Game Design Music and Art

Ithia Chronicles Concept Art Thread – ereon

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
This will be the offical thread for all my publically released concept art for my new game. Please let me know what you think, how the designs can be improved, and what your first impressions are for each piece. I GREATLY appreciate all encouragement, advice, and criticism I can get (especially criticism)

This first sketch is a first shot attempt at armor for the Jordum soldiers in the game (a.k.a. the good guy soldiers) The hero in the game, depending on how you do in the Academy "tutorial levels" (determines your rank and parts of the storyline after you graduate (or IF you graduate)) will wear one of several versions of this armor though helmetless (of course). I was having trouble with leg and arm armor proportions, but they'll probably be added in the next sketchs. I'll also probably simply the breastplate a bit as well. What do you think?

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
pretty good...

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In the stock market, you must buy high and sell low...Wait! That's not right!
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Yes, I can be intelligent at times!!

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Please elaborate. What do you like, what do you not like, what keeps it form being really good, ect.

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
it might be just cuz of your scanner or something... but it's really dull.... and gray... also it's a little slanted... i mean, this is concept, that's why it's neither really good or bad...

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In the stock market, you must buy high and sell low...Wait! That's not right!
--------------
Yes, I can be intelligent at times!!

Mack

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Posts: 2779
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Registered: 01-20-2001
Other than arms and legs, embellishment on the armour would be nice, do a simple pleasing design. Larger more clear picture (use different paper), draw light and big, then trace it out with a sharp black pen. You can always adjust it in a paint program later.

Also, I think it would be important for the character to wear a different armour set from everyone else. They can graduate with the basic armour set but maybe they're given a special set from a old war vet friend or family member.

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Yeah.....I was a little over zealous on the downsize . Thanks for the tips Mack. I'll work on fancying up the duds. I've got a whole page worth of weapons concept stuff. I'll have to work on drawing bigger. Got any tips for keeping the design even and clean while working big? It always seems to get out of control a bit when I draw big.....

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

Mack

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Posts: 2779
From:
Registered: 01-20-2001
Just draw lightly on bright white bleached paper and use a white eraser to erase the errors. When you draw lightly you can erase it and it doesn't show on the scan or drawing. Drawing big is good because it enables you to add more detail.

Just practice, practice, practice!

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Ok, I changed papers for this one (I was doing the first one on tracing paper, drawing the armor on over a picture I'd taken of one of those little wooden poser things). This is a page of basic weapons concepts for some of the different races in the game. Tell me what you think, I'd especially like some opinions of which of the dual bladed sword design looks best. The single, curved blade one, or the straight, staff like variety. Thanks for your tips Mack, I'm a concept artist out of desperation at the moment, so I've still got alot of practicing to do.....

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
here are some neat reference photos of embelished armour..
http://www.electricocean.com/gallery_old/slideshow.php?set_albumName=Armor

weapons...
http://electricocean.com/67/index.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=6&pid=99&slideshow=5000

maybe these have too much? I dont know? they look nice though

*note - i don't know much about the site, it seems to be a games workshop minitures forum

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Some of the armor may be just a tad over the top, but some bits and pieces might work. The armor I'm working on right now is for the Jordum, the most human like of the races in Ithia. They're noble and independant, sort of a balance between the natural, artistic, simplistic, and inventivity aspects of the other races. The idea was to convey a sense of Medieval feel (Gothic architecture, some simple medieval armor) and mix it with Greco-Roman. I still have a long was to go as a concept artist, but I'll keep working on it, thanks for the links, I'll look at the weapons here in a minute as well.

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by ereon:
Some of the armor may be just a tad over the top, but some bits and pieces might work.

yeah, I thought they might be too much, more like cerimonial pieces, maybe worn by royals..I have no idea.

oh yeah, i like your sword with the cross on it, very cool!

[This message has been edited by coolj (edited May 26, 2006).]

buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
yah i like that sword... i like the one to the right of it too... i like the axe... um, that curved sword is a little strange... ooh i have an idea... i think i've seen something like this... you put the handle right in the middle, but you disconnect the two blades..

so it's like this:

/|
/ |
| |
|
| |
\ |
\|


only more like your drawing, but that middle part is the handle.

