Jake Brooks: Games Art 2024-25

 Toolkit 3D - Spine Rig This is a continuation of the legs rig blog. In this blog, I will show how I create a rig for a spine within Blender, which is the program I am planning to use for my final character project. The spine is made separately from the legs and then joined after it has been fully created since the rigs can be connected later. Same as before, I start with a bone, and begin to make the structure of the spine - I went through everything here in the rigging legs blog, and nothing is different at this stage, apart from the fact we don't have to symmetrize, because the spine is already central. After this, we name the bones appropriately. We then join everything together before connecting the thighs to the spine, creating the pelvis bones. I also parent the thighs to the first spine bone here. Due to the differences between Maya and Blender, I don't have to create anything like the controls for a rig needed in Maya. So far, we have a chain of bones for the spine, an...

 Toolkit 3D - Legs Rig Rigging Introduction Rigging is the process of creating a skeleton that aligns to a character, and allows for that character to be moved and animated. Rigs are made up of joints and bones. Joints acts as individual points, such as elbows or knees, and bones connect them together. Because Rigging is a precise process, care must be exercised to avoid things going wrong in the process of rigging. I plan to use a workflow of ZBrush/Blender, so I know how to rig in Blender. This is going to be a series of blogs detailing how I go about creating a rig from scratch, starting with the legs. Firstly, we start with adding a bone. We then move this into place for the foot. I like to start here because we can start at ground level and work our way up with the body. Also because I am planning to symmetrize, I only create one side of the body. I make sure to rename this bone "Foot_l" too for the symmetry later on. I rename every bone from this point on to end with ...

 Real Worlds - Initial Thumbnails Forge Fathers For my initial thumbnails for the Forge Fathers, I used what information I gathered from the initial research and shape language study to create some initial sketches. For these, I used a mix of basic sketches to create more in depth designs, and silhouettes using the lasso tool to create shapes to try and master the shape language the forge fathers use.  For the first sheet, I didn't really have a specific focus other than trying out the shape language for different things, like the character, helmet and weapons, as well as general shapes. For the second sheet, I focused specifically on the character and the parts of said character, using thumbnail 2 as a starting point for variations. When I have mastered the general shape language, I will then decide on a full description and backstory to the character, as well as what context he would appear in within game. In terms of sheet two, I thumbnailed different parts of the character...

 Real Worlds - Research Dossier In this blog, I will do all the research for this project. To start off with, I looked at more general areas of research, as detailed here on my schedule. To start off with, I began by looking into Deadzone, the IP I will be working with over the course of this project with my client: Mantic Games. Deadzone To begin by looking into Deadzone, I started with looking at the Mantic Games website itself for Deadzone products. Scrolling down to the overview section, The Deadzone tabletop game is described as a "cube-based, fast-paced, tactical miniatures game set in the Warpath universe, where players control small squads of elite soldiers or mercenaries in intense, mission-driven combat." This gives me ideas for genres of the game I want to create my characters for. Deadzone is a game that focuses on small scale, tactical battles rather than large armies, which gives many different opportunities compared to other tabletop games that have been adapte...

Industry Practice - Design Rights In this session, we looked at design rights. In the UK, designs are protected by three legal rights, all of which we will look at in more detail. Registered Designs These give the owner a monopoly on their product design. For a limited period, others are not allowed to make, use or sell a product with the design used or incorporated. Unregistered Designs Artistic Copyright Both of these rights arise automatically and will provide exclusive rights against copying, but due to the limitations of these rights, it is important and a standard of any industry to register designs whenever possible. Registered Designs Oury Clark (2025) states that registered design registration initially lasts for 5 years, but can be renewed for up to 25 years. This differs to unregistered designs, which last for a period of 10 years from the end of the year of the first sale of the product. Overall though, this can be subject to an overall maximum of 15 years from the end of t...

Industry Practice: SMART Targets for Next Formative With this formative pitch presentation completed, I think it is helpful to reflect on what I have done up to this point: thinking about my strengths and what I have done well, as well as things I could improve on/ weaknesses to be aware of. SMART Targets Specific: Right now, I need to focus on my assets. This means the final character design, sprites and backgrounds. Measurable: By the end of this project but also by next formative, I want to have a character design sheet, several different sprites for the character, and a background/backgrounds depending on what direction we take with our characters. Achievable: I want to create a group of high quality assets that will make it into the final game. Relevant: Due to the runtime of the game, I need to be aware that even if I produce a lot of assets, many of them won't make it into the game, therefore I will focus on my efforts a smaller, more condensed group of high quality assets....

 Industry Practice - Session 10: Contracts, Agreements and Sound Design This week we were to do two things specifically. Firstly, research and create a sound brief for the game. Secondly, to draft a contact to use for a potential collaboration with a musician to create the games soundtrack. Before doing this, I obviously needed the information about my game that I would tell the sound designer. I would also need benchmark games to use as references for inspiration. I used my team's sound brief as a base, and I added onto it, so the final sound brief may be different if me and my team change it. The link to the sound brief is here . We then looked at general contract information. Contracts are important because: They protect legal ownership of work and rights in public. Increases your understanding of business relationships and sets professional expectations. Avoid legal hassles and issues Acknowledge and legally document your work and the value of it. Gives yourself more opportunit...

 Industry Practice - Role Models in the Games Industry In this session we looked at role models in the games industry, as well as the ideal role we would want to get a career in. I would want to be a character artist or a concept artist, and this is because I feel that is where my strengths lie. One thing I want to improve throughout the duration of this course is my work speed and efficiency of my workflows, as I feel it something I want to improve without a compromise of losing quality of work. My plan for the future is to find a role at a smaller studio, since the larger more professional studios require more experience. As I put together a portfolio, I will also consider freelance work if I am able to get it, since it is great for getting a foot in the door at these bigger studios. One thing I am actively doing is following artists and keeping up to date with their posts and work on social media. This allows me to stay connected to how they work, how quick they work and assets ...

 Real Worlds - Project Management In this blog, I am going to create a SWOT analysis, as well as a scheduling method and screenshots of how I will implement this with my own work. Strengths: I picked the 2D pathway for this first part of the project. That's because as previously mentioned, my strengths lie mostly in 2D work, and my general workflow is faster, more efficient and results in higher quality work in a shorter timeframe. The idea I have is to create as much high quality work as I can for the client. Weaknesses: Because I picked the 2D pathway, that means my workload will mostly consist of 2D. I feel I am competent at 3D, but I have a more time consuming workflow, which would result in less work for the client. Although the amount of research I can produce is large, I feel like my overall scope of research topics can also be too narrow. Opportunities: With this being a project focusing on the client, I can begin to build up a portfolio of professional work, as well as l...

 Real Worlds - Deadzone: an Introduction to a New Project Today we started the next project, which is going to be in two parts. It is going to include a written research element, include character and environment design, and give us a choice on how we approach the project, the options being either a 2D or 3D pathway. For the pathways, they are as follows: 2D PATHWAY: • Full colour design sheets  • 2 Characters + equipment + customisation options • 2 x Key illustrations  • Minimum 30 x thumbnails for each character (60 total)  • Backstory for both characters  • Any necessary studies 3D PATHWAY: • Black & white design sheet  • 2 Characters + equipment + customisation options • Rigged and textured character sculpt • Equipment model • Minimum 30 x thumbnails for each character (60 total)  • Backstory for both characters  • Any necessary studies  This project is focused around digitising a tabletop IP. The deadlines are as follows: Part one cl...