Extra Credit- Story Board's

These are my story boards. They outline a game where a hunter is trying to find the secret diamond hidden in the castle. In order for him to reach this diamond he must blast through a wall of piled stones to uncover the key. Once the character does this the key is used to unlock the door to the castle where the character is greeted by poisonous snakes that circle the diamond protecting it. The character must use his sword to slay   the snakes one by one without being bitten. After he has defeated the snakes the magical diamond is all his. 

My first board outlines the general concept of the game that I have just displayed for you. My second board outline the  scene where the character is slaying the snakes to get to the magical diamond. The last board shows the very beginning challenge the character is faced with having to blast through a wall of stone to get to the needed key. 

Final Semester Project

I updated my rock, paper, scissor poster because it was the lowest graded project. I also wanted to take it to another level by animating it I'm photo shop. I went with the same layout as the old project but I changed the colors and fonts to all match. I also changed the artwork because I wanted photos with a clear background to keep it simple. I animated it using opacity to get all of the objects to appear, and I used position for the description and the rules to be "pulled" into place. That aspect is hard to tell because they did not move very far. I am very pleased with how the new version looks.



I chose to do a different line art because the last mountain I did was not dimensional and pretty basic. This took my the most time because the object was large and it had to be carefully outlined because of all the curves. I filled in the shadow colors pixel by pixel and was surprised at how many difference shades of greens. blacks, and blues can be used in one small area. I filled in the silver color by selecting the area and using the fill option to fill it in. I like how this came out because it looks very similar to the original, and the mountain seemed to have layers of different colors. This took so long because every few pixels I would need to grab the eye drop tool and start filling in the next few.

W14- Second upgrade

These renders show my updated maze. I wanted to continue to make it look more like a icy cave. I got an icicle texture and dropped it into photo shop where I edited out the background. Then I duplicated it to create a boarder around the maze, leaving a few spaces where the door would be. Then because the color came very dull through the render I made it almost completely white so it showed through to look icy. I wanted to add snow to the top of the maze so I used the paint effects and stacked bubbles on top of each other to look like piles of snow. Because these were also dull and see-through when I took a render I make the bubbles white to look like snow. I was able to use some tools I used in photoshop to upgrade my maze in maya. Although there is no way to edit out the blue cones that provide the light, overall I am happy with the progression of this project.

W013- Project 2 upgrade

I chose these icicles because I thought I could add them around the boarder of the ceiling of my maze. I would do this by getting a tillable texture and recreating it as it did for the rest of the maze structures. This would give it more of an icy feel because in the renders it is hard to see that the top is blue ice. If recreating tiles does not work I can always use paint effects to create different strokes or maybe different size cylinders. As a third resort I could try and create something that resembles icicles in illustrator and see  if I can transfer that into maya.

This represents a pile of snow. I also want to add these to the top part of my maze or pushed up against some of the walls in the maze to create more of a tunnel feel. I can do this by creating a shape in maya and distorting it so it looks like an abstract mound, then I would color it white. I would probably have these mounds pushed up against the corners, and they would be fairly large. 

W013-updated project

The first animation is my original title screen. I chose to update this title screen because there was technical difficulties with the first title screen. In the original one (first animation) there was no snow. For the updated animation I added snow because it would give more of a wintery feel to the screen. Also, because it can snow on a mountain, where the game takes place I thought it fit. I did this by taking the snowball and shrinking it down to two different sizes. Then I duplicated these sizes and placed them at the top of the screen. I had them fall at different speeds of time to replicated how actual snow would fall. 

