Composition, as a general term, can extend to cover every
aspect of an image, including the use of colour and tonal values. More
specifically, it describes how things are arranged within a picture, relative
to each other and relative to the edges of the images.
Depending on how you define them, there’s any number of
different elements to consider when composing an image, but one way the key
components can be broken down is into line, shape, colour texture, form, value
and space.
Line is an illusion created by the edges of objects. Many
drawings styles use lines to define the boundaries of objects within an image, as
even though lines don’t actually exist it’s the easiest way to convey form. Whether
the lines within an composition are actual lines or merely the edges of
contrasting tones or hues, they’ll be one of the most easily identifiable
features.
Shape is self-explanatory, and refers to both individual
objects and combined objects. Colour is deceptively difficult to use properly, it
does little to define objects, rather creates mood, warmth or cool. It can be
used to bring attention to certain areas of an image, but not as well as tonal
value.
Tonal value describes how light or dark a part of an image
is. Tonal value is arguably the most important part of an image, since it’s the
most visible part. Form describes the 3-dimensional qualities of an element,
which is expressed through shading and perspective.
Texture is similar to form in that it can describe
3-dimentional qualities within an image, except instead of describing the overall
structure it describes the tactile qualities. Texture is the difference between
a reflective surface and a matte surface or a smooth surface and a grainy
surface. Mostly texture adds detail and realism to an image.
Space is the proportion of an image that objects occupy;
conversely, negative space is the portion of the image surrounding them or
between them. Usually the focus of an image with be the positive space – the object
or person the picture is focusing on – but sometimes the negative space can be
the subject, for instance if the image is focusing on a piece of sky between
trees or buildings.
So, how do these all work within an image?
There are eight elements of composition to consider: unity,
balance, movement, rhythm, focus contrast, pattern and proportion.
There are established principles for composition; some
things work and some things just look ‘wrong’. The easiest principle to follow is
the rule of thirds. Elements within an image will look best placed a third of
the way up an image, or a third of the way along. By dividing an image into nine
equal sections, you can identify the four focal points.
Focal points are places in an image where you intend the
viewer to spend the most time looking. There are certain things people’s eyes will
naturally gravitate towards, such as faces and hands. More detailed areas will
also draw more attention, as will bright colours and contrasting hues.
If there is more than one focal point, they need to be
arranged so that they are balanced. To some extent, symmetry in an image makes
the composition feel grounded, but can also make it look unnatural.
Asymmetrical balance, which uses elements which are equal, but
different, looks much more natural.
Sound has been present in games from the very beginning of
their history, and in some ways has evolved parallel to the graphics as the
capabilities of the systems have improved. The ability to synthesise sounds has
been around for quite a while longer than video games, but for a long time was
primarily stored in an analogue format, which required delicate physical components
and was therefore greatly limited by practicality. Digital sound was much more affordably,
but for early handheld game devices, sound was limited to synthesised music
with very few notes and subsequently basic tunes. PC games were also limited,
because producing sound took a significant amount of processing power, and even
in modern games audio is demanding.
However, better technology does not equate to better music.
In fact, sometimes the simpler tunes are the most memorable. Plenty of basic
tunes have accompanied game along their development, becoming synonymous with
the games themselves. They evolved alongside the graphics into theme tunes
which in some cases are still used in those games. Theme tunes are an easy
shorthand to represent a game even if it goes through major graphics
reinventions, and create some amount of nostalgia for long-time players.
My own gaming experience has been solely limited to PC
games, which for some don’t seem to produce the same scope of memorable theme
tunes. The nearest thing I’ve probably experienced is hearing the Elder Scrolls
theme song in the Skyrim teaser trailer and thinking “well, about time”. The
main theme music for Skyrim purposely uses the same melodies as the previous
games. Subsequently, the lack of the TES theme music in the recent Elder
Scrolls Online cinematic trailer has been one of the most common complaints –
as people have rightly pointed out, without the signature music it could be
advertising any generic fantasy game.
While sound for games is still system-intensive, the main
limitations for quality are mainly down to skill and budget. This is part of
the development of games into a large industry, with increasingly large budgets
and production teams. There’s been a demand for the quality of the music to
increase alongside the graphics, to a point where it’s no longer feasible for a
single person to produce sound for an entire game.
Sometimes it’s not just ingame music or theme tunes that get
associated with a game title. The Assassin’s creed: Revelations cinematic
trailer featured a vocalised song by a group called Woodkid, which has become
irrevocably associated with that particular game. You also get songs written
specifically for the game, such as the songs during the end credits of the
Portal games, which were written specially for the games.
Composing for video games is now not all that different from
film, and some composers working in games, such as Michael Giacchino, also work in multiple other genres such as film
and TV.
Music for games is increasingly gaining the recognition it
deserves. In 2012, for the first time, the Grammy awards included video game music
as contender for Visual Media awards,
For a large part, sound in games is used much the same way
it is in film; to convey mood and to create tension. This happens right the way
from the title screen – action games have heroic or upbeat title music, horror
games will play something creepy to set the mood.
This works within the game too, on a more specific basis.
