Context of Practice: Final Game Level

Below is a play through of my final game level. I have used the screen recorder to be able to do this and then added in the soundtrack again over the top as this didn't record. I am really happy with the final look to the level and really wanted to be able to create a final level that looks into environmental storytelling and achieves this, which I believe that mine does and I really love the final look to it. As previously stated earlier on in the design stages, I wanted to be able to create an interesting game level that used the environment and only that to influence the player and tell a story. The story that I wanted to hint at was that the player has done something wrong previously, and is now trapped in this maze like area which acts like his mind, with hints of his past literally painted on the walls in blood. The idea that he is trapped here refers to the torment that he would be going through after doing what he did and his mind is now playing tricks on him trapping him in a maze, created only by himself, to which they is no escape; forcing him to stay trapped forever.

Context of Practice: Creating the Environment Part 3

Importing into Unity
Once I had finished modelling I then exported my model into Unity so that I could get a controller in there and add in some effective lighting so that it could be more sinister. I first imported the Maya model and had a little bit of a task of putting all of the textures back onto the model as they had been separated in the moving process.

After that I added in the main lighting into the level, putting point lights onto each of the lights under the archways to give it a look of brightness in some parts.

I then put in the controller and started to have a play around with the controller settings adding in different settings to alter elements of the game play. I started this by adding in a vignette, this is so that I could alter how dark the level is. This really added a lot to the level and made the edges darker giving it a feeling that your more trapped. I then added a depth of field as well so that the distance blurred out and again made you feel claustrophobic. Lastly I added a light on the main controllers camera so that wherever the person looks a light will shine onto the wall in front of them.

Altogether I am really happy with the look of the level and the addition of the light on the controller. I really like this and the vignette adds that extra bit of darkness that I couldn't achieve any other way. The overall look to the level is spooky and gives off a sinister feeling and the fact that its a maze only adds to the claustrophobia of the level. I did have a slight problem with the main point lights and that sometimes when a light off the camera hits then they turn off or go dimmer, but this could just be the lights turning on and off in the actual level, which makes it a happy coincidence.

Then the final touch that I added onto the level was the addition of a soundtrack. For this, as it is for educational purposes, I simply added the soundtrack from one that I found on the internet, mainly due to time constraints, as this produced the same kind of environment that I wanted from this.

Context of Practice: Creating the Environment Part 2

Texturing the Environment
I then moved onto texturing what I had modeled so far, so that I could get a proper feel for the environment and I could begin to bring it to life little by little. This is probably going to be the longest stage as there are so many separate walls that will have to be looked at separately, which will be a pain to do, but worth it for the end result.

I first began with texturing all of the barrels and crates as I already had prepared UV maps for this, because like any modeler I have a supply of crates and barrels just ready to go into any environment.

I then added a dark metal texture onto the wire mesh, this didn't have to be too perfect as it was going to be small and thin anyway.

I then added the texture onto the floor.

I then went onto texturing the walls, this was a very long and lengthy process as this is were I wanted all of my detail to go, like with the writing and the atmosphere of the stone crafted walls. To do this I used a seamless stone wall texture that I collected from the internet and then proceed to UV map all of the walls that this texture was going to be going on.

When looking at textures its good to have a checkered texture on so that you can get all of the squares the same size, this then means that when your texturing multiple objects you can ensure that there all going to be the same size in the UV texture editor.

To begin with my textures on the walls were very low resolution due to the small size of my UV maps, by enlarging the size of the UV map whilst on Photoshop the texture does not have to be as resized, making the overall result much better in the end. 

So after texturing all of the plain stone walls, I then moved onto texturing the stone walls that also had wooden beams and pipes on the wall as well as this required a little bit more time to get them to look right. But as the level is so far, I am very happy with it.

The walls were finally finished and I went onto texturing the wooden archways, this was a fairly difficult job to begin with as the UV maps where not very clear, but once I had done one they could just be duplicated onto the others, making it quick to complete.

