Game Engines

An engine is pretty much what brings the game to life. Using physics, collisions, animations etc on externally made assets.  Being good at 3ds max is all well and good, but is essentially nothing if you can’t put everything into one, neat, playable package.

The engine also gives a game its identity through style and visualisation. You can also usually tell from effects, lighting and shadows what engine it was developed under. 

For instance, the most recent Need for Speed game, The Run, was developed with the Frostbite engine, which was also used for  Bad Company 2 etc. Even though they’re two completely different games, you can still see similarities visually between the two titles.  

For our final major project, it seems we have two engines to choose from in which to develop and showcase our FMP. These would be the Unreal and Cry engine. Of course there are many others out there but these are the two which are available to us.

Engine showcase from GDC 2011 - Cryengine/UDK

The two engines seem suited to better things, urban vs rural.. ofcourse cryengine is great at creating vast, natural lanscapes with a great sense of realism. Shown best in Crysis… beautiful. But I think the engine doesn’t serve justice when brought to an urban setting. Don’t get me wrong, Crysis 2 is by no means an ugly game, but jungles and forests is where this engine is more at home.

Fact of the day - Crytek originally showed Far Cry just as a technology demo to showcase the cryengine, but after the potential Nvidia saw it was later made into a fully-fledged game title

From what exposure to Unreal we’ve had during the group project, I have already made many an assumption about UDK.

it crashes, aaaaallll the time… when you load up the package – don’t touch it, it will crash ! when you try and save, don’t touch it, it will crash ! When you build the lighting, don’t touch it, it will crash !

Basically when its thinking, just don’t touch it !

Whats all this about having to build the lighting anyway. I know it allows the game to run faster as shadows cast from assets are permanent so the game doesn’t have to calculate them on the fly…

Buuuuuut

Its takes fucking ages !

If you move a few assets about, the lighting has to be completely rebuilt. And if this is on the production stage it could take upwards of 20 minutes.

Kind of disrupts the workflow a little aye

What I did find funny, was if you shoot a dynamic object away from its original position, the shadow stays imprinted into the environment.

Kinda like this bit in the Simpsons episode, Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy, where Homer has sat in front of the TV for so long his shadow has been radiated into the walls. 

A major pro to the Unreal engine is that it has a very in depth material editor. I was amazed at how much can be achieved by plugging endless amount of nodes into each other, giving complete control over desired effects.This is also very useful and efficient method of saving package space via re-using materials. 

There are some little issues I had with UDK, which were easily solved, but were such a ball ache to find out how. Example, I was trying to import textures onto an asset which had an alpha map, I knew how to import an alpha texture in, but even though the texture appeared fine in the material editor (with the parts I wanted see through and opaque correct) the asset placed in engine was all translucent, and shit.

I googled for hours ( because that’s how I solve the majority of my problems ) but after many web pages of nothing relevant I reluctantly gave up. It wasn’t until labs next day I consulted the group and Ben had been having the exact same problem

Solution – defer compression, a single tick box

I wasn’t angry, just relieved.

Apparently this is how most problems in UDK are solved, minor insignificant tick boxes.

Oh ! another way we found to fix problems is to simply save the package. If that doesn’t work then, well, give up. It’s probably not worth it

I am a little bit tempted to use the cry engine for my FMP, just cause everything is done in real time. What you see in the editor is pretty much what you’ll see in game ! This is a major plus for the workflow as you don’t have to keep building the lighting to see changes you’ve made.

Plus cryengine just seems to make things look beautiful.

But I guess ill just have to try both and see which is better suited to my idea ! which I still need to decide on… hmmm…

Level Design

Level design is something that is constantly changing and advancing through generations.  With the first era of games, only a single dimension and limited graphics meant levels generally tended to be platformers.

At the time these game still remain timeless classics, look how far Mario has come and that started as a basic 2 sidescroller. I guess the developers had to make do with what they had, but still came up with intuitive techniques to keep the player interested. 

Its not like platformers still cant be innovative in this generation . Games like 'Limbo' and 'Little Big Planet' based on a 2d environment still managse to create a uniquicly interesting world. 

But with the task of creating 3d worlds, the developer has to make informed decision to ensure that this 3d space is used appropriately.

A lot of games take advantage of this 3d space, making the player explore vertically aswell as horizontally across the terrain.

 rather than just running through corridors or around flat planes.

The Uncharted and Assassins Creed series instantly spring to mind as games which are vertically challenged. Both lean on their climbing mechanic allowing the player to traverse the landscape anyway they want, adding a rare layer of gameplay aaaand, ultimately making the game so much more immersive, fully interacting with everything in the level.

‘Oh look, there’s a tower over there, im gonna climb to the top, then jump off ! ‘

In competitive team games , levels have to present a tactical side to them. Which areas should be confined/ open, where vantage points are and layout for a particular area, are all factors which developers have to take into account.  

