BA3: Digital Modeling

In-Game Visual Research

Okay get ready for even more visual stimulus and research! Now that I have looked into the cultural background of Ancient Greece and can better understand why God of War III looks the way it does, I figured it was time to take a look at the game as it runs to see just how the doors are used and how they are represented.

Here are various screen shots that I managed to capture from a few different YouTube videos. I wish I had time to re play the entire game again myself and screen capture my findings however time is against me!  So I thank the YouTube community for their videos which I was able to watch and use to get the specific shots I needed. Unfortunately no matter how hard I tried for some of the screen shots, I couldn’t capture them sharply and so some are a little blurry but I plan to note down what I have taken from each image and how I could apply it to this project I am working on. 

There will be a variety of screen shots varying from the style of the architecture used within the game to the actual doors themselves. I have tried to capture as many examples as I can as I feel that while this may look excessive, it will really benefit me when I begin doing the concepts for my door. I have quite a few ideas floating around in my head right now thanks to these images.  

The first set of screen shots were captured from a video uploaded to YouTube by a user called  findlestick. My thoughts, comments and observations are below…(there were a few different videos I watched from this and the other user so I decided to leave the actual video off my blogpost as there are enough images as it is!)

 

Here you can see large stones which build the shape of the doorway/building. Although partially destroyed the doorway is very symmetrical. It is surrounded by pillars. Despite the scene being during night-time/cloudy weather conditions the stone appears to be of a grey/dark blue colour. 

An example of how Ancient Greece used godly statues to aid their architecture designs. Here we can see a large window/door way/part of building being guarded by 3 of the Gods (Poseidon, Zeus & Hades).  A greenly metallic colour compared to the dark blue/grey building.

  

Classic columns surrounded by and built into the rock formation in the background. 

Examples of different materials used within the architecture of these Godly statues. Bronze, rock and metals at a guess.  You can see the gates are used as barriers to the doors on the bottom image. All doorways are built into the rock. 

Again, built into the rock but also making use of the mythology of Ancient Greece and the idea of “portals” being introduced into the gameplay to transport the player to a new section of the game. Portals are highlighted in blue (something probably very difficult to re create in 3D for this project). Around the blue portals is very intricately carved rock with stairs leading to the portal. 

Examples show a secret door in the game. The door itself is built into the rock, I believe this section of gameplay is in a cave of some description. A common trend I am coming across is that doors in God of War are beautiful, they aren’t JUST doors. They are works of art. I don’t know if this will make my work for this project harder, as I must consider the details and obscurity of the style. This door here is no different. You can see the hands are all carved straight into the door. 

 

I used these 2 screen shots to depict the mood of the architecture. Its all very grand but at the same time very large and intimidating. You can see the clear use of columns and intricate details that connect certain parts of buildings together.

 

2 large stone statues guard this portal door which again is built into the rock. I presume the guards are literally carved out of the same rock as the mountain behind. 2 columns and an arch way frame the portal. 

 

This part of the game is set in the City of Olympus and is where a lot of great in game architecture can be found. There is lots of sandy stone coloured buildings made with large, scare bricks. Domes sit atop of columns to add elegance while everything else is very square and “blocky”. 

Another section of the game, underground in the Labyrinths. Just a quick selection focusing on the materials used. There is a mixture of traditional wood with delicate metallic designs carved into thick hefty chains. 

 

I chose this screen shot because I had the idea (following on from looking in the environments section of my God of War art book where large statues were posed coming out from the top of the doorway) to create a doorway that would have some sort of mythical creature implemented into the design. The griffin seen here caught my eye with its stance, it would be perfect above a door. 

Other than my griffin/mythical creature door idea I felt I needed to have another idea that would be slightly more simple in design as I can’t for see how tough its going to be to model this door in Maya. Here you can see a section of the game that isn't built into rock or destroyed through gameplay. It is simply perfect looking. Shiny marble floors which reflect and bounce light beautifully, huge, tall standing stained glass windows alongside beautiful artwork smothered along the walls around the door. This door is inspirational. It has a decent but simple shape to it with separate areas with different designs and patterns on. The door is really tall (as you can see Kratos standing to the left where the save icon is). The arch at the top moulds the door into a beautiful and unique shape making this door look very interesting and fitting of the ancient Greek architecture seen throughout the game. 

The next selection of screen shots I was able to capture are from a video uploaded to YouTube by user MahaloVideoGames. They show much of the same but with different designs and styles so I might just post them without notes unless I need to say something important. 

 

Okay, for now, I believe that Is enough background research on the visual style of the architecture within God of War III. I believe (or, hope) that with all this I can refine some ideas floating around in my head and come up with some beautiful concept designs.  I have listed the reasons why I chose the images and have taken notes of key elements within each screen shot so that I can apply them to my design. This way I know what my door would be able to seamlessly fit into the game. I also have the research I did on Ancient Greece itself to back up my designs even more. All I can do now is crack on with the designs themselves!