Audience Research
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Secondary
As I've learned through my study of demographics in Unit 9, one of the most important category to focus on when defining your audience is age. Each age range will have different mindsets in which will alter their preferences with what they want from a game. A good way to determine what age to look for is to rate your concept through one of the Age Regulating Bodies, which are organisations that assist in making the most appropriate age rating for their media products to informs the customers.
PEGI (Pan European Game Information)
(Bibliography Page 1A)
At this current moment, I have a clear theme and idea of how I'm going about it, so to begin with determining what kind of audience I will aim for, I used the specifications of the different ratings from the website of the regulating bodies, PEGI and BBFC.
The PEGI 3 rating is aimed for all ages but especially young children. It mustn't contain anything that has the capability to frighten children, along with limiting any violence to a very slapstick level and the product shouldn't have any strong language. I'm not entirely sure if this is necessarily the rating my current concept fits, although it's very close. As my game possibly will have a survival kind of sub-theme that may involve killing creatures inside in a non-comical way.
PEGI 7 is very similar to PEGI 3 except its now directed to games that have a mild, non-detailed form of violence and images that could bring fear to children. This is the most likely rating that my game may fit in as it will have content that small children may fear and the violence will be above comical slapstick.
The only difference between the former and PEGI 12 is that it allows for more mild violence, mild language, gambling and sexual innuendos. Apart from the violence, none of these I really have planned to be present in my game.
PEGI 16 is for when the violence or sexual interactions in a game are more realistic and notable. It also allows for me extreme violence, gambling and drug usage. Just like the previous, I don't plan to have most of these assets in my product.
PEGI 18 falls under games that all of the above specifications and allowances come to a very graphic level to where it appears it would only be suitable for adults. I know that This isn't the kind of age that I looking for as I have no desire to make anything up to this graphical level.
BBFC (British Board of Film Classification)
(Bibliography Page 2A)
The BBFC rates both Fils and Games. Their specifications are vaguer and more or less simple specify what the content shouldn't have.
U stands for Universal, meaning its meant for all ages or at least 4 and up. There must be no realistic dangerous behaviour and if so it should be shown to discourage it, the same thing with discrimination and drugs. Violence and threats must be very mild or comedic. This is almost identical to the PEGI 3 rating and thus is not a fit for my game as its content slightly supersedes this.
For PG (or Parental Guidance) has most of the same specifications as a U but they can be a bit more extensive, as long as they have a purpose, such as education. This rating is normally directed at 8 and over but more or less it fit any age. This is most likely what my rating would be as nothing in the content will be graphical to a point where it can cause great fear nor will it be violent or encourage and violent behaviour.
12 is pretty much the same as PG but does allow for more violence and threat of horror as long as they don't dwell on these tones through the media product. Mostly for 12 and over. This can also fit mine as its not much different to PG, this can be a possible final rating if my concept were to ever get a little more graphical.
Rating 15 normally attributes to products that may include more sensitive topics or themes. Such as suicide and self-harm. The language gets to be very strong depending on the manner of its delivery, violence and be strong and references to things like sexual violence are permitted but not to dell on. This is where the ratings start to strive away from my concept as none of these is things I intended to include, nor would it fit my theme either way.
On the website, there's not much description for rating 18. However, it's very likely an 18 would be a product that has little to no restrictions and thus, use this to make some a lot more extensive than all of the other ratings. Once again, my game will have mild violence at best but all of the other specifications won't be included (currently).
Another very important category to look for when defining your audience is Player Types. These are what the kind of players people are, what kind of games they enjoy and for what reason. It's important to understand this as a game in itself can be good but if it doesn't match the desire or have elements that cater to the different types, the people who can enjoy it will be limited.
FFK
Using two graphs I made my studies on player types on unity 4, I defined what the main type of player my game will cater to.
It's very clear and apparent out of these four, my concept fits the easy fun players the most as they play for the experience of the exploration and enjoy a slow placed story that allows them to immerse in easily.
Player Types
Novelty: Exploration as the core theme is about the worldbuilding
Challenge: The persevere fits as the game is not meant to be difficult, however, it will have elements that will get the player to put in work to achieve the tasks.
Simulating: Hermit, the game will focus on making an environmental player can relax in and it will be single player. Though a project like this could be made for multiplayer that would go beyond my capabilities at the moment.
