[NOTES] Making a Shield in 3DS Max

[1] Grab a reference image for the shield that you would like to create. Save the image and make sure you can find it later.
[2]  Make a ‘Plane’ by going to the right hand side modifier bar, click the little ‘sun’ icon then click on the ‘Plane’ button. In the keyboard entry section of the Plane, put 48w and 60h. Now press create.
[3] Press the ‘G’ key on your keyboard. This will turn off the grid on the scene.
[4] Go to the ‘Material Editor’ and load the texture you had saved earlier. After it is loaded, place the texture onto the plane. This will be a guideline for what we are about to do.
[5] Now move the Plane with the ‘Move’ tool and move the Plane back on the Y axis, so we can start with the next phase.
[6] Right click the Plane you created and go to Object Properties > Freeze Object. After doing that, right click again and untick ‘Show Frozen in Grey’.
[7] Create another Plane, the same way you created the other. In the keyboard entry, write in the same measurements as you did for the other Plane. This Plane will be modelled into the shape of the shield.
[8] Press F4 to show the edges of the shape.
[9] Right click the Plane you created go to Object Properties > See Through. There will be a box prompt come up, click OK.
[10] Give the Plane 6 Segments for length by 4 Segments for width. This gives the backbone to the shape.
[11] Right click the Plane again and select Convert To > Editable Poly. Then in the ‘Sub Object’ mode, select ‘Vertex’.
[12] Select everything, ‘CTRL+A’, then use the move tool on your Plane, align the Center Line with the Shield.
[13] Use the ‘Scale Tool’, which can be selected on the top bar of the main window, and scale the Plane so that the sides are touching the shield. Select and Scale the middle top and the middle bottom so that the top of the morphed Plane is touching the reference picture of the shield. Repeat this process on the others.
[14] Moving through the shields points, select all the points from the middle section and scale through the x axis so that the shield begins to take form in 3D.
[15] Now that you have shaped the Plane into a shield, go to ‘Sub Object’ mode and select ‘Boarder’. This will light up the edge of the shield’s shape. After this is done, hold shift and drag back the X Axis, bringing the shield out even more.
[16] Click the ‘Editable Poly’ in the ‘Sub Object’ mode and then click on the Modifier List and choose FFD 4x4x4.
[17] Click the ‘+’ button and choose the control points. Click and drag over the ‘4’ in the middle and pull them out with the Z Axis. When you are doing this, make sure the move tool is selected. When you are happy with what you have done, right click the shape and Convert To > Editable Poly. This bakes in the actions you have created.
[18] Open the UVW Editor, hold CTRL and select each of the Poly’s on the shield on the stage. When you have selected each of the Poly’s on the front of the shield, Flatten Mapping. The boarder around the Shield, select all of those Poly’s and in the UVW Editor; Mapping > Unfold Mapping. This will attach and make the edge just one straight line, metaphorically.
[19] On the top bar go to Tools > Render UVWs, this will create a template of your netting for the shield.
[20] Make the Resolution of the netting for the shield to 256×256. Convert it into a Photoshop file and import it into Photoshop. Toy around with the image to get it to fit and look right and then import the image into 3DS Max.
[21] Convert the shape you made earlier to a ‘Editable Poly’ (Right click the shape > Convert > Editable Poly). Select all of the Polygons of your shape by pressing CTRL+A, right click and search for the Polygon Smoothing Groups and select ‘Auto Smooth’, this will smooth out your shape.
[22] To add shine to the model itself, we will be adding Spectacular Mapping and Bump Mapping to add depth and realism to the shape. You will have to go back to Photoshop to edit the image you created earlier.
[23] In Photoshop flatten the layers and play with the contrast and brightness of the image. Make the contrast of it go as high as you can so that when you put this image in for bump mapping, it will create a deeper texture to the shape. Save this image separately.
[24] Go back into 3DS Max and open up the Material Editor once more and place the new image in the ‘Bump’ and put that onto the object on the stage. Now the shield has texture and shine to it.

