The last week I have been working on some initial marketing stuff for Armored Empire, our next app project at Thor media. If you want to learn more about the game, and take a look at the wordpress site I put together for it, check out the official website.
This is another Blender and Gimp project, with audio done in Audacity. The one thing of any real note it the imitation of an old CRT monitor. This was the challenging part of this little project. I wanted to simulate a zoomed in shot, so using things like the scan-lines and dust on the glass seemed to pull off the effect well. The flickering of the text and the diagonal line that passes by make it feel old and worn a bit.
Overall I think that everything about this small teaser fits well with each other, thanks to some initial story boarding. The visuals and audio fit really well and help make the view curious. The doors closing are a good surprise, and just about everyone that has viewed the teaser liked the feeling that it makes.
Thor Media is coming up on the release of there latest project Josh the Whale. And during the last few days, I have been working on the official trailer for the app. Here it is.
It has been fun getting the last touches together for this app. One thing that has been especially interesting for me is the music. We have my sister in law putting together the music for the app, and even though she doesn’t compose professionally, she has done a fantastic job so far. Her music fits the moods that we are trying to get across in the app very well. The trailer itself came together really easy.
Most of the assets were already prepared. All the underwater scenery was practically done, because we used it in the initial concepts for the game. I had to do another animation for Josh, and do some simple compositing in the Blender video sequence editor. The only part that I had to put allot of time into was the beginning. I struggled with compositing distant water, before discovering how easy it is to add it in by using the z-buffer to create a fade between the distant water and the foreground water. Everything else was a cinch.
If you want to check out some beta screen shots of the app in action, head over to the official page HERE. We should be releasing the app in a few weeks or so, on both Android and iOS.
Been hard at it the past few days. We have a good rough of Josh the Whale finished, just waiting on music before we start the polishing stage. Really looking forward to topping that project off.
Also, I have been doing allot of concept work for Project Nebula. Been working with Ryan to work out world details, and a little bit of character design.
Speaking of which. This design is mostly Ryan’s, but I adjusted some of the ideas, seeing where it would take me. I also took the time to put together a time lapse video, something that I regrettably haven’t done in a while.
I love to look back on my processes. Most of the time during painting, it is a blur. I can’t distinguish one moment from the next. So recording it, and comparing my technique to previous paintings is fun, as well as enlightening.
The discussions, and what not, continue with project Nebula. This is the next app project coming out of Thor Media LLC.
After doing a Google hangout this morning, I decided to spend the rest of the day doing some well rendered character designs. This by no means is a representation of the final characters or look of the project, but just to get a few ideas out. A launch platform of sorts.
We have a new person on board to help us with the writing and dialogue, Sterling. Good to have him aboard, and to help bare some of the weight for a project this big. We are excited to have him on and we are excited for this project. It is a bit lofty, but we believe that we are introducing somethings that haven’t been seen on the Android market yet, which will help gain attention, and hopefully bring in some income.
Look forward to some more concept art, other details on project Nebula, and also a weekly sketch review this weekend.
The holidays hit and time was placed elsewhere for about a week. My brother and I have kept busy with “Josh the Whale”, and are making good progress on that front. We are looking at a release date around January 15th. Been having fun modeling, texturing, and animating whales, but I am looking forward to finishing it, and moving on to another project.
Speaking of which. We are working with a talented story teller, Ryan Thatcher, and getting a RPG/Action Adventure game together. We have developed some good ideas for story, and for game play mechanics, and are very excited to get more involved in that project.
But in my free time, I have been looking at other planned projects, both personal and work related, in search of some room to develop concepts or just produce some art for those ideas. That is where this illustration came from. This a project that Thor Media has put on stand still for the moment, but still in the concept stage. I can’t talk too much about the project, since allot of the details aren’t concrete yet, but sharing a little of that development, visually, can’t hurt. Sorry, no video this time around, but If you haven’t taken the time to see some of my other time lapse videos, I encourage you to watch and comment on my YouTube Channel.
Josh the Whale is moving along nicely. Bryce is figuring out the new engine and we have already put together some proof of concept work. While he’s figuring out how to get this all put together in an application, I am trudging forward, getting other areas of the game designed and finished.
This is a time lapse video of the cave entrance where a few pages if the book will take place. This video is especially long because all the interface movement would be too distracting if I compressed it down to 4 minutes. So, if you don’t want to spend 20 minutes watching this video, watch for about 1 minute and then skip ahead 5 minutes, this will give you a good feel for the whole process.
As you can see, the difference between the concept art and the finished result is dramatic. And I predict that there will be more changes in the future, as we test on different platforms. This is partly because of my lack of planning, but also because plans change as you continue to consider your market and what ideas you wish to express visually within the story.
And there are also limits with polygon count amount other things. I try to avoid thinking that way when doing this kind of work, because even with restrictions you can usually get what you want out of it, if not stubble upon a few good things you wouldn’t have seen without the restrictions.
The processes that I go through to hash out these designs are simple:
Brainstorm and Sketches (What colors, what environments, visual style)
Concept art (Hardest part, because you are trying to develop a visual style and language that best fits the idea)
3D’ize the Ideas (Modeling, Texturing, Rigging, Animating, and other asset creation)
Troubleshooting (testing to make sure that the colors are sending the right visually messages, the main character sticks out enough, etc. Often the longest part of the job)
It’s allot of work, and can be very daunting when you first approach it. But as the artwork comes, the assets get animated, and those assets are placed into an interactive state, it can be very exciting and encouraging.
I will continue posting about this app, since it looks like we are still a good month away from a final product. But I do have other things lined up.
I am currently putting together a personal project video series, that should carry on for a few months. I got a few ideas in mind on things I might be able to contribute from my limited experience. And placing some of that experience into a fun video series will help keep me motivated in my work, and hopefully motivate some of you as well.
