Contextual Studies

Creating a coherent fantasy world...

Most games these days revolve around mindless killing and intense rapid action. Some games though, still manage to retain elements of the fairy tales of old, which in contrast, can provide a much more paced and thoughtful approach to gaming.


So which games reflect the core elements of a fairy tale? We must first understand what the key structure of a fairy tale fantasy resembles:

A fairy tale is a type of short narrative that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies. The stories may nonetheless be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables.

In less technical contexts, the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in "fairy tale ending" (a happy ending) or "fairy taleromance" (though not all fairy tales end happily). Colloquially, a "fairy tale" or "fairy story" can also mean any far-fetched story or tall tale.

In cultures where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However, unlike legends and epics, they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place once upon a time rather than in actual times.

The older fairy tales were intended for an audience of adults, as well as children, but they were associated with children as early as the writings of theprécieuses; the Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children's and Household Tales, and the link with children has only grown stronger with time.

Games which borrow heavily from fairy tales are Japanese Role Playing Games such as the Zelda series, but western developers also incorporate old lore into games, such as Fable.


Zelda manages to reignite the passion you had as a child of exploration. Its open world gameplay lures you in using classic motifs found in many a fairy tale. Saving princess Zelda has always been an integral part of the series. Finding and rescuing her is no easy task. Stalked by monsters and hindered by towering structures and winding catacombs, the player must embark on a familiar journey with many welcome twists along the way. Supported by a fairy companion and gallant horse, your adventure takes you to many environments often fantastical in nature.

The importance of a strong introductory narrative 

I took a look at the openings from a few films to determine whether they provided a good introductory stand point for viewers who may not know anything about the film. Lets see if the first few minutes can provide enough information to satiate the viewers needs.

Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith opening scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIAHHGnpQ3c

A large space craft. Silence, then intense drum beats. The fighters move onto screen and the music kicks in. They swirl and whirl around enemy and friendly craft. Lasers fire upon them. The two Jedi pilots confidently weave in and out of each others path. An explosion sets off ahead. Cut to more spacecraft intercepting each other. An intense battle ensues.

From the outset you know a war is waging on a galactic scale. There is much more at risk here than a few lives. The narrative drives you to see the two most important assets in the fight. Not colossal cruisers but two small fighters, masterfully piloted by the main cast. You know from this point that they are on an imperative mission. Their speed tells us this. The intensity of the scene creates a visceral experience in which you can easily get lost.

Iron Man opening scene

Humvees driving across a desert. Soldiers accompany a man sipping on whiskey. He jokes around with the shy soldiers. They also joke around. A soldier requests taking a picture with the confident man. During the photograph being taken, explosions ravage the lead humvee ahead of the road. Bullets take down the business mans' escorts leaving him alone. His ears ring from the nearby ordnance. Sounds of bullets peppering the ground around him. He runs away and jumps for cover behind a rock. He takes out his futuristic phone and texts a message to an unknown recipient. A whooshing sound followed by the source, a missile, is propelled into the ground nearby. He looks at the markings on the missile to notice his own company name gracing it. He tries to escape but it's too late. The explosion sends him flying. Blood seeps through his tailored shirt. Shards of metal can be seen infused into his flesh. His ears ring once more. He opens his shirt to reveal his bullet proof vest penetrated by shards of metal. Fade out and cut to interrogation.


This brilliant scene is a prime example of a director putting the audience into a false sense of security. What could be more peaceful and safe than sipping on a premium beverage accompanied by armed guards?
Tricking the audience is a classic way of evoking an instant jerk reaction followed by a moment of disbelief. To open a film like this is a brilliant hook to occupy the viewers craving of knowledge.


Vladimir Propp's Views

Propp defines 31 functions. He maintains that in the folktale, the order in which the 

functions appear does not change. Some of the functions in the tale are listed below, in 

the order in which Propp lists them. 

II An interdiction is addressed to the hero. (Someone tells the hero not to do something)

III The interdiction is violated. (The hero disobeys)

XII The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc. which prepares the way for his 

receiving either a magical agent or helper.