[RESEARCH] Environmental Concept Art

I was asked to search and comment on the Environment designs/art that I like. I feel this is a good task to do before I do my own sketch of an Environment for my own sort of ‘game’. It will enable me to pick up a style I wish to have and portray it into my own drawings, giving them that authentic look.
What I have in mind is an Ice Palace in the middle of no where, inhabited by the Princess of Snow. It is a myth, a legend, that this place exists.

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood

This image is absolutely beautiful, however quite dark and dank. This is a great effect for quite a serious and power driven world in which Assassins Creed is. Raphael Lacoste has a really good eye for beautiful detail in design and development for quite serious environments  and I feel like this style is something to consider for my piece.

Bastion

The colours in Bastion are really to represent life and hope in the world, and is a good example of good use of colours to give off emotion. Jen Zee has a very edgy but delicate style which suggests the life in Bastion is very dainty and frail, but vibrant and loud. The worlds you face have such beautiful colour pallet’s  I feel this is a great example of how I’d like to use my own colour pallet.

Tomb Raider: Underworld

 

Andy Park uses a range of harsh tones to brighten up an image, it brings out the architecture in the world, which is what a game like Tomb Raider focuses on more then the main protagonist, Lara Croft. The art really takes it’s ideas and development from real life ruins built in areas of the earth, so it gives it a realistic and mystic feel to an image quite like this one.

[DEVELOPMENT] Making a Text Based Game

(Text Adventure Powerpoint Document)

I was set in a group to come up with an idea for a Text Based game, which was assigned to our group. So we got together and devised an idea which was a Text Based adventure/survival game, and to get to the end, you have to do many tasks to make sure you can make it to the end.

★ What the group decided upon for the story of the Text Game?;
I had this idea of an Ice Palace which is hidden in the mountains. The group decided that this would be a good place to start because it is a goal in which the protagonist in the text game can accidentally stumble into. It will also add more adventure and imagination to the player’s thoughts and experiences.
How the story starts, however, the player is in a helicopter crash and is trapped in the wreck. He/She must get out in order to progress.

★ What type of Text Adventure will it be?;
All text adventure games all seem the same, with no special features to make the player feel whole in the game play its self. So we decided to incorporate the features you can get in modern games to give it more feel and difference.

★ The features it shall possess as a Text Game?;
[1] Character Customisation
This is more of a joke then a feature, but it will allow the player to choose how their character looks like by typing in commands when they are prompt to. Things such as hair colour, race, place of birth, etc.

[2] HD Text
Experiencing the text game in high definition text will be a glorious experience and be much more pleasing to the eyes.

[3] Map System
By typing the command ‘Map’, you will receive on the screen a pixelated map of where you have been and what you have discovered on your travels through the snow desert.

[4] Picking the Right Choice
Your survival and story depends on your actions or commands you add in the story. You are writing this characters future, and your choices will change his world.
One of the choices is ‘Keeping yourself warm’ in the wilderness. If you don’t, you will eventually freeze and die.

[5] Having Retro Artwork
In game, when you visit certain areas in the story, you will get an illustration, showing the place you are in. This could be a cliff face, the helicopter, or just the caves and characters of the story.

★ Mock Game play of our Text Game;
——————————————————————————————————————–

Helicopter, pilot seat. 

Your head feels as if it is not only recovering from the worst hangover ever but, that it has also been hit by a baseball bat. Body aching, your hand rubs your swollen forehead. Opening your blurred eyes your vision slowly returns you feel colder than you have ever felt in your entire life.

Looking around you realise that you are still in the pilot seat of your helicopter. With the seatbelt still tightly strapped around you your ability to move is limited. Therefore, all you can see is the broken window in front of you and an old pen knife lying next to you.

>> Look around

Slowly turning your stiff and aching body you realise that your fears are true. The helicopter has indeed crashed and looking at the slumped and bloodied passengers on board you regrettably come to terms with the fact that everyone else is dead.