Harmony: My concept can apply to both mechanics and context. I've stated before I want to create a character with controls all linked to its physiology and the games will be less about what the player does but the meaning behind it and what it does for them.
Verdict
After going through and analysing each rating, I can see the most appropriate would be PEGI 7 and PG. Both of them are good middle grounds, acknowledging that very young child, ages 3 to 5, may find the content somewhat fearful but at the same time still being appropriate enough for almost all ages that don't contain any sensitive topics of graphic visual presentation.
In terms of player types, I now have a very clear view of the main kind of people the game would cater to and I can use that information to analyse games that also cater to the same player and use it to boost how mines do too. I will also be conducting some Player Acting, reviewing my current player empathy and using that to make sure other from other player types can still find enjoyment in my game as a calm game can be something that people lose their attention span for. So this will be important to ensure my audience can expand.
This secondary research will and has assisted in giving a very clear base on what the concept of my creative product will most likely cater to the most and I can use it to evaluate its success in different ways. On my Reflective Journal (Week 3) I describe how this has aided my ideas for my future primary research.
Primary
In order to further understand any audience tastes and what aspects of the games adhere to them the most, I decided to conduct some player acting. Here, I analysed a game that aligns with the audience I've defined, specifically player types, and noted what it does itself to adhere to their needs. The player types I defined are Exploration, Persevere, Hermit, Mechanics and Context, shown on my secondary research above.
Player Acting: Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a remake of the original first three Spyro games made by Insomniac. I played its rendition of the first game, which was originally called Spyro the Dragon made on 9 September 1998. This game incorporated many factors and features that would perfectly adhere to all of the different audience types that I defined in multiple different ways.
From the game begins, you an introduced to Spyro and the different mechanics he has. The controls are versatile but yet simple. You can press O to use his fire breath, X to jump and glide, square to charge, triangle to enter the first-person style of view and R1/R2 to side roll. This controls a very easy to pick up and can be mastered even before reaching any tutorial. While the Mechanic player type would usually cater to people who play games with complex and varied controls, this games age rating is a PEGI 7, meaning most children will play it. Games that are highly composite can detract the younger demographic as it increases the chances of their confusion to affect their enjoyment of it and could prompt them to stop playing before they get used to it. Another aspect that enhances the effectiveness of the mechanics is that they all relate to what the protagonist is. Spyro being able to breathe fire, gild through the sky and being able to change not only for faster traversal but also using his horns offensively immerses the player on the fact that they are playing as a dragon and thus further identify with the character, more effectively than the narrative itself could do.
As I've stated, the controls may be simple but they are also versatile, it is apparent when you enter sections where the default gameplay style changes. Such as the challenge maps where Spyro starts to fly (much different to his normal glide) and thus gains a slightly different moveset. This kind of feature would be very attractive to mechanic players as it gives them promise that they will be rewarded with different experiences through the game which helps to freshen their feel for the gameplay. This also gives the player more incentive to play, as introducing multiple controls encourages them to try and master them all so that they can improve their skills with the game overall. With the flying mechanic itself, it does the same jobs as the previous controls, in how it effectively gets the player to feel like a dragon, being able to manipulate the abilities a typical one would have.
The next of the player types the game adheres to is the Hermit. Hermits prefer games that are single-player and that have a calm and chilled tone. Spyro is indeed single-player and definitely carries a calming tone throughout. This is apparent through the narrative and gameplay. For the narrative, you mostly just traverse through different areas and rescue Spyros other fellow dragons and to find the main villain at the end in a non-linear faction. There's no extra thrilling sense or any tense story events that happen. A simple story like this is easy to follow, doesn't build up tension and lacks any deep though which assists with its calming nature. This is further expressed through the gameplay. There are enemies that will be in Spyros way, however, majority of them can be eliminated with one simple attack. Most other more action-orientated games would have them require more input and effort in order to defeat them, thus building up that thrilling theme more. One hit kills make the simplicity of the game much more apparent and make it much easier to play with a relaxed mind as it doesn't take much thought which is what makes it calming.
This gameplay styles also aligns to the player type, the Persevere. These are players who prefer games that are easy but do require some effort. Spyro has Elements like having a simple, non-linear narrative and having enemies that not only go down in one hit but also have some that even run away from him, much opposed to the norm where enemies normally approach the player. This makes the game a breeze to pass through and not much in your way are a threat to you. A player may be attracted to this style and it keeps the momentum of their playthrough consistently going rather than having obstacles that prompt them to stop and elongate cerin sections. Thought, the game still requires effort, as the player still has to do many different tasks and deal with a variant of enemy types that can take a little of getting used to.
