Detailing

With a rough outline of the narrative, I now need to focus on adding detail to the outline so that I can start to construct a coherent world for the narrative to take place. I need to look at:

• The Four Brothers: who are they? why are they the protagonist? what is their purpose? physical description? history?
• The Clans? How many? Who are they? Are the clans related? What's the similarities and differences between the clans? Social ranks? How are the clans run? Where do they live?
• The world: Description of the world? How does the environment affect day to day life?
• The enemies: Who are they? Why is there conflict? what is their relationship to the dwarves? where did they come from?
• The King / Father:Who is he? what is he like? His role in society? His feelings towards his people? His feelings towards the heros?
• Story: How will all the events link together? How will I represent this in the gameplay?

Starting to plot out the story

• You play as the four sons of the current king.
• The king is picked from the strongest and most popular clan.
• The last five kings have all been from the current kings clan.
• When the king first came to the throne, times were good, and the king was loved by everyone. However times have changed and the goblins have started daily raid and have already taken one territory.
• Due to the constant attacks the king has been forced into making hard decisions that have affected all the classes but mainly the poor.
• Unlike most princes and nobles, the four princes live amongst their people and are loved by all in their clan. However, this is not the same in all clans. Most clans follow a strict social code in which there is a clear divide between the upper and lower classed.
• The game focuses on the theme of growing up. Now that the king is under a lot of pressure it is up to the four brothers to work together in an effort to do all the kings tasks around the four territories.
• The game also focuses on your relationship with your father. Some of the quests he sends you on will negatively affect a lot of the lower class. Choosing to do the task will improve your relationship with your father but often negatively affect your relationship with the people. However not doing the task will negatively affect your relationship with your father but improve your standing with the lower classes.
• Eventually you will have reunited all four territories to create an army. The size of this army as well as its quality are affected by the decisions you've made throughout the game.
• The game will use in game decisions.

This is just the basic outline of the narrative, I now need to work through this outline to add more detail, and to fix anything that causes the coherence to be destroyed. I also need to start thinking about the new game mechanics I will be adding and how they will work.

Game Writing; Narrative skills for videogames edited by Chris Bateman

"In static media, inconsistencies can be hidden from the audience to a certain degree, but in a dynamic medium such as nonlinear games, the player has more time and capability to explore the narrative space - inconsistencies are not only at risk of being uncovered, they can begin to unravel the entire tapestry of the story.

Players will have a variety of different responses to inconsistencies - a few will devise their own mental models to eliminate them, but many will become confused or annoyed. Either way, the player's attention is diverted from play, which cannot be beneficial.

Internal consistency must apply to every character, every line of dialogue, and every branching story path the player encounters. This means game writers must be especially careful with recombinant branches, as the game state can become ambiguous, leading to dialogue that risks being inaccurate or in the worst cases wholly inappropriate."

This passage highlights the importance of having a coherent world, so that the players attention is not diverted from play and they are not removed from the 'magic circle' of play. This will be incredibly important for me to think about when creating my story, as this will allow me to produce a much deeper story that actually makes the audience think.

Game Writing; Narrative skills for videogames edited by Chris Bateman

"Writing an effective nonlinear game story is a challenge because story and game are essentially incompatible. Their end goal is similar - each seeks to create an unpredictable, yet highly satisfying entertainment experience - but to achieve it, they rely on opposite constraints. The power of a story comes from its structure. The power of a game comes from its freedom."

This passage highlights the importance of the balance needed between story and gameplay. If the game is too story driven the audience will feel like they are not achieving much and the game will begin to feel to linear, however if the game is too gameplay driven it can often become hard to understand the flow of the game.

Game Writing; Narrative skills for videogames edited by Chris Bateman

"No matter how wonderful a writers exposition of dwarven tiddlywinks rituals might be (unless there's a key element of gameplay that hinges on a dwarf literally losing his marbles), it should generally be saved for the promotional materials, tie-in novels, or projects that are personal to the writer. Many players wont want to hear it.

As with every rule, there are exceptions. Certain adventure games, for example, have escaped criticism for their verbosity. Because the classic adventure is in many ways closely tied to the novel in terms of the narrative form employed, it is perhaps more acceptable for these games to indulge in additional exposition - especially if it can be organized so that the players can explore it at their leisure. Being able to find a book in the library on dwarven tiddlywinks is a different proposition from forcing the player to listen to a character drone on about the subject."

