(Post taken from team member Ceri Rogers.)

We got our application results back from Dare today, and sadly we didn't get in. They did have record numbers of applicants this year however, so the competition was really tight. The following is what I could find of the proposal that we sent as we don't have a copy of the original form that was filled out on the web site...

Game Name: No Time For Nuts
Team Name: BigBox Games
Game Genre: Action/Platformer
Target Platform: PC and Xbox LIVE

Game Description (100wds)
Reduced to a mere handful and facing extinction at the hands of the Greys, the last of the Red squirrels resorted to something neither man nor beast should ever do. They built a time machine. The resulting chaos tore the universe asunder, and the only way to fix it is for Reds and Greys to work together...
A unique experiment in single player gaming see’s one player controlling two characters at once as they scamper and blast their way across two parallel dimensions in a race to repair the damage before it’s too late. There’s no time for nuts! Uh-oh!

Demographic
No Time For Nuts is a game that is meant to appeal to a wide demographic, aged between 18-35 of no specific gender. It caters to the kind of player that loves to 'discover' and download independent games from services such as Xbox Live Arcade and Steam. They enjoy simple yet innovative gameplay and would play titles such as Castle Crashers, Worms,The Maw, Kuri Kuri Mix, Pikmin, Overlord and World Of Goo, attracted to the fun/cool characters and colourful environments.
Our key demographic would have a good sense of humor, reflected in their choice of viewing, loving T.V. shows such as Samurai Jack, Ren and Stimpy and Spongebob.
We are aiming to attract the type of consumer who would rather download on demand as opposed to purchasing from a shop. They are very Internet savvy and invest in both their PC and home console. They love videogame culture choosing to purchase magazines like Edge and Retro gamer and rarely go to the cinema, enjoying the convenience of downloading from home entertainment services. When they do, it would be for the experience of viewing a film in 3D such as Avatar or Alice in Wonderland. With a equal love of the retro and new entertainment technologies our demographic is trendy, fun and has a strong sense of what is a good about a game.

Market Potential (200wds)

With a combination of stylized graphics, humour and unique gameplay it would be possible to market the game on a variety of services to reach the target audience, many similar games have seen success on Xbox LIVE marketplace, and Steam, as well as to a lesser extent the PSN marketplace. WiiWare would be another fantastic location to release a game like this as a large portion of the target demographic occupies the Wii userbase.
Focusing on the unique game mechanics will help to establish the game as part of the indie resurgence and provide a good base from which to form a marketing campaign.

Innovation and Creativity (200wds)

The game concept we have outlined have the appeal that they use a mechanic that hasn’t really been exploited in games development, namely having the player control two distinct characters in the game world simultaneously. This provides a different problem-solving environment than that which the player is usually experienced in dealing with. Other games have included aspects of our collective game mechanics but none have really tied them all together like we are attempting to do.

The style of the game world will also tie into the system, by presenting a twisted cartoon style to the art, which will tie into the back-story of the game as well as the current situation, with the two worlds being represented as opposites. The twisted nature of the style will also represent the inherent difference in our game mechanics.

Use of Technical (200wds)

Keeping the game mechanics very simple, the two characters having only one action each (attacking, and jumping, as well as context-sensitive actions for both such as pulling a lever) will allow us to focus our efforts on producing those mechanics to a very high level of polish.
The game will feature randomly generated levels constructed from a range of obstacles for both of the characters to navigate so that each level will never play the same way twice, this also allows us to add in more challenging obstacles/enemies based on the difficulty level very easily.

The majority of the artwork involved in the game will be rendered using a toon shading to reflect the stylized nature of the game world. This will be coded into ShaderLab which is the native shader language used in Unity.
Other effects such as particles can take advantage of the systems built into the engine, and due to its flexibility we can utilize 3ds Max and Photoshop for asset creation. Any audio work we do for the game can easily be converted to the native ogg file format used in the engine as well.

Milestones
Week 1 – Prototype

Build a rough prototype for the core gameplay using no artwork (boxes, planes, etc) with; both cameras set up and displaying the two sides of gameplay, both characters moving around appropriately with gamepad controls, character 1 shooting at temporary enemies and character 2 jumping and properly landing on temporary obstacles.

