Final Concept Variations

I decided to take my final design and make it feel more like a hallucination, as before it was more of a blueprint with no real atmosphere. Here I have tried several different techniques to achieve this effect.

This is my final design with an added background, a strange purple glow and ominous sillhouttes.

For this concept I made the cottage and surrounding grass/assets 50% visible and created a wavy effect. This looks good on the concept but not sure how I'd achieve this effect in UDK.

Here I layered the faded view and the clear view on top of each other, to give a less drastic effect. Think this could be achieved through a particle system in UDK similar to the heat haze one already packaged.

For this one I altered the Hue and Saturation of the image, to give it a more eerie; hallucination like appearance. From my research I have also found that colour displacement is common in hallucinations so this concept works on multiple levels, and I believe it creates a nice balance between the colours; adopting a much more extra-ordinary undertone.

I personally think the final concept with the altered Hue and Saturation is my favourite and conveys the story successfully, I will have to get some feedback of other people and my tutors first but for now, this is the design I'm sticking with.

Final Concept

This is my final concept, incorporating all the best things from each idea in a more coherent drawing. It also features elements of the story:

Silhouette of wife and kids in the window

Fishing rod- remnant of past life fishing

Piano- remnant of past life as a musician

Rock formation forming human figure- signs of madness

Drawings on the floor- shows that the environment is imaginary, and that's the true appearance

Environment Concept 2

This is my second concept of the environment I wish to create, it has all the same features of the first one but a little more refinement.

Features of Concept

• Shadows of rats on the floor, common in hallucinations
• Contrast between the bright and colourful hallucination and the dull reality
• A misplaced piano and fishing rod demonstrates past life as musician and fragility of mind
• Figures in the background are rock formations that the protagonist sees as figures with a mysterious red glow behind them, common in hallucinations.
• Scratchings on the floor- demonstrate how long he's been here as well as his mental state, the continuation of the footpath and drawing of the 'Well' shows he has began to draw out his old life, showing signs of the reality. 
• Silhouettes of his wife and kid in the window. 

Schizophrenia Research

I have taken some time to research visual hallucinations, from Dimentia, Schizophrenia, and Substance Abuse. Very little is known about these hallucinations but certain theorists have created their own views, one theory states that the Hallucinations are triggered by the Pineal Gland in the brain, and are visual projections of the specific persons mind. These Hallucinations can range from seeing colours, shapes and figures, to forming full blown landscapes and fully 3D items. Other hallucinations include colour distortion, melting walls/environments and geometric patterns/shapes.

Here is an example of some of my research; this is a video demonstrating the effects of Schizophrenia and shows a simulation of what a schizophrenic person would see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP3SfgO3_Vw 

Environment Concept

I have decided to base my environment on the protagonists individual perception. So first I must create a simple story for the character and environment...

Story

The protagonist is an 81 year old survivor, he manage to avoid death when earth was hit by a huge asteroid. This asteroid killed the majority of life on earth and split the planet into hundreds of tiny pieces, the protagonist managed to cling to a rock and avoid death. 6 months have passed and he now inhabits this rock as it tumbles through space. However, he is beginning to go insane; creating his own reality on this tiny rock, hallucinating remnants of his old life and his family...

Research

Visual hallucination: A false perception of sight. The content of the hallucination may be anything (such as shapes, colors, and flashes of light) but are typically people or human-like figures. For example, one may perceive a person standing before them when no one is”

Mystical states, contact with autonomous entities, imagined landscapes, spirit dimensions, mystical, spiritual

·  Erratic hallucinations - The lowest level of hallucination generally consists of movement in the peripheral vision and ill defined, faded imagery within the visuals and transformations or false sightings within the peripheral vision which disappear once a person double takes.

· Defined hallucinations - As the vividness and intensity increases, the imagery eventually becomes fully defined in their appearance ranging from stylized to realistic in appearance. Transformations will also manifest themselves as fully detailed and within a person’s direct line of sight.

· Breakthrough hallucinations - Once the hallucinations become sufficiently elaborate they eventually become all encompassing. Short breakthroughs into hallucination start to happen with increasing frequency and length as dosage is increased. Beginning with random flashes of spontaneous psychedelic scenarios. Eventually increasing to permanent, ever shifting alternate realities and a complete disconnection from the real world,

Retrieved from: http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hallucinations.html#ixzz2NFAO5WJK

Concept

Environment Idea: Saturn Ship

I had the Idea of creating an environment around the rings of Saturn, in which a colony of sentient beings live and work, mining materials from the rings and monitoring the activity of the planet, so to prevent danger from the citizens living on Titan, (one of Saturn's moons)

Here is a very quick sketch so I remember the Idea...

Environment Design- Diorama

From the first lecture on Environments it is clear that I want my diorama to have character and tell a story. I want to create something fairly fantastical so as not to just create a standard house, I want to inject some personal creativity into the design. Here are some examples I have gathered of fantasy diorama's to give me some inspiration...