HOW TO FOLLOW “PREPRODUCTION BLUEPRINT”
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TABLE OF CONTENT: Inner Cover Legal: Copyright, Trademarks, Disclaimers Acknowledgements Table of Content: The Secret Behind Preproduction Blueprint 11 Step Planning Overview How to Follow “Preproduction Blueprint” Playable Level or Stand-Alone Game Environment Step 1: Ideas Step 2: Setting, Location and Theme Step 3: Project Purpose Step 4: Features Step 5: Photo/Video Reference and Research Step 6: Story Step 7: Objectives, Obstacles and Set Pieces Step 8: Focal Point Step 9: Top Down Layout Step 10: Visual Development Step 11: Making Lists Final: Preproduction Blueprint Thank You! Reference Preproduction Blueprint Worksheet Preproduction Blueprint Checklist
THE SECRET BEHIND PREPRODUCTION BLUEPRINT
WHAT IS PREPRODUCTION BLUEPRINT Preproduction Blueprint is a complete system for planning your game environments and level designs. This could be for a playable playab le level or a game environment exploration exp loration to show off in a portfolio. Planning process is called pre-production and what you end up with is a Preproduction Blueprint. It is an essential step to finishing your projects. Unfortunately, planning tends to be a rushed part of the p rocess or completely ignored. When a house is built the owner must decide on a budget, find a building lot (land), create house plans, obtain all the permits and insurance, hire subcontractors, clearing the land and excavate, order and an d arranging utilities (plumbing, electric, water), lay foundation and deal with soil treatment, not to mention constant surveying and inspection of the land. All this before a single wall for the house goes u p. Up until this point, nothing is built that resembles a house. If an y of the steps are ignored or rushed through, there is a higher chance of a faulty construction.
Lot of planning is required required before a single wall goes up in this house (Photo (Photo by Paul Brennan) Creating a game environment or a level design is very similar. Once you have an idea you have to go through the steps of:
• knowing what you are going to create • knowing what you are going to create • how it’s going to look • how it will play • location where your environment takes place • creating a top-down layout • defining objectives • setting a project purpose • collecting photo reference • creating a story • visual development • prototyping
Rushing into a project without planning will most likely result in unfinished game e nvironment. Good news is you don’t have to worry about permits, land, utilities and excavation. All you need is a solid plan of what your environment is going go ing to look like and play prior to creating it.
4 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CREATION Level design and game environment creation can be broken down to 4 essential elements: follow. The vision of an idea to go 1. Planning or Preproduction : having a proper plan to follow. after that is concrete and worthwhile to pursue. 2. Gameplay: this includes BSP block-in and prototyping level design elements such as pacing, flow, flow, objectives, set pieces, scripting, player progression, player’s experience and play-testing. It is the game level mechanics. 3. Visuals/Artistic : this includes 3d models, textures, materials and lighting. The aesthetics of the game environment. 4. Technical : knowledge of the 3d modeling software, level editors and art theory; this makes the first 3 elements possible.
We are going to focus on the first element – planning process or preproduction.
WHY I FAILED FOR YEARS AT LEVEL DESIGN AND GAME ENVIRONMENTS I used to rush into creating a game environment as soon as I had an idea. I didn’t plan or research. I would jump inside the level editor or a 3d modeling software and begin building. bu ilding. For a few hours it was fun. The idea would begin to take shape and become real. But then the entire project would begin to collapse. As I encountered my first problem with the environment, I wouldn’t k now what to do next. I would make “in the moment” decision since I had no larger vision or a plan to follow. As I continued to work through the project, more “cool” ideas would come to me. Instead of sticking to a plan and a specific theme, I would try to incorporate new ideas into my current environment. It would add more complexity to the project and a nd make the environment lack consistency. c onsistency. I would become overwhelmed and frustrated. I would then think if I change the layout, update the theme and incorporate more ideas it would work. Soon after, the entire environment would fall apart and I would end up abandoning the project. Without figuring figuring out why I failed, I would start on a new idea – new level design or game environment e nvironment project. Thinking this time will be different. I will push through and finish. Of course nothing different happened, because I didn't change my process. This persisted for few years. I would often get mad at myself that every project I started did not get finished. It came to a point where I stopped creating maps and game environments. I gave up. I reached a point where I walked away from level design and game g ame environments. I told myself I should pursue other things. I began to believe that level designing and game environment art wasn't for me. Over the next few years I studied filmmaking, drawing, painting, architecture, programming, web design, photography, business and management. I ended up graduating with B.F.A in Computer Animation from Ringling College of Art and Design. But my love for level design and game environments never left. Throughout my 4 years in college I wanted to design game environments. I would wo uld always get ideas I wanted to create, environments I wanted to see come to life. I was obsessed about level design and game environments. I just suppressed it and pushed it away. For our senior thesis in Computer Animation, we had to create a 2-minute animated short film. Before anything could be modeled, textured or animated, we had to spend an entire semester during junior year in preproduction. Preproduction or prepro as it was often called, was a full semester class where we had to create a story, design characters, props, visual style and all the env ironments prior to doing anything in 3d.
In addition we had to create a storyboard of the final film, while presenting everything worked on to faculty for feedback. No modeling, no lighting, no animation. Only preproduction for a 2 minute short for an entire semester.
