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The Game

The
idea I have for this fictional game art project was inspired by the television show Deadliest Catch. The show documents the intense journey of several fishing boats off of the coast of Alaska during the crab fishing season.

I thought, wouldn't it be interesting if one of these boats was caught up in some mystery or horror during a colossal storm. A first-person game where the player has to face all these challenges in a battle of survival against horrendous weather conditions.

The story of a ship in a storm is nothing new in storytelling. Many films have captured the chaotic force of nature at sea. Perfect Storm (2000), The Finest Hours (2016) and Adrift (2018) to name a few. Yet, few video games have been focused solely on-board a boat; let alone centred around a crab fishing vessel.

While doing research, I found very little on crab fishing in video games. The only ones I am familiar with are Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm (2008), Fishing: Barents Sea - King Crab DLC (2018) and Deadliest Catch: The Game (2019). However, all three of these are simulation games.

The task of making a mystery survival game, on-board a small vessel, that has very little reference or such source of info to create from, was a challenge I could not pass up!


Jason Bartlett ©

The image above is an early 3D render (I made using Arnold) of the mood I wanted to capture in the game. The bow lights of a boat struggle to show the way through dense fog at night. This was my first time experimenting with volumetric scattering in Arnold for Maya to make fog. I enjoyed every minute.

A huge part of game design is to ascertain what art style to go for. As like the image above, I intend to go for a realistic approach; while I may explore other visual styles from low poly to a black and white theme. I believe it's always good to look at things from different angles and perspectives to get the best results but also a deeper understanding to the subject. 

Alongside posting my artwork, I intend to develop and push ideas around the plot and core gameplay. In addition, by working as though it is an actual game in production, I can improve my concepts fundamentally more. I can explore problem-solving significantly than as if I was to go straight to the end product.


Thanks for reading :)

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