Tools: PC w/ ElGato HD60 S Capture Card, NVidia 1080ti, Cyberpunk 2077
Adobe Premiere Pro, Office, YouTube
"Evocation" a Cyberpunk 2077 Short Film
Dominant themes:
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First person perspective.
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Vertical downward movement/Oppressive.
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Grid divisional framing.
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Tonal affinity.
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Flat space.
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Fade to black, additive dissolve, and cut transitions.
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Audio synchronicity.
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All indoor/inside vehicle shots are 2-point perspective, and when lit blatantly still use a monochromatic color pallet and tonal affinity.
Evocation: noun
1. the act of bringing or recalling a feeling, memory, or image to the conscious mind.
2. the action of invoking a spirit or deity. "the evocation of wandering spirits"
I created “Evocation” for educational use and submitted it as my Film Studies/Mass Communications final. All video used was captured in-game from Cyberpunk 2077. The encounter is from an intense and fast-paced scenario near the beginning of the game in a place called “Night City”. The song is “Nightfall” by Mimi Page, from the Dark Soundtrack. Each is haunting and beautiful, and that affinity intertwines the film. My main goal was to take a pre-scripted in-game event of frantic, time-sensitive, cyber-ballistic warfare, and tell a different story through an unspoken narrative through unedited music and video editing.
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlNJQ-JdQMw.
Download the primary shot-by-shot theme and direction breakdown here.
Tools: MidJourney, Plota-Graph, LeiaPix.
Manual use of tools to create content specific motion animation from AI-generated still images.
Animation tool assisted manual motion design implementation upon AI-generated still images.
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Image generated in MidJourney
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Top Right: Shows a basic process done using LeiaPix.com tool.
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Left and Bottom Right: Show a manual, multi-layered and value-anchored addition of motion using Plotagraph.
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Software and Service are currently unavailable.
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Tools: Figma, Fig Motion, Photoshop, VSHMTL, CSS, Wix Web Builder, VS Code
Mobile application path-mapping, data visualization, presentations, visual rewards systems, and sharable-interactive prototyping.
User Experience Design, Product Development, Interactive Testing, Application Paths, Usability Testing, Wireframing.
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Static wireframes and interactive user-flows visualize a project's requirements, and allow for easier iteration and repeatable testing.
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As design documents may create a barrier to audience retention, providing a hands-on prototype, in addition to a visual wireframe or flow diagram, is helpful. Combined, they assist in relaying complex information to multiple stakeholders, or levels of experience.
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With hands-on/on-device versions of the end-user experience, even with the densest flowcharts, the audience can normalize that data by learning to understanding how something works, without needing to know why it works.
"Return to Roots”
Game Design Document
This GDD and imagery is original, unsponsored, unofficial, and an ongoing work in progress created for educational use.
Started in Spring 2021, by Erik F. Brown
My adoration of Twisted Metal has become thousands of hours, friends, word of mouth, and joy. I looking forward to the next one. From day 1 baby. Oh, and this..
The original Twisted Metal was co-created by David Jaffee and Scott Campbell, developed by SingleTrac, owned by Sony, and was released on the PlayStation in 1995.
Credit to everyone where due. You rock.
WILL YOU DRIVE, was the question Calypso asked each driver before the start of the Twisted Metal tournament. A kill-or-be-killed vehicular combat elimination contest throughout the L.A. area, where the winner may have any wish their heart desires granted by Calypso.
It's probably worth mentioning that the original game mechanics, values, level sized, drives, essentially everything I could take from memory and read on the Wiki was taken into account when considering this doc. As much as I would want to make new drivers, levels, gameplay types or special pickups it was imperative to me that I use the 1st game as the focus because it had a lot of thought into the core design. From my perspective anyway. Things that got lost in later versions for whatever reason. But I also took those things into consideration as well for what I didn't like as ways to justify returning to the original game, and NOT adding anything. It ultimately gave me a lot to think about and design into/away from/out of.. however I want to look at it. Which is why things like 4 player couch co-op, online battles, slightly expanded maps to allow for destruction, ammo, and maneuverability two extra vehicles will add to the fray (if NPC counts are maintained), specials like "jump" or mechanics like "respawning on overturn" if physics change enough to accommodate larger/new maps and another general use item pickup may make sense as additions here. But also to exclude newer modes, features, and even quality of life improvements (there have got to be some) that would make the game too far removed from the original. Such as car customization modes, 6,000 mile maps that feel empty, race modes, or whatever the fuck the mech sweet-tooth thing was, co-drivers (unless specific to the driver, and again only if new drivers are added), etc.