XV The hero is transferred, delivered or led to the whereabouts of an object of search.

XVI The hero and the villain join in direct combat.

XVIII The villain is defeated.

XXIX The hero is given a new appearance. 

XXX The villain is punished

Propp’s dramatis personae are listed in terms of their ‘spheres of action’:
Using Propp's outline of character archetypes, I will superimpose their roles onto the characters of a film, even though these archetypes transpose onto any media type. I will use the Lord of the Rings trilogy as an example, due to its rich content and well-crafted characters. I base this information mainly from Peter Jackson's depictions of the characters.

The villain: Saruman, Sauron, Shelob, Gollum, Orcs


The donor: Galadriel, Bilbo Baggins


The helper: Samwise Gamgee, Gollum, Merry, Pippin


The princess, and her father: Arwen and Elrond, Eowyn and Theoden (her uncle)


The dispatcher: Gandalf, Denethor


The hero (seeker-hero, victim-hero): Frodo Baggins, Sam, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Eomer


The false hero: Gollum, Frodo, Faramir, Boromir, Eomer


As you can see, at points, certain characters can occupy multiple roles. This creates a very sophisticated story in which to draw people in. The complexity in which characters are depicted often makes the viewer want to find out more about that character.

The signified and the signifier.

Signifier

The signifier is the pointing finger, the word, the sound-image.

A word is simply a jumble of letters. The pointing finger is not the star. It is in the interpretation of the signifier that meaning is created.

Signified

The signified is the concept, the meaning, the thing indicated by the signifier. It need not be a 'real object' but is some referent to which the signifier refers.

The thing signified is created in the perceiver and is internal to them. Whilst we share concepts, we do so via signifiers.

Whilst the signifier is more stable, the signified varies between people and contexts.

The signified does stabilize with habit, as the signifier cues thoughts and images.

The significance of the franchise

What reminds me of particular franchises?

If someone were to mention Resident Evil, I would immediately associate it with: 

Umbrella Corporation and its vivid emblem of a top down umbrella. - Because of its appealing aesthetic quality.

Zombie outbreaks and their associated viruses. (T-Virus, Progenitor Virus, Las Plagas) - Because it is an exciting and intense experience to play or watch. 

The main characters, Chris, Jill, Leon, Claire and Alice from the film adaptations. - Because they are the epitome of heroic stature. 

Suspense, drama and action. - Because of the vivid narrative and gameplay mechanics.

If someone were to mention James Bond, I would associate him with:

His suave actions.

His ability to wiggle his way out of any situation. 

His prowess with firearms and skill with every vehicle in existence.
His sex drive and the way he treats women. 
His ruggedness and brutality during combat.
His drive to finish the job.

Memorable aspects are integral to keeping a franchise alive. Without exciting or interesting catalysts to trigger memories of films, games or books, media would be so dull. To what lengths do directors, developers and writers go to instil an idea? These ideals are already imprinted in our heads from when we are young. It is always thought that the hero is masculine and strong. As always, the hero saves the day with their sweeping hair flowing in the wind.


Conveying my ideas via a pitch


Why is the transition from film to game so predominantly awful? (and vice versa)

FPS games don't really offer much of a story to go on, and so directors have to improvise and input their own ideas into the creative flow.

RPG's stories are often so elaborate and convoluted that the story is mistranslated into the medium of film. Characters also get lost amongst the fray, and often end up being very different people from what people expect.

Fighting games probably get the worst film adaptations. Amongst the films released (Dead or Alive, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Tekken), none of them did well at release and in fact some went straight to DVD which is an immediate tell on the fate of the film.
How can you characterise someone who rarely speaks or interacts within the small narrative of a fighting game? The answer is, you can't easily! Directors struggle to bring to life stiff characters, and this applies across the whole board.

Directors need to put more effort into the conception of their creations. Perhaps completing the game they want to translate would be a good start. Director of Resident Evil - Paul W.S. Anderson, claims to have great respect for the game but the films he created actually differ so far from the games narrative that it may as well carry a different name entirely.