>> Get out of seat

Your seatbelt is still on.

>> Open seatbelt

It’s been frozen shut.

——————————————————————————————————————–

[RESEARCH] The Meaning of Play, Analysing Games

No one really knows the meaning of play because it’s not something we should understand. It comes naturally to the human nature, which is why we don’t have to learn anything about it. Johan Huizinga wrote a book explaining the meaning of play, ‘Nature & Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon‘, and I will be extracting quotes from there to base my argument upon.

‘Animals play, so they must be more then mechanical things.‘ This quote really explains how animals (and also humans) have souls, and we are not all the same as each other. This would render us as robots, doing the same exact thing as everyone else, droning our way through society as we know it. Which brings me onto another point, one of the other quotes state ‘Play is a function of the living.‘ Does this mean that if you do not play, we are merely objects that cannot function? I’m quite unsure of this comment; people who don’t enjoy play are not living? Or is it that if you know the function of play then you know you are living? It could mean many things. I believe it means that play just makes us human/living because of the sheer aspect of it being a ‘living‘ thing to do; we all do it, even if we are serious or don’t mean to play.
‘All play is a voluntary activity‘, you don’t get ordered to play unless it’s a work stated progress. Which brings me onto learning through play. Working is never fun, unless it’s something you enjoy doing, then that brings it in as play. However, learning through play is something you will always enjoy, but you are working, learning through these systems. Animals play fight to learn real fighting, children play as certain ‘roles’ in life to learn about their futures and their aspects in life or even social skills, we even corporate play in learning to ensure that people still stay entertained and learn much faster then writing it into a book. Does this then make play pure? Considering that play fighting animals will then learn how to fight and be vicious when their older? Or children that play to learn roles of life make them make difficult and tragic choices? It’s a natural aspect, of course, but believing that it’s pure could make the meaning of play go more ways then one. Being violent or tragic couldn’t then make play as a fun subject, or be play at all, it becomes real and then it makes people focus on the real world; Play is contained in time. Play is an escape from reality as we know it, it’s a release from the grips of unhappiness which life brings at times, we use it to create our own worlds and inhabit them in our own way.

[RESEARCH] Semiotics

Assassins Creed Brotherhood

This image is showing Ezio (the main protagonist) using his assassins to clear an area of danger.

★ There is a lot of fighting in this scene. Fighting normally refers to dominance on one side, or a disagreement between two sides.

★ Women, Courtesans, stand beside a man. This may be due to protection or simply helping people around them with troubles or pleasures. It may also show how woman were treated, as tools, in that present day.

★ Buildings of high standard, flourishing green trees and walkways surrounds the beings in this image. This could be in the region of the rich and well being humans which live in this area.

★ The Assassins dressed in white resemble peace or innocence in their image. Possibly referring to a god or some one who they look to for guidance to help with their deeds. It could even be to pretend, to play as some one else. They also have splashes of red in their clothing, making their clothing some-what intimidating; red meaning danger.

★ Knights/Guards cover the area, protecting the people around. This may be because there is something very important in the area they need to protect. Or maybe they could be on high alert, looking for some one in particular to capture and contain.

★ The raised hand by the side of the Courtesans symbolises power and control over bodies or a situation which is at hand.

★ The amount of people fighting, like second bodies, seem worthless (or pawns). This could be because there is a war afoot and people deal with things like this (as they are determined) by fighting for their own country or beliefs so that their country/beliefs stay true and alive.

★ The shocked faces of the woman correspond to vulnerable, weak women which they played roles as during these times. They rely on men, the dominant species, to save and protect them at any costs as they did all of the work and sinful tasks which men assigned them to do.

★ Fighting between two sides seems common, and there seems to be no terror of other characters in the scene.

★ The buildings are in the style of the Renaissance period. Beautifully crafted buildings reach high into the sky, giving them a very detailed and historical feeling to them.

