Theories Research
- 2. Game art design Video game art design begins in the pre-production stage of a game. Video game art design is very self explanatory, it is the process of creating the artistic aspects of a video game. The process begins by making sketches or drawings which are known as “concept art”. After the sketches or drawings are complete, the designers/artists move forward into the graphic design stage. It is common to have at least two artists working on the game art, but this all depends on the size of the company. The larger the company, the more likely it is that they have more artists. Smaller game companies don’t always have enough staff on a team, so employees often have multiple skill sets whereas in a bigger game company, even if an employee has multiple skill sets, they cannot always show these skills as they may have been told to work solely on the art. The art of a game can have a major impact on customers because the art can be judged when a games “beta”, “demo” or screenshots are released. The customers can begin to get a feel for the game through its at but cannot get the full experience of the game due to limited gameplay. There are several roles involved with creating the art for a video game. These roles include 2D and 3D artists. To guide a team of artists, a Lead Artist or Art director is needed. These people help guide and support their teams by monitoring the progression of each employee to make sure the art for the game is staying on track. They ensure that all the art that is created works cohesively. The art director also works with other teams involved with the creation of the game such as the game designers. They work with the game until it is finished. With the support of the director comes the 2D artists, the first of which is a concept artist. A concept artist works with the game designers, producing character sketches, environment sketches and story-boards that can help influence the look of the game. The concept artists role revolves heavily around the Lead Artists vision of what the art should look like. A concept artist can use anything from pens and pencils to 2D software such as Adobe Photoshop. Concept art provides guidelines for the rest of the game’s development. In my project, I may include some concept art with one of the limited edition variants of the game.
- 3. Game art design The next type of artist is the storyboard artist. This is less relevant to my project but it is still useful to see the full picture. They create the cinematics of the game whilst also making a rough outline for the rest of the artists to follow. This job may seem boring, but it is vital to any game as it provides the foundations for most of the game. A storyboard artist breaks down each camera movement in a scene of a game to represent how the game will look. These artists will most likely The next role is the texture artist. This job is linked with the the 3D modeller job and it is sometimes the case that the 2D texture artist and 3D modeller are the same person. The texture artist gives depth into a game by applying effects such as gradients and shadowing. Moving onto the 3D artists, the first role that is important is the 3D modeller. These people will use digital software such as Maya, Max or Blender to construct characters and environments. Any item from a video game like a weapon or vehicle will be created using this sort of software. This next role is an environmental artist. These people are 3D modellers that work specifically on the environment of a game and also work with colours and textures. They build the surroundings of the player such as a building, the landscapes and the layouts of the environment. A lighting artist concentrates on the light dynamics of a game. They create and adjust the brightness and colour that sets the mood of a game. The lighting of a game can determine the reception of the game as it will set the mood and interests of a player. It is a very intricate job because each scene has to have appropriate lighting that not only matches the time of day, but also the tone and mood of that specific moment. The animator is the final main 3D artist role. They are responsible for bringing the game to life by making anything that moves, move. For example, if a building is on fire, they animate the fire and the smoke and the effects of the fire. This is probably the most essential role above all the others as the animations are what the player needs to see and use to be able to play the game.
- 4. Jake Rowell The style of photography and design that I would like to follow is that of Jake Rowell. He is an artist that worked on Call Of Duty Ghosts and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. According to his LinkedIn profile, Jake has worked at over 3 companies, one of which being Infinity Ward. He had also been freelancing for a certain amount of time. Whilst working at Infinity Ward, he provided promotional art for the games Call Of Duty Ghosts and Call Of Duty MW3, which is something that I am going to attempt for my FMP. Looking at some of the images below, it is highly likely that he used computer software to structure his art.
- 5. Eric Chiang The second designer I looked at is Eric Chiang. He provided concept art for the game Call of Duty Black Ops 2. The concept art is extremely detailed and this can be a product that I release with the limited edition game product. Looking at his work, it is most likely that he uses pens and pencils to create his concept art. This gives the game a more personal touch whilst also looking extremely detailed and exciting. There is little information on Eric Chiang.
