IP Incubator Club Thread 2013: Bi-Week-002: April 22-May 5- 2013

#1

Rob Note:
Last Week Thread:
IP Incubator Club Thread 2013: Week-001: April 15-21- 2013

Projects So Far:
—Click To Expand—
[SPOILER]
The Projects so far this week:

Project Name:____________CATEGORY:[color=dimgray]Start Date: First Post______Link
STASIS[color=dimgray]______________Games ______Dec 2010_____04-16-2013 [/color]Link
NeverEndingPrincessStory[color=dimgray]Animation____TBD__________04-16-2013 Link[/color]
Le Gouffre[color=dimgray]_______________Animation July 2011______04-16-2013 Link [/color]
Top secret project[color=dimgray] _________Animation TBD_________04-16-2013 Link
Spec Commercial__________Animation___ April 2013___04-17-2013[color=#696969] Link[/color]
I am the Antagonist[color=#696969]______Cross Media TBD__________04-17-2013 Link[/color]
[color=white]SCHIRKOA_______________Animation___ Mid 2010___04-17-2013[color=#696969] Link[/color][/color]
HYPERREALITY ENGINE_____3D Engine ___ April 2013__04-18-2013[color=#696969] Link [/color]
[/SPOILER]

[/color][/color]

THE IP INCUBATOR CLUB.

in·cu·bate

/ˈɪnkyəˌbeɪt, ˈɪŋ-/ Show Spelled [in-kyuh-beyt, ing-] Show IPA verb, in·cu·bat·ed, in·cu·bat·ing.verb (used with object)

  1. to sit upon (eggs) for the purpose of hatching.
  2. to hatch (eggs), as by sitting upon them or by artificial heat.
  3. to maintain at a favorable temperature and in other conditions promoting development, as cultures of bacteria or prematurely born infants.
    4. to develop or produce as if by hatching; give form to: His brain was incubating schemes for raising money.

Welcome to the Inaugural thread of the IP Incubator Club
The idea behind this Club is simple

POST WEEKLY UPDATES of Original IP that you are developing. Hopefully IP that can eventually help the creator generate some income.
Also you should provide CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK to the work posted by other posters of the club.

The idea of this “Incubator Club” is to get away from the gloom and doom and provide a lifeline of support for our fellow artists.

The artists will have at their discretion how much they wish to share on the projects they are working on, what program they will be using and the medium . But the IP HAS BE AN ORIGINAL CREATION.

YOU HAVE ONE WEEK TO POST AND UPDATE…

There are 3 ways to participate:
[ul]
[li]IP CREATOR[/li]
Post weekly updates of ip you are developing.

Some Examples:
[list]
[li]A 3d artist developing a line of Vinyl toys on ZBrush[/li][li]A game developing working on a mobile game that uses Geo spatial data.[/li][li]A group of animators animator working on a weekly web series[/li][/ul]
[li]IP REVIEWERProvide reviews and comments of the IP being developed [/li]

I am looking for people like Roger Eberts of the world and not the Simon Cowels.
DIVAS will NOT BE TOLERATED.

IP MENTORSHIP
An experienced artist/ develop can offer mentorship for the IP creators.
Some examples:
[ul]
[li]An AAA game developer looking to help upcoming talent[/li][li]Experienced feature animators could review game animations.[/li][li]Writers can comment on story points[/li][/ul]
[/list]ANYONE CAN JOIN.

The Concept:___________________________
Ok so lets recap:
[color=white]The idea behind this IP incubator club is to provide a cool hangout place for IP creators. [/color]recap…
Weekly threads will be posted, to provide encouragement for developer to keep working on their idea.

On way to see this is to think of us as a spotter on your local gym.
You use your WIP thread to post your regular updates, But ONCE A WEEK you post on the IP INC thread a summary, based on the forsmat posted blow.

