Research

28/2/2019

Primary Research

Research trip to the Museum of London

This Wednesday we went to the Museum of London, to research the different Eras of London, and how we can apply them to our game. I chose to do the Victorian Era, ca. 1850. This Time, and the Art style for my game, I had already picked out before coming to the Museum, which is why I was already looking for specific things. 

The first thing I was looking for, were clothes references. I had an Idea of the clothing I wanted in my head, but upon looking at the Clothes in the Museum of London, I realized that those wouldn't fit the Time. However after creating a Sketch based on the Clothes I found, I am much happier with this anyways.

Aside from this particular set of clothing, I based my first sketch off of, I found many other clothes, for different ages and genders. I took pictures of the ones that I felt could inspire the characters I had thought up in my head, and am planning to use them for further reference. 

The next thing I was looking for was furnishing. I am planning to set my game inside a rather luxurious Townhouse, which means that rather than the Exterior, I am going to need to focus mainly on the Interior of houses in the 1850s. Sadly I wasn't able to find much on actual Home furnishing, but I did find a lot of shop furnishing and many Ideas for Knick-knacks that can be spread throughout the house.

I also found many Arches that I will be able to integrate into my building design.

Going on this trip has been very helpful in pin-pointing the exact time I wanted, and which times I didn't want to set my game in. Going in I had a general Idea of which era I wanted to take inspiration from, however I was open to new inspirations from all around. But when I finally reached the 1850s section, I was instantly in love. It represented exactly what I was envisioning and instantly filled me with new inspiration. I was thinking of  maybe even adding in elements from the 1860s but when I looked at that section, I realized that I didn't want to merge those two decades, and instead I decided quite finally on what I wanted. The Museum had a Model of an old Victorian street, which was very interesting to look at. As of right now, my Idea takes place entirely inside a wealthy townhouse, meaning that a commercial street is not much of use. However walking around that model did have me reconsidering my ideas for a split-second. In the end I am still set on my original idea, however the Museum was a great source of inspiration, and definitely helped me develop that idea further.

6/3/2019

Research Trip around London

Yesterday we took a trip to the Locations we had explored in our contextual analysis, as well as some areas that would be useful for our own projects. 

We saw a lot of London's tourist areas, like the London eye

and picadilly circus,

but also took a look at some more run-down council estates.

We found a lot of really creative graffiti in that area which was really interesting.

We also had a stroll around China-town to look at some Areas of London that are quite different to the usual visualization someone would have of London. 

Like I mentioned on the last trip, I am planning to set my game entirely inside. Because of this there wasn't much I could take from this trip, since it was exclusively outside. However it was very interesting to have a look around London's tourist, as well as more unknown, areas. I saw some very creative graffiti that inspired me as well, and I found it very interesting to see the Area we analyzed in CoD MW3.

11/3/2019

Independent Research trip to the Dennis Sever House

On the Weekend I took an independent research trip to the Dennis Sever House. The Dennis Sever House is an Installation of a Victorian Townhouse, the exact thing I am planning to set my game in. I heard about it from a family friend and was very excited to visit it. The initial plan was to go to Buckingham Palace to have a look at the Victorian style furniture they have there, however  this turned out to be very expensive, and since the Dennis Sever house is exactly what I was looking for and much cheaper, this was a much better alternative. The Idea of the House is that the family is still living in it, but that they leave when they enter the room and come back in when you leave. This meant that all the rooms looked (and smelled) as if they had just been left. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures in the house, so I don't have any to upload, or reference. However, to combat this handicap, I wrote down an extensive amount of notes. At the end they did give me a flier with a few pictures though.

All in all, the trip was very useful and I definitely plan to use my notes as well as pictures I hope to find online, as reference for when I'm creating my Environments. I also think this has helped me learn more about how people of the higher class lived during this time, and what resources they had available to them. I am incredibly happy I took the chance to go to this House, as it is probably one of the most helpful things I've found.

7/3/2019

Secondary research

We had a look around the internet at different Art styles we might want to take inspiration from. Using this research I created an Art board for my game.

Binding of Isaac: I like the big round heads and small bodies in this art style, as well as the simple facial features.

Tim Burton: Not all his art translates well into my idea for the Art style, but this particular Image does very well. I am very fond of the large round heads that contrast with the skinny bodies.

Don't starve: Similar to the other two, Don;t starve has an art style with big heads and small bodies, however I am particularly interested in the white eyes with a black trim. I think this would work well to portray my Characters when dead.

Adventure time: Adventure time has a very slim and simplistic style, but detail in some important areas or circumstances. I also like the simple beady black eyes.

Little Big Planet: Little Big Plant does well in combining some of my favorite aspects from the  previous images I had discussed. 

Moshi Monster: This Image is here to present an idea I had for the game; coloured lines. I usually go for the usual black line-art, but for this game I wanted to try out coloured lines, as I think they would help soften the art a bit, which would work well with the art style.

24/4/2018

To further research the Higher Class of the Victorian Era, I looked at pictures online, of people of Higher Class and their surroundings. Most pictures depicted them as fashionable and snobby people, and they were most often drawn to be in large crowds. 

I also had a look at paintings made in that time, as they are also a good reference for the culture during that Era.