W12- Game update

This was my first animated title screen. I want to update this by having all of the clouds turn dark like the Game options cloud. I would do this by coloring the clouds and having that animation appear consecutively as the snowballs are rolling so the game options cloud is the last to light up. I also want to add a character to this title page. I want the character going down the mountain in front of the snowballs to bring the "challenge" part of the title some meaning. I would do this by getting a cartoon character snowboarding or skiing and have that character progress down the mountain before the snowballs do. I want to add these effects because I feel like it will make the title page more interesting and more centered around the concept of the game. Although the picture below is more dimensional then my game title I chose it for the character. My game title is more cartoon like making it hard to find a professional display of exactly what I want. I chose this character because I like the position she is in. The arm placement and bend of the knees signify that the character is moving downhill. Most of this work will be done in photoshop because it is about adding elements and animation to those elements. I have planned to upgrade the rest of the uncolored clouds since the beginning of this assignment. I had the idea to add a character because when creating my second logo for this game The main center of it was a character and I want to unify the two together. 

W 12 Improved maze

For this render I took it far away to show the glow of the light sources in a general look. The use of the spot light as a light source is shown through the cone shape.

This render is taken from almost a level view and closer in. This is to show some of the cracks on the wall and how the light is glowing inside of the maze.

this render is really far away and a top level view. This shows where the light soured are placed and how the maze is lit.

This render is the closest view. The glowing cracks are visable from the floors and the walls. the light is clearly seen.

W11- Improvement references

I pulled this picture from SSX tricky because i like the texture of the snow. I like that you can tell it has been warn and contrasts the untouched snow towards the side. I would consider using this texture on the walls of my maze to show that it was tunneled through and disrupted. Right now the walls have no texture and I think adding some of this texture would help to change the look. I would do this by seeing if I can get a paint effect to make the texture look nonuniform to resemble random jabs with a shovel. I would use a thin brush. If that does not work I would go back into photoshop and either use the paint effects there or pull a texture from CG textures.

I pulled this photo from the same game because I like the lighting. It almost looks like the moon light is reflecting off of the snow. This gave me the idea to make small holes in the sides or top of the maze that can light the inside of the maze using a color that looks like moon light with somewhat of a blue hue to it. Right now I have a yellow glow, but there is no electricity on the mountain so the maze would need natural light or torch light. There are also open holes acting as doors at the end of each hall. A "moon light" can be placed in the center of these holes to signify that there is an opening out of the mountain maze. The moon light represents the an opening to the outside.

I pulled this photo because of the crack in the middle. As an obstacle there could be cracks in or across portions of the maze that the character would have to walk around or jump over. There can also be cracks on the top and sides of the maze that can seep the moon light discussed previously. This can be done using a paint effect.  I would like to add a few rocks to the maze as obstacles, or maybe a tall crystal like ice structure that could have been formed from maybe water dripping then freezing.

I put this campfire reference in here because this fire can be at a dead end of the maze where people might be seeking shelter, or stuck in the maze (thanks for the idea Professor!). The light may draw the player towards the dead end in hopes that it would be a way out. In doing this I would place one of my "doors" with just a snow wall or rock wall and instead of having a "moon light" I would have the yellow orange huge light that would be caused by the fire. I would probably place the light coming up form the fire and around the fire because the fire would be casting a large circle glow. 

W 11 Full Maze Renders

The first maze render is a close up. I wanted a lot of light because the maze is a tunnel through an icy cave in a mountain. The light emulates what would be a torch or flashlight being used by who ever is going through the maze. There are doors at the end of each hall. There is no ceiling over the tunnel so the path can be seen because the maze is technically going through the mountain. 







This render is a far away render. You can only see the major light and not the doors at the end of the halls. 

This represents my door. Because My maze takes place inside a mountain there are actually no doors, but there are tunnels. The polar bear represents what would be the outside because the animal is outside the mountain. 

This is my ceiling. I wanted to make an icy looking ceiling to contrast the color of the floor. I liked this photo because there was white space in between the blue ice chunks so it looks like the ice is plastered onto the snow. This also adds a nice pop of color to my maze. 

This is my floor. It is a rocky/icy texture which is what I wanted. I didnt want the floor to be snow but more of a rough rocky texture. I liked this texture because its bumpy and rigid, but because there are no defined rock pieces it looks like dirty ice or snow which fits the feel for the bottom of a mountain. 

