Thanks

for.

The.

Very nice.

Is a very interesting this was.

Really quite.

Some interesting.

By.

Chris not to.

Me.

And after that.

Post and find out that she was trying
figure it's a drawing and painting

if you want to the words are.

Classic

techniques.

Studios creative director.

And so

crystal really delighted to have you.

OK thank you very much everyone
CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE YES GOOD.

Firstly I would also like to thank Mary

what Cliff on behalf of the site's
Council consulate general so.

And for organizing this event and and

of course Allison Nicole's as well for
working me here at Georgia Tech

and there is a slight problem with
today's That was the projection sort

of using a mac laptop so the screen is
slightly stretched if I could just ask you

all to tilt your head when you're looking
at the screen to get the rights of so

use perspective to sort of
get the rights stretching.

But I'll get going anyway.

OK so my presentation is about
exploring the visual links between.

Classical Arts and video games and

why this is important because by better
understanding video games and place

in the history of arts we automatically
increase our creative spoke scope and

to the sources of inspiration and
that we can take advantage of and

we also have the potential to learn
significant lessons from the old masters.

To help us create more expressive and
meaningful experiences in games.

And why this is particularly
interesting to me is because.

I this is particularly interesting
to me because I originally started

with a computer animation course so
my background is in digital arts and

I did this at the University of
Portsmouth and after graduating

from Portsmouth I worked at Sony Computer
Entertainment steering character and

environments three D. models and texturing
for Play Station and Play Station Portable

games and then I came to a point where I
realized that the job that I really wanted

in game development of the concept artist
the artist who gets to visualise prevision

lays the whole video game experience this
job that I wanted of the concert artists

was just dominated by artists who had a
very much a traditional arts background so

artists who had learned to paint and
draw and.

About much better understanding of
classical art so what I did was a.

Started working at doing part time courses
at the Arctic enemy with a very talented

portray painter and I got so
into classical art and fine art and

learning about the traditional our
techniques that I quit my job at Sony

realizing also that there was so much to
learn in classical arts that I couldn't

possibly do it part time so I quit my job
went to Poland for two years to study for

a bit of drawing and painting Poland is
where my family is originally from so

it was a good choice for me and
then I ended up in Switzerland working for

a location based gaining
platform as up there actor and

doing my fine arts so diverse as
a very much a separate discipline So

these I had sort of the digital
background on the left the fine arts.

Which I was doing on the right and
I even sort of was

tempted to really pursue a career
in figurative painting I got so so

into into painting OK sure.

But that was so I kept these two
disciplines very very separate and

that was until I was invited to give a
talk at the first game culture conference

organized by the Swiss Arts Council and
they were interested in

my background as a fine artist center
video game designer because it was

just the council only recently started
investing money in video games and so

in a way they wanted someone to
validates games as an art form and

my background in fine arts was so it's
something that they were interested in and

this through a series of events
led me to writing my book

Drawing basics in video game arts
which really sort of was for

the first time from that conference to to
the finishing of this because I really

started to enjoy the the links between.

Disciplines between fine arts and
games rather than keeping them as two very

separate disciplines and
the book covers everything

from the fundamentals to the human figure
in terms of the anatomy elements of design

character design environment design so
it's a very very broad range of

information that you can learn throughout
the book but something which ties.

Every elements together is emotions or and

emotions in the sense of sort of how do
we communicate through video games and

that's why classical art is a very very
interesting source of inspiration because

classical artists have been
communicating emotions and

a very wide range of experiences for
viewers for hundreds of years and

this what is it that we can learn
from the classic old masters sort of

the traditional artists that we can
apply to video game experiences.

So one thing I like to point out from
the outset is that the the medium is which

we're dealing with really
not that difference.

To classical painting and drawing
because when we look at the surfaces

upon which the artworks
are presenting it's then.

So in an abstract sense in very physical
sense they're very static lifeless.