This is an important point to remember when it comes to crafting my own narrative and story. I want my world to be rich and colourful, and to be completely coherent however, I don't want to bore the audience with endless cutscenes of backstory, but rather let the player learn about and experience it through playing the game. This will not only make the world seem more interesting but make the story a much more personal experience.

Next Step

Now that I've started to create some game mechanics from my player experience goals I will now be able to start crafting a story around them. I need to do some deeper research into creating a coherent world. By having a strong coherent world I'll be able to create a rich story in which to get across my ideas and deeper meaning.

Player Experience Goals to Game Mechanics

Players will have to work as team in order to complete tasks, overcome obstacles and finish the game.

Each player is put in control of one of four dwarves. Each dwarf has their own individual skills and abilities, which they will have to use to pass certain enemies and obstacles. However certain enemies and obstacles will require them to work together and combine powers. This enforces the idea of co-operation and teamwork, if a player tries to go alone they will probably die leaving the rest of the team to fail.

In single player the audience is given control of all four dwarves that they then have the ability to switch between at any time.

I will need to focus on making two sets of control that allow for easy switching between characters but also intense and realistic action.

Players will have the freedom to set their own goals and tasks, and pursue these goals in any order and at any pace they choose.

At the start of the game the player will see a short cutscene in which the story of the game is started. After this the players will be left to explore. Through exploration and teamwork, the story will begin to unravel in front of them. This will allow the player to advance the narrative of the game at their own pace.

Another way that the players will be able to set their own tasks is through in game decisions. This will allow the player to make split second decisions that affect the flow of the narrative. This becomes more interesting in multiplayer where everyone will be able to make in game decisions. This not only puts them in control of their own goals but also enforces the idea of teamwork.

Players will become emotionally attached to their characters.

At the start of the game before the story starts the player is given one dwarf which they then pick one of four abilities for. They can then begin to edit this character changing his physical appearance as well as adding deatiled features. This dwarf will then be the one you are given control of every time you load the game. Through out the game, the player will be able to use ability points earned to upgrade their skills.

In multiplayer each player picks one ability and this represents the dwarf that they are in control of. This allows people to become specialist in one ability and make them more valuable to the team. In multiplayer people will be able to download their personalized dwarf from single player for use in the game.

Players will go through a range of emotions throughout the course of the game.

By creating a coherent world I will be able to produce a game spine of events that will create tension and drama within the narrative of the game. This added with split second in game decisions, and the players attachment to their character will allow me to take the audience through a range of emotions.

Player Experience Goals: Detail:

Players will have to work as team in order to complete tasks, overcome obstacles and finish the game.

After looking at games that give the player control over more than one character such as Lost Vikings and Gobliiins, I think it would be a good way of involving teamwork and co-operation, especially if the game was made multi-player. If each player was given different skills that were unobtainable by the other players, it would force the idea of team work.

Players will have the freedom to set their own goals and tasks, and pursue these goals in any order and at any pace they choose.

I really like this goal, and I think it is important that this mechanic works well for the following player experience goals to be believable. This could work in a number of ways, such as in-game decisions that alter the path or outcome of the story. As well as a game that continues to produce quests when being played.

Players will become emotionally attached to their characters.

This goal is majorly linked to the last. I think that if the world is coherent enough to believe then the player will feel as if they are crafting their own story, and path in the world. This will then allow them to form a relationship with their character. This relationship could also be increased if the player has the ability to create their own character, and grow them throughout the course of the game.

Players will go through a range of emotions throughout the course of the game.

This is linked to both the second and third player experience goals. If the player is in a coherent world that they fully believe in and realize it's boundaries and rules, as well as controlling a character they are emotionally attached to, then it is completely down to the mixture of story and gameplay as to what range of emotions they go through. Therefore I want to create a deep and meaningful story that will not only appeal to peoples emotions but also make them think.

My Game: Player Experience Goals

The first step of my play-centric design process is to set some basic player experience goals.  These goals are not features of the game but rather an experience that I want my audience to have when playing my game. At this stage, I don't want to detail how these goals will be achieved but will later work the gameplay and story to create situations in which some of these goals may be met.

The player experience goals for my game are:

• Players will have to work as team in order to complete tasks, overcome obstacles and finish the game
• Players will have the freedom to set their own goals and tasks, and pursue these goals in any order and at any pace they choose.
• Players will become emotionally attached to their characters.
• Players will go through a range of emotions throughout the course of the game.

By setting these goals I will be able to add more detail to them and eventually create game mechanics that will fulfill them within the game. I will then run these ideas past other gamers and my tutors to see if these goals would entice them to play my game. With this feedback, I will then be able to update the mechanics until I'm completely happy with them.

