The next one was the Shield Boomerang, A ranged weapon that also doubles as a protective shield that reflects projectiles. It was another simple model to make... or so I thought. I didn't initially check the official concept art when designing the model so I didn't know the weapon itself was different. I mainly used official promotional artwork for the various games in the series (Shield Boomerang appears in all of the games except for 4)
The model was made out of a sphere that was flattened and every other vertice rotated to give it a jagged look. The centerpiece was a simple cylinder scaled down.
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For the inactive Shield Boomerang model, I started with a cylinder and made another smaller one that I duplicated and moved to both ends of the big one. To make the blades at the top I created a prism and scaled the model to make them look like blades.
After some small touch ups. here are the final models.
Presenting
A Portfolio
About Me:
This website was created for the sole purpose of showcasing my work as a portfolio of my years doing a Games Technology course at Confetti Institute Of Creative Technologies, ranging from 3D models to sprites, to general understanding of the games industry as a whole.
Who Am I?
Hello there! My name is Reece Langsdale. As of writing this I am 18 years old and am currently undertaking a Games Technology course at Confetti Institute Of Creative Technologies.
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I am currently practicing my pixel art and 3D modelling skills and and aspiring to make Pixel Art and other assets for games in the future, as I'm a massive fan of retro games such as Castlevania, Mega Man and Final Fantasy.
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For more details, please contact me via my email at reecelangsdale12@gmail.com.
Why is my Website designed this way?
The design of my Website is intended to be as consistent and organised as possible. For the colour schemes, I tried to pick mostly reds, yellows and blues, but made sure that the colors wouldn't become blinding to the human eye.
I picked Lucida Console for the font, because it's easy to read and I prefer it over the default 'Avenir Light' font.
For the headers, I used the font "Trend", as it is a bold font that is ideal for a title.
The various shapes I used as part of the aesthetics in some parts of the portfolio were inspired by the Japanese box arts for the classic Sonic games (shown is the japanese boxart for Sonic 1; take note at the various shapes and lines covering the artwork).
I separated every section of the pages so that each one is easily distinguished from the others.
All designs originally created by SEGA. I do not own this design in any way. I just took inspiration from it.
What kind of work have I done to show off my skills?
Across the entirety of my website is a portfolio of a majority of my work from September 2020 up until March 2022, ranging from textures to 3D models, that I have produced over my 2-year course at Confetti.
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For the 3D models, I primarily used Autodesk Maya, which was provided for free as part of the course, using various tools I learned to use across my 2 years at Confetti, ranging from Appending to Polygon to Inserting Edge Loops. It was perfect for creating models that I then could import into Unreal.
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For the textures, I was split for 2 different image editing softwares. I primarily used Paint.NET for the texture creation. I mainly used this for the simpler textures as it's free to use and simple to understand (it's the one I use at home for personal projects). However, for the more intricate textures, I use Photoshop, which gives me more creative freedom due to the vast array of tools at my disposal. The only problem is I can only use Photoshop at college because I can't afford my own personal license.
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I did a bit of Game Design work in Unreal Engine 4, but it's not my strongest point, as I'm not really that good at coding, whether it be with blueprints or C++.
Video Interview
The GlADOS voice I used for the questions was produced by 15.ai, with the original voicelines by Ellen McLain.
How have I produced and presented my work?
As previously stated, I have used many different kinds of software to produce my work.
In the case of the models, all of them have been exported into .FBX (Filmbox) format, but when I'm making the models themselves, I just use MAYA's unique file format being .MB (Maya Binary). FBX is optimal for modelling as it works with a majority of modelling software, and also easily imports into other software that use models, such as Unreal Engine and Unity. I exported the UV's in PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format, which also is used by a variety of software.
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For the textures and sprites, as I work on them I keep them in their respective file formats (PSD (Photoshop Document) for Photoshop and PDN (Paint Dot Net) for Paint.NET.) all of the files have been exported as PNG's (Portable Network Graphics), as they can retains more data compared to JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), though I have used .GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) to demonstrate my work as seen in my Artefact Production.
Original PNG image
JPEG at 75% Compression
JPEG at 10% compression
JPEG at 50% compression
JPEG at 25% compression
JPEG at 1% compression
Take note at how the color quality decreases.
For Unreal Engine projects they always save as a folder containing the project's assets (all of them encrypted into .uasset (Unreal Asset) format) and the project itself in their unique file format, .uproject (Unreal Engine Project). When packaged, the .uproject format becomes an exe (executable) format.
How suitable am I for the role?
As stated before, I am currently unsure about the role that I want to try and apply for in the games industry, but I preferably want to try to get a role in 3D modelling or texture work, having seen some portfolios that demonstrate this effect. Having shown an improvement in skill with software such as Autodesk Maya and Photoshop, I have an exceeding level of knowledge of Maths, being at a level 7 grade (I can't remember off of the top of my head, but I know it's higher than 5).
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Strengths:
I excel at 3D Modelling and Texture work, using software such as Autodesk Maya, Paint.NET and Photoshop. While not my strongest point, I do know most of the basics of game design, using Unreal Engine.
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Weaknesses:
I have MASSIVE issues with procrastination that I am starting to crack down on, and I do not have advanced knowledge of creating a game itself.
Who have I taken inspiration from for my website?
I'm looking at doing 3D models and texturework, so I'm looking at other portfolios relating to these topics.
One of these portfolios was of Active Theory, whose portfolio blew me away. It was interractive, with my mouse movements having an effect on the website itself, almost making it feel like I was looking at the contents through water. Active Theory have worked on many different projects, such as the popular Adult Swim series "Rick and Morty", and also a 3D model of Hogwarts (which is sadly no longer available to view), for Pottermore (now known as Wizarding World), a website dedicated to all things relating to the world of Harry Potter series.
Another portfolio that caught my eye was Lusion's portfolio. Similar to Active Theory, their portfolio was interactive, even having dynamic music in the background. One of the interactive features was of a figure of a woman constructed out of light beams, running through a stream of light beams, in which clicking on the animation will slow it down as she alternates between jumping over or sliding under some light beams.
One final portfolio I looked at was of an individual named Hugo Peters. He is a game dev who has had roles in many different professional projects, including his university projects, Soul Knight and Bolt Storm, as well as his role as a game programmer for the upcoming game, Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, being made by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft.
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Unfortunately, due to Wix's limited utilities to create websites, and also because of the complexity of these, I can't make something as interactive as Active Theory or Lusion's websites, which is why I mainly looked at Hugo Peter's portfolio for inspiration, due to its simpler design compared to the other 2.
How have I maintained my personal brand identity?
I don't really have a brand or anything related to my work. I've only really signed onto LinkedIn, and even then, I don't really use it much.
I've used a consistent artstyle for my work with it looking like it came out of the 90's, which is my favourite era in terms of gaming, as it was when the Playstation came out, one of my favourite consoles with some of my favourite games such as Mega Man X4, Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9, and the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy (and its racing spinoff, Crash Team Racing).