So two dimensional surfaces and
it's the job of the artist to create this

illusion that it's that the surface
is a window into a living breathing

world so it doesn't matter whether
you're a classical artist painting or

a video game designer so easing a three D.
software package that the challenge

is always the same the only difference
what we have a very significant advantage

being video game designers and that's
the computer does a lot of the work for

us in terms of creating this illusion
of depth and movement sense from space.

But what is it that the old masters.

Sort of did you know with just
under the pencil and paper.

And sort of we can actually learn and
benefit from.

And so the example on the left is.

Preparation preparatory sketch made by
Luca can be also and so it's a very very

good example of the abstraction
that classical artists went through

to simplify the complexity of
reality because reality is so

complex that it's you know when you
just have a pencil in your hand and

you're hoping to draw a figure or a or

a landscape you have to find a way
to abstract the complexity and

so look it can be also does in his
sketches that makes it so explicit but

if you even if you look at the works of
Michelangelo Raphael they all have this

they're all thinking about these concepts
how can I reduce a figure to boxes

cylinders or spheres and then once they
have this reduced You know those when

the anatomy call information is
overlaid the facial features but

working at such a simple level it
means that look at can be are so

could did this sketch from his a matter
imagination because he couldn't possibly

arranged you know models in this way and
as the nitty sort of pose for

him in this very very complex set up and
of course when when you're just

thinking in terms of box shapes and
lighting becomes much easier

now he personally could decide which
direction the lighting was coming from

from from the top left you know and then
he just decided this very an easy decision

to make you know which surfaces
let's which one is in shadow.

And in video game development we have
a very similar process that every three D.

software package you know when
you first open software up on.

As you say fears boxes cylinders
very very primitive shapes and

it's the job of the artist to
pick the shapes cut them and

stretch them combined them until they
start to take on the likeness of

a figure or any other object.

Or then of course for
the next stage is very much similar and so

that's where you had a show features
sort of more definition in a color

sort of the whole scene and that you're
working with takes on a style so

the recognizable location but
what's interesting for

us if we just take all this sort of
food focus on emotions how do we create

emotions in art with visual arts visually.

Then it's surprising that it's not this
second stage the detailed stage where

emotions are we have the most control over
the years emotions are actually the first

stage this very very abstract one.

And what I'll use as because the book
covers a lot of topics I'd like to focus

on composition and how do we use
composition on this very very abstract

level to creates emotional experiences.

Not sure if anybody has
studied art history than

if you have you might be familiar
with classical composition and

what classical composition
is is that the artists.

Had a way of control or influencing the
way that you would your eye would straddle

around an image and so
how they how close call artistic this is

before they started constructing
the painting what they would do would but

they would decide on a particular flow and
integrates abstract lines of in the image

and do everything they could to adjust
the position of an arm to adjust

the position of a small elements so that
your eye would subliminally follow these.

Lines around the image and so

what the man did in this very
quite delicate painting.

Is he so used a concept which even when we
reduce the image to a very very small fun

nail It's for most dominance thing that
sort of gives gives you an impression

of the feelings of the image so
it's something where details on the T.V.

are necessary is for the biggest
impression that we get from this images is

based on these line concepts that
the composition is weight based on so

what he used was a circular concepts so
which was complemented by curved lines and

so if you look at sort of the figures
are travels down here and up and

around you know nothing in this
image was randomly placed.

The Met Spence a very very long time
just like every arts classical artists

constructing this image so
that your eye with travel subliminally

in a very delicate rounded way
around this image and this has

such a powerful influence on the emotions
we feel when we look at this image

that if we contrast it with something
very much more aggressive in feeling.

We get a completely different impression
just based on the classical concepts

of composition.

And so just using the knowledge that
you have from the previous image.

You know to take a moments to try and
analyze for the wind concepts of in this

painting.

And what you'll find is that Rubens you
something which is much more angular

compared to the painting and so
there are many many lines that

sort of cuts across the cement so
you have ones which go straight up and

another classical concept of keeping
your eye trapped of in the in.

