Essay plan

Character Diversity in Smash Bros.

Body Image

-Overweight characters (King Dedede, Wario, Mario?, Olimar?, Villager?, Miis?, Ness?)

-Tall women (compare Samus to other females)
-Non-muscular (Mario characters, Earthbound, Kid Icarus)

https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/2foh6h/silly_height_chart_i_found_for_smash_characters/
http://imgur.com/a/pnB1v
http://i.imgur.com/rdVuaMZ.jpg
http://www.vgf.com/forums/threads/vgb-nintendo-characters-height-weight.83443/

Sexualisation

-Female (ZSS, Bayonetta) 

-Male (Captain Falcon, Shulk)

-Palutena pole dance taunt

-Panty shots removed from previous Smash games.

-More sexualised for a Nintendo game? Or all the little sexualised bits put into one game?

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/08/talking_point_a_history_of_the_sexualisation_of_samus

http://www.dorkly.com/post/67210/why-samus-new-zero-suit-outfit-is-unacceptable

http://capriceandwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/82459338493/zero-suit-samus-heels-why-its-a-big-deal-and

http://lipmag.com/culture/from-bounty-hunter-to-busty-babe-the-sexualisation-of-samus-aran/
http://www.ship2block20.com/tropes-vs-men-videogames-male-sexualisation/

Gender

-ZSS and Sheik? (Transgender or not? For Sheik, male, female or transgender?)

-Pokemon? Most depicted male, despite Pikachu being the only definite male. 'Male as default'

-Corrin sexuality? (very minor but still)
-Gender ratio: 35 male, 8 female, 7 either gender, 7 unknown, 1 transgender? (Sheik)

http://www.themarysue.com/metroids-samus-aran-transgender-woman/
http://thefederalist.com/2015/09/11/the-contradiction-of-claiming-samus-aran-is-trans/
http://www.zeldainformer.com/articles/Why-Nintendo-and-the-Zelda-Community-Have-Sheiks-Gender-All-Wrong

Competitive

-Dominance of the female characters (ZSS, Sheik?, Bayonetta, Rosalina)

Important notes:
-Smash mixes franchises as opposed to being characters made specifically for the game. Comparable to Playstation All-Stars or UMVC3.
-Amiibos - how you have physical sculpts you can take of and train them- puts more attachment onto the characters from the audience.
-Gameplay - how it attracts a lot more casuals players as opposed to other fighting games. Easier control scheme and items.

http://gfaqssb.wikia.com/wiki/The_lack_of_diversity_in_this_game
-Fans view on the lack of diversity in Smash Bros.

http://www.hypable.com/marvels-cinematic-diversity-problem/
-Diversity lack in Marvel's Cinematic Universe.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/10/video-games-diversity-problem-runs-deeper-than-race-gender
-Lack of video game diversity. Smash is another fighting game, but is also a wacky party game bringing characters from various genres of games that has a very wide, diverse audience. Mario and Kirby attracts those who like platformers, Pokemon and Fire Emblem for the RPGs, LoZ and Metroid for action adventure, various minor characters for veterans(?), Ryu and Little Mac for the fighting game enthusiasts, Earthbound for story, Villager for the simulators (as such)


-Introduction: How Smash Bros. Wii U's character roster, whilst certainly not perfect, is more diverse then almost any other fighting game.
-Body Image and Minorities: How the characters within the game represent a large amount of minorities, and how it doesn't.
-Sexualisation: How it has dealt with sexualisation, before well and poorly, and balancing it out across genders.
-Gender: How gender is dealt with within the game, well and badly. The male default.
-Competitive: How the competitive community is dominated by the female characters, despite the gender ratio in characters, and how players playing female characters are the most loyal to their characters.
-Amiibo: How the game features a system where you can train your own fighter, and how these figurines and their function bring a new kind of bond to these characters.
-Conclusion: Why Smash Wii U has both a great diversity in characters, and how it has a bad diversity of characters, and what it could do to resolve this in future releases.


Games to compare to:
Playstation All-Stars, Soulcalibur, UVMC3

Other comparisons:
Marvel Cinematic Universe?


https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/2gcfpk/sexualization_in_gaming/

Week 24 Summary

On Monday I came in and managed to have the pillar finished off completely, with the textures applied in Unreal 4 and edited to give it a more rocky appearance, which I have since taken screenshots of. I'm very happy with it, although there was a couple of things I wanted to add to it such as some red to the damaged parts and a tear on his face, although I really don't think I have the time to worry about minute details since I have the time machine to work on. The lecture in the afternoon was another live workshop one.

