Anna-Marie CVA 204: Week 2- Development

Again, we decided to have another group meeting to show each other our individual work and to hopefully advance. Dan R and Jake had both attempted a rough beginning version of a script to begin our boss level. We weren't sure how the level was going to progress, only that the main character would enter the village and then meet the zombie. Both scripts were good, and we decided that we would write a script together, using elements from the two beginnings Dan and Jake had made. We began, but it was difficult to imagine what would happen when we couldn't see the same village in our minds. To solve this problem, we made a rough model village in Maya so that we would know how everything would act out. Myself and Dans did this in our last project together and it was really helpful in getting a design we were all happy with, so we decided to use this same method. As expected it took a while to construct, not because of the rough modelling, but because we all had different visions of where everything should be placed. Finally though, we ended up with the images you can see below. We also created two cubic rectangles, to act as models for our two characters.

At the back you can maybe see what is meant to be a cave, with a rock that has been rolled out of the entrance. We developed more of our story here, deciding that this is where the zombie was isolated, until her rock was moved and she was allowed to escape into the village. For whatever reason shecouldn't leave the village and nor could the villagers apparently. There's another cave up in the cliff where their bodies were laid to rest as they perished one by one. Although our story is still really broken up, there is enough information for us here to be able to work with.

With this constructed, we went about writing our script. This again took a fair bit of time as everyone had to be happy with what was being put down, and again their was technical vz creative e.g myself and Dan Ryan thought it would be cool to maybe finish one of the levels with the zombie hitting the faces of the animals and spirits on the totem pole, and each time a face got knocked out of the pole, it would ovbiously become smaller. Dan C said it wouldn't work and that it probably wouldn't look good anyway. After a while we ended up with a script I think the whole group was happy with. We came up with two alternative endings, one where the heroine dies (incase we run out of time) and the other where she wins (if we stick to the plan). The way the script had been created meant that we didn't really have to worry about the rest of the story in the game, just that she had to get the red gem from the zombie. It also helped us define the girls personality a bit more, which would help me in designing her clothes etc.

The next thing we had to do was the storyboards, again as a group. We took it in turns to draw one page of really really rough illustrations. The only thing that was a struggle was correographing the fight scene between our heroine and the zombie. We decided to seach online for fight scenes we particually liked etc. Dan R came up with a really good scene from the Jackie Chan movie 'Drunken Master' which we adapted moves from. I am also really into watching parkour, and showed the others some clips, which they liked and some of those moves were also adapted to fit into our work.

I had researched some names for my character. I wanted a traditional Native American name so that she would keep to her roots and also because their names all had special meanings so I was hoping to find a name that would fit her. My favourites were the following which I presented to the others so that we could all pick a name.

ANGENI: spirit

DONOMA: Omaha name meaning "sight of the sun."

KAI: Navajo name meaning "willow tree."

KAYA: Hopi name meaning elder sister."

MAGENA: moon

MEDA: prophetess

MIAKODA: power of the moon

NUKPANA: Hopi name meaning "evil."

ONAWA: wide awake

TALA: wolf

We couldn't decide on a name straight away, but as we worked we started to call her Tala, and the name stuck. So the name of our good character is called Tala.

I showed the others some more of my main character design. The sketches were really rough and crude, but they were just there so that the others could get the point and help me decide on appropriate hair for her etc. We went through hair and eye colour tests. Although Dan C liked the design with the red hair band, he was out voted with the plain tied up hair. On eye colour, it was a decision between green or blue eyes. Dan R said that if I used green eyes, with the red feathers etc, it would look too festive, so I decided to go with blue.

The face that I was pleased with to be my main character.

Forehead test. Hahaha, soo bad!! She looks like an alien!

Scar test. I wanted Tala to have a scar on her face, as this is a trait steryotypically given to villains in movies etc. I wanted a main character that looked as though she had been travelling and fighting the undead etc and had marks to show for it, and although she may look a bit different, that it didn't make her less pretty, just more defined.

I liked this scar but I didn't want her to look like a bond villain. Still, I liked the way it looked like she had been clawed accross the face in some earlier battle.

Scar- wize, we thought it should be between the eye and the mouth scar. I preffered the eye one overall, as I felt it was more eye-catching (boom boom).