JR 3D Maze - Base Pieces

  
         These are the current build able pieces for the maze. The textures, for the most part, remain unchanged, but with the floor, ceiling, and the walls now in a tile-friendly resolution. The potted plant was combined with the large wall to create a more interesting repeating patter, as making 3D versions of the potted plants would've been very difficult. The door tile isn't a part of the pattern, as they won't be in every room. They will be manually placed along some of the hallways, to simulate closed doors. I may also place them perpendicular to open doorways, but only if they don't end up blocking some of the hallways. The shorter wall piece is the same shade as the larger wall piece, but the lighting in Maya is making it it look like a different shade.

JR Maze - Concept Final + Textures

 

 

       This is the final concept and mock-up artwork for my maze. It looks less detailed in terms of color, but I've been to several condos, and the more vivid parts of condo hallways are usually the carpets. The usage of doors reflects the multi-room nature of the maze structures I drew, with some of the doors open for easy access. Aside from that, I decided to add ceiling light and potted plants as decoration. Even though the hallway is intended to have a more basic feel, the light and the plants act as decor to make it more realistic. The metal textures are for other hallways that take place in utility closets, garbage chutes, and vents. The flower pattern is a possible alternate carpet pattern, and I'm thinking of having a carpet pattern for each different difficulty of maze.

Maze Concept

     Even though my game is a 2D platformer, I was able to come up with a good concept for a 3D maze set. The scenario is that, during the game, JR has wandered into a beachside complex of condos. He must avoid being seen (as he wandered in instead of using the game, so he doesn’t want to be reported to security), and navigate through the maze of hallways to reach the edge of the property. To reflect a condo-like structure, the mazes have several long corridors with multiple exits in each. In each hallway, only one of these exits allows you to progress, while the rest dead-end into people’s condos! Furthermore, the corridors snake around in the harder version, making it less predictable, but also gives more walls to hide behind (from a gameplay perspective).

JR Pixel Building Final

      This is the final version of the pixel building project. For the design, I decided to go with the original plan, which was to combine the two-floor city restaurant with the wooden, bayou restaurant. Since it has a symmetric and uniform shape, many of the shapes were able to be copied and utilized on multiple floors. I decided to use red boards of wood for the outside of the building because the interior is depicted as using red wood on the title screen. The window covers (slopes with shingles) were another touch I added to mix in the bayou theme. The textures were originally simple-shaded, but the shading became more gradient-like when they were distorted (in order to match the perspective angles), which I thought turned out very nicely and made the pixel textures more detailed. As for the building in game, I plan to give it a neon sign and festive decorations to liven the place up, but for this assignment I decided to focus more on the major details and the structure of the building as a whole. Either way, I'm very happy with how the building turned out.

JR Prop Pixel Final

              This is the final version of the prop pixel art. The shading was surprisingly easy to make, using alternating between solid and "checkered" colors of pixel to create the illusion of a gradient while still keeping the general theme of the art. I decided to put the light source around the top right corner. Though, the "round" lighting on the burger bun is to give the illusion of a "round shine", or pseudo-3D effect so it wouldn't look flat. As for the rest of the burger, I didn't want to overload on detail, since the design of the game is simple, but the veins on the lettuce were a more necessary touch. Due to the different ingredients of the burger, I was able to develop a bright palette of vivid colors (with the pseudo gradients making it seem like there are even more colors. Older games used this technique to create the same effect, as palette on older systems were much more limited). Overall, I am very happy with how this has turned out.

JR The Game - Building Concept Prop (Week 8)

    I've looked at several BBQ restaurants, and I've narrowed my preferred look down to these three. The First two are more traditional and family-styled, with the second fitting the Southern bayou theme of the game. The third image, however, is another approach I'm considering. The restaurant JR owns, story-wise, is a very popular attraction, so a larger and more club-like building style would reflect the business' success. In order to compromise, I'm thinking of using the ,multi-story architecture of the third image, while using the wooden bayou style of the second image. With all of these elements combined, it will have the successful business vibe while still fitting into the theme of the game. If the brick architecture was kept, it would look out-of-place when grouped with the other wooden buildings and structures.