On Wednesday I had a Photoshop session and we was shown more about masking which was quite fun, as well as layer styles. I'm enjoying these little Photoshop sessions as I'm learning more things I didn't know, and I know these will all be helpful for the future, in anything I do within the program.

The session on Thursday I started creating my time machine, which is a robotic woman. I have created most of the torso and head in ZBrush, and later on on Thursday I managed to finish the arms and begin working on the cables coming out of her back as well. The afternoon lecture was about phenomenology and thinking through senses, which was another great and interesting lecture. I also discussed some ideas for my essay with the lecturer and received some input on my ideas, to the point where I think I have a solid idea on what I want to do for my essay, so I shall be working on that during our 2 week break.

In my free time I've simply just done some more written work and finished off a couple of bits here and there, but I am slowly getting everything complete now, so hopefully over the course of the holidays, I can get a good chunk of things finished.

Pillar in Unreal 4

This is my finalised pillar inside Unreal Engine 4, with the normal map of the high poly model placed on top of the low poly. I'm very happy with how it turned out, although I think it could of gone better. Regardless though, this was the first time I've properly used ZBrush and thus I'm happy with it when seen in that light. The damage is the main problem I think, as it is not very realistic (I originally wanted to go with an almost zombie-esque look), but because I never textured it with colour this was never truly shown off. The damaged parts also look slightly pixelated, although I am unsure on whether this is due to me having to greatly increase the size of the model when bringing it into Unreal, whether the texture was too low in resolution, just how I damaged it or a mixture of any of these.

Time Machine: Iterations

Our final task for this project is to create a time machine and put it through all the processes that we've been taught throughout this project. I had a couple of ideas straight away when first thinking about this, but I wanted to create a few concepts before finalising my plan.

I created these within Photoshop and have mixed feelings about most of them. The top left design is completely uninspired and the two underneath it are supposed to be based off a random rock formation with a portal in the middle. The one to the right of those is a meant to be some kind of game console based off of the Sega Mega Drive that when you place a cartridge into it, it will transport you to that time period.

The ones I really like though, are the bottom two and the top right one. The bottom left one is loosely based off of a ball and chain that would either:

1) Transport anyone hit with it back to the time that is shown on the four dials within it.

2) Anyone attached to it is transported back to the time shown by the four dials. 

The octopus (created from a bad pun that came through my head, called the Clocktopus) follows a similar concept with the four dials which spin around inside at different angles, except you place it on the face of the person wishing to time travel.

The top right one is based off of a character concept I created a while ago, that off which is based off of characters I have made before, which were heavily inspired by Hans Bellmer's mannequin photography. They are a robot or doll-like attached to wires coming from the ceiling with a literal hourglass in their torso, and are capable of creating portals to other time periods via the sand which can be poured out of their hands.

Overall, the robot is the one I am most happy with. I want to really push myself in this final task and not only is this the most complex looking design, it would most likely require me to use ZBrush a lot more, which I want to learn more about and get more experience using. Since I also want to be a character design or concept artist, this one would be good practice for this. 

Time Machine: References

The videos below helped me figure out how do make a basic female torso and how to use ZSpheres, which lead me to making the almost the entire time machine model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvxFAlsEsLc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR3b1JfE0qc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGRFBfXZatQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWF4SKhWKfI
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/modeling-basics/masking/

Contextual Studies: Task 2

Game mechanics that compliments the story - Undertale

Undertale's story revolves around a human child having fallen into the world of monsters, and they must find their way back to the human world. Throughout your adventure, you encounter various monsters ranging from goat-like humanoids, sentient skeletons and giant armoured dogs that will commit to actions depending on how you treat other monsters. As you explore the monster world, you will come across various random encounters of monsters, with the options to kill them or befriend them, with various consequences coming from either action. Befriending them, or giving them mercy, will result in a more diverse story, new friends and ultimately a much happier atmosphere, but at the cost of no experience, meaning the further you go the harder it is to defend yourself. Killing on the other hand, grants you more experience at the cost of other monsters wanting you dead or avoiding you, diverting you away from the plot of the story and bringing forth a new one, to some degree.

