Game Project Part 3 (30/1/2013)

When our lecturer decided to show us a video on how to design effective game environments, I made sure to take notes that could prove useful since I had already jumped into the development of it without any previous planning.
You can read my notes below.

• See EVERYTHING as a game environment waiting to be made.
• Take a small art book with you wherever you go so as to record what you see.  
• Taking pictures of anything for inspiration will also allow you to put them onto programs such as Photoshop and for example, by using a dark silhouette of a person you can make anything massive like a mountain or something as tiny as whats under a bush look like a game environment. You can then add to these images cropped pictures of statues and other things in order to adjust the scale of the scene. e.g. using a statue's head within a bed of flowers could make the statue's head look similar in scale to the Statue of Liberty and therefore make the flowers look as if they are gigantic (maybe this could be a setting for a sci-fi game?). 
• Mix and match images in order to create new themes and genres if you can. 

After making notes for the video I then went onto creating a personal collage that would capture the mood of my game.  

After finding a background that would suit the era, I gathered an image of Cthulhu and a great image of some kids playing with a monster. I then decided to use one of the silhouettes for my art project as it was meant to be a private detective and therefore as a result fitted the scene nicely.  

Reducing the contrast and brightness of everything I was able to make it not only fit the black and white filter that the game would have, but also create the intended atmosphere that I wanted for my game.

After I had finished with the art tablet I had borrowed from Resources, I spoke with the man there who told me that they supplied good voice recording equipment which would only record your voice and wouldn't make any popping noises as you sometimes get. This was great news as if I ever wanted to include voice acting in my project (as I am interested in doing as a future side career) then I could borrow this equipment.

References:

• Ovchinnikov, A (2010) Children’s Illustration [Online image]. Available at: http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ovchinnikov.jpg (Accessed: 23/1/2013).

• Unknown (2008) Film Noir at West Court Street, Version 1 [Online image].  Available at: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2361011916_3eeeac622b.jpg (Accessed: 23/1/2013).

• Unknown (Unknown) Cthulhu Silhouette [Online image]. Available at: http://www.mu-podcast.com/images/Spawn_of_Cthulhu_Silhouette_left_199.png (Accessed: 23/1/2013).