[NOTES] Making a Crate and Using Different Types

[1] Make a 48x48x48 cube from the Cube Menu on the right hand side of the screen.

[2] When you have, right click the cube you have made and scroll down to the Convert To > Editable Poly.

[3] In the Editable Poly menu on the right hand side, click onto Polygons and press CTRL A to select all the faces of the cube shape.

[4] Right click the cube again in this menu and select Inset and change the amount to 4.0.

[5] Deselect the cube and right click the cube again and find Extrude. Change the amount to -4.0. This makes the cube collapse in on itself, giving a nice smooth thick line around the edges of the cube.

[6] Now, in the Modifier list, which is found in the right hand menu, pick ‘Unwrap UVW’ and in the same menu below, select ‘Open UV Editor’ to unwrap the cubes sides so that they are ready for texturing.

[7] In the UV Editor, click the Polygon button on the bottom left corner of the window to make it select the polygons. (Make sure that both the Editable Poly and the UV Editor are both not in ‘Edit Polygon’ mode or else it will not select any of the polygons).

[8] Select all the faces of the cube by pressing CTRL A and then, in the UV editor, click on Mapping > Flatten Mapping to flatten the sides of the cube into an editable format.

[9] Now, with the selections you have, drag out one of the faces to start on and edit.

[10] On the bottom, where you selected Polygon mode in the UV Editor, select the Linear mode to select lines of the cube faces. With the face you dragged out and put into the work space, select one of its lines and right click. In this menu go to ‘Stitch Selected’. When that is done, your selection will attach itself to the side of the cube it belongs to, thus adding onto the cube and completing it.

[11a] When the cube wants one of the lines that are attached to another, you have to select the Polygon you need with the Polygon tool and right click it. In this menu, select ‘Break’. You will have to do this to all the surrounding Polygon’s because they will still be attached. When that is done, reselect the Linear Selector and right click, press on ‘Stitch Selected’ and it will place the polygon in the right place. When you have attached everything to the right squares, select the edges of the Polygons and attach them together to make a netting of a cube.

[11b] Duplicate the cube once to create extras. Doing this will keep the UVW Netting on each cube you have duplicated. This is so we can see the two ways you can add texture.

[12] Doing this to all of the polygons will allow you to have a full netting of your cube. When you have the netting completed, shrink the netting to fit the editing space.

[13] After doing that, in the top right hand corner, reselect the checker pattern by going to the scroll down menu and picking ‘Checker Pattern’. This makes the pattern clear and ready to edit.

[14] When you have done all of that, go to Tools > Create UV Template and change the sizes to 512×512 and press okay. The UV Template will appear, save it as a .PNG

[15] On the second cube, open up the UV Editor, but instead of attaching each of the netting to the edges, right click and copy one of the netting faces and paste it onto each of the other faces. This makes the netting stack on top of one another. When you scale the netting, it makes a higher resolution of the texture, if you were to make one, but unfortunately will be the same for each and every face of the cube. (Render that as an image and save as a .PNG)

[16] Now, using the netting you have just created, open both on Photoshop and place a box texture on top of each of them. Scale it to fit and see the difference when you add the textures in the Material Editor.
[17] The cube that just has one netting will be less quality because the image is stretched out and will be pulled to fill the spaces. However, the other netting is more refined and has more texture inside of it, meaning it will fit the cube more greatly and will have better quality.

[NOTES] Smoothing out Cubes and Adding Dents

[1] Open up your crate experimentation and we will start editing that today.
[2] Go to the Modifier List, at the top of the side bar on the right hand side, and select ‘Unwrap UVW’.
[3] Select all faces of the shape and go into the ‘Unwrap UVW’ and you will see the netting for the cube on the workspace.
[4] Disconnect (break) each cube mapping so that you are left with 6 Cubes.
[5] Then bake that into the cube by converting the layers to an Editable Poly, by right clicking onto the shape, Covert To > Editable Poly.
[6] Then right click onto the shape and click on Clone. This will clone the shape on top of the original. Call this one High Poly Crate. After that, right click the cube again and Isolate the cube.
[7] In the side bar on the right hand side, select the cube first, then select the edges of the cube by pressing edge.
[8] Once all the edges are selected, hold down Alt and click on the diagonal lines on the cube, and the inside cube edges. This allows you to Chamfer the cube.
[9a] Right click the cube and select the box next to Chamfer to have the Chamfer window appear.
[9b] Deselecting the shape and pressing 7 shows you how many Polygons you have on your stage.
[10] Clicking on the Polygon tool in the Modifier Bar (Right hand side bar) and drag the bar out and find the button called ‘Auto Smooth’. This smooths out the cube to how 3DS Max can cope.
[11] The box in the top right hand corner of the stage, click one of the faces to bring out the true face of the cube, press F4 and select only the top and the bottom of the cubes segments. Right click the cube and press the box next to Connect. Change the segments to 50. This should create 50 lines across the cube. Do this to the other sides of the cube which has not been done.

[12] With all of these segments on the cube, go to the Vertex button in the modifier bar and this will select every point of the Polygons.
[13] Now it is time to add some detail. At the top, there are Brush options which you can create indentations by holding down Alt and brushing across the top to make bullet holes.
[14] After you are done, right click and click Isolate again. This will bring back the Low Poly so that we can see the difference.

[15] Now put the two blocks on top of each other, like they were when they were cloned.
[16] Selecting both blocks, go to the Modifier list and click on Projection in the drop down menu at the top.
[17] This menu opens up a tab called Cage. Inside the Cage tab, click the box next to Cage and shaded. Now, using the arrows next to the number beside, up the numbers in the Amount box. This will create a white shaded back-draft of a box.

[18] Now that we have the projection modifier sorted, we can now render our object. At the top bar, go to Rendering > Render to Texture
[19] In this mode, scroll down to where it says add. From here, there will be a box that pops up. Click Normal Map, and it will add the Low Poly into the list above the Add button.
[20] Where it says Width and Height, beside that on the right, there are normal sizing settings. Select the highest, 2048×2048, and this will make the render picture a much more higher resolution. Now click Render, at the bottom of the window. This will show the mapping that we have created. This should be saved as a .TARGE

[21] Now, go to the Material Editor which is the checker globe next to the teapot render settings on the top bar of the main stage window.
[22] Modes > Compact Material editor to have the normal window up. Open up the maps tab in the Material Editor and go to Bump. Select the .TARGE map you saved and it will embed itself onto the Material. Grab and drop onto the cube.

[SWOT Analysis] My Own Review

SWOT Analysis is something that is key to know in a working lifestyle, it stands for; Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), and Threats (T). The SWOT measures abilities in a certain person to see whether their key skills help develop the work place.

My task is to create my own SWAT Analysis to the best of my ability.

Strengths
What advantages do you have?
★ I’m very imaginative.
★ I can draw.
★ I am able to think of story sequences and create my own stories.
★ I can problem solve. I will listen to trouble and feedback my own ideas.
★ I’m able to learn new things easily.

What do you do better then everyone else?
★ If I imagine something to draw, I am able to draw it on the spot.
★ If I visit on something once, I’m able to repeat it.
★ I’m able to look after others if they are struggling.
★ Show others what they have done wrong, and how can they improve.

What facilities and resources do you have access to?
★ I have access to the Internet to search for references for drawing. It also helps with ideas and concepts.
★ Photoshop and Paint are my digital drawing tools.
★ Social Networking sites, to get my work out there.

What do people who know you, see as your strengths?
★ They believe that I am able to draw.
★ They believe I am bubbly and very easy to talk to.
★ I am polite and fair.
★ They believe I am good with ideas and share my ideas fairly.
★ I have self discipline.

Weaknesses
What do you have difficulty with?
★ I find difficulty talking. I’m always unsure and not very good at speaking.
★ Being confident in myself.
★ Unable to explain really complicated thoughts.
★ Things which look too big to handle.

What could you improve?
★ Confidence. I need to see the greatness in myself.
★ Time keeping, I’m terrible for forgetting things and leaving things till the last minute.
★ Thought process.
★ Drawing Skills to fit others. I don’t have a wide enough drawing ability to meet peoples needs.
★ Have a range of ideas and concepts.

What you should avoid?
★ Giving up.
★ Feeling lower then everyone else; not good enough.
★ Not speaking my mind if something isn’t right.
★ Fighting with others ideas, and trying to push my own ideas to be the right one.
★ Shying away from others. To not be afraid.

Opportunities
Where are the good opportunities facing you?
★ Having great skills as an artists allows me to become a Concept Artist, or Designer in the games industry. I could also peruse other artistic mediums.
★ Being able to explore ideas in my mind, and imagine great possibilities, I could become a writer for a story. Explaining how the world is set and how the characters feel or fit in.
★ I’m very persistent to become a Concept Artist. I believe that also gives me more of a chance to become one because I want to be one.

What are the interesting trends you are aware of?
★ Becoming Indie is a great opportunity to learn about the games industry.
★ Apprentice jobs are quite regular in the industry, working behind some one you strive to be is a great experience.

Threats
What obstacles do you face?
★ People fighting for the same dream I’m going for.
★ Problems in the industry. Not having enough spaces for everyone.
★ Work experience is a pain to find, as the economy is slowly falling.

What is your competition doing?
★ It’s harder to get into the industry because the amount of people who want to get into the games industry.
★ So many people have given up and have tried to become Indie instead. Indie is a great route to take if you feel confident.
★ Being an Indie designer is very hard because that would mean you are fighting with much more bigger businesses.

Are the required specifications for your job, products or service, changing?
★ They are changing every day to meet the needs of the consumer.
★ Certain styles of artistic tallent are asked for certain genres.
★ Being multi skilled is becoming ever so popular.
★ Having work experience really guarantees a job.

Is changing technology threatening your position?
★ I have a feeling it will shock but I won’t be threatened by such a change.
★ If there was a change in technology during my time in my dream position, I will be slightly thrown off, but I will try my hardest to meet the needs.
★ Leaning new technology can be very hard, making it harder to find jobs because you are not trained enough.

Financial issues?
★ To afford the best equipment isn’t easy. New Computer for Upgrades, Photoshop, Flash, 3DS Max etc. are all very expensive.
★ Being able to move to different countries to heighten chances could really hinder the amount of money to live, which will make it impossible.

Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?
★ Being shy and unresponsive can really effect communication skills and will effect in loss of contact.
★ Not being confident in my own skills will effect the situation of being a Concept Artist, because I won’t be able to strive to be better and to feel better.
★ Time Keeping is a needed skill. Not being able to keep track of time will result in lack of work to present when it’s needed.
★ Falling on big projects because they are too scary to complete will result in loss of job.

[RESEARCH] Analysing Games

The image I am using is from Dark Souls. The knight is called Solaire, knight of Astora.

Recording the Details

Name of Designer/Team: From Software

Name of Publisher: Namco Bandai

Title of Work: Dark Souls

Date it was made/published: October 7th 2011 (Europe)

Genre: Action Role Playing Game

Target Audience: Hardcore Gamers

Formal Elements

[Composition]

The main organisational features of this image is set spectacularly to really bring out a characters glow gently against the light source which is provided (buildings, areas and other beings happen to have this glow as well). This happens in all parts of the game, but this image particularly shows this feature. The main focal point of this image is Solaire of Astora, standing brightly against a lit sky. The building Solaire is standing on is full of geometrical shapes, such as round soft curves to express that it is a building of high standard (a castle), and not been taken lightly to make. The walls may be crumbling but they blossom with beautiful ivy which crawls through the cracks of rocks and settle on the wall. There is no methods regarding symmetry, but there is ways in which this image sparks up the character standing in the middle. Solaire is lit purposely to bring out his character, and to share his glorious back story and relation to the sun with the player.

