HERE IS MY NEW WEBSITE/PORTFOLIO

Hi to all those (particularly those I have spoken with at GDC) who may be visiting my website to inquire about my work.

Allow me to proudly redirect you to my brand new official portfolio and website...

www.kendallrobertson.com

Thank you for your interest!

Kendall

Game Lab: Project Oz Environmental Depression Concepts

This semester for our Game Lab class, we will be working on essentially a "mini capstone" project that will include delivering a product/experience that ultimately serves a higher purpose than mere entertainment. Teams are self formed and must acquire and regularly consult a subject matter expert (SME).

Myself and 14 other people will be continuing work on the artists Wizard of Oz VR project from last semester. We will be putting an interesting spin on the idea - essentially creating an immersive experience that will allow players to identify mental illness and learn how to respond/act towards people in their lives who may be suffering from such an illness. For scope reasons, we will just be portraying depression since it is a widespread and relatable illness. In this case, the Tin Man will be depressed and the player will be navigating a dialogue tree game flow.

One of the ideas the art team discussed was to portray the science behind depression through environmental storytelling. This first week, I whipped up some ideas of how we could do this.

This first concept portrays my idea of "synapse" trees. The tree tops resemble a synapse and the mushrooms below portray serotonin receptors. When the Tin Man is depressed, the glowing particle effects will be limited, and floating towards the ground, symbolizing the inhibition of serotonin reuptake in depressed people. As the Tin Man's mood elevates, the particles will increase and begin floating upwards towards the tree tops.

Above is the real life reference I used for creating the concepts below.

Another idea I had was to subtly portray mountains in the environment to resemble brains (not in a gross way, however). And have them glow/light up to resemble CAT scans of a depressed and non-depressed brain depending on how well the player is doing in the game. Perhaps these mountains could signal entrance into the Tin Man village and exit of the Tin Man village torwards the Emerald City.

Capstone Week 04: Aerial Jungle Concepts

This final week of winter break and with all the feedback I have been given thus far, I worked on aerial views of more jungle concepts. This time I wanted to focus more on actual scenes that the player might encounter in-game as opposed to just snippets of environment areas. On the left is a good example of incorporating "wall-running friendly" areas.

The piece on the right is intended to be a pivotal moment in-game. There is a lot of room for this concept to grow... perhaps it could be the entrance into the installation? Perhaps this could be the exit of the jungle leading to this giant cliff... and the cliff could be the home of the "shanty town" and its inhabitants. Something I like about this cliff is that it is somewhat terraced, with individual "mini canyons" that would allow for even more wall running!

Matt also made us a spiffy new template for all MasterKey concept work. All art will now be presented on these boards in an attempt to make our style cohesive.

Capstone Week 03: Jungle Environment Concepts

This week I worked on the piece I began the first week of winter break. Feedback from last round included editing the pathway to make it more natural - humans/robots are not supposed to have touched this area yet. I also began to add some basic value and shading as well as refined the backdrop of the scene. For good measure, I also threw in a concept (bottom) that focused on an idea for "terracing" that would allow for more wall running - although I am thinking this particular concept needs to be pushed.

Capstone Week 02: Vertical Jungle & Tree Concepts

This next week of winter break I continued work on concerting the jungle environment. I was directed this week to incorporate more ideas for "verticality" to accommodate a key game mechanic: wall running. I also started to test ways I could incorporate shanty pieces of old machinery into the environment.

I also began work on some ideas for alien trees that could be strewn throughout the jungle environment to give it an otherworldly feel. I hope to refine the theme and tone of the alien flora throughout the coming weeks.

Capstone Week 01: Jungle Environment Concepts

With FIEA now being let out for our winter break, it is now officially (and unofficially :D ) the time to start working on our Capstone projects. To recap, I am working on a team of 15 people to make a game called MasterKey. I utilized my first week of newfound freedom to work on some concept art. Out of our three working environments, I chose to stick with the jungle. These are two scenes I whipped up to get the ball rolling and to check with our art lead if I was heading in the right direction.

Animation Week 8-11: Character Mailing a Letter