Game Art and Design Year 2: January 2015

'How has the rise of YouTubers affected how you make games?'

Game devs! How has the rise of YouTubers affected how you make or promote your games? We'll feature good answers on @gamasutra #gamedev

8:09 PM - 20 Jun 2014

@gamasutra it’s also a great way to see whether the game is being played as, or can be played as a competitive sport.

10:04 PM - 20 Jun 2014

@gamasutra They helped us more than any other review or article, its one of our best bets for getting our games out there.

9:13 PM - 20 Jun 2014

@gamasutra One YouTuber's video had a larger impact on downloads of Don't Fall in the Hole than anything else. 

9:12 PM - 20 Jun 2014

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/219367/How_has_the_rise_of_YouTubers_affected_how_you_make_games.php (Accessed 13/01/15)

Guns of Icarus Online Post-Mortem - Epilogue: How Youtube, Steam, and Our Players Got Us This Far

A monthly sales chart

The bigger sales spikes correspond to:

1. Releases

2. Steam featured Sales

3. New distribution opportunities

4. Youtube caster videos

5. A combination of the above

To give YouTube viewers the best deals possible, we worked with Steam to get a Weeklong Deal at

75% off for all of the game packages (base game, collector’s edition with soundtrack and costume

pack, and the collector’s edition 4-pack) but also extending our own discount days to cover the entire

span of the Polaris event.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/HowardTsao/20140626/219785/Guns_of_Icarus_Online_PostMortem__Epilogue_How_Youtube_Steam_and_Our_Players_Got_Us_This_Far.php (Accessed 13/01/15)

Are developers actually paying for YouTuber and press coverage?

Earlier this week I surveyed 325 video game developers to find out whether they have paid for coverage from either the traditional press or YouTubers, and asked whether they would ever consider doing so in the future.

Of all the developers I surveyed, only 1.5 percent said they have paid a YouTuber a flat-fee for coverage -- that's just five developers out of 325.

As for paying revenue share, the figure was roughly the same. 2.1 percent of respondents said they have paid a YouTuber revenue share.

Not many developers are actually paying for YouTuber coverage, but that doesn't give the full picture, as many more developers said that they may pay for coverage in the future.

In fact, 19.1 percent said they have considered paying a YouTuber a flat-fee, while 11.6 percent said they are considering paying revenue share to a YouTuber in return for coverage.

In other words, while not many developers have actually paid for YouTuber coverage yet, a portion are definitely thinking about it in the near future. Given that the YouTuber movement is really starting to hit its stride now, it makes sense that more developers are starting to take note for future endeavors.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/221177/Are_developers_actually_paying_for_YouTuber_and_press_coverage.php (Accessed 13/01/15)

Is YouTube killing the traditional games press?

It's the rise of the "YouTuber," pulling in hundreds and thousands of rabid fans and causing incredible traffic and sales spikes for game developers, while the written word continues to trundle along, looking more and more quaint with each passing day.

Getting covered by a big-name YouTuber is now essentially the dream of many game developers.

"For sure, the biggest Youtubers have had a much bigger impact on our traffic and sales compared to the biggest sites we've been covered on," Aaron San Filippo, creator ofRace the Sun told me.
"When DanNerdCubed played Race The Sun and linked our Greenlight page, it had a bigger impact than all of the website coverage we'd had up to that point, combined,"

Borut Pfeifer of Skulls of the Shogun studio 17-BIT agrees that, while it's difficult to present concrete figures on the differences between traditional press and YouTuber coverage, "it's hard to deny the impact."
"Most indie game success stories on PC in the last year or two have had predominant YouTube coverage,"

"Getting coverage on, say, Polygon or RPS is a lot easier than getting someone like Totalbiscuit or NorthernLion to take a couple hours to play your game," notes San Filippo. "And obviously, these guys often read about games on these sites, so I think it'd be a mistake to neglect either avenue!"
YouTubers regularly choose to play games that are already in the spotlight, he reasons, and as such traditional press is important in getting the attention of YouTubers in the first place.

Ryan Letourneau is a prominent YouTuber with over 315,000 subscribers. Best known as Northernlion, he's been recording videos and livestreams of games for several years now.
"If you compare it to what it was like a couple of years ago, a lot of developers didn't really know that there was this huge YouTube gaming sphere," he tells me.
"Two years ago was not even that long ago in the grand scheme of things, even with the fast-moving industry. So it took a little bit more convincing of being like 'This is what I do, and I'm not just a kid trying to snag a copy of a free game off you."

Videos can help give a consumer a quick verdict on a game, or go into detail breaking down exactly what the game is about, and talk to people in ways that the written word can sometimes fail to do.