This is my maya render. You can see the ceiling and floor squares on the bottom, and the walls and door standing up. In the actual maze the color white will be much more bright.

This is the snow pattern used for my walls. It's basic snow pattern, but the small indents add texture to the snow so it's not just a blank sheet of white color. I like this because I am still not sure how else I am going to add texture to my scenes. 

W10 maze

My maze is taking place inside of the mountain. I wanted the floor to be a rocky/icy texture like the bottom of a mountain. The walls are all snow because the mountain is made of snow. The ceiling is and icy texture resembling the top of the mountain. I really like the blue color that is adds, it brings more of a light to the maze. If I were to change anything I may work with the color of the floor and make it darker or a lighter color to correlate with the ceiling, but I'd have to play around with it. I also would add some snow tunnels that would act as doors.

W09-Maze research

For my maze I wanted a straight approach that had an ending mark, which would inevitably lead out of the tunnel. My simplest drawing is pretty straight with a few side tunnels that can be easily figured out by trial and error. My medium maze has a few more complex turns that are off of the turns from the easy maze. This may casey slightly more confusion as the character can go in circles. For the hardest maze I added many more turns that end in dead ends, as well as connecting a lot of the turn offs that end in dead ends. This is clearly the most complex. 

For my maze I want the set to be the inside of a mount. It has to be pretty dark, the character would need a light of some sort. I really like the top picture because it has the snowy walls. Because my game is on a mountain I like that the tunnels would be made of snow and ice. The rocks on the side add a nice touch but are not 100% necessary. I also like that it is dark. It is clear that whatever character is in the maze currently needed a light source. If i had to choose a second option I would choose the setting on the bottom right. I like that the path is all stone, related to the inside of a mountain. Although there is no snow one can clearly tell that the character is tunneling through a mountain. The last photo I like because of how dark it is and can be played off as the inside of the mountain. The coloring makes it look less like a snow mountain, but that can be changed if need be. The over all theme for this maze is wintery, dark and snow like. It has to give an out doorsey almost rugged feel to it. 

W09 Advanced line art

For my large prop I chose to do the mountain from my game as the mountain is the largest prop in the game. It also has the trees that are placed on top of it which I did for my small prop. The hardest part of this was blending the shading from the different blues. The line work it self was most challenging on the tree so I decided to do the mountain with less challenging line work and focus more on the shading aspect of pixel art. My colors work well but I still need to improve on blending the layers of color together.

W08- research building prop

For my larger build i want to do this half mountain that was in my original title page. This is a main potion of the page. The black background will not be present. I like this because it is relative to my game. There is not much texture but I like how the different blues shade together which in part creates what would be the damention of the mountain.

I chose this building because I like the different shapes and shading. I would not add the car in front of the building in the design.




                       





I like this building because of the shadow work. There is also a brick texture that would be good to work with. The pavement is simple enough to not take away from the work of the building.

W08-line art with color

For this tree I had to layer a lot of colors. It is clear that the highlight is on the right side of the tree so I made that side really light green. The middle of the tree was the darkest, but in the pixel color it came out a little blotchy because it is not 3D. Then there were two other medium shades of green used to fill in the tree. The top of the tree is lighter, and gradually adds more darkness as the tree expands downward. The stump was only a mix of 3 shades of tan. A highlight, dark shadow and medium fill color to transition between the two.

W08-Line art prop work

I chose the tree for my prop work. It was very challenging because the different colors of the tree act as layers to give it a three dimensional look which were hard to replicate using pixels. For the color of the branches there are three shades or green. The lightest being the outside highlight on the right side, the middle being the color of the actual branch, and the dark being the shadow from the layered branches. The trunk had two shades of brown and tan, the tan acting as the highlight of the trunk.

