Copyright

Within any industry everyone has to be aware of copyright and the rights that come with it. Copyright gives the owner of that piece of work the right to control the way that their material can be used. It will cover copying, adapting, distributing, communicating to the public via transmission, public performance, renting and lending.

Anything in which you create that is an original artifact (drastically different from any other product) will be covered by copyright. The problem is however, copyright laws are different in each country so it can become quite confusing to know your rights. Something which has started to appear on a lot of pieces of work, especially on YouTube is 'Creative Commons'. Creative Commons is a nonprofit, legal framework, by attaching it to your piece of work you are agreeing for it to be shared, remixed and reused all legally. With the use of this it also transcends over international boundaries so there would be no more confusion over copyright laws of a particular piece of work.

In any case if you are wanting to use someone's work in some shape or form the best thing to do is to get in contact and ask. Throughout the film and animation modules, to make it easier for myself I have used royalty free music which don't have these copyright laws. There are many websites out there which have thousands of tracks free to download and use within your work.

Final Game Level

Now that my final game level is completed, I can look back on my original proposal to see if I have managed to meet the criteria I had set myself - Scenography Proposal. I tried my best to stick to what I had originally said, however there are a few things that when I look back, aren't exactly correct. Due to the playing area being 100mx100m the distance between the spaceship and the mushroom tree is actually quite close. Ideally I would have liked there to be more of a distance as this would create more mystery and the player would feel more inclined to explore the area.

What I did manage to keep up throughout the project is keeping all my assets looking quite organic and primitive, this was crucial as this gave a sense to how the aliens lived and what kind of species they were. If someone was to not read the scenography brief, then they need to get a good idea of the story with just the atmosphere and assets within the scene. There are things that I would like to change / work on if I had more time such as create more animations using the IK Splines. Another thing would be to find out how to offset the animation of each mushroom as right now they play altogether with no difference. With the glow script I just realised that the bump maps don't show up anymore, no matter how high you put it they just don't seem to appear, I would have really liked to fix this as it adds more depth to my assets but this is something I would have to look into in the future. Overall however I am pleased with what I have created but there still needs to be improvements in different areas.

Unity Web Player | Web_Version_Mushroom_Planet

« created with Unity »

Final Crit

We had a final crit for our game levels and everyone went round playing each other's game and writing down any feedback and constructive criticism they thought would help improve the game level in any way. Below is the feedback I got for mine, the main issue was the stairs leading up the mushroom so I need to sort that out as my main priority. I had issues with this beforehand so I knew this would most likely appear on my feedback sheet. Along with that I also got some new suggestions such as possibly add in particles as mushroom spores to add more atmosphere to the level. I thought this was a really good idea so I will be adding this in. Having a crit like this is really helpful as you are able to take the time and go through all the comments and each person has more of a chance to really look at your work and come up with suitable feedback. It was also good to see how everyone else was progressing and to see how their ideas had developed from the initial crit.

Moral Kombat

Moral Kombat is a documentary film that looks at the violence within the game industry. There is a lot of controversy about the types of violence that is portrayed and also how graphic it can be. There have been several cases where violence in video games have been linked to real world violence situations. Even though this may be the case, it is not thoroughly proven and in actual fact there have been situations where games have actually helped people. They can have a lot of impact on a person's life, it can help kids deal with things in their environment in which they may not be able to talk about to other people.

Violence itself has always been around in our culture and it can be a mechanism to draw attention, the question is though how can you use it to send a positive message? Maybe teaching historical events through games. Everyone has their own views/morals so of course what might not be offensive to one person, it may really affect another. There needs to be a balance between how violence is portrayed and how much of it takes place within a game. It should really be about  choice, the choices you make and the consequences that proceed them. Take the Fable series, you as a player have the choice of being either good or evil and it is because of these choices that certain events will take place.

In my opinion there should be a limit to how graphic violence should be, there is no need to accurately show it and with technology advancing and video game graphics becoming more realistic, it might just be too much. At the end of the day it is down to personal opinion and taste, but there needs to be an awareness about it all, parents need to know what is out on the market and what is suitable for their own child. There are now more generations that play games so it has almost become part of our culture, no-where in the near future will it ever be wiped out (and nor should it) so we need to embrace it. The developers themselves should have the free range to explore and it's in their right to make something but they should always bear in mind the morals and whether or not it is ethically correct.

