"Gravity" the movie

Hi everyone,

I have just came across this link about the movie Gravity. It talks about Gravity and its visual immersion and describes it as "being in a dreamscape" 

All the visuals in Gravity were computer generated but to look at this movie you wouldn't think so because it looks so real, the lighting the camera angles, everything about this movie sucks you in and you do indeed feel like you are in a dreamscape. It's the visuals that make this movie so immersive to the watches eye and that's because it looks so real and it gives you a taste of what being up in space is actually like.

Here is the link, good read.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/gravity-takes-a-vfx-leap-as-pure-cinema

Movies that have the immersion factor!

Over the past couple of days I have stepped back from researching immersion in video games and I have been looking at movies! I have looked into movies that are animated to just real life movies but I found that mainly movies that are animated have that immersion factor more because when making a animated movie, the possibilities are endless in what you can do compared to a real life movie.

Any Pixar movie has the immersion factor spot on. Pixar make cars talk or toys talk and people love this because of how it's done. Pixar also have beautiful visuals which are colourful and bold and so this stands out to the watcher and so they become immersed even more. Anything that is a still object or item that can talk in a Pixar movie would not work in real life, for example all the toys from toy story, but because of the charm the characters or objects have, the watchers become immune to the believability side of it. This is were the realism trap comes in, just because it looks real, doesn't mean it's believable.  

In some Pixar movies there is just normal human being characters that would work in real life however it's then what happens in the movie to knock the believability side off. For example, "Up" is a Pixar movie about two people falling in love and the woman who has a dream of going to live ontop of this mountain next to a waterfall, so far it's believable. Anyway the woman passes away and the man feels like he needs to fulfil his wife's dream. To do this, he attaches thousands of balloons to his house and his house floats all the way to this exotic place. That's were you think that wouldn't happen it's impossible! But because the movie has a moving story line and the visuals are just amazing, nobody cares and they are instantly immersed by this flying balloon house. 

This immersion can happen as well in some real life movies that also have animation put into them. Films such as Narnia and Transformers are all are set in the real life world but when the animation side comes in, again anything is possible and you get things like talking animals that are in Naria, or you have giant robots that can transform into cars. This animation has that real life visual style to it so it looks like it's actually in our real life world as opposed to Pixar, their movies are all done in cartoon visual style. 

What I have gathered from this research is, anything that is unusual, stands out and just doesn't make sense in the real world, works for watchers and that is what gets them so immersed.  This can then be the same for video games as again anything is possible in games and if done correctly just like Pixar movies, the player will instantly become immersed and be excited.

Minecraft immersion!!

Hey everyone,

So over the past few days I have been looking at some games that are good at immersing the player. I came to the conclusion that Minecraft was in fact a very immersive game, so here is why I think that. 

When players start up Minecraft, they are welcomed to a world made of blocks with pixelated textures. When I first was introduced to the game I thought wow what's with these graphics, but little did I know that this game was going to suck me up and keep wanting more!

Aim of the game is to go and explore and mine some blocks for certain materials and this lets you create different blocks so you can build whatever you like. Sounds simple but soon as night time comes, if you haven't built yourself a little hut to hide in then creatures come after you and attack and if you die, you lose everything you have collected. When this happened to me first time, I was raging as I had collected a lot but why do people get so mad as after all you can just go and collect them materials again. This is we're the immersion comes in!! 

When it does become nighttime, I am so on edge and immersed by the game that I will sit and listen out for the creatures. Am scared to go out my hut! The creatures aren't real I tell myself but I can't help but feel that way because the game has got me hooked and if I do die, I just go back for more and see how many days I last this time. 

Even the weapon and tool creation in the game makes so sense as it's not believable at all. oh let's go chop down this tree, make a crafting table and some tools. Steve the character just pulls the items out of know where but see because the players are so immersed by the game, players don't care or even take any notice how this is done. There is other items like a bed and a door and again all these can be made by just going to mine some blocks. 

The environment itself does have a certain charm about it however, when your standing on top of a massive mountain and your looking out, all you can see is blocks but it has that wow factor about it. 

So what is it about Minecraft that has got players so immersed. We'll to me I think it's a mixture of gameplay and visuals. It's such a basic game with basic gameplay so maybe players like basic instead of the complicated side of games who have very in depth stories, am not sure but I shall keep researching different games I see what I come up with!! 

Bye everyone :) 

Game Worlds Comparisons!

Hiii

Just found this short article on how big our game worlds. Game worlds compared to ours :) Its an interesting read!

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/professor-sharkeys-bad-game-science-around-the-world

Interesting Article on Immersive Game Worlds

Hey,

Few days back i came across this interesting article by Adrian Chmielarz on a website called theastronauts.com. He talks about what should we focus on when creating a game world and he states a question at the beginning of the article:

"The convincing, immersive game world needs to be indifferent to the player and the player needs to feel like an intruder."

He talks about how a game world can be very predictable, for example when you are walking through a level, players automatically know where to go next because there is always something to indicate that, whether it be a big bright light shining on some stairs or a certain colour of objects that indicate this is the path you take, the players eye is always drawn to that place. You are subconsciously draw to it so therefore the player goes to that place and not go wondering off somewhere else. 

