A note for the future

I suppose this note is for personal reference if nothing else but since I've got little to no experience in any game engine software, it's probably time I brushed up on my skills.

I've now got the task of creating a small object (in Maya) like a chest or something and texturing it in three different ways. First I'll take a look at a 'painterly' way with using thick square brushes to give it a nice roughly designed feel to it. This style will be very similar to that seen in the video, 'Meet Buck'. Next I'll try a style similar to that of 'The Backwater Gospel', something I've quite liked since Josh showed it me. And finally taking a look at detailing it in a way similar to 'Zack & Wiki' which I've spoken about in a previous post, so that should give me a little headway on getting some physical work cobbled together.

A little more depth

Last post, I talked about three different games/scenes and how they're charming in different ways, and there are a great deal of games that follow a similar pattern or method to produce this effect, let's take Zack & Wiki for example. Released in the UK in 2008, this Wii game has quite easily been overlooked by many people but the style of art present in the game is something that really hammers it home when it comes to looking at 'charming' design.

The use of colours in this level really make the environment stand out and give it a sense of danger. Having flat coloured textures coupled with the lower poly models makes the scene incredibly bold.

Contrasting the lava level, this scene can show the range of environments that can be made from using even such basic colours and texturing techniques.

Even in a completely different setting, these chunky models and bold colours keep within a very specific style. Additionally, the character models of both Zack and Wiki have thick black borders around them. While this is present with some of the environment, it lends to make certain parts of the game stand out more.

Thick black borders are also quite a big thing for many cel shaded games such as 'The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker', 'Borderlands', and 'Eternal Sonata'. Each of these have incredibly beautiful art styles but don't necessarily fit under the same category as Zack & Wiki. It's evident that it's not just the textures and art style (while this does seem to be a major contributor), that turn a game into one with charm.

More thought, I think, is needed here.

Dom's Rules of Charm (or lack thereof)

I've taken to looking at how games can have the word "Charm" pinned to them, you know, those 'quirky' games that have a certain something about them that makes you really enjoy the experience as a whole. I've noticed that these games have a habit of cropping up on the iOS and Android App Stores so that might be something to note for the time being.

"Royal Revolt" from Flare Games has some really nice stylistic designs which really stand out to me as quite 'charming'. The co-ordiantion of the flat colours and the simple models make it look visually appealing without making it look boring and simple.

On the other hand with "Wide Sky" from Marcus Eckert, simplicity is exactly what's needed to make the game work. Simple graphics combine with subtle colours and a light interface to create a scene necessary to make the game graphically appetising (and yes I tried so hard not to turn that into a pun).

Sure there are those iOS games that we can relate to as being charming but what about those other platforms that have games that could fall into the category? I know the above image isn't strictly Blizzard's handiwork, it was however, one of the winners from the student design competition they run every year. Coming from an imaginative lady called Ashleigh Mills (you can check her out at http://www.ashleighmills.com) this 'Mage' coffee shop ticks all the right boxes for me in the 'charm' category. The vibrant textures combine nicely with the low poly models to give a really nice 'cosy' atmosphere to the scene.

Like I mentioned in another post, I'd like to head down the environment route so taking a look at how art styles, models and textures could aid to the 'feel' of the games should put me on track to cracking the code. Back to the internet I suppose...

Why all the questions?

So after sitting down for a couple of hours and chatting about what's going to happen over the course of the next 13 months, it's been narrowed down to asking a lot of questions and going in circles for most of the first semester (well I imagine that's how I'm going to spend it anyway).

I'm thinking of heading down an environment modelling design route since that's always been a part of games I've admired. That moment when you step out into a vast world full of dense, cluttered buildings or sprawling, vibrant landscapes is one to make you step back marvel at the depth of creativity present. Aside from this, I've always loved very stylised art. It's becoming a widely adopted trend in and around iOS games and I think that the style lends very well to the simplicity to many of the games available on that sort of platform. Hopefully this will give me a starting point to move from.

Fourth time's the charm.

Ok so from the top of my head I can count this to be my thir... no fourth blog I've started from scratch for educational purposes. I have a worryingly persistent habit of starting things and never getting round to maintaining them so my other blogs have pretty much been short-lived, each as barren and void of any activity as the last. This time I'll keep on top of it though seeing as I do quite like blogging and I'm sure it will be more than worth keeping this one going this time around.

This'll be just a short background into me I suppose so I'll try not to waffle on for too long. My name's Dom and I'm originally from a little town just outside of Manchester called Whitefield. I studied Graphic Design, English and Computing at Holy Cross College in Bury and continued on to do a Bachelors of Arts in Graphic Design at UCLan. Ever since I was a kid you couldn't pry me away from any form of video game for more than 10 minutes at a time and so that's probably why I've steered toward doing a Masters in Game Design, additionally, over the past five or so years I've had various jobs working at GAME, funny how things turn out really isn't it? Apart from that, I love to go out with friends whenever I can and I have two cats who are quite honestly backwards to put it mildly. That's really about it for me, nothing too out of the ordinary for a 21 year old male if I have the stereotype down right.

Over the course of this blog the name 'emby' will most likely crop up from time to time (note the big 'e' logo in the header), originally it was supposed to be an identity for a blog in my second year at university and it's just stuck with me ever since. It's tied into my e-mail addresses, online profiles, characters in games, just kind of everywhere really so that'll be why you may see it around so much. The word 'emby' comes from the sound of my surname initials 'M-B' (Mercer-Brown) and it sounds a little like the word ember and I have a soft spot for fire so it fits in quite nicely really.

And now it wouldn't be an 'emby' blog if it didn't have a customary photo of one of my cats so here you go, this is Tilly: