Learning Outcome 3
Company Research
For my company research I will be looking into games/VR companies that are based in the UK. The industry I will be researching is the games industry with focus on AAA games for console and PC. My interest in level design stems from a love of aesthically pleasing design and functionality in-game, whether the environments are stylised or realistic. I'm also interested in emerging technologies such as VR (virtual reality) and 3D Printing. I hope to incorporate elements of VR into my Final Major Project.
For my company research I will be looking into games/VR companies that are based in the UK. The industry I will be researching is the games industry with focus on AAA games for console and PC. My interest in level design stems from a love of aesthically pleasing design and functionality in-game, whether the environments are stylised or realistic. I'm also interested in emerging technologies such as VR (virtual reality) and 3D Printing. I hope to incorporate elements of VR into my Final Major Project.
Final Major Project - Overview
As the character, you are walking around an attic which was once somebody's bedroom. It is dusty and different objects in the room are either covered by cloth or in some way obscured.
When the main character goes up to an object and touches it e.g the piano, it starts playing music, the cloth falls off and the room lights up as it would have been when the room was lived in. You are looking into the past.
Primary Research
DoubleMe
(North Greenwich, London)
Internship at DoubleMe - Emails
Media Molecule (Guildford)
I have a personal connection to this company as I met Michelle Ducker who is one of the producers at Media Molecule at BAFTA Games Night in 2015. I found out that she was a previous Ravensbourne student who also studied animation but decided to venture into the games industry to pursue her career as a producer. At that time she had been at the company for several years and told me some of the ins and outs of working at the company. From this conversation I was introduced to some artists and developers who also work at Media Molecule and they gave me some invaluable advice about environment design and how about they go about creating levels for Little Big Planet. Key advice that was given to me included having strong foundational knowledge about the functionality of each asset with in an environment and how things should have a meaning/use for the narrative or character.
I managed to get her personal work email and she told me to contact her whenever I need some advice. I sent an email this term asking about a possible studio visit as I would like to learn more about how their studio operates and the general workflow of the artists.
I managed to get her personal work email and she told me to contact her whenever I need some advice. I sent an email this term asking about a possible studio visit as I would like to learn more about how their studio operates and the general workflow of the artists.
Media Molecule is based in Guildford and have released many successful AAA titles such as Little Big Planet Series, Tearaway and Dreams. My intital introduction to this studio was playing the first Little Big Planet game and being very inspired by the character and environment design and the richness and the vibrance of the colours that were used for texturing. The games have a very playful style which is for all ages and this is evident in the cartoonish character design and the use of tactile materials for textures. The whole game is based on the players ability to create the ebnvironment in which the characters inhabit.
Bossa Studios (Shoreditch, London)
I met the CEO Roberta Lucca at BAFTA Games Night 2013 and we talked about women's roles in the industry and the current job climate, she added me on LinkedIn and told me to contact her in the future. It was really inspirational to see a women start her own successful games company which led me to further research her company and the games they make.
Bossa Studios Ltd is a British video game developer based in London, England. Founded in October 2010 by Henrique Olifiers, Ric Moore, Imre Jele and Roberta Lucca, it was acquired by Shine Group in September 2011 for an undisclosed fee. The core development team mainly are former employees from Bullfrog Productions, Jagex, Ubisoft, and Playfish.
Bossa launched its first title Monstermind in September 2011 which has seen over one million Facebook users play the game and in 2012 won a BAFTA award in the "Online – Browser" category.
The company announced its third title Merlin: The Game in June 2012, which is based on the Merlin TV series and released in 2013. Bossa developed the BAFTA 2014 nominated Surgeon Simulator 2013, which originally was the product of a game jam. The game has gone on to sell over 2 million copies worldwide across Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android.
In 2015, Bossa was nominated for yet another BAFTA for its mobile game Twelve a Dozen, which required players use their heads to solve mathematical platforming puzzles.
Later in 2015, Bossa saw its next major release with I am Bread, which sets the player into the form of a living piece of bread that wants to toast itself. Bossa is currently developing the massively multiplayer online adventure game World's Adrift, an open world platformer.