I then added the texture onto the lights.

And then added in the ceiling and worked on the finishing touches to the level which where the blood splatters on the walls, and the writing that was added in. I really liked the end result of the texturing and the only thing left to do now is to take it into Unity, get a character in there and ensure that it runs smoothly through before adding the lights and ambient music in the background.

Context of Practice Book Review

Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling
When looking back at my context of practice I found that one book or source did not give the necessary drive in the right direction, but a number of them all combined did. Through looking at a number of different material I found a lot of them come together and act like one large source of information that I could take bits from all parts of.

The book that I took a huge influence from, and probably the most, was Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling. Chris Crawford is a games designer that creates very unusual and strange games that you wouldn't normally think about. He has a lot of vision and is able to convey many ideas into the series of books that he has written on game design and other aspects of it, like interactivity and probably my favourite quote from him features below from one of his other books, Chris Crawford on Game Design, and it perfectly describes his vision and goals for a game that look at the social nature and focus on the interactions with a well-defined character.

'I dreamed of the day when computer games would be a viable medium of artistic expression — an art form. I dreamed of computer games expressing the full breadth of human experience and emotion. I dreamed of computer games that were tragedies, games about duty and honour, self-sacrifice and patriotism. I dreamed of satirical games and political games; games about the passionate love between a boy and girl, and the serene and mature love of a husband and wife of decades; games about a boy becoming a man, and a man realizing that he is no longer young. I dreamed of games about a man facing truth on a dusty main street at high noon, and a boy and his dog, and a prostitute with a heart of gold.'

I thoroughly enjoyed reading through his book as he goes on to describe a number of different ways and techniques that can be used as a means to tell a story using different forms of digital media. There are ways in which interactive storytelling can be used, whether it be in film or games and I found this book extremely interesting to read.  The book begins to describe everything you need to know about storytelling and how this can be used in an interactive way to convey different types of genres, different themes and generally suit to different audiences across the whole subject.

Where this book came into particularly good use for me is the quotes that I used in my essay. I found this quote below to be particularly useful in the fact that it describes what a story actually is and how it is about the character and their development but also it could be about an object or a place instead and how these can be interchangeable but a character can't be as they are unique.

'But aren't there plenty of stories that revolve around things? What about The Maltese Falcon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Lord of the Rings' 'No, the objects in the cited storied do not play central roles. Lord of the Rings, for example, is not about the ring, but about Frodo's struggle. Replacing the ring with a magic sock or a hat or eyeglass would not have changed the story much. Replacing Frodo with Han Solo, Don Quixoto, or Huck Finn would have changed the story beyond recognition.'  

This for me is really interesting and it was something that I felt I could talk about in my essay and also give it the opportunity to influence my practical element as I could have gone down the path of it being about an object that is influencing the characters actions. Chris Crawford then looks at interactivity in more detail stating that;

 'Interactivity depends on the choices available to the user.'  'I can offer three reasons for getting on the interactivity bandwagon: It's the medium's basis of competitive advantage, it's revolutionary, and it's powerful.'  'A story world is composed of closely balanced decisions that can reasonably go either way,' 'The story builders most important task is creating and harmonizing a large set of dramatically significant, closely balanced choices for the player.'

This again really helped me to write up my essay. I felt that it was a big help in the section that I wrote about interactivity and how it compared between AAA and Indie games. It was interesting to see how it mirrored up with my survey results as well as I really wanted to be able to link these together. What was conclusive on both parts is that everyone wants a high level of interactivity in their game levels and if this could be added into my practical that would be great, but due to time constraints it would be difficult.

So, to conclude, looking at this book has been a brilliant influence for my project due to how well detailed it was when it came down to using his influence in not only my essay but my practical as well. Due to the fact that he, himself, creates quite unusual and strange games that don't necessarily have much fun in them, but do use strategy and logic to play through them worked out better than I thought as there was lots of writings in his book that actually helped in my own and I was able to easily become influenced by it.

