# Week 1 - Course overview / outline - Canvas / student service access - Presentation: NotGames/Indie Games - Theory: Game as art, art as game - Pre production: brainstorming + discussion - Making: concept art (sketchbook and pencil) - Research: production workflow - Reading: [Press Start: Video Games and Art by Erin Gavin](http://portal.lvc.edu/vhr/articles/gavin.pdf), [Valley Humanities Review 2014 Issue](http://portal.lvc.edu/vhr/index.html?page=2014). _________________ # To begin - Omernick, Matthew. [Creating the Art of the Game. New Riders, 2004](https://proquestcombo-safaribooksonline-com.ezproxy.torontopubliclibrary.ca/book/animation-and-3d/0735714096), *Online access (Toronto Public Library)* *"A good game artist is a modern-day alchemist, conjuring up not just mere objects from polygons and pixels, but entire worlds."* *"The process of making a video game is much more complex than most people imagine. To someone who has never been involved in the production of a video game, it may seem quite simple. You come up with a good idea, hire some people, and get to work until you are done, right? Of course, it’s not quite that easy. There are always unforeseen issues, missed deadlines, seemingly impossible hurdles, and many long hours."*  Images attached to the final presentation slide by an anonymous student from our previous course. ## Skills to be expected. 1. Observational skills. 2. Problem solving skills. 3. Combination of traditional art skills and digital art skills. 4. Asset management. 5. Collaborative and communicational skills. # Production workflow ## 3D production pipelines  Reference: [digital] Modeling Chapter 1 Introduction. ### Pre-production - Decide genre or characteristics. (Art as Game, Game as Art, Indie/notgames etc.) - Concept art (discussion, brainstorming, story) - Visual research (color pallete, visual design) - Planning (flow chart with choices, discussion and analysis of problems) ### Production - Modeling (Level of Detail) - Landscape - Object - Character (Anatomy, ...) - Texturing (Level of Detail, UV texturing, normal map) - Lighting - Rigging, Animation, Visual effects ### Post-production - Compositing - Test - File management - Baking, import, export - Show case/Demo - Share solutions - Critique  - [R Gupta, R Nawani, VP Talreja, Virtual Reality Content Creation using Unity 3D and Blender, 2016](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/44a7/8c2de0291b52b7fbe064b403b571e5a47c3f.pdf) ## Game development lifecycle guideline - [Rido Ramadan and Yani Widyani, Game Development Lifecycle Guidelines, 2013](img/06761558GameDev.pdf)  ## What are game assets? - [Working in Unity/Asset Workflow](https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/AssetWorkflow.html): An asset is representation of any item that can be used in your game or project. An asset may come from a file created outside of Unity, such as a 3D model, an audio file, an image, or any of the other types of file that Unity supports. - [How to Fund Your Games By Creating and Selling Game Assets by Oussama Bouanani, 24 Jul 2015](https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/how-to-fund-your-games-by-creating-and-selling-game-assets--cms-24380) ***What Are Game Assets?*** Game assets include everything that can go into a game, including 3D models, sprites, sound effects, music, code snippets and modules, and even complete projects that can be used by a game engine. Here's a list of examples: - 2D/3D Design: Characters, Objects, Environments, Vehicles - GUI: HUD, Icons - Scripting: AI, Special effects, Networking, Physics - Audio: Background music, Sound effects # Examples from previous classes ## Asset import examples   Low Poly City by team Tonya, Meena, Harika, 2018 Winter ## Asset creation [Sketchfab](https://sketchfab.com/basileios) [google slide](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LwdrhNtU_uNkB6ZC_D7vjqos_Id37cbUGkOj11t4R4E/edit#slide=id.g7d519130b2_0_5) by Shannen Guntoro, 2020 Winter ## Progress report [Michelle Vu](https://lowpolyjournal.wordpress.com/blog/), 2020 Winter ## Interior modeling   Krispi Kreme Remake by team Snooze. 2018 Winter ## Playable game [Glitch](https://polygonallife.home.blog/tag/alessia/) by Alessia Ianni-Palarchio, Ling Bi, Timothy Horizon. 2019 Winter [https://timothyhorizon.format.com/play](https://timothyhorizon.format.com/play) [Extinction](https://udaco.itch.io/the-last-dino) - [Part of modeling design](https://samkkingston.wixsite.com/mysite) by Max Shapovalov, Sam Kingston, Hanin Ibrahim, Aljumaine Gayle, T'Niel Spalding. 2020 Winter ## Popular culture modification [LOW-POLY SUPER SMASH BROS](https://gamedesign.video.blog/2019/01/22/genre-style/) by Carmen, Zora, Alan, Helen. 