character in situ- WIP v3

character in situ- WIP v2

character in situ- WIP

Model sheet

light analysis

The light is coming from the top right area and shining down onto the snow and fox. You can tell its sunlight as it has very pure white tone to the fur.

The dunes in the snow are causing shadows on the left side and the areas that the sun hits first are sparkling and very white due to sub surface scattering.

This is also seen on the fox’s fur where some areas are brighter and paler.

The light in this imagery is coming from behind the trees at the top. This is a good example of subsurface scattering as the leaves in the trees are letting light through but where they do they have a brighter a more translucent appearance to the point where they’re almost yellow.

In this image the light is coming from above and behind the ring, causing a shadow to appear in front of it, due to the curved nature of the book surface however, the shadow has form a heart shape.

The light is most intense on top of the ring to the point where light has burnt away the gold colour. Refraction allows other dents and scratches to be seen as well as the inside of the ring and atop the shadow showing that the light which wasn’t reflected from the ring continued travelling.

Fire and ice taken from:

http://nzeman.deviantart.com/art/Fire-and-Ice-78884603?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Aphotography&qo=11

Loki’s forest taken from:

http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/?order=9&offset=96#/d1i0scu

Heartless… taken from:

http://msog.deviantart.com/art/Heartless-40870674?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Aphotography&qo=161

Composition Analysis

There are various forms of composition in artwork.

For this analysis exercise I will be using an artist named Greg Horn, for the sake of keeping it thematic I’ll use comic book imagery.

Devine Proportions:

This is used so that the artist may place the most important aspect of the picture in the most aesthetically pleasing area as seen here with ‘Emma Frost’

Rule of Thirds:

This separates the canvas into 9 segments and has the important aspect place on 1 of the inner corners as seen here with Spider-man’s facial area.

Iconic:

Used to frame the most important aspects of the picture as seen here with Mystiques face, body and gun as well as the tiger head.

Cross:

This technique usually features a change in colour or shading halfway down the picture to draw the viewers eye into the centre as seen with a Thor comic book

spoof of the Jaws poster.

L:

The L composition has the viewers attention by framing the picture with certain aspects in an L shape seen here with Psylocke and her sword posed to create an L shape.

Cross: http://greghornjudge.com/HTM_PAGES/01_marvel_comics_htms/all_other_marvel/Thor_Goes_Hollywood_JAWS.htm

Iconic: http://greghornjudge.com/HTM_PAGES/01_marvel_comics_htms/all_other_marvel/Xmen_Mystique_tiger_skin.htm

L: http://greghornjudge.com/HTM_PAGES/01_marvel_comics_htms/all_other_marvel/Xmen_Psylocke.htm

Devine proportions: http://greghornjudge.com/HTM_PAGES/01_marvel_comics_htms/Emma_Frost/Emma_Frost_5_top_view.htm

Rule of thirds: http://greghornjudge.com/HTM_PAGES/01_marvel_comics_htms/all_other_marvel/a-Spider-man_new_art.htm

Environment 2: Forest of the Fox Spirits

Forest of the fox spirits -  i would of liked to taken more care with the background but i felt like i needed to finish this quickly to move on to other aspects of the game.

Environment 1 : valley of the magpie

Concept for the environment - Valley of the magpie.
The idea being that the valley is covered in precious gems and is guarded by a Magpie dragon - a dragon with black and white markings which hordes shiny objects hence Magpie.
i did also have the idea that the basin shape of the mountain in the background was the 'egg' of the dragon meaning it was literally born from the earth.

Adding to the Initial Visions

After finishing 100 silhouettes, i then went on to add bit of detailing to my favourite forms.

None are overly Tribal looking but i think that adds to the premise of my character, being more of a Tribal Knight. 

I seem to keep coming back to the idea of having a metal helmet shaped like a wolf instead of an actual wolf head for armour. I think i will stick with it. 

silhouettes for Main and villainous characters.

For these silhouettes it got to a point when i began to struggle with ideas. So even though i know my character is American Indian and Inuit influenced, i began adding armour even though realistically he would probably wear animal hides. 

I also thought of a weapon or distinctive aspect first and then built poses around that aspect, such as the scythe or bow and arrow poses.

Took longer than i needed to on these.

WIP Environment

Valley of the magpie - so far 20 odd minutes.

Main Character WIP

Brothers in Arms

Here is Micah, the Antagonist of the game. he is salems unstable brother. gave his face paint more of a jagged look to emphasize his turn to bad and the red X is a symbol of Xorns hold over him.
The pale eyes just happened but i think its reminiscent of Anakin skywalker when he turns to the dark side.

Salem - the good brother. Same sort of theme as Micah but he is wearing a variation of the original Zork armour along with Zork sword.

Sell Sheet - Something Different

My sell sheet is sealed inside with the Zork insignia.

A map of Belaenas back is also inside as something memorable for the pitch. 

Zorks sword

Zork's original sword which is passed down through the later generations of zork.
the blade was originally made of flint. The handle is Polar bear femur and the hilt is sharpened polar bear ribs with dyed polar bear hide for the handle wrap. With Decorative feathers to honour the spirits hanging from the sword.
This is the default weapon in Tales of The Zork.

game HUD ideas.

