Research into Aesthetics: part 4

Analysis of related works:
As part of my research for BA4 I looked at the art and design of "Prometheus", "Avatar", and the "Star Wars" franchise. Placing particular emphasis on the design of the man made elements in these works, i created a collection of images for reference, 

Looking back, it seems that there wasn't enough communication between the team and myself, of the design elements in the mood/characteristics references and what i wanted to take inspiration from. i realise now the need to make more detailed notes alongside such images to correctly convey my vision. when not working in a team, as with this project said notes are equally important to help maintain a coherent design aesthetic, and to give me something to refer back to when i need to cross check a design idea. 
My notes should, take into consideration, form, color, characteristics, technique, mood and more.

(The art of Avatar)

I chose this concept art piece from avatar as an example of the technology level that i thought would be appropriate in the game. I wanted the design to be somewhat fantastical, but within the realm of believability  The picture reminded me of a discussion we had had as a team, about using Jurassic park for some reference material, as it shared some story themes, like the bi-engineering (in this case cloning) of dangerous animals, and their containment. we thought that we would have to design similar levels of security in the animal enclosures.

i have continued this research (that i started in the last project) to find examples of the images that sparked the these ideas.

(Jurassic Park)

(Jurassic Park 3)

(The art of Star wars the Clone Wars: Kamino design)

It was the stetting of this painting that primarily interested me. I thought that within the story of the game, it would make sense that the facility (the stetting/environment of the game). I also wanted to use these buildings as a reference for the scale of the environment we were creating, based upon the idea that as we were designing a large scale MMORPG game, the towers, and forms of the buildings, and the expanses of testing facility's in the facility would effectively form what would be the mountains, hills and plains such games that are set in more traditional locations.

From that point, i imagined that the buildings would be based off some kind of tier/ level structure, i thought that this would create an interesting game environment to play in, and would produce a large amount of available play-space for a game with an indoor setting.

A design incorporating the aesthetic/ layout of the Kamino buildings (above) and some structural inspiration taken from paintings of the Tower of Babel, or the film design of Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings franchise. 

(Tower of Babel)

(Minis Tirith: The Lord of the Rings)

(The art of Star wars the Clone Wars: Kamino design)

For this sketch (above), i also wanted to give an example of the scale of the building, i thought the use of characters in the picture would give a better indication of scale and perspective.

(The art of Star wars the Clone Wars: Kamino design)

I liked that this image went into further detail of the buildings. the perspective of the picture, ad the organic curves give the buildings the same profile a rolling hilly landscape would have as it turned to a mountainous region. it was this picture that provided me with the visual link to connect the use of large scale buildings and their forms as the actual landscape and its environmental landmarks.

(The Art of Prometheus: ship interior)

(The Art of Prometheus: ship interior)

These images from the concept design of the ship Prometheus from Ridley Scott's film of the same name, also provided examples of the level of technology that i thought would be appropriate for the game world. Prometheus is set in 2089, a similar time in terms of technology (theoretically) as the setting for Phenotype, and as such provided the best template to work from.

The Prometheus and Alien franchises also provided a good deal of reference in terms of mood. Unfortunately i neglected to source any images of the man made design in Alien (the spaceships and buildings) and used it more as a guide for the design of organics within the game as this also fitted the dark design ethic we wanted to stick to.

For this project i will be designing the interior of a room, which is inherently a man made structure. therefore it is important that i gather further reference images, for concept art and mood paintings that are more applicable to me now. I still feel that these reference points are compatible and relevant to my vision of the assets that i intend to create, i want to gather fresh resources from these areas and more that i think will help me in a manner more specific to my BA5 project, as i don't want to rel solely on the material that i had gathered previously.