Concept Arts

     I decided that a good way to break up the work on my tack concept would be to have a character one happening simultaneously, therefore I decided to start drawing the husband character for our game. As he is supposed to be a member of the British Resistance Organisation, or at least something similar, I used some of the information in the website linked below along with this picture to decide upon how he would be attired.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2053692/Resistance-When-Nazis-took-Wales-new-film-Britains-secret-underground-army.html


I also thought the weapons picture may be useful If I am required to design equipment for my character. Using these references this is the progress on my character so far.


The good news is that I have also finished my tank concept now, the two images below show my stages of progress.



I am reasonably pleased with how this has turned out and will now start working on my next piece of art, a 3D head sculpture of my soldier character.

Researching like a pro

      Knowing that are game would likely be based around a German invasion of Britain we had to take into account that Germany never actually achieved this, why that might be, and how we could change this realistically in our games history to account for their success. The following are notes I have taken from various websites on what made an invasion unlikely, and at what points it could have been effective.
The allies narrowly avoided postponing D-Day by a fortnight to a date when the weathermen would have given the go-ahead and the result would have been utter defeat in storm-tossed seas. No detailed account of the forecasts has been given in the media before.

Previous accounts relied on the interpretation of James Stagg, a Meteorological Office man seconded to the RAF. But he merely reported to Eisenhower the analyses of three two-man teams of forecasters from the Met Office, the United States military and the Royal Navy.

Only the Navy men, Lawrence Hogben and Geoffrey Wolfe, survive. Dr Hogben said: "We six never agreed about anything except that Stagg was not a good meteorologist and that he was a bit of a glory hound." The six worked for months before D-Day, perfecting forecasting techniques many of which are still in use.

        Then Eisenhower would have a two-to-one majority in favour, the attack would have been June 5 as Eisenhower wanted. The weather was terrible that morning, with Force Six winds and high seas."

But a telephone call from the two naval officers stiffened the resolve of the civilian forecasters to resist the Americans.

The Met Office forecasters refused to change their opinion of June 5 and Stagg was forced to tell Eisenhower that the weather did not meet the criteria laid down by the Overlord planners.

Dr Hogben added: "If we had been a little less certain and said no again, it would have had to shift to the 19th. As it happened, on the 17th, all six of us produced a forecast for the 19th for almost perfect conditions, so they would definitely have gone ahead."

And if in that parallel universe, D-Day had taken place on June 19, what would have happened?

"Utter catastrophe. Complete failure. On June 19 the biggest storm of the 20th century came up.

"If they had landed that day, I doubt many landing craft would have even made it to the beaches. It does not bear thinking about."

                                 

                                                Problems with operation Sealion

It was more than likely that "Operation Sealion" would have met with disaster as both Grossadmiral Erich Raeder, chief of the German Kreigsmarine, and Hitler himself knew that the biggest threat to an attempted crossing of the Channel was not the RAF but Britain's traditional strongest force, the Royal Navy, which was much larger than the Kreigsmarine. The strongest section of the Kreigsmarine, the U-boats, would have had little success in a confrontation with Royal Navy destroyers due to the relatively shallow waters of the Channel.

The 22-mile width of the English Channel, and the overall difference in power between the British and German naval forces, made the amphibious invasion plan risky, regardless of victory or defeat in the air during the Battle of Britain. In addition, the Kriegsmarine had allocated its few remaining larger and modern ships to diversionary operations in the North Sea.
Even if the Royal Navy had been successfully contained or neutralised the chances of a successful amphibious landing were remote. The German landing craft were primarily river barges and not built for sea crossings which would have limited their use to good weather days (not hugely regular in the English Channel) and they were slow and vulnerable to attack from the sea and land. Because they were not specialised landing craft the amount of artillery and tanks carried would have been limited. On top of this there weren't enough barges to transport the first invasion wave nor the following waves with their equipment. Without specialised landing craft, the Germans would have needed to immediately capture one of the ports, an unlikely situation considering the strength of the British coastal defences around the south-eastern harbours at that time. The British also had several contingency plans, including the planned use of poison gas.