Swaying Mushrooms

To make my game level a bit more interesting and to put my knowledge of joint chains and IK splines into test, I decided to create some mushrooms that would sway from side to side. These would be distributed around my scene to add a bit more character and also makes the scene come alive more as there are actual moving objects within it. Once I had my desired animation I then went ahead and baked it in order for it to be transferable to Unity when exported.



To begin with I thought that the way in which it moved, would not fit too well in my game level, however once putting it in I found that it was actually quite suiting and added with the music, flows quite nicely. At the moment within my Unity level they start off swaying automatically which is fine, however they are all playing in time with each other as I have just duplicated the one mushroom. I need to try and find a way to offset the animation as to make them differ from one another, this will make it look far more natural. I have tried finding a script for it, but no luck as of yet, I will probably need to delve a little deeper or ask for help at some point.

Sound within Unity

As sound plays a major part in any game, it is crucial that I include it within my game level. I tried to get sounds that would compliment my overall style and theme of the game but also add to the atmosphere that I wanted to achieve. I wanted something that would seem 'alien-like' / not of this world, hold some sort of mysterious quality to it but be slightly upbeat in the way of being suited towards a family game. I obtained my sounds from Soundtrack Pro and FindSounds.com. From Soundtrack Pro I was able to get some ambient music which would play in the background and from FindSounds I got my sound effects like the water and fire. I combined two different sounds together within Audacity that I had got form Soundtrack Pro, this ended up being the sound that would play as you would approach the mushroom tree. I found it quite fitting and it suited the style and feel I was going for.

Within Unity you can attach different sounds to either different objects or an empty game object. From here you can then edit the distance of when you can begin to hear the sound and when it starts fading away. Looping your sound will make sure that it will carry on playing from the beginning when finished so with ambient music it is always essential that this box is ticked as otherwise when the music stops it will take away the immersion from the game.

There are two different types of sound, 3D or 2D. 3D sound will move with the player, you can hear sound from the left and right, whereas 2D sound is static and doesn't have this affect. 3D sound is more realistic but it would depend on what you would want it for. I had problems to begin with as some of my 3D sound would distort as you would jump up and down, however I found out that this was due to the doppler level, so by dropping this down to 0 it took away the distortion. The doppler level is quite useful as the closer you get to the object the louder the sound will become and the further away you get, the quieter it will be. As I couldn't use this will my 3D sound I had to try and replicate this the best I could using the rolloff mode. I could adjust the distance of when the sound would begin and end so this was similar to the doppler level in some ways. With 2D sound, none of these settings are available so you do not have the same amount of control over it as you would with a 3D sound.

From the final crit, I got feedback saying the sound fits in and works well with my game level which I was hoping it would. There wasn't any criticism so I think I will keep it how it is and work more on the other parts of my game level from the feedback I obtained.

Terrain within Unity

The terrain would play a big part in my game level as it surrounds my whole area and further than the eye can see. I didn't want to use the pre-given terrain textures within Unity so I decided to download a selection from CG Textures and edit them within Photoshop to make them seamless. A seamless texture ensures that you cannot see where the texture joins up to one another and this is especially important when it comes to terrain as one texture will tessellate many times for it to cover the whole area created. Using the clone brush tool and offsetting the image at different pixels each time, you can paint over any noticeable lines where the seam would show up.

I tried to get similar coloured textures in order for them to blend into one another, yet have them different to each other so it can be distinguished that the terrain changes at different heights. It took me awhile to create the actual terrain as I had to experiment with a range of different styles that were available on Unity to see what combination would work best. The terrain itself encloses my area so the mountains would need to look realistic and organic otherwise it would defeat the point of even having a terrain around it. To begin with I was just going to have a platform in which the mushroom tree would be placed upon, however I wanted the whole level to be more organic so I decided to have the mushroom on a raised terrain which would connect with the surrounding area. I found that this blended in more and produced more of a continuity throughout the whole level.

Legends of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'

Legends of Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole' was a film I recently watched and was captivated how realistic the owls looked and moved, yet they conveyed their emotions so well and so seamlessly it didn't seem out of place. As you watch it you realise how the feathers on the owls move like it would in real life, the feathers are affected by the wind in the real life way.  

They gathered real life reference by visiting an owl sanctuary in the UK as they were able to observe their movements and interactions with one another which is a major part of the film. Art director Grant Freckelton explained that they wanted to show so much emotion with their characters, but as the owls would constantly move their heads in real life it would become very distracting if that did exactly this within the film. To get around this they had to find a happy medium.

