Thursday, 15 May 2014

Final Renders of Castle

Final renders of my Castle in Morning, Midday and Night




Contextual Studies: Creative Story Using Propp's Spheres of Action



This fellow you see above is quite the curious of fellows. He has the head of a lion and the body of a man, a very peculiar creature indeed. One day this creature was strolling down a long and lonesome road, where all of a sudden an old crooked lady called out to him. "Beast!" She bellowed, the creature turned around, "Yes you Beast." The lady seemed pleased waving the creature towards her.

Curious as to why he was beckoned the creature approached the old lady where he saw her standing with a basket of most peculiar apples. Apples with an unusual purple hue and a smell reminiscent of elderberries. "What is it that you want?" The creature inquired.
"I ask of you for a favor, a small one yes. But one of great importance, I would ask of you to take this basket of apples to a girl who lives across the Lake of Wren and in a cabin accompanied by seven of the most bloodthirsty dwarfs, who'd rip up a poor old lady like myself in seconds. But they'd cower in fear when they saw you, that is why I ask of you to do this for me." The crooked lady replied. Scratching his mane the creature was puzzled as he felt a very sinister aurora surround this lady.
"What is so important that this girl receives these apples?" The creature queried.
"Ah, that is for me to know" croaked the old lady as a malevolent grin spread across her face. A chill crept down the creature's back as he asked, "What do I get out of this?"

The old, crooked lady looked at him, staring straight into his eyes, "In return for doing this for me, I would grant you one wish, anything you want can be yours with this one wish." said the old lady. As of hearing this the creature's eyes brightened and went to grab the basket as he did he ask, "one more thing old lady, may I ask of the name of the person who's bidding I am doing?" That grin spread across the lady's face again, "why of course," she said, "my name is Grimhilde, and what may I call you creature?"
"I go by the name of Leo Fuit." He replied.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Contextual Studies: Comparing 2 Game Characters


Ellie - The Last of Us - 

Contextual Framework:
Ellie takes a lot of influence from the likes of  Mattie Ross from the novel and film True Grit as they are both young girls who are very independent and can take care of themselves in difficult situations. The Road by Cormac McCarthy was also a heavy influence on the two main protagonists Joel and Ellie as the game director took many traits the father and son had with each other and used them with Joel and Ellie. Naughty Dogs Studios house style is trying to capture a very cinematic and engageful gameplay experience through outstanding graphics and relatable characters. The Last of Us' target audience would be young adults and above as it tells an extremely dark and harrowing story.

Structural Framework:
Ellie's function within the game is somewhat complex she acts as an aid to Joel during visceral combat scenes, as well as adding some optional comedic value with some dialogue with Joel as Ellie owns a joke book in which she tries to lighten the mood, she will also spot out resources. The player does not have any control over Ellie for most of the game until one section where you take control of her as Joel (Main protagonist) is injured. I would say this design of Ellie does express 'True Character' as you see her truly react under pressure and breakdown when something horrible happens you really do get to see who she really is.

Visual Framework:
As shown in the picture above Ellie is a teenage girl aged 13 -14 years old with aubrun hair and pale green eyes with freckles. The appearance of Ellie is greatly influenced by the look of her voice actress (Ashley Johnson) as this would allow Ellie to bear a greater resemblance to her voice actress' appearance and personality.

Reference:
http://thelastofus.wikia.com/wiki/Ellie

Clementine - The Walking Dead -


Contextual Framework:
Unlike Ellie, Clementine does not really have any influences from other forms of media even though she is part of 'The Walking Dead' comic universe as that is where the game takes place not in the TV show one. Much like Naughty Dog, Telltale Games has a house style which is cell-shaded, cartoon themed games with extremely dark and gripping stories where the players decides how the story unfolds, with such mature themes in their games the target audience of their work would obviously be for adults.

Structural Framework:
Clementine in the first season of The Walking Dead is very different to that of Ellie as she is very dependent on Lee (the main protagonist of the game) and she is a non playable character unlike Ellie, this made the players feel like they had to protect her which created a strong bond between the player and Clementine.

Visual Framework:
Clementine is slightly younger than Ellie being the age of 8, she wears a baseball cap and has black frizzy, shoulder length hair, with hazel eyes. She doesn't have any inter-textual references.

Reference:
http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Clementine