Week Number & Date: 7 – 21/10/19
List of Tasks planned for this week: Begin creation of my final diorama- finish the diorama base ready for molding the assets into it
Current Position –
- What did I do this week and why did I do it?
I started on making my final diorama piece, Forsaken Oasis. I began by making the base of my diorama one one layer using shades of grey to understand the lighter and darker parts of the project, then built up o it on a new layer.
I then added the overflowing sand around the diorama to add a simple effect of it looking more lively which I would build further upon later as assets are added.
Next I laid out the pool of water and filled it in with the appropriate colour scheme then managed to outline and finish the two cactus assets ready to be added.
- What did I find difficult or easy?
The pool of water for the oasis was fairly time consuming and tricky to work out how to first shape it to make it seem more natural as well as making sure all the colours blended fine with no overlap. I tinkered with the opacity a fair bit too to find a good middle ground of it looking of not looking too solid or transparent. The cacti assets weren’t hard but, I had to trim them down slightly so they didn’t look massive compared to everything else.
- What tasks didn’t I complete from this week?
I am on task with work load and compelted the tasks I had set out for myself to do this week
Planning for next week –
- How do I plan to catch up?
I will keep at the work and pace I am currently at as I am not falling behind.
- Do I need to change anything about my work or planning?
I am working at a steady pace and do not need to change anything.
Week Number & Date: Week 8 – 28/10/19
List of Tasks planned for this week: To viewe how my assets fit my diorama and begin building up the sand of the diorama
Current Position – The cactus assets have been fitted and progress on the sand is as good as it can be for the time being
- What did I do this week and why did I do it?
I took my finished cactus assets and planted them on the scene, making sure the fitted and were reasonable proportions compared to the scene. I trimmed down the flowered cactus ever so slightly as it was almost the same height as the other cactus.
The next step was to begin building up the sand on the surface of the diorama. For now, I chose to do this around the body of water and two cactus assets. This would give me good practice on how to shade the sand all together with it looking neat as well as sculpting it around the cactus assets. I left free space around where the skull and palm trees would go, so I can add the sand around the accordingly once they are done and added.
- What did I find difficult or easy?
The sand was hard to begin with, but once I worked out how much of each shading works with each section, how much is too little, much much is too much and following the same shading scheme as my other assets, i slowly got the hand of it and was able to speed up the process of it once I knew how to add it effectively.
- What tasks didn’t I complete from this week?
I was planning to do more if not all the surface sand this wekk, but I did realise half way through making it that I need the skull and trees done so I can meld the sand into those assets better, so I stopped it for thetime being, ready to continue it once the other assets are added.
Planning for next week –
- How do I plan to catch up?
I will make my skull asset made and ready to bury in the sand
- Do I need to change anything about my work or planning?
I am still working at an efficient pace and do not need to change anything about it
Week Number & Date: 9 – 4/11/19
List of Tasks planned for this week: To complete the skull asset and palm trees for the diorama and make a start on the hero asset version of the skull
Current Position –
- What did I do this week and why did I do it?
I moved onto creating my skull and sheriff hat asset for my scene. Just like the cactus assets, I outlined the rough idea for the size and shape of the asset in greys before going to a new layer and slowly building the asset up a layer of colour at a time. I made the skull, then added the horns on a separate layer to make sure I was happy with their size compared tot he skull before merging the layers together. Once that was done, I moved onto the sheriff hat.
The sheriff hat was the hardest part of the asset, I made it on a separate layer so in case I messed up it would not negatively effect the skull. The angle the hat sits on the skull took a few lines and undoing to get it right. Once I was pleased with it, its is just making sure the right colours are in the right locations. then the asset was done and ready to add to the diorama.
I added the skull to the diorama and took the time to submerge it half in the sand. My main gold was for it to look the sand was pouring out the eye socket and flakes were coming out the nose, which I believe I did very effectively. Once that was done, I focused on building up the sandy area around the skull to look even more so it has been left for the sand to consume it over many months or even years. I added a few grains of sand on top of the sheriff hat, them moved onto the palm trees.