"I think that the shift is just showing how people most want to consume content right now," the YouTuber reasons. "It makes sense to me with video games, since most people want to know what the game might feel like to play, but each person looks for something different. Being able to see the game in motion helps put a viewer in the player's shoes to see if a game is enjoyable for that viewer," he adds, "even if his or her one main concern isn't addressed." Bisnap

Getting YouTubers to cover your game is incredibly important, and can bring serious traffic and sales. At the same time, traditional press outlets are equally important to hit up for coverage since, not only do they offer "official" press, but they also often advise YouTubers on what to cover next.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/219122/Is_YouTube_killing_the_traditional_games_press.php (Accessed 31/01/15)

Jimquisition: Shadiness of Mordor

This video by Jim Sterling shows the problem people face with PR companies. It talks about how the PR company only gave the game to people who were being paid and there where strict guidelines which the reviewers had to follow, making everything quite biased and disingenuous. It also may of left a bad taste in people's mouth for this game even though the game was very good, it all just showed a lack of confidence and pride for the game they made.

This project introduces us to ‘Art Tests’; these are used as part of the recruitment

process into games studios and vary from company to company depending on scale

and development methods. A wide range of game studios have supplied us with the art

tests they use so that we can develop an understanding of what will be required from

us in the recruitment process and critically evaluate our own strengths and

weaknesses.

Monday (05/01/15)

This project seemed really good during our briefing today as not only does it prepare us for what applying to a real studio will feel like, it allows us to focus in on the areas we are really passionate about; for me that is 2D concept art primarily character concept art and I'm hoping these tests will challenge and help improve my skills in this particular field.

Tuesday (06/01/15)
Today we were given a much more in depth briefing on our project and were given 7 options to choose from:

- 3D Environment Artist
- 3D Character Artist
- Character Concept Artist
- Environment Concept Artist
- Concept Pre-Visualisation
- UI Designer
- Game Designer

At first it was a choice between Character concept art and pre visualisation but in the end I chose character art as that is what I find most engaging

This was the art test set for the Character Concept Artist;

Company: 2K Games
Project Description: Speedball 3 (XBox One)
Task Description:
2K Games has acquired the rights to the Sega Megadrive title Speedball 2. The fast paced, brutal and bloody futuristic team sport will feature character selection and customization screens. For this reimagining of the franchise, a next gen and up to date feel is required.
Task Requirements:
With a look to the previous game, Speedball 2 (Sega Megadrive), create a new design for the player armour and reimagine the human/cyborg characters. Develop your design through thumbnails, sketches, a final character sheet with orthographic views and a final posed presentation image. You can create your concepts in 2D or 3D sculpting.

Speedball is a violent futuristic cyberpunk sport game that draws elements from Handball and Ice Hockey, the game not only rewards goals it rewards violent play as well

I've been looking into 2K games and the type of games they release. As they are mainly a publisher the games have a lot of variation and styles such as Borderlands developed by Gearbox Software which has a highly stylised art style with outlined characters and comic book textures

As you can see in these pictures they have quite a bold and eccentric art style with outlandish attire as well as being quite violent which I think could lend itself quite well to a re-imagining of Speedball

The Darkness (Starbreeze Studios) and The Darkness 2 (Digital Extremes) also published by 2K games have varying styles themselves with the first game having a much more realistic look to it and the second one being much more cartoony

The Darkness

The Darkness 2

As you can see the darkness 2 uses a lot more cell shading yet doesn't go as far as Borderlands as they don't out line the characters and environment, I feel that both of these styles (Borderlands and The Darkness)

Wednesday (07/01/15)
I started to look into areas that would influence my design of the characters not the art style of it.
My first thought when I heard about this game was to look at Mad Max as the characters in the movies are quite punk looking with quite an anarchist feel to it making the armour and hair style they have in the movie quite relevant to Speedball

As you can see in this image they blend various clothing and armour pieces together to create this barbaric look which could be quite interesting for the players in the game as it makes them look much more aggressive

In keeping with this 80's vibe I looked at the game Farcry Blood Dragon which did an amazing job in encapsulating an 80's action flick feel combing bright colours with over the top badass designs

This game captures the same essence in which I am going for an over the top 80's action movie and will be a strong reference for influence.

I then looked at Tron as that movie is quite sci-fi and has created a sports uniform which works in the genre it is in

I feel like they have created a uniform which not only works for the game that is partaking in the movie but one that looks visually appealing, as well as making subtle design changes in all three colours (teams) that make them easily distinguishable between each other.

I feel like a blend of all three of these sources could make for some interesting characters and the uniforms they wear.

Deus Ex Human Revolution have created some really unique looking cyborgs, as they quite gruesome yet also very sleek adding a sense of elegance and prestige to these prosthetics

Thursday (08/01/15)

I looked at the modern uniforms of American Football players as I feel that it could suitable for the attire of Speedball if I make it somewhat futuristic

Looking at the helmets I feel that there definitely an opportunity to make it into some cyborg implant.