                                      By capturing airfields

The Royal Navy had overwhelming superiority in the Mediterranean, but the Germans still managed to conquer Crete with paratroopers. All they would need to do is to capture working air fields in Southern England and they could be resupplied by air, even if the Royal Navy had cut them off at the channel.
                                         

                         Removing RAF/ B of Britain Unsuccesful
It's also easy to argue that the Royal Navy could not even operate in the English Channel without taking heavy losses if the RAF gone. German dive bombers and sea mines proved decisive against Royal Navy ships and the Germans had coastal batteries along the French coast and on the Channel islands. 

                         Misleading Navy as to the assault point.

                       Dunkirk

British casualties amounted to 68,000, while French losses totalled around 290,000 with many more than that either missing or taken prisoner. German casualties, on the other hand, amounted to 27,074 killed and 111,034 wounded. The statistics tell the story. Hitler had reason to be pleased with his forces, whose tactics, skill and fighting prowess had led to such a rout. His Order of the Day on 5 June stated:

The decision of Gort (the commander of the BEF) to ignore Churchill and the French commanders and head to the coast, the halt order, the weather, the survival of the Eastern Mole (the pier from which the majority of troops were evacuated), and the incredible determination of the Royal Navy, all combined to save the BEF.

Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort,

At the outbreak of war he was given command of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, arriving on 19 September 1939.^[30] During this time he played a part in a political scandal, the Pillbox affair, that led to the dismissal of British War Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha. Following the Phony War, the 1940 German breakthrough in the Ardennes split the Allied forces and communications between the British Expeditionary Force and the French broke down, and on 25 May 1940 Gort took the unilateral decision to abandon his orders for a southward attack by his forces.^[31] Gort's command position was difficult, serving under French high, theatre, and army group command while also being responsible to London. Withdrawing northwards, the BEF together with many French soldiers were evacuated during the Battle of Dunkirk.^[32]

Gort is credited by some as reacting efficiently to the crisis and saving the British Expeditionary Force.^[31] Others hold a more critical view of Gort’s leadership in 1940, seeing his decision not to join the French in organising a large scale counter-attack as defeatist

By 16 July Hitler had lost patience. In Directive No 126 he stated, ‘As England, in spite of the hopelessness of her position, has so far shown herself unwilling to come to any compromise, I have decided to begin to prepare for, and if necessary carry out, an invasion of Britain’. But Hitler had, to borrow Chamberlain’s earlier phrase, ‘missed the bus’. It seems highly unlikely that Britain could have resisted a German invasion in early June. Churchill knew this and after his ‘We shall fight them on the beaches’ speech, reportedly covered up the BBC microphone and said, ‘but we’ve only got bottles to do so’. Certainly the BEF was in no position to fight. On their return, brigades existed as names only and the nation, dazed by recent events, had virtually no preparations in place. The recently created LDV units, with pitch forks and the odd shotgun, would have provided little more than a spirited but futile resistance.

The depleted Navy, as well as the RAF, was Britain’s only hope, but the numerical supremacy of the Nazi forces provided Germany with a massive advantage. Hitler’s decision to delay gave the country much-needed time to prepare. He refused to listen to his Generals. The only man who might have persuaded him otherwise was General Kurt Student, founder of Germany’s airborne forces, who had worked out a plan for an airborne assault on Britain well before the invasion of France had begun. However, Student had been seriously wounded in Rotterdam. In the end, Operation Sea Lion was never attempted. Years later Student remained convinced that it could have been successful if it had taken place immediately after Dunkirk: ‘Had we launched an airborne operation to occupy the ports where the BEF was disembarking, England’s fate would have been sealed.’
     
      Weighing up this information we decided that Britains most vulnerable point would be just after Dunkirk where, in instead of holding back for three days, the German forces pressed on to the beaches, scuppering our evacuation of soldiers and equipment.
     After further research I came across a tank (Tauchpanzer) the Germans were adapting, using caulk and tape, in an effort to make it amphibious. As our historical tangent has Germany crossing the channel I thought it would be interesting if these tanks were developed further and used as part of the assault.
     As they will now become a key part of our narrative I decided I would create a tauchpanzer as my first piece of concept art. The picture below shows my progress so far. The scene is going to be underwater, and I think that the oxygen hose poking from the roof gives it a sinister feel, almost like a gas mask for the tank


                                                     
                                                       Presentation
The link below shows us the game design doc for Fallout- Brotherhood of Steel, we can use this as a guide for our art.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32184089/Fallout-Brotherhood-of-Steel-2-Design-Document
I found the page below to be particularly helpful as it highlighted to me that, although it is nice to have as many highly polished images in the document as possible this is not always necessary or possible when getting as many ideas across as possible in a short space of time.