When creating my game mechanics from my player experience goals I need to be innovative. Personally I would like to create emotionally rich gameplay and characters that the audience has a deeper empathy for through the use of strong story and gameplay.

Coherent Worlds

Matthew Weise, narrative director at Harmonix writes an interesting article on his blog Outside Your Heaven about the coherent world in Dishonored.

"While the writing and acting in Dishonored has its issues - like the odd preponderance of American accents or the cartoonish villains - I'm impressed by how solid the world-building itself is. It has a very fleshed out world, one where science, history, technology, religion, and economics all feel meaningfully interwoven. It's world-building 101 really, but so few video games do it decently it's refreshing to see one with such a solid grasp of the basics."

This is an important point that Weise makes, although the acting and script is not as realistic as it should be, this is compensated for by the fact that the game is believable within the boundaries set by the rules of the game. The fact that the history, technology and religion of the game are so well detailed and intertwined with the story that you can believe it is very important to me as it will allow me to get across the deeper meaning and story of my game, whilst keeping the player entertained.

http://outsideyourheaven.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Storytelling

Creating a coherent world through detail

"You hear a lot of complaints about game length nowadays, but I think the underlying frustration is that games don’t feel like adventures anymore, regardless of length. They feel like a mish-mash of narrative and set-piece moments instead of an epic journey. Most developers nowadays don’t know the art of crafting a memorable adventure, and instead throw together individual pieces of “memorable” (to the developers, anyway) content without taking the big picture into account."  

                                  - Sean Malstrom (http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/email-games-should-feel-like-adventures/)

This is an extract from a blog post by Sean Malstrom (industry analyst) in which he puts the forward the idea that in recent generations, games have lost their sense of adventure. They no longer have you traveling through worlds on an epic adventure, rather they have taken all the best parts of the adventure and mashed it into memorable dash to the finish. As one of his examples he sites the evolution of Nintendo's Mario franchise. Super Mario Bro's 1 established the mushroom kingdom and its various worlds. Super Mario Bro's 3 then explored this world in greater detail, while SMB 4 developed the outer kingdoms of Dinosaur land. This tried and tested method was completely detroyed in later Mario games such as Mario galaxy. This lost its connection to the mushroom kingdom, and any kind of home world. Instead it had cannoned to a far away planet, all of which had no connection to the next.

"Super Mario Brothers 3 could not be made today. A modern game designer would look at something like those pipes on the map that were nothing but empty rooms where Mario exited one pipe and entered another as ‘tacky’ and ‘wasteful’ and then remove them entirely. Even though there is no gameplay attached to them, they did help carve out cohesiveness to the world. In order for Mario to go from one side of the map to another, he needed to enter the 

pipe. He did not magically appear there."

When designing my game I need to focus on the idea of creating a coherent world, I feel that this is important to creating a deep and meaningful story as it allows the player to relax within the boundaries of the game, giving them the confidence to explore.

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/email-games-should-feel-like-adventures/

Game Design Workshop

Game Design workshop, by Tracy Fullerton has been incredibly useful when trying to creating my game design. To start with most of it was revising what I had already learned over the years at uni, however it helped me go into greater detail, and explained step by step how I could create a coherent world, and how I could then weave a narrative in this world.

When I come to writing my story and the game plot, I will need to look at both the formal and dramatic elements of my game. This will help to make a solid coherent world, in which I will be able to place the plot of the game. Another important part that the book cover is creating a dynamic story structure, which will be of importance to me in an effort to make a deeper and more meaningful story.

From this point, I think I need to continue my research into coherent worlds, whilst also moving on to look at games as an artform. When it comes to writing my premise the steps in the Game Design Workshop book will be very helpful.

Beginning the story

To start the story for my game idea I will need to do a lot of research into creating a coherent world. This will allow me to create a detailed and engrossing world in which the player will be able to loose themselves in. This is particularly important to me as I think this will help to get the deeper meaning and message of my game across. From this research I will then be able to go on to look at games as more than entertainment, but as an art form, which will further help me create a powerful and meaning story that will keep the player compelled to play. This research will also help me in creating game mechanics that will help enforce my story, and detail of the game world.

Research so far

I think that research is going really well so far. I'm currently on schedule, and am optimistic about the project. I feel that I have gained a good understanding of the idea of a dwarf through in-depth research into the creation of the dwarf 'image' by looking at games and other convergent cultures such as the Lord of the Rings films and books.