I then went on Pinterest to find images of cyborgs and how other people have approached designing them. the first image interested me straight away as it is already sort of like a futuristic NFL helmet

I did 8 silhouettes to start off the design process

I found it quite hard to make them look different from each other has the cybernetics on them is what makes them distinct but you cant seem them in the silhouettes so next I'm going to do some various value studies to help show the various cybernetics and it will also help me iterate on them.

Friday (09/01/15)

I took the silhouettes I made and added some lines to them to quickly design some details to the pieces I did variants of some of my favourite silhouettes

I also looked at the concept art from Borderlands to see the style they design in and how I should go forward with my style for my character sheet and final posed piece

I really like the cartoon aspect of the Borderlands concept art and think that I could make my character sheet and final posed piece in this sort of stylised way

Saturday (10/01/15)

While doing my design work I started seeing similarites to the movie Elysium and I really like the dark gritty sci fi that Neill Blomkamp so I decided to look at his movies and the way he portrays cybernetic and robotics

The images below are from the movie Elysium (stills and concept art)

Elysium has a very unique sci-fi look blending sleek designs with a dystopian world creating some fascinating outcomes

Sunday (11/01/15)
I decided to do some face variations to see how varied I could be in designing cybernetics as well as experimenting with piercings, scars, hairstyles and facepaint and trying to keep it all feel quite cyberpunk and futuristic

Tuesday (13/01/15)

Value Study of my chosen silhouette

Thursday (15/01/15)

Colour variants

Saturday (17/01/15)

This is the process I used to create my model sheet. The process is the same for each view. Below is showing how the front view was made.

Step One:

First I drew out the character to create comic style line art

Step Two:

Using the lasso tool I sectioned off areas that would be dark. I used the lasso tool so it would create that clean look you see in comics

Step Three:

This step is the same as the last one but I used a lighter shade of grey. In this step I also left areas white to differentiate the different materials, metal and cloth

Step Four:

Using a multiply layer I added the colouring to the cloth as well as the red trims to the metal and the lights

Step Five:

Using an overlay layer this time I added black to the metallic armour so that it would shine more

Final Step:

Lastly I added minor details such as blood and shadowing on the skin using a standard brush

Monday (19/01/15)

Here is my finished model sheet showing all three views

Tuesday (20/01/15)
For my final posed image I struggle with how to position everything and have a background that is not too distracting or out of place, so to help I looked at posters and cover art for inspiration

These images caught my eye as they show the character off well as well as showing the environment in which they inhabit, also they give a sense of personality to that character as well

Sunday (25/01/15)

With all these posters and cover art in mind I completed my final posed image

It is showing my character during a game of SpeedBall

After a feedback session with my tutor's I decided to change the background slightly adding motion blur to give it more movement and changed the crowd so it was situated in the background better. I also added stronger shadows on the characters body

Monday (26/01/15)
Today we were briefed on our new batch of Art tests we can choose from which are Live industry set art test which is extremely exciting.

I have chosen to do the Chucklefish one which involves me creating promo art for Starbound.

Starbound is a game where 'you take on the role of a character who’s just fled from their home planet, only to crash-land on another. From there you’ll embark on a quest to survive, discover, explore and fight your way across an infinite universe.' (from http://playstarbound.com/about/)

The races you can choose from are extremely varied and quite unique with their own fashion sense and traits

There are also many different planets to explore with various biomes and procedurally generated enemies which are all sorts of shapes and sizes each colour scheme though is somehow related to that of the planet they inhabit.

Tuesday (27/01/15)
I looked into the different style of planets you can explore in Starbound to see if any grabbed my attention and I feel I could represent in an interesting way.

The Planet biomes are; Arctic, Arid, Asteroid Field, Barren, Desert, Forest, Grasslands, Jungle, Magma, Moon, Ocean, Savannah, Snow, Tentacle, Tundra, Volcanic.

The ones that caught my eye are: Asteroid Field, Snow, Tentacle and Volcanic as I feel the outfits for these environments could be quite interesting to do as well as the micro biomes they have inside of them would add to the final promo piece.

Asteroid Field has: Glowing rain and Meteor showers

Snow has: Geometric which is characterized by spiked trees and spiraled plants. Orb which is characterized by it's ice orb trees and orbs of ice on the ground. Ice which is characterized by layers of ice over the surface of water and large ice crystals.

Tentacle has: Tentacle trees and bushes as well as pink water

Volcanic has: Crystalline where the grass and trees are made of crystals. Rust which is characterized by metallic trees and flowers

Thursday (29/01/15)
While looking through the resources Chucklefish gave us I found a sprite that stuck out to me. He look very Ace Ventura esque, so I had the idea to make a character reminiscent of Ace Ventura but a Sci-fi spin on the character

This is the character I created, I wanted to quite over the top while sticking with similar colours of the sprite such as the purple hair. I was trying to get as much personality portrayed in this picture.

Thursday (05/02/15)

I started thumbnails in various environments from the game but they main thing I was trying to capture was the character and how he's quite clumsy and blissfully ignorant of what is going on around him, that is what the running theme is in all of my thumbnails