If this game adheres of any of mt identified player types, it's definitely the Exploring one. These players most appreciate games that put a lot of focus on exploring and traversing through expansive worlds and maps. This plays a large part in Spyro as almost every aspect of its map caters to people who enjoy exploration within games.
From the getgo, the player goes through locations and can observe many detailed and abstract environmental designs and architectures. One that I took note of is things the different castles that can be seen throughout. Locations designs like this draw exploration player in as it gets them to wonder what other kinds of buildings and areas there are to see and what you can do in them.
On the note of architectures, some of them not only fits the explorer type, but also the Context type. Context players admire the narrative and the world itself. Examples are a stature in the shape of a dragons head, and sections where bookshelves are present. Context players may draw interest in this as it's apparent from the beginning that there are no humans in this universe, so to see designs like this would imply there's some kind of culture or society within the games universe. This may prompt them to desire to learn more about the world itself and understand its hidden lore.
Spyro also contains a collection system, having an in-game currency spread throughout the maps that the player has to find and obtain. They are sometimes put in locations that require you to start platforming and travelling to reach them. Sometimes they are placed where you wouldn't see it upon your first look. This means the player will have to explore and venture through everywhere if they want to find the currency pickups.
This kind of element is extended by the fact that there are also secret locations too. Parts of the world that are hidden and wouldn't normally subtle past casually. Usually finding them leads to reward such a more currency. These two things would cater to explorer types as they both give a substantial amount of incentive to try and tread through all sections of every location so that they can see if anything secret is in store for them. Getting them to always think about their surroundings and trying to understand each area is some of the pinnacles of exploring through games.
One of the most prominent ways that Spyro caters to the explorer player types is the environments themselves. The game will have to travel to many different locations, most being vastly different from each other.
Each area is made to be unique, not only by design but the content within as well. As u travel through them, the player will interact with different NPC's and enemies. For instance, in each location, there are animals running around that you can kill to heal. Each location has a different type of animal. Little details like this help bring more life into the world and give the player more to see and more to look forward to as they explore.
Will all of this, and everything above, I can definitely say the game caters to the explorer player type.
Overall Verdict
Production Research
The next of the player types the game adheres to is the Hermit. Hermits prefer games that are single-player and that have a calm and chilled tone. Spyro is indeed single-player and definitely carries a calming tone throughout. This is apparent through the narrative and gameplay. For the narrative, you mostly just traverse through different areas and rescue Spyros other fellow dragons and to find the main villain at the end in a non-linear faction. There's no extra thrilling sense or any tense story events that happen. A simple story like this is easy to follow, doesn't build up tension and lacks any deep though which assists with its calming nature. This is further expressed through the gameplay. There are enemies that will be in Spyros way, however, majority of them can be eliminated with one simple attack. Most other more action-orientated games would have them require more input and effort in order to defeat them, thus building up that thrilling theme more. One hit kills make the simplicity of the game much more apparent and make it much easier to play with a relaxed mind as it doesn't take much thought which is what makes it calming.
This gameplay styles also aligns to the player type, the Persevere. These are players who prefer games that are easy but do require some effort. Spyro has Elements like having a simple, non-linear narrative and having enemies that not only go down in one hit but also have some that even run away from him, much opposed to the norm where enemies normally approach the player. This makes the game a breeze to pass through and not much in your way are a threat to you. A player may be attracted to this style and it keeps the momentum of their playthrough consistently going rather than having obstacles that prompt them to stop and elongate cerin sections. Thought, the game still requires effort, as the player still has to do many different tasks and deal with a variant of enemy types that can take a little of getting used to.
If this game adheres of any of mt identified player types, it's definitely the Exploring one. These players most appreciate games that put a lot of focus on exploring and traversing through expansive worlds and maps. This plays a large part in Spyro as almost every aspect of its map caters to people who enjoy exploration within games.
From the getgo, the player goes through locations and can observe many detailed and abstract environmental designs and architectures. One that I took note of is things the different castles that can be seen throughout. Locations designs like this draw exploration player in as it gets them to wonder what other kinds of buildings and areas there are to see and what you can do in them.