*edit* man... it got screwed up... oh well..

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In the stock market, you must buy high and sell low...Wait! That's not right!
--------------
Yes, I can be intelligent at times!!

[This message has been edited by buddboy (edited May 26, 2006).]

[This message has been edited by buddboy (edited May 26, 2006).]

Mack

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What genre (FPS, RPG, TPS, RTS, etc) is the title and what view does the player use? (first person, third person, etc.)
Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
It's a hack and slash mainly, done in third person. The emphasis is going to be on storyline and innovative gameplay style. I'm tinkering with some ideas to save the player from having to do the old hack-slash-hack=repeat, ect. The main idea at the moment is to augment the player's controls with the character's AI. You'll still have basic control over the character, but the AI in the character you're controlling with make minor adjustments and such based on position of the enemies, the last parry he made, any windows of opportunity that might be available for a combo ect. It's kind of hard to explain, and I'm still working on the details of it (and the details of music, AND concept art, AND sound effects, AND 3D models, AND animation, AND level design, AND well......you get the idea). The approach at the moment will most likely be a set of invisible markers around each level and different enemies and such, each with certain parameters that can change depending on what is going in. The character will then be surrounded by several invisible detection zones. depending on the moves the player does and whats going on around him and which markers are in which detection areas the character will act accordingly. The goal is to allow the player to execute smooth, fluid, and hopefully borderline cinematic combat moves as well as being able to you ropes, walls, and other things in their environment to do all kinds of cool stuff.

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
sounds awesome... very cool idea... now you just gotta do it =P =D

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In the stock market, you must buy high and sell low...Wait! That's not right!
--------------
Yes, I can be intelligent at times!!

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
@ereon - sorry if you mentioned this already, which engine are you starting with, or is it %100 home brew?

I think you have some really good ideas for player fighting. Kindof sounds like you might make precision character actions were the actions are dynamically tweaked during play instead of having a static set of preset animations for each action. Now that would be way cool!

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
The 3D engine is Dark Basic Pro, but I have to put the movement and combat, and load the objects and stuff with source code in that engine. It's kind of a high level C language with BASIC syntax.

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by ereon:
The 3D engine is Dark Basic Pro, but I have to put the movement and combat, and load the objects and stuff with source code in that engine. It's kind of a high level C language with BASIC syntax.


thanks! I just dl the trial version and looked at the language syntax. the one thing that sticks out to me is it appears you can manipulate 'limbs' on objects independent of the objects. I guess that would give you the flexibility to do some pretty neat dynamic character stuff like a character turns its head to follow the position of a nearby enemy. sounds good, have fun!

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Yeah, I was going to take advantage of that to make reflective sword blades in the game.

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

dartsman

Member

Posts: 484
From: Queensland, Australia
Registered: 03-16-2006
hehe... you can certainly do some funny stuff with bone/limb manipulation... heres something I did when messing with the bone structure on a project I worked on...

It might be hard to tell whats happened, but I'd shrunk the top half of his bones. Had to make sure that I was getting the right bones... Plus looks funny as... lol

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"But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another." - Psalm 75:7

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Lol, the things that happen by accident . Here's a new version of the first drawing, done bigger, more detailed, and with some more embellishment. Let me know what you think.

To me it looks like the helmet is too skinny, I should have slowed down on the leggings, I need to pay more attention to my leg muscles (breaks out the muscle charts) and the hand needs work and maybe a little longer wrist/forearm.

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

[This message has been edited by ereon (edited May 27, 2006).]

Mack

Administrator

Posts: 2779
From:
Registered: 01-20-2001
Looking good, needs those fake armour abs that the romans used.

BTW, if your looking for 3rd person weapon models:

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/285988

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/206935

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/285284

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Interesting.....thanks for the link, excellent refrence material and they should prove to be quite usful.