JR Prop Pixel Art

         Even though pixel art isn't the style of this particular game, I was still able to find a good prop to use. I looked at some of the props I presented in the title screen and decided on a hamburger that I used as a reference for the burgers on the conveyer belt. However, online the burgers on the title screen, I wanted to try one that is a little more detailed (the burger I made from it before only had the bun, burger patty, and the lettuce). As this burger is already in cartoon style, tracing the outlines was pretty easy, and I added a plate to the bottom, which I plan to add some shading to. The lettuce, however, was modified, as I wanted it to keep a more simple pattern that would be easier to style. Also, I decided to flatten the burger a bit at the sides, as I thought it looked rather odd that the burger patty sticks out of the sides. Each part, nonetheless, was able to easily be layered, with layer masking used to hide the lines of one part behind another.

JR The Game - Final Title/Logo

     For the final version of my title screen, I decided to go with the fourth style of text (the Polygonal cartoonish text; I drew the text from scratch), while keeping it the same general size. I also thought the grill layout would look a bit awkward (the text would be on top of the grill as opposed to being centered), and I didn’t want to scrap the colorful lights the original title had. So, I decided to “enhance” the original title by utilizing the wooden board layout. It was a little difficult to draw by hand, but I was able to use photoshop to work it to the lighting and shading style the game uses. The Spatula had be moved down a bit, but I was otherwise able to integrate the two accessories.

       As for the logo, I decided to utilize the two props, as they represent the protagonist and antagonist of the game. The two “accessories” are crossed at different angles, to give the look that they are clashing against each, not unlike the clashing of two swords. However, I decided not to include a sort of “kapow” jagged bubble as a backing for the logo. Despite adding more space, it would give people the impression of a kind of fighting game, as opposed to an adventure platformer game.

JR Revised Title Image - Concepts

         These were the titles that served as inspiration for my revised title concepts. They all have titles that follow a set color or group of colors, while keeping a more simple shape. Still, each of these the styles is unique, but they all work well with my game's graphical style. The Katamari title inspired the usage of a matching "backing" for the title text. I was looking into a more interesting text backing, as the one on the current logo is a little too simple and doesn't fit the theme as well as the other objects. The wood in the bottom text for the Donkey Kong logo inspired the design for one of these backings, as the wood fits the themes of both games. Furthermore, the logo's spears inspired the idea of possible props leaning against the title's backing.

      I chose four possible graphical styles to use for the text, that both fit the theme and don't use too much warping in the text. The first one is a rather basic style that the Sonic title inspired, which is similar to what I already have now. The second one is a more loose stroke text, which is based on the top text on the Donkey Kong logo. The third is a cartoony bubble text similar to Katamari Forever's, that mixes simple coloration with a more complex letter shape (though, I'm not leaning towards this one). The last kind of text is the one I'm leaning towards. It is a kind of mix between different styles while still being unique, taking on a more simple polygonal feel. I might even add a stroke to it to help the details stand out.

   The two title "backings" I'm deciding between both are based on the game's theme. The wood was inspired by the wood in the Donkey Kong logo. I thought went well with JR, as the wood fits the southern swamp/marsh theme, and matches the kind of wood used in boardwalks and the BBQ house walls. The second one is original, and is based on the top of a BBQ grill. On this one, the title would be on top of the grill's grates instead of in the middle. I'm leaning slightly towards this one, though I'd have to sacrifice the flashing lights on the existing logo due to perspective.

   The two "accessories" are optional pieces I might add to give the logo a bit of flair. Inspired by the two spears on the Donkey Kong logo, these would represent the two opposing sides/protagonist and antagonist of the game. They would also help make the logo a bit more memorable by having a unique detail that isn't often seen.



UPDATE:


Here's a sketched diagram of an example layout (minus the styled text and flashing lights) of a title with the wood "text backing" and both accessories. Just wanted to make it easier to see where I'm going with this title.