###### tags: 'Uni Work' Games Art'
# **<21382264> J5Z1020 journal**
[Public HackMD Link](https://hackmd.io/@NBQbrjO2TcGmaFt0nODQBg/HkLoqT5fo)
### **Character and Enviroment Art (J5Z1020)**
### **Games Art BA(HONS) L5**
### **Nate Ferguson**

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus">**Games to look into for research and inspiration** *(more towards enviroment design)*

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- the division 2
- the last of us and TLoU part two ***for both***
- half life Alyx
- mirrors edge
- dead rising **franchise**
- walking dead **franchise**
- left for dead 1 and 2
- stray
- GTA **franchise**
- saints row **franchise**
- battlefield **franchise**
- spiderman **franchise**
- star wars **franchise**
- hitman **franchise**
- alien isolation
- assassins creed **franchise** ***(more for Character design)***
- amnesia ***for both***
- outlast 1 and 2 ***for both***
- fallout **franchise**
- watch dogs **franchise**
- batman **franchise**
- we happy few ***for art style***
- life is strange **franchise**
- borderlands **franchise**
- uncharted **franchise**
- Dead by daylight ***(more for Character design)***
- oneshot ***(more for Character design)***
- Dead by daylight ***for both***
- blasphemous
- oneshot ***for both***
- league of legends ***for characters***
- witch it

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### <font size="3"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Initial Environment art research (pureref)</h1>**

**<font size="3">Images from:** The Last Of Us part one and two, The Division 2, Half-Life Alyx, Fallout series, Forza series, battlefield series.

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### ***<font size="3"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Visual media to use for research and inspiration*** *(more towards character design)*

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- guilty crown ***for both***
- walking dead ***for both***
- z nation ***for environment***
- Darling in the Franxx
- tokyo ghoul ***for both***
- attack on titan ***for both***
- my hero academia
- darwins game ***for environment***
- high-rise invasion ***both***
- arcane/League Of Ledgends ***for both***
- star wars **franchise**
- RWBY **for both**
- danganronpa series **for both**
- hatsune miku: project diva
- H.P. Lovecraft ***for everything***

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### <font size="3"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Initial Character research

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For initial character research I have chosen to look at Sal Fisher from Sally face made by Portable Moose, this is because of how even though he wears a mask, Steve Gabry, used storytelling and body language to show emotion from him which could help me when creating the story and characters for my idea. Sal is a very interesting character from him backstory to his appearance and this is why I was so drawn to him as a character, this is the same for Larry Johnson. Every character from "Sally Face" has a very unique and rememberable design and story making this game on of my favorites.

For character there is a fine line between a good character backstory and a character that has either too much or too little known about them making which makes them either seem boring or mysterious. Sometimes the term "Mary Sue" (sometimes abbreviated "Sue") is used to describe characters who are typically considered to be wish-fulfillment characters of the author. This is something I need to keep into consideration as to make my character seem relatable but not overpowered and coming off as seeming as though they have some from "plot armour" which is when a character seems undefeatable and as though they will not die. Which takes away from the suspense of the game as you know they wont die.

There are many games and character I could talk about for falling into these stereotypes such as "Kirito" From the anime Sword Art Onine, even though it is one of my favorite animes, when I was watching I knew he wouldn't die due to his perceived "plot armour" which made the show seem boring at times, I like the story which is why I looked over his charater design.

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### <font size="3"><h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Initial Character art research (pureref)</h1>**
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**<font size="3">Characters from:** Arcane (Jinx), Sally Face (Sal Fisher), Danganronpa (Monokuma), Darling In The Franxx (Zero Two), Guilty Crown (Inori Yuzuriha and Shu Ouma), Hatsune Miku, High Rise Invasion (Yuka Makoto Aka Sniper Mask).

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### <font size="5"><h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **World building** </h1>

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***This could work as the game synopsis***

<font size="4">The world I'm creating is that you play as a mortal human/creature who has a strong devotion to their religion. This devotion has becomes an obsession to you, the main character, as you have become obsessed with trying to summon your deity and this goes horribly wrong. After you, the main character, have summoned the deity, the deity decided they are going to wreak havoc and mess with and destroy anything they decided, as they have never been in your realm before. Your job is to fix what mess the deity has made and figure out a way to either banish them back to the realm they came from and kill them, you decide...