Giving mercy to all of the monsters grants you the experience of encountering loveable characters and with them interacting with you like friends or even family. You begin to learn each monster's backstory and personalities, and pushes you in the direction of a rich plot. Causing mass genocide on the monster nation will twist the music to creepier proportions until the music is non-existant when every monster in the area is dead. You can feel the toll of killing each of the, ultimately, innocent creatures and watch as your character turns into a murderous psychopath that will begin choosing actions in the overworld to their own accord.

This kind of mechanic really ties in well with the story. Each action you commit to impacts the story in some way, and the monsters will also change their opinions of you accordingly. Committing good deeds will let you become attached to each character, uniting them all together into one large, happy community. Bringing the apocalypse to the monsters will bring out some of their darker sides as they try to defend themselves or their family and friends. The game is about a child's desire to get home and questioning morals in order to do this, in which the combat system delivers upon with decisions on a monsters life and the story as a whole purely within your hands, bringing a memorable experience no matter the outcome.

Contextual Studies: Task 1

For this task we was asked to look at 2 of 3 links provided in the presentation, and relate them to a game we have played.

Ways of Seeing Episode 2, by John Berger - Soulcalibur IV 

This video discusses the female nude, how in old paintings women are often painted naked, "to be put on display" as such, more of an object then an actual person, and are done so for the male audience or even for the painter's own satisfaction. This basic summary alone can be applied to a large amount of games, in fact most of them, but I want to grab some of John Berger's quotes and compare them to the video game Soulcalibur IV, a fighting game set in a fantasy, medieval time with some very questionable designs.

"You paint a naked woman, because you enjoy looking at her. You put a mirror in her hand, and call the painting 'Vanity'. Thus morally condemning the woman who's nakedness you have depicted for your own pleasure, and thus indecently, repeating the Biblical example by blaming the woman."
This is similar to the idea as a whole behind the female character designs within Soulcalibur, but with a twist on it being their figure and outfits instead. As much as some of the fans of the game can say "why is she wearing a tea towel when armour makes so much more sense", the designers depicted these characters like this for both their own pleasure, and for the pleasure of the male audience. A large number of the female cast are in outfits not even remotely ideal for combat, especially that involving bladed weaponry. Only one of the female characters is armoured out of the fifteen playable with a couple more having some sort of armour like a gauntlet or shin guards, a large contrast to the larger male roster who are all armoured to some degree, and when armour is not involved then they have clothing that covers up most of their body (however a good portion of the men are shirtless). In fact, the only male character who obviously looks sexualised is the character Voldo, an man in his fifties in BDSM gear who's dialogue consists entirely of weird groaning and moaning, and even then this character is considered more of a creature and weird joke.

"Most nudes in oil paintings, have been lined up by their painters for the pleasure of the male spectator owner, who will assess and judge them as sights."
The female characters are judged by some of the male audience and will be liked purely by sight, as an object, as opposed to their actual personalities or play styles. Their designs will play on this for the pleasure of the spectator.

"Those who are not judged beautiful, are not beautiful. Those who are, are given the prize. The prize is to be owned, that is to say, to be available."
This is included within the designs of this game. The female characters are all depicted as small, thin, young and pretty with large breasts and/or hips, considered the 'standard of beauty', where as the male characters have a bit more diversity, ranging from huge, monstrous creatures, massive beings of pure muscle and old, powerful men. There are no monstrous female characters because it would not appeal to a male audience as much. 

"...but the way her body is arranged has nothing to with that kissing. Her body is arranged in the way it is to display to the man looking at the picture. The picture is made to appeal to his sexuality, it has nothing to do with her sexuality."
This is played to some degree within the official artwork of the game. Most of the men are drawn battle ready, poised to strike or showing off their power. Whilst this is the same for a good portion of the artwork for the female characters, they are drawn in ways that show off their bodies as well. The breasts or buttocks are in pure sight to the viewer, the angles or poses showing them off (although the clothing does not help their case either), almost bringing those to the centre of attention. A couple of them are even drawn in a pose that does not make them look battle ready and shows off a more innocent demeanour. 

