cloudy with a chance of cockroaches

As the workload piles I am determined not to let it get me down, after a brisk run this morning I approached my work with the attitude that I shall not let it defeat me!
I am powering on with the dissertation taking breaks only to draw with specific concentration on my final year project. I can't help but want to draw more concepts but there is lots of other work to be done, I am updating this blog to just really say that more is being done and hopefully after the dissertation is done I shall be getting on with things at a better described steady pace.


For all you people that have been so faithful to following this obviously amazing project here is a lovely present for you, a desktop background to show your support for Pax Insectica.

Poster Time.


Did I say you only got one?

"In his belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years."

The further I delve into this project I must be honest the more I enjoy it. The work has been a challenge, but in the challenge lies a great reward, just because when I encounter a problem and then fix it I feel very awesome indeed and amen to that feeling! 
An update has been long overdue and it gives me great pleasure to unveil these latest concepts for the town centre big bug. (he has no great name yet, so if you want you very own input on the game submit a suggestion after this post)

First.

This is a basic idea of what the bug will look like, bright stand out colours and a large tongue to over-exaggerate the rather slobbish nature of the character. With a padded area to make it more than an obvious fact that he sits forever in the same place in town, eating whatever is unfortunate enough to land near or on his tongue.

Second.

I didn't want to give too much away however this image does a lot for me so you might as well be filled in. You will be required to be swallowed by this bug for a reason and navigate his insides. This quite simply put is a cut away with the body layer's opacity turned down to give an idea of what might be done at first in the game.

Third.

Finally this is the same insides seen in the previous concept, the only difference being that it is surrounded in strong darks. Basically it is another idea I have been considering in order to surround the player with a bit more of a sense of enclosure and to make the player feel a bigger connection to the importance of the puzzle.

So I hope you have enjoyed the concepts, and you have a slightly better idea of where the game is headed in visual style and sense of play and how puzzles may be constructed. Fun stuff right? Try not to get too excited folks, there is plenty more to come and I can't wait to update you all very soon!

"Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

As I sit here listening to some most wonderful Ludovico Einaudi embracing a new day filled with the endless designing opportunities. I am pleased with what has been created so far and can honestly say that I am enjoying where this project is going. I am currently doing slightly rougher concepts for the other levels to flesh out the game and hopefully white box (for you not sure of what this means it is very simple, basically very simple graphics as a place-holder to concentrate on the tech for a bit) it so I can then work a little stronger on the engine.


This is really only a small post to let you know I am still working, I am still alive and this project fills me with only the greatest joy, I want to see it thrive and with a high level of input it certainly will! Way hey!
I leave you with this still very rough but good layout concept of the Kingdom environment.

do not underestimate the power of the photoshop

It's been a great experience trying to create these environments for the game, especially as it's not the easiest process in the world. I have been working first and foremost on Blattas home, the reason for this being the first environment i work on is because it serves as the games hub screen and has a lot of importance. So I shall show you a few pictures that were taken first and then the slightly more refined images last.

This is the picture as it is without any editing, as you can see I played with depth of field to get the right feel for where the players focus should be held to. The colours where chosen to give it a warm feel, i am not sure whether they work. However I could have been simply looking at this image for too long. Nevertheless onto the next...

With this image you can see a few changes, i distorted the camera to give an inward fisheye lens effect. I like this because it creates the kind of feel i am going for. As if you are looking in on this tony room from an outside perspective. It all seems so small an delicate. There is a vignette to give more realism to the light.

Again, same drill, has a slightly darker vignette and flair added to the lightbulb giving it that slightly more realistic glow, still not sure on that to be honest. Though i do like the darker vignette, only because i think it gels the image together a bit more. A home inside a pipe probably would be rather dark.

This last image is really the same as before but there is no lens flare from the lightbulb which i think i rather prefer. I hope the image isn't too dark and i do think it needs more work. Hopefully when more images are completed all the environments will look brilliant when put together.

So this keeps you all up to speed and you know how the images are shaping up, it has been brilliant fun so far and i am confident that it will continue to be a testing but brilliant project. As ever i will appreciate feedback that is given.

I shall keep my chin up and keep in focus the awesome finish line. Until next time eh?

there is always time, time to be crafty

So what has happened recently? Well there was just a huge hand in, the epic pre production document and a lovely pile of concept stuff that went with that and also the first two chapters of my draft dissertation. Since then I have been doing work but taking it a bit easier so as to not stress out too much. I am eager to get on with the game because I enjoy doing it and I want to see it succeed. So here are a few shots of what I am thinking the environments will be like, imagine more colour and great composition and some more depth of focus implemented in different ways.

Here are the shots, but yeah basically all the assets will look like this and hopefully it will be the coolest looking game you will play all year!

So I guess that is all I am showing right now, but it keeps you updated. Obviously this is great because I love the whole crafty side of this project and it provides a much needed break from animating. Listen to me, I am actually talking about procrastinating from my own work by doing more of my own work that I enjoy more.

Until next time!

imagination vs the waking world

I have been sitting in my room for days now without really looking out the window at the awesome snow fall. As a result a whole heap of work has been completed the entirety of the Pax Insectica concept bible is complete. I have to print it off and compile it all and then it is ready for it's submission. There is a whole lot of development that has happened in this project and it has safely come out on the other side quite nicely I think.
So now comes the next part, painstaking animation and building it all carefully into the game engine, testing and hopefully making a game worth talking about.
I want to thank all my great friends for their support and this next leg of the journey will be great fun.
For now it's back to work.


Oh and the above concept was something I was working on for a front cover section of the Pax Insectica concept bible. Just something for you to enjoy, it features (from left to right) Unlce, Blatta and Rasputin.

venture with me into the lost world

Snow is so fascinating, and I find is an amazing thing to look at I find it amazing that England is currently blanketed in the stuff and when I look outside it steals my attention. So instead I have been embracing the cold that seeps into my room and wrapped up warm as I can and have been working at an exponential work on all that i have to complete.
I am of course happy to tell you my hard work has not been in vain, the dissertation soldiers on and the concept document should come together nicely, I never thought I see myself type this...but I am enjoying what I am producing!


Here is some art to look at, should give you an idea of the direction that I am taking:

Still not sure about these colours yet, but basically the assistant is based on the look of a dung beetle, the character is quite small and will always be near his master Rasputin, the only times he is seen alone is when Rasputin has sent him on a mission. I wanted to give him a strong figure while also looking too innocent to be completely independent. When he appears completely in shadow I wanted him to have this great silhouette.

This is Rasputin, the concept is based very strongly on a praying mantis, I wanted his height to be a big factor. Making him so giant that he has to stoop to stand in almost any area, I wanted his look to be that of someone wise and yet tired as if he has never had his way and is always in want of more.

I wanted to save the best until last as I really enjoyed doing this concept. This is Uncle, he stands casting a perfectly sharp shadow over his nephew Blatta. I chose to look at Victorian dress for the character, this is due to my interest in how powerful it makes the character look while giving him still a sense of comedy. I like him being fat because it splits the approach in the animation he can almost appear as two characters, the stupid and loveable Uncle but also the glutinous and evil minder.


So there you have it, a little look into what is going on behind the scenes at the moment. These are just some of the concepts and I realise the lack of the background, I guess this is because it keeps your focus on everything I want you to see. But mostly because I haven't set on what I would put in the background (you got me I'm not very good at all that)