London

We finally took our trip down to London to gather reference for our FMP and get our heads round scale and positioning of both the exterior and the interior. Steve's part of the trip went well as nearly every building down there seemed to have been a bank at some point and were all grand exteriors with excellent detail. As for my side we came across a few interesting interiors but most we were unable to photograph and even worse i didn't get any vault pictures. The Silver Vaults was very tight on security and we couldn't even enter, but that was as i had guessed however the Bank of England museum had none either and that was my best bet. On the other hand we did get to go in all these places and nosey round as well as coming across some nice design surprises that inspired me with better ideas and design.

I think i have a lot now to use in the way of concepting but it is going to have to be up to me to put together a full space from scratch.

Review: Round 2

Had the second and last lot of crits over our FMP proposals and now i think its pretty final that this is what im doing. Im collaborating with Steve for definite now and were set to take a trip down to London to get reference and a feel for the style and setting we are aiming for.

As for the crits, not much was said but they gave me the go ahead as i showed them my advancements in ideas and design. I tried to prove my idea would not be boring because it was 'after an event' by showing them scenes from other games and films where action is absent and yet drama and suspense was everywhere. Before the film Super 8 was released in cinema Portal2 released a teaser level where the player awakes after a train crash. The player walks freely around the level of destruction not seeing another soul or solving a single situation until he is finally greeted by a dramatic cutscene and the titles. This was my best example to hold against the 'boring level' statement as it is so dramatic.

As well as this i pitched a new layout i was considering to fit with Steves current level designs. Both are going to adapt in the near future so they truly compliment each other.

The extra editions are the more linear pathway and the added vault entrance room. The middle part of the building will now be a low celling office space with cubicles. I think this will flow nicely from the grand main lobby into the smaller offices and down into the smaller still vault. I just hope i havnt bitten off more than i can chew.

[Two vault entrance concepts]

This week has been mainly focused on my current project but time has been spared to continue contemplating my idea and how to execute it. After the last reviews Steve has been lost with where to go with his idea and suggested maybe we collaborate. I thought this would be a solid idea but have always wondered how marking something shared would go. How would they properly judge the overall piece with other peoples work creating the scene. Steve was thinking about maybe doing the outside of the bank so would sit next to my FMP but would not be mixed in with the assets. I think this would greatly add to both pieces while maintaining whole areas of personal work.

He is still undecided about this though and will be something we will look into. As for me, i have had a weekend of watching bank robbery films and am still confident in my idea. Later next week when hopefully i begin some preliminary concepts the idea will come together.