Self and was also to round to
the corners so there are elements which

can they keep your eye moving around so
that it stays focused on this painting but

the dominant one was of these two
colliding triangles and so he was so

good at creating these compositions from
his imagination you know imagine today's

artists would probably use photography and
put cut together

elements in Photoshop what he did was you
know he did a lot of this work from his

imagination new so good at it that he puts
most of the female figures in the bottom

left triangle most of the male figures
in the top right as if they're a wave

crashing into the lower half.

But it's mainly this concept
of these two triangles

which reduce the complexity of
the image and make it easier for

us to understand because it's very rich
in detail but what our eye sees and

if we were to shrink this down to a small
size is you know we were the biggest

impression that's being made
on us is by the composition.

Because if we.

Look at these painting side by sides and
if I could ask you to try and imagine

swapping the line concepts of one painting
for the other you would immediately

get a feeling that's the the more delicate
painting would become more aggressive and

the more aggressive one would become more
elegant and delicate and it would be at

odds with what the artists wanted to
communicate with in their paintings so

it's the composition over details
which communicates emotions so

even if we look at details like
the branch in the left painting

the swords in the right in
a very very abstract way and

these are very similar shapes and
that's why they they don't really make

that big a difference when you sort of
compare the compare them to the overall

concepts the high concepts that
have the composition lines.

And this is not something that's
is just restricted to classical

arts because even with
artists like Descartes So

he was a member of the impressionist
movements which sort

of was around just over around one hundred
just over one hundred years ago and

he and the Impressionists were seen
as an artist they were criticized for

breaking away from tradition and so

they were really not excepted sort of
at the height of their time it was

only afterwards that they really took on
the recognition that they deserved or

receive the recognition
that they deserved but

at the time they were really seen as an
artist for various reasons but one is for

unfinished style and sort of this it
was very difficult people to understand

the connection to classical arts which
was very refined very polished and

they had a very sketchy style but Ed Good
day guy was very interesting because he

very much all of the artists but had got
a car in particular he really valued and

the classical arts and
it was his master someone that

he really looked up to he was very much
a classical painter and his master

told him to study line that he
should study in line constantly and

make it as much and understand it as much
as he could and said they guarded God did

this but what happened was he took
an interest in photography because it was

at this time that photography the cane and
mainstream things of that

a lot of people suddenly had access to
the photographic camera and the camera of

course sees reality in a very very
different way so rather than thinking

in line concepts which is how Descartes
worked up until then he started to take

inspiration from this new way of seeing or
this.

A new understanding of reality and he
started to think in shapes and lights and

shadows shapes just like the photographic
camera registers reality and so

what happened was not so much a revolution
that if we think about it in hindsight

because where we had curved lines and
angular lines

which were communicating the concepts
in the America the ribbons paintings

what happened in the Gods work with these
Kurth lines turned into circles and

the angular lines turned
into triangles and so

even though we cannot see the faces or
to the faces of either of these

figures in this during by they car there
is still a very very strong tension

created by the circular shape
of the arena on her left and

the triangular shape of her
guardian on the right and

this is heightens by the whites
contrast sort of black and

also that the composition is shifted to
the left which was so creates an imbalance

which creates another layer of tension.

If we move into something which
is much more grounded in so

the modern art movement than
the other similar this continued T.

continues you know Kandinsky on
the surface seems even more removed from

classical arts but the interesting thing
is that he was also very much interested

in in the simplicity of this
these reduce concepts so he did

away with reparative representational arts
altogether and he really focused on what

he saw as a phenomena which seem to be
fundamentally different on the surface and

completely separate from each other
derived from one single root and

so his his arts really focused on
these very very simple shapes so

the circle the square and the triangle
that he all there was also where.

So abouts the composition and how
important it was in communicating emotions

because he wrote the content
of a work of art finds it so

expression in the car composition and the
sum of the tensions in lately organize for

the work so
when you take all the elements so

a single element has a certain emotional
value but it's when you start to

combine it with other elements that
the viewer is able to make comparisons and

actually really understands the value
of one element versus another.

