Directed Study

Personal development project

For the PDP I worked in a group four with Jack Moore, Georgia Roan, and jade Phillips. I was in charge of drawing the character designs; I did full character sheets for characters including alternative outfits. The idea we used we had already come up with prior to this project but hadn’t used it for anything. So we had already got characters in mind or designed. I asked every one for any sketches they had drawn of their character so I could draw it up. The scenario we had come up with took place in a fantasy world where supernatural beings such including all but forgotten races that lived before humans, magic users, psychic users. The characters are a part of a travelling circus that promotes the acceptance of the supernatural; they are constantly on the run from the Inquisition, a faction of soldiers whose goal is to wipe out the supernatural. I designed the characters in standard outfits that they would wear to blend in when visiting towns, and a circus outfit that they wear during performances. In order to protect their identities they all wear masks when in circus gear, all of the members of the crew have stage names also as a proportion all of them are different types of birds, as birds represent freedom, this being what the crew want for the supernatural races.

Helen McCarthy project  

I was really looking forward to having a go at this project, as it was to do with a topic that I am very interested in. I was enthusiastic as I had enjoyed all of Helen’s lectures so far and was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with her. I was really stuck at first and didn’t know what direction to take my project, so I wrote a list of the things about myself, like what I liked or disliked, quirks etc. I chose to look at a fantasy theme, as I enjoy fantasy games, specifically final fantast games. My favourite animal is a Red Panda, so I combined the two and made a mage Panda creature, I chose to make her a red mage from final fantasy, as it is my favourite class. 

Show real

I used iMovie to make my show real, I found the program easy to use as I have had previous experience with it, however it was a newer version so I had to get used to the new layout. I selected a handful of my best work from projects BA5 and BA6 as the majority of the video, but also added in a few of my personal creations to show a wider range of what I can do. Each slide last between 4-8 seconds depending on the size of the image, I used basic transition animation so it didn’t look tacky or too flashy. Then at the end I made it fade to black so it didn’t just cut off. 

Portfolio

Portfolio

For my portfolio I was a bit lost at first, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make my own website from scratch as I have never done it before and in the amount of time we had I doubted I would be able to learn enough to come up with a decent result. I was directed to a portfolio sharing website that would be perfect for my work by a fellow course mate. The website is www.carbonmade.com, here you can customise your own portfolio; it is easy and simple to use, very user friendly. The look and theme of the website is very welcoming. There are two options on the website, you can either have a standard account that is free to use; this allows to have about 30 images and limited video. Whereas the better account let’s you have up to 500 images. I chose the free one, as at this current time I don’t need all that space. I have put a mixture of my own illustration work, Project work and some development sketches to show all areas of my work. 

More designs

I settled on doing two main character designs for each race, one design of a type of unit and then a commander also showing customisable variations. I have had to limit myself to what I am doing and have had to cut out the concept pieces from my learning agreement, instead of rushing the character designs to make time for the concept pieces I chose to focus on the character designs themselves.

I did the human commander trio in the last post and also did one of the elite troops specified in Jak’s game design document. I designed the sniper class.

For the shay I designed the Hunter class and a commander trio.

With the design for the commander they needed to be more elaborately dressed than the generic troops, I designed them with jewellery made out of fur and fangs as a symbol of how many creatures they had killed or how many battles they had won.

For the Kojiki I designed the elite class Reaper, the Mount for the cavalry and a commander trio.  The designs are meant to be like Traditional Japanese monsters but are also aliens so I had fun mixing them up a bit.

The reaper was really fun to draw, as it is completely different to what I would normally draw. I feel that I have pushed myself during this project and have improved because of it, I now know that I am able to draw a much more diverse range of material. 

The Kojiki commander is a kami one of the more intelligent of the race; they often wear masks to make themselves look more like the others of their race. They have natural armour plates that are part of their skin.

Socialising through gaming

Socialising through games.