Bossa Studios Ltd is a British video game developer based in London, England. Founded in October 2010 by Henrique Olifiers, Ric Moore, Imre Jele and Roberta Lucca, it was acquired by Shine Group in September 2011 for an undisclosed fee. The core development team mainly are former employees from Bullfrog Productions, Jagex, Ubisoft, and Playfish.
Bossa launched its first title Monstermind in September 2011 which has seen over one million Facebook users play the game and in 2012 won a BAFTA award in the "Online – Browser" category.
The company announced its third title Merlin: The Game in June 2012, which is based on the Merlin TV series and released in 2013. Bossa developed the BAFTA 2014 nominated Surgeon Simulator 2013, which originally was the product of a game jam. The game has gone on to sell over 2 million copies worldwide across Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android.
In 2015, Bossa was nominated for yet another BAFTA for its mobile game Twelve a Dozen, which required players use their heads to solve mathematical platforming puzzles.
Later in 2015, Bossa saw its next major release with I am Bread, which sets the player into the form of a living piece of bread that wants to toast itself. Bossa is currently developing the massively multiplayer online adventure game World's Adrift, an open world platformer.
I had the privilige of playing 'I am Bread' at EGX Rezzed 2015. In the game you play a piece of bread and the goal is to get to the toaster so you can become toast. The game is very challenging and absolutely hilarious as the bread cannot touch the floor as your edibility will drop and the controls are pretty hard to master as well. The environment is quite basic which complimets the hilarity of the situation in which the player is placed. Instead more focus was put on the game mechanics and the controls for the bread.
The Chinese Room (Brighton)
The Chinese Room is a small studio located in Brighton. They tell great stories and explore new worlds. They released Everybody's Gone to the Rapture on PlayStation 4 in August 2015, and on PC in April 2016.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is an open world, post-apocalyptic adventure set in Shropshire, England in 1984. This was published by Sony Santa Monica, and has received critical acclaim from journalists and has been showcased at various events such as E3, EGX, Paris Games Week, and has been nominated for numerous awards, including 10 BAFTA Games Awards, and has won BAFTA, TIGA, Stuff, Writers' Guild of Great Britain and Emotional Game Awards.
Their visual novel game, Dear Esther, was released in February 2012 to critical and popular acclaim. Dear Esther went on to win ten major awards in 2012, including 5 BAFTAs.
In 2013 they shipped Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, a sequel to the horror classic developed by Frictional Games, acting as a third party developer in collaboration with Frictional to create the game. Amnesia has become a cult title, and also gathered international acclaim and a string of award nominations.
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture begins by dropping the player into a pastoral field. You soon discover that you're in the area surrounding a rural British village, a locale known as Yaughton Valley. It's an idyllic location, all picturesque farmsteads and homey small-town inns, except for one defining feature: The entire population of Yaughton has disappeared. You as the player have to traverse the environments, and through these environments discover what has taken place, eventually leading to the final arc of the story. The game is much like an HD visual novel, the beauty of the spring environment and nature in which the story is set enchanting and enticing for the player. The image above shows the ball of light that guides you through the environment, often leading you through vital parts of the story, changing form to resemble people who once lived in the village.
Ninja Theory (Cambridge)
Ninja Theory Ltd. was formed in 2004 by four partners, including current Directors Nina Kristensen (Chief Development Director), Tameem Antoniades (Chief Creative Director) and Jez San OBE (Non-Executive Director). The studio pride themselves on striving for the highest production values and continually pushing the boundaries of technology, art and design to create evermore exciting video game experiences. Ninja Theory have worked with a long list of collaborators from creative industries outside of video games, including Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, King Kong, The Hobbit), Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later), Nitin Sawhney (BBC’s Human Planet), Noisia (Split The Atom) and Combichrist (Making Monsters). As well as partnering with talent from the world of music, literature and film, Ninja Theory pioneered the use of Performance Capture in video games.
Heavenly Sword, the studio’s first title, was published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2007 exclusively for the PlayStation 3. The performance capture for the combat focused action-adventure was shot at the Weta Workshop in New Zealand with direction from Andy Serkis. Nariko, the game’s red-haired protagonist was played by Anna Torv (Fringe, The Pacific). Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was published by Namco Bandai games for both the Xbox 360 Entertainment and Video Game System and PlayStation 3 in October 2010. Enslaved reached for new heights in video game storytelling, with a script written by Alex Garland.
