Research: Duck-Billed Platypus

By Stuart Brown

After looking into the Duck-billed Platypus, I have found they are even more unique than I originally thought. They are often described as a mixture of a duck (the webbed feet and beak) the beaver (the fatty tail) and an otter (body and fur.) They are one of the only mammals that lay eggs, and the males have poisonous spurs on the hind legs, which would cause extreme pain for humans and kill anything the size of the average dog or smaller. They are native to Australia and as they hunt underwater, they often live in burrows by riverbeds. They also have extremely sensitive beaks, for which they use to hunt. Strange as this may sound, they close their eyes and don't use their sense of smell to hunt. Their beaks have 'electroreceptors' that pick up prey almost like a sixth sense, and as they have no teeth, they have been known to pick up gravel to 'chew' their food.

Looking at this kind of creature, I have decided that in relation to reflect the actual animal the character should be wacky.  At the moment I'm thinking aborigine, as this is also soley related to Australia and could convey the wackiness well, I will however keep my mind open and explore a wide variety of options. Here is a Moodbard of the creature, so I can bear in mind the atmosphere it gives when looking into other research for the character I will design.

Raccoons by Callum Brown

Raccoons are small Mammals having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in) and a body weight of 3.5 to 9 kg (8 to 20 lb). The raccoons most obvious features are the striped tail, extremely dexterous paws and facial mask which are themes in many native american tribes, including 'having natural spirit powers, due to the mask' and 'playing the trickster, outsmarting wolves and coyotes'. Raccoons are also incredibly intelligent, being able to remember the solution to a task for up to three years and in studies were able to open 11 of 13 complex locks in under 10 tries, They are great adapters, usually residing in deciduous and mixed forests, they have also been known to  live in mountainous areas and coastal marshes, and most commonly known scavenge in human populated urban areas. Although they live in north america, due to escapes and deliberate introductions they now live in areas across Europe, Japan, Caucasus area and there have been sightings in Australia.

Thought to be solitary, they also have gender-specific social behaviour, related females share and area, whilst non-related males can live in groups of up to four males to maintain their position against other males. In captivity they have been known to live to up to 20 years, yet in the wild only last to 1.8 - 3.1 years old. 

Raccoons have an incredible sense of touch, they are able to distinguish whole objects without touching them due to their whiskers, studies have shown that they can distinguish an opaque box with 2 or 4 grapes from one containing 3. With their broad auditory range they can can hear earthworms underground. 'Almost two-thirds of the area responsible for sensory projection in the raccoon's cerebral cortex is specialised for the interpretation of tactile impulses, more than in any other studied animal.' meaning they have quick thinking and a very fast reaction time.

So far I think the features such as tricksy, masked, intelligent with breaking locks, escapes, quick thinking with fast reaction times, scavengers, and males living in 'gangs' all points to the description of a western bandit, but the native american tales of a masked animal with natural 'super-powers' and fending for themselves only to survive points to a more heroic, Robin-Hood / Lone Ranger / Zorro figure. 

I have created a mood board below to influence my research and character design.

Game Art and Machinima Research: Inspirational Films

By Meg Sugden
After looking at a number of different games that inspired me during this project I also wanted to look a few films that not only inspired me, but my team and also the character creation as well as these films are just fantastic at what they have produced. 

The Lone Ranger
The first film that I wanted to look at is The Lone Ranger by Disney. This is a fantastic film that stars Johnny Depp and Army Hammer playing Tonto and the Lone Ranger as they roam around the barren western lands in adventures, searching for the outlaw Butch Cavendish, who's killed John's brother. The whole setting for the film is really nice as we are looking at western's ourselves and want to be able to get this theme across, which a slight hint of crime detective at the same time. The film as a whole is really nice to look at as it shows this vast land, that doesn't have a lot in, but at the same time who it can include so much drama. This is a really nice film to look at for inspirational settings, and although we already have our initial idea about where we want the cut scene to be set, the idea of the environment could be changed slightly and fitted into something based off this film; for example based on a train, in a cave or in a small town or Indian/Australian settlement.

