Marked for Murder Reflective Blog

 

Animation Team: Me (Toyis on discord), Aoife, John
Game’s Team: David, James, Ben

 

Pre-Production

 

What is Pre-Production: This is the ideation and preparation stage, it sets clear guidelines and goals for all teams involved.

 

 

Idea and Conceptualization

 

 

The team decided on a detective game.

I suggested a film noir inspiration for the visuals, focusing primarily on achieving a pure black-and-white aesthetic. Rachel advised us to research certain media for the story development.

 

development

 

 

Following feedback, we reduced the scale of the game to one location.

 

 

 

 

I organised the animation team.

• Made a list of all the work we needed to complete.
• Sent examples of previous years for reference to help everyone understand what we were working towards at this stage.

 

We didn’t have any set jobs; however, the general work distribution for this stage was:

Aoife– Props/characters
John– Technical guide
Me– Style guide

 

 

 

Game/Media research

 

 

After researching noir films and the yellow room, I came up with a couple of fitting ideas for the game.

 

 

 

 

The reddit thread offered insight into creating a detective game. Someone cited a thesis on players’ agency in detective games; the thesis concluded that players experiencing choice when collecting information and utilising instrumentation will give them a sense of agency and make gameplay enjoyable. I used this when coming up with ideas for the ‘mini-mini games’.

 

Style guide & research

 

 

 

I researched industry-level style guides and noted what I liked and didn’t like. I found that a lot weren’t clear enough at first glance and felt like a game of spot the difference because of unclear labelling. I used lines and arrows to avoid this issue. I did like the comparative drawings for the ‘yes’s’ and ‘no’s’ and how the Batman guide showed how highlights and shadows function; this became a huge factor in the post-processing stage.

 

 

 

 

Game’s demographic research:

• I researched which demographics would be interested in film noir, graphic style and detective genre.
• Calculated a reasonable age range based on that
• I believe the target audience would be 20-25, as the comic style attracts teens/young adults.
• Noir has an older age demographic, but I don’t believe that would impact the main demographic, as film noir has mainly been used as a reference/influence.
• The combination of noir with graphic style caters the game towards a younger audience rather than the usual 30+ noir targets.
• The aesthetic might attract creative people that appreciate the reference and unique artistic direction.

 

 

 

 

 

Noir cinematography research:

• Noir’s black-and-white moody aesthetic was born out of necessity due to lacking finances and inexperience with cinematography (leading to minimal lights available and inexperienced lighting sets properly).
• John Alton stood as one of the greatest cinematographers. “He had the guts to use little lights.” His skill perfectly captures the noir style– a purposeful minimalist, low-light appearance utilising lighting to create contrast and focus in a scene.

 

Technical guide

 

 

 

I updated the team on my research. I did additional research for the technical guide, as I wanted to ensure the style I was building was achievable in 3D.

 

I found 3 main methods to contrast in the style.

1. Creating an alpha texture for the shadows, which would create a cross-hatching effect.
2. A black outline– using shader nodes, it’s possible to create a black outline.
3. Cell-shading– a colour ramp converts the realistic shader into a cell-shading style.

These techniques set realistic expectations and also showed how the models could look. Although it helped me confirm the style we wanted, it couldn’t, as Blender shaders don’t transfer to Unreal.

 

 

• I recommended using the Asaro head as a reference for the models to achieve the angular planes of the face.
• The red arrow points to an idea that later developed into the style’s main factor for converting from 2D into 3D.

 

Graphic style research

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Morales:

• Comic book inker, known for his work in many well-known comics such as Spider-Man, Deadpool and more.
• This video explained his technique for inking and demonstrated how inkers create visual contrast and clarity despite only utilising 2 colours.
• I learnt of multiple techniques, like the ‘Halo’– this developed into the ‘dynamic’ outline that became a central feature of our game’s style. The outline would change colours so that it always creates contrast between the background and object, similarly to the Halo’s effect.

 

 

 

I used all the notes and analysis from noir and the ‘graphic style’ and techniques I learnt (from inking, shader nodes, etc.) to make it feel more authentic and create more effective contrast to create the game’s aesthetic and main concept art:

• Composed of angular shapes and lines.
• Only black and white.
• Graphic minimalist shapes.
• A focus on light and contrast.

 

style guide Development

 

 

 

 

Style_Technical+guide 

 

Additional work

Character work

 

We were nearing the first deadline, and Aoife was sick, so I did the secretary’s design.

 

 

 

 

Secretary design:

• Angular shapes.
• Straight lines- Follows the set style but also creates a striking silhouette hinting at her hidden harsh nature.
• Referenced 1940’s style for women.
• Limited to black and white.
• Carefully considered colour placement to create visual interest and contrast. Used a ‘sandwich’ method, alternating between predominantly white and black colour blocks to create contrast.

 

Environment design

 

 

We were running out of time, so I also did the room textures.

 

 

I first placed her in a black room and took note of any legibility issues.

• Black areas blend into the background, losing the silhouette.
• Plain black floor makes her look like she’s floating.

 

 

Alternating black and white ‘W’ pattern.

• The pattern with the wooden texture creates visual noise to contrast the solid colours of the characters.

 

                             

 

I reference time-accurate wallpapers, but the patterns were too overwhelming for this style. It also increases the risk of tangent lines, and the white becomes overwhelming and distracting.

 

 

• tried a loose and sketchy design
• Vertical lines created confusion around the skirt’s silhouette.

 

 

• Used diagonal lines to avoid many tangents with the character’s silhouettes
• added horizontal lines to create depth, making the characters pop out.
• marked the wall to help create a sense of scale within the scene.

 

Problems

 

The Style

 

We received conflicting feedback on the style; some lecturers saw potential, and others thought it was unachievable.

The primary issue was the limited colour palette made it difficult to see; however, having done research into the technical aspect and comic books, I knew creating visual clarity was possible.

 

• Unreal Post-Process– everyone was inexperienced; John attempted to create the outline; however, it didn’t work.
• Henry helped guide us; he explained the post-process volume UI, shader nodes and more.
• Using textures to support the shader.
• With this I understood foundational concepts for making the outline and working with Unreal post-processing volumes; for this reason I ended up doing a large majority of the post-processing.

 

 

 

Sound Design

 

 

• Updated the sound designer on the game.
• some of the game elements were removed following lecturer’s feedback.

 

 

 

Although I don’t have much knowledge on sound and music, Sophie asked for direction on the general style of the game.

I used my research into noir films to make up a visual and auditory identity. I made a guide that detailed the exact styles and sounds that matched the era and visuals.