From here I think the next step of my research will be to begin to look at the creation of the story and narrative of my game. I want my game to have a deeper meaning and to highlight some areas in societies culture. To do this I will need to research into looking at games as more than entertainment and how, like films they can be seen as an artform. This will then help me develop my story. This in turn will then help to develop my character research.

Gobliiins

Gobliiins is another game in which one of the core mechanics is the ability to control three separate characters at the same time. Each character has different abilities which you must switch between in order to pass certain obstacles or enemies. I really like this mechanic as it gives the player a broader range of skills, whilst also giving the player complete control over the flow of the game. This is interesting as it means the player has to often think ahead in the level to make sure certain characters are available to them. I'm interested in this as I also feel this would help the player to get a deeper understanding of the story as they have to concentrate on the details of the level.

Since its release Gobliiins has had a number of sequels as well as now being available on the App store for download. This has begun me thinking about what engine my game would be on, and what console it would run on.

The Lost Vikings

Lost Vikings, although not a dwarf game, attracted me for a number of reasons. Firstly although the main characters are all vikings, they show many common characteristics that are seen in dwarves, so are a good form of inspiration. The other main reason that it attracted me was due to its control system, allowing a single player to control all three characters. I also liked the mechanics of the game, in which each character has their own individual skill or ability, for example; shield, sword, jumping, running etc. This means that at points in the game the player has to use two characters together in an effort to solve a certain puzzle. I really like this idea, as it creates a more dynamic and complex game that really gets the player thinking. When designing my own game I would like to use something like this in order to create a sense of teamwork and camaraderie.

http://www.box10.com/the-lost-vikings.html

Dwarf Fortress

"Dwarf Fortress is a single-player fantasy game. You can control a dwarven outpost or anadventurer in a randomly generated, persistent world.

Although Dwarf Fortress is still in a work in progress, many features have already been implemented."

• The world is randomly generated with distinct civilizations spanning centuries of detailed history, hundreds of towns, caves and regions with various wildlife.
• The world persists as long as you like, over many games, recording historical events and tracking changes.
• Command your dwarves as they search for wealth in the mountain.
• Craft treasures and furniture from many materials and improve these objects with precious metals, jewels and more.
• Defend yourself against attacks from hostile civilizations, the wilderness, the depths, the dead and creatures of the night.
• Support the nobility as they make demands of your populace.
• Keep your dwarves happy and read their thoughts as they work and relax.
• Z coordinate allows you to dig out fortresses with multiple levels. Build towers or conquer the underworld.
• Build floodgates to divert water for farming or to drown your adversaries... and don't forget the magma!
• Surgery, sutures, splints, crutches and more: care for your wounded dwarves instead of leaving them to fend for themselves."

Dwarf fortress is a good game for me to look at, it is heavily focused on each game, and each player getting their own generated world, that is completely different to that of any other player. To do this the engine creates new lore for each game started, which depicts the entire back history of that world. This is interesting to me as I want to focus on the lore of my own world in an effort to make the deeper meaning of my story more easily accessible to the player.

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/features.html

Dungeons and Dragons Dwarves

"Over the history of D&D publications and rules editions, numerous subraces of dwarf have been described. Aleithian dwarves are deep-dwelling psionic dwarves who follow the dragon god Sardior. In the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions of D&D, Azers physically resembled dwarves, though they were unrelated. In the 4th Edition of the game, they are a product of the enslavement of dwarves by giants and titans. Badlands dwarves have adapted to life in the inhospitable wastes, developing a natural knack for finding water and tolerance to heat and thirst. Deep dwarves dwell underground and have a greater ability to see in the dark, but are sensitive to light. They are more resistant to magic and poison than standard dwarves. Dream dwarves are contemplative dwarves in touch with the world around them, which they call the "earth dream." The duergar are an "evil and avaricious" sub-race that live in the Underdark. Frost dwarves are extra-planar dwarves who reside on the Iron Wastes of the Infinite Layers of the Abyss. They were once duergar enslaved by frost giants. Glacier dwarves reside in cold glaciers, mining a special material known as blue ice. These dwarves have great skill at crafting with ice and magical ice, and are tolerant to cold weather. Hill dwarves are the standard dwarven race. Mountain dwarves live deeper underground and have fairer skin than hill dwarves. Seacliff dwarves make their home in high seaside cliffs and are excellent swimmers."