Pirates of the Caribbean
The next film that I wanted to look at is Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. This again is another fantastic film, again starring Johnny Depp along with Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly. The reason I wanted to look at this film is obviously not for the setting or environment, but for the characters. The characters that are portrayed in the film are absolutely brilliant  and all have there own unique characters in which inspiration can be taken from any, but no one could be the wicked charm of Captain Jack Sparrow. Throughout the design of our character it could be seen that his influence will be included as he is such an iconic character that has such a unique personality; managing to captivate people and make them question everything he does because it is so bizarre, but really works well and I can definitely see influence into our own character, especially the duck-billed platypus.

Kung-Fu Panda
Probably one of the biggest influences from film for us as a group is Kung-Fu Panda. With an all-star cast Kung-Fu Panda is an exceptional film and of such a high comedy value that it stands up above most other animated comedy's. It takes everything and every joke to the next level, but does it in a way that never fails to make you laugh, no matter how many times you've seen it, and this is what we aim to achieve with our own cut scene. This film has a very simple concept of a rather overweight panda trying to learn kung-fu after being selected as the Dragon Warrior and it follows his journey in doing so. Like a lot of the games that I have been looking at this film features anthropomorphism, something that we want to feature in our own cut scene, and this is one of the few films that really works while doing this. The character all have there own unique personalities and wear clothes relating to who they are, usually Asian themed as they live there, but they all reflect the individual personalities of the character present and is a huge influence to our own cut scene.

Game Art and Machinima: Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts

By Meg Sugden
The next game that I wanted to look at was Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts which is a 3rd in the series from the first game Banjo-Kazooie brought out in 1998, and the sequel Banjo-Tooie in 2000. This game, released in 2008, is set eight years after the events of the second game in which Gruntilda's body was destroyed. Eight years later, when the pair are eating pizza and playing video games when Gruntilda's head returns to Spiral Mountain. They are about to fight when they are stopped by the Lord of Games. He settles the conflict through a series of tasks by which the Lord of Games sets and he gives Gruntilda a body and restores the pairs fitness as the years haven't been kind to them. 

The character of Banjo and Kazooie are brilliant, just like they were in the previous games, but this time they look a lot nicer with better graphics, but they do look slightly more blocky than before. The initial idea behind the game was to originally just have a bear who wore a backpack and when he needed to glide wings came out of it and feet when he needed to run faster. This seemed like a strange concept, and a little bit Inspector Gadget-y, so it was decided that he would have a bird, his friend Kazooie, in there instead, which worked really well. This then created humour between the two and they could bounce things off each other and work together which was a nice prospect. The thing that I like about the character is not only that he has human anatomy so that he walks on two legs and performs human activities but the fact that they are designed so well. Banjo has a unique look to him that works really well and the fact that he wears yellow trousers gives him a little bit of character as well as personality.

Then there are the environments, which are all gorgeous. They have a really nice uniqueness about them that wasn't featured in the previous game, and is the fact that a lot of the environments look like  a patch-work quilt. They are formed out of lots of different things, mostly pieces of metal and are so vibrant and colourful and look incredible. Then there are the objects that feature in the levels which all look fantastic as well, especially the trees and clouds which are balls of metal attached together. They look great even though very cartoony, but this works with the rest of the designs. All of the different environments that the pair visit are beautifully designed and feature vast worlds to explore either on foot or by your vehicle. Due to the nature of the game being about nuts and bolts, steam punk is a heavy feature and there are so many areas that have huge cogs and wheels working away in the background which offer beautiful views to look at and a break from exploring.

The cuts scenes that the game has to offer are not all that great though. The one nice thing about them though is that they do appear to have been created using the in-game engine, making them the same quality as the rest of the game, ensuring that the gameplay graphics do not look worse than the cut scenes. But this is probably the only good thing, the cut scenes give information on the story and give little character development but not much more. The opening cut scene gives a nice insight into the first level as it does a nice pan around but it just tells the story of what has happened in the previous games, so it isn't worth looking into them anymore.

