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Art Dump - MechKnight Chronicles Trailer

This is an art dump for the concept trailer my studio created for our first game, MechKnight Chronicles.

[size=+2]Trailer[/size]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z02jWKt4tPQ"]MechKnight Chronicles Concept Trailer. Dinosaur Games - YouTube[/ame]

All 3D models were created by me in Max 2010 and then exported to Maya for animation. We then put all the assets into Terminal Reality's Infernal Engine because we didn't have any help with FX in Maya. We put everything into Infernal only to find out our FX help couldn't help, so Travis and I had to learn FX fast.

The characters were created between summer 2010 and summer 2011. At that point we were only playing with the idea of starting our own studio. Everything else was created in two months after my normal work hours. (April and May) The final polish, engine implementation, FX work, AfterFX work was created in June.

The main theme song was contracted in March so we could begin visualizing the trailer. My friend Chris re-mixed / re-mastered it in June and added the intro.

Overall there was a lot of work and effort put into this to make it the best we could with the deadlines we set for ourselves.

Without any more rambling, onto the dump.

[size=+2]Characters[/size]

They are not fully optimized in the way I would normally create game characters, but I still tried to make the wires as neat and efficient as possible. We learned a lot about how to model functioning armor for 3D animation with game constraints. (not to mention transformations)
The original characters had a geometric outline, but Infernal does not have shader support for that. So for the final trailer we had to fake the colored outlines using the shader below:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/70269048/shader_knightfall.jpg
(removed img tag because I hit the img limit apparently)

Overall a good enough temp fix. Going forward with Unity, we will be doing a proper geometric outline since I know Unity can do that.

pimp_char_roy.jpg
pimp_char_jon.jpg
pimp_char_gaben.jpg
pimp_char_chicken.jpg
pimp_char_skeleton.jpg
pimp_char_butcher.jpg

I've learned a lot about color since starting these characters. The skeleton is the most recent one I textured (May), so I'm more satisfied with his colors than any of the others. (The others were textured between summer 2010 and summer 2011)

[size=+2]Environments[/size]

Environment concepts were created by Devin Busha back in August of 2011 as a test to apply my character art style to environments. When we hit the ground running on the trailer, I had to figure out tricks to get that style over to 3D. A lot of the color in the environments comes from vertex color. The environments themselves only use a couple tiling textures.
They were modeled with only the shot in mind so they are not optimized at all.

pimp_env_atlantis.jpg
pimp_env_hell.jpg
pimp_env_cliff.jpg
pimp_env_forest.jpg

[size=+2]Logos[/size]

Pretty simple. Here are the logos I made in 3D with the intent of making them look 2D.
The Dinosaur logo has the black cracks modeled the way they are so when you push them up through the blue background it will appear as if the blue background is cracking from the center out.
The MechKnight logo is built so it can transform.

pimp_logo_dinosaur.jpg
pimp_logo_MKC.jpg

[size=+2]Marketing[/size]

For the final polish for our websites we created some marketing images for fun in the final week.

pimp_marketing_01.jpg
pimp_marketing_02.jpg
pimp_marketing_03.jpg
pimp_marketing_04.jpg

[size=+2]Follow us at:[/size]

Now that the trailer is finished, we're going to begin sending it out to find a publishing partner. Pre-production for us begins in August. We're going back square one for everything design-wise in order to make the most efficient, modular art we can for our game design. Be sure to keep up with us by following us online. We will be posting 2D and 3D art. We will also be hosting G+ hangouts for those interested.

http://www.facebook.com/dinosaurdev
https://twitter.com/dinosaurdev
http://mechknightgame.com/
http://dinosaurentertainment.com/

[size=+2]Trailer credits:[/size]

Finally, us and the talented people that helped with the trailer can be found here:

Concepts - 3D Models - FX
Skankerzero - http://www.skankerzero.com/

Concepts - Animation - FX - Cinematography
Travis Tharrett - http://www.linkedin.com/in/travistharrett

Level Scripting
John Bearden - http://www.johnbearden.net/

Intro Music - Re-mix Main Theme Music
Chris Kline - http://www.vertexguy.com/

Main Theme Music - AfterFX Work
Secret Powers - http://secretpowers.com/

Environment Concepts
Devin Busha - http://www.devinbusha.com/

2D MechKnight Logo
Elizabeth Perez - http://dribbble.com/eliperez

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