So this is a very very powerful tool for
video game design and you

know it's it plays such a dominant role
in in the way that classical artists and

modern artists as well created emotions or
influence emotions so

how can we use this in video games and
the thing is that we do actually

have a problem a concept Szell
problem because with classical

painting and everyone experiences
a painting in much the same way so

you go into museum and you stand in
front of it and it's it will be more or

less the same painting that's the artist
created hundreds of years ago but

with video games we have
interaction where the player can

in most cases choose where they look where
they move within the environments and so

to illustrate this I can use
a journey by that game company

which is a very very very good game and
I recommend playing it's.

Where as if we can begin
with a mood to color to set

the mood we can put in the backgrounds
middle ground and foreground so

in a way this is no difference to how you
would constructs a landscape painting or

a drawing the very same
steps then we add a goal and

obstacles so
these are the basic elements that you are.

Quiet of every narrative so
every film that you've seen every day but

that you've read where there's
a progression of a character.

The characters always aware of where they
want to go to what will be the conditions

that all sort of mark the end of the story
and also what obstacles the character

has to overcome to reach that goal and so
what we have in this image is everything

in a very very compressed format
illustrated in one image.

But then we adds the player.

So the player you know it doesn't
matter where they stand so

we arrange all the elements just like in a
painting in a museum and he said you know

this is what you want to with this is what
we want you to experience from this point

of view but of course the player
has a controller in their hands and

all they have to do is turn around and
you know look at all the other players in

the room as sort of where in this virtual
environment I think I'm more interested in

looking at that direction look at
what those players are doing and so

this whole concept of classical
composition seems to fall apart that we

can't readily apply it from
classical arts to video games.

But what we have to do of course is
just think about what are the basic

components What are the elements of
classical composition that we're actually

considering here so
with the Americans paintings is curved and

angular lines with the DE Ghar painting
and can density is just circles and

squares and triangles so
very very simple shapes so

with this in mind it becomes much easier
to translate this concept because we just

have to find examples of these
very basic lines shapes and

volumes as well in the video
game environments and so

what we do is we start to think
differently about this cause.

Set that rather than thinking of
classical composition or the technique

as something which we've just six perience
in a very static piece of artwork so

just like you would in a museum where we
have to do is just think what would it be

like to take this painting off the wall
place it down flat on the ground and

think of it more like a treasure map so

a map in the sense that we can actually
wander around and experience this

environments more interactively and what
we have there is dynamic composition so

just using the very same elements that
we explored in previous paintings and

we apply these very same elements to video
game design and we look actively look for

them in the environments.

So conceptually and

as I said this treasure map idea we
have a game like Gears of War So

what the artists at a pig gangs have
to have done have they they've worked

from the logo downwards so
they have this iconic skull and

cold logo and this represents the D.N.A.

of the whole experience so
what they would like you to feel.

From the top level so
when you play this video game.

They've then integrated the skull
my teeth into many of their maps so

you have their eyes the nose and

the skull mouth and so
you know they've sort of used this D.N.A.

and try to meet it in every
single level of detail and so

conceptually this is much like this map is
much like a classical painting on the wall

because you know our eyes can wander
around and seen are guided by the pathways

of in this map and we sort of trace
the lines around the image and

we also can imagine what it would be
like to walk along and these lines.

But that's where classical painting
falls away so this conceptually and

videogame is really sort of shine so
that you know.

What's really stands out so
thin in terms of the audience

experience because we can actually
move through these environments

rather than just look at them and
imagine what the experience is like

we can actually move around
these environments and so

in a way which is very much related
to the paintings of Rubens and

if I'm in when we start to analyze So
what line concepts and shape concepts

are involved.

And so the first thing that we can
look at is character movements and

so journey is a very
very delicate scaling.

And very slow in pace and

so when the player presses
the jump button on the controller.

Especially in the earlier levels what
happens is that the character muse

very very gracefully across the screen.

And what's happening is actually that we
just like with the classical paintings our

eyes trace seen this implied
line across the screen.