On the note of architectures, some of them not only fits the explorer type, but also the Context type. Context players admire the narrative and the world itself. Examples are a stature in the shape of a dragons head, and sections where bookshelves are present. Context players may draw interest in this as it's apparent from the beginning that there are no humans in this universe, so to see designs like this would imply there's some kind of culture or society within the games universe. This may prompt them to desire to learn more about the world itself and understand its hidden lore.
Spyro also contains a collection system, having an in-game currency spread throughout the maps that the player has to find and obtain. They are sometimes put in locations that require you to start platforming and travelling to reach them. Sometimes they are placed where you wouldn't see it upon your first look. This means the player will have to explore and venture through everywhere if they want to find the currency pickups.
This kind of element is extended by the fact that there are also secret locations too. Parts of the world that are hidden and wouldn't normally subtle past casually. Usually finding them leads to reward such a more currency. These two things would cater to explorer types as they both give a substantial amount of incentive to try and tread through all sections of every location so that they can see if anything secret is in store for them. Getting them to always think about their surroundings and trying to understand each area is some of the pinnacles of exploring through games.
One of the most prominent ways that Spyro caters to the explorer player types is the environments themselves. The game will have to travel to many different locations, most being vastly different from each other.
Each area is made to be unique, not only by design but the content within as well. As u travel through them, the player will interact with different NPC's and enemies. For instance, in each location, there are animals running around that you can kill to heal. Each location has a different type of animal. Little details like this help bring more life into the world and give the player more to see and more to look forward to as they explore.
Will all of this, and everything above, I can definitely say the game caters to the explorer player type.
Overall, this game is very simple, yet still, contains many different elements, and all of these elements happen to fit within the player types I identified for my audience. Upon doing a little secondary research, I looked at the ratings of the game online. On Metacritic, critics rated the game 71 positive vs 0 negative. Regular users rated 518 positive vs 96 negative.
Another site called common sense media had reviews of the game, kids stating their fascination of the game.
These clearly show that the game has effectively catered to its audience in many different ways, mainly the ones I described above. There's a lot to take from this as like I already stated, the game's audience is more or less the same as mine. You can see what I took and my overall reflection of the game on my Reflective Journal.
Production Research
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Task Management: To Do
Microsoft hosts multifarious applications and software, one of them of which is called To Do. Microsoft To-Do was originally an app called Wunderlist, but it was eventually bought by Microsoft and became To Do. To-Do is an application that acts as a task manager. It has a barrage of different features and assets to allow people to plan and asses their future tasks.
You can create multiple Lists in which you can add the different tasks to wish within it. In each List, you can make specifications, such as adding sub-tasks in which will be tallied on the original tasks. This for when you want to break down a vague task. Each subtask you check will be called on the original too. You can also set times for reminders, and due dates when you want to specify when the task is supposed to be done. Another feature is that you can write notes on each task whether you may want to remind yourself of something when you view the tasks again. And finally, you can upload and attach files on each task which allows you to download it on any other device whenever you log with To-Do.
Task Management: To Do
Microsoft hosts multifarious applications and software, one of them of which is called To Do. Microsoft To-Do was originally an app called Wunderlist, but it was eventually bought by Microsoft and became To Do. To-Do is an application that acts as a task manager. It has a barrage of different features and assets to allow people to plan and asses their future tasks.
You can create multiple Lists in which you can add the different tasks to wish within it. In each List, you can make specifications, such as adding sub-tasks in which will be tallied on the original tasks. This for when you want to break down a vague task. Each subtask you check will be called on the original too. You can also set times for reminders, and due dates when you want to specify when the task is supposed to be done. Another feature is that you can write notes on each task whether you may want to remind yourself of something when you view the tasks again. And finally, you can upload and attach files on each task which allows you to download it on any other device whenever you log with To-Do.
Microsoft To-Do is a very simple application, and yet, its extremely versatile, especially for what it was made to do. I go into how useful this will for me and how I'll use it on my Reflective Journal Page.
Experimentation
Unity Practice: Learning 2D Creation
Using Unity on a 2D canvas is different than using it with a 3D canvas and there are different things to think about when doing it. Thus I decided to practice and see whats it's like to do so using images from the internet as I currently don't have any assets. Once I get the hang of it more, I hope to make some kind of base of what the controls of my game might be like as that way when I finally starting making sprites and artwork, I will already have something to put them on and use.
First I created a new project and selected the Unity 2D option for the first time.
