planning – Pixel 林

Phasing through the Phases. Assignment 3 Part 2

INTRO

Welcome back to the next update of Assignment 3. I have narrowed down my Projects to 2. Criteria for selecting these projects out of the 5 were the level of interest I had and how feasible it was to accomplish in a year.

Project 1: GRAPHIC NOVEL

ABOUT

This is the story about a pair of young boys in the sweltering June of 1995. Fishing in the storm drains was a past time back then, we would climb into the drains and look for fish to keep in our homes.

DETAILS

This project is an interactive comic book. Moving gifs would create a more immersive reading experience while little mini-games within the panels would help the reader feel more connected with the characters. In a sense I want to give readers some semblance of my experience when I was a child through this novel.

This project will be a Solo project as well.

INSPIRATION

These images show just how much difference a little movement in the images makes.

TECHNICAL

Done as an interactive website, I aim to use HTML/CSS and Javascript as a platform for my novel. Art and gifs will be done in Adobe Photoshop.

Guiding the player through the use of moving gifs and recording the results of the mini-games I aim to generate endings that differ slightly from each other.

The style of the art would most likely be in Pixel Art as to me it represents a rather retro feel of olden day video games and such giving a sense of nostalgia.

BUDGET

Most of the Art and Programming will be done by myself so budget in this aspect would not be an issue.

Possible use of budget would be for sound design, a subtle background track and another track for more exciting parts and sound effects.

I estimate around $100-$300 will be spent on this.

WBS

TIMELINE/ GANT CHART

Project 2: ISOMETRIC RPG

ABOUT

There are many games out there in the world of today, but what I feel that most people can agree on is that the Game Design element is the most important. Not just the look of the game but how the game is played is most important. What is the player going to be doing for the next 1 to 5 hours.

This Project is an Isometric RPG that focuses of action and strategy.

INSPIRATION

Taking inspiration from games like, CRAWL, HYPERLIGHT DRIFTER, WAYWARD SOULS, EITR and MOON HUNTERS. I feel that this game would best suit the Pixel Art style. Reason being after completing the game, I want this game to be the kind of game you pull out once every few years just to play around with and Pixel Art tends to stand the test of time more effectively that your AAA 3D games.

For mechanics, I took inspiration from games like PORTAL and VOLFIED to create what I believe to be a unique main mechanic of which the game revolves around.

GAMEPLAY

Most of the game revolves around placing points called “TOTEMS” on the map these points act as beacons of a sort when the player dashes into a TOTEM he is transported to a corresponding
TOTEM. When this happens the space between the TOTEMS will have an effect such as DAMAGE or STUN depending on the type of TOTEM placed.

If a player places 3 TOTEMS in the correct physical proximity it will form a TRIANGLE. The effect stated above will then occur within the TRIANGLE.
TOTEMS can come in 3 types, ATTACK, DEFENSE and SUPPORT.
e.g Placing 2 ATTACK TOTEMS will have a DAMAGE effect, placing 2 DEFENSE TOTEMS will have a SLOW effect, placing 1 ATTACK and 1 DEFENSE TOTEM will have a STUN effect.

POSSIBILITIES

This game mechanic has potential to create puzzle elements during the game and also make for interesting COMBAT situations.

NARRATIVE

A Sci-Fi narrative that takes place on a desert planet about a lost traveler trying to find his way home.

Story By Josephine:

A man wakes up in the middle of the desert and he can’t remember his name. The only things he has in his possession is a poncho, and 3 mysterious totems in his pocket. He wanders to look for food and shelter and he stumbles upon a hermit living in a yurt. He shares his story with the hermit and reveals the totems in his pocket. The hermit, recognizing these totems, teaches the man to use them.

The man stays with the hermit and they help one another gather food and chase away bandits — both using the totems. [tutorial levels]

A few days later, the yurt is approached by a group of officials who request the hermit pay for the use of their boss’s land otherwise they would have to force him to leave or worst. The hermit is unable to pay, but the man defends him. The officials appear to recognize him which would spark a fight between them. [tutorial levels]

[this fight will then to level 3 ‘tower’ defense]

MEDIUM

Done in GAMEMAKER STUDIO

Art in ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
PLATFORMS: PC with the possibility of making it a MOBILE APPLICATION.

