design journal 1.0
1.0 Call for Posters
4.0 Establishing Shot
Design a poster that clearly illustrates our initial responses and thoughts on the major themes of our thesis and design projects for the year.
The initial film project for the year. Setting up ‘Our Canvey Island’ the environment and tone of the project in a short film.
Key Pages - 3DS Max skills development - Thesis themes - Evolving ideas from first year
LONCON POSTER SITE PLAN
Key Pages - Compsiting scene creation - Colour grading - Chronogram development
THESIS DIAGRAM PROJECT TIMELINE
2.0 Canvey Island
5.0 Game Board Design
Canvey Island, a small community and area in the estuary of the Thames forms the initial site and starting point of departure for our main designs.
An initial formal game board will form the catalyst for the rest of the design. The game board will evolve over time and certain key stages will be developed in detail.
Key Pages - Site Photographs - Site Scale Comparisons
Key Pages - Initial form development - First stage board detailing - Materials and construction
AZAD - PROPOSAL AD HOC - 01
DESIGN JOURNALS
contents
AD HOC - 02 AD HOC - 03
LARGE DRAWINGS AD HOC - 04 AD HOC - 05
3.0 Precedents, Reading & Research
6.0 Ad Hoc Evironment
A growing documentation of various sources, inspiration in relation to thesis, themes, games and play.
The first stage of the island will develop in a similar way to festival and ad-hoc environments, springing up between the existing site, focussed mainly around the disused industrial environment.
Key Pages - Thesis precedents - Film & game inspiration - Game research and reading - Science fiction links
Key Pages - Film scene creation - Individual element modelling
GAME BOARD - 01 GAME BOARD - 02 CHRONOGRAM 01 CHRONOGRAM 02
1.0 call for posters
city scene - gameboard
city scene - wireframe
city scene - materials and light
city scene - shadows & depth
city scene - initial night composite
1.1 Scripting a city in 3DStudio Max Builddng Generator is a free plugin script for 3DStudio Max which when run gives you the GUI seen here. There is a vast amount of customization possible to the buildings, allowing changes to the floor heights, number of floors, balcony details, window details, ledges, doors, roof accessories. The level of detail created in the buildings is very very good, but it does result in extremely high polygon models which makes the file very slow to navigate round and render times are very long. Still it was important to experiment and learn new techniques in the software. Images 01-04 show both the wireframe edged model and an ambient occlusion render of the buildingsg. Both show the amount of detail and precision that is possible with this script. Image 05 hows the first page of the script GUI, there are 5 pages in total giving the full optimaization choices.
1.2 Sculpting chess pieces In order to practice some close scale modelling in 3DStudio as well as the larger landscaping and to start developing some augmented games pieces which could potentially form part of my main design projects. It was important to learn and practice my skills early on in the year so that I am not restricted in what I want to achieve later on in the year. The images 01-03 show an iterative process of how a simple cylinder becomes the bishop chess piece. Image 04 is a final image of the detailed augmented games piece which I developed for the poster. The piece represents the traditional strategy associated with games like chess, alongside new digital and virtual overlays such as gps tracking and navigation systems.
2.0 canvey island
1.1 Site Photographs
1.5 Initial Site Focus Grasping the scale of the project is quite difficult to do so I intend to approach it from two distinct angles, one micro, looking at sepcific sites across the island, and one mega, looking at the overal island as a city scape. As a point of departure, I am focussing on the disused industrial area as a catalyst site for the wider project. It is the sort of space that would be colonised by ‘games makers’ as it already provides such a rich and playful landscape.
1.2 Map of Entertainment & Leisure
1.4 Regeneration Plans The ‘Game’ of Canvey Island has in fact already been played by a small group of the local councillors as they looked to regenerate parts of the island. They printed out a map of the island with a standard games grid over the top, and in true Monopoly style then began to populate the island with jobs, residential & commercial blocks. The idea was to play a number of scenarioes which would allow the councillors to observe the reprocussions of certain moves and their effects on the overall island.
