Contextual Analysis – Rocket League

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

While very different from the core game that I intend to create for, I still find that the usage of team branding and arena style is something that I can learn from / analyse from.

arena

The large arena for the rocket league is styled in a way of a stage. This allows for players to play and celebrate in front of the booming audience adding multiple levels of passion that is vital. This is an aspect that I must ensure not to sacrifice in making my arena art, to do this with my already concrete design style, I will need to make sure that the passion burns through the game such as a gladiator cheering on the crowd after a win.

broadcasting hud

In terms of rocket league, the broadcasting view is in the eyes of the actual player, not like a free moving camera that is desired. While this style is not bad in any way, it takes away that extra ability form the casters and limits what the audience actual sees, completely relying on replays to show them what happens. I intend to have the arena broadcasted with HUD very similar to what RL does, this is one of the things I find I need to learn from. The top bar idea that allows for teammates to be show as well as information about the match: Team names, Score and time.

banner

This top bar style brings me to the other point when it comes to banner usage in the games. They rarely use actual flags as it is in the sense of a football game therefore it is reliant on fans outside the map. However, they still display team icons and ‘flag’ with the top bar style, at the end of the team names you can see it shown. This is something that may be adopted into my design as well as the use of flags to hammer home to point of it being a team oriented sport.

Contextual Analysis – DOTA 2

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

After completing my character / Avatar / Icon research, I moved onto the next phase which involves Arenas / Broadcasting HUD / Flags and how they show them in game. To find the best of these I will be first analysing 3 games that have all four and leave it to the audience to decide which are the best.

Arenas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fai13xqP7JM

This arena has the players in the two sections underneath the main screens which display the game in a large view for all to see. The difference for my own design is that my ‘game’ is a sort of hologram style which means that the whole middle will be a large arena in itself while the two teams are ‘plugged in’ either side. The station in which they plug in however can take notes from the small containers the players are in, why the plug in machines will be vastly different to computers, having this section in mind will allow me to design it better. The big screens however would still be in place over the top of the battlefield to allow for further out viewers to see.

broadcasting hud

This HUD is very important to design as it adds to that gaming sports feel. However, the way in which all details are shown at the bottom is somewhat unnecessary for my own world due to the lack of items and currency usage. With this HUD however, it displays the match details such as players and score at the top bar. This is something I feel is needed heavily in my own design.

flags / banners

Within the DOTA match, each team will be given a custom flag to display their team icon. This is something that I look for in terms of branding. While it only stays in their base it follows similar styles to a football game, one side is theirs with fans showing support and the other has the same for the other team. This is something I intend to emulate, that feeling of rival fans chanting to carry their teams forward. Back to the flag branding, having these in bases allows to give off that feeling of importance and gives off feelings of pride when seeing your team literally fighting for the flag.

Primary Research / Problem Solving – Audience Feedback – Character Colour

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

After starting up a questionnaire for my colour research, I created my sets and went about collecting the answers so that I may final finalise my character research and move forward into other researching key points. The first question was about Centurion. When asking these questions I made sure to fully explain the character so that people understood who they are designing for. Out of the two sets for the knight character, G/R/B pulled through. The idea for my creation will be to use the Red for the cloak around the character like a traditional knight but also to infer anger hidden in plain sight. The Grey is clear to be a main armour colour with the Black being the main choice for the blade, this to signify grief and loss.

Velocity is one of the two animal characters I created so I needed to include colours that could reflect the fur of the beast. The winner of this question was the G/Y/B. This set in my opinion is the more freedom giving of the two as it allows me to create the shapes of Black fur spots over the Yellow fur. This signifies the grief of his character plaguing his bright vibrant lifestyle. the Grey again, similar to above, is for the metallic features.

Clemency/Ruthless is by far the most complex in terms of design. Due to the split personality style, but this also gives leeway to more creative outcomes to show these contrasts. The winner of these sets was the W/B/Y & B/R/P, while unfortunately the other set had a more spiritual like outlook, this set allows me to follow that neo type universe I intend to create and explore. These colour choices are vibrant but harshly contrasting the other, each representing the traits of their style. Be it love and care or hate and pain.

