[STAGE] Mortal Kombat, The Pit, IanSmithArtist

iansmithartist

Latest:

Here are moodboards for the 3 Ideas I have so far, ill update this with more details tomorrow mornin'.

Update:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZQxmRBn_uc&feature=related[/ame]


Initial thoughts: To be honest Mortal Kombat is the only real fighting game I ever got into when I was younger. The Pit was the level that I remember the most, because of the rare magical occasion when you would upper cut your opponent and they would fall to their spiky death. Though now these years later, the over the top gore just doesn't cut it, so I'm thinking of playing with a different approach, either lighting the mood with brighter, more colourful environments, or opting for a more realistic styled arena. The most important element to keep is the iconic "Pit", with some sort of spikes.

Idea #1: Futuristic Utopia, a focus on ultra modern architecture, inspiration from places like Dubahi, Miranda planet in Serenity and parts of mirrors edge. Extremely clean, interesting shapes, influenced by organic elements.

Ideas for the pit: Up top is clean utopia, but fall into the pit revealing the slums that live beneath.

Idea #2: City Streets, Mortal Kombat still exists in the back alleys and basements of our world in a Fight Club style arena.

Ideas for the pit: Arena is partly a construction area with a pit lined with rusty exposed rebars.

Idea #3: (Possibly my favourite) Colourful Moroccan inspired arena, inspired by the dyeing pits of the leather tannery in Fez, Morocco.. The Mortal Kombat arenas are dark, drab, and grey, so while retaining the trademark level design I'd like to sawp in the warm earth colours. For some reason I really like the idea of the contact between the fighters and the paint as they move around the arena, splashing the dye around the place.

Ideas for the pit: Fight along a board walk surounded by the dye pits, possibly knocking opponents into them, and then finally to the edge where they fall into a larger pit, or off a ledge, perhaps where they bake the leather in the sun.

:blank::blank::blank::blank::blank::blank:

scrawld

Some really nice ideas.

I too like the Moroccan theme, perhaps because its a style that doesn't feature in many games outside of Prince of Persia. Even then they often go for the darker look in the remakes.

The city look could also work quite well, although that kind of thing has been done a lot before. Might be nice to see if you can done in a more interesting way, rather than the standard Hells kitchen and gritty back alley look.

The ultra modern I can imagine being the hardest to pull off, but the most original and rewarding choice. One thing that occurs to me (and maybe this is just me) but when I think ultra modern as you describe it, it makes me think of a civilised society. A utopian city with everyone living in harmony. Something that doesn't quite fit in the fighting game genre. Not a bad thing. It makes the idea more interesting. It might be a good way to give the stage a narrative. Who's going to be fighting there? why would they be fighting? How would the classic MK roster fit into this world?

Just a few things to consider.

Good Luck! Looking forward to some concepts :]

iansmithartist

Yeah, I kinda thought about the Mortal Kombat in Utopia doesn't really mix. But in my mind it was even in the perfect future, even Mortal Kombat still exists, it can't be vanquished. Or MK has descended on a futuristic city.

And as for the "Hells Kitchen" style idea, I had in my head a realistic rendered scene, but still slightly stylized. Objects slightly exaggerated, chunkier, a little over the top.

iansmithartist

The Moroccan dying pits seemed to be favoured by a few people so i worked up a concept from one of my ref photos. Still trying to figure out some of the elements.

The idea is that the whole area across the pools of dye is the fighting arena, fighters trying to hold their footing as they jump from edge to edge. Ultimately however they move closer to the edge of the pit. I will add something for them to fall into. In this concept they are fighting across the roofs of buildings. Either way there will be some sort of spikes down there . Still working through the ideas.

Ben Apuna

I really like this idea, love those dye pits + slums.

It'll be tricky to get a good camera angle that shows this off as a fighter stage with the pits below.

Maybe some rough wooden scaffolding would work as the platform for the fighters.

iansmithartist

Thanks for the c&c Ben.

I made another (really) rough sketch, taking on board some comments.

Im thinking there will be these hanging lines that are strung from large poles, (they use these to hang out the dyed leather to dry). There will be more of these in the poles in the pit below, onto which the players will fall.

scrawld

nice work, the idea's more clear in this concept. I like the idea of the large poles and lines, they'll be good for getting some nice parallax going on without obscuring the cameras view to much.

iansmithartist

People are making amazing progress with their entries, I need to step up my pace!

Here are some screens of the block-in/proxy layout. All very WIP, temp stuff, just trying to work out spacing and how modular assets are going to work. Im happy with most things so far, but some parts need moving around and tidying up, but that will come when I out the proxys and swap in the actual assets.

I still need to add the hanging lines, which will also act as the pit spikes. I need to emphasize the drop from the bridge more, beef up the lighting too. Also needs some more more detail props about the place. Back to work!!

scrawld

Looks like a good start, I'm liking the style. Seems a little unfair to critique this early on but a few things did come to mind worth mentioning. The scale in the last image looks off, as though the character should be bigger. The window on the far right is as big as the character, although granted i'm sure its temporary.

Plus, if the camera was closer as it would in a fighting game, you might loose a lot of the surrounding environment.