In fact, most game-to-film adaptations would probably fare better if they simply had a different, unassociated title. This would void any need to stay coherent to the actual story and also save fans a lot of grief and resentment.

Resident Evil films as a whole disappoint me so much that it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth (and wallet) when I watch them. I want them to be good. I don't understand how he could ruin such a great gaming series. Would it be so hard to stay true to the games? They already have the rights to create the film from the developers (Capcom) so why did the apple stray so far from the tree.

The events in the Resident Evil films also heavily contradict the mythos and canon created by the Resident Evil game series. The contradictions are so dramatic as to change some of the basic principles of the series.

Maybe because of its complex and deep story, it was just waiting to be crippled by a film director.

Not all adaptations suffer from a horrible re-imagining. The Hitman film did a good job at portraying Agent 47. What made this film successful in my eyes?

For one thing, the events in the film don't neccessarily contradict the events in the game (to my knowledge). The path Agent 47 takes is one that you wouldn't consider unusual or out of character. He behaves the way you think he would and this definately adds to the vision I preconceived.

The future doesn't have to suffer. I hope that in a few years, gamers will rise to become great directors. At this point, game-to-film adaptations will be as full realised and envisioned as the source material itself.

This Wikipedia page contains a very useful table of income from films originally conceived as games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games

An article on why video game films suffer: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VideoGameMoviesSuck

Rotten Tomatoes reviewed Resident Evil and gave it 34%
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil/

Forum discussing Game-to-film adaptations
http://rockpapershotgun.com/rpsforum/topic.php?id=3407

Re-imagining 'Mystery House'

Key game aspects of the original 
Mystery House

• The illusion of freedom, choice and movement, held back by specific key-words
• Simple gameplay mechanics, solely reliant on intuition and a keen eye
• Replayability with multiple outcomes
• Intrigue and mystery surrounding the cast
• Somewhat unintentionally(?) witty and humourous line art (great at the time)

So my goal will be to take the soul of Mystery House and transfer it into a shiny new shell, capable of drawing in modern gamers. How will I do this?

With all due respect, text adventures are dead. The majority of gamers (including gamers/non-gamers that I know) in the last 10 years haven't even seen or heard of them, so with this in mind, I will have to say goodbye to the original mechanic.
Modern games need to be visceral, visual, fairly rapid, progressive and addictive. Lets look at a conversion table I made, featuring possible evolutions of the original concept:

• Simple black and white line art > Colourful, friendly and interesting art
• Text-input gameplay > Point and click. Turn-based. 3D Environment. Truly 'open' world.
• High learning curve > Low learning curve
• Unfriendly UI and lack AI response > Clean, sharp UI with a diverse library of words

'Potential' characters for Mystery House

The above concepts outline my need for some vibrancy to be injected into the new version of the game. I used bright indentifiable colours so players could easily associate characters with their names, roles or attitude. Im still not sure how these characters would react in a 2D or 3D environment.

Upon much internal debate, I decided to follow the path of the 3D game route.

Some further research on the original Mystery House and the novel the game was based on proved very helpful indeed. From Wiki:

History/Research

'In the novel, ten people, who have previously been complicit in the deaths of others but have escaped notice or punishment, are tricked into coming onto an island. Even though the guests are the only people on the island, they are all mysteriously murdered one by one[...]'

This could help me figure out interesting ways to finish off the characters.

The rhyme plus new interpretations:

The original piece, then called "10 Little Injuns", was written by songwriter Septimus Winner in 1868 for a minstrel show and was much more elaborate:

Ten little Injuns standin' in a line,

One toddled home and then there were nine;

(Walks away from fear)

Nine little Injuns swingin' on a gate,

One tumbled off and then there were eight.

(Pushed down a flight of stairs or into a well or off a cliff)

One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injun boys,

Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injun boys.

-

Eight little Injuns gayest under heav'n.