"...For a similar reason, women in the European art of the oil painting, are seldom shown dancing, they have to be shown languid, exhibiting a minimum of energy. They are there to feed an appetite, not to have any of their own."
This is another one that can be applied but not to the full extent that Berger meant. Most of the male characters have artwork that either looks like they are in motion; about to swing their blades or strike down on a foe, or are in a powerful or confident pose that shows off a calmer or more passive personality. The female characters however, whilst some do look like they are in motion, overall have more static artwork. Most of them have poses that would not be ideal in combat, or even hint towards combat at all, and instead have been done to feed the male appetite. 

"The nude in European oil painting is usually presented as an ideal subject....."
I think this can be applied to the female characters when compared to the males within Soulcalibur IV. Most of the men's designs seem to make sense, being large beasts, armoured warriors or at least clothed to a standard that can make sense, where as the female characters have designs that deliver heavy fan service to the male audience instead of making sense, showing them off more as sexual objects then actual people, and almost all of them have that 'ideal' body typically depicted throughout the media.

http://soulcalibur.wikia.com/wiki/File:Soul_Calibur_IV_All_Character.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1GI8mNU5Sg&list=PLlhSx0L1hpaGKfq1qXe1vWUhG1EgIN9Yf&index=2






http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED335262

Contextual Studies: 1

Pillar creation

My pillar was first created in Maya, where I used a cylinder for the base and extruded it multiple times and edited the scaling of parts to eventually create the base. The main body was created with a flattened cylinder, the middle part towards the bottom was deleted and the remaining parts bits the bridged together to create the legs. The head was created with a simple sphere that was then bridged to the torso after a few faces were deleted. The hat was created from a cylinder extruded a couple of times, with the long extension upwards also being an extrude. 

Once this was done I exported it into ZBrush as a tool. I did not create the eyes and arms in Maya as I felt it would be a lot easier to make within ZBrush. I started off by subdividing the model a few times in order to make is smoother, and then I added damage to it by using the brush

Week 23 Summary

During our lecture this week (which was another live workshop) we was told we ideally should have this pillar done by this Friday, which would of been nice to have known earlier but I guess it did kickstart me into doing more work. We was also told that we needed it to be imported into Unreal Engine, even though this was initially stated as a goal and not an actual requirement.

On Thursday we had another simple drop-in-like session but we was shown about a coding script that allowed us to harden UV edges easily, which was very useful. The afternoon lecture focused on game mechanics and how they could be used as a metaphor or have some meaning to them, which was incredibly interesting and I really liked this lecture once again.

In my free time, I managed to get my pillar from being in the initial stages of the low poly, to having it finished, UV mapped, baked and the model imported into Unreal itself, with the only thing left to do is apply the texture map to it. I did this mostly by coming in on Tuesday and staying behind until late into the evening on Monday and Thursday in order to properly concentrate on it with no distractions and so I could use all the programs I needed. I also managed to do some more of the written aspects of the work, and overall I think this week has been hugely successful, I just wish I spent more of my weeks working as hard as this.

Week 22 Summary

On Monday we had a lecture similar to the last one, where it was another live workshop and I feel the same about it as I did last week: a few useful parts that made it useful overall.

On Wednesday I had a life drawing session focusing on fantasy, so the models dressed up in medieval style clothes with weaponry, which was pretty good and very different from the usual, but once again my drawings were not finished, but it was still very enjoyable.

Thursday was just another simple drop-in-like session similar to last week, but we was given a slight recap on how to bake a model. This was very helpful with re-jogging my memory on it, and I managed to get notes written up on anything I did not already know. In the afternoon we had a lecture about gender and intersectionality, which was incredibly interesting and I really liked it. It was very informative and has really gotten me into the idea of writing this essay which we have to write, although I'm not sure what to actually write about at the moment.

In my own time I've UV mapped the Hydra Splatling model I made and have continued working on my pillar to the point where I have decimated the model and am ready to take it into Maya and begin turning it into the low poly model.

Life Drawing 6

My life drawing session today was quite a bit different to previous sessions, as we had two models and a fantasy theme to it by having them dress as medieval characters. 

These are the first drawings I did. Each one was 12 minutes long and it's blatantly obvious that I was drawing to slowly, but I am happy with a couple of them despite this. They were done on what was called 'cheap paper' and were mostly drawn in charcoal, although the first one was done in pencil.

This last drawing was a 45 minute drawing which went by surprisingly quickly. Again I did not finish it but funnily enough I was a lot closer to finishing it then any of the others. This was done in a mixture of white chalk for the highlights and the charcoal for the shadows.