Jitesh's Domain

Game Designer. Producer. Gamer.


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My concepts with AI Art Generators

After a long break, here is a new post to give my readers an idea about new things I’m trying during my free time. My current obsession is making short stories, comics or other original concepts with the help of AI tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion.

Why AI Tools?

For a long time now, I’ve been wanting to work on my own concepts & short stories… to come up with something original and if possible, thought-provoking and creative. I’m not a proper artist. With the availability and access to these new massively engaging AI art generators, it’s quite helpful for me and others to generate concepts that align to our vision. Atleast, as close as one can get. It’s not without flaws, but the benefits they bring are enormous. That’s what I believe.

Currently, there is a rift among the art community on using these tools, even some of my friends and colleagues are a little split. In my opinion, as long as one can use the tech and the knowledge to get what they want to create, it’s all good and well. Few of my artist friends are already using these tools to save time and paint over, to further enhance the output. Truly, the possibilities are endless!

Some Concepts

I’m creating all of my story/comic concepts using Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. In the future, I’ll explore other AI art generators and perhaps mix and match certain things. All my work (for now) is mainly shared on my other instagram account: uns33n.comics. Do note, most of the images I shared on the website here are of medium quality.

Here is a sneak peak (already present on my instagram account):

Realistic Portraits

Check out some of my ultra photorealistic pictures made using Stable Diffusion:

Artistic & Creative

Midjourney gives me the best results when I want something to be more artistic, wacky and fantastical:

Old to Modern?

I also tried a sample to give a modern look or to make a character from a video game realistic. In this case, I went with Fran (from Final Fantasy 12), because I managed to find a good image to use as a reference. It is important to know that img2img also works, which can bring a lot of interesting and sometimes strange results. It depends on how we manage the parameters to achieve our intentions.

Someone completely different?

As I briefly covered img2img above, you can actually also shapeshift someone, create a doppleganger or a completely different person! Check my try:

These tools are also both supporting and competing with each other. All of them receive regular updates, improvements to their algorithm, more artistic possibilities, variations and so on.

I’ll continue making more concepts and stories. If you like the work, do support and give a like, follow and share: uns33n.comics.

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Clash Royale – PART I

I’m pretty sure most of you have already started playing Clash Royale by now. Even if you aren’t one of the Royale players, you might very well be aware of the game. Clash Royale is Supercell’s next gem for mobile devices.

I’ve been playing this game on a daily basis since it launched in India. I wanted to jot down and do a few write-ups focusing on design.

The first design overview I felt like covering is the gameplay concept map. Please note:

  • This concept map focuses only on gameplay elements
  • It does not teach you how to play the game
  • Shows the inter-relationships of different elements

Now, I am not explaining what each element (especially the ones taken from the game) stand for. Obviously, if you have been playing the game, you’ll be aware of the intricacies. In case you haven’t tried the game out, this’ll help you understand (a little) the concept of gameplay in Clash Royale (inter-dependencies, skills needed, synergy and complexity).

Clash_Royale_Gameplay_ConceptMap_v4

It is informative to look at the game, realize its scope and go through its various concepts. Do check it out, it’ll be fun to discuss more on this (especially if you have already been playing the game).

Keep checking here for further updates, I’ll most likely do more write-ups by focusing on different features. They may not necessarily be in sequence and will most likely be a little independent of each other.

Do shoot your feedback and rants. It’s always fun ;]

 

 

 


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WORKSHOP – FAST AND FURIOUS 7

NASSCOM NGDC2015 DESIGN WORKSHOP

FAST AND FURIOUS 7

I had an immense pleasure of organizing this year’s Design Workshop at Nasscom’s Game Developer Conference held at Mahratta Chamber Of Commerce Industries & Agriculture (MCCIA) Towers.

The idea and topic was pretty simple – understand and learn to deliver a game pitch in less than 7 mins. The basis of presentation technique was PechaKucha (chit-chat in Japanese).

A part of my preparation was to come up with interesting topics for participants.