Counter Strike, has always had a solid level design, making a selection of its maps timeless ( released again in sequals and mods on other games )

I think the reason these maps so great, is that from the very start you are given a choice, A or B. then each encounter from there  requires a different approach due to the layout of the level.

Whats amusing is when once side isn’t doing so well so players from that team frantically type

A,  EVERYONE GO A !!!!

Trying to getting everyone onboard to rush in one direction in hope of victory

Open world games are the ultimate challenge for a level designer (imho) never mind building a poxy level but a whole freggin city !

Sandbox games, such as Grand Theft Auto or Skyrim, forces the designers to take a whole different approach into how they develop the world. Ultimately it has to satisfy and sutain the player which is realised into it, and will pretty much do to it whatever the hell they feel like. 

I thought it was slightly cool how Liberty City was developed. The first thing the developers did was to basically just block out and build a realistic City. It was only after this where areas would tweaked to be used as settings for pre-existing mission ideas. Very efficient way of working me thinks.

Well, they ended up with one of the most visceral, believable game worlds ever created !

A whole days work is finally starting to pay off !

Life is worth living again.

So this week has pretty much been like a reading week seeing as everyone has reviews and we don’t have to go in for lectures or seminars etc. not the best way to tink of it

Buuuuut

Unlike last years ‘week off’ ive been up for 10am eeevvery day (sacrificing my usual 9 hours ) to be up and productive.

Ive made quite a lot of progress with work, the occasional speed paint and blog entry went down a treat, and I finally finished modelling my self-portrait so I could start unwrapping today. I just didn’t realise how frustrating spending my day with UV’s would become !

I literally spent from 10 till 4 trying to find the best method of pelt mapping.

I swear Max kept trying to piss me of. Replacing seems right after I had specifically deleted them, totally resetting UV meshes that I had painstakingly managed to create… I swear pelt mapping is the most complicated thing ever invented, or it just hates me.

Everyone knows the best way to create a mesh for the figure is to pelt map. But for the whole day, no matter what I did, the model always ended up was uvs stretched all over the body in some parts and too tightly packed in others.

It took me a while to figure out why my head wouldn’t unwrap properly. For some reason the stretcher, that goes around the outside of the uv to pull them out evenly, was only attached to the lips. Rather than encompassing the whole of the head.

I tried for ages to find a solution. Eventually I noticed because the lips weren’t attached together, a permanent seem has to be there ? so I extruded the lips inside the mouth and joined them together as kind of hidden geometry. 

And voila ! check it.

The seam disappeared. I re-pelted and it worked ! I actually couldn’t believe it, THIS made my day. I was so close to giving up aswell. Trying different ways of fixing a problem, always ending in failure had taken its toll haha.

I guess if I went to labs there would’ve been someone there to help, but no, im too ill ! Youtube will have to do.

Visual Composition

Composition is basically the layout of the image, deciding what is the most important part and organsising everything else accordingly

I guess its like, when youre taking a picture, you always aim to get ‘everything’ in and generally stand to where would be the most effective viewpoint.

Pieces of work representing good composition use all forms of technique, manipulating the image through use of lines and shape, colour, tone and space.

Using the Rule of Thirds is a good basis in creating good composition. The method involves splitting the canvas into 9 equal parts and dividing the subjects into them. It’s said to create more interest in the elements rather than world itself.

Composition is important, it’s something we have to consider as artists in both the 2d and 3d world. In a painting the artist has to create the layout of the painting from a single fixed viewpoint.

A particular fine art piece I like comes from Joseph Wright of Derby, traditionally a Chiaroscuro artist, painting both landscape and portraits.

The’ Vesuvius from Posillipo’ shows excellent use of compositional elements. Looking at this now I can actually see the rule of thirdsbeing used. The white of the clouds are separated from the red of the volcano, by the moonlight illuminating the night’s sky. This battle is then reflected down into the ocean broken up by landscape eventually leading to the silloheute of the ship.

The balance between light and dark really creates quite a haunting image. I find the use of red in this image interesting, although it is illuminate, it’s almost shielded underneath the dark plooms of smoke contrasted against the true light from the clouds.

Composition in paintings is tough to get right, and it doesn’t normally happen by chance.

However in the three dimensional world, the artist now has to organise the scene from every angle possible so that no matter where the player is standing in the world, the environment is always pleasing on the eye.

Quite a task id imagine.

I think its only from the most recent trash project that I’ve really started thinking about composition. Id always move the camera to a suitable spot and adjust the lighting for renders, but with this project was different due to modelling lots of different assets in one scene. I ultimately decided by creating 10 different trash scenes and picking the one that looked the best.

This method worked fine for a 500 poly trash scene, but it would take faaaaaaaar too much time to do this for a large environment (which is why planning and concepting is so important ! ! haha )

There are ways of getting around this problem. ‘Blocking out’ objects and landscape, adjusting them to get a feel for the scene.