- 6. Robert Sammelin The final designer I am looking into is Robert Sammelin. He has been the Senior Concept artist at DICE (makers of the Battlefield franchise) since 2007. He has made concept art and graphic designs for the game Battlefield and I find this style interesting. Robert Sammelin has made art for various projects from video games to comics. In his spare time, he stated that he likes to make comics and illustrate. His projects are nearly all cartoon based which suggests that he draws them first. It is possible to create cartoons on software such as Photoshop, but wheni looked through his work, it looked hand drawn. I like his style of work and I will be heavily influenced by it.
- 7. Video game designers – Todd Howard Todd Howard is known for his creation of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series and is the director and executive producer at Bethesda Studios. In 2009, GamePro magazine named Howard one of the "Top 20 Most Influential People in Gaming”. He was also named one of IGN's "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time”. Todd Howard was born in Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania. He developed an interest in computers, particularly video games, at a very young age. In 1993, he graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he double majored in engineering and finance despite his desire to create video games. Howard requested a job from a Bethesda Softworks office he encountered each day on his commute to and from school. He was rejected and told that he needed to finish school. After completing school, he went back to Bethesda for a job but was rejected again. In 1994 he joined Bethesda. 2 years later came the release of “Elder Scrolls II” on which Howard worked as the producer and designer. After this game out, he worked as a project leader and designer on “Elder Scrolls III”. He then lead the creation of “Elder Scrolls IV”. Shortly after he was the producer of “Fallout 3”. The fifth instalment of the “Elder Scrolls” came in 2011 where Howard was the lead developer. “Fallout 4” was directed by Howard and was released mid 2015. Howard is a frequent speaker at events such as conferences and also in magazine interviews. His games have been featured in CNN and USA Today. Howard has 3 main rules for good game development: Great games are played, not made. "You can have the greatest design document ever made, and you're going to change 90 percent of it as soon as you play the game." Keep it simple. "Doing something really well takes time, more time than you think it will. Simple systems acting together create complexity that players can appreciate." Define the experience. "Don't define your game by a list of bullet points... define it by the experience you want people to have.” Howard was named "Best Game Director" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in 2012.
- 8. Video game designers – David Vonderhaar David Vonderhaar is the Studio Design Director at Treyarch studios. He has been a Studio Design Director at Treyarch studios since 2004 and has worked on 7 Call Of Duty games. At Treyarch, he leads a team of 80+ designers. He went to the University of Cincinnati where he studied Electronic media and Computer science for 4 years (1990 – 1994). There is a character model in Call of Duty Black Ops II that is based on David Vonderhaar and in Call of Duty World At War, there is a character called Vonderhaar. Then in Black Ops I and Black Ops II, there are AI bots, one of which has the name DVonderhaar.
- 9. Video game designers – Mohammad Alavi Mohammad Alavi was one of the designers from the FPS game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. He was responsible for designing one of the mots controversial missions ever created in a game that goes by the name of “No Russian”. According to GamesRadar, they named it "one of the 10 most shocking game moments of the 2000s”. Originally from Iran, Alavi now resides in Los Angeles. Alavi also works in LA at Respawn Entertainment as a “Level Designer”. He left Iran soon after the Iran-Iraq war broke out in the 1980s. Alavi attended Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies in Richmond, Virginia. He then attended Virginia Tech, majoring in Biology and Chemistry before becoming a video game designer after being credited for creating some of the best modded games in the PC Gamer magazine. Alavi has created some of the most memorable missions in Call Of Duty history. These missions include “No Russian” and “All Ghillied Up”. Due to some complexities of the mission “All Ghillied Up”, Alavi had to write the code himself, where he would work up to 18 hour days. This was the same for the first mission in Call Of Duty 4 which was named “Crew Expendable”. In “All Ghillied Up”, it was the first time that an NPC had stealth capabilities in COD, which is perhaps why the mission was received so well. In 2010, he left Infinity Ward and co-founded the team that would work on the game Titanfall (made by Respawn). He was the senior map designer and even did some acting for motion capture. According to PC Gamer, its difficult to know the details of Alavi's design and scripting in the game but his influence is made clear by Titanfall’s in game AI and the way they assist a player. Alavi is an extremely hard working designer and developer, which can be proved by the fact he designed a different introduction to each map on Titanfall, doing one introduction within 3 days.