Character Session 7

In this session we all individually talked to Justin about our progress so far and how to improve upon our work after the OGR. He suggested multiple things I should consider and some useful points about each of my three characters so far. During the session I also looked into possible card layouts and themes. I am quite happy with the ones I have tried here, but I think that it is something that will be much easier to do once I am finalizing my characters and environment concepts.

 

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Maya - Posing Part 4 (1st Playblasts)

The animations of Pose 2 and Pose 3 are both currently broken and are not quite finished for a proper playblast.

 

Pose 1

Pose 2

Pose 3

Pose 4

 

Pose 5

 



Character - Early Plant Character 1 Concept

This is a quick sketch working from my silhouettes of character 1. I was trying to visualize what kind of features this creature might have and how it may function. This is only experimental but I think this sketch is headed in the right direction for my character concept.

Film Review (Documentary) - Creature Comforts (Nick Park, 1989)

Fig 1. Creature Comforts Poster.

Creature Comforts was originally an animated short film created by Nick Park in 1989. It was a mockumentary that focused on the living conditions of animals in British zoo's. It was created by asking the voice actors specific questions and they would answer them as the animal. The responses given would then be animated using clay animation to create the illusion of the animals giving their opinion on their living conditions.

The animation received widespread acclaim and Nick Park received an 'Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film' for the film in 1990. The film itself is very cleverly constructed. By only including the responses that the animals give without an overarching authors opinion, and also by having many different varied opinions, the film succeeds in raising important questions without any bias. The film throws many issues at the viewer in subtle ways and not a single definitive answer or opinion is given, leaving all of the choice to the viewer.


Fig 2. Puma Interview Still.

Despite the fact that this animation is a lot of separate scenes that contain only animals talking, there is never a boring moment. The background is often filled with other animals animated doing strange and out of character actions. For instance, at one point a tortoise headbutts a volleyball on camera which is not commented on at any point afterwards. Moments like these keep the audience interested in the animation itself and not just the audio, which is obviously the focus of the film.

Illustration List
Park, N (1989) Figure 1. Creature Comforts Poster. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WC5AFJT5L.jpg (Accessed on 16/11/15)

Park, N (1989) Figure 2. Puma Interview Still. https://static.shortoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/creature-comforts.jpg (Accessed on 16/11/15)

Character - OGR 1

Character - Game Outline

The background to this game is as follows;

Set on another world where an intelligent plant-like species thrive in harmony with their ecosystem. A group of alien invaders appear in pods and become violent against the plant creatures, forcing the creatures to take drastic measures to fight back and defend their planet. While the alien invaders have superior technology, the plant creatures have one advantage. They can use the light from their sun to mutate and become stronger/tougher.

The alien invaders are an advanced race that can travel through space, while the plant creatures are only a tribal species.

Game Mechanics:

It is a card game.

At the start of the game you are given a selection of plant characters to choose from that all have their own initial benefits.

During the game there are two decks that you draw from periodically, one is a 'mutation' deck and the other is an 'enemy' deck.

The 'mutation' deck includes cards that either strengthen your character or hinder it.

The 'enemy' deck includes cards that show alien invader characters. You have to fight using the plant character that you have built up using 'mutation' cards to defeat them. This will likely be done using statistics on the cards e.g. strength, agility, cunning.

Maya Tutorial - Pipeline 1 Part 14