GENERAL RULES:
[ul]
[li]FOR GEN DISCUSSION of the IP CLUB CLICK HERE: Your Own IP?[/li][li]WEEKLY WIP are encouraged[/li][li]On your weekly post please Fill the following information (you can cut and paste it:)[/li][/ul]

CONCEPT NAME:

STILL IMAGE: (VOLUNTARY)
CATEGORY:

Art
Animation
Comics
Design
Fashion (3D Printing)
Film
Games
[i][b]Merchandizing
[i][b]Publishing
Technology
Toys
Web Comics
Video

[/b][/i][/b][/i]
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
STATUS NUMBER: 1
TEAM MEMBERS:(Voluntary)
START DATE
ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE : (Voluntary) -
WIP THREAD:
WHAT WENT RIGHT THIS WEEK:
WHAT WENT WRONG:
SHOW AND TELL:

[ul]
[li]WIP thread should be posted on the appropriate CGSociety/Game Art Sub forum and should follow the following naming convention: IP Incubator!:xxxxx:[/li][li]Only participants who follow the rules and submit a weekly Entry entry will be eligible for a monthly spotlight ( A frontpage plug).[/li][li]Any piece caught breaking the rules will be taken off the thread.[/li][li]When you are done creating your IP please do give at least a thank you to the IP. We need the press.[/li][/ul]RESOURCES:

ART LAW RESOURCES:
–CLICK TO EXPAND–
[SPOILER]
What is a Trademark?
http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp
What is a Copyright?
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

US
http://www.copyright.gov/
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

INT
http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en

Notable Laws:
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Copyright Act of 1976
Copyright Act, 1978
[/SPOILER]
MARKETPLACES:
–CLICK TO EXPAND–
[Spoiler]
Film/ Video/ Animation Content
[ul]
[list]
[li]http://vimeo.com/[/li][li]http://www.youtube.com/[/li][li]Stock Footage:[/li][li]http://www.pond5.com/index.php?ref=orbitrob[/li][li]http://submit.shutterstock.com/[/li][li]http://www.stockfootageseller.com[/li][li]http://www.stockfootageseller.com/w…ostock-logo.jpg[/li][/ul]
[/list]Games/Apps

[ul]
[list]
[li]http://store.steampowered.com/[/li][li]http://www.microsoftstore.com/store…DisplayHomePage[/li][li]http://developer.android.com/index.html[/li][li]Web Comics[/li][li]www.comixology.com[/li][/ul]
[/list]3D Models (for Animation)

[ul]
[list]
[li]http://www.turbosquid.com/[/li][li]http://www.daz3d.com/[/li][li]3D Models (for 3d Printing)[/li][li]https://www.ponoko.com/[/li][li]http://www.shapeways.com/[/li][li]http://www.sculpteo.com/en/[/li][li]http://i.materialise.com/[/li][/ul]
[/list]Clip Art

Custom Merchadize:
http://www.zazzle.com/
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/Make Magazine: Ultimate Guide for 3D Printing is a FANTASTIC resource. GET IT if you are interested in getting into this market:
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Ultimate…s=make+magazine

[/SPOILER]
CONFERENCES:
–CLICK TO EXPAND–
[Spoiler]
Digital Media:

[ul]
[li]SXSW[/li][li]Shepton Digi Fest[/li][li]NAB[/li][/ul]Gaming:
[ul]
[li]PAX[/li][li]PAX East[/li][li]Independent Games Festival’[/li][li]E3[/li][/ul]Europe:
[ul]
[li]Edinburgh Interactive Festival[/li][li]Eurogamer Expo[/li][/ul]Comics:
[ul]
[li]Comicon[/li][li]SPX[/li][/ul]Animation Festivals:
[ul]
[li]SIGGRAPH [/li][li]Bradford Animation Festival[/li][/ul][/Spoiler]

#2

Hi Roberto,

Biweekly updates would definitely be better than weekly for me. When you are doing things in your spare time and are a one man army, things take that little bit longer.

Cheers,
Jules

#3

Just wanted to give my weekly update and share a few things.

Business side

My website is almost up.
It will be an all purpose blog website of mine with the series comic version and general fun news. (video games, politics in a funny way, nerd stuff, nerd dating, etc)

Getting my Kickstarter off the ground. (again) I tested the waters the first time and get 10% the budget without doing 1 thing. Like I said just testing the waters. I did not even have a video.

Creative Side
Finishing up script and starting recording for animatic. My voice only.
Acting out mocap scenes. Those will be fun. I’m attacking this more like a play.
Here is a part of the script.

