Conclusion

This is likely to be my final entry for this blog so I decided to look back over the course of the project, summarise what I've done and how I achieved it, as well as explain things in more depth.

To start with I worked on my own with no assistance on any part.  it was incredibly tough, especially as I started late and only had a couple of days a week to work on it.  this meant I had to work very quickly, as 3D modelling and texturing can be very time consuming.

The design and concept evolved over the course of the project, from a game about chasing Dracula around Whitby, to a game where the player collects Jet artefacts whilst exploring Whitby Abbey, to a scene that tries to capture the style of a painting by Francis Jukes.

The concept art was produced to help me plan how I wanted to layout the level, as well as act as a very short storyboard for when things would happen.  I also worked on making the project logos that I needed for the submission.  With the changes in design I was worried that I would need to rename everything, which thankfully never happened.

When I knew what I was doing, I started making the whitebox assets.  The models were constructed in a way that allowed me to add detail at a later point if needed. these models remained for the most part, relatively unchanged and being used in the current build of the level.

I decided to use a few texture sheets as possible and I've managed to use only two textures.  The overall aesthetic I was aiming to achieve was inspired by Francis Jukes (provided by The British Library's asset pack) and popular videogames that use a painted style (such as World of Warcraft and Vagrant Story).  Components that make up the abbey are chunky and angular, and the textures were hand painted by myself.  The brick texture took the longest out of the texture pieces, as this would be the most visible part of the game.  The UV's for all of the models were mapped to a single texture as stated before, which probably took the most time.

It's been hard work but very rewarding.  I've learned a lot more than I thought I would during this project.  I will most likely take this project further and turn it into a more polished portfolio piece, as I quite enjoyed the visual style used.

Thank you for reading my blog.

A Shadow in Whitby

Though the project name (A Shadow in Whitby) is remnant from the Dracula design, I think it's still applicable as the player is now being thought of as the shadow (also, I don't want to have to rename everything I've done so far).  First is a bit about the concept itself, followed then by some actual design and artwork.  Included throughout will be explanations on how the source materials provided by The British Library  has helped inspire my ideas.

The main mechanic of the game is finding and collecting Jet artefacts and placing them in the correct place to unlock new areas and items.  Objects and structures will appear, indicating what the next part of the puzzle might be.  The initial play area will be quite small, with the hopes of expanding if there's enough time.

(North West view of Whitby Abbey)

(South East view of Whitby Abbey)

My main sources include the images above, which were among The British Library's assets provided to everyone.  The first thing you might notice is that the abbey shown is a bit more intact than the abbey's present state.  The addition of the tower in the middle gives better scope for the level design.  I also managed to find an artists reconstruction of the abbey on the English Heritage website, which has helped me understand how the current architecture relates to that shown in the images above.

(A View near Whitby on the Yorkshire Coast, Francis Jukes, 1804)

The art style I have chosen to use was inspired by the image above by Francis Juke.  I particularly like the colouring of it.  There will be further details on this in the style guide, along with a mood board to help demonstrate the effect I'm going for.  Moving on to some designs and concepts, below is a quick concept showing the start of the game.

(Concept image of starting area with the bridge made of light active)

The starting area will be a small, circular area next to the small pond near the abbey.  The player is trapped there within a fog barrier with a pedestal and an artifact carved from Whitby Jet.  The bridge shown in the image (above) does not exist and is something that will appear when the first puzzle is complete to allow access to the next area.  To complete it, the player simply needs to put the artefact on the pedestal, demonstrating how future puzzles work.  Below is the design layout that goes with the concept showing the placement of objects, as well as notes on how each bit works.

(Level design for the start of the game)

Though specifics for the general layout of the abbey section is still being confirmed (finished design will be shown in a future post), I have definite ideas on how particular aspects of the puzzles will work with each other and roughly how many I will need.

(Rough designs for the abbey section of the game)

There will be an altar at the head of the abbey, which when activated, will reveal a platform with indentations in it.  These indents require artefacts that are found in other places (sometime needing the player to complete a puzzles to obtain) to power it.  Once all are found the player is moved to the tower where the player will collect the final artefact.  Players will then be shown a door that has appeared at the perimeter of the play area (a way out), which the player has to use the last artefact on to end the game.

(Concept of the final door that ends the game)

Unfortunately there is no guarantee I can actually achieve this, despite how small it is.  I only have 10 days to work on this project between now and the deadline (due to other commitments), including making and texturing all of the models, researching and implementing the puzzles, blogging my progress and fulfilling all of the submission requirements (videos, images, packaged build etc).

Wish me luck!

The Third Design

The important thing about the newest design change is the size of the playable area.  It is now confined to Whitby Abbey and its immediate area, reducing the number of assets required.  Hopefully it will also help emphasise my abilities at 'game design' and technical ability with the CryEngine SDK.

In terms of the design itself, it's apparent that my concepts for a game that includes Dracula are quite long (or would at least take a reasonable time to complete).  With this in mind I have decided to remove this as the main plot device and concentrate on something that's a bit more versatile but equally as important to Whitby's heritage.

The new design incorporates Whitby Jet as a component for players to use in solving puzzles around the remains of the abbey, which in turn unlocks new parts to a bigger overall puzzle.

(A Whitby Jet carved brooch)

Whitby Jet was used to create various artefacts and pieces of jewellery, which extends as far back as the Bronze Age.  It is probably best known for its popularity during the 19th century as mourning jewellery.
The Whitby Jet Heritage Centre website has quite a bit of information about the mineraloid and its history.

It is supposedly easy to carve (though difficult to achieve great detail without breaking it), which means I can use quite intricate shapes  when creating the puzzle elements.

Linking this new design concept back to the maps provided by The British Library is a very important aspect of the competition, so in the next entry I will provide details on how each aspect relates to them.  On top of the design documentation I will also be putting together a small style guide to ensure that I maintain a level of consistency when producing assets like models and textures, which I will try to make available for download at a later point.