Level 3 Games Development
By Eoin Matthews
UNIT 2 Introduction Research Skills
Themes and Inspiration
Here is a collection of mood board's that I have created to inspire and give me direction on what styles I should be aiming towards. The main influence to my art will be heavily based off of Cowboy Bebop, a 1998 anime based around Spike a cowboy bounty hunter. Other influences are the Alien franchise, Blade Runner and Altered Carbon.
I have a keen interest in the Cyberpunk genre and my mood boards demonstrate this. I have also included pictures with screen displays as there will be a few of them in my renders and some furniture too to better understand the shapes and angles.
To the right is a list of methods I will be using.
Secondary Research
Concepts
Discover
-Concept Art
-Books
-FIlms
​
Describe
-Who
-Why
-What
-When
​
Explain
-Themes
-Time Period
-Other Inspirations/References
​
Breakdown
-Small Details
-Individual objects
-Lighting
​
Synthesise
-How
-Why
-With
Polsinelli, M. and Mead, S. (2017). Blade Runner's Designer on Creating the Future. [online] Vice. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/3k8xvn/blade-runners-designer-on-creating-the-future [Accessed 19 Sep. 2018].
JIVEprinting. (2018). Inside a ship or something. [online] Reddit.
Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cyberpunk/comments/7z70rf/inside_a_ship_or_something/ [Accessed 19 Sep. 2018].
Brad Wright. (2014). Alien Isolation concept art. [online] IAMAG.CO. Available at: https://www.iamag.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Alien-Isolation-Concept-Art-54.jpg [Accessed 19 Sep. 2018].
Above are pictures of concept art that I have found online that will help to inspire my interior design project. Many of the shapes and colours will be incorporated into my own work in my own style to the best of my abilities. I plan on creating a retro-styled environment with a very sci-fi/noir/cyberpunk theme. Dark shadows and bright neon lights with being the fun part of developing my concepts.
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The Neuromancer
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As I looked for more inspiration regarding my choice of the Cyberpunk genre, I came across the author William Gibson who changed the science fiction set in 1984 with his award-winning book Neuromancer. In this piece of text, he describes a few items around a scene between two characters, like an ancient green lamp and some cassettes laying on a desk of painted steel.
After reading a few more pages I came back to this page and began to sketch out a few of the items to see if I can find a style of which I like for my own work and to try and draw the scene being described. As you can see in the images above and to the right of this page.
Tacoma
For a futuristic, sci-fi interior I choose to replay a game in which I will take inspiration from as it takes place on a space station. Tacoma takes place around the year 2080 which is the time period that I have chosen for my interior project. The furnishing in the rooms above is smooth and sleek quite similar to current modern trends, also within these areas mainly the personnel living quarters they add in natural touches such as wooden flooring and plantation to give the inhabitants a more homely feel which otherwise wouldn't be included on the station as it's in space. The colour palette is more industrial with cooler tones, which sets it apart from an everyday living space and more of a working environment feel. The lighting incorporates many strip lights along the interior to give the place a more seamless feel which helps make the gameplay flow between locations. The other lights within Tacoma are mainly spotlights which are used to accent the more key elements within the scene.
Blade Runner (2017)
I choose to look into Blade Runner (2017) because the visuals all have a gritty, desolate filter to them. The interior scenes in the film are quite desaturated with only the lighting providing the different colours which set different atmospheres for dependant scenes i.e the use of multiple different colour lights within an action sequence creates an energetic and exciting feel. The features in the kitchen scene make it feel cluttered and messy showing that its a well used space with a gritty feel. I especially like the tiles and where the lights are located on them and the angles as it created more dimension and shadow to the environment. I feel like I can incorporate certain elements of lighting and neon aesthetics to help set a tone for each of my interiors along with the rough textures to add a gritty, industrial and bleak feel to my environments.
Alien Isolation
Alien Isolation is a horror exploration game based on a space station. The game is based in the 2100's which is close to the time period I have chosen, possibly more advanced in technology than the 40 years prior to my basis but with a somewhat retro tone. It is theorised that it is in the same universe as Blade Runner which I have also looked in to. The interiors colour palette consists of mainly darker shades with only personal items having colour to them. The brighter areas are perceived as 'safe' areas whereas in the darker shots shown above are where possible danger lurks which makes the player have a sense of paranoia which is a very important part of any horror game. The interiors are very sharp with protruding features like the vents/hatches which makes the whole scene come across as colder and unsettling the furnishings inside the interior are quite simplistic in design with broad shapes and patterns to still make them intriguing to look at, the stylising of the furniture is something I would like to replicate within my own work as the time period is loosely based on the late 80s - early 90's.
Isometric Perspectives
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
The first example of the isometric perspective in a game that I have looked at is Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. Released a few years after the first game in the franchise RCT 2 built upon its predecessor in numerous ways. Keeping the isometric view as personal computers were not as powerful to run full 3D graphics at the time, this did not hinder the gameplay or art style of RCT 2. With the screenshot to the left, you can see a roller coaster tower over other buildings within the landscape thus creating depth, along with other the buildings, scenery and rides to create a more realistic looking theme park.
Fallout
The second example of the use of Isometric Perspective used within a video game is Fallout, a post-apocalyptic survival game based in a post-war America in the year 2161, 84 years after the nuclear war. The apocalyptic setting is a good example of what objects, items, vehicles and landscapes might look like after 100+ years. This can be used in conjunction with my own work to make assets feel more rustic and aged along with an industrial style. Another feature of fallout is its hexagonal grid system which the game has been build around and I really like this style of gameplay and wish to incorporate it into my own work.
The Sims
The third and final example of the use of the isometric perspective is The Sims (2000). I feel like I can learn a lot from the original Sims series as every aspect of the game is designed to be isometric, which gives the player a sense of power and control from the heightened perspective. As the Sims is a life simulation game, mimicking a dolls house, being able to view a house at this angle makes designing it easy. All of the items and objects within the game are placed on a square grid and are visible from all 4 camera angles unless blocked by another object. Although the graphics are not as high quality as today's Sims, the original Sims is a great example of an isometric interior design program which I can play and learn how to either layout or design objects for my own interiors.
Primary Research
For my primary research, I was tasked with sourcing and compiling various images and textures to use in my isometric interior project. I teamed up with two other people in my class and proceeded to explore the local area for references, this took us to the local B&Q a hardware store full to the brim with different materials, items, textures and a multitude of tools. Whilst there as a group we found plenty of examples of textures that we could use in our projects, as we were exploring the store I pointed out different materials that could be used within my project regarding sci-fi and space, along with other materials for my peers to use for their individual projects. As I want to give my scenes a worn look and feel, I looked out for any rusted, chipped, worn and disused objects as shown in the gallery below.
*Click on each photo for a detailed description*