Opening scene Milton all black screen and just him in the foreground slumping on a chair. Almost appears like throne room.
Milton: I am the antagonist of this story. I know you are watching me. I

t was you who lead me here. You thought me and my friends were boring and you stopped paying attention. I only did what I had to do and that got your attention. It was you who made me what I am today.

Now…don’t get me wrong I’m not blaming you for what I have become. Doing what I do ain’t pretty and I hated to do it but over the years its gotten kind of fun. What do I do? Hmmm…good question. I guess you’ll find out soon enough.

End scene Caption: 10 years ago. An open scene of wreckage and a giant body of a monster in the background among the wreckage.
Milton appears on screen and begins walking among the wreckage.

He sees the Green Protector on the ground before him barely alive. He leans over to get in close. The Green Protector has a ring on his finger. Milton focuses on the ring and removes the ring.

Milton: Sorry dude. We had some good times

Places the ring on his finger. As he is walking across the debri he passes 2 other Protectors bodies on top of each other. One is the nerdy, younger protector and the hot protector girl. Milton in passing

Milton: See buddy…you finally got your wish. Milton stumbles over to get their devices. Turns around kind of crazily and sees the leader impaled on the rubble. Milton scoffs at him

Milton: Jerk (dimissive breath noise) Milton moves over to grab his old leader by the collar. Milton: Oh great leader, where are you now. Huh? (slaps his head) This is your fault. Boring. You are boring. I had to do this. (scoffing sound and throws him down grabbing his device and throwing him back in the rubble).

Starts walking to a figure in the background. It is Snailo the giant Snail. He has the body of the “Pink Protector” in his arms. Snailo in foreground trying to revive the Pink protector.

Milton: Snailo…What did you done? You killed them all. After all we did for you! Because of us people stopped thinking of you as a monster, now you are the worst monster in history. (starts to laugh)

Snailo turns to him in anger and stares him down in defiance.

Milton: Well lets get this over with. It’s power up time! (Milton does an old school “posey” move akin to old Sentai style characters and suddenly stops) man that’s so stupid. ( he just poses cool and automatically powers up)

Milton powers up using all the rings and then notices he is super colorful and looks like a rainbow.

Milton: Oh crap I look like a rainbow.

Milton turns his attention back to Snailo.

Stare down between the two. Then sudden charge from Milton. Milton charges and ends up punching Snail-o in the air. As Snail-o is flying in the air he goes into his snail shell and it begins spinning. As it is flying up he transforms in a humanoid snail form and has a giant hammer in his hand. He is about to come down and fight.

That is just a snippet. Please feel free to tell me what you think. Dialog is not my strong suit.

Also I know Milton is a stupid name but that is part of the character. He thinks his name is stupid. But it will be part of an ongoing joke. Basically taking his name and making it “Awesome”

Roberto again thanks for this. It makes me stay focused really well. Accountability with each week. Soon I’ll have to show what I’ve done. :slight_smile:

#4

CONCEPT NAME: Soliloquy of a Madman

WEBSITE: www.soliloquyofamadman.com

CATEGORY: Games

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Within the depths of his own mind, a man seeks the answer to an unknown question. Facing fragmented thoughts, haunting memories and reflections of self, the actions taken will lead to enlightenment or self-destruction.

Soliloquy of a Madman was a concept I came up with many years ago, at a time in my life when I had finally pulled myself out of a long period depression and emotional turmoil. The story came to me when I was sitting alone, reflecting on how far I’ve come and what steps were required for me to better my life and overcome my own internal torment. I had literally been what I would consider a “madman” and this “soliloquy” would be the artistic expression of my journey from a chaotic state of being into one of peace and relative contentment.

So what exactly will Soliloquy of a Madman (SoaM) be about? Well, you will play the main character, a monk-like representation of self which I have named Ego, who is exploring the depths of his own mind through a meditation. As you explore you will encounter various memories, thoughts and reflections of self which will take shape in both the environment and demons you must defeat. However, the actions that you choose to take will ultimately lead you towards either enlightenment or self-destruction.

