UC 2009 'END GAME' | N.E.R.D.S | 3D

vcool

Not your EveRyDay ArtiSt

And it's true!

I'm going solo. We tried to set up a team but we all soon realised we will never reach an agreement. Besides, if I don't end up having time to do this, I won't bring anyone down with me.

Teh logo (redone - Oct. 5):






Because I am a nerd.

Vailias

I thought that formula looked familiar, but yeah way to go with the math angle.

-1 for logo design though.

vcool

Changed the logo to something less cocky and more simplistic.

Also, first wip concept/mockup.

CONCEPT REMOVED, SEE NEWER AT BOTTOM.

I decided to explore the "game" part of "end game" more and actually incorporate some aspect of a "game" into it. The original idea was this thing floating atop an abyss with many bridges leading to it. Each bridge would represent some influential, instantly-recognizable game like Mario or Half Life. The idea is that at the end of the game, we all return to the source - the human mind. This was to be demostrated by a large nasty human brain contained within that floating thing.

I felt, however, that it was not at all clear what the idea was. I also thought it is going to be difficult to produce materials for several different game styles. Thus I scrapped the idea and decided to create this wasteland with a towering menacing citadel - a ginormous steampunky statue (vaguely repesenting a human) holding a TV screen that said "Game Over". In the front of the piece I'd have several props reminiscent of famous videogame characters lying around that implied the characters were dead. For example, I'd have Mario's hat in a pool of blood, a crowbar and glasses, Master Chief's helmet, etc. The idea is that this world hosted a kind of an ultimate showdown - an endgame.

I scrapped that idea as well, for reasons I can't remember (and it was only yesterday ), and decided to go down the road of something simpler but not any less epic. The piece will depict a world undergone destruction by something that resembles Tetris blocks. It is instantly recognizable to anyone and it acts as a bit of dark humour as well.

In the mock/concept I blocked out the main points of interest in Hammer, since I am most familiar with it. I'll need to hone up my Unreal skills, however, since it is the engine I hope to have my final entry rendered in. I then made a paintover in photoshop sugesting the kind of mood and feel I am going for. It is by no means great, I'm a horrible 2D artist (and not a great 3D one either !), but I really helps me out. It is much easier to see what I really want, rather than having a hazy blurred image of it in my head.

Now onto inspiration:

The menacing tetris blocks will be inspired by the Borg ships from Star Trek.


and obviously tetris


I am not sure about the lighting, but I think it'll be something similar to http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=5152

The ruins would look something like bombed Dresden:


I am having trouble finding more ruined cities for reference, so I'd love some input.

That's it from me for tonight, stay tuned as I attempt to make the tetrix in the coming days (If I find the time).

Zipfinator

The other logo was better but not really relevant if you're not going to be using Source.

At least dress this one up a bit more with some nerds candy flying around or something and a bubble style text.

MonkeyMHz

Ohh, neat idea.

c0ldhands

SWEET JESSUS, its giant tetris blocks, quick somebody call Godzilla, we need somebody to stack em!

vcool

A bit of an update.



As you can see, the Grentooth mouth releases a swarm of cubes. There's some fire coming out of the eyes, etc.

I am not sure what I will have in the front. Maybe it will be a city with a crater, but I am crap at making cities. Oh well, practise time I guess.

I wil work another week on this, here and there, but then I gotta focus on my studies so I'l hav eto abandon this till about October 25th. Then I'll have time again, and hopefully it'll be enough to finish by Nov 16.

amadeux

this is an awesome idea man. One thing I gotta say is , you should get a better angle for the composition. I know it is Tetris and you may want to keep the look, but we already know that cause of the blocks, You should go for something more dramatic that makes the mood more intense or scary :P.

Zipfinator

And take out the damn Greentooth. 80% of the entries I've seen have had it and it doesn't add anything to your scene really either.

diminished_Self

Zipfinator wrote: »

And take out the damn Greentooth. 80% of the entries I've seen have had it and it doesn't add anything to your scene really either.

contest rules state you have to include it in your scene, and you have to use our team colours as well.

Zipfinator

diminished_Self wrote: »

contest rules state you have to include it in your scene, and you have to use our team colours as well.

What, I didn't see that... I didn't look through the rules that thoroughly though. Well then I think you should move the greentooth somewhere else. It seems really out of place where it is now. I thought you were going to change the environment away from the desert, so maybe somewhere that has a grassy knoll that you can have deformed by the shockwave of the middle piece crashing that takes the rough form of the greentooth with dirt/debris forming the eyes and mouth. Would work with a small chunk of grass in the city or a more rural scene.