W/R/B came through at the question over Regicide. This allows me to follow the contrast in my murky wound feature, especially with the White fur against it. The Red of his blades expressing the anger flourishing of his rage and hatred. This is the key feature of the character and needs this point to come across with looks and colour choice.

This final choice went to the Y/B/Y set. This was a last minute set inspired by seeing construction workers. Something about the hazardous colour choice with the mysterious background fits well with the leader character. The machine aspect of the character also fits well and brings fear to the games, a clear contrast to how mistreated the main character was in the past and now.

With these answers I have now been equipped with the knowledge need to move onto other research points and issues. Next I will move on to my Geographical research topic including world building / broadcasting and other pieces I need to showcase my world.

WEEK TWO REFLECTION

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

This week I have managed to complete all needed context and research into my character design and icon design. Having this completed means that I am on step further to starting my practical and finishing off my other pieces of research and context.

This research has allowed me to not only redefine my idea but to help me structure it in such a way that when it comes to the practical side of my project, I way be able to drive straight in with these laid out guidelines. The work I completed on context allowed me to find the design style in which my audience expects from me which is to create somewhat cartoon like characters that allow me to express personality and alignment with each choice of their design. The same went for icons in which I was able to gain feedback allowing me to follow a route that allowed me to use more creative skills to create, further pushing this point of creating the most for my characters to give them life. After finding style I wrapped the week up with two major blogs, idea development and colour research. The idea development blog acts as a checkpoint allowing me to show my ‘at the time’ plan which is able to show to viewers my progression and the path I took to get there. The colour blog then allowed me to further this design research and has prepared me to be able to create a product that my audience expects from me.

Next week I intend to gain my colour feedback which will wrap up my character and icon design research allowing me to start my Geographical and Wix Website research. These are much shorter endeavours and we only take me the entire week to complete if everything goes according to plan, therefore allowing me to start on my practical as soon as possible.

Contextual Analysis – Colours in Art

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

When it comes to character design and Icon design, I need to make sure that each colour choice is correct and is meaningful. The same goes for Icons, making sure they follow the main colours of their owner. Finally, I need to conduct research into fonts to make sure I choose the best font to display the names of my Avatars on the Wix Website.

Colour

Colour psychology allows me to delve into the effects of colour and how we view them as consumers. Colours allow us to identify danger/love, it can allow us to see gender into unknown areas and toys, and it also allows us to create art that ‘speaks’ to the consumer through the colour choice. I must also take into account of what my audience is and how they will percive these colour combinations.

With many articles we can see the effects of colours on genders and even ages, such as how males identify that red on females is more attractive while females have no preference. The same works with age that more bright and interesting colour attract younger ages such as children with lego. Due to my audience being a majority male teens, I need to make sure that I am using intresting colours while not sacrificing the realism of the characters dress/armour.

To make sure I can display my knowledge of colour understanding is at a level to which the audience is happy, I will set sets of colours for each characters and give the final choice to my audience. I will explain my choices also to try to show my reasoning. However, there will still be the set colours such as steel being grey, the aim is to add secondary colours that will allow consumers to invest with the overall feel of the character.

Centurion

For the Centurion character, who is a strong man with inner rage for his posistion and failure to save his father. Due to his knight like look, the armour will have to be grey but his cloak and blade are up for contention.

Set one – Grey/Red/Black = Red for his cloak showing anger for his life while the black will be his blade signifying grief.

Set two – Grey/Blue/Red = This time blue will be the cloak colour as it shows masculinity and Red for the blade colour signifying power over his opponents.

velocity

For the Velocity character, who is seen as a clown team mates until his ruthless agressive speed comes to play. Due to his robotic legs being in place, these colours will have to be a light black colour such as grey, similar to Centurions armour and the same for his dual Chakrams. However, his fur is what is needed to be coloured.

Set one – Grey/Red/Yellow = Red and Yellow combination of fur would siginfy to the old DC character of Flash who is known for his speed powers. But other than this could show Anger and humour.

Set two – Grey/Yellow/Black = The yellow would be the main fur colour to show his bright nature but plagued with black spots to show anger and grief. This would also fit the cheetah look of the character.

