Planning and Concepting

From beginning to end, producing even a single asset for a game is a process of refinement, revision and judgement as well as an exercise in time management and work ethic. In the industry getting a game completed on time can be the difference between huge success and the company closing it’s doors. Even seemingly organic processes such as doodles and scribbles for idea generation have their place and are optimised to produce the best useable results.

Whilst not exclusive to the game industry the Production pipeline is an essential tool in the creative industries for organising not only large numbers of employees when creating vast projects but also in organising yourself and the work you produce – it fosters good work ethics and provides a framework and direction to work, encouraging the creations of mid-project deadlines and a sense of progress as well as providing a formula for creating results every time.

A Typical Game Pipeline (http://www.skins.abtec.org/skins1.0/?cat=27)

Most games and their assets will follow a pipeline in order to produce their content. It may differ slightly depending on what is to be created (A character would not require a map or paths to be produced where a level would, but a treasure chest would have no need for a script to be written and so forth) but fundamentally it is the same.

The  beginning of this pipeline is the planning and concept stage. Beginning with a Mission and Game brief which will detail the aims of the project and may include the story and the required elements and mechanics as well as what the final product should look and feel like. This proposal will then be used to produce mood boards and style sheets. These collage-style documents show the inspiration and themes of the work, as well as set a baseline for what the finished product should really look like.

 

A Stylesheet and a moodboard, they may look similar or completely different

Essential to the project, these documents provide a vital springboard for the concepts that are the next stage of this process. Without this base it’s much more difficult to produce these concepts (Be they high quality final concepts or quick, sketched ideas) but with them the flow of work is augmented and the quantity and quality is greatly improved. Even when there are setbacks, like a concept being rejected, the pipeline helps by providing a structure which is easy to backtrack and restart work in a smooth and efficient way.

The Game Production Pipeline exists to assist the creator of the work; it’s structure leads to a timely production of work not only in the concept stage but carried through to later aspects of the pipeline – which I will talk about in later blogs. Coupled with the desire of the creator to work and produce to a high standard (In other words the creator’s  strong work ethic) This fosters an ability to produce a consistent and high quality body of work that not only shows direction and cohesiveness when it comes to producing an end result that answers the brief but also a clear thought process and a structured way of working that can do nothing but benefit a professional working alone or as part of a team.

The First Year - As seen fron the Second Year

In the first year of university I was able to learn a range of different skills and build on what I already knew.  From perspective and composition in visual design to whole new skills like modelling and unwrapping as well as texturing in 3DS max. Whilst I didn’t always feel like I progressed as fast as I wanted, looking back it’s easier to see how far I came in the first year. Looking back with some distance now, I can say I’m proud of how my rendering techniques and my confidence to tackle complex subjects has grown and improved.

The first and last sketches of year one at University

At the end of the first year I discussed how I’d obtained the skills I now have, speaking about them as if they were separate entities in different parts of the course. During that year the different aspects of the work still seemed very much like separate lessons and areas that could be set aside to work on others;  a visual design project meant a very different thing to me than a Game Production or ‘3D’ project done in Max.

Now as the first term of my second year at University draws to a close I can see how those skills come into practice; my work has seen me bringing the two together and concentrating not only on reconciling the two fields into one project workflow but also how I can use one to improve on the other. Over the course of this new term with the help of my first year tutors as well as some new tutors who started teaching as the course expanded it’s intake I’ve learnt how to use 3D models in my drawings as well as how to paint textures from scratch and use programs such as Photoshop to aid me as I create geometry for complicated objects.  

By far the technique that’s helped me the most is learning how to effectively paint over a render from 3DS max; it’s increased the amount of work I can produce and also the accuracy of the work as things like perspective and scale can be calculated by the program allowing me to produce a more accurate concept or painting and allowed me to produce different effects; from a Haynes manual style diagram to realistic paintings with ease and accuracy.

The Render

The Technical paintover

In Context Paintover

It’s fulfilling to see how I can put the skills learnt in the first year to good use creating my projects and the increased creative freedom we’ve had in our projects; designing a building for a Blitz setting, a futuristic All-terrain vehicle or creating a self-portrait for a Mortal Engines (Philip Reeves) setting have all let me explore what I enjoy and what I feel comfortable creating as well as forcing me to push those boundaries, find excitement in areas I never thought I’d be interested (The vehicle project saw me get to grips with an area I’d always preferred to avoid but also produce what I think of as my most beloved project so far) and create things I never thought I’d be able to dream up.

Self Portrait Project: Refined Concepts

In conclusion the first term of the second year has really brought together the learning of the first year. It’s given me practical applications to technical skills and allowed me to experiment and blend together those skills giving me opportunities to build on them and create things that couldn’t have been created with those skills on their own as separate entities.