Damian Street: Games Art 2024 - 25

We were put into groups to get some feedback on our thumbnails and current design ideas so we could improve them. I made notes on the feedback I was given. At the time of the feedback, I was only able to provide the thumbnails for the claw and pipe weapon designs (enforcer). Nightstalker - Huge eye is a good weakness, shows they're vulnerable (maybe too vulnerable?) - Iron maiden/ mimic functions are cool - How does the eye move around if it's connected to the neck? Enforcer - Figure out the weapon design functionality? How does the phase glove activate? Are the claws always out (which is a little impractical)??? - What other weapons will they use? Project Update I have been continuously working on the project for a few weeks and have updated my Kanban. Here is the updated Kanban! 

I immediately knew that I wanted to create a more feminine character as I personally feel that I'm less confident when it comes to drawing feminine figures. I also knew that I wanted the character to be fairly muscular which is another thing that I'm not that confident in drawing. This led me to attempt to study the rough shapes of the figure I'm aiming for. Below are the 2 studies I did. In both studies, I put the reference first, then the traced version and finally the drawing I did using the image I traced. Study 1 Study 2 I later redrew this study and used it for some of my enforcer thumbnails. Reference List Fiver Rivers Studio, n.d. Muscular Woman [online image]. Pinterest: Fiver Rivers Studio. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/663014376427223364/ [Accessed 27 February 2025]. Photo Reference For Comic Artists, n.d. Karolina Fitness Pose With Sword (3) [online image]. Photo Reference For Comic Artists: Karolina. Available at: https://www.photo-reference-for-co...

I started off by doing some simple thumbnails to figure out the shape and species of the Nightstalker. Once I realised that I wanted them to be humanoid, I started thumbnailing the specifics and really like the idea of including lots of teeth.

I used the first thumbnails to experiment with armour and body shape. Once I figured out what I liked, I started focusing more on the details and weapons. Weapon Thumbnails

To start off with, we can create a new layer to put the legs in so we don't accidentally select them. Select the legs and then right click on the layer and add the selected objects. Turn the layer into a reference layer by clicking on the third box twice. Creating the Spine Joint Make sure your in the side view in Maya Skeleton > Create Joints, snap them to the grid using x Place the joints and name them in this order: Pelvis  Lumbar 1 Lumbar 2 Chest Neck base Creating the Spine Controls Create > NURBS Primitives > Circle to create the control curve, snap it to the pelvis joint using v Rotate the control 90 degrees to align with the spine Make sure to delete the history and freeze transformations Duplicate these controls for each joint Constraining Controls Apply the point and orient constraints with the option maintain offset ticked Repeat this for all the joints Then parent the controls in this order Chest to Lumbar 2 Lumbar 2 to Lumbar 1 Lumbar 1 to Pelvis Rigging the H...

Creating Foot Controls REMINDER: Hold d and v to move the pivot Add a nurbs (circle) > control vertex then shape the nurb so it looks like a foot then click on edit in channel menu > add attribute. Make sure the attribute is keyable and the data type is float. Name it the Heel Lift. Repeat this for the Toe lift, Pirouette UD, Pirouette LR and Foot roll. There's a lot of attributes we don't need so to help navigate the attributes, you can hide the ones we aren't going to use by Selecting all the unneeded attributes Right click and press the unkeyable option Right click then select the lock and hide selected option Pirouette and Foot Roll Setup Windows > General Editors > Connection Editor Go to Left Display > Show Non Keyable to hide things you don't need Select the Pirouette LR group, then reload it on the right in the connection editor The click on the PirouetteLR and connect it to the rotate Y by clicking on it Repeat with the PirouetteUD but connect it...

Team Meeting Date:  31/01/25 In Attendance:  Me, Sam and Faye Meeting Agenda & My Role:  To discuss the script and backstories Decisions and/or Actions & Deadlines:  We made the decision to make sure we finish our individual patient backstories by next week so we will be able to finalise the script. Since Jake and Katie are not in attendance, we will let them know via discord. Sam suggested that in the bad ending, the patients could become more monstrous to show how much they're struggling. Discussed having a pop up trigger warning as this topic is heavy and could upset some players. Reflections: Overall, this meeting went pretty well, I have a pretty good idea of my patient story already so I know that I'll be able to make the deadline. I plan to figure out how to make a splash screen in Ren'py so I can add in a functional trigger warning screen. Age Ratings Our target audience for this game, is young teens aged 14+. For this, I looked up the PEGI ratings to...

Rigging the Legs Part 1 This lesson, we started creating a basic bipedal character rig that's typically used for a background character. Select rigging from the drop down menu in the top left. This will change the top drop down menus. Don't worry about scale as it's possible to scale the rigs Pelvis Joints Skeleton > Create Joints Reset Tools (make sure the tool is using defaults) Starts from pelvis outwards When placing the joints, make sure you're holding X so they snap to grid. This stops numbers appearing in the scales The triangular shape in between joints represents the bone When doing something in between like moving leg, joints wont connect. To connect the joints do: Select the child first (in this case it's the hip) Then select the parent (in this case it's the pelvis) Parent them together via Edit > Parent (or P the shortcut) Mirroring the Leg Select joint to mirror (hip joint) Go to Skeleton > Mirror click on the box for options. Pick the YZ ...