Contextual Studies- Transmedia & Participatory Culture

     Here is the most recent update on our contextual studies sessions. We began the lesson by watching a TED, (Technology, Entertainment & Design), conference with guest speaker Henry Jenkins, linked here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFCLKa0XRlw). Here he speaks about "transmedia" and "participatory culture". Transmedia is described as the telling of a narrative across multiple digital platforms. One fantastic example brought up by Jenkins is the use of this within the "Matrix" franchise. Initially we have the three major films: "The Matrix", "Matrix Reloaded" and "Matrix Revolutions". On top of this you have "The Animatrix", a collection of nine animated shorts which one would have to watch to fully understand the introduction of certain events and characters between the main three films. The game "Enter the Matrix" offers fans the opportunity to explore some of the more minor characters of the series, particularly "Ghost" and "Niobe" who appear as playable characters. Another game "The Matrix Online" further informs the audience of events post "Matrix Revolutions". As if this wasn't enough the series also has its own collection of comics containing furthers stories that occur within the Matrix universe. The collection of images below from these various medias re-enforce Jenkin's point about the franchise being such a huge example of transmedia.


     Participatory culture is when individuals, who can be considered part of the general public, extend from their role as consumers and also become contributors. The internet is considered to be a key factor in the growth of participatory culture, with technology and networking sites making it possible, and frankly pretty easy for people to share their interest and creations-whether these are in the form of photography, creative writing, film, music etc. Even blogs such as this can contribute to participatory culture. More information can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_culture
     On further research an issue that has been brought up with participatory culture is the digital divide, with people struggling to access decent technology being somewhat left out. With this technology getting more advanced and effective each year this divide becomes larger in intensity, but at the same time is decreasing in volume as the number of "technophobes" decreases.
       Whilst participatory culture and transmedia seems like an interesting subject to look at for cs, it seemed that it would probably be quite a popular choice with the rest of the class, I will bear this in mind when I pick my topic as I would prefer not to cross over with what someone else may be doing.

Contextual `Studies- Spheres of Action

     I have yet to mention anything about our contextual studies sessions for this year. We have not been told what our final project will be for it yet but instead have been different themes for each lesson which will no doubt contribute to whatever we are expected to explore by the end of this term.
     This week we have been looking at Proppian theory in storytelling.
Vladmir Propp was a Russian scholar born in 1895 who studied, amongst other things, folklore and its morphology. He broke down different traditional fairytales into sections, and deduced that the sections had a number of "functions" that tended to appear consistently. These are as follows: "After the initial situation is depicted, the tale takes the following sequence of 31 functions:

1. ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. This may be the hero or some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an ordinary person.
2. INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'don't do this'). The hero is warned against some action (given an 'interdiction').
3. VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away.
4. RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc.; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way.
5. DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location.
6. TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration.
7. COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain. This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people (perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people are actually bad).
8. VILLAINY or LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc., commits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc.). There are two options for this function, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first option, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second option, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way.
9. MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc./ alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe.
10. BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item, rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism.
11. DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;
12. FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc., preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);
13. HERO'S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);
14. RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
15. GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;
16. STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;
17. BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
18. VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
19. LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revived, captive freed);
20. RETURN: Hero returns;
21. PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
22. RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
23. UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country;
24. UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;
25. DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
26. SOLUTION: Task is resolved;
27. RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
28. EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;
29. TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc.);
30. PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;
31. WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted)."

     

Whilst we did not actually cover "functions" in our session we were introduced to Propp's book "Morphology of the Folktale" pictured below. Here we were informed of Propp's eight "broad characters" or as we referred to them "action spheres". Here Propp stated that the characters in the folktales he analysed could be split into eight categories

1) Villain- challenges the hero
2) Dispatcher- sends the hero off on his/her quest
3) Helper- possibly magical, aids hero in quest
4) Princess- hero's reward for completing quest, usually withheld from him/her until that point
5) Princesses's father- perhaps gives task to hero, Propp stated that the princess and her father are often indistinguishable in their function
6) Donor- aids/equips hero in preparation for task
7) The Hero- often protagonist of story, he who sets upon quest
8) False Hero- May try to steal princess or the hero's glory for himself

    It is worth mentioning that the definitions are not always literal. The princess may be a reward in the form of an object or treasure, likewise the helper could easily be a magical weapon or sidekick beast.