[Space/Depth]
As talked about before, the effects created on this image is merely sunlight beaming brightly on a knight. It’s really to create a sense of power and innocence, as sunlight is deemed as ‘pure’ or ‘incandescent’ to quote from Solaire himself. Or it may be an illusion that he indeed ‘pure’ or ‘innocent’, to trick the player into thinking that this character is some what special to the story.

[Colour]
The main colours used in this image is undoubtedly dark and dank colours; greys, whites, greens and reds. This gives the image a more natural looking tone, like all of the world is some what being given away by mother nature itself. The splashes of red and yellow really sets warmth to this image, and is donned on Solaire. These are his clan colours, and he represents them in a very open way to the player (this is also another way to relate the player with the character.) There isn’t much range to the pallete but the effects it creates are very noticeable and is seen as a style the game has taken up.

[Light]
Atmospheric light is something that occurs quite a lot in Dark Souls, because it sets the tone, and meaning to an area which you have just come across in gameplay. Solaire, being related to light in many more ways then one, is always glowing brightly against a light source. As well as colour, light also brings a feeling, and this feeling is happiness. There is a lot of Chiaroscuro lighting is more used later on in the game, as characters and the player progress on their own story, it becomes more apparent that the world they live in is breaking apart. In this image, Solaire is lit brightly, but so is his surroundings.

[Style]
It’s hard to place a style on Dark Souls, as there is a lot of realistic entities embedded in the game, but also manga influences regarding humans in this game. You can’t see it on Solaire in this image, however his armour is very fantasy like. The buildings are very realistic, and as the game progresses, you are always struck with beautiful structures and confusing tunnels for you to explore. The castle that Solaire stands on is one of the first buildings you climb, and it inhabits a dragon, a mixture of both realistic and fantasy worlds.

[Subject, Theme & Meanings]
The character Solaire is indeed the subject in this image, shining brightly against the suns brilliance. He is a knight of the sun, and is looking for his own personal ‘sun’. This really sets the scene (or the Mise en Scene) of Solaire’s own personal goals and, possibly, achievements. The sun is actually his own image, as well. Solaire is possibly a fallen disciple from the gods above, and he’s trying to regain his own authority back as best as he can. Seeming this is the first time you encounter Solaire, after a boss battle, you could believe that he’s ‘godly’ just by being at the end of the line, he managed to perfectly escape and possibly destroyed all possible threats towards him (a powerful entity). An issue with this could also be that he’s ‘insane’. Looking for a ‘sun’ of his own, like the glowing gas ball in the sky? Either he could be ‘godly’ and talking about a power he once had, or that he’s actually looking for a sun.

[Context and Influences]
Dark Souls is really influenced by mythology. It takes on all sorts of  cultural aspects of Mythology (Asian Mythology) with Dragons, Gods and Architecture. The game then takes that inspiration and creates its own spots of mythology, and the characters/NPC’s all talk about it. They seem very unsure, or they are determined to go and find something that may or may not exist. For example; Solaire is looking for his ‘power’, his ‘sun’, so this could be a myth to him because he’s also unsure where about it is or where it exists but he’s so determined to find it, because it gives him hope. Hope is what drives the NPC’s in the Dark Souls’ world, as the areas are just full of monsters and humans who have lost themselves to the terrors, they all need something to grab onto to protect so they don’t feel alone. Going back to Mythology, there’s gods which different Clans look towards for guidance, they preach to them, and that is what gives them power and protection.

[Personal Response] 
I really like Solaire as a character, as so much is going on in his mind and his own story. The first time I came across Solaire in Dark Souls, I felt attached to him because of the way his dialogue was perfectly referencing himself and me (as the player) fighting together to destroy evil. That reference towards player and character could really go the wrong way, and make something like that quite ‘soppy’, but it really depends on the player. His character design is gorgeous, simple, and full of bright and cheerful colours. That enough to make any one either like his armour for themselves, to be Solaire, or just like him as a character, and as a ‘buddy’ to use to defeat bosses through out the game.

