Homework - Tree of Light brief/concept art

[Hadyn]

I teamed up with Sook Yee for this week's homework. To start off, I wrote up a short brief for a game design I've had floating around in my head over the last few weeks - you can check it out here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B16qC_fJ8QJCZnRLNlFEcU9pM28

I also included some reference images in there. Sook had a preference for environmental design, and so I had her start with a few ideas for environments - viewable here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B16qC_fJ8QJCT0h1cGFZSkNkVUE (Phase 1)

One problem that fast became obvious was that I did not specify in the brief whether the game was 2D, 2.5D or 3D. Sook was viewing it as 2D whilst I imagined lush 3D environments, which contributed to a slight disconnect in the vision and the rendering. I decided to set a more specific goal, and asked her to produce 5 or so thumbnails of a specific setting in the game, as described here:

" For the next step, I'd like you to draw around 6 to 8 fast thumbnail sketches - just black and white with pencil and not too detailed. There should be enough detail to understand the scene, but you don't want to go much further. Try to limit yourself to only spend about 2-5 minutes per sketch.

The scene I want you to sketch is at the end of a dark cave level. The player has reached a huge opening, where the cave ceiling extends very high. There is a lake here, and in the middle of the lake is an island with fertile soil, where players can plant themselves and become a tree. I want to see this scene with about three trees already planted, all of different heights. For reference, maybe look at things like:

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs11/i/2006/173/9/5/Forest_spirit__s_grove_by_Artimis07.jpg 

or

http://youtu.be/ywZ5uo_3Y_A?t=5m5s (Just because it's a huge, underwater cavern/lake)"

Her output is viewable here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B16qC_fJ8QJCT0h1cGFZSkNkVUE (Phase 2) 

My feedback was:

" I think my favorite composition is the top left one on the page with four drawings - I like the separation of foreground and background, and the framing with the cave is cool. I also like the idea of a ray of light shining down like in the bottom left, and I like the size and shape of the trees in the bottom right. If you can combine all these elements together into the one image I think that's all we need to do!

So, to clarify:
-The layout/composition from the top left.
-The ray of light from the bottom left.
-The trees from the bottom right."

And her output was:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B16qC_fJ8QJCT0h1cGFZSkNkVUE (Phase 3) 

Which is pretty much exactly what I asked for, so I was happy!

 The end.