2019 Winter ## Level UP Showcase - [OCADU news](https://www2.ocadu.ca/keyword/level-up) - [Fangs & Friends](https://alessia-ip.github.io/fangsandfriends/#About) - [That Night (Early Prototype)](https://publicgames.itch.io/that-night) # NotGames/Indie Games Presentation # Low Poly In the early days of 3D games, the number of polygons was a much more critical issue for the real-time medium. The calculation power of hardware was pretty limited. Each game object should have the lowest number of geometric faces for the game to run smoothly and fast. For example, a character in the original Quake from id Software, published in 1996, was constructed using 200 polygons (many modern games spend more than ten thousand tris). Nowadays, in many cases low poly graphics are no longer so necessary, however in some cases (e.g. for VR) there are still important benefits. Moreover, low poly is an approach to present 3D models in an interesting visual way; a unique visual style with low complexity, hand-made, retro, and other flavours. Reference: Adam Watkins, *Creating Games with Unity and Maya*, Focal Press, 2012. - [Evolution of Racing Video Games 1981-2020 by Nixian, 10:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcyaLDAPVf4) - [The Evolution Of the Graphics Card by TheGamer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB9RETj6ZCw) ## The "Low Poly" Aesthetic - Small numbers of irregular tris and quads 3D polygon model. - Characteristic: No smooth curves (simpler look), hard edges (showing distinctive faces). - Stylistic approach over realism, however often it weighs heavily on realistic lighting (often physically based) and on texture details (with large textures). - Important features: Polycount matters and (manifold) topology is critical (quads are more intuitive). ### Inspiration - [Monument Valley I & II](https://www.monumentvalleygame.com/mv1) by ustwo - [Journey & Sky](http://thatgamecompany.com/journey/) by thatgamecompany - [Everything](http://www.davidoreilly.com/) by David Oreilly - [Trip trailer 2012](https://vimeo.com/45813147) by Axel Shokk - [Simulation art by Ian Cheng](https://vimeo.com/iancheng) - [Bokida](http://bokida.com/) - [Shadow_of_the_Colossus by Ico]( http://teamico.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus) - [Rez](https://gaminghistory101.com/2012/03/27/rez/) - [Limbo & Inside by Playdead](https://playdead.com/) - [Super Mario Sleeping by Miltos Manetas](http://www.supermariosleeping.com/) - [Not Game Fest 2015](http://www.notgames.colognegamelab.com/exhibition.html) - [The Unfinished Swan™ by Giant Sparrow](http://www.giantsparrow.com/games/swan/) - [What Remains of Edith Finch, How Calvin Finsh Died](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMt8UPsV_Zo) - [Dreams of Dali: 360º Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1eLeIocAcU) - [Super Ichthyologist Advanced by Paul Catanese, created in 2003](http://www.paulcatanese.com/artwork/sia/smov.html) - [brody condon - adam killer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f5O5Yw9gr8) - [GAMESCENES, Art in the age of videogames](https://www.gamescenes.org/) ### Reference images - [Sketchfab Low Poly Models](https://sketchfab.com/search?q=lowpoly&sort_by=-relevance&type=models) - [Sketchfab Low Poly Collections](https://sketchfab.com/search?q=low+poly&type=collections) - [Sketchfab Challenge](https://sketchfab.com/blogs/community/sketchfab-january-challenge-low-poly-fantasy-island/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=202101_Importer_updates__Fantasy_Island_Challenge&utm_medium=email) - [Pinterest Low poly image collection I](https://www.pinterest.ca/jihn75/lowpoly/) - [Pinterest Low poly image collection II](https://www.pinterest.ca/jihn75/3d-modeling/) ## The "Low Poly" Technique - Create 3D low poly modeling. - Polygon decimation and optimization for real time applications (Manifold topology) - Shading and baking textures - Texturing and UV mapping - Rendering (local vs. global illumination) - Export 3D model for game engines - Level of detail (LoD) - No visual effects, rigging, animation in this class ## Tools: Maya (2018~2020) and many others: As a representative 3D computer graphics application, Maya is one of the most widely used to create interactive 3D applications, including video games, animated film, TV series, visual effects, architecture, academic and science research, and more. Through the Maya GUI and programmable extensions, users define a virtual workspace (scenes) to implement and edit media of a particular project. Scene elements are node-based, each node having its own attributes and customization. The output is usually 3D model assets and rendered images. Reference: *"MAYA's Programmability"* from David Gould, *Complete Maya Programming: An Extensive Guide to MEL and the C++ API*, Morgan Kaufmann, 2003 ### Maya installation - Installing Maya - Go to [autodesk.com/education/free-software/maya](https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/maya). If you don't have an account yet, make one for yourself. - Choose the version of Maya and the right platform and language, download the Maya program. - Documentation: [Maya tutorials](https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/simplecontent/content/maya-tutorials.html) and [Autodesk Knowledge Network: Maya](https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya) page. ___________________________________ # 1st deliverable: Planning (30%) - [1st deliverable (Pre-production](https://canvascloud.ocadu.ca/courses/1293/assignments/20428))