One went to sleep and then there were seven;

(Poisoned/stabbed/suffocated in sleep)

Seven little Injuns cuttin' up their tricks,

One broke his neck and then there were six.

(Broken neck)

Six little Injuns all alive,

One kicked the bucket and then there were five;

(Dies generically)

Five little Injuns on a cellar door,

One tumbled in and then there were four.

(Another falls)

Four little Injuns up on a spree,

One got fuddled and then there were three;

(This is confusing)

Three little Injuns out on a canoe,

One tumbled overboard and then there were two.

(Drowning)

Two little Injuns foolin' with a gun,

One shot t'other and then there was one;

(Shooting)

One little Injun livin' all alone,

He got married and then there were none.

(Survivor)

Influence

The book the original game was based on.

The original appearance of the mystery house. As you can see from the simple line art, it didn't really show much detail. But as an homage to this, I will take the simple colour palette and infuse it into my revamped version.

Original Box Art

Original Cast and Interior

Resident Evil shares a similarity with the outcome of my game. I want the new Mystery House to contain the same horror and feeling of discomfort as playing the first resident evil game.

The psychological aspect of Shutter Island really interest me. I like the idea of keeping the viewer/player in the dark and only revealing things to them when vital. The fact that everything was inside DiCaprio's head greatly influenced the creation of my game. 

The fact that the main characters in The Ward are imaginary/projections also add to the characteristics of my game. Everything will take place inside the head of my main character, so this should provide enough confusion to make the player want to go on.

My Art Style

I was very eager to stylise my game so it would contrast with most other mainstream games on the market. Using a limited and 'recognisable' motif, I went about designing my main character.
The fact that he resembles a shadow strengthens the narrative further.

You awake outside a house/mansion and realise your body has turned to shadow.

The only light you see is emanting from the confines of the house.

You are compelled to enter the house for unknown reasons.

As you progress through the game, you find lost parrts of yourself and your soul.

The metaphysical becomes tangible as you collect weapons and armour personifying these mental components. This will be reflected via the shadowy motif of my character designs.

Thumbnails

Creating thumbnail images for characters is an important part of coming up with a good design. About 100 thumbs were conceived for my main character. Using a fairly quick application of blocked-in colour, I went about trying to make interesting forms and poses. Erasing from the silhouettes can also provide really great shapes:

As you can see, these are my finished thumbs, and I hope they look exciting! To further push my designs, I came up with some possible progressive armoury options:

My protagonist (above) and antagonists (below) share many of the same qualities. They are separated from the fact that you, the hero, periodically gets upgrades in the form of armour and weapons .

Sharp white cuts through the dark pallette to provide a recognisable character.

My newer iterations of my main character

My Final Design Orthographic.

Main Character Pose

My newer interations of one of the enemies in the game, equipped with heavy armour

Your heart, as well as enemies', begins to flash bright red upon encroaching death. Cracks begin to show when near-death instances happen. When armour is equipped, hearts will still be visible due to the semi-transparent quality of the material. Health in the game will recharge.

Inventory Mock-Up

Your inventory screen is clean and white, and very easy to navigate. You simply select the armour you wish to equip and confirm it. Each piece of armour will be outlined with details and stats which will inform players.

Colour Palette

I found great influence from films such as Sin City, 300 and Immortals. The sharp contrasts in colour act as a cinematic narrative to drive the point home. Sharp reds on dull blacks and greys help to emphasise the importance of certain characters and assets. 

Environments

For my version of Mystery House, I want to create an unsettling environment. Reference images from http://www.cruzine.com/2010/08/18/old-interiors-architecture/ really helped me to see my ideas for real. 

(Side Quest) Composition

In order to gain a better understanding of composition, Nigel instructed us to find 3 images and determine their underlying composing structure.

Firstly, the term composition means 'putting together', and can apply to any work of art, from music to writing, that is arranged or put together using conscious thought.

Some variations of composition and accompanying images.

Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is a guideline commonly followed by visual artists. The objective is to stop the subject(s) and areas of interest (such as the horizon) from bisecting the image, by placing them near one of the lines that would divide the image into three equal columns and rows, ideally near the intersection of those lines.

