Week Four

One of my research aims is to see if it is possible to bring the two-dimensional and three-dimensional stylistic forms together in a single games' space and environment. Seeing more games being produced with overlapping artistic styles and the occasional inclusion of merging different dimensional forms made me wonder if it was possible to bring the two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms together without compromising one style. When I view video games that include an element of, for example, 2D within a 3D world, I always find that the spaces heavily rely on one dimension and artistic style. This, in the end, only adds a minor improvement to the ever-growing artistic style within games. I became curious if it was possible to bring them together within a games' environment as equal without leaning towards a specific dimension.

​

I hope to discover if I can bring a new artistic style to games that game developers and game designers can use in various ways by merging dimensional spaces and shapes. In doing so, and if my research is successful, I may open more significant style possibilities through the game design process for not only myself but also for other game designers. Game designers could then possibly use the two and three-dimensional space in a game without being restricted to a single-dimensional form would significantly impact the game design industry.

My second aim is to learn about what I can do in a game space using both 3D and 2D to create psychological and strange game experiences. Creating new experiences is what I enjoy, and I want to learn what more I can make with the skills that I am trying to improve. My research will rely on my artistic ability and skills in working with Unity, Maya, and other possible software. Initially, to test out my aims and ideas, I have been sketching and creating concept art to place my thoughts on a page in a visual way.
Discovering if there are limitations to my ideas and creativity and what I can do to work around them when creating new and different experiences for others will be of great interest. Psychological and strange game experiences are a challenge to make, so I want to know if I can bring simple ideas and make something different. I want to investigate the process taken to create an environment that plays on a persons' view of regular and familiarity and how it can be used as a game's design or possible mechanic. There is a set idea of what the player will expect when they are playing within games, and I want to create works and ideas that can alter a player’s perspective and open them up to a world of new game ideas and environments.
Figure 2. Test space I created within Unity to test created artefacts and continue with experiments in a playable space.
 

The visual creation of my research ideas and aims leads me to learn how to utilise Unity as my game creation software to create a game landscape and space in both a two and three-dimensional way. Unity is a software I am familiar with; however, I am always learning new things. I am interested in finding how I can push Unity to create an interactive narrative game that uses strangeness through 2D and 3D. After my first sketch experimentations, I have started to look at how to use them within Unity and navigating what skills I will need to continue with my experiments. Unity has limited design capabilities, it is constantly improving, but I find Unity more valuable and successful when incorporated with modelling software such as Maya. I am interested to see how game designers can fully utilise Unity to create seemingly infinite possibilities within a games space through my research. If I am successful, I aim to show Unity's potential opportunities that game designers can use to push further into the limitations that game design, specifically world design and artistic style, can pose.