The environment design I found was really visually stunning and beautiful, the light and colours were really well thought out and placed. The overall atmosphere is emphasied by the lighting and depth of each scene, there are points within the film that just let you take it all in and admire the beauty of it all. There are scenes within the film that are in slow-motion and this really allows you to see each movement of the owl such as the fight scenes. Obviously there would be no real world reference of owls fighting in the way they wanted it, so to get a better idea they had stunt actors come in and preform fights in which the animators could record and then work from. They still needed it to be in the style of the owl so there were things that they could and couldn't do. The video shows this, along with per-visulisation, animation blocking, feathers added on top and some walk cycles. Any sort of making-of video gives you a real insight to the industry and how they went about creating their films. It also gives you an idea of where they get their inspiration from and how much of it always comes from real life sources.

L.A Noire

L.A Noire is a game that concentrated on a lot of facial animation to create more believability with the characters. To create a realistic look and feel Team Bondi (the company that created the facial animation) used motion scanning, rather than motion capture as motion capture even though good for body movements, it didn't really work well enough for facial. The video below shows the setup they used to capture facial movements and expressions. They would capture it from 360 degrees as well as from above and below, this would then go from 2D videos to 3D meshes and then compressed versions for the game.



Another interesting thing about L.A Noire is their use of sound design within the game. When interrogating people different sounds corresponds to whether you have got the answer right or wrong. It also gives you hints here and there, for example when you have found all the clues in a particular area a certain sound is heard. You are able to turn this hints on or off so it is the players own decision to whether they want them or not. There is a lot of interactivity within the game, when interrogating you have to study the faces and expressions of the character, they will give clues to whether they are telling the truth or lying. If you get the question wrong, it may lead to clues being undiscovered as the characters will cut the line of enquiry short, however if correct it may open up another line. Each case can play out very differently depending on how you interrogate someone and the amount of clues you find on the investigation scene. By doing this it randomizes the gameplay so it is not the same going through each case or mission.

Some people could say that L.A Noire is stuck within the uncanny valley, however this technology isn't like motion capture where it captures the bone movement, it captures what's on the outside. It creates a much higher detailed outcome. This article goes into more detail about the technology and gives you a good insight to how it was all achieved:
- How L.A. Noire Conquered The Uncanny Valley With A Tech Called MotionScan

Toy Story 3: The Video Game

My game level is aimed at families so I am trying to look at a range of games that would fit into that category. Toy Story 3: The Video Game is one that I would fit into a family orientated category as it has links to the film and also multiplayer games within it. The game itself has different missions which relates to the actual story and also offers a free-roam area where you can explore and complete mini missions playing as either Buzz, Woody or Jessie (just like the main missions).

Even though this game was created by Avalanche, they still kept in close contact with a group of people from Pixar and the work was reviewed by them every other week. This ensured that the game was as close to the film as it could be. When you watch the characters movements you can see how closely related they are to how they actually move in the film. In most video games, motion capture is used to animate the movements of the characters, however with Toy Story they were all hand drawn. This was the only way they could get the characters moving in such a similar way as it was all hand animated to begin with. They also went further with this and tried to get similar voice actors, when they couldn't get Tom Hanks to voice Woody, they got his brother instead. All this adds to the believability of the game but also the character. As Toy Story is so well known it is crucial to make sure that nothing is drastically different from the films or else it would be inconsistent.

The below video has an inside look into the game with people that worked on it and also Lee Unkrick (Director of Toy Story 3). It's interesting to see Lee Unkrick's view on the game and how it really expands on the original storyline.

Spaceship and Other Assets

This is my spaceship fully textured with a bump map. I found it quite hard to achieve what I had envisioned in my mind and in future I will definitely have to work on designing more. I have tried to keep it more futuristic and vastly different from the mushroom tree as it has crash landed on an alien planet. I want the player to be able to distinguish that these two things don't normally cross paths. The other image is off my statue that I created in order to show the player what type of alien would inhabit this planet. I tried to keep it organic with the way that I modeled it and the textures that I used are all natural things, like different types of stone and marble. I included a bump map into the actual statue, however as these are going to be place above the player (far out of reach) you wouldn't really be able to see the detail, so I didn't put a bump map for the plinth as there wasn't really a need for it.