Game Art and Machinima Research: Super Mario Galaxy

By Meg Sugden
The last game that I wanted to look at was Super Mario Galaxy. This is an original Mario game, but one of the newest ones that has come out. Mario is invited to the Star Festival by Princess Peach when its invaded by Bowser and Peach's entire castle is removed and taken into space. Mario's rescue mission fails but he is met by an enchantress named Rosaline and her companions, the Lumas, and they help him get back on track. Mario's mission is to find all the missing Power Stars, that Bowser has stolen, so to get power back in the observatory in order to be able to fly it to help save Princess Peach.

Mario as a character is probably one of the most famous ones in gaming history and has such an iconic look to him and will also be known as having that same look. Although in this game he does have the ability to turn into other outfits the most common being a bee, which he wears to perform different movements in order to reach higher places in some levels that require it. Due to the fact the Mario is such a well known and iconic character makes him so good to look at. The reason that I wanted to look at him is because we want to be able to make a well known character like this, and be able to do it successfully so that when just looking at the character or its silhouette you know who it is. 

Next the environments are all beautiful. They are really well designed and each one is unique and works well with the rest of the designs in the game. Like Mario they are very cartoony looking, taking the same aesthetic style that is used in many other Mario games and keeping it, even though this one is set in space. The environments vary in size and design as Mario travels through the worlds and they look really nice. You almost connect with each environment as they is so much to interact with and do in each place and a lot of the gameplay involves re-visiting each place so you get to know the area so well. Finally the actual design of them is just so nice to look at, they are very bright and colourful and never fail to look amazing.

Game Art and Machinima Research: The Simpsons: Hit and Run

By Meg Sugden
The next game that I wanted to look at was The Simpons: Hit and Run. This is obviously based off the cartoon comedy TV series The Simpsons and features the family as strange incidents begin to occur around Springfield. There are mysterious black vans and wasp cameras and at the same time a new brand of cola and video game. The town appears to be fine but as Homer and the family dig a little deeper things aren't as they seem on the outside. It's actually a really nice story that features cameo's from nearly every Simpsons character ever created and works well as a comedy game, although it probably could have been funnier and included more in-jokes from the series and not just random lines every now and again.

The characters that are featured are all well modeled but it is quite strange seeing them in 3D, a much similar game, The Simpsons game, which is based off the 2007 film, as they are kept in this sort of 2D, 2.5D which works well. The 3D does work okay but it is still strange as it is very blocky but it does try to remain in the cartoon world which does work. The characters themselves are clearly recognisable as the characters from the TV series which is good but they are quite strange still. The nature of the 3D makes the characters modeling lines become very visible, especially in Marge's hair, but that aside the characters work well and do include the necessary detail to easily know who they are, especially if you just see them walking down the street.

Next, in terms of the environment, they are very good and vary throughout each playable character. In each level the environments are changed to give the player a insight into every part of Springfield in an open world, 'sand box, type of game, much like the Grand Theft Auto series. The vast layout of each level has a lot of detail in each of them and there are a lot of details in the world that relate to the the TV series which is nice to see, and the layout of each level and the entire world is pretty close to how it would actually be, but on a slightly smaller scale. The environments themselves fit well with the rest of the game and characters and use bright and bold colours which are very appealing to the audience which will be children and teenagers mostly. This is the kind of bright and vibrant colours that we want to go towards ourselves.

Lastly the cut scenes that are used in the game are all brilliant and relate well to the Simpsons world. The cut scenes are all very comical and fit in well with the personality of the game and the cartoon nature of it. The voice acting is also superb, matching the actually voices well and taking elements from the actual TV show in the cut scenes. When looking into them a bit more they show promise for influence over ours as this is the same style that we are hoping to achieve. By looking at these we are able to see how the cartoon looking models can be easily turned into something great and by being combined with environments and cut scenes that work really well together we can easily get a brilliant looking game that will help aid our own project.