The palm trees were quick and easy to do. As I had to make 3 of them, from my practice in problem solving I have learnt how to outline them quickly and the best way to curve the trunk and leaves, so they didn’t take as long as I originally expected.
Once I finished the first tree, I added it to the diorama to see how it fitted, to see if I either needed to trim it or grow it. It placed in the scene really well. As the palm trees are being made on 64×96, compared to the rest of the assets on 64×64, this gives them more height so they tower over the diorama well. As I added the tree, I had the idea to have the reflection of the trees fall into the body of water. I duplicated the tree, locked the duplicated layer so I could only colour that one, coated it in black, lowered to opacity, flipped it, then finally trimmed away the pixels that didn’t touch the water. Below is the added tree, then the added reflection, which I felt added much more to the diorama so will add this for the other trees too.
After I was happy with the first tree and added reflection, I moved onto making the two other trees, curving them so they all looked unique. Once the other two trees were made, I did the same process; placed them in the diorama, duplicated them to create reflections in the water and placed them accordingly.
Throughout this project, I have been neatly organising the diorama with layers and folders in photoshop. I made a folder dedicated to each asset and within them layered them around accordingly on what would show over what. Here are the six folders I made during this
To make sure all of the diorama was done before I moved onto the hero asset, I filled in the last sections of sand. I molded it around the trees and weaved it around them well. With the final pixels of sand added, the diorama piece was finished.
- What did I find difficult or easy?
From the amount I practiced making the trees in problem solving, they were really easy to make. The sheriff hat was the most tedious to get right, but all in all not difficult. The final parts of sand took a bit to work out the colours and make sure none where overpowering the scene, but as it was a smaller section it didn’t take as long as the sand last week
- What tasks didn’t I complete from this week?
I wasn’t able to start the detailed version of the skull, as I took a while focusing on the sheriff hat and adding the reflections to the water, so I will move onto that next week
Planning for next week –
- How do I plan to catch up?
I will move onto my hero asset and get that completed
- Do I need to change anything about my work or planning?
I still feel confident about getting my work done on time, so I will continue at the pace I am at and keep my focus strong.
Week Number & Date: 10 – 11/11/19
List of Tasks planned for this week: To make and finish my hero asset and write out my evaluation on the whole project
Current Position – The detailed skull is finished, development log done and evaluation coming along nicely
- What did I do this week and why did I do it?
I first focused on making the detailed version of my skull asset. Like all my assets, i began with a basic outline of the skull and hat to build up on with layers with more detail. Due to the hero asset being made on 128×128, I had more room to work with by adding more detail, I added a couple more cracks onto the skull and gave the horns a slight more curl to them. I also had the skull I made for my diorama down in the corner for easier and quicker refernce to save some time flciking back and forth between two photoshop files.
Once I was happy with the basic skull, I added the sherrif hat, just like I did with the smaller version. I made a new layer to build the hat on and comfortably molded it to the head of the skull.
Finally, after the hat was placed, I added some finishing touches. I created the string around the base of the sheriff hat, then moved to add a few more layers of shading to help the contrast flow better with the bigger pixel art. While a subtle detail, I think it is once that brings the asset alive way more, giving it a smoother, more finished polish to it.
- What did I find difficult or easy?
Knowing when to stop adding extra layers of shading was a little hard. I think what I went with was a good choice, but knowing the balance of when something is becoming a bit much to something doesn’t have enough is tricky to nail down. I only did one extra layer of shading on botht he light and darker sides of the skull, too nervous to ruin it, but after trying out more colours, I added 2 more colour layers, which I am happy I did. On the left was only the one extra layer of shading each, while right has the two extra layers of shading each side. While it is very subtle, I think the subtle details are the ones that can make or break a piece of work, so i am happy I added that extra layer and have kept that one for my final hero asset.
- What tasks didn’t I complete from this week?
I ahve compelted all tasks regarding my diorama and hero asset
Planning for next week –
- How do I plan to catch up?
I have nothing more to do for this unit.
- Do I need to change anything about my work or planning?
I have nothing more to do for this unit.
Sasha Level 3 Games Dev 2nd Year 