Time machine help

http://polycount.com/discussion/138413/how-to-create-roughness-map-in-photoshop

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.