Game Art and Machinima Research: Super Mario Galaxy

By Meg Sugden
The last game that I wanted to look at was Super Mario Galaxy. This is an original Mario game, but one of the newest ones that has come out. Mario is invited to the Star Festival by Princess Peach when its invaded by Bowser and Peach's entire castle is removed and taken into space. Mario's rescue mission fails but he is met by an enchantress named Rosaline and her companions, the Lumas, and they help him get back on track. Mario's mission is to find all the missing Power Stars, that Bowser has stolen, so to get power back in the observatory in order to be able to fly it to help save Princess Peach.

Mario as a character is probably one of the most famous ones in gaming history and has such an iconic look to him and will also be known as having that same look. Although in this game he does have the ability to turn into other outfits the most common being a bee, which he wears to perform different movements in order to reach higher places in some levels that require it. Due to the fact the Mario is such a well known and iconic character makes him so good to look at. The reason that I wanted to look at him is because we want to be able to make a well known character like this, and be able to do it successfully so that when just looking at the character or its silhouette you know who it is. 

Next the environments are all beautiful. They are really well designed and each one is unique and works well with the rest of the designs in the game. Like Mario they are very cartoony looking, taking the same aesthetic style that is used in many other Mario games and keeping it, even though this one is set in space. The environments vary in size and design as Mario travels through the worlds and they look really nice. You almost connect with each environment as they is so much to interact with and do in each place and a lot of the gameplay involves re-visiting each place so you get to know the area so well. Finally the actual design of them is just so nice to look at, they are very bright and colourful and never fail to look amazing.

Game Art and Machinima Research: Croc: Legend of the Gobbos

By Meg Sugden 
The next game that I wanted to look at is Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, a game released for PlayStation in 1997. Its an interesting game that follows Croc, a baby crocodile who is found in a basket in the lake by Gobbo King Rufus who takes him and trains him to be one of their own, but Croc grows and becomes a lot bigger. One day the Gobbo Island is invaded by Baron Dante and imprisons many of the Gobbos until finally the King. It is then up to Croc to save the day and defeat Baron Dante and save all the Gobbos in the kingdom.

The basic character of Croc is based off a small, perhaps still a baby crocodile, but once again is set to have human qualities as he stands up on his back legs and also has a backpack that he carries everywhere with him. He is a very simple design and there isn't much to him, but this really works as there doesn't need to be. He is designed to be placed in a very simple, but still well detailed world that suits the character and the models around it. The design of the character is very similar to what we want to produce for our project as we want to create something simple but that has character in it at the same time, which I feel this one does.

Now for an early PlayStation game the amount of levels that are included are not of a huge amount but they do have variety and there are five main areas to explore which all have sub levels in that as well. The levels are based around a volcano, snow, desert, castle and then finally a crystal world extra level. The uniqueness of the levels do vary which is nice and they each have their own different platforming elements which are nice. The level design is very simple and sticks with the cartoony nature of the rest of it, linking the characters well to the environment; creating good consistency throughout the entire game.

Lastly the cut scenes that are in place in the game are very basic again and feature rarely which is good as they can distract from the game play. The quality of the cut scenes are much like the rest of the game, and although that the graphics are not exceptional they do work and have a very cartoony feel to them which works nicely throughout. The fact that there is no dialog in the cut scene, apart from the odd noise from the character and the rest of the sound effects, works really well, creating a nice atmosphere that again feels very cartoony and animated; a look that we want to go for in our own project. This is definitely something helpful to look at for our cut scene that were going to be making as we too do not want any dialog and just have sound effects, the only difference is that we are going to have a voice over instead that will do the explaining and the character will almost break the forth wall to reply to the voice in movement. 

Game Art and Machinima Research: Madagascar 3

By Meg Sugden
The next game that I wanted to look at is Madagascar 3 the video game, based off the first film that came out in 2012. The game features the four zoo animals, Marty the zebra, Alex the lion, Gloria the hippopotamus and Melman the giraffe as they continue their adventure and attempt to escape Captain Chantel DuBois and return home to New York City.

