Forest Sprite Character

So before I go on with the rest of my 3rd year project (there's a lot of it to put up!!) here's a little character I've been working on as a side project along my other work. To begin with the biggest influence was the Kodama from the film 'Princess Mononoke' which are forest spirits:

They're creepy and strange but they also look cute as well. These were the first characters I looked at. I then looked at the Koroks from the game Zelda, the Pikmin from Pikmin, Totoro from My Neighbour Totoro and characters from Okami the game:

So I created a few designs based on these characters:

In the end I went with the bottom left design and developed it further. I though about how the spirit could be contained in an acorn and how that was it's heart, once broken the spirit would die. This would also be how it disappeared out of sight, falling to the ground just as an acorn. I liked this design so I also made a fire and ice version as well:

The Ice spirit's heart would be a snow flake while the fire one's would be a flame. However I felt I liked the forest one the most and decided to make a digital drawing for it:

This is the final design for this character, I had planned to do more concept design for her so I might do a few more digital drawings if I have time but we'll see :). I also plan to make a 3D model of her for my portfolio so we'll see how that goes. Thanks for reading :)

Rocksteady Studios - Business module

Rocksteady are a games company based in London, Highgate and are the creators of Urban Chaos: Riot Response, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight. Both games Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City have received countless awards and are rated 92 and 96 out of 100 on Steam (Valve game store). Batman: Arkham Knight on the other hand is scheduled to be released in October 2014 and is already very highly anticipated. The reason I enjoy these games to much is because of how dark and serious they are, and to be honest, the player amuses the role of Batman, what can beat that? 

My favourite part about the game is probably the game play and combat style. People may hate me for saying it but the combat style reminds me of the Spider-man game that was on game cube (but obviously batman is much more badass!). It use to have 'Spideysense' that you get when someone's about to hit you and Batman also has this except it does it much more efficiently. This goes for Arkham City too, except I think I like it more. I especially like the revamping of certain characters. 

I think my favourite character revamps are Harley and Robin. I think the way that rockstar have made the characters are perfect and have shown yet another take on the batman characters that I'm sure some people would hate but I really think it's a more realistic take on Batman. If you're looking for a new game to play that's full of puzzles and dark then this is your game!

Trailer:

BAA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9fSkcAYyZ8

BAC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1ZF5cNYCs

BAK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsf78BS9VE0

Ninja Theory - Business Module

Ninja theory are a game company based in Cambridge. They are the company that made Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DMC: Devil May Cry. These games are heavily influenced by story and this is the reason I love them. My favorite is probably Heavenly Sword. I love the characters Nariko because of her strong character and Kai for her interesting design and personality. Here are the designs:

 I have in fact, based a majority of the characters I've designed on Heavenly swords Nariko because of her personality and image. I enjoyed the game for the story immensely and the likeable characters (including Andy Serkis as the villan!!) have left they're mark on myself and I feel that they have influenced my own characters rather a lot. I love Nariko's design:

I love the hair!

 Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is another game that has a great storyline with likable characters (again Andy Serkis is involved!!) it's a story about 'Monkey' who is forced into defending the character Trip on her journey back to her village. She forces a 'slave headband' onto him, which allows her to control him. If she dies so does he so he's forced into protecting her. It's an interesting game with good game mechanics.

 Give both of them a try!

HS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPEidxh44v0

E: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_130_DAkig

Media Molecule - Business Module

Yet another game company based in Guildford! Media Molecule are the game company that created the games Rag Doll Kung Fu, Teraway and the Little Big Planet series. I love the creativeness of this game company! I like the way they've created these games that's different from the regular games. Little Big Planet is a platform game but they have managed to make it different and the art style is interesting and creative. I also like the way they've allowed the user to create they're own character and world from a based model they have created, at least that goes for Little Big Planet and Teraway. I love the way they've allowed the players creative imagination flow through the game. Of all the games I think Teraway is probably my favourite, I haven't had much time playing on it since I don't have a PSVita (as much as I'd love to have one!) but I got a chance to play it on my brothers and I really enjoyed it! Even tempted me to buy a PSVita at some point, just to play it. Mostly I like the art styles of both Little Big Planet and Teraway.

For Teraway I love the paper-like cut outs that they've brought into the game. They've even gone so far as to have a papercraft part of the game, where as you meet characters the characters become un-lockable as papercraft print offs that you can print out and create out of paper! I love this idea!

As for Little Big Planet, I love the style and the fact you can just run around the levels sticking stickers where ever you please and also sticker your friends at the same time. For creativity these games really are different and brilliant for casual gaming when you don't feel like a serious game.

Here are the trailers for both

LBP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy_a3oCDzRA

T: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK6_QvdxyXQ

Chucklefish - Business Module

Chucklefish are another game company that I have a lot of respect for. They are another small game company based in Guildford that create and publish pixel games. I love their website for a starters, it's very quirky and interesting! The best way to be! They very recently released the game called Starbound and boy is it fun! it's comparable with the game Terraria but it also has a universe to explore and is multiplayer! I've spent far too many hours on that game already. The thing I like most about it is the fact that on each planet everything is different and each creature and environment has to be treated differently. I also love the way they use pixel art in this game. It takes me back to old games that i played when I was younger. This game is also similar to Minecraft as they are going to continuously update the game in patches in order to get a good sense of feedback to improve it. Also another good game to try out!

Check out the trailer :):

http://store.steampowered.com/app/211820/ 

Hello Games - Business module

 

Hello games are a small game company based in Guildford. The game company consists of 4 people and are the creators of the game series Joe Danger which is a side-scrolling, racing/platform game. You play the game as the daredevil Joe Danger, racing over obstacles and collecting coins and the like.

They have recently announced that they are creating a new game called 'No Man's Sky' which sounds like a very exciting release! The game has been compared to Minecraft but only in the sense of anything is possible and everything is explorable. The thing I find most exciting about this game is, not only is it a universe to explore but it's also planned to be a multiplayer game. It also sounds like (I really hope it will be!) it will be a massively ground breaking game! For such a small game company to make such a big dent would be amazing and I hope it inspires other to do the same with their games and to do things differently! The most baffling thing is that before a trailer of this game was broadcast over the VGX awards show, several people told them to not show it as it was strange and consumers wouldn't understand it. I say it's high time gamers got something different to the mediocre and bland FPS games of today, and instead get an exciting new worlds that everyone experiences differently. I really hope the game goes well for them!

  

 I love this piece of artwork for the game. They've very cleverly worked red, pink and blue into this  scene in order to show the depth and size of the environment. I get the feeling the entire game will be made this way, bright and colourful. This will be a big change from the FPS that are dull and boring, so this game should be exciting! Have a look at some of the other concept pieces they have ;)

The link for the trailer is here:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRpDn5qPp3s