Sound Design

Sound design plays a big part in any game as it helps give the player feedback to what is actually happen on screen. It also helps immerse the player into the experience of the whole game and provides entertainment in the form of interactivity. In films, sound is used to set the mood and suggest what emotion you may feel during a particular scene, this is pretty much the same in games as well. Soundtracks are used to express onscreen emotion and it can also identify the era and setting that you are viewing. Immersion is probably one of the main reasons for game audio as it helps create a more believable setting and can mask the sounds from the outside world. It can draw you in and conceal the outside world. If a game had no sound it wouldn't keep your attention at all, sound is also used to help you know what is going on around you. Take First Person Shooter games, without sound effects how would you know if you were injured or if other players were sneaking behind?

The music within a game can also establish the pace, fast music will create speed and an urgency which in turn can make the player feel inclined to complete something faster. Slower music can create a feeling of safety and players are able to explore the surrounding area. This may not be the case all the time as slower music can also be used to lull the player into a sense of false security, when they least expect it a monster could jump out an attack. This could also be classed as another form of immersion as for something to surprise/scare you, the player would need to be really involved within the game and not notice the signs around him/her.

When you have a game adaptation of a game it is more important to create believability within the characters. Players may already know what the characters sound like in films so if there was a completely different voice doing the voicing in the game it can be quite distracting. Toy Story 3: The Video Game tried their best to match Woody's voice, however when Tom Hanks was not available they used his brother instead.

There are many different ways to place music and where you place them can affect the player in different ways. The placing will also determine how the music should be. For the into, closing and credit sequences the music tends to be the main theme that runs through the game, the intro can also set the tone for the entire game experience. Music is used a lot for cut scenes as this will move the storyline ahead or conclude the scene that the player is on. In game and background is the most important throughout the game however it is the most subtle. Even though the player may not really notice the background sounds it can be a great influential tool as the music helps the player become more immersed within the game and connect with the actions on screen. You find that in a lot of games music is emphasized especially when it comes to either a victory or defeat. Something upbeat and triumphant will congratulate the player and show that they have done a good job. With defeats, it can go one of either two ways. For games aimed at younger players the sound can offer encouragement for them to try again, however with older games it can just emphasize that you have lost. This could actually be encouragement in a way as it could make the player determined to defeat the enemy and not loose again.

For my game level I am most likely going to be using ambient tracks as it will act as a backdrop to my scene and I want something quite calming and a feeling of safety yet something from another world. There are other things I could include such as trigger sounds however I feel that there is nothing really within my game level that would benefit from this. Instead I will most likely just adjust sound levels and work within Unity to make certain sounds fade away as you walk further from them.

Inside of Mushroom Tree

After testing out the size and textures within Unity, I found that just having the outside of the mushroom tree was not enough so I decided to go back to my original idea and create an inside. As I had already created the outside of my mushroom without planning to create an inside, I had just built a shell however what I should have done (and will know this for future) for everything to line up correctly, is extrude out the outside and inside from the same cylinder. As I didn't do this I had to line up everything by hand and it took a while and a lot of adjusting before I got it the best that I could. By adding an inside it also adds more to the story of my level and there is more to explore within the area that I have created.

I tried to keep the items seem quite organic to blend in with the whole mushroom style by how I would model and texture. The colours themselves I tried to make sure that they complimented each other yet also have a range so that there wasn't the same being shown throughout. Even though my poly count was really low with just the main mushroom, I still tried to keep all the objects low poly and simple meshes so it would be easier to UV map.

Pikmin 2

When coming up with my idea for my game level I immediately thought about the style of Nintendo's 'Pikmin'. Both Pikmin 1 and 2 were brought out originally for Gamecube in 2002 and 2004 and having played them years ago, I decided to try them out again. Even though its been nearly 10 years since the second Pikmin came out, I think the gameplay is still enjoyable and the graphics, even though now-a-days they are much more developed they still fit within its style so it doesn't really look out of place. The game itself revolves around the captain of a ship, Olimar (Olimar and Louie in the second game) who can control a crowd of Pikmin to explore an unknown planet. As both Olimar and the Pikmin are quite simple in design it would only make sense to have the surrounding environment and the props within it to be of similar style. There would be no point putting a highly detailed and hyper-real environment in with cartoon-like / stylized characters in which the game is revolved around.

The idea for Pikmin came about from the idea of microcosm - a world in miniature. Shigeru Miyamoto had this idea whilst gardening, anything can be your inspiration and this is how I came about creating a giant mushroom cluster as an inhabited place - taking the original mushroom form and idea and developing from that.

Sound plays a major part in any game and even though no actual words are spoken, there are sound effects/noises to replicate this and to show that these are an alien race, not accustomed to the English language. In any action the Pikmin do, sound effects accompany them as to make them more believable. If one Pikmin is to try carry something heavy you can hear it struggling as it is too much for the one alone, however when more Pikmin are added to help they manage fine and their sounds die down. They react to things how a human would which can make them seem more life-like and easier to connect with them.

