Major Project 1/ Task 1: Proposal Development

04/02/2025 - 23/02/2025 / Week 1 - Week 3

Lim En Yu / 0354452

Major Project 1 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor’s University 

Task 1: Proposal Development



TABLE OF CONTENTS







Instructions
 
Fig 1.1 Module Information


Task 1: Proposal Development

During the first week, we are required to form a group in 4, and after we have our own group, we will need to brainstorm about which area of topic we want to do for our major project, and the topic must be aimed to solve an existing issue.

Our group has think of 3 ideas, which are projection art, dreamcore and 12 Chinise Zodiac. After consulting with Mr Kamal and Mr Kannan, we decided to proceed with 12 Chinese Zodiac. Also, while brainstorming the ideas, we decided to go with VR based project as we have Kar Yee! One of the 2 immersive specialisation student!

After we have confirmed what we want to do, which is a VR game about 12 Chinese Zodiac, we start to do research about 12 Chinese Zodiac and separate tasks for each member. Our purpose of this game is to promote this Chinese Zodiac culture to younsters nowadays or whoever want to know about this culture. In this era, even some of the Chinese younger generation themselves don't know the story of 12 Chinese Zodiac and the correct sequence of it.

Miro Board: 
Moodboard/ Visual References
Firstly, we start to explore on which specific visual styles of characters we going to pursuing for. We have thought for chinese antiquity style, paper cutting style, origami style, old myths style, minimalistic style and cute style. Lastly, we have inspired by origami style and thought of low poly style that is more special and not so hyperrealistic that we cannot afford. There are also a lot of low poly style industry game that we can refer to.

Fig 2.1 Visual References for Characters

On the other hand, based on the chosen low poly style we have also explored on the visual references for environment. We decide to do a open world vr game which consists of multiple floating islands. Mr Kamal has given us feedback on the floating islands that we could include different themes for each island. Therefore, we have looked for different low poly environment designs like canyon, blossom forests, paddy field and more.

Fig 2.2 Visual References for Environments

After we have decided to go for low poly style, we have then explored on each chinese zodiac animals' low poly style. Not only thee low poly visual style, but also incorporated with the patterns on the body. I intended to do for a more stylized low poly instead of realistic one.
Fig 2.3 Low Poly Style Visual References for Characters

Sketches for Characters
According to the online visual references, I have done 4 sketches for the first 4 animals in Chinese Zodiac Sequence which are rat, ox, rabbit and tiger. For dragon and snake, I was only able to draw for the line art as I don't have much time to complete thw whole drawing.

Rat
Actually it is much harder to draw low poly style sketches as I will need to consider the relationships between each faces and whole body. Also, the colouring progress takes a lot of times as I will need to fill in the poly one by one and also think about which colour I should put. It is hard for me to think the brigthness and saturation that connected to each other. Also, to make the Chinese zodiac theme stands out, we decided to include Chinese motifs like the swirl lines and patterns, and most importantly the zodiac coins on their forehead.
Fig 2.4 Sketching Progress for Rat

Fig 2.5 Sketch for Rat
Ox
Next, it will be the similar style for the ox. I created a more stylized image for ox which has bigger head, bigger horns and shorter legs.
Fig 2.6 Sketching Progress for Ox

Fig 2.7 Sketch for Ox

Tiger
Moreeover, following the sequence, after ox will be tiger. Tiger takes me the longest time as it has a more complicated structure on the face part. Also, it is hard to control between stylized and realistic style so it takes me some time to complete this sketch.
Fig 2.8 Sketching Progress for Tiger

Fig 2.9 Sketch for Tiger

Rabbit
As I don't have much time to draw, I decided to sketch until rabbit only. Rabbit is quite easy to sketch as it is small and cute. There are similar patterns applied on these four animals.
Fig 2.10 Sketching Progress for Rabbit

Fig 2.11 Sketch for Rabbit

Dragon & Snake
For dragon and snake I only able to sketch for lines only, and I just want to show teacher how will them looked like when in low poly style. I try to make it look very cool even though it is in low poly.
Fig 2.12 Sketch for Dragon

Fig 2.13 Sketch for Snake


Sketches for Environment
On the other hand, I have also in charged to sketch for the different stages we have proposed such as the starting, middle and ending stages that are all separated floating islands. 

Starting Stage
For the starting stage, we designed it to be a simple and slightly broken altar as our ending stage will be a altar also so we want to make some connections here. After that, the player will be able to pass through a door after the tutorial here and teleported to the open world.
Fig 2.14 Starting Stage


Middle Stages
As what Mr Kamal suggested we should have different themes for each island, we have thought of 3 themes which are paddy field, canyon and blossom forests. I have in charged of drawing paddy field and canyon.

