A little overwhelming but not quite.
This project has had its up and downs, but I can say that it is finally within grasp of finishing. I’ll be honest, it seemed like there was no way to have an overall finished project for this product, but it changed when things fell into place. After taking that last step back to figure out a different design changes, everything started to run smooth.
The idea was to have a storytelling mechanism in a spatial format for children to explore their imagination through cognitive theories, by using familiar and modern designs, props, physical objects, and play forms.
Lets take a look at the journey through concept development. The early stages when the idea was just that. It could not be described perfectly and led me into a wild pursuit.
As we look at some of the development that was done, it shows some progression in how I went back and forth to figure out the minor details that made the bigger picture smoother.
As it progressed the development of the project became more fun than I had ever imagined. It felt like it all came naturally without major thought of choosing certain progression in the modeling, and illustrations. As for the development of the product itself, it gave me challenges in ways of having to think of certain scenarios before having a finished prototype or developing the next step in finishing the product.
A few kinks and bumps in the road but have led to great progress during development of the assets for the product. Then I realized, there was more than just a few models and sculpts to this overall, the play forms, the story telling mechanism, etc. I needed a way to put that play form into a physical and spatial design.
lets take a look at the secondary progression in the project.
Here we dive into the storytelling mechanism.
One way to pursue this was by using a familiar object to children, cards and physical miniatures. The pursuit of this mechanism by testing with nieces and nephews led me to believe that the game aspect that is so familiar is pushed aside by an activity. The play form is a role-playing activity rather than it coming across as a game. This gives the user the ability to have endless storytelling play.
For the activity start, the user will have a introduced quest/story pursuit and the choice to choose between 3 cards to continue that story:
Chapter 1 - The Paladins Quest - Introduced story card:
(with examples to help spark the activity)
Once upon a time, there lived a paladin, Ellie. She was one of the strongest royal guardians to the king. In the king of ( there will be a fill in the blank for the user to give their own imaginative setting) the battle for the sacred ( there will be a fill in the blank for the user to give their own imaginative setting - but for example a pendant potion etc.) emerged. The (said object or battle format chosen by the user) was an ancient prize amongst everyone in (the kingdom they chose), the king sent out a request to a once fierce and retired paladin, dear to the kings heart.
Then for the user to continue to the story and start the activity, or for the user to choose from the following setting to progress their imagination.
Card 1 - Starting the story with Ellie - the Paladin:
Ellie receives the letter from the king and begins the quest of acquiring the (said object from the introduced story card) before the enemies of the kingdom.
Included asset - the kings letter for spatial play.
Card 2 - Starting the story with Draco - Ellie’s dragon companion:
Draco receives a king’s letter addressed to Ellie of a lost ancient (said object from the introduced story card) that the king is looking to acquire before it falls into the wrong hands. He sets out to find Ellie.
Included asset - the kings letter for spatial play.
Card 3 - Stating the story with Golem - Ellie’s Earth Archon companion
A bit of background in Archon’s - is that they are celestials in the service of all that is lawful and good. Golem has joined Ellie and never left her side.
Golem is pursuing training with Ellie, as a messenger arrives. The king’s letter states that he requires Ellie, Draco, and Golem to meet at the castle for a dire message. In p.s. the ancient (said object from the introduced story card) is at risk
Included asset - the kings letter for spatial play.
I am posting what I have to show as illustrator can sometimes be a pain and crash during saving!
Adding in the type, and finishing the artwork/re-linking and clipping finished artwork is only left to finish the cards. They are mostly all printed physical, just need to print the instructions cards, and character cards as described above.
The play form of the story mechanism is as familiar as a deck of cards, shuffle and draw a card. The only difference is that there is no hand in play, and each card drawn gets discarded throughout the activity.
Quest Encounters, Travel Encounters, Travel Scenarios:
Range from encountering people, side adventures, random objects to spark imagination, doing specific’s with the physical objects during imaginative play, towns/taverns, and merchants - for example.
The quest encounters are used to develop a behavioral and connectivism to the story being spatial developed, and the imaginative role play the user experiences.
Setting Encounters:
Range from giving a the story a rest, or the user the ability to pursue outside the current setting they are imagining.
The setting scenarios are used in the behavioral pursuit of the product for the user to understand their imagination and how one can problem solve, multi-task, and develop sparks of imaginative intent to move the story along during the activity.
Quest Encounters: Attacking Enemies!
Added this into the mix via a testing with niece and nephew. They thought having a fun way to pursue the story and have an imaginative battle sequence to explore as they quested during the activity.
The life counter object is the used to display life - still within the minor works as the original design did not work. A small rod to spin the mechanism seemed easier said than done. After some research I able to stumble across a way to develop a spinning mechanism using a string/rubber band for more easy of use.
The dice are used during the battle activity. Each dice is specific to their characters by color, and they all have attack, block, the damaged armor/attacking and blocking did not work, and an hourglass meaning that to skip that characters turn at the moment.
The dice will have their own instruction and description card, which is being developed. The original idea was to print out small icons and stick them to the dice. The dice were too small and it was a process that seemed easier to print the dice instead.
The Hex tiles of terrain, and assets placed on the hex tiles are used for the spatial environment movement, description, and display of the users imagination. They can be placed in anyway or format that is desired to represent the imaginative activity.
As it is all coming to an end, I am proud that I was able to learn 3D printing, and utilize this my workflow for the project.
One major thing I have learned so far is not to tax out my computer! Using Illustrator, rendering in Blender for package design, Rendering character and asset turnarounds in Zbrush, and listening to Sotify, causes crashes apparently, or maybe the 180 tabs I have open on Chrome. ADHD = Crashing Computers!
To finish / do:
Polish up the cards displayed, due to crash need to just add in the correct type and images,
Finish the product renderings in Blender, this is equal to about 8 hours of renders.
Finish character and asset turnarounds, and display images for the exhibition and my portfolio.
Instruction sheet finish, some minor tweaks as to spelling errors and well, I clearly should not write it at 2 a.m. ! lol
And that is about it!
I’ll be painting the physical models for the demonstration video, for fun, if they all do not get painted then no big deal.
One major thing is to decide on what was mentioned during a test, the children wanted to paint and color them their selves. Should I add in a slight change to the product and incorporate painting tools and paint? Very easy add, but the age range may be too intricate of design.
Cannot wait to show you all everything during the demonstration video and exhibition!