Floorplans / Layouts

I had drawn these basic floorplans for my game level up awhile ago but I just never got round to posting them. Until now I had discarded the idea of creating an inside to my mushrooms, however now that I have changed my mind I have drawn up floorplans for the inside as well. In a previous module I had drawn it out by hand and used a ruler to measure everything exactly, this time to make it easier I got some graph paper and this gave me a guide in which to follow. The first one looks a bit empty, however this space will be filled up by the terrain that I will create within Unity and I may place in other foliage around to give the scene a bit more atmosphere and make it more interesting. There would be no set place for these really so that is why I have not included them in, it would be easier to block them out within Unity first. The second floorplan is of the inside of my mushrooms, detailing different objects on each level and their measurements.

Sky Pirates of Neo Terra

Sky Pirates of Neo Terra was originally a series of comics that I came across the other month and recently it has been developed into a game for Facebook and also IOS. At the moment it is still in its beta test but I have managed to get a trial of the game using Facebook. The game itself actually uses Unity which shows that this game engine is becoming more popular and I can also see what can be achieved using it.

The game itself is based on the main event that takes place within the comics, racing. You are able to pick either quick race or custom race. Within custom race this is where you are able to play with friends or join other races or you have more choice over which terrain you play over with 'create race' and 6 available options. The graphics themselves are to me really visually appealing as they really represent the comics in 3D form, the game doesn't defer away from the original style and look of the artwork. The overall game play is similar to most racing games aged for young people, the idea of speed boots and the use of items, what makes it different is that it is on a platform which is widely used. Most people these days will have a Facebook account and a vast number of games have appeared using it as a platform, it is no longer just social networking but now social gaming. The developers Day 21 Studios have taken advantage of this and the popularity of Facebook could also increase the popularity of the game when it is fully released. When it is brought out it should have 15 different characters and 12 unique tracks.

The textures within the game appear to be quite simple, nothing complicated is really needed as the player will be concentrating more on the race itself than the surrounding appearance. The main aspect that would have had to be taken into great consideration is the layout of each individual race and the obstacles within them. Each race has a difficulty rating so the more stars the race is given the more complex the race would be. The player may not be too interested in the surrounding area, however if they were to bump into an obstacle I'm sure they would notice if the textures were not up to standard or just did not fit in with the style of the game. With Sky Pirates even if you do hit an obstacle, for me the texture doesn't bother me as they have created them in a simple fashion yet up to the standard of the rest of the environment and style of the game. The trees/leaves are made up of many different poly-planes but only if you were to stop and examine this would you notice, and also this is very common in many games as you don't want a heavy poly-model within your game as it will slow down the game play. It's the style of the textures that I want to try and re-create for my game level in my own way, simple yet effective and visually appealing. 

Texture Tests

I have tried out various different textures to create my bump map, this will create more of a 3D texture on my mushroom, otherwise if it was just the basic colour it would appear too flat and not have enough dimension to it. To create the bump maps I gathered different textures from http://www.cgtextures.com/ (a site where you can obtain and use textures for free) and then desaturated them on Photoshop for it to be then inputed within Maya. By adjusting the bump depth attribute you can change how much of the texture is shown, in other words this value can change how 'bumpy' the texture is. It is better that the bump mapping is quite subtle as it is very easy to go overboard with this, the slightest change in value can drastically change the look of it. It took me awhile to get the right texture and to figure out how best it was to layout within Photoshop. I realised that you would have to tile the texture quite a few times to achieve the right consistency and also you must use the clone stamp or healing brush tool to cover up any gaps in between.

The next two images are the textures that I preferred the most, they look more natural than the previous two, even though this giant mushroom tree is on an alien planet, it is still an organic form so the texture still needs to be appropriate. These two textures were originally from tropical trees and I think they both fit quite well. I have decided to use the bottom one as the the texture wraps round the stems better and makes it more cylindrical, I think I will have to adjust the bump depth though as at the moment, it is a bit too prominent. 

Glow Test

Using Unity Pro there are pre-made scripts that you can add onto the main camera which will add an effect. For mine I wanted my mushrooms to glow, even though there is a shader that can replicate this, it's not what I had in mind so I need to explore different options. There are two different scripts, Glow effect and Glow Threshold, both are very similar so to compare I put the same units for each attribute on both effects.

