Animation Part 1
For our animation assignment we’ve been given the task to
create, model and animate a ‘cart’ on 3DS Max which can range from something as
simple as a shopping trolley, to a go-kart or even a racing machine. With
taking this in mind our group has come up with the idea of using racing-karts
and creating a mini-game for our original FMP: ‘The Depths Between’. The
mini-game itself will be of something similar to games like Mario Kart Wii,
Sonic and Sega: All Stars Racing/Transform and movies like Sugar Rush from the
film- Wreck-It-Ralph.
Why Have The Team Chosen This?
If we were to incorporate this idea as an actual quest of
the game, it would mean one of our team members NPC quests would have to be
altered or even sacrificed to include this in. So far for the planning of what
we shall make for the demo, we pretty much have everything mapped out in terms
of events and quests- hence why this project wouldn’t really collaborate well
with the main story. Instead we are giving the players an extra game to have fun
with and explore more of the land: Purgatory from a different perspective
rather than fully being an RPG/Action-Adventure genre game. In accordance to
this it would give the players something else to do if we were to full finish
this game and they get stuck on a certain part. For instance everyone in nearly
every game will get stuck on a certain part that after a few goes becomes
incredibly frustrating to work out, how we respond to this a completely
different matter. Usually we all go on the internet to websites like: Gamespot,
IGN and walk-through bloggers- but say you can’t find a walkthrough for the
game you’re playing so what happens next?
Some of us stubbornly
like to stay on the game for hours trying to decipher what to do or where to go
to do what or to defeat whom, other’s like myself tend to leave the game after
a few tries and do something else for a couple hours before returning to the
problem. Then there’s those that get put off the game completely and leaves it
laying on the shelf for months letting it collect dust or give it a bad review
and trade it in. If we have a mini-game for the consumers to enjoy and calm
down from this experience, it could be a really good boredom and frustration
buster which might give us better reviews and comments if we were to achieve
this. Another way to look at it would be it could give us something to design
for a younger audience as our main game is for teenagers and adults making it
even more flexible for the family.
Our Mini-Game Concept
Already I’ve discussed where the initial thoughts have come
from which is Mario Kart, Sonic and Sega and Sugar Rush, yet we still want to
tie this in or have some significance to the main game. Each member of the team
is to create a set kart that resembles their personal character in the story
and develop traits are also similar to the creation’s part in the story. For
example Leash is a wolf hybrid that wields a katana known as the Sparrow’s
Wing, which helps her control her elemental powers of: Water, Wind and Ice. The
other part of the plan is to design a race-course track around each person’s
personal part of Purgatory, so that as the player progresses through the game
(or demo in this case) each land becomes available to race in as well as the
character. Already I’ve drawn designs for my land’s level layout giving a
birds-eye view of the main part, footnotes to each little piece that has
further sketches to show what I mean and ways of how the player’s might be able
to enter this land to and fro; all that’s left if to design the actual track
and what should be there.
Constraints
Luckily we seemed to have managed to eliminate some
constraints with what this assignment might have given us, which is how we
could incorporate an animated kart where the Purgatory’s only transportation is
creatures. Yet it still does give us problems.
Time is possibly one of our biggest problems as animation
itself is a long and complicated process that can take months to create a
decent length of film. Usually in an industry practice it can take an animator
to make at least 3 seconds of animation a week, so taking this into
consideration it would mean we have to be quick and extremely organised in how
we arrange our time in not only build and designing our carts but animating
them- especially if someone or some people want specific traits for their cart
in the way it moves for acts. At the same time there’s also the level designing
to be taking on board. Although it’s not part of this assignment there’s no
point giving our cart nothing to drive along to interest our players, so in our
spare time we must design and build our level environments for our kart to race
around on.
Another major constraint in itself is legal issues as our
game will resemble other games out there as explained earlier. For us to avoid copyright we would have to
alter the game quite extensively and only take pieces from games that’s given
us initial ideas and concepts, at the same time we can also reference the
pieces we’ve taken or had ideas from and show how we’ve added our own personal
influence upon that idea so we can use it in our game. This would also go for
when we come to design anything for any game, already I can understand I will
need drawing references or racing karts so with each picture I obtain from the
internet I can post the link within a bibliography of where I’ve found the
picture or idea.
