WPG: Finding my feet and understanding Ether

2nd FEB

Ether had been in development for around 7 months before I joined the team so I needed to understand all aspects of the game, the company and what we as a team were trying to achieve with Ether.

Here is a link to the description of Ether : http://www.whitepapergames.com/site/games/ether.php

In the words of Ben 'Ether is the debut title from indie start-up studio White Paper Games and is a first person science fiction ghost story that explores the depth of human memories through a tale of forbidden technology, mystery, hope, love and death.'

Josh Concepts

My Tutor Josh Taylor had been helping out Ben and Pete by creating some really nice concepts for the game.

Josh's concepts have been the only real solid artwork that ether has had so far. What he has created are really loose, bold paintings that beautifully reflect a coastal environment. What interested me the most was the way in which he has not been afraid of showing his brush work. In fact I believe he is promoting the idea of the strokes and blotches and showcasing the art for what it is. This raw kind of style is something that I intend to pay homage to in my own work. With the guidance of Josh I aim to create a unique style that will give Ether its own identity.


3rd FEB


Introduction to Episode 1 & My Early Concepts


In class Pete showed me how the levels would work in Ether. The game would be broken up into Episodes and my first task is to work on his level, Episode 1. He showed me the level in UDK and talked me through ideas and understanding of how he would like the environment to look.

As you can see from the Images above the scene is made up of BSP and UDK assets. The starting point of the level is the small harbour area in the bottom left of this collage. From this general shape and layout I made a few concepts of how this area could look.

In this concept I tried to combine a few elements together, firstly the pastel colour scheme of Lost and Found was replicated along with an initial attempt of trying to capture Josh's style. Personally I found it difficult to stay loose, I think this is because as an artist I am so familiar with being precise and accurate with my work.

 Here is the same concept except at Night. As the first Episode will be a summers night I figured it would make sense to try and capture that.

This is a WIP concept that I did not get around to finish, but it is visible from the brush strokes that My style is starting to loosen up.

Ben also sent me a few screen shots of his level Episode 2. I quickly painted over the landscape to give an idea of how the moors could look and a possible colour pallet.

These exercises and concepts helped find some direction in the colour pallet of Ether, however the brush strokes still needed some work. When I Paint I tend to try and keep things to neat. With Josh's style it is crucial to keep loose and not worry much about the paint you put down and to not be so precise.