Open World Video Games: Outline

I. Introduction
   1. What are open world video games
      a. Compare to other game genres
   2. Appeal
      a. Structure
      b. Freedom of goals
      c. Game play time

II. History
   1. 1980s
      a. First game Ultima
      b. Legend of Zelda
      c. Wasteland
         i. Defined open world games
         ii. Tied with sandbox games
   2. 1999
      a. Shenmue
         i. Step forward in 3D open world gameplay

III. Current
   1. 21st Century
      a. Grand Theft Auto
         i. Cultural impact
      b. World of Warcraft 
      c. The Elder Scrolls
      d. Assassin's Creed
         i. Historical setting
      e. Watch Dogs
         i. Connect with current technology
      f. Fallout 4
      g. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

IV. Future
   1. No Man's Sky
      a. HUGE universe
      b. Procedural generation
      c. June 2016

V. Justification/Transition
   1. 2015 and 2016 marks the years of the open world genre
      a. Non-linear gameplay results in more hours
   2. Changing game design perspective
      a. Places for exploration and depth
      b. Move at own pace
      c. Digital worlds

VI. Conclusion
   1. Emerging trend
      a. Sufficient technology
   2. Game industry
      a. Racing to create larger and more comples sandboxes
   3. Gamers
      a. Just becoming popular
      b. Cultural transformation

Note:
My video plans include taping gameplay of mentioned games and having a voice-over. Also, I want to make transitions like Jess Chou (which means learning it XD) and include picture-video (like you showed us on the white board). That's all I have visual-wise, but I believe I have enough information to fill a 2 to 3 minute informational video.

Schedule - 3/14-3/18

Monday - Illustrator
Tuesday - Illustrator
Wednesday - Showed us picture video
Thursday - Illustrator
Friday - Illustrator

Production Checkpoint #3

       

Okay, so it hasn't been that long since the last production checkpoint (like 3 weeks) so... I haven't completed a piece. Last time I was in the process of fixing the lines from the image trace. Well, I finished that and started adding color. I watched a tutorial on all of the suggested color techniques for Illustrator and it was: base color, shades, and tints. Since they are all just layers, there isn't anything more than that at the stage I am in. As you can see from the progress, I haven't even touched the bottom half of the girl. I'm still adding shading in the top. I didn't really realize what I was getting myself into. It's very time consuming but I know at the end the accomplishment will be worth it.

Problems so far:
When I started filling in the lines, it wouldn't let me make individual shapes to make different colors. (Ex. the shading on the face) I was very confused. This wasn't a problem in the tutorials I watched, nor do I understand Illustrator enough to figure it out. BUT!! Thank goodness for Sovay!! She came over and fixed my problem for me, something about a fill group or something (paint group? Idk). But now whatever process I am using is working and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself.

I haven't had time to doodle like I usually do due to heavy schoolwork, so this checkpoint is going to be without my inked drawings :( However, in my animation class I did finish that project I mentioned in my last production checkpoint. I did post it on my blog but I'll put it here at the end too.
Also, we are starting a project for the NCCAS and I picked my trend: Open world video games. I have some ideas for the video (recording me playing the games and have them as the background as I talk about them, etc.) and the outline is due Monday so... we'll see how that goes.
Otherwise, that is all that is different from the last time I updated and I can't wait to see what else I can accomplish before this school year is over :)
       

Open World Video Games

Open world is a term for video games where a player can move freely through a virtual world and is given freedom in how or when to complete objectives, rather than other games with a linear structure.  Examples of high level autonomy in computer games can be found in MMORPGs or in other games with the "open world concept."  The main appeal is that they provide a simulated reality and allow players to develop their character and its behavior in the direction of their choosing.  There is also usually no concrete goal or end to the game, so you can play for as long as you want.