Another way of plagiarism would be to copy someone’s motion
cycles for animation and claim it as their own. This isn’t fair as people
really do take the time to sit and study how someone or something moves,
drawing up a rough storyboard and then placing it into a video-editing software
to see if that piece of work actually moves correctly. In my group I plan to
try and cover what motion cycles people would need for anything to move in our
game so they’re not hindered, which would speed up production time and it
wouldn’t be classed as copyright as I would be breaking down the movement of
the object, at the same time it also shows if I were to go into my dream job I
could be counted upon to create fluid movements by studying things instead of
relying on others to create an animation cycle.
Although this is not much of an issue for our group, another
constraint would be ethical reasons and how we not only represent characters,
but the karts as well and their part in the game. When creating a kart we are
basing off our characters and mine personally isn’t a wolf so it wouldn’t
offend anyone, yet if we were to have a coloured guy in a horrible
‘mean-machine’ of a kart and the only one being a malicious person then that
would start an ethical upset. When creating a game you have to take into
consideration what could affect people if we use stereotypes, so going back to
our scenario earlier we could make a white person have a very similar kart so
those who might be hurt by that would see we are not being prejudice. For
sexism we could have it where a player could choose the same kart a male
character would have and vice-versa for the males then another obstacle on this
game would be religious views. When building the race-tracks we would have to
research on a country is we were basing the track there so we don’t
unintentionally upset people, for example if our course was in Vietnam we
wouldn’t be allowed to show a red poppy as to them this symbolises war.
What could be the final restraint for the team would be if
we wanted to sell the game. Obviously we couldn’t sell this game like we
couldn’t with the main product. Reasons for this are simply we are using
programs that cost thousands to run and use which are supplied by the college
as well as licenses to make games- not sell them and again supplied by the
college. Another thing would be if we did raise the money to buy the programs
and licenses, we still wouldn’t be able to sell the games as we’ve already or
will submit these in for our BTEC diploma which would create a lawsuit as we’ve
traded our work for a grade that can help us later on in life. Again it depends
as we could split the profits with the exam board, yet it would mean making everything
in the game again on our programs as the original would be made on the
college’s facilities, which would waste our time even further.
Now if we look at personal constraints instead of a team’s
each person is going to differ. Usually these constraints might be more focused
on the design of the person’s kart or even layout design. For me personally I
don’t think I’m going to have many constraints apart from time, there is going
to be a part of my level that the player have to steer through a herd of Paradoquins
which is my creation for the game. Paradoquins slightly resembles closely to a
Sklepie, these mythical beings are half horse and half fish with the front half
being the horse and the rest of it being a long tail. Paradoquins have the
front half of a horse and the rest is wrapped round into a ghostly trail that
becomes more translucent as you go down which can be a problem- not only to
animate but to model as well.
Target Audience
As our main game is aimed at teenagers and adults we are
considering having this mini-game lowered to children at around 7+, which would
show the audience that we are versatile in making games for a wide range of
target ages rather than sticking closely to teenagers as we feel more confident
in than zone because we are teens. With having it aimed at children it would
also benefit a family who enjoys playing games and if the children did like the
racing then maybe they would want to play the real game of ‘The Depths
Between’, later on in life which might increase sales of the game in the
long-run if we were allowed to sell this.
For the design of the game the level layouts aren’t going to
be as dark themed with the possibility of adding more of a cartoon approach and
bright colours to being something virtually realistic. In the racing games
mentioned before people usually crash into boxes that gives the player’s an
advantage to use over others for a short period of time. If our team were to
create something similar where the ‘treats’ or ‘prizes’ were wacky and relate
to the game in some fun way, like in Wreck-It-Ralph durong the Sugar Rush game
the prizes were being hit with ice-cream or cherry bombs which relates to the
land they’re in as it’s all sugary and sweet things. If we done something
similar that would appeal to a younger audience instead of it being morbid with
lots of fantasy violence. Another way would be to make the characters and karts
‘chibi’ or cel-shaded like that out of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, giving them
funny or cute appearances which would tie in well with the idea of wacky
prizes.
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