During the first week of collaborative project discussions, we identified the theme of creating a VR version of the Gallery and installing an interactive poster exhibition in it. This week our collaborative group started discussing the exact design of the project. We had many group discussions and all of us provided a lot of interesting design ideas and production ideas.
Our main tasks for this week were
1. Define the game mechanics
2. Define the style of Cubism game
3. Define the initial game level design
4. Summary of this week
Define the game mechanics:
Before we started working on the game and the models, we discussed our game mechanics ideas. It was agreed that the Cubism game would be a useful reference for us and that we could combine the models in a jigsaw pattern, similar to the Cubism game. Our project will design models and game mechanics that will allow players to play puzzles and interact with the posters installed in the Gallery once they have completed the puzzle. The idea is that the player can enjoy the game and at the same time experience and appreciate Tom Eckersley’s posters in a fun way.
The style of Cubism game:
Determine the architectural style of the game scene：
We chose three different sets of reference atmosphere drawings in the group discussion in different styles for the final discussion in the group discussion.
The first picture looks a little more retro and the overall architectural style is on the flamboyant side. Our pictures are a little more modern, so the scene’s first reference picture is not particularly suitable for our project.
The second image is a little more modern. It fits in well with the style of our current poster. The gallery’s simplicity also helps the player view the installation poster more quickly in a brightly lit scene. We all ended up choosing this image as our initial stylistic reference, but of course, we will need to discuss more details in the subsequent modeling.
The third image looks a little eerie. While the overall scene is also very modern, our theme is that we want players to enjoy exploring the interactive posters in the VR Gallery and this scene doesn’t give players a laid-back feel. So, we didn’t want to choose this scene style.
The games students wanted us to use Lowpoly to build the models, and Lucy and I considered it’s not challenging to implement simple models in MAYA. We will also be exploring new techniques and knowledge as much as possible during the rest of the building process. We think we can create similar effects quickly in C4D. Lucy and I will try to create some interesting models using C4D.
We have researched some reference images of scenes and props from Pinterest and Google. The main style is still a more simple architectural model.
Our group also decided on a poster that we wanted to work on during our meeting this week. During the discussion, the group members from 3D Computer Animation, Game Design, and VR provided ideas and designs from different disciplines.
I was very interested in the poster of the woman with the orange. My idea for the game was that the oranges in the scene would randomly fall and the woman would pick them up and put them in the basket. The partners also found the idea interesting and we will continue to refine the game setting and the model setting in subsequent collaborative projects.
The games student also showed us his previous assignments and told us that they had ready-made code that we could use straight away. We will continue to explore this during the rest of the production process. We discussed game design ideas for several posters in our group discussions, and you can see the richness of our design ideas during the talk shown in the diagram below.
Lucy also came up with an interesting design idea. She wanted to animate a poster about a giant panda raising a glass of wine in its hand.
The rest of the group also provided two posters related to the wine glass element and we thought we could use these three posters for interaction.
The most important thing in a collaborative project is the communication between the group members. Fortunately, we all participated actively in the discussions and provided different ideas and perspectives. We were all very respectful of each other’s ideas and we all learned different design ideas during the discussions.
This is our initial Art Gallery layout and the poster in this sketch is what we have decided to create so far.
After a group discussion, we decided that some adjustments were needed. In the original concept, we wanted the three posters with the wine glasses to be interactive, but the posters are quite far apart in this draft. We decided to relocate the bottle poster and create a set of notice boards about Tom Eckersley in its place. We also wanted the player to see this [Tom Eckersley] introduction when they enter the game, which is the initial point of the game.
The diagram below is a picture of how we all organised our concepts for the gameplay. The game students provided a lot of design ideas and helped us sort out the simple game logic.
Initial game level design:
1. [Fish]: Players control the props in the game to cut the Fish. The Fish will cut horizontally from where the player’s props touch.
2. [Target]: the apple target is modeled as a three-dimensional hemispherical shape. The middle circle is made into a cylinder for the player to assemble as a three-dimensional puzzle.
3. [Orange Lady]: Use the basket or hands to catch the randomly appearing oranges.
4,5,6. [Silhouette] & [Wine Bottle] & [Panda]: Add different objects to the wine bottle and then take it out of the poster to pour it to the other two posters.
7,8. [Monkey] & [Helmet]: Pick up leaves from the monkey poster and decorate them onto the Helmet. The Monkey will hide in the leaves, so you cannot pick up the leaves when the Monkey appears. Leaf picking is only allowed when the Monkey is hiding.
9. [Exercise]: The player repeatedly stretches the model’s arm, causing the text spring held by the model to compress and release.
10. [Bow and Arrow]: Players can play archery games.
11. [Picking Up]: The player can control the model to bend down and pick up items on the ground.
12. [Piano]: Collecting the scattered keys to install on the cat’s body can then play different rhythms.
Of course, each game is a basic game idea and during the production process, we will adjust it according to the needs of the project and the actual technology.
Summary of this week:
We decided on the architectural style of the posters and scenes we wanted to create. We also did a preliminary game-level design for the interactive posters. Our team members got to know each other a lot better during the project discussions this week and became more familiar with working as a team. It was amazing how everyone came up with different IDEAS in the process of conceptualizing the design. I also learned a lot about the gaming and VR majors’ design concepts, and I’m looking forward to this collaborative project. We also help each other refine other group members’ design concepts during our discussions. As we all have a lot of classes and assignments during the week, we are also trying our best to coordinate our time with each other for the collaborative project. But I’m sure we will all learn something new from this collaborative project!