This is why the city seems to be in disarray and has decended into chaos, this fixing comes into the play as side missions but also in the main play as you will need to do some fixes to do your main objectives.

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### <font size="4"><h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Initial world building research** </h1>

***<font size="3">Research ideas for the story:***

-Fran bow
-No game no life (anime)
-Skyrim
-Asura's Wrath
-Sword art online (anime)
-Elden Ring
-God of war
-Guilty crown (anime)
-Darling in the franxx (anime)
-Undertale series (game)
-Resident Evil series (game)
-Angel beats (anime)
-Blue exorcist (anime)
-Alien isolation
-Sally Face
-Death note (anime)
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### <font size="3"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Initial world building research** </h1>

**<font size="3">Images from:** Darling in the franxx, Undertale, Sword art online (both game and Anime), Fran bow, No game no life, Alien isolation

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### <font size="5"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> ***Real world inspiration (Edinburgh)***</h1>

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For real world inspiration I have done visual research into Edinburgh as the city has such a vast aray of building styles from its medieval characteristics to the more modern areas such as St James Quarter shopping centre. I have colleted both primary and secondary research of both architecture and the natural scenery

This city became more perverlent in my mind as I went to Edinburgh at the start of this unit as an unpromtue trip and fell in love with the way the city and the surrounding area looks as you can drive from beautiful Medieval structures to large grassy mountains in a matter of minutes. This is also helped by games set in and around Edinbrugh such as Forza Horizon 4.

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### <font size="4"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **World building research (Edinburgh)** </h1>
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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> ***Real world inspiration (York)***</h1>

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for more real lifeI've looked into places such as York as it has places such as "The Shambles" which is a place that inspired "Diagon Alley" in Harry Potter. "The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter" or more widely known as York minster for its Gothic architecture and how it towers over the town/city. "York city walls" are also very interesting for its Roman origins and how it has been altered over the centuries and through each architectural era. I chose to research both Edinburgh and York due to how vast their architecture and I would like too have this same kind of diversity in my world, this as well as how you can see how older building have been used over time from medeval building being used by big retailers such as the TK Maxx shown on the pureref in the secondhand reserch.

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### <font size="2"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **World building research (York)** </h1>
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### ***<font size="3"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Initial game style research***

***<font size="4">Games and other media to reserch:***

-Borderlands series
-Arcane (animated series)
-Sally face
-Hyper light drifter
-My hero academia (anime)
-Journey
-No game no life (anime)
-Undertale series (game)
-Fran bow
-hotline miami series (game)
-Limbo
-Monument Valley II
-Alto’s Odyssey
-Firewatch
-Eastward

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### <font size="3"><h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Initial game style research**

For the art style of my game I want to step out of my comfort zone, so working in a less realistic style and possibly do something that us still high detail but not in a realsitic way such as high detail pixel art or cell shading.

I'm going to look into games with all different style such as Hotline miami for its top-down pixel art style mixed with bright synthwave colour pallette and visuals. I want my game to come accross more moody than hotline miami so more of mix between the moody dark style of limbo, possibly the camera view of hotline miami and its visuals such as the UI but with the detail of games like Hyper light drifter and Eastward. This could change as I develop the story more but this myfirst design idea.

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### <font size="3"><h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Initial game style research**


**<font size="3"><font size="3">Images from:** Borderlands series (game), Limbo, Hyper light drifter, Journey, Arcane (animated series), Hotline Miami, Monument Valley II

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus">**Concentrated game style research**

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-Hyper light drifter
-Eastward
-Bonfire Peaks
-UnMetal
-Flynn: Son Of Crimson
-The Messenger
-Unpacking
-To The Moon
-ANNO: Mutationem
-Octopath Traveler
-Chinatown Detective Agency
-Potion Permit
-Enter The Gungeon
-Terraria
-Unsighted
-Rhythm Doctor
-Skul: The Hero Slayer

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus">**Concentrated game style research**

For the style I want my game to be in is a mix of 3d modeling for backgrounds and textured into the pixel art style. But I could 3d model what I want my scenes to look like the translate them into pixel art.

A game I found while doing research into this style of game is Octopath Traveler. Octopath Traveler is a Japanese role-playing game made by Square Enix, in collaboration with Acquire for the switch which was then ported over onto pc, Stadia and Xbox One. **"graphical aesthetic known as "HD-2D", defined by the developers as combining retro Super NES-style character sprites and textures with polygonal environments and high-definition effects"**. The synopsis for Osteopath Traveler is that: a group called "The Order of the Sacred Flame" belives that the world was created by thirteen deities, and one of the deities called "Galdera", the fallen God, who was sealed within the "Afterworld" in the land of "Orsterra" after he refused to relinquish what they had created.