Clemency / Ruthless

For the joint characters I will need to do a set each. These colours must be contrasting and meaningful of the wing colour around them. The light wings will be bright white whiel the dark wings will be black. Her staff weapon will only change main colour apperance which allows for more freedom. The colours will mainly be Armour colours as the wings cover the majority.

Set one – White/Blue/Yellow & Black/Red/Purple = The angelic side requires highlighted colours to shine ‘bright’ therefore white is the main colour choice with blue and yellow being backup decal. The other side is the demon look that must stand out but also seem dark adn gloomy. As such I choose black for the main contrast and Red and purple that are direct opposites of the other decals.

Set two – White/Green/Brown & Black/Orange/Red = Similar for the demon side of things, I aimed to create a pallette that gave off a more lava/explosive look. However, the main change for the angel side was the inclusion of more earthly colours showing a nature/spirtual style. A style that is universally loved and is about growth against the lava destruction style.

Regicide

For this ruthless character, I must choose colours that show the anger and sheer pain of the monster. However, his main colour will be his fur, the rest can be his claws and other features. This is as his character is that of a monster like werewolf with razor sharp claws. He also has dark magic oozing fro his wounds and features.

Set one – Black/Red/Green = Black will show the grief of the character and overall ‘darknees’ he rings. It will also help sell this idea of a monster in the dark. The red is for his claws showing his anger and signifying blood. The green acts as the energy oozing from his body that feels like a toxic chemical as if he is a monster like Bane.

Set two – White/Red/Black = White for his fur showing a pure and noble style outside of his body while he leaks black enegry. This acts like the inner darkness is coming out while his noble shell holds together. The red for his claws is the best choice with its double meaning of blood and anger. It also can be splashed on his fur to show his destructive tendecies.

vyrus

For this machine like character I must ensure that I collect a pallette of colours that show the mystery of his power, the all knowing nature he gives off and the authority he demands. Due to his machine like body he has electrical orange sparks which is something I need to create the colour set around. The colours will be for his mask, poncho and clothes.

Set one – Black/White/Black = This combo has the Mask and clothes at black showing his shady nature with a white poncho that contrasts with the other two. This white usage is to show the characters secret desire to stand out.

Set two – Yellow/Black/Yellow = The black and yellow combination is a styel that will work as if the character was wearing a hazmat type suit. This plays into his machine like persona. The black of the suit shows mystery and grief while the yellow shows domainance and authority, something that his role commands.

With all these sets collect I will create a large questionnaire and gain my feedback in which I will complete a blog for, going through the answers and results. With this answered I will then be able to move on to actual production.

reference
Psychological Properties Of Colours – Colour Affects. (2008). Retrieved 5 March 2020, from http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours

Idea Development – Characters / Avatars / Icons

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

This blog will act as a slight checkpoint to catch up my work and explain the vision I see for my characters. I will explain the idea behind my characters, the idea with the Avatars and the Icons.

Characters

In my world, each team requires 5 members, each serving a vital role of the team:

  • Top laner – These guys sit at the far left lane of the map (the top if you watch through the broadcasts). They act as the second in command of the team who fights the enemies Top laner. They make sure to push the lane so that if the team needs to funnel down a lane to push into the enemy base they can allo go to theirs. The second in command role is to take command if the leader (Mid Laner) falters and if they fall on the battlefield. To fit this role you need to be strong alone and have some leadership skills.
  • Jungler – These guys act as the backup that hides in the shadows. In LoL Junglers kill beasts in the game and build up power like that. In Exodus, Junglers build power by running between the three lanes and ganking (Term for ambushing) with hit and run tactics. They are usually needed to be fast and lethal in accuracy.
  • Support – This role is pretty self explanatory. They act to trap and hook in enemies to their teammates for them to gain the power by killing while they build power by getting the assists. They usually follow the ADC player to act as a waiter feeding them up until they reach their top potential, otherwise they act to save teammates from fatal attacks. They need to be caring and quick reactions, a large number of Supports are females due to their ability to feel their emotions to enhance their Avatars abilities.
  • ADC – ADC is short for Attack Damage Carry, these are characters that start weak but with the help of supports build up power to become major damage dealer late game. ADCs and Supports sit at the far right lane (the bottom from the broadcast view) and pushes against the other teams Sup/ADC. Their goal is to stop the other team’s growth with their own. ADCs need to be unstable to a degree, they are major pain dealers. They require close intimate relations with the Support to make for perfect symmetry.
  • Mid Laner – The leader of the team. Mid laners control the battlefield with their major intellect. This role demands major leadership skills and general genius level tactics. they play in the Mid lane fighting the other teams mid, they push this lane to build dominance over the other leader. Mid laners need the highest mental fortitude and will be called upon to perform incredible under pressure.