We were told to transfer what we have learnt to two games of our choice, but instead identify action spheres that were represented by the environment within game worlds. Our group decided to go with "Mirrors Edge" and "Little Big Planet". With LBP your entire world is endangered by a vacuum sucking the environment up. We decided that this in itself acts as a Dispatcher, if your character does not begin his quest he will be destroyed. It also doubles up as the Princess, by completing the game the Hero's world is saved, hence it is his reward. Your physical surroundings also act as a donor/helper as they provide abilities or equipment eg. a ledge you can climb up, to help you to your next stage.

We found a lot of similarities with action spheres in games and found it particularly difficult to find one hugely different. We went with "Mirrors Edge" eventually. To some extent the Villain and the Dispatcher are one and the same. An organisation that will try to kill you and at the same time, force you to keep moving. Other Villains can be found within the environment eg. crumbling ground, steep falls, that will certainly kill the character should she succumb to them. ME also use ledges as a helper upon the quest, but also it is worth pointing out a red colour scheme is applied to architecture the player is expected to interact with, and this two functions as a helper.

I have quite enjoyed looking at Propp's theories, which I feel familiar with having come across them before at college. At this point we are looking for themes that will eventually make up our final cs presentations, therefor I will be keeping Proppian theories in mind.

Lean Green Machine.

     This is my latest 2D work. He's called Norman and he wants to be your friend. He likes interpretive dance, puppets, getting to know you, and clubbing passers by to death. He will alienate you from your friends and family, however he does compensate for this by being powerfully overbearing and invasive to your personal space.






 
     I have deliberately chosen to include metal and fabric in this piece purely so I can familiarise myself with painting these texture, whereas I may have avoided them in the past. I brought this piece into our most recent 2D drop in session for advice on where I may be going right or wrong and was picked up on several issues included a descrepency in lighting, and anatomy.



I used Tom Hardy's impressive physique in "The Warrior" as a starting inspiration for my character. As you can see in the pictures the trapezius muscles (between the shoulder and neck) are extremely pumped up and something of a focal point. When being advised on my image it was pointed out that I havn't used the lighting as effectively to define these muscles. Furthermore the positioning of the hands is somwhat awkard and therefore also needs revising. Progress on this to follow...

Introduction to main project

      Initially we were given a choice of five different games including "Medal of Honor", "Fatal Frames", "Flow" and "Moshi Monsters". Our group quickly decided on picking either of the first two and decided to spend a day researching both before we made our decision.

Fatal Frames: 
A survival horror that also goes by "Project Zero" in Europe, "Fatal Frames" use a camera "weapon" as a method for dealing with enemies within the game. Were we to use it as our inspiration the camera or something reminiscent of it would be something that we should utilise within our own version.


     The game is very much focused on creating horror through vulnerability. As such you play as a young girl, whilst your ability to see the enemies that attck you is limited without the aid of your camera- which in itself is a pretty inoffensive weapon.

Medal of Honor:



Medal of Honor is a FPS series that has used WWII frequently as its setting. The game carries a strong element of realism and this is an important part of the player experience. Therefore this is re-enforced by making everything from weapons, vehicles, geography and history as credible and/or historically accurate as possible. Our group seemed to favour this as an influence for our game, whilst bearing in mind that this storng sense of realism would enforce the need for heavy research into our chosen setting.
 
After some deliberation we decided on Medal of Honor as our chosen game. We decided that the German invasion of Britain would be a poignant and so far relatively unexplored plot structure. Our next step was heavy research into the factors that would make an invasion possible, and realistically how this would affect us in the UK. From hereon this process will be named "Project Sealion", it is classified top secret and any attempt to divulge information on it may be punishable by death.

New year

      As usual slightly delayed posting on here. We are now back at uni for our second year and although the poor dedication to blogging may contradict this, I am determined to make this year more productive. We already have a main project set, the creation of a pitch and design doc for our own reinterpretation of a pre- existing game. In the first week of contextual studies we were also given a game genre to research and present. Examples of work relating to these projects to follow.