I really like the idea that there are different races of dwarves, that are all affected in appearance by the environment they live in. I think this could really help to build tension in my game, and help to portray different types of dwarves as they've evolved over the centuries.

From these dungeon and dragons start up character cards you can see that the dwarven starter character is much stronger and aggressive than the human counterpart. The dwarf is more focused as fighting and taking the battle head on. The human on the other hand is a bit more of an all-rounder, with better defense and will. This is important to think about when designing the character and characteristics of my characters.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/charactersheet

Norse Dwarves

Norse Mythology is where most modern day representations of dwarves have got inspiration from. The idea that dwarves are good craftsmen, metal workers, and miners are all sited in their initial representation in Norse mythology, however at this time they were also believed to represent death and greed. Also in Norse mythology dwarves were described as being of average human height, as well as similar in build. It wasn't until the late 13th that the idea of them being short and stocky was added, often for a humorous element. One of the main texts that describe the original idea of dwarves is the old norse poem of Voluspa meaning 'Prophecy of the Volva (seeress)'. Its the Norse creation story, and documents how Odinn and the gods defeated the comos giants to create the many universes, and it was the dwarves that then fashioned the humans out of earth and stone to populate the world.

"The high Gods gathered in council.
In their hall of judgement;
Which kind the dwarves should craft
From Brimi's blood and Blain's limbs?"

"Mótsognir became the greatest of the dwarves, and Durinn after him;
The dwarves did as Durinn directed, of the earth, they made a large number of human shapes."

The poem then goes on to catalogue every single dwarf one after the other, In a section that is often referred to as the catalogue of the dwarves.

"Nýi and Niði,
Norðri and Suðri,
Austr and Vestri,
Alþiófr, Dvalinn,
Bívörr, Bávörr,
Bömburr, Nóri,
Án and Ánarr,
Ái, Miöðvitnir."

"Veigr and Gandálfr,
Vindálfr, Þráinn,
Þekkr and Þorinn,
Þrór, Vitr and Litr,
Nár and Nýráðr -
Here are the dwarves
- Reginn and Ráðsviðr -
Rightly accounted."

"Fíli, Kíli,
Fundinn, Náli,
Hepti, Víli,
Hanarr, Svíorr,
Frár, Hornbori,
Frægr and Lóni,
Aurvangr, Iari,
Eikinskjaldi."

"Humans, know of Dvalin' s line that goes down to Lofar's time,
They went to Iörovellir and Aurvangar, leaving their dwellings under the stone."

"There was Draupnir
and Dólgþrasir,
Hár, Haugspori,
Hlévangr, Glói,
Skirvir, Virvir,
Skáfiðr, Ái,"

"Álfr and Yngvi
Eikinskjaldi,
Fialarr and Frosti,
Finnr and Ginnarr;
As long as men will remember,
The line will go down to Lofarr."

By looking at this old text, I've been able to gain a deeper understanding of how the idea of the dwarf was developed. Its also interesting to see how it has developed over time. I think its very important for me, that when it comes to me designing my own dwarves, they need to be an improvement and an evolution of the type that is around in most modern fantasy media.

http://www.nordic-life.org/nmh/voluspa.htm

Research plan

I've sketched out a rough research plan, that details the rough areas that I need to look at. As well as this I have also highlighted sub areas that would be useful to my research. I kept this plan fairly loose, as at the moment I still want my research to be fairly free, and be more about collecting information than answering specific questions. As my research develops I will be able to add to my plan, as my research leads me into new areas.

Tolkien's Other Dwarves

Whilst continuing my research into dwarves, I came across a website that showed some of Tolkiens earlier work, before he had created the race of dwarves featured in Lord of the Rings he had created a race of evil dwarves that were aggressive, much less intelligent and closer to that of an orc.

"Tolkien's original conception of Dwarves was radically different from the noble yet oh-so-haughty race of brave warriors and kings we meet in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In his first mythology, the "mythology for England" which was laid out (nearly completely) in The Book of Lost Tales, the Dwarves were an evil race, led by Fangli or Fankil (a servant of Melko, the Dark Lord). These early Dwarves were enemies of the fairies (Elves) and they fought a terrible war with the Eldar.

These early evil dwarves gave way to a more neutral race, who were old and never-dying. "Never comes a child among them, nor do they laugh," Tolkien wrote in "The Nauglafring", the first story in which his Dwarves played a prominent role. "They are squat in stature, and yet are strong, and their beards reach even to their toes."