BUDGET

Most of the assets and programming will be done inhouse.
Possibilities for budget allocation mostly to sound design, a subtle background track and another track for more exciting parts and sound effects.

I estimate around $100-$300 will be spent on this.

WBS

TIMELINE/ GANT CHART

Trees and Sculptures

Introduction

Wood has always been a popular medium in art. But these two artists create more than just your average sculpture or carving.

This essay is an exploration into the concepts and processes behind the work of Ai Wei Wei’s “Trees” and Paul Kaptein’s “Warped Wood Sculptures”.

Trees by Ai Wei Wei

Ai Wei Wei’s “Trees”

Case Study Link

These tree sculptures were created by Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei. Made from parts of dead trees that are brought down from the mountains of Southern China, Ai Wei Wei transports these trees to his Beijing based studio where they are made into the “Trees” we see in the photo.

(Left: “Tree being constructed”) (Right: “Ai Wei Wei Supervising”)

“Its like trying to image what the tree looked like”

-Ai Wei Wei

Like a memory being recreated, the trees are held together by hidden mortise and tenon joins and large industrial bolts. From a distance the trees look natural but on closer inspection the artificiality of the trees is clear alluding to the state the modern Chinese nation, where ethnically diverse people are brought together to form ‘One China’.

“Warped Wood Sculptures” by Paul Kaptein

Paul Kaptein’s “Warped Wood Sculptures”

Case Study Link

Perth-based artist Paul Kaptein uses large blocks of laminated wood to create warped and distorted human figures, some of which have holes pierced through them to look like star constellations.

These hand-carved busts and sculptures have gaps in between the wood work created during the laminating process, thus creating the over all impression of digital glitches or skewed imagery one would encounter where he/she has poor reception.

“I am interested in examining the undefined area between expansion and contraction, or interconnection and incompleteness

-Paul Kaptein

Even while the viewer walks around each piece, the warped nature of each artwork continues the push and sink in different directions creating new perspectives on the artworks.

Comparison

Fift

Subject Matter

Both artworks are of very different subject matter Ai Wei Wei’s being about Trees and Paul Kaptein’s being about Human Figures.

But there is one similarity that I feel is important to mention, It is that both artists were trying to recreate something from imagination or thought. Ai’s was about recreating what he thought the tree would have looked like while Paul’s was about recreating the effects a digital glitch would have on an image.

Process of Creation

Due to the fact that both artworks are of very different scales, the processes of both work vary.

For starters, Ai Wei Wei’s work was accomplished with the help of other people building his design while Paul Kaptein’s work was hand carved.

In Ai Wei Wei’s case, he had to do more human resource management as the wood was taken from the mountains of south China and brought to his studio. From there he designed how the trees would look like and supervised it’s construction. The trees were also made to be taken apart sort of like a modular structure for transportation which made the exhibition in London possible. This required advance planning and human resource management skills to do so.

As for Paul Kaptein, his works were made from laminated wood as the lamination process was where the gaps in the wood was created this also required planning. Visualizing and creating the glitch wood effect and making it so that even with the effect the sculpture would still represent a coherent subject matter was probably one of the challenges he faced in this planning process.

In a nutshell

The main differences were:

The wood Ai Wei Wei’s work was taken from the mountains in as natural a form as possible while the wood for Paul Kaptein’s work had was a block of laminated wood.

Ai’s work required a lot more interaction with other people than that of Paul’s while Paul’s work involved a lot more planning in the design of the work itself due to the subject matter. Reason being trees come in much more varying shapes than that of humans.

The main similarities were:

Both works were made of wood.

Both works were re-creations of something imagined in the artist’s mind.

Conclusion

In this case study, although the processes of both works were very different the importance of planning is paramount to it’s success one cannot simply rely solely on “happy accidents” to achieve the result one has in mind.

Questions on Karst

My questions for Karst is not actually about the film’s subject matter but on the process of the film

How was this project planned from start to finish?

What resources were needed to create this film? were there sponsors for this?

And most importantly

How does this film important to us in terms of project planning? What makes it a good example to study? Is it the film’s subject matter or do we need to speculate on how this film was made