BA5 Contextual Studies #03

I Guess I Better Get This Started!
(WARNING!! POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN VIDEOS AND WRITTEN WORK) 

I have had ideas floating around in my mind as to the headline for my final written piece for CS since I did my presentation a few weeks ago focussing on downloadable content. I am still sure this is the subject I want to do but it’s the nature of the essay I am struggling with. 

 I’m also at a bit of a dead-end research wise which is unlike me! So, today I have spent time watching  discussion based videos and reading argumentative articles on the subject of DLC. It has been really helpful in sparking up ideas in my mind for potential essay questions and areas of importance to research and discuss. Those areas, as they stand at the moment are: 

Replay Ability
Fresh Content
New stories and modes
More trophies, achievements, goals and rewards
Research the types of DLC further
Look into the cost of DLC
What are the positive and negative effects of DLC
How does DLC affect gamers and the gaming industry
Consider DLC origins, such as Pokémon cards xD
What advantages can be gained from DLC and how they affect the player in game 

To start the research ball rolling I began looking at this video by Jeff Gerstmann who was tasked to discuss his views and opinions on the subject of on disc DLC. Quite a specific point for me to jump into but it gave me a lot to think about. 

 

Video Source: Youtube user NeedlerFanPudge. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJP38W6dbU8

He makes some really interesting points such as his comments on how some people complain about DLC  ruining the gaming industry but he states that its just the business evolving but with growing pains. He actually argues that on disc DLC makes more sense so it loads for everyone. He also says that people who complain that the DLC, such as map packs, should be on the disc straight way like it would have been originally are wrong; developers just wouldn't have been making that content so its actually a sort of blessing.

He says that announcing DLC prior to the full titles release date is “tacky” sure, but often its due to in house development processes that they begin to create these extra content add-ons' while the games in its final stages.

This got me thinking about Mass Effect and the controversy about their DLC offers, day 1 DLC and on disc DLC which enraged their fans. I found a video of a guy talking about the ups and downs of the DLC and his opinions and views on the matter.

  Video Source: Youtube UserTotalBiscuit, The Cynical Brit.  Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri0vrJ-y2zM    Around the 12minute 50 second mark he talks about the Prothean character which is incredibly significant to the entire story of the Mass Effect universe who was actually developed prior to the games release. In other words, the character was apparently designed, created and coded into the game prior to Mass Effect 3’s launch.   

This video took me onto watching a panel discussion from Bioware who addressed their fans glossing over the DLC issues and general game matters. I'm including it because it was 57 minutes long and I watched the entire thing even though it wasn’t as DLC focussed as I had thought originally :’)

 

Video Source: YouTube Channel GameSpot. Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8BSg9KIe0k

I am going to do a blog post on the DLC controversy of Mass Effect soon as I think it’s one of the most prominent stories of recent times which is solely associated with DLC. For now though I want to quickly move onto the next video I watched which was simply a voice over gameplay video focussing on micros transactions and how they support the developers through this.

    Video Source: YouTube user MorninAfterKill. Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx_ZJ81SU1A

  

This has given me a lot to consider and think about when I further my research for my written piece. I need to now consider my question and hone in on the main areas of focus. I mentioned earlier the areas I was interesting in researching so I will start there and hopefully find some interesting material to include and reference in my work :)

BA5 Studio Project | Production #23

Trying to Get the Ball Rolling Again :/

For the past week or two I have felt really distanced from my work, I lost my ambition and drive to keep going and I felt I had hit a major creative roadblock which I filled with procrastination. Damn. Alas I went into uni today to try and sort myself out which I feel has worked a little. I have at least got the ball rolling again with my project and I can begin to push it into the next stage…UV MAPPING AHH D: 

My tutor Lothar was amazing today, he gave me a 1 to 1 tutorial during our 3D drop in session in which he explained and showed me the workflow process of successfully unwrapping UV’s for models.

I must clarify that in a previous post I stated that I had a mini to do list. This hasn’t gone out the window, It has just been shifted in terms of priorities.  

 My main focus at the moment is to finish unwrapping the UV#s for my bookshelf model which is what I intend to texture for the project. Lothar showed me the fundamentals to unwrapping my bookshelf today and helped me establish a workflow to follow when unwrapping future models. 

UV Mapping my Bookcase

Yaay :D So, Lothar told me that the automatic mapping tool on Maya isn’t really up to scratch, it’s more destructive than useful as I found out when it created this absolute mess of a UV map. 

 

Workflow

This is when I asked Lothar to help me because I was so confused and stuck. He then told me that the best way to work with a model and unwrapping it is to try and sort out the main segments of the model and start with the largest most prominent faces seen to the player. In my case this was the backs of each shelf, the front of the bookcase and the shelves themselves. As you can see here I divided the bookcase into 3 sections, the top, middle and bottom.

 

So, Lothar helped me do the majority of this bookcase, showing me how to use planar mapping properly to separately UV map the main areas of the model. He also showed me how to think logically about how to sew them back together by selecting edges and placing them together. Here is the final outcome after I selected the top and bottom parts to have a go myself.  

BA5 Studio Project | Production #22

 Curtainssss!

I made some curtains following a helpful video by World of Level Design I posted at the beginning of the project. Here is a step by step guide for how I achieved them, I'm not sure if they will be game engine worthy but I think they look pretty :)

I used the create drop down menu to select the pencil curve tool and used my wacom tablet and pen to draw a curvy line which would make the shape of the curtains. 

I then  duplicated the curved line.  

 

I then had to change my shelf to surfaces and select surface > loft with both the curves selected (top and bottom of curtain).

Lofting then left me with the overall curtain shape that I needed but this is still pretty basic.

  

By adding subdivisions and selecting vertices separately I was able to mould the curtains into an organic shape. 

  

Once this was done I added a fairly low poly ring to the thinnest part of the curtain to look like a ring holding them open. I then simply grouped the curtain and ring > centred the pivot > ctrl D’d the curtains and put them in place on the other window. 

BA5 Studio Project | Production #21

Making the Window

I wanted to put a window behind the desk as a focal point in the room. I wanted the window to be fairly big and let in cracks of moonlight to emphasise the creepy atmosphere of the room. Here are some visual references of how I envision the windows to look. 

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My Windows!

Some inserted edge loops, deleted edges, awkward bevels and hidden edges later I have windows :D (for now I have applied a dark high transparency blinn shader so that it looks darker outside and shows that they are windows). 

Inserting edge loops around the walls to create the shapes for the windows behind the desk.

  

This is actually my second attempt as my first one was deleted in an angry rage due to hidden edges for no apparent reason (well, probably due to me doing something stupid but I like to pretend they just came out of nowhere :P).  I knew I wanted a small extruded area to add small detail on the window but for some reason Maya just wouldn’t let  me extrude the faces together but separately (if that makes sense)…I even turned off “keep faces together” and it did nothing :/ 

SO! To get those faces I had to add in extra edge loops. I also added extra edge loops in where I wanted the detail on the window as you can see here. 

 

Firstly I extruded the outer edges of the window to create a window border that would be wooden or something I guess!

Then here you can see the extra detail I added in around the border of the window.

  

This is where I decided to add in a blinn shader. I made is transparent and also slightly darker to give a darker feel to the outside of the window.  

Final outcome, I am so happy with these windows :D