Making a Platform Game into a Board Game [PLATFORM BOARD GAME]

To make a platforming board game was quite a tough experience for the whole group. To make it feel like a platforming game is one thing, but not having a controller in your hand and a screen in front of you was another problem entirely.

————————————————————

Assignment in Class

What we came up with, as a group, is keeping the classic ‘Platforming Game’ in mind and transferring it onto paper. We decided to have platforms, but keep them as boxes with numbers on (from 1 to 97). The players progress into the game with two 6 sided dice, and using the amount they have rolled, jump that many spaces until they reach the end. Each player starts with 5 lives, there is areas where you can fall off platforms, and there’s areas where you can pick up chance cards to increase or decrease chances to progress further, save yourself, or unfortunately die. 

It was very lucky that we play tested the game before we took it into play, because there were more to be added to the game to make it very fair. This really helped us in the long run, as everyone really enjoyed playing our platform board game.
After playing our game, the feedback was just so amazing;

★ The system was not unfair in any way, there was much variety in the game of harsh and great times which saw everyone through the game.


★ The design was great, very colourful and amazing to play upon. It was very easy to determine what item or object meant what in the game, and there was a lot going on and to be aware of, which kept all players on their toes.


★ Even if people were getting a game of luck, others can easily catch up by just one slip up. This made the other players feel much more happier about playing it, rather then trudging through the game and trying to make the time pass by.


★ The only problem was that the game was quite unfair with lives. There shouldn’t have been a lives system in place, because it makes the game much more harsher then it already is.

————————————————————

The Other Games

[Game 1] Scaffolding Construction

★ The rules were very hard to understand, there could have been more work to really order and reconstruct the rules a little so that they were more understandable for all players.


★ The toothpicks were very fiddly to use, making it hard to determine who’s toothpicks were who’s. Considering the game had a rule stating that you couldn’t go onto some one else’s constructed ‘platform’, really rendered that rule useless.


★ Some of the power ups that could have been bought in the game were too expensive. Making everyone choose the most cheapest options to make a quick victory (unless, of course, they had a mound of money to spare and used that to their advantage).


★ The character pieces that were added to the game were very fun to play with.


★ The game became very competitive as it progress.  


[Game 2] Pyramid Climb
★ It was hard to distinguish where you had to move about on the board. It was not clear that your movement space was either the big squares in the middle of the path or the boarders which followed the huge path.


★ The cards were not stated properly in the rules. However, with much discussion with the team who made the game, we finally understood their concept and managed to play them with ease.


★ The bricks that needed to be carried around the board were the game colour. This made people confused as to who’s bricks are who’s. Also, when a brick falls down or lands on a gap, does it fall down with the player or does it stay where it is?


★ The board itself, and its design, was beautifully done. Greatly crafted onto a board so it looks perfect and  made the game feel more hands on and very approachable.


★ There should be more trip ups in the game, instead of hindering the whole team, possibly focus on one certain player with trap cards, or trap areas. This would make the game more fun.


[Game 3] Super Platform Bros
★ Every character in the game has a back story. This really makes the game interesting and brings something like a board game up to the next level, giving character to the game entirely.


★ The rules are told by the characters themselves, which makes the game very interesting to play. They seem very complicated, but as the game progressed, very understandable.


★ The board is very colourful and well made. Graphically, it is very pleasing to the eye, and well drawn out and planned. However, the lines representing boxes are very hard to distinguish.


★ The worlds in the game have their own enemies you must fight, and a boss that you can battle at any stage of the game. There are 3 worlds in total, but 6 if you count the harder worlds which are above.


★ The game had missing rules for the enemies. We had to consult the people who made the game to realise what the enemies meant to the game itself.


★ There is no understanding of platforms.