Research into the second Art Test

Looking at the game 'Fable' 

The second Art Test I decided to look into was the Concept Pre-Visualisation Test. The title is a little misleading so what the brief actually entails is creating a citadel that could be found in the any of the series of games, 'Fable'.  The citadel will be where the four different fractions or the world meet to socialise, manufacture and trade. This will be done by creating 2D environment art of the city, designing such things as docks, religious or commercial sectors, forges and living quarters. This all has to be done by using the art style of the game Fable and much consider things such as the time of day and what the season will be. All of this also has the capture the mood and feel of the lived environments. So this brief is a little more lenient than the other Art Test I looked at but there is still a large amount to be done to actually pass it.

The whole idea of this test is to create artwork that fits in with a already existing and well known style which is something that concept artists would have to learn to do when joining a company. Although in this test we are allowed to add our own personal flare to our pieces to make is a little more personal but I have still have no clue how I would achieve that. To be honest this is the Art Test out of the two I picked which I am feeling less confident about as I don't have a lot of experience with drawing environments of any kind . Completing this test would be a new challenge for me to try and over come, which is a little worrying but also important for me to keep in mind that it would be a great opportunity to expand my skill set and learn some new artistic techniques instead of just sticking to character design. I did rather like the sound of the brief so I decided to do a little research into the game we would be focusing on as I have heard a lot about it but never had the chance to play it.



FABLE 

The original Fable is a single player role playing, open world and action video game that was released on the 14th of September 2004. It was released on various platforms such as  Xbox, Xbox 360, Windows PC ans Mac OS X and was the top selling game September 2004, selling more than two million units by 2007. The original game was developed 'Big Blue Box' with a group of more than 150 people working on the project but as the games popularity increased and new games in the series were released, 'Lionhead Studios' took over development for the games.

 In Fable you play in a third person perspective and take control on the main character, called 'The hero of the Oakvale' who can interact with objects, the people you bump into in your travels and any dangerous foes that cross your path. Similar to the style of many other role playing games such as 'World of warcraft' or 'Dragon Age Origins', your goal is to complete all the quests and missions you have to be able to continue the story line and advance in the game. As well as following the main story there are many side quests for the player to pursue so they can discover the world they live in and meet new people, ultimately building up your characters reputation and skill. Each quest completion gives the character a sum of gold which the player can use to go and buy new weapons or items to use during the game which can effect how certain characters will react to the hero. But weapons aren't your only choice, the hero can also learn how to use spells to help ward off foes and build their strength. There are many different personalised option for the player to choose to help make the story more personal to them and feel like they are effecting the story.

Fable also have a few interesting elements to it's gameplay which isn't normally found in other role playing games. For example you can change throughout playing the game and completing certain actions, what type of person you want to hero to be. Doing good deeds will increase the hero's likeability and will push you more towards 'positive alignment' but, doing bad deeds will turn your the character into more of a villain, edging towards 'negative alignment'. There are also elements such as clothing and habits which can change the hero's persona or appearance. If you eat too much then the character will gain weight or if you wear a certain piece of clothing it can make you look more attractive but if you were darker clothing then you are more likely to appear more frightening.

 Below is a collage of screenshots from the original game and two YouTube videos. One is of the trailer for the game and the second is the first 10 minutes of gameplay from Fable.

Due to the popularity of the original game, several other additions were created to add to the series, each one building onto the iconic world, plot and style of Fable. The Fable series has a very recognisable art style compared to many other role playing games that have been produced which mainly stick to looking more realistic, for example 'Dragon Age' or 'Skyrim'. This game however has a more distinct and cartoon looking art style which manages to make the game appeal to a different range of people who may be looking for something a little different from your typical quest game. With unrealistic, colourful and soft designs it looks like the game has been aimed at children but with elements such as sex and violence, all the games in the Fable series has received a 16+ age rating which is clearly aiming the game at an older audience. The original game in the series sticks to a very soft colour palette and environment style, keeping everything airy and fresh but as more games were produced, players were introduced to darker looking levels to explore, adding a new element to the game to make a little different from the first.

Everything perfectly falls in place with the cartoon theme in this game. Apart from it's creative environments designs there are a wide array of different stylised characters for the player to interact and talk to who help to build to the area the player is exploring. An example of Fable character concept art can be seen in the first image below. Although there a are a large amount of elements that build up the world of Fable, the area that the Art Test is focusing on is the environment designs. Although there are many different cities, towns and small areas out side the populated areas that the player will discover throughout the game to the stylised cartoon theme that Fable possesses and help bring the game to life. An example of  2D piece of Fable environment concept art can be seen in the second image below.

Now that I have done more research into the game to actually find out more about it's game play and stylised art style, I am less cautious about choosing the Concept Pre-Visualisation Art Test as there is something very appealing and almost comical about the environments and character designs used in Fable which has managed to peak my interest and possibly steer me more towards completing this test. I am actually excited about the idea of doing some 2D artwork that I know is going to have a cartoon style to it, which is similar to the art work I do already. The only thing that is really holding me back at the moment is that the fact that I am not very experienced with drawing or designing environments and buildings so this would be a big challenge for me to over come. I am just worried that the work I will produce for the test just won't be up to scratch and it will affect my overall grade which is making me lean towards the 2D character concept Art Test as it is something I feel more comfortable doing.

However if I do decide to choose this Art Test then I will do a larger amount of research into each of the games in the series. Also I will spend a good amount of time to find reference images and closely look at the environment/building design to make sure I start off on the right track.