And it's not a physical line and
it wasn't in the classical paintings

this line is dynamically generated
because the character is moving and

we're following the curve
of this movement and

in this case it's also a century
to buy the character scarf so

this is a very dynamic way
of generating the line.

And if we take this drawing
concept a little further.

What we find is especially in
the earlier levels that the that

this desert landscape is very open and
we can treat it.

Conceptually think of it as an open
canvas because the player is free to move

around this environments and
draw and their way through it

according to the animation that
the designers have fixed for

this character's movements so
there are elements of design or

controlled actions but also the player is
free to move around this environment in

a very prescribe way.

And we can contrast journey with something
which is much more aggressive in nature.

In feel and
that's a game called Vanquish and

so on vanquish when you do
the equivalent of the jump button in

Journey what happens is you
slide around the environments.

In a very very aggressive way so
as you're constantly hitting

objects because the the environment is
much more claustrophobic it's much tighter

there are areas of movements that you have
the possibilities for the movement but

also that the way the character moves
it's just towboat charged movements and

you constantly having to change direction.

And so conceptually you know these are
abstract ways of looking at the character

movement by analyzing the lines that the
characters create through the environment

so in the top left we have something
which is very much related to the Vermeer

painting in terms of
circular rounded lines and

in the bottom right the Vanquish example
it's the Rubens the aggressive Rubens

painting which in its angular
angular lines references

this is linked to the Vanquish video game.

You know even the game in a game like
Grand Theft Auto and you know consider

what the your character you know if
they're driving on a motorbike or

in a car what kind of alliance they're
generating through an environment if.

It's a slow bending curve verses and

much more tighter so
one break turn around the corner.

You know these feelings are interactive
and you know these actions are interactive

the player has control over them and
they generates a different visual feel and

also even the physical feel for the player
as they're interacting with this

environments.

And so we have these contrasts of
the circular shapes circular my hands.

Versus angular lines what falls
in between is the upright or

horizontal line and that references
the box or the square shape and

what it does is in a game like super
brothers swords and sorcery E.P.

it's critical to communicating the
emotions that the artists wanted you to

feel when you play this game because and
so

the upright line is sort of conceptually
much more balanced and static and

if you imagine if these tree elements were
all tilted to one side or you would get in

the reflection is like a chevron affects
travelling across the screen and

so already this video game would look and
feel much more dynamic.

Just based on these very
very abstract elements and

this of course is complemented by the way
the character moves across the screen

in very hot horizontal and
slow movements and so this is

really really critical to understanding
the value emotional value of these shapes.

To better design your
video game experiences.

So we've looked at character movements and

we've looked at sort of the pathways that
you can create through in environments to

also influence emotions and
in a very abstract way so just using.

Line concepts another way of
creating emotions and if it this is

sort of the definition we're slowly
building up the elements that define video

game composition Another way is through
character environments relationships.

So the small round shape
represents the character and

the background represents a circular
environment in a very abstract sense.

And the relationship the two needs to also
has a very very strong influence on how we

interpret the emotions of the experience.

OK so to illustrate this we
have a character like Mario so

everything about him is based on this
circular around a spherical concept and

if you look at his ferric all torso
you know even his moustache is to have

consists of two overlapping circles or
smaller circles and

this goes such a long way to communicating
his good nature his dynamic nature

things which traditionally for hundreds of
years have been used in much the same way

applied to different subjects but
the circular concepts is a constant.

Because it's so crucial to communicating

who Mario is that if you used
a different shape if you sharpened his

features then he wouldn't be
merry Anymore he'd be worried.

And it's just you know that
the most significant changes

you could say that suggest
the proportions are slightly different.

Has maybe eaten a bit more cake but
it's just sharpening his details and

turns him into a completely different
character you know on a very abstract

level emotions can be guided using
very very simple principles.

And not just but it's you know every
single most of the enemies within the.