The Northern Teams members fit into this role with their own personal issues to beat:

Joseph Solomon is the teams Top Laner. He lives alone with his mother due to the passing of his father due to illness. This pain was all caused due to the mistreatment of the North. Joe takes care of his mother and takes on labour to pay for meals and what not. Joseph is well built and stands over 6 foot for his young age, However, due to the death of his father he never believes in himself. He believes himself weak and this is the major issue that he must beat, his goal is to earn enough money to get his mother the life she deserves.

Wyatt Faith is the teams Jungler. He lives with both parents who work hard to give him a safe live. However, Wyatt lives a daredevil lifestyle and is aggressive to other nations as he sees them worse than scum. This hatred and lifestyle was born from the death of his brother. His brother worked as a builder until a fault with the health conditions caused a collapse killing him. The cause was the lack of fundings from the other nations, from this point on he enjoys the idea of crushing other nations in the Exodus games. He is a short messy haired boy who is a clown to his friends, but ice cold to enemies.

Paige Chambers is the teams Support. She was abandoned by her parents and put into the harsh living of the orphanage. She was beat up by other girls at the institution due to her black short hair. This meant that she would never be adopted due to the marks. That’s when Kaiden helped her, he protected her since then and she has fallen in love with him more and more. She followed him into the games to protect him and her friends. This is her chance to protect others and show her willpower. Making sure that no one goes through the pain that she did.

Kaiden Moore is the teams ADC. Kaidens family was killed by a crazed madman. He was sent into the orphanage with a burning hatred for everyone and everything. He would fight and badly hurt people who got in his way. That was until he meat Paige, she gave him reason. He could mould his rage into a protective force. When he was old enough he choose to go into the games for a secret reason. His goal was to admit his love for Paige if he was ever able to win the World championships. This would show that he is strong enough for her as he sees himself as a low life.

Darren Jones is the teams Mid Laner. Darren’s parents were killed due to overworking just to get by. Darren dreamed of a world where he could save the North from this world of pain that everyone had to live through. He wanted to do this by becoming the best Mid laner, however his Avatar was terrible and he could barely even compete. After the horrific bullying he finally snaps, unlocking his true Avatar. The reason it never came out before was because he was hacked so that it wouldn’t show, this was done by the South as unbeknownst to Darren, his father was the leader of the first ever North winning team. This meant that Darren would inherit his father’s abilities. He found out that his family was murdered for this and started his journey of vengeance against those that wronged all of the North.

Each of the teammates Avatars reflect their inner ‘beast’:

Joseph’s Avatar is Centurion, The Warrior Golem. This Avatar is a large / bulky knight like warrior that stands far above the rest. The initial thoughts are that he is a large set of knight armour with a cloak and iconic helmet piece that hides his Avatars face. This character will represent that on the outside he is a honourable knight that has a heart of gold, but through his abilities I will show the merciless rage inside for his foes. His weapon of choice will be his blade.

Inspiration for this character comes from the League of Legends Mordekaiser and Overwatch Reinhardt.

Wyatt’s Avatar is Velocity, The Robotic Predator. This Avatar is human sized but with a animal look. The top half of his body is of a Cheetah (Or any animal like look / hyena is second best) while the lower torso to legs are robotic allowing for the speed implied in the name. This will show Wyatt’s aggressive personality while having the stereotype of the Hyena laugh clown. Showing both hatred to enemies and joyful clown to team. His weapon of choice will be a dual chakras.

