Unfortunatly I have only just managed to get around to writing a blog for this topic, so this entry might be abit long. I started the topic researching different games company logos. I really liked how Santa Monica Studios logo reflected the game title God of War. I felt it looked like they created the logo after the creation of the game.
For an unknown reason a dog popped inot my head yapping away. Yes I am an animal lover, but I could really visualise this yappydog popping its head up before the start of a game.
I expieremented with different coloures and drew many different dogs, but decided on using a Chihuahua, and having only the head visable. I used the Santa Monica Studios emblem as inspiration, taking the idea of using a larger less clear font in the background and a bright white font in the foreground, with the added bonus of the chihuahua head design. Then I decided that the chihuahua would morph into different personas depending on the game genre, for example, a zombiefied Chi in a zombie kicking bloody button bashing game to a crown wearing diva in a princess designing game for young girls.
I wanted to add a catch phrase to my design and came up with quite a few ideas including:
A gamers best friend
Yappydog Software, a friend for life
A pedigree of the industry
A pedigree to be proud of
A companion for life
Lead your imagination to the park, back and beyond.
A dog can be anyone you want it to be.
Dog Damm good games
A yap above the rest
Wag your tail with Yappy games
My chosen final phrase was "Here at Yappydog Studios, creativity is a walk in the park."
After writing a mission statement over 500 words I started to brainstrom my game idea. I had chosen the Metropolis title, as I really enjoy creating environments. A whole storyline seemed to flow effortlessly from my brain.
Winky City was under the attack of the deadly T1ZY virus, offical name streptococcus vactosis, of the rouge kind and strange, mutations were occuring, and Vambies were born, a mix between vampires and zombies, with very different characteristics of cliche nasties. With a strong scent of fruit, specifically apples, and the ability to detect a human from eye movement, blinking can be a scary prospect. I did juggle the idea of having a male character as the main feature of the game, but becasue I used Zayed Ali, in my first project I decided this time to have a young lady. A kickboxing pro named Kanti Douglas who must fight her way through endless crowds of vambies to catch the winky cruise ship overseas to a utopian dream. I came up with statements such as Your friends and family, you meet along the way may develop the T1zy virus at some stage, but will you have the heart to kill them to get to your upotian dream. I want this feature to be heart renching, and emotionally draining, unlike any other game. I want the audience to be ingrossed and emotionally connected to the characters and relationships.
I thought of a science laboratory called Park view, which in undertaking expierements to try and cure this evil plague. I pictured posters dotted around the city asking the citzens for donations, reading "Give a little today, live a little tomorrow."
I started to draw, ideas for the vambies and Kanti. I then started digital paitings in photoshop and experimenting with blending modes. I have been trying to design the environments, and I am still yet to make a decsion on which ones I am going to use. I have tried developing the utopian dream land, a beautiful paradise island with The villa of Aria pearched on top of a mountain. I have also designed a dock, for the escape to sea. I found drawing the city the most challenging. Perspective drawing has always been difficult for me. I painted, drew in pencil and scanned them in, using photoshop to manipulate them. I like using the lens flar effects to give realism to my pieces. I also found that experimeting with blending modes was excellent in order to change the unscathed city painting into a scary vambie infested derelict and dying city.
I also used textures in my digital paintings, for kanti's clothes and environments. I found I could get great effects from lowering the opacity of that layer.