Context of Practice: Creating the Environment Part 1

Modelling the Environment
After completing all of my research I went onto actually creating my environment, which I wanted to be based on a the horror genre and located in a basement/cellar. I was really happy about the idea that I have come up with and I'm really excited to get going with it as I feel that once all of the lights are in it and the feel of the whole environment is very sinister.

I started by importing an image of a maze that I made so that I could follow the lines of the walls and create straight lines easier in Maya with the polygon tool. I started by drawing out all of the walls first as this created a good starting point, and then I wanted to edit them later on so that some of the walls are taller than others and some have pipes running down them.

I then went and edited the walls slightly, adding in slight changes to them so that it has a more homemade basement feel to it.

Once I had created the main look to it, I started adding in more and more objects until I was happy with the final-ish look. I added in wood archways/beams from the ceiling to the floor, details on the walls, including pipes running down some, and then I began to add in some objects like crates, barrels, a mesh sectioning part of the maze off and then lamps hanging down from the arches and then wall sconces as well.

After doing all of this I was very happy with the overall look. At this stage I am going to be leaving it with its current look as while it's in Maya I don't actually know the complete effect that it will produce until I have taken it into Unity, added the lighting and then walked through it as a character.

Context of Practice: Audio Consideration

When looking for audio for my game level I wanted to quickly look at a few horror games to get inspiration from. When looking at existing games its evident that there isn't much in the way of audio, usually no music, or when music is present it is very minimal and creates an eary and creepy atmosphere that sends shivers down your spine. For my piece I want to create this kind of atmosphere, as there will be no words only things to look at, and it gives something for the audience to focus on. For a lot of games that are already out there they use sometimes quite erratic soundtracks, especially from games like Silent Hill where they are very in your face. I would rather go down the Amnesia route where it is subtle and plays like background music but with the occasional moment of change of pace, which I feel would work well at giving the audience that feeling as if something is there with them, when in actual fact it is just themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmkBpCBLnCg

Context of Practice: Final Concept Art

The last part to my design stage of the project was to produce my final concept art. I am fairly happy with the final result for the fact that I'm not a concept artist and it represents what I want to produce for my final piece well as it shows clearly the effect of the lighting and also how I would want parts of the final level to look like.

Below are my designs for some elements of the room which show different areas of it and show how I would want the final design to look.

Below I have then done a quick top down view of what I want my level to look like, showing the areas with blood on them and also the limited objects that would be located in the level like crates and barrels. By doing this I have a very good representation of the top down layout of the level and it will really help when coming to starting the creation of the level.

Context of Practice: Development of Layout

What I wanted to do next was then decided on a final location for the game level to be set in and I wanted to explore four different possibilities that would all fit into the genre of horror. I really like all of the different ideas but some work better than others and my favourite clearly stands out as a lot more thought has gone into it. The idea that I want to take forward the most is the cellar/basement level as I feel this holds the most potential of looking fantastic as there can be so much thought gone into it. Also the idea that there is writing on the walls that is accusing you of doing stuff is what I really like about it, it escalates the story further and provides a lot of necessary character development that links in well with the story the environment around you is trying to tell.

Context of Practice: Development of Genre

What I then wanted to do was narrow down my idea further. I really liked idea 7 and the idea of a small maze as this is confusing and the player can become lost very easily. I then wanted to look further into the different genres that I could use to develop the level even further and so I created 6 different boards to look at how each genre could be applied to my level design and how well it would end up working. 

In the end the genre that I am going to take forward is horror as it produces the most potential for lots of different designs to be produced and it can also be changed up quite a lot, creating possibilities for different designs. I really like the idea of using horror as a theme as this means minimal detail until it comes to the sound as this is what I will use to create the tense atmosphere. At this stage I also want to think about bringing in a film noir element into it as I feel that this could add that little extra something into it and give it a twist that you wouldn't normally see in a horror game level.