My initial reaction to it was in some confusion, as the interface didn't appear any different and I could switch to 3D view and back to 2D exactly like how I could on 3D projects. I was expecting for the
workspace to be different to cater to only 2D but then I understood that this is how it works in Unity and being able to switch to 3D also has benefits inters of placement of assets and importing 3D assets in.
I wasn't too sure how importing and organising the assets would work on the 2D canvas, but then I decided to think of it like when I used the 2D canvas for the UI in 3D projects and tested it with seeing first I could import a background correctly and one that fits the resolution in which I was successful in.
After importing a placeholder sprite for my character, I watched a video showing the basics of making a 2D game in Unity (Bibliography Page 1E). I went through the inspector for the 2D sprites, I discovered Sorting Layers. Sorting Layers appear to be a simple way of altering the display order of the sprites. Such as if I wanted to make a layer just for characters so that any I select with it would always be above or below the objects I chose for it to be. I used this to separate each asset.
With the placeholder background and character in, I attempted to create a basic script for the movement. I have made a couple of these in the past however they were all suited for a 3D environment. For 2D, the movent script will be different, in terms of that it should only have control over the X and Y axis as Z on Unity id for depth which obviously takes no part in a 2D environment. Since my concepts' environments are based in locations like underwater/space, what my character needs is an 8 direction control. Never having any experience of coding this, I used a tutorial to assist.
I managed to make a working script, moving a sprite by altering its X/Y values. It was much easier than I originally thought.
However, an issue arrived. The horizontal movement was fine but the vertical movement was inverted, meaning when I attempted to go right, it went left and went I tried to go left, it went right.
I tried to figure out why it was doing this. Unity forums weren't helpful as the issues they talked about were either ver different, or their code was too different for me to use the advice. I looked through my code again but I couldn't see what could of be causing he invented movent since my script referenced pre-made Unity terms that had automatic controls. The only thing I could have thought to do was to build upon the code and constantly assign the direction each key should make the character go. Although, that would take a lot longer and overcomplicate as I want to make all my scripts as simple as they can be.
Eventually, I have a suspicion about it, so I put a random sprite on the canvas and went onto play mode. I saw that once the game starts, everything is flipped. This is when I knew that the main camera in the project was behind the canvas, thus was giving off the illusion that everything in the X-axis was in reverse.
After fixing the position of the camera, the X-axis appears correctly and controls worked correctly. Now the only thing is to learn to how to add collisions to 2D sprites to create obstacles.
I researched on how to add collisions on 2D sprites as all the ones I've used before are only for 3D objects. Another tutorial I watched stated that before collisions are added, the sprite that has a movement script should have physics-based movement as opposed to my transformation style movement (Bibliography Page 2E).
So I revised the script to be based on physics and added the Rigiodbody component to my character sprite as instructed by the tutorial.
When testing the controls again before I went onto collisions, I arrived at another issue. It appeared that gravity was being applied to my character due to the Rigidbody component. However, unlike the one on a 3D project, there was no option to toggle gravity on or off.
After some trial and error with altering the body type on the Rigidbody component and the speed variable that I assigned the movement script, I managed to make a good base for the movement control as now gravity isn't being applied while still using physics-based controls.
Using the same video. I attempted to apply a collision to the object I added to block the character. It appeared very simple in the video, but when I attempted to replicate it, it failed to have any effect at all. Even after altering the variables of components and trying to find a solution or explanation online, it just wouldn't work as my character just kept passing it. I could probably cause it to happen through a script but again, this would complicate things more than they need to and I want to make everything as simple as possible. This will be something I will have to experiment and test later to see what method I will have to use.
Artistic Research
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My chosen idea for the gimmick of the art to be is to have all of the creatures be a combination of two different real-world animals. There are many examples and references just like this throughout fiction and media overall.
Avatar The Last Airbender is a western animated TV show, made by American animation directors Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. It was aired for 3 seasons on the channel Nickelodeon from 21st February 2005- 19th July 2008. In the show, almost every single animal is merged with two different animals (same as I plan). The method that I noticed how ut does it is that it generally has the base of the body to resemble one particular animal and then most of its features and body parts are altered. Generally those extra or altered features grants them extra abilities a that the base body wouldn't have. Examples are;
The Flying Bison
This is one of the many species in the show. The Sky (or Flying) Bison is a combination of an earth Bison and Manatee. The Bison side makes the base of the body, with their quadruped like stature (except having six feet) hunched backs and horns on the top of its head. With all of this, the Flying Bison would be physically strong with its size and mass. The Manatee side can be seen quite notably through the tail, with it being flat and rectangular with a circular top. Just like the Manatee, this assists in their ability to swim much more effectively than other animals.
