Week 5 Recap

Week 5 Objectives

• Research into Interactions
• Research into Structure
• Research into drawing styles
• Research into drawing characters
• Research into Anime/Manga
• Begin developing a story
• Produce a piece of report writing

I looked into different kinds of interactions that could be replicated within my comic. So far I have decided upon a series of different interactive instances that the user will be presented with, how they decide to deal with a situation depending on what items they choose to interact with, what characters or the responses they choose will determine the outcome. I also plan to incorporate some mini games within the comic that the user will have to complete in order to progress although the inclusion of these mini games will largely depend on the time it takes to develop and implement them.

I have been looking at different types of structure and have decided that the comic will be presented in 2 parts as far as the structure is concerned, this is due to the first part of the story acting as an introduction where the user will be introduced to the leading character, find out what has happened to the character, learn additional information that may be of use to them and help them decide on what route they wish to make events progress down. The first part of the structure that will be used within the introduction will use flashbacks to good effect, filling in what has already happened and bringing the reader up to speed with the story. These will involve some interactions but the storyline will not divert in the first two flashbacks at all. I am considering allowing the story to go separate ways in the 3rd flashback but each of the paths although may end in different events will have to produce the same outcome with the main character being captured. The 2nd part of the structure will be focusing on the character's escape from their captors and how they wish to go about it. They could flee the confines that they have been held in making the best of their escape, try to complete their mission by accomplishing the task they were sent there to do in the first place, or take out their vengeance on their captors and leave as much damage in their wake as possible. There will also be a variety of different plot points in between these outcomes that could sway the storyline either way depending on the reader's actions. There will also likely be different endings that will be developed, giving the comic some replay value that will bring the reader back to play through the comic again and see how they can do things differently.

I have been researching different drawing styles, the traditional anime, realistic anime and chibi. I have decided that I wish to try and produce a realistic style of drawing where the characters' proportions are correct and keep them as close to being real as possible, this may prove hard to do but I intend to attempt such a style of drawing.

I have been using my books that I purchased 'Manga for Dummies' and 'The Complete Book for Drawing Manga' as a reference when it comes to drawing characters, I have found some very useful tips and advice that I intend to make use of. I have also started attempting to draw some characters although more time and work needs to go into this.

I have been looking at different Manga and Anime that I intend to use a a reference, they usually have action scenes done quite well in them and I think this will be a great help when it comes to producing animated action or any other scenes for that matter. I have been looking at such things as Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Affro Samurai, Dragonball Z, Gundam Wing, Hellsing and Vampire Hunter D. These tend to have plenty of action in them and as I fully intend my comic to also contain a good deal of action they should prove to be useful.

I have begun developing the story, the flashbacks are almost complete but may require a little fine tuning. The escape and onwards still requires a lot of development but I already have the structure in place all that is required is to produce some additional scenes that will give the user some interesting interactions and story lines to play around with.

I have begun writing the report part of writing I had planned to complete but it does require more work. It has to be produced for Tuesday (tomorrow) to give my supervisor and idea of my critical writing level. I plan to complete this today and if possible try and produce some drawings.