MA Games Design Blog - Lance Muir

 Tavern Scene - Adding the Rogue Building on my last post I added in the final character with the Rogue, I wanted the rogue to be a lot more dynamic and to give the idea that he had anticipated this conflict he is already running up the table towards the barbarian.  I also added coins into the scene that were being spilled from the table, this was to add more context to the story as a whole and help the viewer understand the reasoning behind this while being another dynamic element.  I gave the rogue and the warrior more coins than the mage and the barbarian. Showcasing a sense of greed and deceit in the party of adventurers. The story being they had just come back from finishing a dangerous quest and usually the payment gets split up equally to keep it fair, but due to the rogue's being traditionally greedy and the warrior having being convinced by the rogue to up their share of the coins then this had sparked a conflict in the tavern and an argument ensued.  The ba...

 Tavern Scene - Third Mockup After showcasing my work in lesson and receiving feedback that I was heading in the right direction I was going to leave the scene as having no actual characters in it and just build it up to where there were more objects around the scene for the viewer to look at which add more elements to the story as a whole and help give more information piece by piece, similar to a crime scene photo where an investigator looks at it for hidden details.  However after giving it some thought I decided since this is an action scene and going off the references I have looked at it might help the scene to add more dynamics into it such as posed characters. Since I am not looking to model the characters myself I just imported the unreal engine mannequin into the scene and taught myself how to move it into a basic pose in Maya using a quick animation rig, something I've never attempted before. Below are the screenshots of the new scene with the added characters in. A...

 Tavern Scene - Second Mockup So having looked at the scene again and adding some props in I decided I wanted to experiment and try to do something more than just a static prop/environment scene. Since I am focusing on story telling and going back to my research I wanted to change the composition in order to add a dynamic element to the scene that I feel it was lacking. So I decided that this scene would be more of an action scene, the idea being it was more like a freeze frame and someone had just stepped into it in order to investigate it. I decided to look for some reference images first in order to start altering the scene to what I would want it to look like. Below is how I first started to alter the scene by moving the table and chairs around along with some of the table items to give the idea that the table had just been kicked up and the chairs were being thrown back as whoever was sitting at them had stood up in an instant to react.

 Tavern Scene - Wizard Staff and Dagger I wanted to finish off the different weapons for the scene so I looked at creating the Wizard staff and the daggers for the rogue/thief character. With the wizard staff I wanted to add some extra flair to it to show the wizard as taking pride in adorning their magical apparatus, as this is what they use to channel their spells with and could amplify their magic. So besides the large crescent moon shape that would be the main casting focus I added in a smaller gemstone brooch attached to it, as well as a metal spiral that wraps around just below the rope that is binding the crescent shape to the shaft of the staff itself.  Another reason I was doing this is I had finally learned how to properly wrap materials using curves in Maya and then applying a shrink wrap modifier to attach the curve to the surface. Then doubling up on the curve and lofting the two creates faces between them which gives that leather wrap effect. So I wanted to try o...

 Tavern Scene - Sword , Shield & Axe So I wanted to work on some of the smaller props to start layering up the scene with added detail for the viewer to observe. These objects will begin to add context to the story of the scene. I worked on a Sword that had a Dwarven Style to it for the warrior as well as a shield for him. The reason why is a traditional trope amongst fantasy settings, including D&D is you always see the warrior up in the front lines defending everyone with a large shield and a one handed weapon. People can also interpret the warrior as a knight if they draw that connection easier than a warrior or fighter. I am also adapting my own style when it comes to modelling this scene as I tend to focus on making things look super realistic but I understand that since it is just myself working on this I wouldn't have the time to model every object within the scene to be hyper realistic so I am taking a more stylised approach with the models and experimenting with my...

 Tavern Scene - First Mockup As explained in a previous post I decided I would start with a table scene that had objects and items placed within that hinted to the story the viewer would be witnessing, the main story being a group of adventurers that have just come back from a quest and are enjoying some downtime.  Within this the idea would be to layer in weapons that specify a persons role within the party based on classic D&D tropes such as the warrior or fighter using a sword and shield, the thief or rogue using daggers, etc... Below are some images from the first Mockup of the scene with the table, chairs, etc... I will start working on adding the weapons into the scene next and building it up with other objects to make the scene feel like it is inhabited.

 Artist Research - Wouter Gillioen Wouter Gillioen is currently an employee for Ubisoft Massive, Sweden and is working at the moment on the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws. I came across his work via Artstation when I was looking for potential artists I could contact for the Essay.  One of his earlier pieces of work caught my eye which was the Oh Dear - C3P0! piece that he created while he was studying.  His goal with this piece was to fulfil an assignment set to him where he had to chose an old piece of art and reimagine it as a new piece. The work he chose was "a cobbler in his workshop" by David Tenier II, which is a very famous renaissance painting.  The activity was to allow students to use an already established piece in order to teach composition and lighting and how to recreate that in your own work. Another of his pieces stood out to me is below. This piece is designed around a vintage bench vice. The level of detail added into this piece such as the chalk markin...

 Tavern Scene - Reference Image building So this is just a quick post with a link to my pinterest board that I use for the reference images to start building the first scene of the Tavern. I decided I wanted the iconic tavern table scene so started to gather reference for tables, chairs and other miscellaneous items such as tankards, bottles, etc...  Here is the link to the pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/lmuir2963/tavernreference-masters/ I also gathered some reference images for fantasy style weapons as I plan to implement them into the scene somehow to give some more visual information to the group of adventurers that are using the table. It also helps set the tone that they may have just come back from a quest or adventure and are enjoying some downtime. Here are some of the images I gathered on the board to provide context; All the original images can be found on the pinterest board along with others that informed my designs .