Stage 1 (Paddy Field)
For the paddy field theme, I have looked for a lot of visual references online to know what elements I should include. And most of them include a windmill, a farmer's house with fence and oranged trees.

Fig 2.15 Stage 1: Paddy Field

Stage 2 (Canyon)
After that, I proceeded to Canyon theme which is the most time-consuming as there are a lot of details I will need to include. As this island we are going to use for dragon game stage, which is about helping draught in a village. Therefore, I will need to draw a village in a desert. I have also referred to different kind of canyon and plants in desert.
Fig 2.16 Stage 2: Canyon


Ending Stage
I have done 3 sketches for the ending stage but basically they share the same concept which is about the bagua array will lights up in the altar after player has completed the game.

Sketch #1
This sketch is my most preferred one as it will be surrounded by Chinese building with stair going up. This composition looked the best.
Fig 2.17 SKetch #1 for Ending Stage

Sketch #2
Thie sketch is more simple compared to the first one, and there will be no stairs but a linked bridge connected from one of the floating island to this final stage.
Fig 2.18 SKetch #2 for Ending Stage


Sketch #3
This sketch is showcasing what will happened after the player has reached this island and the altar lights up. Basically, there will be all 12 Chinese Zodiac animals' head floating on the sky.
Fig 2.19 SKetch #3 for Ending Stage
Developing Game Stages
Here are all the research done for each chinese zodiac animals' personalities like strengths and weaknesses. We have developed 9 stages of game according to their personalities while some of them has combined together as a stage.
Fig 2.20 Personalities for Chinese Zodiac Animals

Here are all the stages with the game references we have found online. Most of them are simple games only. The sequences will be followed in descending order that the first animal player will meet is boar while rat will be the last one.


Fig 2.21 Game Stages


Task 1: Proposal Development
Fig 2.22 Task 1: Proposal Developmen

Final Presentation Slide:
Fig 2.23 Final Presentation Slide for Task 1
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Feedback

Week 1:
We have asked Mr Kamal about what speicific area of topic we can discover on and whether culture side is acceptable or not. Also, we aim to do something about VR but afraid of technical issues and Mr Kamal also have the same concern. During the tutorial class, we have proposed 3 rough ideas for Mr Kamal and Mr Kannan. In the end, we decided to go with the 12 Chinese Zodiac Animal as they think it's an interesting idea.

Week 2:
- Good.
- Have the Jade Emperor congratulate the player at the end.
- The flow of the story is understandable.
- The animation should be appealing to the audience (kids) as it is supposed to be educational.
- If the workload is too much, you can reduce the introduction animation. Focus more on the game.
- Origami animals are hard to animate. Limited movements.
- The white animals from the mood board will be easier to animate, also stylistically interesting. Model something with similar simplicity. High-poly with simple shapes.
- Don't do overly cute. Too simple.
- The style of the world should match the characters (e.g. low-poly characters in low-poly world).
- If you do low-poly, the colour and composition must be nice.
- Not sure if Unreal Engine supports low-poly. Make low-poly sample models and try importing to UE.
- You can contact your senior Jamie(?) for the technical stuff.

Proposal Feedback:
- References can.
- Story and stages need to develop more.
- Characters can.
Week 3:
- Floating islands: Make sure each floating island is distinct from the others and not all the same. Decide on a theme for each island. You could also have the player teleport to different maps instead of islands.
- Don't sacrifice your creativity for limitations.
- Timeline: Your timeline is detailed and can be used for Task 2, but for Task 1, keep it brief (such as milestones). Put the simplified version in the PPT.
- Group member roles: Everyone can have a common role, but should also be split into specific roles.
- Gameplay stages: Make the stages simple enough for you to execute. Relate the environment to the animals. You might not be able to complete so many stages. Reduce the activities (e.g. introduction, 3-4 stages). Create visuals for the gameplay. The ideas are good, but you should consider the execution.



Reflection

Although this task was only task 1, but I have already felt that we have a lot of things need to consider and plan nicely for our Major Project so that it could be conducted well. Luckily we have our idea already and we have tried our best to improve it. Even though some of the planning we could not execute it but we just planned everything at once, the feasibility stuff we just hold it first.

I also glad that I have found good group mate and has a good leader that is very organised! I hope that our group can work well for the rest of the time as this project really require a lot of teamwork.

Through researching all different visual styles and the sketches that I have done, I am able to visualize how our final project will look like but actually it is a bit too early to say this lol. To be honest, our group was kind of worry about the technical parts which are unreal engine and VR part. We do not have any knowledges about these areas that's why we will need more time on the research and testing part.

It is still the starting point of our major project, I believe we can do this! We will discover more and continue to develop our idea on task 2 and task 3. 

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