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"I am very good at hiding, so if you don't see me, that's where I am." Orc Outlaw, TES III Morrowind

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Ok, this time I've got something new for you guys. This is the tough draft of the theme song for The Ithia Chronicles. I didn't have a 55 piece orchestra on hand, so I had to make do with a cheap keyboard, line-in, and good old Lappy(yes, my laptop has a name). Please let me know what you think. What I'd really like to know is the tone and mood the song sets you in, just pretty much how it strikes you in general. I look forward to your input with great expectation.

http://pilgrimsjourney.bluegillweb.com/music/ithia_theme1.mp3

~Ereon

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Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk.
C.S. Lewis

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.
C. S. Lewis

[This message has been edited by Ereon (edited June 15, 2006).]

Lazarus

Member

Posts: 1668
From: USA
Registered: 06-06-2006
Ereon, I PMed you about the music file but not sure if it got through, the forum gave me a wrong password msg.

Lazarus

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
simple yet powerfull, I love it! nice choice of cords - broad strokes, like on a canvas, make a good foundation. Something you could easily add detail on top of and vary tempo and rythm to adjust to the games theme and mood. good choice for your game!

Also..I kept wanting to add a narrator with a deep voice saying something like 'In the land of Ithia, before the time of man...' lol!

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
To Lazarus: Ok, I replied with another PM, but if it doesn't get through then my e-mail is nazgul_bane(put an at symbol here)yahoo.com. I did the put and at symbol thing to throw off e-mail scalpers, so just replace it with the regular little curly a.

To Coolj: Thanks for the input, that was just about what I was going for, I'm glad you liked it. I'll be experimenting with some different instrumentation later today.

------------------

Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk.
C.S. Lewis

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.
C. S. Lewis

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Ok guys, here's something else, a little shortstory "cutscene" that somes from the storyline of the game. Tell me what you think a enjoy.

The darkness closed in all around, the deep, cold, damp darkness of the Underrealm, far beneath the surface, and far from sun and clouds, and the cool west wind that Jayfen was so used to, but he had a task to complete, and this is where the task had brought him. Far through the Underrealm he had journeyed, braving the darkness and the shadows to get here, the Great Archives. Before him lay the wide archway of the Archives. Shattered in the Battle of the Underrealm, the once beautiful and ornate gates of stone now lie in huge boulders, strewn out into the darkness beyond the arch, and into the echoing, silent night down the wide, columned corridor through which he had traveled. The tall, handsome young warrior steps through the archway, his sharp, steel-blue eyes peering into the darkness, wary of any traps or enemies that might ensnare him. Memories of the legends of the Meflor haunt his mind, tales of hideous worms who burrow deep into the rock, and then spring forth to shoot their stomachs from their mouths, enveloping their prey and drawing them back to suffer a long and grizzly demise with the bowels of the beast. Tales of horribly deformed creatures with wide, white, glowing eyes, who travel in packs and could slash through the strongest leather armor as if it were made of reeds. Despite the many secrets hidden within this there seemed to be nothing of danger, at least not front the outside, but as Jayfen moved past the archway a voice sounded in the darkness. “Stay young Jordum, what is thy business in the lands of Lucifer?” The voice was cold, cold as steel through the heart, and empty as a dead man’s corpse. “This land is not his save by conquest and slaughter, if he would keep it then let him show himself and claim it, for I am here to retake what was stolen and return that which was lost long ago.” The voice cackled, a vibrating, hollow sound, enough to make the blood feel like ice, and make a lesser man’s heart tremble and melt within his chest. Jayfen Saltarn, however, was no ordinary man. “Show yourself coward, I did not come here to bandy words with some spineless worm that dares not show its face.” Jayfen raised his torch, peering into the inky blackness beyond the archway, and out of the cold Underrealm mist walked a figure, robed in black, a thick cowl hiding its face, and both its hands inside the sleeves of its robe. “Thou hast come Jayfen Saltarn, yes, I know thy name, it has long been known to the Dark One. He speaks much of thee, such courage is rare in one so young, and so……….foolish.” The voice carries a dark, cynical sneer, and each word ripples through Jayfen’s soul, as if probing it like a blade, almost as if it were speaking to both his mind and his heart at once. “My wisdom is at least such that I do not grovel at the beck and call of a heartless tyrant. All who would be called weak by him should be honored as the strongest of mortals, and they whom he names foolish, their wisdom is beyond all praise. Show your self foul apparition or I shall swiftly dispatch whatever is beneath those robes before you can turn to flee.” “Ah man, proud man, dress in a little brief authority, what are you to the Dark Tower, and what are your actions but a brief dust on the wind, the lineage of your life but rags in the dirt. Do not waste my time with idle threats that are beyond thy power to carry through. Thou knowest not to whom thou speaks.” With that the things withdrew its hands from the folds of its robe. The hands were white, scarred, hideous, and twistedly deformed, as if the skin had no thickness of its own, and had shrunken permanently against the bone. The forearms were little better, the two main bones of the arm easily visible through the almost transparently white, nastily scarred skin. Slowly the hideous hands rose, reaching for the black cowl, in the center of which a darkness that even the bright flame of Jayfen’s torch could not seem to pierce. “Ye have not because ye ask not, and now Jayfen Saltarn, thou art he that has asked, and now ye shall have, and to him that has, even more shall be given.” The hands grasp the edges of the cowl, clenching with a sickening sound of creaking bones and stretching flesh, as they yank backwards and the hood falls away, revealing the hideous sight beneath……………

