Anthony S's Ideas + Concepts

After talking to my team about the idea of having a town made from a machine they all liked the idea and made the decision to make our level based around the idea.
The back story is that after a war that destroyed most of civilisation, survivors have band together and made a secure settlement out of the remains of a massive war ma- chine. We decided to split different parts of the construction of the city amongst our selves. I have the task of creating a leg that has been converted into a bar.
The idea is that our world will contain a colourful array of characters, allot of which will be passing through the relatively large and well stoked town and can get a drink and perhaps some shelter. It can also be a place to accept courier and body guard re- quests from other people wanting to travel.


I would very much like to spend allot of model- ling time on aspects within the bar and parts of decoration serving as repairs. These small structures can be shared amongst my team and given new texture maps. 

Here is my initial idea of how the robot can look. I used the influ- ences from other robots and ma- chines to mold and create my own. Most of the picture is irrelevant as it will be hidden and can be adapted to best suit the modifications the townspeople would have made to it in order to use it as a home. 

Here is how I envisioned the changes made so as to live and hide the core of the machine. This again is only an initial idea and can be changed. The head and the left arm are important to make partially visible and recognisable as these are the only real give aways of a machine being there. 

Anthony S's Research + Visual Research

The level will contain different types of shanty’s or shacks made from scrap, there may also be your traditional styled building made from brick and mortar but will be converted and adapted to better fulfil the occupants needs in the trying times and universe our level is set in. Adaptations may include crudely secured satellites, pumps and space for extra accommodation. Visual influence will be taken from the science fiction film District 9.  

A recent game also depicts a harsh and very make do environment for the characters within the world.

Borderlands is a scavenging game and one of the main features of this title is finding and collecting loot as well as helping the npc’s  find and repair equipment. The land is populated by mutated monsters and humanoid creatures. 

  

We are also keen to add western elements to our level.  The level will be set in the future but we want things to look fairly familiar although heavily adapted as repairs would have had to of been made to keep the technology in working order. Production of new technologies would be mostly none existent due to the fall of civilization and the constant fight for survival. We feel that the art movement “steam punk” fits our game very well. With all the elements of our setting, era and backstory I feel we have a wide variety in what our level can contain, the tried and tested objects of the past such as an oil lantern can be very useful to the survivors as can a laser rifle or a bionic limb. 

I feel this will make for a rich and varied environment in which players will see new and wacky constructions integrated with familiar worldly objects.        

After a discussion with my team, I proposed the idea of having a massive battle robot that has been damaged and dismembered to provide living space for our occupant of the town. The idea was to have a partly submerged machine that has been adapted and build around so that the town’s people can live within and around it, using its valuable working components and power source to run certain mechanical elements of the structure.  The main attraction of having this decrepit machine however, was that its remaining arm was fully functional along with its weapon hand. In the volatile times our game is set in this ginormous weapon can alone secure the safety of the town from raiders and rogues. It could also bring unwanted attention to the town and so dummy constructs would be built in order to council the arm and the machine.

Here are a collection of robot images I took inspiration from when designing my robot. I feel that the iron giant style head was very retro and easily recognisable which would be important if the bulk of the machine will be hidden among living space in the form of huts and cabins.

This is a machine taken from terminator 4. I like how flexible the arms look and following all its pivot points will give me a lot of freedom in how I position the arm.

The iconic style of the ion giant is easily recognisable. I also like its scale compared to that of a man and is something close to what I had in mind for my own design. The gun arm on samus is something I will be using on my design, its not an elegant looking weapon but it looks like it hurts. I then recalled an animation called Howl's Moving Castle. It was about a massive machine that could change shape and take different forms. People lived inside it and new rooms would be magically created and lost according to the situation.

Movie Reference

Michael McMillen – A Decrepit Shack

It was assembled from salvaged sheets of corrugated metal, aging shutters and battered windows. It is decorated with old street signs, hubcaps and some old license plates. Heaps of scrap metal surrounds the shack attaching the forlorn interior reachable by a footbridge. 

Located at Oakland Museum of California. 

Avatar – link to Western Era concept

The movie quickly turns into a cowboy vs. Indians type of picture, recapturing the encounter during the 1800’s only two centuries later in the year 2154. The Navi, in this case the Native Americans are peaceful people who are spiritual and seek only to live in harmony, where’ as the Sky people, or the cowboys are well equipped, vicious and destructive. 

The Navi are assisted in their battle by dinosaur – like creature, which they ride just as horses. 

The sky people, they have the edge with their advancement in weaponry and resources. 

Back to the Future Part 3 

This time the “Doc” and Marty reunite in the old West with a few new additions. The town includes all the traditional western landmarks, including a blacksmith where the Doc sets himself up on mending the infamous DeLorean. The car undertakes some new modifications that really draw out the steam punk theme. The same can be said for the rifle used by the Doc. 

Star Wars – Tatooine 

The planet used in the Star Wars saga resembles that of which has been destroyed. Post-apocalyptic environment and lack of resources have caused human life to minimise. The planet is run by a clan of vile gangsters called the Huts. 

Inhabitance – Humans, Settlers       

                      Huts, Crime Lords

                      Jawas, Scavengers and Traders 

                      Tusken Raiders, The Natives

Wild Wild West – Steam punk theme 

Steam punk concerns itself with Victorian based characters, themes and technology. The idea was to take the resources available and create devices that were impossible to you. This movie elaborated on that in a way, seen through the gadgets and gismos designed by “Artemus Gordon”.

West World – Sci fi western 

The movie quickly shows how no good can come from intrusting a robot with firearms. During 1973 they had quickly adapted the traditional Western genre with the modern day Terminator. The movie represents an unordinary town with unordinary folk, which soon become controlled by its cybernetic inhabitancies.  

Tj's Research

And Then Some more

Some Visual References