W07 Animated Logo

I pretty much completely changed my logo from my title page. I really liked y previous title page, but with the flipping ski's in the middle I did not see room for a logo, other then having the ski's become the logo. When I changed it I still kept the falling snow balls and ski's in the middle, but added an actual character to portray that the game is about a skier on a mountain because in this title page there are no mountains. I used the fading in and out to switch the ski's into the skier almost as if the skier was coming through the ski's. I kept the text color as red because I like how it pops of the page. The colors of the skier are slight variations of red and blue, the purple color being the combination of both  colors. 

W07 Logo research

This is a prototype for my logo. I like the mountain in the back, but I feel as if the title in the skis is not bold enough. I like the general idea that I am going with, but it needs a lot of work because it looks really boring and bland. The researh has helped me narrow down what I want, the next step will be bringing it to life.












These are my 10 thumbnail sketches. The very first one is the one I chose (sorry they are hard to see). I like the mountain behind the skier because it adds dimention to the logo. I need to find a way to add some color and fun designs maybe through illustrator to bring the flat drawings to life.

I started with a few titles I thought would look cool. I like something simple like the KOMIKA TITLE font. It is in all caps and bold which makes it stick out. My second choice would be the ubuntu title because it reminds me of the SSX Tricky game, but I wasn't sure if it was the bold look that I am looking for with the title.
For the logos I really liked the design on the bottom, but I am not sure that I can do enough with it, maybe add the title at the bottom of the ski. This would be my first choice, but I need to play with it. My first choice other then that photo would be the line drawing of the skier. I like this because I can do a lot of creative work with it. The circle logo is cool because of its shape, but it would not be my top choice.

W06 Animated Title Screen

For my animation I wanted to center the eye towards the title. Both snowballs come from opposite ends and merge in the middle before exploading as the title bounces and appears between the slicing skis. This draws the eye to the "Down-Hill Challenge" that is in red. The game options are in the clouds because it helps to spread out the commotion and color from the center. I would continue to make them stormy towards the end of the animation. 

W05 Title page

For my title page I wanted the center to focus around the title, which is in red as a bold color against the blue and white background. The trees are significant of the forest and the stationary obstacles of the game. The ski's are symbolic of the fact that a skier is the character of the game. 

This photo shows the snowball at the bottom of the hill because when the title page is animated it will be rolling down the side of the mountain. I also plan to try and animate the text by stretching it down then releasing it almost with an elastic effect.

W05 Final Mood Board

For my overall colors I chose colors that almost look as if they came from a toy box. I wanted many pop colors that are different, but work well with each other and have a purpose. The background is white because the snow on the mountain will be white, making it the main color of the game. The forest green is used in the trees along the trails, varying in sub color. The tan will be the color of the tree stalks, varying in darkness. The blue will be the color of the sky. The black is used in accents. All colors can be used in equipment because it is subject to change based on which equipment is unlocked. 

All of the main colors are used in the environment . However I included the darker white color because the trees will provide shade on some parts of the mountain, creating a grey/white color.

The skier options have a few sub colors because there are many more options. I changed the bright pink to a red/pink because red will be used in other aspects of the game. The blue is just a darker blue then the one in the main color because it will be bold and stand out as the skier equipment should. I included black again because it will be utilized as an accent color in most of the equipment on a zipper, marking or hat. 

The obstacles have two sub colors. There is a beige/tan color that is a sub color of the tan/yellow main color. This is the color of the polar bear because it cannot be pure white or it would blend in with the snow. The bright yellow is the actual caution that is a brighter version of the tan/yellow main color. The red is the color of the ski patrol, but was included as a main color.

The safety objects have three sub colors. The yellow is similar to the yellow in the obstacles, but with a slighter hint of orange to it. I chose to change the color of the lightening bolt to a free/yellow. It will still pop out, but it will be a sub color of the yellow main color and the forest green. The grey color is a sub color of the black main color because it is the color of the fish. The medical kit is red and white, both of which are main colors.