Therefore does it really make sense that there is so much light or colour in that particular part of the level and know where else? No it doesn't, so therefore the believability suffers in the game world.

He then argues that, what if we create a game world that has no limits? Where there is no invisible walls or blocked path ways. We create our 3D models and textures mirror image of our exact world so why cant we create a world that is like ours, as its how the real world works. 

I do agree with this to some extent. Game worlds should have the believable factors in it and to have a game created on where you can go wherever you want and explore, find items and get lost and feel like a intruder, it would be amazing but this wouldn't be the case for everyone as some players do like the one path only games were you follow the indications and a story etc. It would also be very costly to create such a game. 

Games such as Dark souls and shadow of the colossus have already got that bit of " i feel like a intruder in this world" because some people say they have a immersive experience but again with them being open worlds and you can go where you want, there is still a certain path the player needs to take.

Overall this article has had some excellent points to think about in what it would be like if a game was to be just like the real world. I shall do some more research into this!

http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/03/secret-immersive-game-worlds/

Questions that are going through my mind!..

Hey :)

I feel like my mind is going to explode with all the questions i have running though my mind on what makes a video game environment believable! :) What works? What doesn't? and so on.

So i am just going to write down a few things i think need to be taking into account when making a game environment!

• Structure - Do the building look structural viable
• Scale - Is the size of buildings etc to the correct height
• Weather - Is the weather system believable and not change every 10 minutes!
• Size - Is the world big enough or small enough 
• Lighting - Does the lighting fit within that particular part
• Colours - Is the colour scheme correct for that particular part
• Physics - Does the water run correct down the stream (for example)
• BELIEVABLY - does everything within the environment work within real life! 

These are just a few things that i have thought are important when creating a believable, immersive environment. Am sure i will come across more the more i research :) 

Laters!! 

RPG Game World Believably

Hey everyone,

Still doing research in what makes Video Game world believable. I have just came across this post on a website named Kotaku.com what is titled "What makes a video game world believable" it has a small paragraph explaining a little bit about what a RPG genre game world and what a open world style game would have to have to make it believable.

"For open world games like GTA I like to see things happening that have nothing to do with me. Police chases I didn't start, conversations between npcs, stuff like that. Life just going on in the world whether the player does anything or not." 

To me, this is a very good aspect withing open game environments. If more open world games had this, it would be like the player is just in a normal everyday life, with normal everyday life things going on around them. It would make environments much more interesting and real to the player. It could possibly even pursue the player to explore environments more to see whats going on in certain places. The player would be more immersed in side the world then. GTA already has this immersive feeling, but to make it more real life then its taking the world to that next level.

http://kotaku.com/5925875/what-makes-a-video-game-world-believable

What works? What Doesnt?

Hey everyone

So today I have been brainstorming ideas about my topic at hand. As I said in my previous post, I want to explore what makes a good environment and how does a good environment capture that emotion from players.

Instead of researching that particular question, I am going to step back and research existing video games, films and cartoons and how some environments have that immersive feeling and can grab players or watchers!

Let's get researching!!

You have to believe!

Hey everyone

Just a quick post about what I have been thinking about my topic. There are many different types of environments from make believe to being realistic and no matter what, a really good looking environment can suck anybody in and make them feel they are in that place. However what I have thought is an environment, no matter what it is always has to be believable. It can have that realism to it but does it have believable factors?

I think realism can be a trap within environments as players won't look for the believability side of it, but more of how it looks so therefore the realism.

Introduction of my journey over the next year...

Hey everyone! My name is Adele Burghall and I want to be a 3d environment/asset artist withing the gaming industry.

I have just started my MA in Games Design at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) and this blog will show my progression over the next year from the course. It will show you my thoughts, processes and my development.

I graduated from the same university in July 2013 studying BA Hons Games Design. During this time on the course, my mind was set on becoming a concept artist but after trying and practising, I couldn't get to grips with it or get a piece that looked good. During my second year, I started doing 3D modelling and I knew this was were my talent was and so I continued with this.

I started looking at the process of 3d modelling and it was environments and assets that got me hooked. It was the look of the environments and the sense of feeling from the atmosphere that the environments had that made me think I want to create environments just like this and I want people to feel what I feel from the work I do.

When I am walking around a game environment, I feel a emotional connection and I start looking around, looking at the lighting or the weather conditions and I then start to think this has a meaning or that's why that asset is here. Everything has a unique emotional identity attached to it. It's also the sense of scale within a environment that can make it look powerful or powerless. Also the textures that have been applied, this is just another thing that gives the environments that particular mood.

During my MA, I want to explore what makes a good environment and what needs to be put in to the environment to give the sense of feeling, atmosphere and depth. Whether it be a spooky corridor or a fantasy garden, what things do I need to create in order to give the player the right feeling for that particular environment. I will think about the assets, textures,  the scale, lighting, sounds etc. I would then like to show people my environments to see if they get the same feeling I have created within the environment. Also the immersion in games. What causes it and how can it be done!

I will be updating my blog on a regular basis so any feedback is welcome!  I look forward to sharing my journey over the next year :)

Bye everyone!