DUTCH VILLAGE
BRICK HOUSE FARM
DISUSED INDUSTRIAL SITE
THE LOBSTER SMACK HOLE HAVEN DEADMANS POINT
1.3 Site Model
MARSHES NEWLANDS
YACHT CLUB
AY
N PARK
OYSTER CREEK
AMUSEMENT ARCADE (OLD CASINO SITE)
3.0 precedents, reading & research
ONE KEY COLOUR ACCENTED, FANTASY WORLD
EXAGGERATED DETAILS, LIGHTS AND GLOWS
ONE KEY COLOUR AND TONAL PALETTE FOR SPECIFIC SPACES
VIBRANT DETAILS, MONOCHROME PALETTE
DESATURATED BACKGROUND, SATURATED HIGHLIGHTS
ALICE IN WONDERLAND -PLAYFUL SPACES FULL OF INTRIGUE
ASSASSINS CREED - SATURATED FOREGROUND, MONOTONAL
GTA V - SUNSET COLOURATION, DETAILED FOREGROUND
CALL OF DUTY - AD HOC SCENEY, SATURATED FOREGROUND
BLAST THEORY - I’D HIDE YOU - GAMES IN THE REAL WORLD
FACTORY FIFTEEN - JONAH - LIVELY ATMOSPHERE, LIGHTS
BLAST THEORY - CAN YOU SEE ME NOW - AUGMENTED REALITY
SABAAC - STAR WARS HIGH STAKES CARD GAME
THE MIND GAME - ENDERS GAME MILITARY TRAINING:ALTERNATE REALITIES
ESCHATON - INFINITE JEST COMPLEX MATHEMATICAL WORLD DOMINATION
DAMAGE - CONSIDER PHLEBAS CARD GAME WITH EMOTION ALTERING DRUGS
THUD, THE WALL GAME - DISCWORLD BOARD GAME, GIANTS GAME
AZAD, POSSESSION, STRICKEN - THE PLAYER OF GAMES
CYVASSE - GAME OF THRONES BOARD GAMES, SIMILARITIES TO CHESS
DOM JOT, KADIS KOT, DABO - STAR TREK PLAYED ON A TABLE LIKE BILLIARDS
VARIOUS BOARD GAMES
BUILDING STORIES - CHRIS WARE BUILDING STORIES FOLLOWS THE INHABITANTS OF A THREE-FLAT
CHICAGO APARTMENT HOUSE: A THIRTY-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WHO HAS YET TO FIND SOMEONE WITH WHOM TO SPEND THE REST OF HER LIFE; A COUPLE WHO WONDER IF THEY CAN BEAR EACH OTHER’S COMPANY FOR ANOTHER MINUTE; AND FINALLY AN ELDERLY WOMAN WHO NEVER MARRIED AND IS THE BUILDING’S LANDLADY...’
SHIP OF THESEUS - V.M.STRAKA - JJ ABRAMS & DOUG DORST ONE BOOK. TWO READERS. A WORLD OF MYSTERY, MENACE AND DESIRE. A WOMAN PICKS UP A BOOK LEFT BEHIND BY A STRANGER. INSIDE IT, HIS MARGIN NOTES, WHICH REVEAL A READER ENTRANCED BY THE STORY AND BY ITS MYSTERIOUS AUTHOR. SHE RESPONDS, LEAVING THE BOOK FOR THE STRANGER, AND SO BEGINS AN UNLIKELY CONVERSATION THAT PLUNGES THEM BOTH INTO THE UNKNOWN.
FLUXUS BOX - GEORGE MACIUNAS 1967
BOITE EN VALISE - MARCEL DUCHAMP 1935-1940
GREEN BOX - MARCEL DUCHAMP
TABLE TOP GAMES COMPENDIUM
THE BRIDE STRIPPED BARE BY HER BACHELORS EVEN
COLLECTION OF VARIOUS SMALL GAMES
HERE IS MY WORLD, I’M THE NARRATOR,YOU’RE LISTENING
HERE IS MY WORLD, I’M THE NARRATOR BUT I’M LISTENING TO YOU
MOST FANTASY LITERATURE
& FILM
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
HEROES
HELLO LAMPOST
IN ARCHITECTURE A PROJECT THAT RAN IN BRISTOL OVER THE SUMMER WHERE THE CREATORS MADE A SYSTEM IN WHICH THE LAMPOSTS/POSTBOXES COULD RESPOND TO A TEXT MESSAGE, BUT THE KEY THING WAS THEY LEARNED FROM EACH CONVERSATION, PASSING ON INFORMATION TO THE NEXT PERSON
THE WRITERS USED INFORMATION ON THE FANS WIKI SITE TO INFORM LATER SEASONS OF THE SHOW
THE PARTICIPATION CONTINUUM BRIAN SETH HURST
WIKIPEIDIA
WORLD OF WARCRAFT
BLACK ROCK CITY
AN EXTENSIVE SERIES OF ‘HACK’
AN INITIAL PRESCRIPTIVE SET OF
WRITERS, DESIGNERS AND FANS
WORLDS AND CITIES ARE
RULES AND LAYOUT IS PLACED
CREATED MECHANDISE, NOVELS,
ACCESIBLE WITHIN THE WORLD
SUPERNATURAL
DOWN, AND THEN THE PEOPLE
DRAWINGS FROM THE SHOW
COME TOGETHER TO BUILD THE CITY
DESIPITE NOT BEING INVOLVED IN ITS
AND PROVIDE THE SERVICES
PRODUCTION AT ALL
HERE IS MY WORLD, COME IN AND LETS COLLABORATE AND BUILD IT TOGETHER
MINECRAFT
LEGO
HERE IS MY WORLD, IT’S YOURS
GAME AND GAMER TYPES ...to enable me to understand how people would interact with an entirely gaming world i looked into how existing gamers interact with the main game types to understand the needs of the world and enable me to determine program. This table shows recongised ‘types’ of both gamer and game and plots how each type would interact with each other. I hope to use this table to develop an ‘architecture’ for each game type...