Open world games date back to the 1980s; the role-playing game Ultima was released in 1981 and used an over world concept, thus being cited as possibly an early open world PC game. In 1984, the first Legend of Zelda on the Nintendo was released and is considered another early example of open world. The game Wasteland, released in 1988, is another open world game. The game has an open world where the player's actions have a permanent effect, keeping areas in the state it was when the player left them. It had a non-linear game play where the player could complete quests in any order, with the quests having many possible endings. The game was also a sandbox, where the player could change the world in any way with tools like shovels. Fast forward until 1999 where the adventure game Shenmue was released. It was a major step forward for 3D open world gameplay; it had an expansive sandbox city with its own day-night cycles, changing weather, and voiced NPCs going on daily routines.

Moving on to the 21st century, the series that had the greatest cultural impact was Grand Theft Auto. Other notable examples include World of Warcraft and The Elder Scrolls game series. The popular Assassin's Creed series, which began in 2007, allows players to explore historic open world settings. Another example is Watch Dogs, where you control your surroundings with electronic devices. Recent ones include Fallout 4 and Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

A future open world game is No Man's Sky, a video game with an open world universe so gigantic it would take all of Earth's inhabitants 505 billion years to explore it all at the rate of one planet per second. According to developers, through procedural generation the game will be able to produce more than 18 quintillion planets for players to explore. It is an adventure survival video game scheduled to be released in June 2016--I'M SO EXCITED. By the way, procedural generation refers to content generated algorithmically rather than manually, and is often used to generate game levels and other content. It is an important factor in reducing game development time, and makes it possible to generate larger and seamless game worlds on the fly and using fewer resources. This is procedural generation is also called "world-building," where general rules are used to construct a believable world.


2015 and this year, perhaps more than any other, has seen more examples of the open world genre. You're more likely to ditch a linear game that done in a few hours than a open world that can take up to 100 hours or more. This change in perspective has strong implications for how we conceptualize the design and play of such games. It allows us to move away from an emphasis on filling open worlds with meaningless stuff, repetitive experiences, and canned encounters. Freed from those constraints, developers can focus on crafting places for exploration and depth. Also, you move at your own pace and when you leave, you come back at the same point. Digital worlds have the ability of standing the test of time. 

This is an emerging trend because, while they've been around for a while, there is now only sufficient technology to create an open world of a massive size. As consoles, PCs and other gaming devices become more powerful, developers are poised to make the open world game the defining genre of this generation. In recent years, a kind of open world fever has gripped the gaming industry as it races to create ever-larger and more complex sandboxes for us to play in. Not only that, it is just becoming popular with gamers. We're in the midst of a wider cultural transformation, one that has people embracing sandbox games like never before. Gone is the first-person-shooter, point-and-click, or simulation games--it's all about the sandbox world now.

Schedule - 3/7-3/11

Monday - NCCAS Assessment Project
Tuesday - Line Art
Wednesday - Line Art
Thursday - Trend Research
Friday - Shortened period - Line Art

Character Animation

This is the second practice making actions for a model. I created six actions in all for Sintel to perform.

Trend: Open World Video Games

Open world is a term for video games where a player can move freely through a virtual world and is given freedom in how or when to complete objectives, rather than other games with a linear structure.  Examples of high level autonomy in computer games can be found in MMORPGs or in other games with the "open world concept."  The main appeal is that they provide a simulated reality and allow players to develop their character and its behavior in the direction of their choosing.  There is also usually no concrete goal or end to the game, so you can play for as long as you want.
Open world games date back to the 1980s, but 2001's Grand Theft Auto III set the standard, one that has been expanded upon by games such as Assassin's Creed to Minecraft. 2015 and this year, perhaps more than any other, has seen more examples of the genre. You're more likely to ditch a linear game that done in a few hours than a open world that can take up to 100 hours or more.
This is an emerging trend because, while they've been around for a while, there is now only sufficient technology to create an open world of a massive size.  Not only that, it is just becoming popular with gamers. Gone is the first-person-shooter, point-and-click, or simulation games--it's all about the sandbox world now.

Layering - Robert Silvers

 

Schedule - 2/29-3/4

Monday 2/29 - Illustrator
Tuesday 3/1 - Illustrator
Wednesday 3/2 - Illustrator
Thursday 3/3 - Illustrator
Friday 3/4 - Illustrator