DmC: Devil May Cry, a reboot of Capcom’s multi-million selling Devil May Cry franchise was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Entertainment and Video Game System and PC in January 2013 to critical acclaim. A fruitful partnership with Capcom saw Ninja Theory take further strides in storytelling, whilst succeeding in creating a fast-paced, 3rd person combat system that rivals the best in the genre. DmC: Devil May Cry achieved an impressive average review score of 86% on aggregation site metacritic.com
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Real-time performance capture
For a few months now I have been following the production of Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice. What got me interested was the real-time facial capture of the main character and how the company developed their own technology to create it.
What is an environment art style test?
An environment art style test is a way of getting a sense of what a finished level will look like, and is a way of helping an art team to find their feet in the terms of the overall style of the game. It generally takes the form of a vignette, or diorama of a small part of a level, and is presented as a fly though video, or a small, controlled playable demo. On Larger projects they are usually part of early milestone deliverables for the publisher. In very basic terms, you can think of them as in-game concept art.
The woodland environment seen in the video is made entirely from these assets.
In the case of Hellblade the art style tests have taken on a slightly different roll to what they have in previous games. In previous blog posts and dev diaries, we touched on our ethos for art creation. Because of the time scales, and lack of man power, I’m building the worlds with kit part props and with as few bespoke meshes as possible. In a traditional role style tests are about exploring ideas and seeing if they work in a game context. In production of Hellblade, they are more about being able to view the kit parts in context, which helps to maintain continuity and quality. As the levels are being designed in parallel to the art creations, we’re also using the style tests to feed back in to the design, and vice versa.
The cave environment seen in the video is made entirely from these assets.
It’s worth noting that the style tests in the video are shown with first pass lighting and very minimal post production. It makes sense to keep everything as natural as possible during this early phase. This will give as more to play with when it comes to colour grading later on. As the name suggests, post production is the last thing we’ll want to add to the levels, and this can drastically alter the look, and mood of a level. It can be very easy to tie yourself in knots when it comes to colour balancing, and lighting when you rely on post too early on.
An environment art style test is a way of getting a sense of what a finished level will look like, and is a way of helping an art team to find their feet in the terms of the overall style of the game. It generally takes the form of a vignette, or diorama of a small part of a level, and is presented as a fly though video, or a small, controlled playable demo. On Larger projects they are usually part of early milestone deliverables for the publisher. In very basic terms, you can think of them as in-game concept art.
The woodland environment seen in the video is made entirely from these assets.
In the case of Hellblade the art style tests have taken on a slightly different roll to what they have in previous games. In previous blog posts and dev diaries, we touched on our ethos for art creation. Because of the time scales, and lack of man power, I’m building the worlds with kit part props and with as few bespoke meshes as possible. In a traditional role style tests are about exploring ideas and seeing if they work in a game context. In production of Hellblade, they are more about being able to view the kit parts in context, which helps to maintain continuity and quality. As the levels are being designed in parallel to the art creations, we’re also using the style tests to feed back in to the design, and vice versa.
The cave environment seen in the video is made entirely from these assets.
It’s worth noting that the style tests in the video are shown with first pass lighting and very minimal post production. It makes sense to keep everything as natural as possible during this early phase. This will give as more to play with when it comes to colour grading later on. As the name suggests, post production is the last thing we’ll want to add to the levels, and this can drastically alter the look, and mood of a level. It can be very easy to tie yourself in knots when it comes to colour balancing, and lighting when you rely on post too early on.
http://www.hellblade.com/?p=18276
Creative Assembly (Horsham)
The Creative Assembly are in their 26th year of developing world class video games. From a starting team of five, they've expanded to over three hundred super talented developers across three floors in a state of the art development facility just outside London.
With multiple AAA projects in development, including the continued evolution of the world renowned Total War games, the newly announced and hotly anticipated cross-platform console title based on the Alien IP, the new F2P Total War: Arena, a follow up to the Unity Golden Cube winning digital Total War title, and a brand new game using the phenomenally popular Warhammer Fantasy Battles licence, there’s something here for professionals from all walks of development.