Universe aligned to this very
angular triangular concepts and

so when we look at the environments of
the game like Super Mario Galaxy and

conceptually we can reduce
the whole experience to

a circular Mary are living
in a circular universe and

it's his job to clean up all the triangles
to restore harmony between himself and

his environments and this one harmony
is very very critical because

you know in the top left you can see
that the earth is circular character

looks like it belongs to the circular
environment they tell echo each other

in a very basic abstract sense cinches
thing to note that in the bottom

right we have harmony also
between the angular character and

angle environments and it's harmony only
because the characters look the character

looks like it belongs to its environment
but the feeling is very different so

the top left is much more
aggressive in nature and

then you have a dissonance happening
when you place these characters

in an opposite environments where in
the top rights you could say that

the circular character looks vulnerable
in the angular environments and

then the bottom left the character
looks like the aggressor.

In a much more delicate environment and
again that I created a new a very welcome

to have a have a play of it you'll
find it on my website called morph

place with this very concepts.

Your character is just two levels and you
can play it in the website web browser and

the whole goal of it is to travel through
this small circular environment here.

And compare and

then get through to the second level
which is much more angular and just.

For the purposes of this conference whole
sort of unfortunate spoiled surprise for

you but it's is that they're both
environments are technically

identical to each other and
that you can't die in one environment so

over another you can't lose health there's
actually nothing can happen to you

in either of these environments The only
difference is that the superficially

they have a different skin
a different surface and

I got the opportunity to have
this game play exit exhibit this

came in the Arctic submission where there
are some experience video game players and

they would run through the environments
trying to test the limits you know

what way where could they die what were
the difficulties and so in a way for

the experience of video game players
this illusion you know the whole

of that the composition the shapes so
the whole visual message is often lost so

if they see that through to the technical
workings of the video game but

what was interesting was when I got to get
some non video game players to play this

game they would sort of just
bump their way through this so

less intimidating environments but

when they reached the second level and
the character would jump and

land in this pits and
they would use words like out.

So words which we use in real life when
we hurt ourselves when we touch something

sharp and so this is something that video
games can be very proud of because they

can create experiences that other
artistic disciplines cannot see.

So what does this mean for the future of
Dane's that's you know working on this

very very abstract level and also
understanding how all these elements work

together is very very important and
very very useful for us.

So in terms of character development we
can already start to analyze ways in which

we could progress or evolve.

Of.

Narrative experience of video games and
so if you haven't ever played any

video games before and not very familiar
this is the Legend of Zelda this

is one of my favorite games of all time
but it's a very typical example of how

a character development a narrative works
and that's you know where you would expect

a character to develop sort of emotionally
and become a more confident and

stronger character development in video
games actually communicated through

elements of the user interface so.

This link this is the character
link has got fewer hearts

here then he has here so
that means he's developed a few new

skills along the way he's sort of
stronger technically stronger he also has

more he's equipped with more
items further down the line.

You know and so these are very
non-emotional ways of you know that they

don't actually speak to us speak to
a general audience they make sense as

someone who plays video games but they're
visually not very interesting to you in

one game is what's interesting is
that you know whereas link no matter

how far he develops his standing position
is always this you know very needful

he always has one way of sort of swinging
his sword when he's in combat mode or

running is a just nothing
changes from start to finish

really is just how many hearts he
has which represents his energy and

which what he's equipped with.

So conceptually we haven't even moved
that far from classical paintings because

Rubens you know painted this swordsman
in as many many hundred years ago.

So this character is frozen in
time to be just one one person so

one personality and link in the same way.

So he goes on a huge quest which which
can take you ten hours to complete or

more and but he always stays the same so
the character development happens in

the play is imagination that they slowly
get better and more confident and

skilled at navigating the environments you
know they kind of suspend their disbelief

that these icons actually do make
their characters stronger in a way but

there's nothing about the character itself
you know where you would expect to see.

A change.

And something that Eugene teller qual
said to somebody an artist teacher

is very much influence the Impressionists
like they are here at that time maybe

ten different people in one man or
a woman aloud and sometimes all ten and

peer within a single hour and
so you know it's just like in

reality that's you know we're
not all flats characters and

especially in the narrative like in
the play would find in a book or

a film that the character changes
the character has to change for

there to be a more emotionally
significant experience for the audience.

