Visual Design
Yesterday we had a lecture on the how to effectively design the visual components of a game.
First of all, we discussed the importance of minority representation in order to diversify your characters and be inclusive towards a wide variety of potential players. Sticking with the topic of character design, we looked into the idea of character silhouettes and how a diversity of body types can help to distinguish your characters from one another and make a game more easily readable. A great example of this in action is Team Fortress 2. TF2's characters have very distinct and now iconic silhouettes thanks to their varied, cartoonish proportions and unique equipment.
We moved on to look at colour and lighting and how they can be used to convey information about an environment or character and evoke certain feelings in the player. Colouring something red, for instance could imply that it is dangerous or at least in some way exciting.
It was also mentioned, that there is much to learn from film in regards to camera placement and motion. Techniques such as different angles and levels of zoom can be used in games to imply meaning. For instance, if a character is presented with a zoomed out high angle shot, they will appear weaker and more vulnerable.
We finished this session by touching on shadow and how it should be used carefully to avoid obscuring the players view and creating unrealistic environments. It was noted that Unity generates a lot of shadow by default and that one should be mindful of this if creating indoor environments or even outdoor environments that are not intended to look like a sunny day.
Assignment
Once this lecture finished we were each asked to tell the lecturers about our plans for the upcoming Impulse assignment. We where then given a supervisor based on who would be the best fit for each project. I explained that I will be creating an RPG with strategic, turn-based combat and that I intend to primarily focus on the mechanics of the combat system. As I expected, Jarek Francik was assigned as my supervisor, due to his expertise in programming and mechanical design.
Rare
There was no afternoon session this week and no InKUbator either. However, Hope did kindly share a link for Into Games' livestream event in the evening where staff from Rare spoke about their studio and their internship scheme. Rare seems like a great place to work and they have certainly created some iconic titles. There are no design internships available but they do have engineering positions open which I am considering applying for.
Comments