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Task 1.1a - Diorama/Level Design Definition
The Cambridge definition for a diorama is:
"A model that shows a situation, such as a historical event or animals in their natural environment, in a way that looks real: Dioramas are three-dimensional. "
The purpose of a diorama is to create a realistic scene in a piece of art that can captivate audiences. It is also useful in displaying an event in the form of art, giving them potential educational and informative value, such as when used to showcase a historical scene. They can also be used to plan a scene in a smaller, less detailed and easier to create format, such as a level design for a game or an environment for film/tv.
In the context of this project, a diorama does not actually need to be modelled in a three-dimensional software such as 3DS Max or Blender, but can also be made as a two-dimensional image portraying a three-dimensional scene. For example, a diorama could be created with two-dimensional isometric art.
Task 1.1a - Diorama/Level Design Mind Map
This is my Level Design/Diorama Mindmap. For my blog, I have split it into two sections below to make my annotations more direct and to help make the text more legible.
Level Design Mindmap
For my mindmap on level design, I looked at sketched maps and 3D blockouts for level designs and tried to include most of the features that I could see included. I noticed how important it was to ensure everything in a level design is labelled or identifiable whilst also being simple in design so as not to clutter the plan, therefore, I found lots of designs with differently coloured symbols, shapes and boxes to indicate different level elements such as hazards, obstacles and collectibles.
Diorama Mindmap
For my diorama mindmap, I looked at a lot of examples of real-life dioramas and information on them, including how they were made, their purpose and their themes. This really helped me to understand the huge scope of how dioramas can be made or themed and the variety between different dioramas. This research has also given me a very large amount of sources I can reference when choosing how to theme and style my medieval diorama, for instance, I could create a scene displaying the aftermath of a battle, with littered weapons and impact markings.
Task 1.1b - Create 3 Diorama/Level Design Mood Boards
Level Design Moodboard
This moodboard showcases a variety of methods for designing and planning levels, including rough maps, platformer levels, and 3D blockouts. Although I am probably going to be working in 2D, I wanted to collect images of 3D level designs as well to help me better understand the process as well as to see if there was anything I could translate into my own work or techniques I could find to aid in creating more clear and well-developed level designs. For instance, the simplistic models used for each element and the differentiation by colour to make all level elements easily visible at a glance and easily distinguishable.
Another thing I noticed was that most level designs were created in greyscale which I have found is very helpful in not having the design look too overwhelming and much easier to look over, making every room, object and solid area easily definable.
Diorama Moodboard
This moodboard displays various different styles and ideas for dioramas. I made sure to include dioramas made in 2D, 3D and pixel art to be able to see how the different styles affect the dioramas and to see different techniques used for each pathway.
One thing I noticed from this research that I really like was how some dioramas act as though they are a chunk of land that has been removed from the ground and is floating in midair, having ponds, moats, carpets and other things flowing off of the edge. I think this is a really nice stylistic choice that makes the design look a lot more interesting and well-designed.
Another feature I noticed was how important lighting is in dioramas. Because of dioramas being made in a two-point perspective, they often have one wall shaded and another lit. This works really well in creating depth and can allow other light sources in the design to pop against darker surfaces as well, such as the lava in the top-right diorama.
Medieval Diorama Moodboard
For this moodboard, I wanted to collect images of dioramas that related to a medieval theme. I thought this would be helpful as these are the images that will relate the most to my project and therefore will provide very valuable inspiration and reference for when I begin my work. I tried to include both exteriors and interiors of various buildings and structures to better understand the different architectures of medieval buildings and different elements I could consider including in my diorama.
Something else I found interesting was the weapon racks in two of the interior dioramas as they are an unobtrusive yet visually interesting way to add detail and context to a diorama as well as providing an opportunity to experiment with different weapon and tool designs to add more life and variety to my image.
Task 1.1b - "How are Dioramas/Level Designs used in games?"
Both dioramas and level designs are incredibly valuable in initially developing scenes and mechanics for games. For instance, 3D blockouts of levels and sceneries allows developers to roughly plan out how an area will look, giving them an easy and efficient opportunity to notice any oversights or mistakes in the level structure before committing time and effort to the level and making these errors much harder and time-consuming to repair, similarly to drawing a rough sketch to define the accurate proportions and measurements of an artwork before committing to more permanent details, such as lineart and colouring.
