Blocking out

      I decided to start blocking out a very basic version of my scene within Maya so as to get a starting idea of what I can expect it to look like.
      An interesting site I came across whilst looking at some of the features of safehouses/bases in gaming was this one http://www.gamedev.net/topic/477645-safe-house-features/. It is a forum asking gamers what functions they appreciate from a safe house and this gave me some interesting ideas for things I could include like customizable music/radio options, visible mission trophies and different types of minigames. I kept this in mind as I began to block out the environment.

      This  first picture would be the bar area. I have deliberately made the drink selection limited, with only one brand of beer and a selection of spirits being available. My idea at the moment would be to have all this setup on a shelf as opposed to having any kind of refrigeration but I am not completely decided on this. In the game the player would be able to purchase drinks at the bar which would give them health, however, like they introduced in GTA 4, this would result in the character getting drunk. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBl0FBoweic demonstrated here 4.54 onwards). However I would make this continue into subsequent game missions- in GTA it was quite a short lasting effect.
     In the background (gap in the wall indicates doorway) you can see a little of the office/back room set up. From here players will be able to manage the various business ventures the character may be involved with, sleep (to fill some kind of energy/health stat or perhaps to progress the timeline), and access personal items they may have collected through the course of the game.

      These images depict the "adult entertainment" area. This basically consists of a stripper pole and two sofa areas for lap dances. I think this is a particularly important area of the bar as it spawn all the sordidness and a lot of the grimy undertone of the bar, at the same time however I find the idea of just getting a strip dance from a virtual character, like in some games, to be a little tragic. Therefore I want this to have some kind of function. For example you could buy dances for business associates to help negotiate deals, or getting a dance would give character a confidence stat boost that may make it easier/harder for him to try and chat up potential dates later. Either way I just think it is important that it performs a function within the game. I feel that lighting is a really important part of this area, especially with different kinds of lights such as neon, and I will pay much attention to this when planning this section. I will also need to focus on the range of materials and how this will affect things like reflection, the chrome stripper pole would be a prominent example of this.

      This image show the steps up to the strip area, the speakers mark the area where the dance floor will be. After looking at the site I mentioned earlier I quite like the idea that player could use this to input there own music. I am not entirely sure what the rules are on being able to feed your own music into a game like this but I am sure it is something I have seen before. The dance floor will also be an area where the character can meet dates, the success based on the characters personality/confidence can be affected by factors mentioned before like alcohol intake or receiving lap dances. You can also see the corner of the pool table in the corner, this will be one of several minigames in the bar, including card games at the tables and a dartboard.

      This picture shows the drinking area. The player could interact with customers at this point. This will be where the card games take place as well, different groups will be playing different games. On table Poker, one Blackjack etc. This would also be an area where random events such as bar fights might break out. As the owner of the bar it would be the character's responsibility to stop this and evict unruly customers.

     This final picture shows the bathroom. Further establishing the low cost and low regulation nature of the establishment it is unisex and shows evidence of the various scuffles and fights that have occurred within its 

walls.

     With these areas planned out a little I can focus on some of the technical processes that will help me build this scene. After speaking to my tutor I decided I will be using UDK. My next step now will be to look at processes such as lighting and get familiar with them before BA8. Work on this to follow