SWOT Analysis Strengths  General 2D Skills  - I am quite familiar with tools on digital art programs and can utilise them to help me complete my artwork. I'm used to drawing in 2D  Sketching - When I draw, I usually leave my artwork at the sketch stage. I find this stage the most enjoyable as for me it's the easiest. My sketches tend to look better and I prefer the messy and lose look to them. Character Design - I've designed quite a few original characters so I'm quite confident when it comes to this. I am able to think of some really good ideas though this is mainly aimed at a fantasy settings. I'm sure I can adapt these skills to the science fiction setting used in deadzone. Weaknesses General 3D Skills - Compared to my 2D skills, this is definitely the weaker area. I would like to experiment with 3D software more and learn new skills but for this project I think it's better to choose the 2D pathway. I am very aware that I don't have much time for this ...

Assignment Part One Assets (2D Pathway) 60 Thumbnails (30 per character) Colourways Full Colour Design Sheets w/ Technical Annotations 2 Characters + Equipment + Customization Options Key Illustration Thumbnails Key Illustrations What am I using to manage this project? To help me manage this project, I made a miro board dedicated to help me organise and store some of my work. I used the Kanban framework to create a way to manage this project. I plan to update this weekly if possible.

The patient I am designing for our visual novel, suffers from PTSD. Specifically relating to medical distress from a severe illness they had as a child. To be able to accurately portray this, I need to do a lot of research into the topic. Medical PTSD and Medical Trauma Medical PTSD is caused by trauma from life threatening illnesses, medical malpractice, traumatic birth, severe paediatric illnesses etc.  Medical trauma occurs in a medical setting. It is not an official diagnosis but it can lead to conditions like PTSD, anxiety, depression or chronic pain. Medical trauma doesn't always stem from the result of a treatment/ procedure going wrong, it can also be a response to a routine diagnosis, operation or treatment. Symptoms Symptoms of PTSD include: Fear of medical settings or medical staff Physical sensations, such as pain, sweating, feeling sick or discomfort Repetitive negative thoughts about your experience Avoidance or emotional numbing Irritability Feelings of depression an...

In this lesson, we were introduced to our next project. I have made some notes below on what the project contains as well as some notable deadlines to help me manage this project. Deadzone: Nemeses Two part project Written Research element Character Design/ Environment Design Choose 2D or 3D pathway Digitising a tabletop IP Part 1 client review: 12/03/25 Part 1 deadline: 30/03/25 Summative deadline: 18/05/25

Creating Alpha Textures Find a texture and save it (Can use sites like pexels) Create a 500 x pixel, 150 dpi, black background canvas Make sure it's black and white (Image > Adjustments > Black + White) You can increase the contrast by adjusting levels (Image > Adjustments) Make sure the black and white definition is clear To create a gradient, add a layer mask and use a soft brush to create a white gradient in the centre, make sure there is no harsh edges Save it as a psd so you can make changes later To export it into ZBrush, save it as a png or tiff file. Go into ZBrush, the project needs to be 2 mil or more polys. To do this look at the ActivePoints in the top right. To increase this go to the Geometry tab and press divide. make sure to have the standard brush selected and make sure the stroke is DragRect Import that Alpha  This a screenshot of the tool tray to remind myself where to add the Alpha. I used a wool texture I found on pexel and I increased the contrast to ...

Prompt Exploration https://damianstreetgamesartsecondyear.blogspot.com/2024/11/3d-toolkit-steampunk-explorer-celestial.html Research https://damianstreetgamesartsecondyear.blogspot.com/2024/12/3d-toolkit-workshop-091224.html Design Ideation https://damianstreetgamesartsecondyear.blogspot.com/2025/01/3d-toolkit-workshop-130125-thumbnails.html Modelling https://damianstreetgamesartsecondyear.blogspot.com/2025/01/3d-toolkit-formative-2-brief-and.html Turnaround and Reflection https://damianstreetgamesartsecondyear.blogspot.com/2025/02/3d-toolkit-model-turnaround-and.html If for some reason the links don't work, I've tagged all the posts '3D, Toolkit, Formative 1'.

Turnaround Reflection I definitely need to get better at my time management. I focussed too much on a separate project that I didn't leave myself enough time to finish my assets for this formative. I need to get better at my decision making too. I spent too much time thumbnailing iterations and deciding on a design to model that I didn't leave myself enough time for the model itself. Due to this, I made the decision to skip the orthographic and character sheet in favour of focussing on the model. I haven't fully modelled a character in ZBrush and the modelling process is mainly what I'd like the feedback for which is why I prioritised it. I didn't fully finish the model but I was still able to apply a lot of the skills I was taught in lesson. I hope to finish it or even attempt to model it from scratch again with improvements.