Additionally, dioramas allow developers to create a detailed, yet rough environment quickly and easily, allowing them to brainstorm ideas for scenes, structures and levels without having to spend large periods of time creating high-quality artwork or models. This produces smaller yet informative views for how different concepts could work, encouraging experimentation with different ideas and easier communication between team members regarding the game's visual direction.
In summary, dioramas and level designs are able to greatly improve the rate at which planning, error identification, and creative exploration are performed, contributing to improved immersion and well-developed game worlds. These tools allow developers to optimise their work to enhance the experience of their games and ultimately create enthralling and visually interesting game worlds.
Task 1.1b - "What examples can you find of Dioramas/Level Designs in games?"
Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO)
CS:GO is a great example for how level designs are used in games as for many fan-made maps as well as official maps. The process begins by drawing a rough 2D map, with a key or labelled elements to show different aspects of the map, such as spawn points and obstacles. This is an easy way to show how line of sight can be utilised in the map which is incredibly important in a first-person shooter such as CS:GO, and can help developers to know if they need to add any new walls or obstacles to avoid abusable spots in the map where a player can hide and amass kills with ease.
CS:GO also uses 3D blockouts before any detail is applied to the map as a game in a 3D blockout would function almost identical to a fully-detailed map, just with less visual polish. This would easily allow for test-runs of the level to help to get a feel for how the map feels to play and can further identify any issues with the environment, such as if an area feels too bland or empty and if there are any issues with the layout that could ruin the experience.
A Hat in Time
A Hat in Time is one of my favourite examples for use of dioramas in game planning I have found as one of the artists has provided multiple sketched dioramas and concept arts from multiple stages of development on their Artstation. These dioramas are great as they functioned as wide and informative ideas for different areas and locations in the game, and it is easy to see how useful and inspirational they were when compared to the final designs used in the game. They are also really helpful to see the process used to make these dioramas, with images varying from light sketches to more fleshed out designs as well as highly-detailed and coloured finished artworks.
These dioramas would have been very useful in defining the tone and theme of areas as well as how they should be decorated and furnished, with the bottom-right attic diorama being a great example of how many props and details they could fit into one small room, with the fridge, stove, pots, cutlery, containers and seafood making it visually clear that this area is being used as a kitchen. I have found that this has greatly improved the environmental storytelling and has added life to scenes, ensuring that nowhere feels too empty or uninteresting.
Super Mario Bros.
The original Super Mario Bros. was a very early video game and as such didn't have as many tools to create level designs and plans nor did it have the budget for high quality concept art and dioramas. However, level designs were still created for the game on graph paper, allowing the developers to plan put each block tile-by-tile as well as to choose where to hide hidden entrances or secret power-ups. This has worked really well as it allowed them to judge whether or not jumps were possible and where to place rewards such as coins to ensure the platforming would feel fast, fun and satisfying before having to code it into the actual game, which would have been a lot harder with the hardware they were using so making any changes to the level after it had been coded in would have taken much longer.
Super Mario Odyssey
Unlike the first Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Odyssey is a much more recent game with a much higher budget and vastly improved hardware. This has given the developers much more freedom and the ability to put lots more detail into their concept art and dioramas. I really like these examples as they provide so much information in such simplistic and compact images, giving a quick and informative idea for the theme and elements of the environment, such as what events will occur and what structures will be included.
Celeste
Celeste is another 2D platformer, similar to Super Mario Bros., albeit with with more advanced hardware and improved tools for level design, meaning that its levels were designed in a very similar way, with different rooms being drawn out tile-by-tile, ensuring that jumps would be possible and that the platforming would be challenging and rewarding. This has made Celeste's platforming challenges very fair and satisfying and has helped the game to provide enough push and pull to keep the player enticed whilst not aggravating them.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, similar to Super Mario Odyssey, was created with a very high budget, allowing for lots of high-quality dioramas and concept art to be created for environments and buildings. This gave the 2D artists the time and freedom to experiment greatly with various concepts and details for how shrines and temples could be constructed, which in turn gave the 3D artists enough detail to be able to see how everything should be made and put together. This allowed for incredibly detailed concepts and ideas which resulted in beautiful and impressive environments across the entire game.
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