Building Alliances - Group Discussion: Style

 

 Building Alliances - Group Discussion: Style


As mentioned in the previous blog post, I organised a group meeting, where we discussed the style of  the game we are designing. Everyone brought their own ideas to the table and explained why they think we should go that direction, and since it was a discussion, I constantly asked others what they thought of certain suggestions. As the director, I feel it is very important to establish a clear loop of feedback early on between group members so that we design the best assets possible. Below are the terms and talking points of the meeting, and below that are the notes I took from the discussion. The notes are in red, as well as my mood board I referenced for my own style.
Rosie:
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga (Gege Akutami 2018-2024) art style as the main inspiration for style. Emphasis on heavy line art. Rugged and sharp lines. Lines are messy but with a purpose - that being making the characters look more battleworn and rugged themselves. Combined with a drowned out colour palette could convey bleak circumstances.

Katie:
Most of the art comes from The Walking Dead (Telltale Games 2012), Dreamlight Valley (Disney, 2022), Tiny Glaide (Pounce Light, 2024), Genshin Impact (Hoyoverse, 2020). The Walking Dead (Telltale Games 2012) with Cel shading is a big inspiration, and big eyes, with small noses convey more emotion for the characters in particular.
Palia (Singularity 6 Corporation, 2023) - art style inspired by Pixar - Disney.
artist called Samdoesart - emphasis on expression, big features again.
In terms of places - inspired by Studio Ghibli: more to do with stylised colours - more vibrant - less lines.
Last moodboard - Last of Us (Naughty Dog, 2022)/ Bloodborne (FromSoftware, 2015). really drowned out colour palette - would be really good for flooded interiors.
Arcane (Riot Games 2021) as another inspiration- more cel shading - bigger features.

Lowenna:
Grafitti - there has to be some use of colour in the city.
Neo: The World ends with You (h.a.n.d, 2022) - Kind of dystopian. Cel shading, very heavy line work. Once again like JJK (Gege Akutami 2018-2024) the anatomy is super sharp. Blue/Greenish tint.
Loopers (VisualArts/Key, 2023): background have flatter colours and less linework to bring more attention to the characters or forefront of the scene.
General Art style: try to keep colour bold even with a more drowned colour palette. Could use gradients in shading hair for example.
Colour palette: Have the sky have warmer colours rather than a blue - could make a more apocalyptic.
Neon White (Angel Matrix, 2022): sharp anatomy that emphasises characters body type.
Dishonored (Arkane Studios, 2012): Graffiti in the game would go REALLY well with what we are drawing.

Jake:
Limbus Company (ProjectMoon, 2023): Sharp Edges, sharp shapes in general. shape language Indicates the characters are dangerous if they have to be. Also drowned out colours, bright where they need to draw attention to.
Signalis (rose-engine, 2022): Bright colours on characters themselves - not to draw attention necessarily, but to highlight them as a living creature - someone who is truly alive and not a creature out to kill the player.
Abzu (Giant Squid, 2016): Softer shapes - shows that we are underwater .
Sea of Thieves (Rare Ltd, 2018): water being hyper realistic compared to the stylisation of the rest of the game makes it seem more intimidating.

Atticus:
Resident Evil 7 (Capcom Ltd, 2017): Bayou environment matches the grungy aesthetic. Would pair really well with water damage and interior damage.
Resident Evil 5 (Capcom Ltd, 2009): Giant Crocodile design.
Silent Hill (Bloober Team SA, 2024)/ Last of Us (Naughty Dog, 2022): Characters look like they have ended up in a situation less than desirable. You can tell what occupation/ what life a character used to live before the flood.
There is an overwhelming amount of fog.
Bloodborne (FromSoftware, 2015): What little land there is will be overgrown/ out of control. Lots of mist and overgrowth.
Boat/ Raft Designs: Canal Boats Vienna, Canal Boats on the trent, and on the Erewash. 
One Piece Live Action (Eiichiro Oda, 2023): The Baratie - a boat designed to look like a fish. is a big boat for a lot of people, and a good thing to look at for how people can adapt and get services. Big fish boat designed to scare off other big fish.
It also does creature designs exceptionally well. The whales/ leviathans are made to look scary and intimidating because of their size and statue.
Bioshock (2K Boston, 2007): A good thing to look at for how people have to adapt to living alongside for water.


After going through the styles, moodboards and the research we had done, we settled on a set style, for which I basically made a "recipe", which is below. As the director, I did this so that people had clear guidelines to work within for their different assets, and it would help them all have uninterrupted workflows. These are the guidelines in which we were going to design the assets going forward.

characters 
2D: JJK (Gege Akutami 2018-2024) for the lineart. Neo: The World ends with You (h.a.n.d, 2022) and Limbus Company (ProjectMoon, 2023) for Colouring/Shading. Flat colours with some gradient. Make it more drowned out. 
Outfit Designs: Silent Hill (Bloober Team SA, 2024), The Last of Us (Naughty Dog, 2022), make them look like they werent ready when there was a flood. Now they are fighting for their life. 
3D: Adapt what we draw in 2D the best we can to 3D. Model in the style of Arcane (Riot Games 2021) with the black outlines of The Walking Dead (Telltale Games 2012). 

