model's showreel

the future of books and games

I finally want to cover what i believe to be the future of the relationship with books and game with two main sources:

'Sensory Fiction' is a chest piece that the reader wears that plugs into a physical book. the book itself is able to light up not only to set the mood of the character but also the environment. the chest piece itself contains features including chest vibrator to simulate a heartbeat that can be used to influence the readers mood to feeling scared to relaxed. As well as having heat bands under the armpits and air-compressors on the back it all works together to help the reader feel for the character wholeheartedly. This technology would be great for video games as well as it would engross the player in the game especially with the use of the Oculus rift would make a really immerse experience.  
http://scifi2scifab.media.mit.edu/2013/12/19/sensory-fiction/



Wonderbook
the Wonderbook is a very interesting invention as it uses the PlayStation move, camera and the book to allow the player to make reading and playing a certain story very immerse and personal experience. the book when opened has weird symbols all over the book so the PlayStation can make the world within become augmented reality that the player can interact with not by just using the move tool but also tilting and spinning the actual book. This feature becomes useful especially in the game 'Diggs Nightcrawler' where the player and the main character Diggs must work together to solve a mystery and because the book is like a pop-up book it gives the player and advantage point to view everything and being able to spin the book or fold places the player influences the story by finding clues with Diggs. There are many other games for the Wonderbook such as: 'the Book of Spells' and 'The book of potions' I felt that 'Diggs' stayed more true to actual pop-up books but still made the concept exciting for children.      
sources:
http://www.jamesgames.com/Story/exclusive-interview-with-the-creator-of-sonys-wonderbook
http://wonderbook.eu.playstation.com/#section-howItWorks 

By choosing this subject for my essay I feel reassured that books won't be left behind because with the help of new technology like Sensory Fiction to immerse the reader and with the influence of other media working together like in 'Touch press's ' stories I believe that games with become more accessible to young people and will influence them to start reading more.

Near the end of my modeling I designed to redo the coat because when I had been adjusting the pose of the boy, the coat wouldn't stretch or mold like how I wanted it to be. so i extracted a new coat and finished the branding iron as well as trying a bit of colour but I came to the conclusion that the model looked fine already and I didn't want to ruin it. So this is my finally design for this project in some ways I'm happy that I was able to model something and for it to actually resemble a young boy but in other ways I'm dishearten that my research lead me to do a character not as complicated as others.

model update 4

At this point I wanted to add more details to the model such as as layered hair and his branding iron which i made as a separate subtool. But the main problem I had was his hands especially the hand where he is reaching out as I hadn't made the fingers out of zspheres so I had to mold them from out of the palm. Even though it was tricky to do it was worth doing it as I feel like I accomplished and learnt more about the program and about the structure of hands.

model update 3

As i progressed in modelling I got to the point where sub-tools were needed like eyes and his coat; the coat was easy to extract from the main model compared to how i thought it was going to be. and the only problem I had with inserting the spheres was getting them embedded in the eye enough so I could add eyelids on top with the eyes sitting comfortably.

model update 2

when I got the main features sorted I started to establish the models head and hooves but I was still incline to keep within the 2D design i had created.

the development of my model

To create my model i started off with sphere's to get the idea of the form of the body and joints. then went on to make an adaptive skin and started to mold it to build up the muscle and fat on the boys body while using a proportion chart to get the height of the boy (i used the 10 year old).

i

Contextual studies research into the fusion between books and video games

when I started this idea for my essay I wanted to show that its not all about video games giving to books all the times but that books can be taken into the future and give back to video games.

Device 6
is a game-book that is for the android or iPhone which has both a puzzle mystery which only uses words and sounds to both give clues to the reader and give an idea of the environment. this game is up for awards that tell me people are interested in the fusion of these different medias and the different routes this fusion can take.
Sources: http://simogo.com/games/ 
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/this-video-game-could-revolutionize-publishing-and-reading/281765/  
http://igf.com/2014/01/2014_independen.html
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/07/igf-2014-finalists-device-6-papers-please-dont-starve-the/ 
http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2013/10/interview-simon-flesser-and-jonas-tarestad/

