Project update: A new direction (yes, again)

It has been awfully quite on this blog and I think it is time to get rid of that non-productive silence.

I've been trying to get started on something, but found myself constantly blocked by the fear of creating something without a clear direction. I don't like that, I always like to have some idea, concept or direction in the back of my mind when I start working on something.

Since I came back from Sweden things haven't been easier. In Sweden I had a lot of time to think about new ideas or directions but it didn't really come to me. 

I started to think about researching the difference in the bottom-up or the top-down method when it comes to visual design, and then infuse the latter one with animation design principles. It is an interesting idea to combine these two, but to what end? What is the relevance of this approach? And isn't a bit too forced? 

So after talking to a lot of people trying to communicate what I wanted to research things were still vague and convoluted and I felt a bit down. Maybe I was trying too hard to find ways to incorporate the visual design elements of animation into the design process of games. Again, an interesting idea, but these two media are just too far apart in that sense. It all comes down to one major difference: Interactivity. Designing for a passive medium and an interactive medium is a whole different ballgame.

So, I called my buddy Joeri again, always a great help in these kind of situations. During the conversation we suddenly came across an interesting and pretty straightforward idea. It goes a bit like this; 

I will create a typical game character for a fictional fantasy game series, for example a warrior or an archer. Then, as a fictional promotion for this game, there will be a short animation explaining the background story of this character. And as an extra gift, there will be a statue included of this same character. 

With this project setup, I will create a character with the trusty game design techniques which I have developed here during my time at the HKU. This is a solid base to work from and will be a recognizable starting point. Then, I will adapt this character for a short animation, which requires another design approach and will probably lay a bigger emphasis of the narrative side of things. Then, at the end I will have to create a blueprint for the statue, which requires another way of thinking about your design. And maybe, if I have enough time, I will research on how to do adapt it for a comic as well. But only if I have time and it proves to be of added value. 

So, instead of trying to force the animation part of my project, it will be a part of the greater good. Also, this way, my prior research is still of great value and nothing is lost. So, the next step is to start drawing and thinking up a character to translate to these different dimensions!