This earlier race of dwarves that Tolkien created is a complete contrast to that of the Lord of Rings dwarves in his later work. This evil description is not really what I think of when trying to describe a dwarf, however it will be good inspiration for when designing evil characters later on in the concepting stage.

http://www.runic.dk/articles1.htm

Warhammer Dwarf Army Book

I've ordered the warhammer dwarf army book online. I hope this will allow me to get a better look at some of the models as well as allowing me to see some detailed concept art. This will then help to inspire my designs and concepts for the characters as well as help me develop the story and possibly the mechanics of the game.

Warhammer Dwarves

• Little is known about early Dwarf history but Dawi as they were known were probably assisted in their development by the mysterious and enigmatic Old Ones. It is said that the Dwarfs were foretold of the great catastrophe that befell the Warhammer world by their patron god, Grungni. After the catastrophe of the Coming of Chaos, the Dwarfs emerged to find their world changed and warped. Mutated Beastmen roamed freely throughout the land, slaying everyone in their path. Warriors of the Chaos Gods murdered and pillaged at will, and Daemons created nightmare realms, enslaving entire tribes and peoples. It was Grungni himself that forged the first weapons and armour, while teaching the Dwarfs to do the same. Then after he forged the first magical runes, capturing the wild winds of magic and harnessing their power into them, creating even more potent weapons, axes and hammers, as well as runes that gave runic protection into armour and talismans. He armed the Ancestor God Grimnir with two axes and armour harder than the bones of mountains, and he and his first Runesmiths armed the rest of the Dwarfs to do battle. Soon after their re-emergence the Dwarfs first encountered the High Elves from Ulthuan, both chasing a maurauder warband. The two races had a period of prosperous development but a disastrous war known to the Elves as the 'War of the Beard' and to the Dwarfs as the 'War of Vengeance' almost completely destroyed the two races. The Dwarfs now live in isolated strongholds, their once proud empire lies in tatters.

• Dwarfs are on average a good deal shorter than either men or elves of the Warhammer world making them ideally suited to the tunnels in which they live and work (the average dwarf being estimated to be at approximately 4'5"-5'0"). Their bodies seem purpose-built for manual labour, solidly muscled, broad-shouldered and large thick fingered hands that belie considerable manual dexterity. Dwarfs are a very long-lived race with life-spans that can run into centuries, or rare occasions even into a millennium. As a dwarf becomes older so his beard becomes longer and thicker. Since dwarfs have a deep inbuilt respect for age it would be unthinkable for a dwarf to cut off or even trim their beards. Like the Orcs, dwarfs appear to become stronger the older they get, but unlike the Orcs, there appears to be a "Breaking Point" where the dwarf's health declines rapidly, always happening just a few years before the dwarf dies of old age. Female dwarfs are very rarely seen outside dwarf realms which has led many people to believe that dwarf males can have babies or that dwarf women have beards. However Games Workshop has released several models in the past depicting female dwarfs, such as Blood Bowl cheerleaders and Queen Helgar, which is still available from Mail Order. These models, like their male counterparts, are heavily built, armed and armoured; are muscular and grim, but instead of long beards have long hair wound into similar braids, worn beneath the helmet which they treasure as greatly as males do their beard. Even the online game Age of Reckoning allows player to play female dwarfs

• Magic in its usual forms is distrusted, and even loathed, by a great many of the Dwarfen population. The general consensus is that magic is too erratic and volatile to fool around with, let alone rely on in battle. However, Dwarfs do place considerable emphasis on embedding magic within certain items e.g. axes, hammers, shields, and armour suits through Runesmithing (in the same manner other races create talismans). Aspiring Runesmiths will spend years and years as an apprentice to a Runelord who will gradually teach them to inscribe items with symbols that have great magical power. Runes are often expensive and take years to make, even for the most experienced Runesmiths.

• For some unknown reasons, dwarfs have a strong attraction to gold. Dwarfs will seek to amass gold, even to the point of acting unreasonably (such as refusing to abandon gold in order to save their lives). The exception to this refusal to leave gold is any gold that is going to be buried (such as by a cave in). As far as a Dwarf is concerned, any gold that is "lost" underground is as easy to regain as a coin dropped in the street. This addiction is sometimes called "gold lust."

Warhammer's depiction of dwarves is one of my favorite. It clear highlights their short stocky physic, whilst highlighting their natural affinity for stone and crafting. I think these are all things that are very important to the basic understanding of dwarves, however the description becomes much more interesting when describing their magical abilities. Unlike most games, it states that dwarves have no magical ability other than that of runesmithing. This is something I'm going to have to look at when concepting my characters as magic could be an important game mechanic, especially in battle.