The Winged Lemurs haven't fully been conformed of what they're a hybrid of. However, their body implies that they are a combination of a Lemur and a Spotted Bat. The base of the body most definitely resembles a lemur, with their colour scheme, face and body shape. This part of them provides them with extra agility and flexibility due to the fact that real-life lemurs have these traits. The Spotted Bat half provides them with the ability to fly and have enhanced hearing from their large ears.
Badgermole
The Badgermole is as the name describes, a combination of a Badger( most probably the American one) and a Mole. The base of the body is a resemblance of a badger, with its colour pattern and head shape. This half grants them the ability to dig through most soft surfaces and an acute sense of smell. The Mole part is seen by the altered structure of their libs, being more angled which possibly makes it more effective at digging. They also retain the blindness that moles have.
The Lionturtles are mythical creatures within the Avatar Universe. Just like the previous, the name itself implies what hybrid it is, which is a Lion and a Turtle. These creatures aren't shown much in the story and thus all of their features aren't shown, but with the base of their body being a turtle, we can imply that they have reptilia features and with the head of a lion they most probably have an immense jaw strength.
Overall as I said, the style of which Avatar combines its creatures is first defining its base body, then building the second creature it's merged with upon it. I will attempt to do some concept art using this method to see how it works out.
This art book was made by a highly academically scientific illustrator called Terryl Whitlatch, (Bibliography Page 20AR) It was published by Titan Books (25 Feb. 2011). It consists of drawings of many different abstract animals. Some of them appear as original creations and a lot of them also seem to be made to be hybrids. The method I see that this book uses is that for the hybrid looking creatures, it combines the body and features of multiple animals just like Avatar, but here it seems to exaggerate the extra features a lot more that makes them appear much more mythological.
This animal is called the Juggerchlonid. It appears that it could be a cross between a Tortoise and some other Reptile-like animal, possibly a Crocodile. The Tortise half can be seen with its short, club-like legs and its shell. The secondary features resemble some kind of reptile, most like;y a Crocodile with its scales. The latter features are more exaggerated, having the scales be a lot more prominent than average, spikes all over and hyper elongated tongue. Both halves would give it all the physical benefits a tortoise would have, along with the menacing appearance and strength of a large reptile. What makes this creature interesting is how it looks like something that could have definitely existed in the far past. Its whole design is mainly based on reptilian animals which were a prominent type of creature in the early days of earth.
This is one of the more abstract creations, being a combination of a Rhino and another reptile-like creature, possibly being some dinosaur or inspired by the concept of a dragon. It's very likely that it could be inspired by the dinosaur named Ankylosaurus. The base structure of the body resembles the quadrupedal nature of a Rhino, along with how its head horn is placed. The tail and neck are where its reptile features are shown and these are also exaggerated by enlarged spikes and scales. What's intriguing with this creature is how its structure makes it look like it should be able to stand up, but its posture shows different. This contrast draws in your eyes as its a peculiar look which what makes it captivating.
This creature seems to be a tribrid, most probably mixed with something from the Equidae family, Iguana-like skin and a Dolphin-like tail. These traits together would probably make it's physicality both equally grate on land and underwater. What's interesting about this design is how obscure it is, the features don't match at all which not only makes it memorable but makes you wonder how a creature like this would fit in the real world.
Last but not least, The Pug-O-Pus is very clear of what its a hybrid of, being an Octopus along with a Dog of the Bug breed. The way the features are combined here is quite riveting. It keeps the colour of the fur of the Pug and uses the head of it, as Octopuses heads are normally obscure than most other creatures. So it is fitting how it replaced with a more traditional looking head. It also appears that there are paws at the tips of the tentacles. What really makes this design really intriguing is how it combines something most people see as appealing (the Pug) with something that most may be afraid of or show aversion to (the Octopus). This juxtaposition creates a contrast which only enhances the aesthetic.
Overall, all these designs where inspirational. Its method is slightly different from Avatar's, having the hybrids more abstract and exaggerated. Both of them have given me a create a starting point for the concept art that I will be beginning and the method I may use for them. When this is done, they will be placed on my Pre-Production/Planning and Reflective Journal Page.