creatures 
2D: JJK (Gege Akutami 2018-2024) for the lineart. Neo: The World ends with You (h.a.n.d, 2022) and Limbus Company (ProjectMoon, 2023) for Colouring/Shading. Flat colours with some gradient. Make it REALLY drowned out. Always think: How did the creature come to be? how did it get to that point? 
3D: Adapt what we draw in 2D the best we can to 3D. Model in the style of Arcane (Riot Games 2021) with the black outlines of The Walking Dead (Telltale Games 2012). 
2D and 3D: pirates of the carribean is a great inspiration. 

environments (over water and under water) 
2D and 3D: Less lines, drowned out color palette. Bioshock (2K Boston, 2007)/ Abzu (Giant Squid, 2016)/ Bloodborne (FromSoftware, 2015) is a good inspiration. Water damage, environmental storytelling is a big part. Make it look worn down. 

boats/equipment 
2D and 3D: Think of the practical use of the boat (Maybe the boat looks like a fish) JJK (Gege Akutami 2018-2024) for the lineart. Neo: The World ends with You (h.a.n.d, 2022) and Limbus Company (ProjectMoon, 2023) for Colouring/Shading. Flat colours with some gradient. Make it more drowned out. Environmental storytelling is great here too.

After this, I set a task for everyone along with the 2D lead (Rosie), to select two of the following:
Character
Creature
Boat
Environment
And draw them in a fully developed piece (e.g. for character, draw a character sheet.) To give everyone something to go off of that wasn't too overwhelming but could be used to create actual assets, I created a story prompt, which is below.

Story prompt: Nottingham is flooded and in ruins. Despite the amount of time that has passed, humanity is barely in the process of fully recovering, with most people living on rooftops or in makeshift boats.

References:
Akutami, G., 2019. Jujutsu Kaisen, vol. 1. San Francisco, CA, USA: Viz Media, Subs. of Shogakukan. [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Telltale Games, 2012. The Walking Dead [Video Game], Playstation 3. USA. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1449690/The_Walking_Dead_The_Telltale_Definitive_Series/. [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Disney, 2022. Disney Dreamlight Valley [Video Game], Playstation 4. USA. Available at:https://disneydreamlightvalley.com [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Pounce Light, 2024. Tiny Glade [Video Game], PC. Stockholm, Sweden. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2198150/Tiny_Glade/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Hoyoverse, 2020. Genshin Impact [Video Game], PC. Los Angeles, California. Available at: https://genshin.hoyoverse.com/en/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Singularity 6 Corporation, 2023. Palia [Video Game], PC. Los Angeles, California. Available at: https://palia.com [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Studio Ghibli, The Studio Ghibli Collection. USA: GKIDS. Available at: https://ghiblicollection.com. [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Naughty Dog, 2022. The Last of Us Part I [Video Game]. PS5. Sony Interactive Entertainment. New York, NY. Available at: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/the-last-of-us-part-i/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

FromSoftware, 2015. Bloodborne [Video Game]. PS4. Sony Interactive Entertainment. New York, NY. Available at: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/bloodborne/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Pascal Charrue, Arnaud Delord, 2021. Arcane. [TV Series] France: Fortiche, Riot Games. Available at: https://www.arcane.com/en-gb/. [Accessed 13 October 2024].

h.a.n.d, 2022. Neo: The World ends with You [Video Game]. PC. Square Enix. London, England. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1647550/NEO_The_World_Ends_with_You/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

VisualArts/Key, 2023. Loopers [Video Game]. PC. VisualArts. Kita, Osaka, Japan. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1811500/LOOPERS/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Angel Matrix, 2022. Neon White [Video Game]. PC. Annapurna Interactive. West Hollywood. California. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1533420/Neon_White/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Arkane Studios, 2012. Dishonored [Video Game]. PC. Bethesda. Rockville, Maryland, USA. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/205100/Dishonored/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

ProjectMoon, 2023. Limbus Company [Video Game]. PC. Suwon, South Korea. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1973530/Limbus_Company/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

rose-engine, 2022. Signalis [Video Game]. PC. Humble Games. San Francisco, California, USA. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262350/SIGNALIS/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Giant Squid, 2016. Abzu [Video Game]. PC. 505 Games. California, USA. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/384190/ABZU/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Rare Ltd, 2018. Sea of Thieves [Video Game]. Xbox. Redmond, Washington, USA. Available at: https://www.seaofthieves.com [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Capcom Ltd, 2017. Resident Evil 7 [Video Game]. PC. Osaka, Japan. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/418370/Resident_Evil_7_Biohazard/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Capcom Ltd., 2009. Resident Evil 5 [Video Game]. PC. Osaka, Japan. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/21690/Resident_Evil_5/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Bloober Team SA, 2024. Silent Hill 2 [Video Game]. PC. KONAMI. Tokyo, Japan. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2124490/SILENT_HILL_2/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

Eiichiro Oda, 2023. One Piece Live Action [TV Series] California, USA: Tomorrow Studios, NETFLIX. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11737520/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

2K Boston, 2007. Bioshock [Video Game]. PC. 2K. Novato, California, USA. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/7670/BioShock/ [Accessed 13 October 2024].

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