I started creating topics…

Preparation - creation of mindboggling topics ;]

Preparation – creation of mindboggling topics ;]

Once I demonstrated the PechaKucha technique to participants, they were asked to be comfortable, form power groups (which were made to ensure friends don’t stick together and teams feel balanced).

The topic – a mandate on which participants had to create their game pitch consisted of 2 parts:

  • A subject/ core matter
  • Game Genre

Preparation - Cards in disarray!

Preparation – Cards in disarray!

The stacks were then made, successfully (before the workshop began, at my home):

Cards tied in RED –> Core/ Subject matter

Cards tied in YELLOW –> Game Genre

Power Cards... are READY!

Power Cards… are READY!

At the workshop, once my presentation was over and groups were formed, I asked one member from each group to draw cards from the stacks I had made. Interesting topics are created when randomness comes into play ;]

For eg: A group picked cards that gave them FOOD as Core Subject and SURVIVAL HORROR as game genre!

The rules were laid out:

  • use laptop
  • use internet connection
  • minimal text
  • Images, images and images!
  • 20 sec per slide rule
  • Max slides 20 (due to time restriction – I didn’t enforce 20 slides as MUST – it was a max limit for this workshop)

Fast and Furious 7 :: PechaKucha!

Fast and Furious 7 :: PechaKucha!

Here are some pictures from the workshop:

It's on!

It’s on!

Getting to know team and discussion within was paramount!

Getting to know team and discussion within was paramount!

A team brainstorming on their game pitch

A team brainstorming on their game pitch

Team getting their slides ready!

Team getting their slides ready!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

Team game pitch kickoff!

With Prashant!

With Prashant!

I apologize for some really shaken pictures! :]

My badge this year.

My badge this year.

I had an awesome time conducting the workshop, discussing terrific ideas with everyone who participated. If you are in the picture, you participated or were a part of the team – do share 🙂


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Wamble On!

I have been working on a small prototype in Unity engine. After realizing a quick fun mechanic with basic gameplay I stopped working on it for a while.

Finally, I decided to finish the experience and make a web build! My purpose was to make a small game suitable for web + mobile devices. I did not want to invest heavily in terms of audio and visuals (as its a solo project). Also, I did not want to increase the scope. It’s just a small nifty arcade game.


What does Wamble mean?

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wamble)

wamble (ˈwɒmbəl)

vb (intr)

1. to move unsteadily
2. to twist the body
3. (Pathology) to feel nausea


 What an end-user really needs to play this game is:
  • Focus
  • Timing and
  • little bit of Endurance

The idea is to provide an uncomfortable, nauseating experience. Obviously, not what a normal mobile/ web game is about. You will not play this game to relax and chill out. That is not the objective. Saying that, you must never keep playing this game over and over for 30mins or so (unless you really really want to!). This can really cause intense nausea. Just play it in short bursts :]

BEGINUpsideDownRETRY


I am already working on an Android build (90% done). Before I push that out, you should really try to play online:

http://uns33n.itch.io/wamble-on

http://www.kongregate.com/games/JiteshP1/wamble-on


Do play and shoot your impressions!


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Simple Design: Why Simple Isn’t Easy

KISS… a design methodology that is not only hard to follow but also easy to forget. I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping things simple. Just as the blog states here, it is not so easy to do.

Tweak Your Slides

blog simple.001

The Simple Design series will cover the basics of strong presentation design. The first part in the series is an introduction to the concept of simplicity in design and what that truly means when it comes to creating strong visual aids.

Often, when I consult with students, teachers, and professionals on presentation design, the subject of simplicity comes up. The idea that something complex should at the same time be simple can be a road block for novice presentation designers, particularly because we are so conditioned through misuse of presentation software to fill up every available inch of presentation “real estate” with bullets, clip art, non-sensical diagrams, doo dads, fire animations, wingdings, company logos, word art, and any other number of PowerPoint distractions. Imagine if Abraham Lincoln had used PowerPoint?What would we actually remember about The Gettysburg Address.

Simplicity is a powerful element to creating strong visual aids. Further…

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