They actively seek out world class talent and they have some of the very best in the industry – people you’d be proud to number among your friends and colleagues. In addition to our awesome team, we have a focused and friendly culture which is non-corporate yet enormously professional, and we reward creativity. That’s the way we plan to keep it, no matter how ambitious those plans might be.
With multiple AAA projects in development, including the continued evolution of the world renowned Total War games, the newly announced and hotly anticipated cross-platform console title based on the Alien IP, the new F2P Total War: Arena, a follow up to the Unity Golden Cube winning digital Total War title, and a brand new game using the phenomenally popular Warhammer Fantasy Battles licence, there’s something here for professionals from all walks of development.
They actively seek out world class talent and they have some of the very best in the industry – people you’d be proud to number among your friends and colleagues. In addition to our awesome team, we have a focused and friendly culture which is non-corporate yet enormously professional, and we reward creativity. That’s the way we plan to keep it, no matter how ambitious those plans might be.
Research 3 sectors
3D Printing
Company - Chalk Studios
We have built long standing relationships with some of the world’s biggest companies by making sure that everything we do is exciting, engaging and completely bespoke to their needs.
At every stage of a project, from idea generation, right through to the final production, our clients have complete confidence in us, not only to communicate their message but to ultimately deliver them something exceptional.
Our team consists of the most creative, considered and outcome-driven professionals and by surrounding them with in-house production facilities and a continuous investment in the latest 3D technologies such as 3D printing, 3D scanning, laser cutting and CNC milling. This means that no matter what the idea, everything is possible.
http://www.chalkstudios.co.uk/#homepage-about
At every stage of a project, from idea generation, right through to the final production, our clients have complete confidence in us, not only to communicate their message but to ultimately deliver them something exceptional.
Our team consists of the most creative, considered and outcome-driven professionals and by surrounding them with in-house production facilities and a continuous investment in the latest 3D technologies such as 3D printing, 3D scanning, laser cutting and CNC milling. This means that no matter what the idea, everything is possible.
http://www.chalkstudios.co.uk/#homepage-about
Virtual Reality
Company - Rewind
We have a post-house background and consist entirely of creative professionals who have years of experience working with CGI production and visual effects for TV and film. We have merged our deep-rooted heritage in digital design, visual effects and CGI production with new immersive technologies and virtual reality.
Working collaboratively with our clients we create immersive VR environments, bring digital OOH marketing ideas to life and apply our post production mastery to video advertising.
If you want to work with a leading creative production and virtual reality agency to add an extra dimension to your brand, please get in touch.
Working collaboratively with our clients we create immersive VR environments, bring digital OOH marketing ideas to life and apply our post production mastery to video advertising.
If you want to work with a leading creative production and virtual reality agency to add an extra dimension to your brand, please get in touch.
Bibliography
http://rewind.co
http://www.polygon.com/2015/9/11/9310729/disney-virtual-reality-animator-valve-tilt-brush
http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/4/8148265/htc-vive-vr-valve-hands-on-impressions
http://rewind.co
http://www.polygon.com/2015/9/11/9310729/disney-virtual-reality-animator-valve-tilt-brush
http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/4/8148265/htc-vive-vr-valve-hands-on-impressions
Architectural Visualisation
Artist Research
Anya Elvidge - Environment Artist
I found an artist on the website 80 Level and she has specialises in environment art. The images above are from her FMP and she is currently working at Creative Assembly as a Trainee Map designer. As she is on the same career path as I am aiming for, I decided to contact her and see what I could learn.
Ashley Thundercliffe - Environment Artist
I orginally saw Ashley's work on the CG Student Awards (now rebranded as the Rookies). What attracted me to his work was the high level of realism and details in his scenes. I decided I would reach out to him on social media and see if he could give me any constructive advice.
The articles he sent me were these - https://80.lv/articles/detroit-decay-environment-design-study/
https://80.lv/articles/ashley-thundercliffe-four-stages-of-interior-creation/
https://80.lv/articles/ashley-thundercliffe-four-stages-of-interior-creation/
I am happy that I have someone in future who works in the industry to give my advice on my portfolio and FMP
https://www.artstation.com/artist/thundercliffe
Maciej Górnicki - Environment Artist
https://www.artstation.com/artist/dasp
Events, Talks and Visits
EGX Rezzed 2017