The overall character design is fairly good following the same look as the characters from the film and it is easily recognisable as to who is who. The game characters do not obviously look as well polished as the film ones but they have done a good job to give them that same cartoony look that is appealing to the child audience and others. I choose to look at the third game which came out more recently as the graphics are more polished and the characters have been given more life than the original games, something that we want to try and convey into our own characters. Although still cartoon-looking there is no blockiness to the characters any more and they have a much smoother appearance which works a lot better along with more fluid movement to them when they run. Another reason I like these characters so much is that they all have there own personalities as well and two of them do walk like humans would as well on there hind legs, again giving them that little extra special trait about them.

The environments throughout the game take you all around Europe taking you to Monte Carlo, Rome, Pisa, Paris and London before finishing the game. The places that you visit throughout the game are all very well designed and fit in the same kind of genre of cartoon so that the character appear to fit in, apart from the first level as the environment appears to look slightly more realistic than cartoony. However as soon as this level is passed the environments get better and give an essence of each city that they visit trying to get in key details that make that city famous, which really works. This is something that we will have to do in our own environment as we want to bring a little bit of Australia and what makes it famous into our level.

Lastly. the cut scenes scenes that are used throughout the game aren't particularly that exciting and are usually just tutorials about what to do next delivered by the four penguins. But however at the beginning and end of the game, and sometimes randomly in the middle there are proper cut scenes hosted by King Julian, and occasionally the two monkeys Mason and Phil, that are very humourous and use the characteristics of that person from the film to give that little bit of laughter into those scenes, something that we would like to do as well in our own cut scene. 

Game Art and Machinima Research: Rayman 2 The Great Escape

By Meg Sugden
The next game that I wanted to look at was Rayman 2: The Great Escape. This is a fantastic little game brought out in 1999 for the PlayStation. The reason that I wanted to look at this was it was one of the first games that I played and it is good to look at for this project due to the cartoon nature of the characters and how good the environment design was. The game follows Rayman adventure as Admiral Razorbeard invades the Glade of Dreans, where the game is set, along with his robot pirates from outer space. In order to fix the world Rayman must defeat the robot pirates and collect 1000 pieces of the world's core and reunite the four magical masks which will awaken the world's spirit Polokus.

Rayman as a character is a very interesting design being of slight human characteristics but them having a strange face and body shape and hands, feet and head that aren't actually attached to his body. Rayman is quite a strange creature but is quite close to a human despite having detached limbs. He also wears clothing, shoes and gloves which give him more human characteristics but plays on the fact that because his hands aren't attached to his body he can punch enemies from afar. Rayman is a very interesting design for a character and it really works as it gives him all kinds of abilities, but he is probably not going to be too helpful when it comes to designing our character as we are basing ours off an animal.

When it comes to the environments of this game they are all very beautiful even though this game came out in 1999. They are all very well designed and vary from level to level offering the player new areas to explore like the beautiful nature of the Fairy Glades down to the deep and dark caves. The whole environments are really nicely designs including just the right amount of detail that relates well to the character and the theme of the game as a whole.

The cut scenes that feature are most likely created using an in-game engine as they usually feature a static camera, words appearing at the bottom and then the characters moving around slightly and interacting with each other in just a minimal way. The fact that they look like there created in-game is actually good for us, despite the fact that these are quite low quality and don't really explain a lot or give much towards story development, as we are going to be creating a cut scene using an in-game engine on Unity. This gives us a little insight as to what they used to be like in the early era of gaming and how minimal they had to be, although there is still background detail and multiple characters in each scene and also some that are humourous. 

Game Art and Machinima Research: Over the Hedge

By Meg Sugden
The next game that I wanted to look at was Over the Hedge the video game. This is a game that follows a group of animals that live in the gardens and surroundings of a small town in America and is set a year after the 2006 film. RJ, Hammy, Verne and the rest of the gang feel that need to have more things for the log, which is there home behind the hedge so this leads to them going on an adventure to steal different items that they think could be useful such a more food, a popcorn machine and a TV. Throughout the game there is also the constant threat from the Sniffer, Dwayne the Verminator, who used mind-controlled vermin to try and capture the gang and Vincent the bear who still has a grudge against RJ from the film.

