Character Session 2

In our second character session we were given a game character and we had to alter their look according to one of our keywords for our project. I was given Atlas and Pea-Body from Portal 2. I used my word 'light' at first. Then I used my word 'mutation', this seemed to give me better results and I had a much clearer idea of what to draw for this.

 

After that exercise we were given a character type and we had to draw silhouettes for them that could be instantly recognized. I got 'knight' as my character type and below is what I drew for the exercise.

Maya Tutorial - Lip Sync Parts 1 to 4 Complete

Narrative - Fish Body Thumbnails

As our current story will be quite metaphorical overall, we have decided to create fish characters that would be read as a general fish, not as a specific kind of fish. Below I have created some thumbnails of early ideas for the overall shape of our fish. Many of these are quite rough and are just there for ideas for further concepts.

Refined Character Project Idea

After speaking with Justin last Tuesday he helped me integrate my 'light' card into what I felt was my strongest idea for a game. Below are the original notes I made for that game and below that are the comments Justin made to help improve it.

-(card game) choose from a selection of bizarre animals, you use cards to evolve and mutate them and you face off against your opponents. Based on natural selection, aka the strongest survives.
perhaps either going against opponents or a series of trials.
you could pick up a trials card or a 'mutate' or 'evolve' card.
(doesn't include light)
you could pick up bad mutate cards (comedic)
not all trials cards are bad.

(notes after talking with Justin about my ideas, mostly about my card game idea)

- colours of light causing mutations, different colour cards for different types of mutation aka strength, agility, cunning.

- think about the world, create the world for the game.

New Game World Ideas

1- Once peaceful creatures, then the light came and they found that the light mutated them. They began to compete and fight. They now use the light to mutate themselves to become stronger.

2- Instead of fighting each other, with the light came monstrous creatures which they had to defeat. They use the light to mutate or even out-mutate the alien creatures to defeat them.

3- The creatures have to fight alien creatures made of light or glowing with light. They threaten their home and as such have to fight back.

Film Review (Plot Structure) - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010)

Fig 1. Scott Pilgrim Poster.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World is an adaptation of the comic series 'Scott Pilgrim' by Bryan Lee O'Malley. In terms of the plot structuring for this film, it appears to follow the classic 3 act structure, with some small differences. These become apparent once the film is broken down into its core stages.

Act 1 consists mostly of an introduction to Scott Pilgrim, his roommate, his sister, his other band members and his current girlfriend. Once the audience is acquainted with all of these characters, Ramona Flowers enters the picture and Scott is immediately infatuated with her. He spends a great deal of time finding out all the information he can about her. After he finds out that she works for an online delivery service, he orders a package from them hoping she will deliver it.

The beginning of act 2 is when he gets Ramona to go on a date with him. This is what sets the rest of the story in motion. Shortly after they start going out, Scott receives an email from his first opponent. He ignores it and deletes the email. Later, at a gig his band is playing, it is disrupted by the very person he received the email from. He introduces himself as Matthew Patel and states that he is Ramona's 'first evil ex'. There is a long battle sequence and Scott is eventually declared the victor. The entirety of act 2 is made up of Scott fighting increasingly stronger 'evil ex's' and finding out more information about Ramona's backstory and the 'league of evil ex's', which is revealed to have been organised by a man called Gideon. His battles with Ramona's previous partners begin to wear on Scott and Ramona's relationship.


Fig 2. Ramona's 1st Evil Ex.

Scott fights 6 'evil ex's' overall and at the conclusion of the 6th he meets with Gideon for the first time. Gideon takes Ramona from Scott. This is the conclusion of act 2 and the start of act 3. Act 3 is solely the preparation for the final battle and the battle itself. After losing Ramona to Gideon, Scott feels compelled to win her back and take down Gideon, he rushes to where he knows Gideon and Ramona will be and confronts him. There is a short battle and Scott declares that he is fighting Gideon to win Ramona back. Shortly afterwards, he loses to Gideon and is killed. The idea is that he lost because he was fighting Gideon for the wrong reasons and as such his resolve faltered.


Fig 3. Gideon, The Final Evil Ex.

In the next scene the hero, Scott, is in a barren desert. This is clearly there to further represent that he did die in the previous scene. He then feels that he has learnt from his mistakes, picks up an extra life that he earned previously in the film and starts again at the beginning of act 3. This time armed with a better understanding of the situation and what he must do, he defeats Gideon and he wins back his love interest, Ramona. With a final scene that ties up loose ends and questions the audience would have, the film concludes neatly.

Scott's resurrection is a literal representation of a key part in the hero's journey This film has used many unique video game tropes to help serve as 'the hero's journey' stages. All of the story after the resurrection could technically be an act 4 on its own as it is a replay of act 3 with better decisions by the hero. These ultimately result in a better ending for the hero.

Illustration List

Wright, E (2010) Figure 1. Scott Pilgrim Poster. http://images.moviepostershop.com/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world-movie-poster-2010-1020561018.jpg (Accessed on 10/10/15)

Wright, E (2010) Figure 2. Ramona's 1st Evil Ex. http://earnthis.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/scottpilgrim3156.jpg (Accessed on 11/10/15)

Wright, E (2010) Figure 3. Gideon, The Final Evil Ex. https://gradingfightscenes.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/picture81.png (Accessed on 11/10/15)

Film Review (Archetypes) - I, Robot (Alex Proyas, 2004)

Fig 1. I, Robot Poster.

