Game Adaptation: Summary Post
Pitch
To start off this project we had to come up with a pitch for our game. We did this by looking at existing media and then adapting it to create our own idea. We then had to describe our game idea in one sentence.
Environments
After learning some basic tools in Photoshop and learning SketchUp I began to create a variety of concept art pieces that gave visual to what the environments within my game would look like. I made an interior and an exterior. I wanted these to be of important places within my game, therefore I decided that the exterior will be of Atlantis, and the interior will be a tavern that the player starts in. As well as this we also looked into research on how video games have been extrapolated from real life environments. The final part of the environment segment was graphic imagery. This is things such as shop fronts in games which are similar to what real life shops look like
Props, Objects, and Vehicles
Since the environments appear empty on their own we then had to create props, objects, and a vehicle to go with them. I started this by creating a list of all different types of objects that would be in either of these environments. I then developed these props in photoshop adding colour and shadows. I also created vehicles using the pareidolia technique and then further developed one of the ideas.
Character Designs
The research for this included what makes an iconic character, including branding. For my game, I had three main characters which would either be important to the plot or appear multiple times within the games. I decided to take two of these and develop them and create designs. I started off using silhouettes for the human, and pareidolia for the robot so that the characters looked unique. I then added detail onto them before taking them into photoshop. In photoshop I created multiple versions of both characters that had either a different design or a different colour scheme. To gain more of a visual for these characters I created rotations sheets that show all four sides of the characters.
Animatic and Storyboards
By creating a storyboard, and animatic it allowed me to visualize a scene within my game, whether this is a gameplay scene or a cutscene. To start this we completed a side project based on a piece of text where we had to create the environment described, and then animate it using After Effects. I created a storyboard for this so that I easily knew what animations were going to happen and how long each animation lasted for. This was good practice for me when it came to doing the same thing for my game. However, instead of creating new environments and props for this animatic I simply used the concepts that I had previously created.
Maps
Since most common games have a map where the player can see where they are and how to get to a certain area, I thought it would be fitting to create a variety of maps for my game. As well as this it also helps give the player an idea of how big the game actually is. The maps I decided to create where of the two major cities that the player visits in the game and a map of the entire world. When creating the world map I gave little thought to the shape of the islands as this allowed the map to appear unique and less like other popular fiction maps. For the city maps, I thought about major places that the player would need to visit and built the world from there.
Final Concept
After all, my pieces of concept art where complete the only thing left was to create a final piece which would act as a poster for my game. I created this using inspiration from the maps that I created as well as the earlier pieces of concept art. I then wanted a title to be included on this poster so that it was obvious this was a poster rather than just a piece of concept art.
Ryan Green Arts 