Back on track. Research complete!

Note: this is not all my pictures and research, just a selected few of main importance from each area of research i did. to upload all of it would be very longggg blog post indeed. 

Ah been a busy week for me, but managed to get more work done this weekend. got pretty much all the research i need to help with my concept stage, and already have some whacky ideas on track designs. the following week i will be drawing out track layouts and ideas, using knowledge i have from many racing games, to ensure the corners and placements are of challenging value aswell as some crazy ideas thrown into the mix. though some ideas may need some hands on testing in unreal if i choose to go ahead with them. for now here is my final batch of research material.

Nurburgring, the most challenging race circuit in the world. much inspiration to help understand what makes track designs challenging. after much racing over years on simulation games i have a good feel and knowledge for every corner on this track. that will be much useful i thinks :)

Some iOS top down racers, just to get a feel of what they look like and how the designs vary. having not played anything on iOS i dont have much feel for these games but the design styles are fairly simple and straight forward.

ahh crash team racing, a classic. the track design for the game is very whacky and crazy, which i think is a good thing to be inspired into my designs for my track.

just a few of victorian 19th century research i collected. showing the style of buildings they were, the textures they used and the layouts of the working class housing. also some stylistic artwork of industrial working towns and factories help give an atmospheric feel and understanding to what the theme for the level will be. Im a very picky about having eye watering backdrops and scenery in my game levels so i take alot of interest in scenic photos/artwork.

Overcompensating??

progress been slightly slow over weekend, but managed to gather enough information on what steampunk is and how it is incorporated into deisgn and style. though i may of overcompensated  how much research ive done into this due to the fact the guidelines of the project is grounded more into reality 19th century rather than the fantasy fiction side of steampunk. nether the less, i have collected many pictures and artworks, aswell as quotes and article sections on the core features behind steampunk which all dipict steampunk in its many forms, and should hopefully prove useful along the journey of the project.

Next i will explore into victorian settings and more of a reality historic based 19th century style, which will be the primary reserach for helping produce most of my design work, based on the environment, color and architecture.

Also discovered a good set of Ebooks today, which detail level design. reading them over the coming weeks should prove invaluable  for when i start my design and development stage of the project.

Edit:

The above is a basic mood board i put together in photoshop to dislpay architectural designs within the steampunk world. images below are just a selected few of many. they show a great deal of how the design of the interiors and exteriors of steampunk worlds work and how the color schemes blend in to create the mood and feel for the enivronnment and setting. Aswell as a probaly somewhat irrelevant character image, which i spent a little time looking into, for general reasons of going out the way of the project criteria to help further understand steampunk more.

Research! Research!

Spent the morning reading through the Much Haste To Igford blog and facebook content.

Weekend ahead will be all about research into Steampunk style and themes, to help understand and get a feel for what s19th Century Steam Punk is.

Furthermore, I need to research into color palettes and schemes that fit into Steam Punk style to create different moods for various settings. Hopefully by weekend end, i should have enough research and understanding to roughly imagine many variations of level design that produce different moods and feel, along the steampunk theme.