My chosen idea for the gimmick of the art to be is to have all of the creatures be a combination of two different real-world animals. There are many examples and references just like this throughout fiction and media overall.
Avatar The Last Airbender is a western animated TV show, made by American animation directors Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. It was aired for 3 seasons on the channel Nickelodeon from 21st February 2005- 19th July 2008. In the show, almost every single animal is merged with two different animals (same as I plan). The method that I noticed how ut does it is that it generally has the base of the body to resemble one particular animal and then most of its features and body parts are altered. Generally those extra or altered features grants them extra abilities a that the base body wouldn't have. Examples are;
The Flying Bison
This is one of the many species in the show. The Sky (or Flying) Bison is a combination of an earth Bison and Manatee. The Bison side makes the base of the body, with their quadruped like stature (except having six feet) hunched backs and horns on the top of its head. With all of this, the Flying Bison would be physically strong with its size and mass. The Manatee side can be seen quite notably through the tail, with it being flat and rectangular with a circular top. Just like the Manatee, this assists in their ability to swim much more effectively than other animals.
Winged Lemur
The Winged Lemurs haven't fully been conformed of what they're a hybrid of. However, their body implies that they are a combination of a Lemur and a Spotted Bat. The base of the body most definitely resembles a lemur, with their colour scheme, face and body shape. This part of them provides them with extra agility and flexibility due to the fact that real-life lemurs have these traits. The Spotted Bat half provides them with the ability to fly and have enhanced hearing from their large ears.
Badgermole
The Badgermole is as the name describes, a combination of a Badger( most probably the American one) and a Mole. The base of the body is a resemblance of a badger, with its colour pattern and head shape. This half grants them the ability to dig through most soft surfaces and an acute sense of smell. The Mole part is seen by the altered structure of their libs, being more angled which possibly makes it more effective at digging. They also retain the blindness that moles have.
Lionturtle
The Lionturtles are mythical creatures within the Avatar Universe. Just like the previous, the name itself implies what hybrid it is, which is a Lion and a Turtle. These creatures aren't shown much in the story and thus all of their features aren't shown, but with the base of their body being a turtle, we can imply that they have reptilia features and with the head of a lion they most probably have an immense jaw strength.
Overall as I said, the style of which Avatar combines its creatures is first defining its base body, then building the second creature it's merged with upon it. I will attempt to do some concept art using this method to see how it works out.
This art book was made by a highly academically scientific illustrator called Terryl Whitlatch, (Bibliography Page 20AR) It was published by Titan Books (25 Feb. 2011). It consists of drawings of many different abstract animals. Some of them appear as original creations and a lot of them also seem to be made to be hybrids. The method I see that this book uses is that for the hybrid looking creatures, it combines the body and features of multiple animals just like Avatar, but here it seems to exaggerate the extra features a lot more that makes them appear much more mythological.
Juggerchlonid
Rhino-Dino Dragon
This is one of the more abstract creations, being a combination of a Rhino and another reptile-like creature, possibly being some dinosaur or inspired by the concept of a dragon. It's very likely that it could be inspired by the dinosaur named Ankylosaurus. The base structure of the body resembles the quadrupedal nature of a Rhino, along with how its head horn is placed. The tail and neck are where its reptile features are shown and these are also exaggerated by enlarged spikes and scales. What's intriguing with this creature is how its structure makes it look like it should be able to stand up, but its posture shows different. This contrast draws in your eyes as its a peculiar look which what makes it captivating.
Noree of The Sea
Duncan of The PUG-O-PUS
Last but not least, The Pug-O-Pus is very clear of what its a hybrid of, being an Octopus along with a Dog of the Bug breed. The way the features are combined here is quite riveting. It keeps the colour of the fur of the Pug and uses the head of it, as Octopuses heads are normally obscure than most other creatures. So it is fitting how it replaced with a more traditional looking head. It also appears that there are paws at the tips of the tentacles. What really makes this design really intriguing is how it combines something most people see as appealing (the Pug) with something that most may be afraid of or show aversion to (the Octopus). This juxtaposition creates a contrast which only enhances the aesthetic.
Overall, all these designs where inspirational. Its method is slightly different from Avatar's, having the hybrids more abstract and exaggerated. Both of them have given me a create a starting point for the concept art that I will be beginning and the method I may use for them. When this is done, they will be placed on my Pre-Production/Planning and Reflective Journal Page.