Completed designs for the two player characters complete with information and a full list of required animations. Concepts for enemy designs, enemy AI/mechanics design.

Week 2 – Char1 gameplay

Expand on prototype gameplay by refining the character 1 gameplay, full collision with enemies, random enemy spawning/speeds, player attack animation working and destroying enemies, player health, death and respawning.

Full implementation of character 1 model and animations. Environment concepts/designs.

Week 3 – Char2 gameplay

Expand on prototype gameplay by refining character 2 gameplay, set up a number of randomly spawning platformer obstacles (blocks, hills, debris, avoidable melee enemies perhaps? all temporary art) and refine the player’s controls by adjusting jump height/etc based on playtesting.

Environment design has begun, concept art and obstacle design. Full implementation of character 2 model and additional animations (jumping/climbing)

Week 4 – Initial Environment Production

Environment implementation, basic version of random environment spawner and spawning algorithm using the assets produced by the art team.

Model, texture and implement 3 sections of environment, including physics models and required animation (swaying of trees, etc), import them into the game and make any necessary adjustments for the characters to walk around them.

Week 5 – Environment Continued

Implement a more advanced version of the environment spawning algorithm which takes into account which pieces of environment have been spawned recently, to avoid duplicates, and difficulty mode when deciding which pieces to spawn. Expand on any previous tasks not currently completed (such as the character 2 wall-climb animation)

Complete the production of more environment assets to be used by the environment spawning algorithm. Design and plan a tutorial level and make plans to produce all the required assets.


Week 6 – GUI implementation and Enemy Design

Fully design and implement a GUI, including splash screen, menu screen and in-game GUI (Health bar, remaining lives etc)

Completed design for two/three types of enemy including visual design as well as gameplay/mechanics design and work has begun on enemy character models.


Week 7 – Enemy implementation

Basic implementation of the enemy designs, including enemy AI patterns, spawning patterns/attacks, collision, models and animations.

Audio design, full list of all required audio.

Week 8 – opening cut scene, refine existing gameplay

Opening cut scene implementation, gameplay refinements. Add any planned voice-work/sound effects to the audio design list.

Additional environment/obstacle sections designed and produced.

Audio recording, fully record all required voice work and as much other audio as possible.

Week 9 – Gameplay and functionality polish

Finish implementation of, or refine existing gameplay components to a highly polished level. Get feedback based on playtesting and group discussion.

Week 10 – bug blitz + audio/cut scene finish

Bug fixing, game testing. Finish all audio and cut scene stuff.


The Result
Over 100 teams entered to get one of 17 spaces on offer at the university, so competition was tight. On the plus side we now understand why we didn't make the cut due to the feedback they kindly sent us, which was as follows...



"Thank you for your application to Dare to be Digital 2010. I'm really
sorry to inform you that your team have not been selected to attend the
interview day.

This is by no means a reflection of your application but that we had so
many excellent entries to consider. It was a tough job and took our
judging panel many days to decide.

Please note that the judges decision is final and no correspondence will
be entered into.

We would like to thank you for your entry to Dare and wish you all every
success with your courses, careers and futures.

Kind regards on behalf of the Dare team,

Elaine

Feedback from the judges:
Only one coder rings alarm bells for me. If they manage to recruit another as the 5th team member then perhaps not so bad.
The plan seems sound, especially the idea of proofing the gameplay with placeholder art. However, the use of procedurally generated levels worries me a little, since that\'s a difficult thing to do well at the best of times, much less in just a few weeks. Not enough detail in the game description to really know whether it\'s ultimately achievable or not.
The team have a clear idea of their target audience, which is always a good thing. The biggest problem (yet again) is a lack of explanation of the game idea to really allow us to judge the level of complexity of the project.
The application could really have used some solid examples of the types of puzzle and gameplay that players will experience, as well as a more concrete explanation of how the dual character control would work. I\'m also worried about the amount of work involved in creating good quality procedurally generated levels - that\'s not an easy task.
A bit light on programmers
Think about the randomly generated levels and whether it\'s achievable, and how much it contributes to the fun factor. It may be better to focus on the 2 parallel dimensions.
Relatively complex with no clear hook.
Feature proposal is to control multiple characters simultaneously - but without clearly explaining why this would be fun or what is the benefit to the player."