This first image is just showing my final colour for the mushroom stem alongside the self-illuminating shader. As you can see with the shader, it looses the original colours and does not have the right look I was originally wanting to achieve. When I add the one of the effects to the camera, viewing both mushrooms it does not work at all as the whites are far too much, but this is something to bear in mind for future if I wanted a white glare/glow.

I then went ahead and placed one of the glow scripts onto the main camera of my first person controller. As it is attached to it, everything you view with the camera will in turn have a glow effect. I also tested whether or not the surrounding environment would be affected by this, by dropping a texture onto the terrain it seems that this glow effect doesn't change the appearance of the texture which is really good.

The next two screenshots are of the two different effects and how they differ from one another. The first is Glow Threshold and the second is Glow Effect. Both work really well, keeping the original colours I have painted on, however Glow Effect glows a bit more than Threshold - the whites are more pronounced. There might not be a major difference to other people, but I think that the bottom one might suit more, glows more than the threshold effect.

Goldfish Crackers Ad

I recently came across this advert and realised there was a whole campaign to promote Goldfish Crackers. Blur Studios created season 4 which included 10 different commercials, developing off the story that ended from season 3. It's not only promoting the brand but is also telling a story which can get people interested and to keep up with each episode. Even though each episode is only about 30 seconds long, everything has been executed to such a high standard, composition and layout, textures, animation, lighting, nothing has been missed out.

Leo Santos was the director and supervising animator for season 4, "Each Goldfish character has a distinct personality, from exuberant to adventurous, and the animation really brought them to life. It was important that each could be expressive in close-up shots and they needed to talk and emote with believability. We worked very carefully on the character rigging, color and textures to give them a lifelike feel," (link here). Even though they are crackers, they still hold the properties of an actual fish when it's underwater. One part really demonstrates this well, as the toys come to a sudden stop and pile on top of each other, the goldfish as if they were underwater come to a stop at a lesser degree but then float/swims down off them. When you watch the other episodes you do see that each goldfish has its own personality and this is also portrayed through their actions. The model for the goldfish is pretty simple, yet the animation of them flows really well and makes them seem quite life-like and more believable as a character.

What I find really clever is the fact that, when the camera goes inside the hoover bag, the dust that has built up has been made to resemble coral, the lighting and textures make this area seem more like an underwater place. I didn't notice this at first, but after watching it back it makes sense and works really well. A lot of time and effort went in to making this commercials, 3 months of pre-production and 9 months of animation for the whole season. Just the textures alone are so well done, in episode 3 especially there are real close ups of the carpet and sofa and you can see all the threads and fibres that make up the material. It's astonishing really how something can look so life-like yet fit so well into an animated/cartoon like feature. I'd love to be a part of animating a feature film one day, but even working on commercials like these, I would be really happy with. They are story driven and the attention to detail is spot on.

UV Mapping Tests

In order for me to get a better idea of what textures and colours will best suit the mushroom I will first test out several possibilities and decide from there. Using the colours off my concept art I quickly painted my texture onto the mushroom UV map, from here I then applied the texture within Maya and exported it out into Unity. In Unity I was then able to add in another texture which I then turned into a normal map. This would add a texture onto the mushroom and make it appear more 3D than just using the basic diffuse option. By selecting bumped specular on the mushroom shader that was imported in, you can add bump maps or normal maps. The texture helps it out a lot but obviously, this was just really quick and I will experiment with more textures to see what is better. I will also try doing it within Maya as this would be easier than exporting it each time, however I will only be able to do bump maps as right now I am not fully sure how to create a normal map within photoshop. Normal maps are of a higher level detail than bump maps, I will try using bump maps and exporting into Unity to see which is better.

Top image is the shader within Maya, using a light to highlight certain areas. Middle image, bumped specular shader. The bottom is something I came across, a self illuminating shader. There are many different types of these so to correspond to the previous I chose the bumped specular one under this option. My whole idea is for the mushrooms to glow - there is a script you can import into Unity, however this is only available in the Pro version so to try this out I would have to do it at uni. For now however I tried out this shader and it looks alright, it's not as glowing as I would have hoped for, however it does accentuate the colours, you have to add in another texture for the illuminate so I would assume that if I got this more correct the result should be a lot better. There is a lot to be done and I can see why that this section of the game will take the longest as especially, this is the first time where I have done anything like this. For now though I think I'm heading along the right tracks, I just need to experiment more and adjust the colours from my original concept art in order for them to blend into one another better.