Jesse Schell on video games in the future

Jesse Schell and his game company Amplify' are in the development of making a game called 'Lexica' where the player is in a library and is able to met characters from different novels and help them out in their tasks. Jesse Schell that its won't just be classic characters like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but modern day characters like Harry Potter and with all these character to explore Jesse is hoping that it might intrigue the player to find out more by actually reading the book which won't be just for educational purposes but it can also help with tasks within the game; as the Reader would be more wise on how to answer certain characters for example. Even though this is an interesting concept as its not been released  yet there hasn't been more up-to-date news on the design or the challenges the player will face but overall this game idea would not just be an educational and fun game but has the chance to influence them to read more.
Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou1Kmn46Bj4
: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2013/06/18/lexica-game-classic-books/2431337/ 


schell on lexica
http://www.educationnews.org/technology/amplifys-lexica-combines-reading-with-video-games/ 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w8eXTC8qVQ- s

development of my character

even though I have used programs like dream weave and using Photoshop to create silhouettes what I have created I think does not symbolise what the Lucifer is or how I'm trying to portray him. so I draw out a basic idea of him using the research I had to design Satan. starting from the top is my basic idea of the pose with Lucifer looking up to god with admiration and his left hand in the air as it was known that Lucifer was the left hand man of god. I also wanted Satan to hold an idea that either represented sin or represented him job as judge over humans; so I had an idea of a branding iron as if he is marking out the sinful for god to have final judgement over also the flower symbolises diligence the blue robe I thought was appropriate as he is pictured in this colour when he is heaven. Also I wanted his form and age to be of a young youthful child as they show innocence as well as being called by god as an "cherub guardian".

In conclusion I have decided that I will do Satan with goats leg (to remember his history is art with the pagan gods), short blue robe so I am able to show detail on the legs and with the branding iron with the symbol of  an apple. even though he isn't in the story of Adam and Eve the apple is one of the most well known symbols that represent sin. The next step is to start modelling him on Zbrush.

Contextual Studies 2

game books and its influences.

gamebooks is not a new concept, but its has influenced games and books alike; the whole idea of a gamebook is that the reader or player is the main character or is the narrator and has power over this branching-plot novel to make the choices in the story. one of the most popular game books is the 'choose your own adventure' series which is targeted at children and teenagers, their first published novel was in 1979 with over 300 books which covered a variety of topics or themes such a 'Disney' stories, Indiana Jones, aliens and much more. The idea of the player being in control of their own fate seemed to of have influenced role-playing games like dungeons and dragons as their is still a narrator with rules and regulation to keep the story tangible but the player makes their own choices and then the dice they role determine if it is a god or bad choice. In the present day video games want to immerse the player into the stories more so by giving them choice to make through the game like in the 'Telltales Games' 'The Walking Dead' where the game is split into five episode so the developers have time to make the players choices important to the next episode.

Sources:
http://www.blackcrownproject.com/ 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamebook
http://outspaced.fightingfantasy.org/Hosted/Anders_-_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Gamebook.pdf

Telltale Games(2012) The Walking Dead

when I looked into interactive books on tablets it seems like a variety to choose from 'Touchpress' which is more of an educational book brought to life to go more in-depth about that certain subject and it also uses different media like audio, video, 3D sculptures as well as written text. One of the best examples in their collection of books is 'War Horse' not only can the reader just read or listen to it being read but their are many videos and 3D sculptures to give the reader insight into the history around the time the novel is set. 
On the other hand the company 'Crowded Fiction' has taken a different path with this new technology by doing interactive fiction. Like in gamebooks the reader can still make the decisions in the characters story but with the use of the tablet it can track the readers eyes so the words appear at the pace they read so there's no spoilers, using the swipe and tilt the player can be driving the car like the character and following their actions. At the end of the novel the reader then can share their story and also see how other people played it. All this leads to children and young adults being able to interested in books both learning and reading for pleasure as the tablet wants the readers to be involved in what they are reading.
Sources:
http://www.touchpress.com/
http://crowdedfiction.com/how-it-works/#how-it-works-a

In a completely different direction new technology like the tablet has also allowed more touch-base and more unique games from indie companies to be seen and played by players. Type:rider is a game for both Apple and Android the makes the physical text the obstacle and you play the punctuation mark trying to get to the end of the sentence. I liked the idea for this concept as it is a very different way of looking at the relation of books and games.   

Source:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bulkypix.typerider&hl=en_GB