The Lounge & Hall (Concept)

Learning from past experiences, I decided it was the smartest idea to make sure I knew exactly what I wanted to do in each area before I started modelling. On that note, I've begun elaborating on my whitebox, making sure it is the right scale and that everything feels the right size. Already I've begun resizing areas to make them feel more like the size they should - the Lounge has become smaller and the Grand Hall slightly larger. 

Anyway, that's all stuff that will be coming soon enough. Right now I wanted to post a painting/paint-over I did of the Lounge area, trying to think of colours and textures and whatnot. 

I want to do one of these for each area, so that I have a colour picture to look at whenever I'm stuck modelling an area. Like I said before, I need to be ready, I can't just jump into modelling like I've tried to in the past. It'll just end badly.

More to come soon.

Like this!

Just mucking about, trying to settle on colours and what not.

Finally, a working layout!

This past week I've totally lost momentum. I enjoy the creative side of planning but not the technical side, hence why the layout planning has left me truly stumped. However, I finally settled on something.

The problem was compromising between a believable layout and an interesting one. When two of your rooms are on different sides of the ship, it's hard to connect them without having a labyrinth of corridors confusing the player. I think I found a solution, anyway.

So, the main focuses of the level are, in order;

The Front Deck

The Lounge/Bar

The Grand Hall

Captain's Quarters

and the Bridge

You start on the front deck, and proceed around the side of the ship to enter the Lounge. There'll be a cloth cover overhead, like on the Belfast, flapping about in the breeze. 

You leave the Lounge through a set of double doors, and proceed up the staircase and out into the Grand Hall. 

You go up to the second floor and out the side to leave the Grand Hall, moving across the side of the ship (in the storm!) once more to reach the next deck with the Bridge.

You go into the Captain's Quarters to get the key to the Bridge, and then proceed into the bridge.

...that's essentially how it goes. I tried to think of an interesting way of getting from room to room, one that didn't involve the same thing over and over again. 

Right now, my main concern is making sure that this all lines up, and is the right scale. This layout only uses about half of the ship's full length but that was always the plan. After all, most of a cruise/expedition ship is made up of cabins and other uninteresting spaces.

Here's a rough visualisation of said layout;

Tomorrow I'm going to sketch up some detailed versions of each room to work from, and after that I'm steamrolling straight into modelling the interior. Considering I'm now a week behind I need to start jumping into the production, even if it means I have to concept along the way.

Re-exploring the Cruise Ship theme

So, yeah, I was doodling up a layout when someone wanders into my room and proclaims, "Hmm, that might look a bit shit. No-one wants to explore a small ship". Well, that sent me into an epiphany. Should I do a larger ship afterall? Really this isn't something I should be considering a few weeks in, but it's got to me regardless. So, to cure the itch, I doodled up some ideas and generally got some interesting thoughts going.

The above mash-up is a quick poke at the idea of setting the whole thing in a stormy environment, which would bring in rainy weather and a dark moody atmosphere. I thought this might gel well with the overall vibe.

I had some thoughts regarding rooms, this time choosing more interesting rooms to pursue, such as the dining hall and observation deck. I also was thinking about having the player leave the interior and venture across the side of the ship in one part of the level.. who knows..

Quick Update

I felt it was important to update the blog just to indicate that, no, I've not stopped working on the project. It's just that the work I'm currently doing has no visual output, and any information I currently have is going straight into funding the next set of research/planning.

In short;

I hit a wall in both planning and concept artwork as I had not nailed the final layout of the ship. This is very important for both elements. So, I've been going over layout plans (final ones, not concepts) and the arrangement of rooms and the flow ect. Right now I'm putting together a final plan and planning where story elements will be (by story elements I simply mean spooky atmospherics).

That probably made no sense. Basically, I'm working on paper right now so I can't show it without scanning it.

Photo Mash-up #2

So after spending all day trying (and failing) to get a decent paint out, I just fell back into the old photo mashing technique to make sure today wasn't totally fruitless. It essentially was, though. I'm really struggling to get this idea out visually, I think I may need to do some more research tomorrow to help clear the mental fog.

A very "meh" set of mash-ups but hey, it's experimentation, at least I'm getting some ideas out. I tried a lighter setting, and to be honest I'm liking it. The ship stands out as something that shouldn't be there, and doesn't blend in as much as in the darker scenarios.

Photo Mash-up

These past few days I've been at an impasse. I really wanted to paint my concepts, but I found it really hard to get my ideas down on paper. Most attempts these past couple of days have ended in me scrapping the painting after hours of work. So, in an attempt to break through this block, I experimented.

This is the result of said experimentation. I just jammed a few photographs together and painted over areas, adding some rudimentary effects and whatnot to try and establish a theme. It's very rough around the edges, but it only took me around an hour to put together, so it's a fast method of visualisation.

I didn't really want to use this approach to generate concepts, but I've spent too long fumbling around with no result. At the very least, this has given me something to work with.

Update:

Here's another experimentation. Figure I might try some lighter ones tomorrow, to balance out the rather dark tones in both these mash-ups. 

Environment Sketches - Rock Islands

Thanks to the reference I gathered earlier, I was able to confidently sketch up some different rock formations and clusters for the environment. My main focus was to create sharp, jagged rocks, that carried forward the "lost world" theme I intended for the surrounding environment. 

I experimented with the sketches I had created - merging, flipping and cutting away pieces to quickly generate variations. It was a very handy process that allowed me to take my work and use it to create more experimental shapes and forms, such as the very last image.