So with that in mind, we intend to take fully on board the kind feedback they sent us and enter again next year!

These examples were all completed in the last 2 years.

For the past 24 hours this has been the bane of my life. I learnt so much about paiting by doing this, especially about the subtlety of lighting. I think if I were to start it again from the begin I would go about it very differently, but I am happy with the result. This is based of the bottom two sketches of the realism sketches from an earlier post. She is meant to be the more confident character of a horror game, perhaps even a mad murderer.

I also looked at other artists and different styles of art that incorporated lighting to give atmosphere in their images as reference:

light reference 1

light reference 2

light reference 3

I also used reference for the character:

photo reference 1

photo reference 2





For this kind of character, and other art styles I have also been looking into what art styles are most relevent to different genres of games:

horror/apocolypse 1

horror/apocolypse 2

horror/apocolypse 3

horror/apocolypse 4

horror/apocolypse 5

horror/apocolypse 6

For these kinds of games there tends to more a more realistic and gritty feel to the art, which I tried to incoporate in the painting style of this character. These kinds of games tend to me aimed at older audience, mid to late lates +, and contain more violence due to thier more mature audience.

The final link is an example of an idea that has been taken down a different root. It is still the same horror genre, but aimed more at younger audiences, ten years +.

Very different styles of art are used for these younger audiences:

younger audiences 1

younger audiences 2

younger audiences 3

younger audiences 4

younger audiences 5

The artwork in these types of games appeals more to younger audiences as the shapes are a lot simpler and colours a lot brighter, which helps to stimulate a childs mind while they are playing. However, these games are also enjoyed by older players due to their quality of gameplay, but also for an appreciation of the art style.

Whilst trying to produce different styles with different characters I have also focused on realism:

These characters seem to communicate with the viewer more so than previous styles, at least that is what I have found from feedback. Characters with a lot of emotion tend to be put into the hard to handle situations in order to create tentsion for the player. These kinds of characters would work best in the horror genre.

Some people in our year have been working on a game for the local fire department called 'Quench'.
The basic aim is to put out the fire on all of the burning houses to progress through the game.
For 'Quench' I built a few different buildings including a clock tower and a school (which was not as successful as the others). Two of my buildings were put into one of the levels.
These are screenshots of my house and fireworks factory in-game, both intact and burnt down:





The levels, other buildings and interface were built by other students and tutors. It was very interesting to be able to see things that we had all built in-game. Here are some screenshots of the buildings in 3DS Max, ambient oclusion maps, and a poster for one of the levels containing one of my models:

Benefits of game engines – can be used to showcase work with better quality

I have been doing some research into the development of characters from initial concept to final in game characaters. After some deliberation I decided to look into one of my favourite characters - Jak, from the Jak series (Jak and Daxter: the Precursor Legacy (2001), Jak II: Renegade (2003), Jak3 (2004) and JakX (2005), all on Playstation 2). All of these games were developed by Naughty Dog.

The concept artwork for this character was completed by artist Bob Rafei. I respect Refei as an artist because of his ability to show clear developement in his characters, showing the story of their life through the way that their appearance changes through years of developement:





From the developement in Rafei's work it is easy to see that not much is changed from concept to in-game model. The final concepts are clear and concise and easy to translate into 3d model.

The thing that I appreciate most about looking at Rafei's work is that it is possible to see the developement of his own abilities as an artist over the years, as well as the character.

After researching into this I now have a better knowledge of how important it is to show a clear crisp path of 2D development that can then be easily realised into 3D.

In order to learn more about different art styles and different demographics I have been doing some research into different styles used on different platforms. I've decided to look into Borderlands on the Xbox 360 and the Pokemon games on the Nintendo DS.

I chose these two games because they are both of very different art styles, but are both high quality and popular for thier own platforms.

The comic book art style of Borderlands were a great change from ther semi-realistic style from previous titles. The new hand drawn, almost cartoon style gave the game more of an edge over other recent releases on the same platform, such as Brutal Legend, Uncharted 2 (all released in October 2009). Brutal Legend had a stylised model design, with a simple cartoon-like character design, where as Uncharted 2 had more high quality graphics with environments and animations with high realism. Rather than looking at different character design styles, Borderlands has taken a risk with a similarly popular art style but succeeded with something new and refreshing. This new and innovative style would also help to appeal to the games demographic more as well, which would be late teens, due to the amount of violence in the game play. The apololyptic game plot coupled with the art style shows that the game would appeal to fans of graphic novels and gritty super hero films, such as 'Wolverine' and 'Iron Man.'