This is particularly useful in creating cityscapes. Well this is what ive been told. Ive never actually done it before so ill think ill do one now to prove my point haha

So this is 20 minutes spontaneous work, but if you have an aim or a theme in mind it’s a good way to get a gist of the layout of the scene with a three dimensional perspective. This ones better than mine.  

Facial Topology

I thought wasting a day was bad, but ive wasted a week of precious 3ds max time, ironic just after watching 'In Time'

I thought it’d be best to get my act together and start work on the mortal engines self-portrait because there’s a hell of a lot to do in such a short amount of time. So over the past week ive put a lot of effort starting with  my head, modelling wasn’t to difficult but I put a lot of time into creating nice and clean geometry and I really wanted it to look like me.

 My efforts ending with this

It wasn’t ultil this Tuesday after alomost a whole days work at the labs when at 4 o’clock I found out that everything I had been doing was basically, wrong…

I was blissfully unaware of the rules in creating portraits.

Turns out every polygon has to have meaning and structure, geometry has to flow and circle around the head perfectly so it can be successfully rigged and animated.

From where I had got to the area around the eyes was solid, but from there down, everything had to go (except the nose, that can stay)

Rich suggested a good site from a previous student to aid in my second attempt at this project. I had to keep referring back to the pictures to see which line starts and finishes where, how many circles are needed in and out of the mouth etc, but eventually got a solid model which I hope is satisfactory (definitely need to check this with Heather !)

This has totally put me of character modelling for my final major project, and I haven’t even started to make the rest of the body yet, or rig it !

Looks like im gonna be spending a lot of my days at labs.

The worlds most fustrating puzzle...

And annoying, I forgot annoying.

The puzzle if you are wondering is punching packing UV’s into a texture sheet. It’s kinda like Tetris, but without the catchy music and fun. 

Seeing as we have to save texture space by making sure we use as much of the page as possible, I decided to go all out and literally cover the page with UVs. So I start to pack them only to realise my efforts have ended with many gaps and spaces.

So then I decided to make all of them bigger and try my luck squeezing them in. I went overboard, a little ambitious with how much I enlarged them, but no biggie ill work it out. 

I spent upmost of 45 minutes starring at green lines on a texture page (swear I could hear the tetris theme tune) But eventually after resorting/organising/scaling/spacing/prioritising/rotating, they all just slotted in !

Huzzah !

One thing I can be proud of, is that my UVs are MUCH denser packed than the computers effort.

1-0 to me ? computer cant even colour within in the lines ! 

Planning and Concepting

Compared to other courses, Game Art Design at DeMontfort has a heavy influence of 2d traditional artwork built into the course. The idea is that being a successful painter/sculptor will consequently make us a better Game Artist/modeller.

Also the guys at Blitz think having a strong traditional background is essential.

A games finished product is as result of a series of processes ultimately beginning with ideas and concepts. Concept art isn’t there to look pretty and make you go wooow it’s so beautiful, it serves a vital process in creating the overall feel and atmosphere of the game and ultimately, decides how well it sells

The important thing about concept art also is that we, as the consumers don’t get to see everything that is produced, just the finished painting. Despite how I (try too) digital paint, professional piartists spend a lot of time on planning things such as composition, subject and colour palet etc. so that they can create the best piece of work possible, everything is thought out.

Every brush stroke isn’t there by chance, it looks amazing because it’s been developed and fully planned out.

I think in the future ill have to start putting a little more thought into my digital paintings, I normally just go for it and hope for the best ! Probably not the greatest of ideas.

I guess it’s alright to do this as a digi paint for the scene we’ve been to in Visual Design, but when we have to create something from scratch ill have to do more research and development.

So what exactly is concept art ? well it’s defined as an idea, plan or an intention. It generally shapes the appearance of the game. Certain messages are conveyed in concept art through, use of colour and different tones used effectively convey an atmosphere or mood. For example you wouldn’t use bright primary colours if you wanted to create a post-apocalyptic landscape. Bit of an extreme example, but an example none the less.

viewpoints on the scene also depict and idea of what is happening. If something is needed to be portrayed as dominant & powerful then a low angle will be used. Looking up makes the viewer feel small compared to what is in front of them.

I think the concept art from Guild Wars 2 is stunning. LOOK AT IT, ITS SO BEAUTIFUL !!! I mean, from these images I can really tell that guild wars 2 will be really good ?

I really don’t know, never actually been a fan of the game, only heard good things though.

All the artwork carries a similar rolling theme. When immediately seeing a paint, the colour palet appears very simple, using just 2 colours accompanied with shadows and highlights.

Particularly in this piece where a strong sense of orange and blue are used. This also helps to separate up the image, using orange in the foreground and blue on the crane in the middle to identify different points of interest. 

One thing I noticed is that all of the painting has a strong light source, throughout the paintings there is always a strong contrast between light and dark .

Keeping the concept art in a similar theme and style helps to shape the game and ultimately giving it its unique appearance.

So yeah planning and concept art, its ruddy important !