Deakin University
Magic Castle in Glest
Research report – Progressive Folio 2
Student name: Ziqian Feng
Student ID: 210641067
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 2
Detailed description of concept ................................................................................................. 2
Examples of concept .................................................................................................................. 3
Assets to be used in a video game .............................................................................................. 3
Outline the reasons for use the third party assets...................................................................... 3
Justification for reference material required ............................................................................. 4
Mood board ................................................................................................................................ 5
Sketches of visual assets............................................................................................................. 5
Asset development planning/designing ...................................................................................... 7
Documentation of process of visual optimisation ................................................................ 15
Documentation of dynamic audio and playback consideration ........................................... 15
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 16
Reference.................................................................................................................................. 17
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Introduction
The document is updated version from search report in Progressive Folio 1. The Mood board
has been created and provided the justification for updated version. The drafts for design are
completed to prepare start to create real objects in 3D modelling. In this version added the 2D
visual of Magic Castle which used to realise the previews of 3D Max software. The asset
development progress reported the process to develop the assets so far which is more focus
on audio assets development at this stage.
Detailed description of concept
Glest is a free 3D real-time strategy game, where the user controls the armies of two different
factions: Tech and Magic. The Magic Castle as one of main structures in Magic factions used
to recover (or cure) the energy of Battlemages and Archmages who are injured by enemy.
This project aimed to design and develop the “Magic Castle” to be one of the elements in
Magic factions of Glest. The purpose of the Magic Castle is recover (or cure) energy quickly
for Battlemages and Archmages when they have low energy escaped from battle. There is a
Magic Light covered the Magic Castle and surrounding areas where enable the mages to stay
and recover their energy as quick as possible. The Magic Light also protected the mages
away from attacks. However, the Magic Light will disappear when the Magic Castle has been
destroyed by foe.
In this way, the players have more strategies such as not just attack other players directly but
also to consider the opportunity for escaped from battle to store stronger and huge mage
resources (like human resources) to win the game powerfully.
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Examples of concept
There are two similar games as Glest such as:



Red Alert 3
Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota2);
League Of Legends (LOL).
These three games are all the 3D and strategy game. However, the Red Alert 3 is more closed
to Glest because the players control groups of their own faction. The Defense of the Ancients
2 and League Of Legends needed to control a specific hero and other groups.
Assets to be used in a video game
The Magic Castle surrounded with the magic light stand on the developed environment. The
simple element represented Archmega will run into the environment and covered by magic
light. The small rectangle represents the energy increased from small red to be full green
colour (bigger rectangle) whiles the Archmege staying under the magic light.
After above scene, the enemy will appear on environment to attack the Magic Castle until it
is destroyed and the magic light disappeared. The Magic Castle is unable to preserve
Archmega when it has been destroyed.
Outline the reasons for use the third party assets
The main part of this game elements development is the Magic Castle. The rest parts will be
the supported environment, and the Archmage and the enemy will be represented as other
simple elements used to show the series of functions within Magic Castle.
The Magic Castle is the static building which is not able to move, therefore, I decided to
make these third party assets to release and present its functions inside. In this way, players
will realise the functions inside Magic Castle more clearly rather than just descriptions by
sentences.
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Justification for reference material required
The significant reference used for research and documentation is the Glest official website
which uses .org as its domain. .org represented the website are published by Glest
organizations which is without commercial.
For mood board, I searched more than forty images involved the Castle and Magic to figure
out the suitable approach to present the goal of my development. Depend on the mood board
and the basic concept from Glest the big picture of elements development is come out.
Another important reference used is the ‘Game Development Vault’ which hosts lots
previously examples to illustrate the game development, such as audio, video and PowerPoint
presentations of Game Developers Conferences. And also, there are many lectures, opinions
and developmental topics related game development that assist me to figure the details more
structurally.
Except these textual and image reference materials, some effects, functions and purposes are
come from the questionnaires by friends who are played and interested in these similar games.
This is another suitable approach to realise what the realistic desired from players.
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Mood board (updated)
Original Mood board
Updated Mood board
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Justification for updated Mood board
The Mood board created in Progressive Folio 1 is shown the shapes and the layouts of Castle
in distinguish perspectives. The reviewers are able to recognise what object I as a designer
want to develop in the future. However, the Mood board is not only the approach to show the
exactly object, it is more required to express the inner feeling of designer for the project.