Concept Art From Animation Thesis If this is what I had to do for a 2 minute animation then I should be doing the same for level designs and game environments. Perhaps not a full semester but enough time should be dedicated to planning before to starting any new level design or game environment. A lot of questions need to be answered when you create a game environment or a level design. • Is the idea worth my time? • Is the idea interesting and unique? Has it bee n done before and if yes, y es, can I make it better and put my own vision into it? • Where does the environment take place? What location? • How am I going to pull this off? What would I need to learn and improve on? • What is the story of the environment? Does it make sense for the game and/or game type to take place in this location? • Is it a single player map? Multiplayer map? Stand-alone game environment?
• Do I need to create custom assets? Textures? Does the engine or the level editor include everything I need? • Which game engine and level editor will I use? • What is the time period? Environment setting?
abo ut the story and location I want to make? • Have I done my research about • What is the theme of the environment? • What is the color palette I want to use to convey the emotional impact of this environment? • Do I have a top-down layout to follow? • What do I want the player to experience in this environment? • What are the objectives for the player to complete, if any? • How will the flow and pacing play out in the map? • How will I tackle the project? What will I do during the production stages? • Have I collected photo reference for architecture, lighting, props, loca tion and setting of the environment? • What is the purpose of this project? Why am I working on this?
There are many more questions. Figuring these out has to be done before opening up a level editor.
THE TRIP THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING After a full semester of preproduction class it was summer time. I had 3 months to reflect and collect my thoughts before beginning my animation thesis in September. To relax and recharge I took a 19-day trip to Switzerland. While in Switzerland, I kept seeing ideas for level designs and game environments everywhere I went. I couldn't ignore it anymore. I realized I didn’t didn’t want to be an animator. animator. I thought I did when I first first got into college but the more I animated, the less I enjoyed it. I never wanted to animate anything again. Level design and game environments was something I had to do. After I came back from the trip, I started and finished a fan-made map DM-IcyApex in only 3 weeks (with provided assets). For me this was huge revelation.
Reference Idea and Finished Fan-Made Map (Stock Assets from from UT2k3) During these 3 weeks I spent first week planning and two weeks creating the map. Next breakthrough happed a few months later. I was half way through my senior year during my winter break. I created a fan-made playable deathmatch map (some custom assets) in 11 days called DMLighthouse.
Planning Idea Drawings
Finished Fan-Made Map (Stock Textures Textures from from UT2k3) For both of these levels I began to follow the planning process I learned in preproduction semester, but heavily modified and expanded to level designs and game environments. This was the beginning of Preproduction Blueprint. Now, Now, planning my projects did not make me finish all of my maps and game environment. It will not make you finish everything you start either. either. But planning provided a sense of purpose, a clear goal to aim for and to know exactly ex actly what I wanted to create before opening o pening a level editor or a 3d 3 d application.
PREPRODUCTION BLUEPRINT You are now holding this planning system in your hands. These are the same steps that I use to design environments and levels. It took me yea rs to refine but you don’t have to figure it out yourself. I laid everything o ut for you to use in a step-by-step process. After going through the book, you’ll be able to close your eyes and walk through the environment. The level will be finished in your mind. The next step will be to open up u p a level editor and begin construction. Let’s get started.
11 STEP PLANNING OVERVIEW
11 STEPS OF PREPRODUCTION BLUEPRINT Before we get into each chapter chap ter and a step-by-step workflow, let me outline the entire process for you here so you know what to expect. Overview of each step:
STEP 1 - IDEAS First step covers your ideas for a project. You will learn how to generate ideas, how h ow to keep track of them and how to pick one to work on.
STEP 2 - SETTING, LOCATION, THEME In step 2 you will come up with an environment setting, location and theme.
STEP 3 - PROJECT PURPOSE In step 3 you will learn how to define a project purpose – why you want to create this game environment.
STEP 4 - FEATURES Step 4 will have you c reate a set of features to aim for. Features are your bulleted point list of what will make this project unique and different. Think of this as a “unique selling proposition” for your level design or environment.
STEP 5 - PHOTO/VIDEO PHOTO/VIDEO REFERENCE AND RESEARCH In step 5 you will collect photo reference and research your environment setting.
STEP 6 - STORY In step 6 you will create a story behind your environment or level design. There are two types of stories within the environment. 1. What happened in the environment prior to the player getting there? What is everyday life like in this environment? 2. The story of how and why the character has come to this location. What are they doing there?
STEP 7 - OBJECTIVES, OBSTACLES AND SET PIECES: In step 7 you will define objectives, obstacles and set pieces for playable level design or a stand-alone game environment. Objectives are goals for player to achieve, obstacles are challenges to overcome and set pieces are scripted events to make the world seem alive.
STEP 8 - FOCAL POINT Step 8 you will set a focal point in the environments. It is often a dominant piece of architecture or landscape. Focal points are used for visual landmark locations and to help the player orient themselves in the world.
STEP 9 – TOP-DOWN GAMEPLAY In step 9 you will design a top-down layout. Top-down layout is a schematic drawing of your level.
STEP 10 - VISUAL DEVELOPMENT In step 10 you will spend time in visual development. It is the style and art direction of the game environment. The concept art behind how the environment will look. You’ll define color, lighting and overall atmosphere of the world.
STEP 11 - MAKING LISTS In step 11 you will make lists. This is everything you need to create, collect and set into motion in order to begin creating your playable level or stand-alone game environment.