodboard

The moodboard shown below, is a collection of images that I found that appeal in a way that I hope to make my project appeal in. Not only that but it shows the art style that I hope to use, and even some locations that somewhat relate to my location concept.

Visual Influence Mind Map

I have decided that cartoons such as “Adventure Time” and “Gravity Falls” are possible research areas. I have decided this due the simplistic yet effective art styles that they include. “Adventure Time” makes use of a brighter colour palette, where as “Gravity Falls” has one that includes darker colours and shades. Colour wise, we want to focus more on those included in “Adventure Time” (maybe not so bright though, but a few shades lighter), but location wise, we feel as though “Gravity Falls” relates to our ideas, being a forest. However, the forest would consist of brighter colours, and would be quite light / bright (features such as light shafts) to remove any dark and sinister atmospheric feelings that a forest setting could give to the audience.

Currently I have decided that I will look into games such as “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, “Totally Accurate Battlegrounds”, “Final Fantasy”, and “Dauntless”. I have decided upon these games for a variety of reasons. When creating and designing concepts for my own world, I will be looking towards the forests / similar areas of “Breath of the Wild” for inspiration. I decided as when I played the game, one of the most memorable times was when I entered an area called ‘Korok Forest’, which is a forest that houses the games main sword, being the ‘Master Sword’.
However this location, to me, felt more unique than many of the other locations. To get to this area you have to get through a dark and sinister forest, but once you get to this forest, it’s bright and has a warm atmosphere. If I can manage to give my world a similar atmosphere then I feel as though the fantasy aspect will be accomplished.
Another game that I plan to look at is “Totally Accurate Battlegrounds”. I decided that this would be a good game to look at as it makes use of a low poly art style, which is the same art style that we intend to use this project. Because of this, I feel it would be a good idea to see how another open world low poly game makes use of the art style, and how we could make use in similar, effective ways.

I listed three comics that I could look into. However I feel that I could analyse how they are visually effective, but I feel as it’ll be more effective as theme / audience research, to see as to why they have the appeal that they do.

I have also stated that I could look into books / movies such as “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings”. I have noted these two series in particular because I have previously seen the films, but have not, however, read the books. I feel that looking into how these two series describe their worlds could be useful when creating my own, as I can see the different imagery that’s used throughout the books / movies.

The real world location examples are areas that have some sort of forestry involved, but still look more unique than you average forest. When designing my world I plan to use real world locations as a reference / inspiration point, to make my designs still have a feel of realism to them, but also a feel which is unique and out of this world.

Asset Concept Art

Before creating the 3D models to be used in the world / level, I needed to create concepts for the models I would create.

The two current concepts are shown below.

The concept on the left shows a chest. I decided that this could be one of the inorganic assets that I'd create as I could hide these chests around the world / forest setting. Not only that but if the world was ever used for a game, there's be a way to obtain collectables. The shape of the chest is rather generic, however, I hope to play around with the design around the chest to make it somewhat more unique.

The concept on the right shows a large hollowed out tree log / trunk. I decided that I could create this as the organic design, and give it a specific use in the world, being a bridge across a river.

Environment Concept Art

Currently I have drawn up two environment concepts. The first of the two is a floating island concept. This mainly involves one main island, connected with a smaller one. The larger island has structures such as houses / buildings on it, where as the smaller island has a temple / ruins.
This was one of my initial concepts, as for me personally, when thinking of a fantasy location, a floating island (or a group of floating islands) is my initial thought. The inspiration for this concept was mainly from the game "Dauntless". More specifically, the inspiration is the islands that the game makes the player navigate, as the game includes a number of floating islands of different sizes.

The second of the two concepts shows a section of a forest. It mainly focuses on an area that would make use of a river, and then a large hollow tree log / trunk laying down, acting as a bridge / way across. This concept is based in a more forest like setting. The inspiration from this concept is form "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time". More specifically from the lost woods, were the player must travel through multiple hollowed tree logs to get to the center of the woods.(reference)

Image Planes

Design wise we are limited to make at least one organic and one inorganic asset. Organic being something that's alive, or breathes, and inorganic being something that has been created by humans / isn't natural.

Why Image Planes are needed?
Image planes are important as the allow an artist / 3D modeller to see multiple perspectives of the object they are trying to create.
For example, when creating a person, they'd most likely want to see the front and side views of the character, so the correct shape can be created. This is because the modeller can see the object design as they're modelling.

Level Design Blueprint -
Floating Island Concept Design 1

Justification

As the theme for our project is Fantasy, I wanted to create an idea that is relevant to it.
This idea shows a relatively small floating island connected to another.

I wanted to make the islands floating, as it could be a way to implement magic into the surroundings / the world itself, which is somewhat a part of the codes and conventions of fantasy (Magic = why the islands are floating). I felt that this could be a good design choice, as it would visually explain what the theme of the world is. (It’s visually recognisable as a fantasy world without any actual explanation).

This area would most likely be well lit, as the only things that would be overcasting it would be the clouds if their were any. However if this was implemented into an actual game, there would most likely be a day / night system, so lights on the island would be needed. This is something that has not been accounted for, but can be in another iteration of the design (maybe by using flame lamps / torches?).

The colour palette would consist of lighter and calmer colours where possible. This is because it fits the theme being fantasy, but we feel as it also somewhat suits a feminine audience.

The weather conditions on the islands depend on whether they’re above cloud or below. If the islands were to be above, than the conditions would be quite calm, with little / no rain. However if they were below, it would probably be mixed (as in sunny / rainy).

The art style would have to relate to that that we have already chosen to carry out for this project, which is low poly. This would allow us to make designs that aren’t extremely detailed, but are still effective at portraying that that they're meant to portray.

AS this would most likely be a starting point to the game (if it was implemented into one) there aren’t really any hazards located here. However there is a temple / ruins located on the smaller island which could include just that, as well as having a route down to the surface.