Inspiration for this character comes from the Apex Legends Octane and Overwatch Lucio.

Paige’s Avatar is Clemency, The Angelic Grace. This Avatar is human sized but floats just above the ground giving a taller appearance. Clemency looks like a armoured angel with light wings blasting from either side. Her face is hidden from view by a hood with only white eyes in sight. This look however transforms into a demonic look: Ruthless, The Demonic Rage. In this form she has the same armour but with darker colours and bone like wings. Instead of white light from her eyes, she has dark red showing this rage filled change. This is to show the split in personalities to Paige, the loving side of one and the rage based power of the other. Her weapon of choice for both personalities will be a staff of either light side properties or dark side properties.

Inspiration for this character comes from the Overwatch’s Mercy and League of Legends Morgana / Lux.

Kaiden’s Avatar is Regicide, The King Slayer. This Avatar is tall but not to the height of Centurion. This character takes on the look of a werewolf type character but has void magic like properties to his body such as wounds that leak this black ink energy and even dark energies around the claws. Creating a cruel mystical killer. The rage of Kaiden is express through this medium with only his heartfelt side being shown in his protection of Paige. His weapon will be his razor sharp jagged claws.

Inspiration for this character comes from the League of Legends Rengar and Overwatch Reaper.

Darren’s FAKE Avatar is Player, The Cursed One. This Character was a copy of Darren but with medieval robes on. This was the faked character and as such had no real tell or point.

Darren’s REAL Avatar is Vyrus, The Hated One. This character is the true Avatar of Darren. This character is still human sized similar to Velocity. Vryus has a mask over his face and is hooded by a large torn up black poncho. His gauntlets show electrical coil like devices that orange energy surrounds. His character is made to be a mysterious hidden character of immense power similar to how Darren was hidden by the world even with his potential. His weapon is mainly his own energy, using this to fire magic blasts.

Inspiration for this character comes from the League of Legends Ryse and Apex Legends Revenant.

icons must also show this avatars being/soul:

These Icons are similar looking to the Rainbow six Siege ones, but with obvious changes inside each of the icons for each of the Avatars. These are used to identify Avatars from the broadcast.

Centurion will have a Sword slamming down, breaking through a wall showing the ‘pushing’ style of Centurion while also displaying his main weapon of choice. The colours would vary of the later choice of the audience in my primary research.

Velocity will have one of his Chakra blades spinning in a wheel motion as if its about to take off. The smoke off the blade will shoot off to the right. This shows his speed like attribute with his speed included.

Clemency / Ruthless have a joint icon to avoid constant changes. It will be split down in the middle, the main piece of the art will be a face. The left will be a normal fine face while the other side will be deformed and demonic. Showing the split in character.

Regicide will have a simple clear cut icon to show his power and inner hatred. This will be a blank background with a four claw mark ripping into the icon, leaving torn material.

Vyrus will have a machine like virus sign. One that consists of a hooded character but instead of a face it will be a single eye. This shows the hidden all knowing power, while playing to the machinery like character.

moving forward…

This blog allows me to jot down the aim of my characters and show clear path when looking at which way to take to gain my product. Having a chance to create this blog every now and then allows me to create somewhat checkpoints for those looking at my work. It also helps me recap myself when going on. Next I intend to complete a blog on the final choices of maps/radars and other pieces of art I intend to complete allowing me to accomplish these.

Contextual Analysis – Reception Theory

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

After explaining the idea behind my Avatars, I had a thought about the way an audience would see this and other parts to my work. I have already completed my target audience work and have successfully found them. However, researching into reception theory and seeing how it affects my work will help me understand and refine my art.

Reception Theory was developed by Stuart Hall. This is the theory that delves into the process of a Producer encoding hidden information and values into media, while the viewer decodes this into their own view. This ‘decoding’ has been formed into three sections of viewing.

Dominant / preferred reading is the form of the audience clearly seeing what the producer is saying and taking this message fully. This style is used in simple moments of information exchange when viewing that certain media. In gaming this would be shown best in Overwatch’s Reaper who is designed perfectly in a way of being evil – no room to discuss.