The general character look very good and are all very well designed and look how they should in terms of how they did in the film. The characters all have human qualities and walk on there back legs, something which appeals to us as we want to use this technique for our own characters as we feel that this is an interesting technique to use. The characters all have their own personalities, which are taken from the film, but portrayed very well into the game and the variation of different animals works really well as it means that they all have their own abilities and different qualities.

The environments are what really work about this game, they are very well designed and prove quite unique from each level. We see the characters venture through the suburbs of America and enter different houses, which do admittedly look pretty similar just different layouts, but then also wander the streets at night and even have adventures in the back of vans and on trains. The environments all look really nice and bright and stick with the cartoon theme that the characters use. I really like the environments and this is the kind of style that we want to portray in our own environment so that it can keep within the theme of our cartoon idea. The environments look great and there is always a lot of detail in each one to keep the player amused and this is something that we want to ensure that we have as we want to keep the audience engaged in not only what the characters are doing but also the background.

In terms of the cut scenes, they are okay but are obviously pre-rendered as they are much improved from the rest of the gameplay and include a lot more background detail and small details. This is something that we want to include, but if were making a game to go with it, we would want our cut scenes to match up with the gameplay and not make it look worse, which this kind of does. The cut scenes are good to watch, they do include humour as the game is based off a comedy film and they are fun to watch, although could be seen as skip-worthy compared to other cut scenes that I have been researching. 

Game Art and Machinima Research: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

By Meg Sugden
Probably one of the most influential games that I wanted to look at was Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus as one of the characters in our games is a raccoon. This is the first game in the original trilogy and could be seen as the best due to the unique film noir style that it created, but it was also very criticised as the game was very short. The game follows thief Sly Cooper and his friends Bentley the Turtle and Murray the Hippo as they seek out the Fiendish Five to recover his family's 'Thievius Raccoonus', which is a book with the combined list of Sly's ancestor's thieving moves. 

It's an interesting concept for a game and works well due to the fact that the star of it is a raccoon, an animal known for stealing, if not mainly food. What works well about the character is once again, like many other games I have looked at is that he uses anthropomorphism and stands, walks and talks like a human. He also wears a jumper, hat and mask, making him slightly more unique. Due to the fact that he is a black and off-white character it makes sense for him to be given this slight flash of colour on his jumper and the rich royal blue works well, especially for a thief if he is wandering the streets at night as this will help him blend in. Sly also carries around a kind of scepter that he uses in aid to get around the world he's in, which again adds to his unique look and adds yet another flash of colour, this time gold, which goes well with the blue.

All of the environments that are featured in the game are lovely looking and offer the player room for exploration. What I really like about them is that they stick well with the look of Sly himself, and the rest of the characters, and create a really nice atmosphere, especially the outside streets of Paris in the opening levels as these are gorgeous and really show an essence of the location bringing them to life with a weird effect. The effect that they used throughout is a rendering style referred to as 'Toon-Shading' and really works throughout the entire game creating film noir lighting and effects. The reason that this works so well is down to Sly being quite a mysterious character himself and this only adds to it by creating harsher lighting than would normally be present.

The cut scenes that are used in the game are quite different to normal ones. Firstly there are the cut scenes that are used at the beginning of the game and at some chapter beginnings as well which are very illustrated and have a very animated feel to them, which is a nice effect but not something I want to look at in a cut scenes. But the second type is more towards what I'm looking to achieve. They are set up using an in-game engine, which is what we are going to be producing, but then looking closer the Sly game probably isn't the best to look at for cut scenes as they aren't really that informative. They are scenes that occur when the player zooms in on a certain point that triggers it, but it is just the player looking round the scene while Bentley comes up in the bottom corner to talk to you. Aside from this there are little cut scenes which again are created in-game, but these are only short and lack imagination.