Narrative: Rendered Frames

I have rendered a few frames from my section of the animation. These give a rough idea about how the final animation will look.

 

Narrative: Pre-Viz Shots

Before rendering, I play-blasted some of the shots for the Pre-Viz, which you can see below (They're not necessarily in the right order):

Shot 1

Shot 2

 

 

Shot 3

Shot 4

Shot 5

Character: Final Submission - Divination Design Bible

DIVINATION - Character Project Submission

Character: Facial Expressions - Scavengers & The Retinue

 

Scavengers' Faces

 

 I have done some facial expressions for both the Retinue and Scavengers. As the members of the cabal have their faces covered, there would have only been a slight movement and difference between each. I did these quite quickly and as a result, they're not the best, to put it lightly.

Retinue Faces

Character: Retinue - Biography

It would be a fair statement to say that the Retinue are the mid-ground between the Scavengers and the Cabal. While they keep to themselves and are very organised, they are not afraid of battle and will always accept a challenge. The Retinue occupy the larger buildings in the world, such as St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. They take lands swiftly as it is their aim to control the City. It is because of their choice of accommodation, that they require many resources to prevent further damage to their buildings. They rely on the lower level troops to gather such supplies, while the higher level knights go off in search of stronger buildings. Due to their exploration of the World, they need armor to ward off the attacks from wolves, yetis and the Cabal or Scavengers.

Character: The Cabal - Biography

By far, the Cabal are the most aggressive group. They are always looking for conflict and want to gain their resources from the opposing classes. They are a very loud bunch and they always make their presence known. They explore the land, with 1 assault rifle, 1 shot-gun, 1 hand gun and 6 grenades, of various types. They are the ideal chose for players who intend to cause havoc in the World. However, they are the laziest when it comes to building shelter and so find it difficult to survive during the storms. In most instances, they hide behind the rocks and wait for the weather to clear before they go off and start their next attack. The Retinue are considered to be their main enemy, but can make allies with some Scavengers, of the more aggressive nature.

Character: Scavengers - Biography

 

The Scavengers are the most peaceful group among the three. The work and live quietly, without causing further damage to the environment around them. They are very creative and can manufacture tools from the simplest of resources. As a result of this, they are the ideal chose for the players who want to keep their home intact and prevent it from harm when the storms hit. On the travels, a scavenger would go equipped with one shotgun and one handgun, as well as 2 grenades. Due to their creativity, if they find themselves low on ammo, they are able to create weapons such as spears and knives, from what is in the land around them. Unlike the other two groups, they would prefer to resist conflict and would much prefer the safer option

Character: In-Game Screenshot - Design

By looking at the St. Paul's Cathedral concept art piece that I did, I have used it as a reference for making this screenshot design. I didn't spend quite as long on it as I did with it originally, but I think it still looks like the same setting. With regards to the actual UI, I tried to make it look quite unique through the boxes in which the weapons/ammo count, level and health bar are, and by having the map as a compass in the top left. I think in this instance they have some issues standing out from the background.

As you can see from the two images below, I draw the background and UI separately, as I thought it would make it easier when adding colour, which I believe it did. However, it is probably due to this as to why the UI has issues standing out.

Character: Prop Design - Weapons

I have designed these weapons as they are the primary prop for your character in the game. All 3 classes have access to guns and grenades, but it varies on what ones they have. I have tried to keep a consistent design, which I think I have done. I am very pleased with these as they drawn accurately and the colours work well.

Edited in Photoshop

Original Drawings on paper

Character: Title - Designs

I have done these designs for the title. I have decided on calling the game "Divination".

Divination:

The practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.

I wanted to make the name of the game quite unique and have strong relevance to the plot of the game. As most of the game is spent exploring and searching for resources, I felt this is an appropriate name, and it also adds mystery as to why the World in the game is what it is.

By using several fonts from Photoshop, I have tried to make them suit the game and the style. Some of them are fairly similar in font, so it is the colours that separate them apart. However, some of these remind me of existing fonts for games, for example design #7 reminds me of Halo and design #4 reminds me of the Blizzard logo.  My favourite is design #3. As the game is set in London, I added the Union flag in the letters, which spell "Nation".

Design #1

Design #2

Design #3

Design #4

Design #5

Design #6

Design #7

Character: The 3 Classes - Emblems

I have created these 3 emblems as they are what the player shall see when selecting what class they're character will belong to. I had previously made the Retinue emblem in colour, but as I wanted a consistent design, I edited to make it match the others. I tried to keep it quite simple, but have them relevant to their class.

I chose an eagle for the Scavengers logo as the eagle is a predator, and is good at searching for their prey.

I chose a fist for the Cabal logo, as a clenched fist is used in revolution logos which are liked to anarchy. It looked a little dull, so I added shooting stars either side.

 

Character: Environment Concept Art - St. Paul's Cathedral

 Final Concept

As the game is set in London, I thought the best idea would be to include a famous landmark in the main concept artwork, in this case I have just St.Paul's Cathedral. I tried to make it look quite damaged, but still be intact as it would be a key location in the game. I am very pleased with this as I think the Cathedral is quite recognisable and, as well as that, the colours work quite nicely.

Original Drawing

Character: Retinue - Revised Design & Turnarounds

Having looked at the Retinue character design more, I thought that removing the cape would be a suitable idea. As the World, will have very windy conditions, a cape will cause a bit of a challenge. I have done the turnarounds image in the same way as the previous two. These are a bit neater, but they still look a little out of place.

Turnarounds

Revised Design

Character: Cabal - Turnarounds

I have done these turnarounds the same way as the Scavenger ones and so have just kept them blank. The front view is pretty much the same as the original pose, so that one doesn't give any new "information". They're quite simple, but I think this design works best with the "modern" world. I had some issues with these and so the quality isn't great. Hopefully, I can get round to fixing it - if there's enough time.

Character: Scavenger - Turnarounds

By using the last design of the Scavenger example, I have created the turnaround images for the front, side (Left) and back. I'm quite happy with these as they are accurate to the original design.

Character: Initial 3 Character designs

 The 3 Groups

I have made these initial designs for each group of people in the game. As the game allows for custom made characters, I have designed them based on 3 random characters. From the image above, you'll see an example of: The Scavengers (Left), The Retinue (Middle) and The Cabal (Right). I think they all work individually, but I don't think it's clear that they all belong in the same game and in the same post-apocalyptic world. As you can see, I have redesigned the retinue character slightly, but I still think this design needs more work done to it, in order to make it look more "modern". 

Scavengers

The Retinue

The Cabal

 

Narrative: Poster in Maya

Poster in Maya 

I have taken the poster and have put it into Maya, by creating a UV, which can be seen below. It's quite basic as it won't be on screen for that long so there's no need to go to any major effort.

UV Layout

Narrative: Poster Design

 In our animation there is a shot where a knife hits a poster. I have designed this poster as an advert for the circus. I wanted to make it quite basic, yet colourful, which is what I think it is. I am very pleased with this as it looks like a proper poster for a circus.

 Coloured

Blank

Narrative: Fully rigged Assistant

 Using the rig skeleton that I created for the Assistant character, it is now linked to the model. I needed Alan's help as I was having trouble with the arms and neck, in particular. I have put the model into a basic pose to demonstrate the current effect of the rigs on the model. It is now ready for skinning.

Narrative: Rigging the Assistant

 For the past few days, I have been creating the skeleton rig for the Assistant character in our animation. I created this skeleton by following the rigging tutorials from last year. It has taken longer than I intended, but I'm happy that I managed to complete it successfully, without any major issues.