Oppositional reading is the act of a rebellious audience. This is the act of the viewers taking another view on what the producer has intended, this in most cases causes major debates within the community and can even cause legal issues if messages are read REALLY wrong. An example of Oppositional reading is the take of Katsuki Bakugou. This character has been written in a way to cause the community to hate him with his character being a major bully saying very harsh things to innocent individuals. However, the community has become massive fans of Bakugou and have somewhat forgiven what he has done by allowing growth of the character which has been shown throughout the series. The simple change of view from this villainous character is a perfect example of Oppositional view.

Negotiated reading is the act of a half and half reaction of the other two. This act is to understand what the writer has said and still have that other view. A perfect example of this is the GTA series. GTA has been trashed about the violence and sexual scenes that the game includes. However, many individuals understand that what you do in the game is highly illegal and will never follow this path at all BUT then also understand that it’s a game. This view allows you to see the evil and terrible aspect of the game while also having the other side of how it is harmless due to the fact that it is only a game.

If I was to choose one for my own art and writing, I would have to say the preferred writing. In the Exodus I have laid out my character and will lay out my Avatars in a clear way to show what I have intended. Unlike other pieces of art which allow for reading between the lines mine is aimed and precise. Something that allows me to lead my audience on a story of my design, eliminating all unforeseeable threats.

reference
Revisionworld.com. 2020. Reception Theory – Media Studies – Revision World. [online] Available at: <https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/media-studies-level-revision/reception-theory&gt; [Accessed 1 March 2020].

Contextual Analysis – Iconography

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

When it comes to designing my characters and icons, I need to make sure that every clothing choice, pose and every facial detail helps craft a story. While I am now able to see the design in which my audience wish to see, that being Overwatch character style and Rainbow Six Siege icons, I must ensure that this is not sacrificed in a way that does not allow me to express the personality and attitude of the character, something that I mainly need to display in the Avatar creation. This is where my Iconography blog can assist me.

First, I must define what Iconography actually is, in terms of art and creation. Iconography is the use of traditional symbols to symbolise a concept or meaning. For example, in Overwatch, the character Reaper is seen as a mass murderer who is deadly at a mere touch. This fright and evil is shown through his dark colour combination and his grim reaper style clothing choice. For my actual Icons that will be incredibly important, I must ensure to create something that relates to the character with a simple image. An example of this relation is Sledge’s Icon in Rainbow Six Siege, in which his icon is that of a smashed wall next to a sledgehammer, his signature weapon.

In terms of movies or films, Iconography becomes redundant when the actual character is shown on screen or on all marketing. This means that they will never have to reference the character or what his background is due to the high viewership and general openness of the character. In games however, Iconography is one of the best ways to secure your games public reception while also helping the marketing. While I mention marketing, I don’t mean that I intend to sell my product, what I am doing is thinking from the standpoint of the viewers watching the Exodus games (This is the name of what the games are actually called inside the story of my game) who will not be able to keep up with what everyone is doing inside the arena. Therefore I need to make sure that I take a more branding style approach to these Icons, such as Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 unique brand but in a more visual sense than name tag.

A perfect example of Iconography in media is within the My Hero Academia manga which is a story of Heros with a more educational setting. The character Katsuki Bakugo is a hot headed Hero in training who has major anger issues that sometimes brings into play his reasons to why he wants to help people. His superpower is the ability to create explosions from his palms which help his aggressive fighting style while also fitting his personality. The place in which Iconography enters is his suit design and personal look.

While he may look like a normal average student with no real meaning behind any choice, you are able to see the style in which his hair is designed. The explosive like look is the first piece of foreshadowing of his explosive nature. Next we move on to his suit. Straight away you notice the colour choices of black, green and orange each having a link to military explosive like weaponry. His best piece of armour is the Grenade bracers he wears on his arms. Not only is the utility explained for these but the art reflects so much of the character. The grenade fits perfectly for his explosive quirk while also displaying the perfect explanation for his character design.