First iteration - basic idea of using feather as life since he is influenced by Native American culture.
Black out weapon select on the side and basic compass with waypoint bottom left corner, this layout is mainly influenced by GTA 

Second iteration - Zork Culture hang Feathers from there blades for good luck and for favours to the spirit. so this idea stems from them using feathers as decoration, doubling the weapon select HUD with the Life HUD

Example of what would happen if you lost life. a feather would turn dark read a fall from your weapon off screen.

myrith's swamp environment progress.

Possible environment

idea for myriths swamp landscape.

Sell Sheet V.1

Map Final Design

final map

grid mode which can be toggled in the map screen, this is to allow for coordinates to be shared among players.

Route the games story will take you. As you can see, in order to explore the whole map you would have to 'go of the beaten track' so to speak.

what the map screen will look like.

Contol Scheme

Pretty basic controls. I want Zork to be accessible to a wide scope of ages so i didn't go to complex.
I think what makes this layout good is that the combat is almost completely refined to the shoulder buttons.
This would make for quick fight situations.

Del Toro and His Monstrous Side

Guillermo del Toro is the acclaimed director of such films as Blade 2, Hellboy 1 & 2, Pans Labyrinth and many more. If one thing stands out in these films it is the creature design.

For this project, Del Toro will influence my creature design; I believe he has a way of creating these ancient looking creatures which while they may be no threat to the protagonist, look like they came from hell itself.

This is what a troll looks like in del Toro's mind

Blade 2 introduced super vampires, named Reapers, into the story. Jared Nomak is the leader of the reapers and the strongest. What makes him so sinister is that he maintains a human like appearance but one that is severely distorted. The Pale white skin is reminiscent of Nosferatu and the veins exemplify this pained look that Nomak carries, which works well with his characters story. What really interest me with Nomaks design are the eyes, seen below as being pure white.

The thing with eyes is that they can reveal a person to you by the first time look at them, People can have kind eyes or cold eyes or even sinister eyes. Del Toro manages to really capture the inhuman evil looking eyes with all his monsters but Nomaks eyes seem to show a tragic, twisted monster whenever the film captures his face.

A hideous monster and a vampire

You can debate whether the Hellboy series was good or not but either way del Toro really captured the supernatural feel to Hellboy’s cast and characters. Not only with Hellboy himself but also the background monsters and side characters. Abe Sapien, Hellboy best friend and partner is a half man - half sea creature, in the comic books Abe was once human and was changed into the creature through an occult ritual. He maintains his human like appearance albeit with a highly changed fish-like form, his skin is almost always has a wet appearance to it along with gills and fins around his body.

Since Abe is to be considered a ‘friendly monster’ there are no fangs or claws to be seen on him and his facial appearance comes across as that of a gormless fish.

It is important to take into account the role that the creature will play in the game world before designing it, if the creature is to be a kind one then features such as claws need to be toned down.

One final creature that really captures the viewer’s imagination is the Angel of Death. Whilst this character is actually a help to the protagonist, it comes across as a very sinister and evil creature. The monster gives the feeling across that whilst it can help if the situation is needed it is most definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Stuff of Nightmares

Del Toro most critically acclaimed film was Pan’s labyrinth, not least for which was the amazing creature design. Pan himself comes across as a figure that has lived for centuries and is literally part of the forest with his moss like hair and wooden appearance. Pan himself gives both the impression of trustworthiness as well as a sinister feel that you should not trust him at all. This is proven by faun task to bring the young girl back to the underworld (killing her).

Moss-like hair, wooden appearance and huge goat horns.
what's not to trust?

The other creature in Pan’s Labyrinth is the ‘Pale man’, a child eating monster that is awakened when someone eats something from the feast at which he lays dormant. Again del Toro captures the essence of the character through the eyes, in this case they are located on his hands, solidly breaking the human form and distancing this monster from any kind of humanity. The pale man also has blackened claws at the end of his hands implying danger.

The pale mans scene is generally terrifying to watch and he comes across as an unstoppable force.

Looking at del Toro’s movies generate many ideas for me and using his influence for my game will definitely give the game a fantastical, fairy tale like theme. I believe I may add a Faun somewhere in the game as a tribute.

Troll hellboy 2 - http://www.latinoreview.com/news/exclusive-hellboy-ii-interview-with-creature-effects-shop-spectral-motion-4976

Del toro and faun - http://mutantville.com/blog/3393/guillermo-del-toro-with-mvps-inspirational-filmmaker-quote-of-the-week/

Pale man - http://fantasticvoyages.wordpress.com/

Nomak and del toro - http://www.gamesradar.com/director-of-pans-labyrinth-and-hellboy-now-making-video-games-4-reasons-you-need-to-care/

Angel of death - http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/galleries/the_monsters_of_guillermo_del_toro/the_monsters_of_guillermo_del_toro.html

Cast of hellboy - http://www.totalfilm.com/features/guillermo-del-toro-on-making-the-hobbit

Map update 2

revised the mountains added a few things.
im getting close to finishing this now as i need to focus on other concepts.
La pohaku is hawaiian for sun-stone. The culture on that island is based on the samoans and will have large exotic stone faces on the coast line.

Map update

Some of these words have translations, some are gibberish.
Baleana is latin for whale meaning whales back. i figured i could add some cool mythology about how the land rests on a giant whale.

Building up Zorks World.

The as of yet unnamed world of Zork.
Zork himself would of been born of the map in a far of land. I'm going to add mountain, cities, road and forest to this map to decorate it in a tolkienesque mannor.
More to come.