I’m going to leave the description at a high level for this week and will opt to go into more detail in subsequent posts and focus on specific design elements (gameplay mechanics, story, artistic choices, etc…)

STATUS NUMBER: 1

START DATE: January 2013 (when I actually started working seriously on it)

ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE : Q4 2014… rough guess

WHAT WENT RIGHT THIS WEEK:

I managed to squeeze in some time to start working on the written descriptions for the environments. I have a friend of mine who was looking for some concepts to practice concept art so I jumped on the chance and fed him my ideas. Never under-estimate the value of simply mentioning your project ideas to other people, if it’s an interesting concept you’ll find people who want to help make it happen. Can’t do everything by yourself!

WHAT WENT WRONG:

I realized that the morphing technique I wanted to create for my character was going to be much more involved than I had originally anticipated. It took a lot more effort to set up, but I finally got it working. I guess the lesson is to give myself more time than I would expect if it’s a technique I haven’t tried before. Double your estimates to be on the safe side.

SHOW AND TELL:

Concept Art for the Main Character

A look and effects style test, unfortunately my Unity trial has expired so I’ve lost some of the effects in more recent updates. Need to save up some cash…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jixVoV9kzz0&feature=share&list=UUuJoulj-MNkhGfnI1nG-SCw

A quick video demonstrating the half-completed “morphing” effect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s62pkMYg8o

Character models in ZBrush for each state

#5

I love the concept work a lot. Is there a way to get it to match more closely in 3d. The 3d stuff is great work but I think the style you have in the concept is really awesome.

Also why am I thinking about the Kao Ken Attack Xs 20. :slight_smile:

#6

Yeah the concept artist I hired did a really good job, love his style. I’m not quite good enough artist to be able to match it but I’m going to try to push the shaders, effects and textures to hopefully get it a little closer.

#7

Very happy to be a part of all of this…

I will be doing updates about twice a week on my blog I imagine…
I’m delving deep into web stuff this week. Need some new cover art, etc.
Now that I have the right tools it should be better/easier to get the result I want.
Hopefully some of the graphics will be animated; looking at different layouts, sizing, etc.
Here’s a quick slash job on the cover design

Here is a scene cap from a story I am working on right now; Gypsy Princess Storyline

I usually work until mid June. By then it’s too nice outside in Mont Tremblant to sit inside in front of a computer :slight_smile: Get outside while you can; summers are short over here.

edit: add images + descriptions

#8

@banman7 : So… Milton is a disgruntled “Great Protector”… and they’re like this Power Rangers group?

#9

@banman7 : So… Milton is a disgruntled “Great Protector”… and they’re like this Power Rangers group?

Without going in too deep, Milton is not disgruntled, he did what he thought he had to do and in then began enjoying it a little too much.

As the story unfolds you will find out why he did what he did.

He was part of a Power Ranger type group but we only see them once when he is killing them. Nothing past that is part of a power rangery story. :slight_smile: We will only get to know him where he is now.

It does center around Kaiju on a quest plus a slice of life story.
Part of the story will be in Japanese.

#10

This thing is quite interesting, that most people making shorts don’t want to reveal their stories thinking they make something special, which will surprise the audience. Which turns out quite the opposite most of the time. Why not discuss it also? Come on, most shorts have awful, unwatchable stories (mine included perhaps). I just decided not to bother with this “secret cover”. Just throw your history in and listen to what people say before you make tons, tons of work just to discover how much more work it needed.

#11

I would like to second the possibility of having a biweekly update. We personally only have time to update our production blog every too weeks anyway, and this would let us all have longer discussions over the project updates before switching to a new thread.

#12

This thing is quite interesting, that most people making shorts don’t want to reveal their stories thinking they make something special, which will surprise the audience. Which turns out quite the opposite most of the time. Why not discuss it also? Come on, most shorts have awful, unwatchable stories (mine included perhaps). I just decided not to bother with this “secret cover”. Just throw your history in and listen to what people say before you make tons, tons of work just to discover how much more work it needed.

Really not a big deal actually.
NOt a big suprise.
He goes off like he does not out of any real reason that folks will know in the story. It is like all those crazy folks that go off.