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Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk.
C.S. Lewis

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.
C. S. Lewis

Lazarus

Member

Posts: 1668
From: USA
Registered: 06-06-2006
What was it, what was it?
Btw, I've emailed you the file.

Lazarus

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
Lol, if I told you it would ruin the suspense And I got it, it seems a little to fast tempoed and even tinnier (higher pitched) than it was before. I think it seemed to have more body, but it was hard to compare the two since there were different speeds.

------------------

Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk.
C.S. Lewis

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.
C. S. Lewis

buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
i loved the theme song ereon... coolj was right, you could speed it up/slow it down and such to show the mood of the song. like dangerous parts the chords could be an octave lower... i think. the armor drawing was really good. much better this time. yah, the helmet is a little too skinny/tall. oh well, small detail you can fix later. i didn't see much wrong with the leggings... but i'm not much of an artist when it comes to people (in other words, i suck drawing humans =D)... on the cutscene... LINE BREAKS!!! lol... i am not kidding... that was kind of hard to read =D lol...

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WARNING:

RADIOACTIVE IE AHEAD!
--------------------
#include <spazz.h>

int name()
{
char name['B','u','d','d','B','o''y']

Ereon

Member

Posts: 1018
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: 04-12-2005
BAH! Line breaks for for sissys j/k The original had linebreaks, they just didn't carry over well into messageboard form. I'll be working on my theme song some more later today, so hopefully I'll be able to post a better version with more instrumentation this evening. I'm also working on a new design for the armor, I've been practicing my proportions and I think I've got them nailed down a little better this time.

------------------

Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk.
C.S. Lewis

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.
C. S. Lewis

www.christiangaming.com

JeTSpice
Member

Posts: 433
From: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
Registered: 06-10-2006
One thing that I do when designing armour and weapons is to get stuff around my house that is kind of shaped like it. You'll quickly see that the type of Romanesque armour you've designed is geared toward being part of a huge line-up of similarly-clad soldiers. One of these soldiers is particularly good at taking a firm footing because the metal plate skirt acts as a leg brace and a counter-balance below his center of mass. Both his arms are freed up, so he's probably an archer. He has a shield, though, so he might be part of something else. Anyway, if you can create little cardboard pieces of armor, or get football pads or something, that might help you to see how armour works. Cultures that rely on horses sometimes use curved swords, because when a curved sword settles in your hand, the blade is always facing the right way. Many weapons come from modified farm tools. The cultures had been using those tools for years and years, before they were modified into weapons.
buddboy

Member

Posts: 2220
From: New Albany, Indiana, U.S.
Registered: 10-08-2004
good points JeTSpice... you seem to know a lot about this.

------------------
WARNING:

RADIOACTIVE IE AHEAD!
--------------------
#include <spazz.h>

int name()
{
char name['B','u','d','d','B','o''y']