CONQUEROR
MANAGER
PARTICIPANT
WANDERER
HOARDER
THRILLER
ZONER
MONSTER
CREATOR
ACTION
ADVENTURE
PUZZLE
ROLE PLAYING
SIMULATION
STRATEGY
4.0 establishing shot
WARM
MIAMI
WARM BIRD
GLAMOUR GOLD
ROMANCE
GRAD SUNSET
REDSCALE
WARM & FUZZY
LAYERS OF IMAGE
WORKSPACE
3.1 After Effects Compositing My entire project is set up in the realm of 2.5D in After Effects which allows me to use 2D images and creath a depth to them to allow a camera to move slightly to imitate a camera in 3D space.This is a skill I developed last year and am hoping to push forward this year. One of the new tactics I am employing at the moment is ‘precomposing’ the camera movement, then tracking it, as though it were real footage, to then allow me to composite small animations into it.
3.2 Chronogram/Diagram Development My initial approach to the chronogram has remained throughout the development of the various stages. I envisaged a mega drawing which would show a timeline of the construction of the game board, from its first iteration as a simple armature and single game hub, through the the self supporting and sustaining city sized environment at the end.
3.3 CHRONOGRAM COMPOSITION
5.0 game board design
NATURAL PRECEDENT STUDIES
LEVELS AND HIGH/LOW TRAVERSING IS SOMETHING RELATED TO A LOT OF VIDEO GAMES. IT CAN BE SEEN IN MANY FORMS, SIMPLE AS SUPER MARIO BROS JUMPS UP AND DOWN OVER PLATFORMS, COMPLEX LEVELS AND ABILITIES IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT AND GENERAL FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS WHERE YOU COMPLETE A SERIES OF TASKS IN ORDER TO UNLOCK A NEW LEVEL. I AM INTERESTED IN HOW THIS IS MANIFESTED IN THE NATURAL WORLD, HENCE THE STUDIES OF CLIMBING FUNGI, AND HOW THESE THEMES CAN BE TRANSLATED INTO AN ARCHITECTURE
NATURAL PRECEDENT STUDIES
CENTRAL VIEWING GALLERY
SAFE HOUSE START POINTS
4.1 Starter Chip / Safe Houses
SAFE HOUSES VIEW POINTS
SPECTATOR GALLERY COMPETITOR RING
COMPETITOR RING
SPECTATOR GALLERY
VIEW POINTS SAFE HOUSES
My initial approach to the design of the game board/space is that it will initially take the form of a temporary scaffold with one quite formal intervention whcih forms the ‘start or safe’ point for the first game. I imagine the first game to be based loosely around childhood games of ‘forty forty in’ and ‘tag’. A game of chase and strategy along a huge armature based within the existing playground of the disused industrial site.
4.2 Starter Chip v.2 - growth stage 1 As the game and the city begin to develop and expand, so does the initial intervention piece. The game becomes more complex and so the players have different needs resulting in new programs being required within the game board itself. The community expand the architecture to augment the existing spaces and add new spaces. Satellite hubs begin to spring up through out the board and new links are forged providing new levels.
HOTEL
CHAMPAGNE BAR AND TERRACE
EXTENDED SAFE HOUSE
SAFE HOUSES
EXTENDED SAFE HOUSE
ADDITIONAL CIRCULATION
PERMANENT RESIDENCES
4.2 Starter Chip v.3 - growth stage 2 As the game reaches a more permanent state and new mini games and pervasive games start to become prevalent. At this point the architecture has become vastly changed, providing the needs and programs for an entire population to exist entirely in the game.
5.4
Game Board Armature / Scaffold
As the first inhabitants of my game world arrive and begin to set up the spaces and game boards it is clear that the first iteration is something that is initially temporary, lightweight and easy to build, hence its basis being formed on a simple scaffold. Platforms, levels, stairs and routes are then added to enable a vertical game of ‘chase’ or ‘tag’ to be played with ease. It is in some of these elements that the ad hoc nature of the game board begins to show itself, and provides the space for the inhabitants to create new routes and problems changing and developing the space at the same time as the game.
6.0 ad hoc design
6.1 DESIGN & MODELLING OF SIGNS
ALPHA
RAW RENDER
COLOUR TONING