This is something I need to take into account when creating my own characters. While having the blast full hair is a cool look. I need to make sure that it makes sense for my character to have it. With this understanding I feel confident in my ability to produce a product that has sufficient iconography and will allow me to express personality through my characters to avoid the scary blank slate that I intend to miss.

reference
Horikoshi, K., 2014. My Hero Academia. [online] En.wikipedia.org. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Hero_Academia&gt; [Accessed 1 March 2020].
Ubisoft.com. 2015. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege | Ubisoft (UK). [online] Available at: <https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/rainbow-six/siege/&gt; [Accessed 2 March 2020].

Primary Research / Problem Solving – Audience Feedback – Character Design

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs

After looking into the context of character design in the three games that has inspired me , I set about seeing which character and icon style was the one to emulate and learn. To make sure this choice benefits me and my audience, I created a short questionnaire.

The first question is to sort out the character design debate. To make sure each viewer knew what they were, I showed them the appropriate pictures allowing them to give their needed answers.

The second question was the same as the first in terms of showing what they would choose but in this case aiming it towards the Icons that I will be creating that will allow viewers to see who is who on the radar/map.

The results of the character design came out as a resounding Overwatch win. This style allows the expression of personality and ability to shine through the armour and looks. With this in check I now will be able to start sketching down rough ideas for my characters and allow myself the freedom to utilize this expression.

The Icon results showed me that the love was aimed at Rainbow Six Siege. The Icon use in R6S allows for each operator to have their own basic calling card that shows personality and general public prowess. Having this as my choice will allow me to take the time creatively to make sure that each character gains this badge of personal wildcard style, something to further help show story behind the character.

Results

  • Overwatch character design that will allow me to show personality in my characters.
  • Rainbow Six Siege Icon design that will allow me to create personal calling cards for each character.

With this lined out for me I can now take a further look into the symbolism of armour and looks while also taking into account Iconography in my art. Doing these blogs will help me further my skill and show understanding of the choices I make when my practical finally takes fruition.

Contextual Analysis – Characters/Icons – Overwatch

Posted on by Adam's Level 3 Media Blogs
download
Overwatch. (2016). Overwatch. [online] Available at: https://playoverwatch.com [Accessed 25 Feb. 2020].

Overwatch is a MOBA that has the closet links to the action genre than others. Its unique in that it has its game set in first person meaning you get to see other characters up close meaning that each character needs to be at a top level to immerse the player. Hence why each and every character of Overwatch has unique and clear personality traits shown through looks and armour, something I aim to research into. The game follows the normal 5v5 codes of a MOBA with each character holding a role. However, Overwatch is a objective based game rather than deathmatch. Icons in this game work somewhat as simple badges that let players know whose who, similar to Apex legends.

One character of the Overwatch world is Lucio. From weapon, colour choice and armour we can see the style of what this character is about. Weapons wise we see the speaker like gun that allows him to use his music to attack enemies and push them from points for his team literally ‘moving’ people with his music. His armour shows his DJ like set up with the addition of skates that allow him to zoom across the map allowing him to fulfil his support role with his music’s healing properties that he can alternate between. Finally his colour choice, a resident of Brazil, Lucio honors this with his yellow, blue and green colours of him parent country. Each piece of art of Lucio is perfectly placed to tell apart of his story which is something that I must be able to emulate in my Avatars.

Next is the one of the Tank characters in Overwatch. Roadhog. Within his beast like appearance, we are able to see the story of himself and his name, his abilities and his role. The name roadhog clearly comes from the tattoo of his pig belly and the lookalike mask he wears that gives this nickname to life. His stubby brute nature sings praises to the name calling of hog and the road aspect being his makeshift armour look. His abilities are clear in looking at his hook. This main ability allows hog the ability to hook enemies to him to take them out with his primary shotgun like scrap gun. Finally, his role. To be a Tank is to be big, simple and plain. The role of a Tank is to take damage for the team and Roadhogs statute allows him to take many ‘punches’ to the gut.

Similar to the Apex Legends issue, Overwatch falls short for the creativity of the icon use like R6S excels in. This is disappointing but with the detail of each character, we can see how they decided to take time off this to excel with the character which I can understand, however I have only a few characters to make therefore I feel able to create each incon and character correctly which the same level of creativity.