J.R.R.Tolkiens Dwarves

I think the best place to start looking at the concept of dwarves would be in Tolkien's collection of fantasy writings. Tolkiens imagery is probably the best well known, as well as the most commonly accepted in other genres. I think this would be a good place to start looking at dwarves, as it is the most in-depth back story, which will allow me to get a good understanding of the character, style and proportions of them.

• Aulë the Smith is a Vala (God on Earth) and one of the Ainur (Gods that created the Earth). Aulë is given lordship over the matter that composes Arda (Earth) and is a master of all the crafts that shape it. He created the Dwarves, who call him Mahal, the Maker.

• Desperate for pupils onto whom he could pass his knowledge, and unwilling to wait for the emergence of the Children of Ilúvatar (Men and Elves), Aulë created his own race of beings, the Dwarves. However, he did not have a clear idea of what the Children of Ilúvatar would be like, and because of the presence of the chaos caused by Melkor (one of the Gods turned evil), Aulë made the Dwarves strong and unyielding, and not willing to endure the domination of others, as well as embodying some of his values and desires for Middle-earth. However Aulë did not have the power to give independent life to his creations. They could act only when his thought was on them.

• When Aulë had completed his work he began to instruct the Dwarves in the language he had made for them, Khuzdul. Then Ilúvatar (Another of the Ainur) spoke to him, asking why he would seek to exceed his power and authority by attempting to make new life. Aulë repented, answering that the drive to create was kindled in him by Ilúvatar, and that he only wished for other beings to love and teach, with whom to share in the beauty of the world. He admitted that his impatience had driven him to folly and submitted his creations to Ilúvatar. Assuming that they should be destroyed, he made to smite the seven Fathers of the Dwarves with a great hammer, weeping as he did so. But as the Dwarves shrank from the blow, Ilúvatar stayed Aulë's hand and showed that he had already accepted his offer by gifting the Dwarves with spirits of their own, else they could not have been afraid.

• Ilúvatar accepted them as his adopted children, however as it was ordained that the Elves were to be the firstborn race, he set the Dwarves to sleep until after the Awakening of the Elves. He told Aulë that while both were his children, their creation was outside the scope of the Music of the Ainur, and often strife would arise between the Dwarven race and the Elven race as the events of the world unfolded. The Dwarves believe that after they die their spirits remove to halls Aulë has set aside for them, and their role will be to rebuild Arda after the Final Battle that is yet to come.

I really like this deep and rich background that Tolkien created for his dwarves. This rich history makes the character believable to the audience, but also helps to sculpt the characters image and temperament, giving valid reasoning in their history. Obviously I wont be going into as much detail as Tolkien did with the backstory and history of his dwarves, however it is definitely something I will need and want to consider, as I really feel it helps to create a well rounded and fully believable character, and creates a good base for the narrative to work with.

• Dwarves are described as shorter and stockier than Elves and Men, able to withstand both heat and cold. Though they are mortal, Dwarves have an average lifespan of 250 years. In The Lord of the Rings Tolkien writes that they breed slowly, for no more than a third of them are female, and not all marry; also, female Dwarves look and sound (and dress, if journeying—which is rare) so alike to Dwarf-males that other folk cannot distinguish them, as well as this both males and females have beards. Tolkien's Dwarves, much like their mythical forebears, are great metalworkers, smiths and stoneworkers. Fierce in battle, their main weapons are axes (referenced in many subsequent fantasy works), but they also use bows, swords, shields and mattocks. Unlike other fantasy dwarves, Tolkien does not explicitly have them use war hammers. Since they lived underground, Dwarves did not grow their own food supplies if they could help it, and usually obtained food through trade with Elves and Men. Dwarven and human communities often formed relationships where the Men were the prime suppliers of food, farmers and herdsmen, while the Dwarves supplied tools and weapons, road-building and construction work.

This description of the dwarves physical attributes helps to create a mental image of what a dwarf should be. I should remember however, that a lot of dwarves in todays media are based on Tolkiens descriptions of them, meaning that this image is the most well known. From this description I can gain that dwarves should be a lot stockier than humans, with much broader shoulders. It makes me feel as if dwarves look old from a very young age, as they take beatings from both extreme heat and extreme cold. This has given me a very strong understanding of the dwarf culture, however, I still need to look at them in a lot more detail to get a better understanding of their physical structure and anatomy.