The gaming community has grown significantly over the last few years with the explosion of online gaming. MMOs (massive multiplayer online games) have proven to be very popular, in these games you join a large community of players from all over the world to play together. Player communities are formed and people make teams and talk with one another, some people only talk about the game they are playing working together to get through a certain part in the game. While others like to make friends and use the socialising aspect of the game to its fullest.  Following an experiment in (2006 by Constance Steinkuehler, Ph.D., and Dmitri Williams, Ph.D). in which they were looking into social online gaming, writing that people may spend ours absorbed in these games but it doesn’t mean they are antisocial. They came to the conclusion after interviewing some of the players that it was a very positive experience and they felt more confident and they didn’t have to worry about what they looked like and where happy they weren’t being judged on their looks. The experience broadens peoples friendships with a wider range of people, however for those looking for deeper and more supportive relationships this was not the answer and should not be used as a replacement for real-life relationships. (Article by Miranda Hitti 2006 “Online Games Provide Social Connection”)

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500368_162-1912860.html

Kate Schneider wrote an article in 2008 about a study done by the Pew Internet & American Life Project about whether video games were improving young peoples social skills and not causing them to become violent like a lot of myths and speculations out there. The study showed that gaming involved a large significant amount of social interactivity that could help teens engage with the world around them. It shows that around 97% of teens play video games and is a important part of their social lives with their friends and family, “dispelling the myth that gamers are anti-social outsiders”. (“Video games social, not violent, study finds” 2008) “The study, released last week, also found 52 per cent of teenagers played games in which they considered moral and ethical issues; 43 per cent played games in which they made decisions about the way a community, city or nation should be run; and 40 per cent played games in which they learned about a social issue.” (“Video games social, not violent, study finds” 2008) The study gives a very positive outlook on people reactions to video games, going against many speculations, the report then goes on to say that young people who play games together are more likely to volunteer to do things for society and be able to make arguments politically as well.

Article from http://www.news.com.au/technology/video-games-social-not-violent-study-finds/story-e6frfro0-1111117579541

Video games have a lot of potential as a means of teaching young people life skills, there needs to be a way that these messages of socializing and being active within the community should be integrated more into games, so those who might play alone or with people online can learn the same skills. Young people could have a better chance of being ready for difficult social problems and life issues if they are maybe exposed to them within a gaming environment, where they feel comfortable, and have to solve those issues in the game with a positive outcome. Hopefully by learning skills like these they would be ready for problems that they might come across or be able to deal with problems they may already be experiencing.  

Gaming influence

How does gaming influence your studying and socialising? http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1880410

This blog opened up the discussion asking students how gaming affected their studying and socialising, either in the past or present day. It was really interesting to read down the comments on this forum, as they were very varied mostly neutral in opinion but some slightly more negative which is to be expected. A few people admitted that they had had a problem in the past and their grades at school were stunted because they had been obsessed with a game at the time and neglected revising for their GCSE’s. One person expressed how he had been disappointed in his grades but instantly new what was the cause, in his words “I got a sinking feeling as I immediately knew the cause of my failure.” He then went on to say, “Games in moderation are fine, you just have to know when to stop and unfortunately I didn’t…” (“The student room” forum user “Betacra” posted January 2012) Despite his bad experience he still doesn’t think badly of the subject just that caution and self-control is important. This was quite a common opinion within the discussion, gaming isn’t bad in moderation, and you just need to be sensible. On the other hand some people stated that they hadn’t had problems managing school or university work with gaming. One user said he was surprised he managed so well, “I've found it easier than I thought to manage my gaming habit while at uni. I still manage to get my work done and sometimes won't play for a few days or nearly a week. Then again, sometimes I'll do a bit of work then stop and go on the Xbox for a few hours as a 'break'.” (“The student room” forum user “ManBeast” posted January 2012). Using games as a treat for doing your work can be a really good motivator, for actually cracking down. As this student did it is good practice to have breaks doing work and completely get your mind away from what you are doing so you can come back refreshed when staring work again.

I enjoyed this forum because it was asking the people who it would affect directly and wasn’t an outside source that would only speculate at game negative affects on young people. Unfortunately a lot of this type of article exists and I have come across a lot of negative articles in my searching. 

Progress 3

For the humans I wanted to incorporate the new with the old, I started looking at old military uniforms and took heavy influence from the Blues and Royals uniform. I drew up some silhouettes including commander like clothing as well as foot soldiers.

I took a couple of them and sketched some rough ideas down, I used a mixture of 2 and 4 for the commander design.

Once drawing the sketch I copied across to another file and drew over the top to produce a final design. I made sure to keep the model simple as I used it to make alternate outfit designs.

I used a combination of Photoshop and Coral painter for these 3 designs.