Examples of game art from Borderlands.

The Nintendo DS has very different specifications to the Xbox 360, however there has still been some impressive progression with some games' aestethics. The Pokemon games have been running for more than 14 years and through this time the game has moved from the simple monochrome of the original game boy games into full 3d games in the next release of Pokemon Black and White. The style is simple, but good quality for it's platform - the artist know thier limitations. The art style has become more detailed and the interface has been kept very much the same, but adapted to to the touch screen of the Nintendo DS. The simple style and colours shows that the game would appeal to a younger audience who would also be fans of television shows such as the cartoon of 'Pokemon' and 'Digimon', and other titles such as 'Avatar - the Last Air Bender'. However, as the 'Pokemon' games are so long running, they also have a loyal fanbase of older players who enjoyed playing the earlier games.

Screenshots from Pokemon Red.


Screenshots from Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, and Platinum.

Screenshots for the upcoming Pokemon Black and White games.

After looking at different artists and different styles I have been thinking of different types of creatures and environments and how each adapts to the other. If creatures were to be created again from scratch, how would they adapt to certain limitations? For example, I looked into how creatures that already existed would develop in completely different environments. I designed a world in which creatures and plants that are completely adapted for the sea, such as squids and angler fish, were adapted for an environment similar to a tropical jungle. This allowed me to think in a different way about why environments and creatures develop and adapt.

I then decided that it would be better for my portfolio and that I would learn more if I didn't focus on one single form of character design, but tried to adapt my forms of drawing into different content and different styles. I began sketching out simple, stylized creatures and other character designs, along with other styles focusing on realism. This allowed me to show that I am able to adapt to different styles easily with the way that I work. I also wanted to focus on some environment work as well.

From these exercises I have become more familiar with the way in which people and animals are built and the ways in which they utilize their physical abilities.

I also looked into creating creatures in different art styles in order to appeal to different audiences.

stylised monsters

creature concepts 2

planet concept

angler fish concepts

slug sketches

original concept sketches

creature concept

stylised heads 1

stylised heads 2

stylised heads coloured

strange vehicle

For reference I thought I'd make a list of relevent artists I could like at for the different tasks I need to complete. That way, I'd have different styles to look into and see what suits the work best. Most of these will probably just be personal favourites:

Character Design:

I had so many links open for this section, but I think I've narrowed it down to two that get my point across very well. I think being able to work for either of these companies means that you are a genius with character design:

Massive Black: Their work ranges from realism to extreme stylised. It's relevent for all sections content (characters, environments, etc.) but the originality in some of the characters is good for reference. They also use a variety of media, classic and modern which shows that pen and pencil or watercolour are not dead yet.

Imaginism:

Perhaps the complete opposite in style to Massive Black, these artists use of lighting and detail really captured my attention.

Costume:

John Staub: There is true originality in the costume design in all of his characters, so I think this would be more relevant for looking into interesting costume design, but also good for character design. The layout of his work is simple and easy to read.

Creatures:

Aaron St. Goddard: I would say that the work on his website is relevant for reference in all areas I am looking into, but I found his creature design particularly interesting. He creates improbable characters and creatures that still make sense in their own right. It is possible to see their skeletal structure and to imagine how they grew and developed. I find that quite an impressive quality to get into ones work.

Environments:

While I would have included many of the above for my favourite environment artists, I have a new favourite to include as well:

Oliver NePaul Wilson: The use of vibrant colours and quick strokes get movement into the landscape, and there is an fantastic use of colour to indicate emotion and theme in his work.
Tech and Vehicles:

Doug Chiang: His work is impressive when it comes to tech because it is possible to imagine or even see how each of the creatons would work, just through a sketch. The delicate and precise lines show the quality of technical drawings or blue prints for technology that actually could be created, but is far more imaginative and vibrant than anything that already exists, or probably ever could.

Mudbox:

Judd Simatov: Whilst working in both digital and traditional media, he shows both character and history in his models.