Rigging Fundamentals

In this project I will be rigging a pair of legs so they move in a realistic manner. Firstly I'm going to examine the bone structure of the lower body so I have some idea of what I'm aiming for.

I have been examining the bone structure to gain a further understanding on the bone structure of the legs. 


Here is my finished rig complete with reverse foot lock. 

  

Representation and Space

In this project Im going to focus mainly on how games reflect culture as well as touching on how game environments have advanced over the years. 

Here is some work I put together to go towards my report: 

How do games reflect culture and how has technology and techniques affected game environments?

Culture in itself is a very diverse concept that is often used to refer to the values, actions and knowledge of a society.  Culture can be attributed to social organisation, religion or economy as well as a societies traditions and their way of life. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals suggests that pigeon holing culture with a single definition would limit the concept as there are so many ways to see and understand it.

 Games are linked to culture on many levels. They reflect culture through the way they depict gender in their characters as well as race and class. For example Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reflects the culture in the USA of the African American stereotype as well as reflecting the class of the poor who have turned to crime. Games are also influenced by the culture of the time they are made like how Army of Two featured suicide bombers obviously influence by the many terrorist attacks that hit the headlines over recent years.

 Fallout: New Vegas is an interesting game to examine as there is so much culture reflected in its story and characters. Firstly the most prominent cultural reflection is the fear and morbid curiosity of a nuclear war. Ever since the 19060s Cuban missile crisis the world has obsessed with the possibility of a nuclear war and what would be left of the world if such an event were to happen. However the Fallout series is set in a universe on a different path and timeline to our own where it is the USA and China that start the nuclear war. This is also a reflection of culture as it is a historical fact that China and the USA have seen each other as mortal enemies in the past and clash in culture still very much so in the present day. This is partly down to the political differences between them with the USA being adverse to communists such as the leaders of China. Post apocalyptic worlds seem to fascinate people and have become a popular concept. Other examples of similar stories include a film called The Road based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy and another film called The Book of Eli both take place in post apocalyptic America.   

 The next most prominent reflection you’ll notice in Fallout: New Vegas is the 1950s theme, which is one of the key characteristics of the game. You will see examples of 1950s décor in the buildings occupying the game as well as the style being expressed through the clothing of some characters, the illustrations in the manual and loading screens. This concept draws from the idealistic ‘world of tomorrow’ view of the future that was popular in the 1950s. So not only are they reflecting the real historical 1950s society but also the sci-fi culture from the past.  

 Once you get past these initial concepts you get to the culture portrayed by the characters in the game. There are of course a great many characters in Fallout: New Vegas with varying personalities and cultural representations, one example is a faction called the Great Khans. The Great Khans are based on Mongolian warriors who raid towns and reflect the brutal nature of the Mongols. Perhaps the most obvious representation these characters have to the Mongols is in their name referring to Genghis Khan a famous historical figure in the Mongol culture. The leader of this faction, a man named Papa Khan, takes on the role of the tough chief who values strength above all else and gives little thought to mercy.

The plot of Fallout: New Vegas is about a power struggle, where different factions are looking to control the Mojave Wasteland. Each faction represents a different culture such as the New California Republic (NCR) who are portrayed generally as the good guys and as the name suggests they are an organised republic who reflect our western culture the most out of all the factions. The next main Faction is Caesar’s Legion who strongly reflects the Romans. Again this is evident not just in their name but in the armour they wear and the culture of the faction itself by keeping slaves, a fighting arena and their quest to expand their domain. The different cultures of these factions’ starts to look like a battle between old and new ideals the NCR representing the new and Caesar’s Legion representing the old.

 Fallout: New Vegas shows that although games occupy their own space and time but their cultural representation and influences can extend outside of this relating to the player on a more real and personal level.

 Fallout: New Vegas is a very in depth role playing game that is completely free roaming and lets the player to customise their character and make their own decisions throughout, leading to different consequences. This allows the player to explore the personal identity of their character and take on the responsibility of the future of the in game world by picking a side to fight for. This lets the player take the culture of the different factions into consideration using their own judgment influenced not just by the game but by the cultural experiences and personality of the player themselves.

 When games like this push the boundaries and expand beyond their own space they can be interpreted to have transformative play. This is when a game has the potential to transform culture by referencing, influencing and altering cultural contexts beyond the formal limits of the game. An example I believe to be a form of transformative play is the much talked about mission entitled “No Russian” in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 where the player embarks on a terrorist mission undercover and witnesses and can take part in a massacre at an airport. It’s clear this scene was designed to shock people as terrorist attacks, particularly linked to airports, have shocked the world in real life. I believe it to be transformative play because it’s referencing the heightened threat of terrorism in modern culture and allowing the player to not only to witness the act but take part in it influences the way people feel about it by evoking some sort of emotional response. And finally it alters the culture of the gaming world more generally as they are the first to produce a scene like this in a game to gather so much interest and can be seen as a mark of how controversial games can be on this particular issue whether it be considered as too far or just risky. 

 In conclusion the evidence I have found through the primary research of my own experiences and secondary research using Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s book Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals shows that games represent culture in the contexts of where and when they are produced and played. I have also found that some games can transform culture through transformative play to affect a genuine change. As games can represent culture so efficiently they can be considered as a cultural text meaning they can be interpreted and analysed similarly to investigations in cultural anthropology or cultural studies.