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus">**Concentrated game style research**


**<font size="3"><font size="2">Images from:** Hyper light drifter, Eastward, Unpacking, ANNO: Mutationem, Chinatown Detective Agency, Potion Permit, Unsighted, Skul: The Hero Slayer.

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> First attempts at pixel art



I wanted to do my game idea in the style of Octopath Traveler. But when I decided on the game style I had never tried pixel art and had no idea off even the basics so at this stage I decided to change the style to a more realistic style that matches with my normal illustration style.

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Blockout concepts**



This blockout was done to see what the entrance to the city could look like again after the God/deity has been fully creating chaos.

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Blockout concepts**




These blockouts are to help me with the prospective for the building thumbnails so I have correct prospective references to work from.

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus">Buildings (thumbnails) </h1>


The buildings in the thumbnails above are more deteriorated that the final idea. There will be areas in the map that as the game progresses and the God/deity has been causing chaos.
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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> </h1>


This image is from the beginning of the game showing the God/deity just begin to destroy things.

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### <font size="3"> <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Initial Character research

<font size="2">

For initial character research I have chosen to look at Sal Fisher from Sally face made by Portable Moose, this is because of how even though he wears a mask, Steve Gabry, used storytelling and body language to show emotion from him which could help me when creating the story and characters for my idea. Sal is a very interesting character from him backstory to his appearance and this is why I was so drawn to him as a character, this is the same for Larry Johnson. Every character from "Sally Face" has a very unique and rememberable design and story making this game on of my favorites.

For character there is a fine line between a good character backstory and a character that has either too much or too little known about them making which makes them either seem boring or mysterious. Sometimes the term "Mary Sue" (sometimes abbreviated "Sue") is used to describe characters who are typically considered to be wish-fulfillment characters of the author. This is something I need to keep into consideration as to make my character seem relatable but not overpowered and coming off as seeming as though they have some from "plot armour" which is when a character seems undefeatable and as though they will not die. Which takes away from the suspense of the game as you know they wont die.

There are many games and character I could talk about for falling into these stereotypes such as "Kirito" From the anime Sword Art Onine, even though it is one of my favorite animes, when I was watching I knew he wouldn't die due to his perceived "plot armour" which made the show seem boring at times, I like the story which is why I looked over his charater design.

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### <font size="3"><h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> **Initial Character art research (pureref)</h1>**
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**<font size="3">Characters from:** Arcane (Jinx), Sally Face (Sal Fisher), Danganronpa (Monokuma), Darling In The Franxx (Zero Two), Guilty Crown (Inori Yuzuriha and Shu Ouma), Hatsune Miku, High Rise Invasion (Yuka Makoto Aka Sniper Mask).

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Initial Character silhouettes</h1>
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For my initial silhouettes I wanted to use body language in silhouettes to show different personalities. The two biggest ones on the page are the two I feel like I can add too and make into either two characters or one character with a combination off the two best parts of them both.

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Character silhouette refinements</h1>
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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Chosen character silhouette refinements</h1>
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### <font size="3"><h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Chosen character silhouette refinements</h1></font>

These are the two silhouettes I like the most out of the ittereations I designed. This and also because I like how the shape language translates well in silhouettes form and could work reallt well in pixel art form.

The first shilouette I chose is a combination of the first silhouette on row one and the hair from the 3 shilouette on the right off the bottom row. This is my favorite one from the two chosen shiloettes. something I don't think will translate well from this peice to pixel art is the chains but I could add them as bangles or something along the same lines.

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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Character silhouette to lineart </h1>


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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> God/deity sketch ideas</h1>



For the God/deity I went down a biblically accurate angel and did a demon in the same style to see which fit with my ideas more. I chose the angel design as the demon is the one you expect to cause chaos so I wanted to flip that idea around.


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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Chosen God/deity design</h1>


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### <h1 style="color:lightblue;font-family:papyrus"> Finished God/deity design</h1>


This illustration came out better than an expected as I kept changed the eye shape and where they where in the "halo" and this was the same when I was doing the line art as having too dark a colour for the eye line art made the whole area become muddy and hard to see what was going on in the illustration.