Cross Composition
Centre parting separates the image in two, in some cases acting as an almost symmetrical image. The horizontal part of the cross divides light from dark. The upper portion of the image shows light on dark whereas the lower half displays dark on light.

'L' Composition
One basic form of composition separates one vertical side and one horizontal side from the rest of the painting. This is in the form of an 'L' shape. This style of composition works well because it is not formally symmetrical and follows the rules of good balance. This Ninja Gaiden image has a really dynamic composition, offering up two 'L's. Structure and physiology combine to form the basis of this composition and I think it works really well.

Iconic Composition
Everything is drawn to the centre of the image (normally where the focal point is) and each surrounding asset recedes away into the sides of the image, acting like a diamond.

(Side Quest) Lighting

Absorbtion, reflection and refraction are the key words here. I looked at a great site to assist me with understanding the use of light: http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm

So the image below is set outside but the light isn't lighting up the car equally from all sides. This is due to the light sources location. The source is coming from the right, off-screen. In this case, the left of the car seems darker than left, due to the angle of light and the light being blocked by the car chassis. Light is reflected off the ground and transposed onto the car bumper, this happens because the surface of the car has a shiny and reflective quality and absorbs some of the light from the ground. The car casts an elongated/squashed shadow due to its low angle and the angle of the sun. Dense materials (such as dust) won't reflect light because light is absorbed into it and refracted, which distorts its appearance. Black won't reflect any light at all as it absorbs all rays, but may cast its hue onto other objects.

Reflection of light is either specular (miror-like) or diffuse (retaining the energy, but losing the image) depending on the nature of the interface. Furthermore, if the interface between a dieletric and a conductor, the phase of the reflected wave is retained, othwerwise if the interface is between two dielectrics, the phase may be retained or inverted, depending om the indices of refraction.
A mirror provides the most common model for specular light reflection, and typically consists of a glass sheet with a metallic coating where the reflection actually occurs. Reflection is enhanced in metals by supression of wave propagation beyond their skin depths. Reflection also occurs at the surface of transparent media, such as water or glass.

A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the light. The sun causes many objects to have shadows and at certain times of the day, when the sun is at certain heights, the length of shadows change.

Oh what a long summer it has been! And it appears that summer returns with a vengeance at the beginning of October! How very unusual! Anway, it is nice to be back at NUCA  with a brand new project to start straight off the bat.

Re-imagining a game from the 'olden days'

So our new project requires us to re-imagine, redefine and modernise an old game, chosen for us by the tutors. The game chosen for me is Mystery House.

Box Art

                                                                         

Some information pulled from wiki:

Mystery House is an adventure computer game released in 1980 by Roberta and Ken Williams for the Apple II. The game is remembered as one of the first adventure games to feature computer graphics and the first game produced by On-Line Systems, the company which would evolve into Sierra On-Line. Because of its use of graphics, GamePro named Mystery House the 51st most important game of all time in 2007.

Screen shot from the games opening

The game starts near an abandoned Victorian mansion. The player is soon locked inside the house with no other option than to explore. The mansion contains many interesting rooms and seven other people:

Tom, a plumber;

Sam, a mechanic;

Sally, a seamstress;

Dr. Green, a surgeon;

Joe, a gravedigger;
Bill, a butcher;
and Daisy, a cook.

The wonderfully charming cast of Mystery House

Initially, the player has to search the house in order to find a hidden cache of jewels. However, terrible events start happening and dead bodies (of the other people) begin appearing. It becomes obvious that there is a murderer on the loose in the house, and the player must discover who it is or become the next victim.

Though the game is often considered the first to use graphics, role playing games had already been using graphics for several years at the time of release. Applying graphics to an adventure game, however, was unprecedented as previous story-based adventure games were entirely text-based.

{...} Mystery House was an enormous success, quickly becoming a best-seller at a first-release price of USD$24.95. Eventually, it sold more than 10,000 copies, which was a record-breaking phenomenon for the time.