Author: Patrycja Reimus

    Our final brief for the year focuses on designing a picture book for children aged 3-11. The topic of my book is going to be Social Anxiety. I feel that anxiety is a hard emotion to comprehend especially when you’re a child. It feels lonely when you think no one else is going through the same thing and you can’t explain these feelings to your peers or carers and therefore ask for help. As a child you haven’t learned about those feelings yet which can be scary. I think a book which helps to explain social anxiety or at least show that others understand what a child with social anxiety is going through would be extremely helpful. The presentation I attached includes a quote from Child Mind Institute explaining that even though social anxiety usually develops in adolescents it may also start during childhood. This was another reason why I felt strongly about focusing my book on this topic.

    I’m going to aim my book at children aged 5-7. This is because 5 years of age is the age that children are expected to go to primary school in UK and I feel that after the age of 8 children need a more elaborated read. The Guardian wrote an article on the recommended reads for children aged 5-7 which also guided me in the direction of the age range I should stick to.  Ideally I’m planing to create the whole book and have it printed but this will depend on how much time I have. I might continue with this project over the summer if I do run out of time before the deadline. I’m also aiming to finish this brief in 3 weeks just in time for the April break.

Below is the presentation I used to pitch my idea:

Brief 4 Pitch

Bibliography

http://www.childmind.org/
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/22/recommended-reads-children-5-7

    Below are a few pictures I found of the streets of Tokyo taken by a Japanese photographer Masashi Wakui. They have a cyberpunk feel to them and remind me of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner from 1982. Cyberpunk stands out to me as a genre and even though it feels overused by independent game developers who combine the genre with pixelated graphics I would still like to bring an aspect of cyberpunk into my designs. The bright and colorful lights combined with rusty run down urban-metallic architecture has appealed to me. I can’t think of an example of demonology being represented within the cyberpunk genre (although there are some films which have combined horror with neo-noir) which is why I think it would be a unique and intriguing hybrid, besides a neon glowing crucifix in a metal cage sounds pretty cool. So far Wakui’s work has inspired me to create neon barber shop signs which light would reflect on the puddles on the street. On the sides there would be clusters of homeless addicts affected by demon infected blood. I can use these pictures as reference photographs for the environment design of the street outside of the barbershop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are some examples of environment design from Blade Runner which is a great example of a Cyberpunk genre. I could also use some of these as reference images. The set design is filled with bright lights and neon signs contrasting with a dark background. I could incorporate this into my own designs.

 

Metropolis (1927) is another example of a Cyberpunk environment. Below are some examples from the film which I can yet again use as reference images for my thumbnail environment design. I like the German Expressionist style of this with painted backgrounds juxtaposing metallic props. Rough, canted angles and geometric feel of these designs are also inspiring.

 

Bibliography

http://sobadsogood.com/2016/01/07/tokyos-hidden-streets-look-they-are-straight-movie/

I found Blade Runner & Metropolis images on Google Images.

    I want the game’s genre to by a hybrid of horror and cyberpunk. The logo for the game needs to reflect this and the general atmosphere of the game. I’ve research logo’s for horror games such as Until Dawn and The Evil Within  as well  as Cyberpunk and noir related games. I’ve noticed that a lot of logos for horror games use letters with harsh edges and usually have a block color highly contrasting the background e.g. white on black background. Even though this makes for an efficient logo which can be applied in many different situations I find it plain and boring. The other games such as Void and Meddler and Neon Struct use neon-like fonts with a glow effect and bright colors. The Wolf Among Us, even thought not being a neon-like font, also uses a bright magenta color. I like the idea of a neon font or a neon-like sign for the logo for my game especially since neon is associated with the cyberpunk genre. I especially got inspired by the Void and Meddler logo because of it’s club-like feel and complex bend lettering. The bright colors also appeal to me, even pink which I originally didn’t want to include as normally it’s not associated with a horror genre. This has inspired me to research actual neon signs. I especially like the trashy neon signs one can find at a corner sex shop. I feel it represents the feel of my game because of it’s raw and decaying look, like an abandonment tattoo parlor or in my case a barber shop specializing in exorcism. From the research I have conducted I imagine my logo to be like a neon sign with the tubes being broken up allowing the liquid to spill out and creating a feel of dripping blood. I’m not sure about the color I would like to use yet. Red seems like an obvious choice if i want the neon liquid to be reminiscent of blood however I do like the aesthetic of a trashy bright pink neon sign with dirt and cracks all over it.

Game Logo Examples:

Neon Signs:

Bibliography:

I found all of the above images through google image search.

I research games through Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/

    I never properly researched what goes into making a video game until writing my report. Since starting this project I decided to further my understanding of the topic. Thanks to this I’ve learned the difference between concept art and promotional art as well as the creative process that goes into developing artwork for a game.

   I found out that I need a graphics tablet for creating concept and promotional art which I haven’t realized before. The tablet I’m going to get is a WACOM Intuos Draw Pen 7″ Graphics Tablet. After I’ve done more research into drawing tablets I realized how expensive they are and that WACOM is a very good company producing professional standard drawing tablets. Intuos Draw is the cheapest WACOM tablet I could personally find and therefore is the one I decided to purchase.

    I also learned the difference between concept art and promotional art and the stages of art development for a game. Beforehand I thought of promotional art as concept art and by that I mean character sketches being released and presented as concept art when actually it was promotional art. I now know that concept art is produced in large volumes and is rough not detailed and polished like promotional art. Most information I found on this website: http://howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/2014/02/lets-get-real-concept-art/

Development Plan

Below is my development plan for a specific sequence of my game. I put it together keeping in mind my research about game art development. Hopefully throughout this project I will find my preferred and most efficient creative process.

1) Research/Planning (Week 1)

    -The Product

    – Audience & Purpose

    -Industry Research/ Development Plan

    -Bloodletting

    -Exorcism & Demonic Possession: History & Popular Culture (include symbols)

    -Rituals

    -Demonology

    -Other Video Games

    -Advertising Campaigns

    -Websites

    -Logo

    -Other Concept & Promo Artists

    -Game Posters & Covers

2)Concept Art (Week 2 & 3)

    Needs reference images & rough sketches.

    -Character Development:

     Protagonist (Bassed off of Issie), The three Barbers, Priest, Addicts on the street, Person being exorcised, Duke of Hell

    -Environment Development:

     Street outside the barber shop (night time), Indoors of the barber shop, ritual chamber (MAYBE)

    -Item Development:

     Razor Blade

    -Scene Development:

     Ritual Scene, Exorcism Scene

3)Promotional Art (Week 4)

    -Logo & Typeface

    -Character sheets

    -Environments

    – Item sheet

    – Scenes

4)Advertising (Week 5 & 6)

    -Logo/Logotype

    -Swatches

    -Posters

    -Website

    -Cover for the packaging

YouTube Tutorials

Below are some of the YouTube tutorials I found helpful:

Bibliogaphy

http://howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/2014/02/lets-get-real-concept-art/

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/computer-accessories/graphics-tablets/wacom-intuos-draw-pen-7-graphics-tablet-10139344-pdt.html