Dwarves

Dwarves have constantly appeared in folklore throughout history, first appearing in germanic mythology and then later in norse mythology. Their story continues to thrive today with tales of an evil race of dwarves that lure people to their death being told in Northumberland. Many of these stories describe the dwarves as having or representing similar traits such as wisdom, mining and crafting. However descriptions of their physical attributes and characteristics vary from source to source. This problem has caused many modern day representations of dwarves to vary significantly in appearance and temperament in games and films.

I think because of this variety of representations of what a dwarf is I will need to look deeper into different franchises style of dwarf, from which I will be able to draw common characteristics that a dwarf needs to be recognized as a dwarf. This will not only make my concepts more believable and realistic it, it will also help to define the style and story of the game.

Gloin and Oin

Gloin

Oin

Gloin and Oin, are two brothers, who are also both part of Thorin's Company. These two are my favorite of all the dwarves. I feel like the represent exactly what a dwarf should look like, from their highly detailed costumes and armor, all the way down to the complex plait of their beards. I also like the way that they have the short stoutly posture that is necessary in any dwarf.

After taking a look at all of the dwarves in The Hobbit, I am really interested in looking further at the history and lore of the dwarves. I also want to continue to look at other peoples depictions of dwarves and see how each differs. I think that dwarves would be a really good thing to focus on for my studio project as it will cover all the things I would like to work on. Coming up with concepts for dwarves would mean that I would have to show a good understanding of anatomy, whilst also working on making my work look realistic. Also working with a dwarven concept would mean I would get used to working on different materials such as cloth, metal and hair, which would all help to improve my skills.

The Dwarves of The Hobbit

Balin

Bombur

Dori

Nori

These four dwarves of Thorin's company are the ones that I prefer. To me they epitomize what a dwarven man should look like. Their short stocky figures create good silhouettes that are easily recognizable, whilst their exuberant beards and hair create authenticity and believability in the character. As well as this, the detail in their own individual beards helps build character and emotion. This is also helped by the costumes which help to create and full and relatable character.

The Dwarves of The Hobbit

Bofur

Kili

Fili

Thorin

These are four of the dwarves from Thorins company in The Hobbit. Although all of the dwarves in the film look amazing and completely realistic, these four are the ones I like least. Personally I feel they don't have the standard look of a dwarf, and look more like just short men. Personally I prefer, the style and imagery of a shorter broader dwarf. However, with that being said the costumes are still full of detail which helps not only to bring the character to life but also add realism.

Summer Inspiration

Over the summer I have been keeping up to date with the development of the hobbit. Through a blog called 'www.thehobbitblog.com' I was able to see the film develop from conceptual ideas and art into filming and post production, through their video blog. This allowed me to see how ideas are developed in the film industry, which is very similar to that of the games industry. Sets and characters are first designed by the concept artist, who take most of their influence from the description of the book. These concepts are then often worked up into models, and eventually sets and costumes. This is very similar to the workflow of a games artist, the concept artist will begin to design the characters and environments, finding particular resources to reference. These designs are then worked into a 3D model which can then be handed over to the animators. 



The video above is a collection of some of the different updates to the video blog. Its all really interesting and inspiring, but the part that interests me most starts at '42.09' and focuses on the team of concept artists. It goes on to show how they still work with basic pencil and paper, however to update their practice and to make it more relevant to the film industry they've began to make their concept art 3D. This involves two artists drawing the same image just one in blue and the other in red, so that when layered on top of each other it creates a 3D image. It's really good to see how relevant industries are evolving, and how the practice I hope to go into is constantly evolving.

Starting BA7

Starting BA7 was a very daunting task but also one that filled me with much excitement. I didn't have any solid ideas for a game design, however I knew that for my research report I wanted to write about games being seen as an artform. This is where the basis for my studio work came from also, I wanted to make a game that had meaning and a deeper moral story, but also entertained the player. As well as this another driving force behind my thinking is the want to improve my range of skills and my ability to adopt different styles. My main reason for this is that it'll will hopefully help me land a job in industry.

With this in mind I began to think about how I could improve my drawing skills, what was it that I wanted to learn about? After looking through my work from previous years, I realised that a lot of my work was in a more cartoonish style and I had done very little 'realistic' drawing. This made me want to focus on making my artwork look realistic, I want to learn how to bring different materials to life, and to make them appear real. I also want to focus on the proportion of my characters.

I now need to focus all these ideas and ambitions into a game design. I will need to start looking at what the story of the game will be and how this will help to create a deeper story. I will then need to look into the style of the game.