“he was such a nice guy” “I never knew him like that” “he was so sweet” " I can’t believe he did that" then one day they do something crazy off the chain stuff. When these guys asked why they did it alot of times they feel justified and that they were doing it for a good reason. In his case he might be doing it for the greater good. Just trying to get in the minds of those crazy people who lose it for no apparent reason but in their mind they had a reason.

#13

Looking good! Made me think of Psychonauts by the description, exploring the depths of the mind… I like it.

I don’t know how far you are tweaking the animation of the character but I’ll still risk a little comment. The way Ego keeps his arms so high up when he runs feels somewhat robotic. Have you tried filming yourself running as animation reference? Little tweaks and offsets here and there could make it feel a lot more natural.

#14

I actually haven’t played Psychonauts but I’ve heard good things, I’ll have to add that to my list of “reference” games to play :thumbsup:

Please feel free to critique, that’s why I’m posting here! The animations that you see in the videos are only for testing. I’m using Unity’s new Mecanim animation system and wanted to make sure I could get it working and learn the quirks of how it works before I invested any time into preparing quality animations. Will definitely be doing some reference work though, good suggestion.

#15

I agree too. Didn’t realize this at first. But as many others I am also doing this in my spare time and I would totally welcome biweekly updates. Each thread will also have a little longer life. Which could be important for getting the feedback.

#16

CONCEPT NAME: Soliloquy of a Madman

WEBSITE: www.soliloquyofamadman.com

CATEGORY: Games

Hey this is looking good. Will definitely keep an eye on this one. This is Unity all the way? What platforms you aiming at? (I am downloading PC version right now)

On another note the character concept reminds me of something between Kratos & Dhalsim. But your final 3d morphed character looks rather unique. Intended or not, it works well at the end for you probably.

#17

Right now I am targeting PC, MAC and Linux only. I had considered releasing for mobile but after doing some tests I realized I can’t achieve what I want to creatively on those devices without some really serious optimizations and efforts.

A lot of people have said he reminds them of Kratos, it’s definitely not intended and I’m not entirely sure that’s good. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to be compared to the likeness of an iconic character, but I might try to change his robes colours to see if that helps create a more “unique” persona.

#18

CONCEPT NAME: Le Gouffre

PRODUCTION BLOG: http://legouffre.com/en

CATEGORY: Animation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Le Gouffre is an 8-minute animated short film about two travellers who embark on the amazing journey of crossing an impossible gap. The team is currently working full-time on the film, without any financial backing, and is trying to create a unique look that blends hand-painted textures with realistic animation. The film should start its festival run by spring 2014 and be released on the internet later that year.

STATUS NUMBER: 2

TEAM MEMBERS: 3

Carl Beauchemin - Animation and Rigging
Thomas Chrétien - FX and Compositing
David Forest - Animation and Art Direction

START DATE: July 2011

ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: December 2013

WIP THREAD: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=153&t=1085457

WHAT WENT RIGHT THIS WEEK:

Carl just finished animating the shots he was assigned to do from the end of the movie, so we’ve officially started to work on shots from the second act. That’s a nice thing since we’ve been doing storm shots for quite a while and, we have to admit, we’re getting a little tired of looking at foggy, rainy, desaturated shots that we can’t even show on the blog because of too many spoilers. The nice weather slowly coming back outside is probably playing a big part in this feeling, but we really can’t wait to start adding more color and light into our film!

On a side note, I also finished animating the very last shot of the film today and the emotions we were going for in our initial animatic seem to have transfered in 3D pretty well!

WHAT WENT WRONG:

Not so much went wrong, actually! We did have to combine two shots into one in an action scene, but the end result is so much better we can hardly call it a problem. More of a temporary set back.

SHOW AND TELL:

We’ve just posted a new entry on our blog adressing how we dealt with simulating the wind on the clothes of our characters.

http://legouffre.com/en/semaine-65-simulation-de-vetements/

We also did a video showing the result in movement. The captions in the video are in french, but I’m sure you’ll get the idea just by looking at the images. The process is explained in english on the blog if you really want to know more.

https://vimeo.com/64765760

#19

Wow, that movement is eerie. Looks so real it hits a nerve. Really good.

Jules

Watching it again; maybe the hat could do with more weight?

#20

That looks cool mate. Neat trick. By the way how many characters are there in your film? I suppose I have already seen 4 so far.