Experiment 1 Submission

This first experiment in the BENV 2423 subject required me to improve my cryengine skills greatly and also required me to be unique in my approach towards the tasks in this experiment. I began this experiment by establishing what I wanted to achieve by the submission date and allowed myself to experiment with untested ideas rather than the common ideas as a way to differentiate my work and conceal it with a touch of uniqueness.

Strategy Statement
The strategy statement was put in place to help establish how I was going to conceal my letter and number combination from macro to micro throughout my island. My strategy statement can be found here.

5 Draft Images of Island
Draft images of my island can be found here and here.

Video Trailer
As part of the final submission for this experiment we had to create a video trailer to promote our island. I always wanted to associate the feeling of mystery and suspense in this project and this is heavily portrayed throughout my video trailer through the use of background music and video effects without needing to use text to portray the mood conveyed in my video trailer.

My developed Island
Below are a few screen captures of my final developed island.

Files to play test Cryengine 3 Environment
The files needed to play my Cryengine environment can be found here.

Week 6

As part of this week's tasks, we had to review the work of our fellow students. I have attached screen captures of the students that I reviewed.

This week's lecture was about movement which conveyed examples of movements which have inspired me to try and incorporate some of the features in those examples shown within my cryengine scene. The lecture was also helpful in showing how to work with flow graphs to achieve our strategy plan.

Draft Submission

As part of our experiment 1 submission, we were required to put together a draft of the outcomes for this first experiment.

Strategy Statement: 

The challenge with this brief is not how hard it is to conceal the letter and number which in my case is a combination of “H9” but the challenge is to actually stay creative and explore unique ways to incorporate the letter and number into the created environment to create a satisfactory experience for the user and allow them to be challenged into finding the 5 various scales of this letter / number combination throughout the island. I will try and use various techniques, elements and effects on various scales to ensure that I best conceal my letter and number combination and ensuring that I adhere to a unique approach.

5 Images of Cryengine environment:

This image above shows the whole island.

Macro - The largest combination of letter and number that I incorporated into my island is quite unique in my personal opinion. My idea behind this combination is incorporating a sand island within my main island that disappears during the night as the water level rises and reappears during the early hours of the morning and throughout the day revealing an imprint in the sand conveying the letter and number “H9” as the water level drops

My second combination is made up of fallen tree logs that lay on top of each other forming the letter “H” in a natural way and 9 big rocks that are placed randomly near the fallen logs. Upon looking at this combination from a distance, once can only identify this combination as natural elements that have formed over a given period of time blocking a path but upon close interaction and focus one can then identity this combination involved that convey the letter “H” and number “9”.

With my third combination I tried to seek a different approach to concealing my letter and number combination. I highlighted a specific section within my island and linked it to a sound file that would play and say “H9” every time the player is within that specific area. I believe that the use of sound to conceal these elements is rather unique. 

My fourth concealment of the letter and number combination allowed me to use a decal to convey the letter “H” as white paint on an old demolished building and represented the number “9” buy placing 9 lamps randomly around the same area to illuminate light for the letter “H”.

Micro - this is a plinth located on the island that displays the letter "H" and the numbers 4,3,1,1 which equal to "9" when added together.

My final step for this experiment is to keep adding details to my environment and ensure that I thoroughly cover the assessment outputs. I must also develop a trailer that would successfully convey my island in a distinctive and significant way as part of my final submission.

This week's lecture was really useful in presenting excellent examples of the concealment of subliminal messages and products within ads, movies and other means of representation. The content in this week's lecture have inspired me to ensure that I maintain a unique approach when concealing my letter and number combination.