Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
G e t t I n G I n t o C h a r a C t e r C o n C e P t W o r k (Continued)
animations for button pushes. Intro jobs may also include development of
assets (creating art for interfaces or cleaning up art that is already in the
pipeline). There are also entry-level positions for audio, level design, world
building, game writing, coders, and content design. Most of these areas
require some concept work; however, the majority of entry-level jobs have
the person matching to existing styles. In other words, most people begin
by working with existing styles and working as part of the team while they
learn the ropes.
There tends to be a great deal of 3D modeling work as well. A good entry-
level position can involve working on cleaning up existing models, adding
rigging, or painting textures.
One of the first things you want to consider when developing characters is
how immersive a game will be. Extremely immersive games have a tendency
to allow players to form a deeper emotional attachment to their characters.
Successful screenwriters and novelists challenge themselves to write characters
that the reader will care about and possibly identify or at least empathize with.
Successful game designers take that a step further, by having “living” creations
that can become an extension of the player.
Therefore, developing characters involves not only their appearance, or look,
but how they move and communicate and the types of skills they may need
to use during gameplay. If the project is highly immersive, then developing a
character that is rather complex tends to be the way to go. By the same token,
less immersive, light-hearted games are the perfect arena for designing simpler
characters. For either type of design, concept artists start with the game doc to
get a clear understanding of what that character needs to be able to do in the
game, what the gameplay is (what the character will be doing), and who the
audience is.
Figure 3.9 shows concepts by Jack Keely for the character Dagmar . This con-
cept compilation shows variations for her and enough visual information to pro-
vide a good understanding of how the character could appear in the game. For
many design teams, it isn't unusual to have more than one artist working on
concept for characters, because their final look and development can be critical
to the success of any game.
Many concept pieces
are posted on the
website ConceptArt
.org, an open forum
where you can post
work to get feedback
and view the work of
others.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search