The updated Mood board in Progressive Folio 2 is more forced on the purpose of the further
developed castle in the real game development, and less to concern the shapes or structures.
The main purposes of the Magic Castle are protected Archmages and recover their energy as
quick as possible. It will develop in 3D modelling and shown its abilities during the battle.
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Sketches of visual assets (Updated)
The 3D visual of Castle
The Magic Castle sketched design (Front)
The Magic Castle sketched design (Back)
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
The Front-Middle component of the Magic Castle
The Front-Left and Front Right components of the Magic Castle
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
The Centre-Middle component of the Magic Castle
The Back-Left and Back-Right components of the Magic Castle
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
The Base of the Magic Castle used to host the above components
The Magic Light sketched design
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
The 2D visual of Castle
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
The environment supported Assets
The environment design
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
The third assets used
The simple Archmage and enemy sketched design
Left hand side in above picture is Archmage and right hand side is enemy. The simple
elements represented Archmega and enemy are designed to release and show the functions
inside Magic Castle. Without them, the Magic Castle will be static and hard to descript its
functionality.
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Asset development Progress (Updated)
Documentation of process of visual optimisation
At this stage, the design for visual product is more closed to 3D modelling design. The design
drafts in the previous stage are the entire big pictures from my mind and depend on the cited
images. The 2D of design of Magic Castle are the front, top, side of Magic Castle which will
be developed in the 3D modelling views for further development. The visual optimisations of
design are all completed in this stage and the next stage will develop the realistic product in
3D software and developed as 3D views.
Documentation of dynamic audio and playback consideration
The assets in audio folder are divided into three categories: Dialogues, Effects and Music. At
this stage, there are two dialogues, background music and one sound effect have been
recorded and edited.
The dialogue voice is recorded by my friend who is a man because the male voice is more
suitable than female voice in Glest. The male voice indicated the stronger power and intense
in Glest which is the game related to war. The effects within these dialogues are retrieved
from sample but edited in Audacity. The effects in editing such as Fade in, Fade out etc. that
edited depend on the sense of feel to suit the environment of Glest. The effects and music are
also some samples combined together and edited.
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Conclusion
The updated document reported more detailed drafts, information related to construct and
create 3D Magic Castle. However, this stage more focuses on record and edited the audio
assets.
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Magic Castle in Glest 2013
Reference
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Anatomic VisualizeR’s 3D Models 2013, Educational Computing
Best Mobile Game 2007: Blades & Magic, Fishlabs, viewed 30 July 2013,
<http://www.fishlabs.net/en/blog/best-mobile-game-2007-blades-magic/>
Bryn, F 2010, 3D Modelling Academic Comprehensive Essay, English Comp II
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<http://www.coroflot.com/clewin/3ds-max-renderings>
Defend Your Castle 2011, TOP SPEC GAMING, viewed by 2 September 2013,
<http://topspecgaming.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/defend-your-castle.html>
Game Developers Conferences 2013, GDC Vault, viewed 1 August 2013,
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Glest team 2013, Glest – The Free Real-Time Strategy Game, viewed 26 July 2013,
<http://glest.org/en/index.php>
Juan, S 2010, Architectural Visualization 3ds Max Tutorials #21: The Making of the Phoenix
Building, SKYMEDIAS, viewed by 2 September 2013,
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Julian, H 2011, Ubisoft Introduces “Castle Empire” Its Free Online Strategy Game (video),
GEEKY GADGETS, viewed by 2 September 2013, <http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/ubisoftintroduces-castle-empire-its-free-online-strategy-game-video-22-07-2011/>
Michael, A 2009, Donut Games Stocks Shelves with 4 More Apps, App Craver, viewed by 2
September 2013,<http://www.appcraver.com/donut-games-stocks-shelves-with-four-moreapps/>
Magic kingdom castle, Disney, viewed 30 July 2013,
Mood board 2009, RPS Journal, Vol. 149 Issue 2, p69-69
Paul, W 2012, How to create mood board: 35 expert tips, viewed 30 July 2013,
<http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/mood-boards-812470>
Zen Seeker 2010, Mini Castle, zenseeker, viewed 30 July 2013,
<http://zenseeker.net/Castle/MiniCastles.htm>
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