Thematic or more neutral music might play when the player is just travelling
around the map, but when the player meets an enemy more fast-paced ‘combat
music’ will start playing, drawing them into the action. As in films, the
choice of music and sound has a huge effect on players’ experience of the
games, and really shouldn’t be underestimated. Amnesia, for example, is much
less scary without the player character’s rapid breathing, but with the sound
on that alone can get your heart racing, even when there’s nothing to be afraid
of.
Sounds can be used to convey information to the player much
more quickly than visual information can, especially during situations where
the player has to focus on multiple things at once. The combat music mentioned
above also serves to alert the player to the prescience of enemies that the
character would have noticed, even if the player did not. During combat, there
will be different sounds for the player getting hit, and for the player landing
a hit on an enemy, and even for different types of attacks. Having different
sounds leaves the player free to focus on aiming and moving around, and only
checking their stats when prompted.
Sounds might also inform the player about things happening
in their environment, such as telling them a gate has opened, whether a lever
or button has worked or not. Footsteps of enemies alert the player to enemies
they can’t see, especially in first person games. Sometimes musical cues are also
used to tell the player they’ve completed a task or finished a level.
Voice acting in games is a fairly recent development,
although it’s quickly become expected in any large-budget title. It’s not particularly
vital, since there’s little that can’t be conveyed through text, but it adds
another level of realism and depth to the game. On the negative side, it limits
the amount of dialogue and greatly adds to production costs. If done badly, it
can be worse than having no voice acting at all. This is more a problem in
games with dialogue options than in linear games where voice acting is scripted.
It’s very difficult to make conversation seem natural, and if you play a game
for 40+ hours anything the characters say more than once will become noticeably
repetitive unless it’s only said once.
One way games get around this is to create a made up language,
since if the player doesn’t understand what’s being said it doesn’t become
repetitive. The most well-known example is The Sims, where all the characters
speak ‘Simlish’ –which has since been coined as a general term
for any conlang used in games for the purpose of remaining ambiguous.
Other examples of this include Magicka, where – unlike in
The Sims - the (mostly) nonsense words are accompanied by English subtitles. In
this game, the use of simlish is mainly a way to reduce voice acting costs and
to make the game easier to translate into other languages, although it also
adds a certain charm.
This brief details the creation of assets for a game with a
‘retrofuturistic’ theme.
Retrofuturism is 20th century aesthetics applied to science fiction; it creates
a style that looks both space-age and old-fashioned, and is instantly
recognisable.
The game will be for PC, and be aimed as casual gamers and younger players. It will primarily be a platforming game with an emphasis on puzzle solving. The gameplay
will involve interacting with the environment via various tools such as
grappling hooks, magnetic boots and jet-packs.
The overall look of the game should be clean and bright,
with emphasis on primary colours to emulate the ‘pop art’ feel of retrofuturism
artwork. It should aim for a simplified
‘cartoony’ look rather than gritty realism, but retain realistic character and
environment proportions. To create and maintain a unified stylised appearance, all
textures will be primarily digitally hand painted. The game will take place in
a variety of different themed levels, so assets that will be present throughout
the game - such as reoccurring characters, need to be versatile enough that
they are suitable across several different colour palettes.
The game will be produced for the Unreal Engine, using the Unreal Development Kit. The models with be
produced primarily in 3Ds Max, with Z-brush or similar software used to produce
normal maps. The textures will mainly be
produced in Photoshop.
Lead Character –Space
Explorer
The lead character is a female space explorer. She will be
wearing a space-suit with helmet that obscures the face. The space suit doesn’t
have to look realistic by modern standards – in fact it is preferable that it
is obviously influenced by science fantasy. The suit can show minor wear and
tear, but should for the most part look clean and new.
The character model
should value readability over detail, and be realistically proportioned -
although some exaggeration is allowed to aid readability - with a primarily
blue or grey colour theme and plus a highlighting colour such as orange if
needed.
Since the character will be in the foreground of the screen
consistently during gameplay, only one Level of Detail is needed.
The character mesh should be under 20k tris, and the mesh should prioritise the silhouette and use
appropriate polygon density. Since the character will be very visible and will
constantly be moving, the topology needs to be built so that it deforms
smoothly when the model is rigged.
The mesh should be textured using the following maps:
2 1024x1024 diffuse
map with alphas
2 1024x1024 colour
specular map
2 1024 normal maps
The diffuse map should be hand painted in Photoshop, with
photo references used sparingly to convey the different textures of the
materials such as metal and plastic. Mirroring the textures should be avoided
as should obvious symmetry, except in areas where it will not be noticed.
NPC – Robot Helper
This character will be present in various levels, to be
directed by the player. It will be mostly humanoid, although not necessarily
with accurate proportions, and has to be visibly mechanical. Most importantly,
the character needs to look like it could realistically move, with jointed
segments where the limb bend.
The character mesh should be under 15k tris, and the mesh should prioritise the silhouette and use
appropriate polygon density. Since the character is mainly made out of metal, the
majority of the mesh will not deform when moving, so the topology should take
into account where extra geometry will be needed for it to deform cleanly and
where it will not.
The mesh should be textured using the following maps:
2 1024x1024 diffuse
map with alphas
2 1024x1024 colour
specular map
2 1024 normal maps
The diffuse map should be hand painted in Photoshop, and the
normal and specular maps need to realistically display the different materials –
metal, plastic, rubber, etc – that the character is made of.