I, Robot is set in the near future of 2035 in the American city of Chicago. Del Spooner is a detective for the Chicago police department. He is shown to mistrust robots which is later explained to be because of their cold mathematical thinking process. This hostility began when he was in a car accident along with a young girl, a robot saved Spooner instead of the girl because he had a higher chance of survival. The film follows along a path where detective Spooner's mistrust eventually ends up saving the city from a hostile robot takeover.

The Hero:
Detective Del Spooner is without a doubt the hero of this film. He is at the very centre of the story, a story which revolves around Spooner's hatred towards robot-kind.

The Shadow:
V.I.K.I, the A.I. that controls all of the new NS5 robots turns out to be the shadow at the end of the story. However for most of the story the audience is lead to believe that Lawrence Robertson, the CEO and head of US Robotics, is the shadow. Due to his position of power it is easy to point blame at him and detective Spooner does so with ease. Near the conclusion of the film V.I.K.I is shown to have evolved beyond her programmed duties and turns the newly developed robots against humanity. She believes that she is saving humanity from its own destructive tenancies by removing humanity's free will. She is stopped by Spooner when he injects 'nanites' (a serum designed to destroy the brain functions of robots) into her core at the heart of the US Robotics building.

The Mentor:
The mentor in this film is quite easy to spot. It is Dr Alfred Lanning, the audience is introduced to him after his death at the beginning of the film. A holographic recording of him and old videos guide Spooner towards the answers that Dr Lanning left for him to find.


Fig 2. Dr Lanning Hologram.

The Threshold guardian:
Sonny, the robot created by Dr Lanning seems to be the threshold guardian in this film. It is revealed soon after his appearance that he is different from other robots. He has the same rules and laws inside him that govern the other robots, but he was built to be able to choose whether to follow them or ignore them. Early in the film Detective Spooner interviews this unique machine and this is the threshold. During the interview, Spooner starts to understand that something is wrong, he starts to realise that Dr Lanning is trying to tell him something and that this robot may be the key to solving it.

The Herald:
This would seems to be Dr Lanning. His voice appears occasionally at key moments in the film, narrating the scenes with lines that sound like they are out of a textbook on robotics. His physical appearances in his hologram and in the videos that Detective Spooner watches also seem to narrate the scenes, at least partially.

Shapeshifter:
The shapeshifter appears to be Sonny in this film, at the beginning he is perceived as an enemy. He is immediately suspected by Detective Spooner as the core reason for Dr Lanning's death. Later in the film he begins to earn Spooner's trust and they become allies to stop the robot takeover. In a smaller way however, Lawrence Robertson is the shapeshifter. He is seen to be the villain for the majority of the film, the hero only realizes who the real villain is after they find Robertson dead in his office.


Fig 3. Sonny the Robot.

Trickster:
The trickster in this film is Farber, Detective Spooner's young friend who comes in and out of the storyline throughout. His appearances are always in between key moments, this makes it seem as though he is there only for moving the story forwards. He appears multiple times when the hero is journeying to a certain goal. Farber also provides most of the comedy relief in this film, this mostly comes from trying to impress Spooner and becoming a nuisance or distraction to him.

Allies:
There are three core allies in this film, Dr Lanning's hologram is the first to appear to Spooner, followed closely by Dr Calvin and then shortly afterwards Sonny jumps into the storyline as a perceived villain. Eventually, after trust is gained between Detective Spooner and Sonny, Sonny becomes an ally.

Illustration List

Proyas, A (2004) Figure 1. I, Robot Poster. http://static.dramastyle.com/images/3/8/7115/I,-Robot_7115_1.jpg (Accessed on 07/10/15)

Proyas, A (2004) Figure 2. Dr Lanning Hologram. http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/wp-content/uploads/i_robot_cromwell_inventor.jpg (Accessed on 09/10/15)

Proyas, A (2004) Figure 3. Sonny the Robot. http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1367030/sonny-sentient-humanoid-robot-will-smith-film-irobot.jpg (Accessed on 09/10/15)

Initial Character Ideas and Character Session 1

Below are the two pages of initial ideas I had for my character project. As my notes may be hard to read I will transcribe them below each image.

Character Project - Game Ideas

Fantasy
Mutation
Light

-light as a mechanic, use the light to burn the mutations (doesn't include fantasy)

-(card game) choose from a selection of bizarre animals, you use cards to evolve and mutate them and you face off against your opponents. Based on natural selection, aka the strongest survives.
perhaps either going against opponents or a series of trials.
you could pick up a trials card or a 'mutate' or 'evolve' card.
(doesn't include light)
you could pick up bad mutate cards (comedic)
not all trials cards are bad.

- viruses in a computer system. you have to either save the computer or help infect it.

- you are an animal of some kind, you have to consume or merge with other animals to move forward aka get bigger and move to a different stage (larger world).

perhaps light is an enemy, beams of light could be the obstacle.

(idea may be too close to the game 'spore')

- you are a scientist/sorcerer that can merge animals together/mutate them using light maybe?

perhaps this is an app mostly for a casual fun gaming experience.

(notes after talking with Justin about my ideas, mostly about my card game idea)

- colours of light causing mutations, different colour cards for different types of mutation aka strength, agility, cunning

- think about the world, create the world for the game

Below is the game I had to morph into a different game type. I had to change the computer game 'Counter Strike' into a board game.

Character Project Session 1


Counter Strike as a board game.

A top down environment that is sorted into tiles places. you would control a team (counter-terrorists or terrorists) and use dice or cards to move you team or switch weapons. As a lot of the game is strategy this fits right into a board game.

- May have a problem with visibility of enemies. Might need a 'fog of war'. possibly an app or tablet game?