Main Character Concept

Above is the concept art for my main character, Shaun Carter.

Process:

I began by choosing an actor that I'd like my character to look similar to. I chose the actor Chris Hemsworth from the movie 'Thor'.

I used a picture of Hemsworth to create a FaceGen model, which I could then alter further until he looked like I wanted.

I then altered the face in FaceGen Modeller so it looked like the guy was angry.

I then placed an image of the model in Photoshop, along with a suitable pose that I found on the internet.

On a separate layer I marked out where the eyes, nose, ears and mouth were, and began drawing and shading, using the image of the FaceGen model as a reference.

Everything in the picture was drawn in Photoshop using a Wacom pen tablet.

Further concepts to follow.

Plot and Level Objective

I know that the plot isn't as important as the mechanic or gameplay, but I feel like I should note it down anyway. It is inspired by the film Taken, as it is one of my favourite movies...

Plot:

Set in 1987, you take the role of Shaun Carter, an American, 42 year-old retired policeman. Carter's early, recent retirement was forced due to an injury.

Going back 3 years to 1985, Carter was responsible for the arrest and detention of a wanted drug dealer, Aldo Batelli, during a drug raid at his gang hideout. Batelli was sentenced 5 years for possession of cocaine, a Schedule I drug (Class A), with intent to distribute.

Back to present day, Batelli is released early due to bribes and crooked upholders of the law. He now seeks revenge. Carter comes home to an empty house with a ransom note on the dining table. It is then his task to retrieve his family, by any means possible.


Level Objective/Talkthrough:

The level takes place towards the end of the game, set in Batelli's villa, which with the notification of Carter's presence is full of Batelli's gang members.

The player will spawn near the entry gate to the villa, with two of Batelli's men patrolling the gate. Once past the gate, the player will be met by a number of gang members on the front lawn leading to the front door of the villa. Gang members will be located throughout the building, and the player will need to kill them in order to proceed safely.

Carter has a hunch that his family are in the basement, so the player needs to aquire the basement key from Batelli's office on the top floor, and get back down to the basement door. When Carter gets to the basement, he soon discovers that his family have been moved, with only two chairs, a rope, and bloodstains in sight.

The player will then be hinted to proceed out the back of the villa, where a secret passage at the back of the gardens can be found. Following the underground passage, the player will emerge in another suburban area, where he is met by more gang members, and the back of Batelli's car as he is driven into the distance, with Carter's family on board....

Villa location

The villa can't just be placed in the middle of nowhere, it has to have suitable surroundings.

I want my villa to be located in the middle of a nice suburban area, much like the one seen in the 'Back To The Future' film series and the 'Malcom in the Middle' TV series -



Marty McFly's house in 'Back To the Future'

Though I'd like for the houses to be larger and posher, because it is unlikey that you'll find such a large villa in an area like the one above. The following pictures show the kind of location I'd like to create to surround my the villa, which I think will suit perfectly:

The pictures above are pictures of suburban areas in California. Much like in these pictures, in my level the houses will be well spaced apart, have big driveways, and the roads will be widely spread.

UDK Update

Wooden and tiled floors have been set, as well as weird dents and discolouring in the building fixed.

The Mechanic

I've had an idea for a good few months, about implementing FaceGen into games using external means, such as uploading from a smartphone, or accessing pictures on Facebook directly from the game/console.

A couple of weeks back I tested an idea of using tagged/uploaded pictures of friends and family on Facebook in order to create a 3D model of their head, for potential use in a video game. I used software called FaceGen, though just the demo version, which is why all the following models are bald and have text on the forehead. Here were some of the results:

The results were fantastic, capturing an exact 3D representation of their faces. These 3 photos were gathered off Facebook, showing that it is not always necessary to upload a blank expression of your face and profile to generate an accurate model. In the 3rd picture, my friend Sean is at least 5 feet away from the camera, much unlike what they advise in the FaceGen software.

With the right technology, I believe that, using Fifa for example, you'd be able to create a whole virtual football team of your friends within an hour, just by logging into Facebook and browsing pictures directly from your console.


Though, this technique did have it's flaws. At times I found myself browsing through a vast number of pictures just to find a decent one (mouth closed and facing somewhat towards the camera) which was time consuming. My other idea (which I believe has more potential) to use smartphones to upload pictures directly to the game database needs to be researched more. I have contacted a friend of a friend who has a hobby in app creation, I hope to hear back from him soon.

Starting to look like a villa....

With a lot more windows placed throughout the building, and a white, grained texture applied, my building is starting to look more and more like a villa.

 

Style of building

Before I began building in UDK I needed reference pictures to go by. When doing an image search "1980s villa" I wasn't surprised when I came across a lot of pictures like this one....

Though, I was able to find this. A villa built in the early 80s. I liked the cleanliness of it, as well as the simplicity.
Though this was a great style, I wanted to produce something a bit more modern and much larger, due to the wealth of the owner. My building is inspired by the following pictures...

 So far, my building has turned out exactly as planned.

Villa (brushes) almost at completion

With 148 brushes and counting, my villa is coming along nicely in UDK.

Interior is much too dark, more windows to be built

First UDK update

After deciding that it was a villa/mansion I wanted to build in UDK, I drew the layout on Monday and began building on the Friday. Here is the progress so far:

 

A big landscape and suburban area is to follow after the completion of the villa.