And this is a very very simple
step to start to resolve because.

You know we have games like Journey which
have these very very gentle jump arcs we

have gained such are much more aggressive
so angular movements are the environments

why don't we even just take what
this one Simpson pool elements.

And to create something much more dynamic.

So that it's someone as aggressive as some
Gideon and Frank wish actually has moments

where you know he moves much more
delicately and the contrast that's created

a lot of him changing from one state to
another already creates something much

more complex so that what we're doing
is up until now what we can do.

In something like Pac-Man that Pacman
just means in one very particular way you

know that's a category we have aggressive
games that's another category but

the complex narrative comes from
combining all these together and

creating characters which what
with much much more subtlety so

much more variety.

And there are games that are starting to
tackle this journey as one of them way

your much more free at the beginning then
the spaces become much more narrow and

in some sections the characters switches
to very subtly sort of it's almost

difficult to perceive when they
start to struggle when they

are achieving when they reach
the mountain at the ends and also.

In situations where there is
a an element of danger so

they could even have more subtlety
there where the character moves

in a more to mates and scared way.

But this is only this is a game
that was released this year and

it's the best example that I can
give of this sort of dynamic

narrative just sees of the character.

And of course we we have
many many more possibilities

with video games that aren't just
restricted to what happens on screen so

when and how we look at the you know what
we can see woman playing a video game and

of course us because that the player is
very much involved in the experience so

what what can we sort of
apply to the players role.

In the video game.

And motion control is for
me a very very fascinating parts

of game development because.

If you're not familiar so
they Microsoft Nintendo.

Sony they all have these controllers where
you have to move your you can swing your

arms to control the character we
hold something you can tilt it so

you use your figure you'll figure out
your body is more involved in controlling

the characters on screen and of course the
i Pad is also one example where you can

use your finger and you're more
physically involved in the experience and

so never before has the role of
the player with the audience in so

closely tied with that of the artist.

So rather than we the players being just
an audience for an artistic experience

we're actually involved in the artistic
collaboration of this experience so

one example I can give is Mario Kart
we've US is trying the evolution that's.

You know it's this all make more sense of
course to people who have played games or

seen them played and.

Then you know your body language is
more like this handling is much softer

as you turn the corners whereas in trying
evolution is much closer to the light

cycles that you may have seen in the film
where the motions are much more jackets or

more abrupt and so
they they have their you know they

speak to us emotionally on the screen as
they're in created dynamically these lines

Well it's interesting video games
is actually feel these differences.

When physically because we're having
to control these lines and so

to illustrate this concepts and
the metaphor that I really like is that of

the musical conductor they have
the musical conductor crazy hair included

going through all these emotions you know
over the length of a symphony that you

have quiet moments sort of more
dynamic omen moments something which

is more aggressive and
this represents the player so the fish.

Movement and
the conductor is playing a video game or

sort of this the orchestra
represents a video game.

You know running to this
scripted set of music.

And it's for the player the music
conductors job to influence

when these actions happen and so
we can combine these to any anybody again

experience.

And the final thing just
to leave you with is

also playing with
expectations that in a way.

You know these very these shapes
are something that you know most people

understand so they the scale of emotions
that most characters fit into the secular

concepts so it makes good characters
fit into the secular concept and

on the other end of the emotional
scale we have triangular ones.

And they're very useful for game design
because we often have given so little time

to understand video game environments you
know unfortunately most cases it might

be we're given a gun we have to shoot and
different people say it's sort of and

we're just put in this situation or
rather sudden and it's of benefits for

us to understand and be comfortable with
what we have to do as quickly as possible.

But that there are possibilities for
more subtlety so.

To illustrate also that this
isn't something which is just

restricted to video games you
know even in the game and

film a live action film
like Lord Of The Rings.

Told a token even when he was writing The
Lord Of The Rings he did illustrations for

himself to try and visualize what these
characters and environments look like and

so on the one side he had the Hobbit
the good natured hobbits you know and

everything about them is based on this
secular concept that we can trace back

to paintings like there's a man.

Painting that we saw earlier you know
the set the rounded curl of their hair

you know even this shoulders
have been softened and

rounded this rounded doorways
of their habit holes and

even the landscape fits into
this rounded concepts and

on the other end of the spectrum we
have sour on so it's angular shapes and

even the triangular shape of the volcano
on the landscape helps us to understand

in a very very psychological in a very
basic response that's one is good and

one is bad.

Even in vehicle design we have you
know a very rounded Volkswagen

car which is designed to
create a feeling of fun and

you know like the kind of car you it's
struck yourself bored to the top of

you go to the beach versus something
which is more about aggressive speeds and

the car in the middle which is
about security and more safety and

stability and so the interesting
thing is that these three cars

could all be without an engine they
could just be metal chef sees and

it be our job to push them along
if we wanted to get moving but

the interesting thing is that
we do actually judge but

by their cover in the sense that you know
we still get a very strong impression of

what these cars would be would
feel like to drive even.

You know physically they might
be useless pieces of metal.

And so playing with player expectations or
the audience's expectations so you

know journey is relatively non-aggressive
game so the designers could have

used the sugary rounded sugary rounded
concepts to creates the environments and

the character but it creates a very
very interesting contrast when you have

a triangular character doing very very
delicate movements freer and environs.

It's and something else to consider about
this is also that this is an example of

character environment harmony
that the character echoes

the environment in terms
of its shock shape.

And also glad lost from Portal
is one of the best examples of

a really sort of complex video game
character so one of the best examples of

all time that we have sort of a villain
which would normally be done ain't it by

the cliche of a male aggressive looking
character whereas there's a tragic

elements about Cloud OS and it's
interesting when you look particularly

interesting when you look at it in spirit
like where the inspiration came from for

this character and
if I turn it upside down.

To know maybe somebody already
knows what the inspiration was but

maybe sort of closer links here.

What it was was actually the Birth
of Venus by but the celli.

And.

You know there's the artists
because the artists are so.

So well understood the abstraction and
so that we've been a theme throughout

this presentation you know there
are elements of these opposing curves

which is another topic to do animation
which is also covered in the book and

it's something which goes as far back as
ancient Greece so artists realize that

if you have a system of opposing courtesy
have this illusion of movement and

aesthetic surface and it's something
that's stayed in use so thoroughly through

art history that it's now forms the
fundamentals of modern day animation and

so something which is created over two
thousand years ago is now a founding

principle of the techniques that are to
set Disney's on a regular basis.

But also so these opposing curves

you know were integrated into
the character of God else.

But this icon of feminine
beauty was turned.

Literally and metaphorically on its
head to create their enemy character.

Within the game of portal and
it's a very very interesting contrast

the artist created.

So by understanding so
these very very fundamental principles

of how images are constructed and

what emotional value these
shapes have you know we we open

up the possibilities of you know where
we take our inspiration from because.

You know it's a sin and or
a box shape could be and

represent this pillow or it could
represents you know an ARM So there's

in a very abstract sense art classical
artists who are doing this all the time so

reducing the complexity of reality
to very very simple components

and it just really opens up
the possibilities for what

emotional experiences we can
creative in video games.

Are the key question that's everyone so

the endeavoring on an artistic to
create an artistic work of art

has to ask themselves of course is
what is the emotional experience.

That you want to communicate that should
be the very very first step and this can

be you know your experiences of the
painting could be something we took from

a real life experience even from a piece
of music music also has very strong

parallels with these concepts and once you
identify what the emotion or the emotions

you want to communicate are it's a process
of researching and sketching and

finding out what the visual solutions
are for these emotions you want to.

To design.

OK so if you have any questions or
if you are just interested to play

more than a You're very welcome
to visit my websites or

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I thank you very much for listening and
if you have any questions then.

You piece them forward.