There's even the idea of creating an extra set of these options and keeping it as a toggle-able game mode, or releasing it as a separate DLC. That way the hardcore old-school gameplay can be maintained, but support of the game can grow as new drivers, maps, and maybe a "tournament" gameplay structure (as the Twisted Metal Tournament is often referred to) can be implemented. Which would help the game reach new audiences.
Here's the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_Metal_(1995_video_game)
Overview
“Return to Roots” is a work in progress game development document strapping dynamite to rocket fuel in order to blast-start a missing genre into a new era. Starting from the root cracked concrete upward to re-evaluate what made the titular 1995 original title "Twisted Metal" the King of vehicular combat.
Title: Return to Roots
Developer: EFB
Genre: Vehicular Combat
Platform: Windows, VR
Anticipated Rating: M for language, drug use, and use of tobacco.
Notes:
The original wasn’t crafted around an overabundance of ammo, specials, health, or space in any way. Ammunition never piled up and nobody controlled the weather. Balancing overpowered options, maintaining scale with respect to online implementation, and removing excessive features of newer installments (paint customization, etc.) reasserts the importance of having a Calypso chosen driver, unique to the tournament. It also must have a couch co-op. Gets friends together. Sells more controlle
Overhaul Modifications
General
Local:
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4-player couch co-op
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Level size increase to support 4-player couch co-op.
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Cross-platform? It has always been PlayStation exclusive. Does the series sell too, or does it expected to sell well enough to consider a multi-platform release?
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New visible codes to spot hidden in the environment/progress/event unlockable content (drivers, levels).
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Art assets remade.
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The sensation of speed.
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Level size increase to support 4-player couch co-op.
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Online: Added online mode
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8-player max
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Limit level scale
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Assist matchmaking
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Retain original feel
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Weapon Pickups:
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With the addition of new drivers, why not throw in a little more mayhem? Not elemental abilities.
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Close-range matter rearranger. a vehicle reverser. Think dissolve and flip the player, with small damage from the re-arranging. Annoying, and possibly deadly. A good use for the landing spot of roof-top ramps, or to return someone to the right, or away from health pads.
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Advanced Moves:
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Advanced moves provided verticality, combat mobility, and level balance for slower vehicles or those without ranged special moves. Though they weren't present in the first game, bringing them on in a limited capacity for moves like jump would be beneficial.
Driver Profile:
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Vehicle Type: Sleeper Sedan, old w/ chrome.
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License Plate: NOTHING
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Driver: Osm Parac. A mix of monitor burn and hair metal, and an inventor of undisclosed technologies.
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Age: 30’s
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Speed: 4 (In a straight line)
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Handling: 2/5
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Armor: 3/5
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Special Weapon: 3-5/5
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Horizon Material: In his desire to return, he created a link. A mind of insane ability stretching infinitely outward, distorting reality to connect with a world beyond, causing a targeted explosion when severed
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Wish: To have his personal reality restored.
Ending: No longer able to interact with society, he is put under care, with an even stronger prescription.
Driver Story:
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Intro Story: Introduces the character, vehicle, and reason to participate.
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NOTHING: “I’d made up they said, well yea I had. But I knew it was real. There was too much not to transfer memory. So, when a different man owning the same name arrived/appeared, I knew once again what has always been, was again to begin.”
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Mid Story: Further story development and renewed determination to survive.
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NOTHING: “Maniac my ass. The head healers used to tell me the horizon is just a piece of the whole. Why find peace with just a part? And those were two pieces of dialogue that justified double billing insurance again as they shoved these damn pills in my face. These damn things always stick in my throat. Well, if you ask me, I’m better off without their peace. For anyone stopping me from going where I’m going… I got a front grill pointed straight at the horizon that’ll turn them into what their ALL made of. A whole lot of nothing material.”
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Final Story: Having won, any request will be granted though may come with unexpected results.
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Calypso: “And now it is you that arrives to me.”
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NOTHING: “It’s easy to know where I’m going when there’s no turning back. Give me never having gained losing the world I created for myself. I want it back like it was before it was stripped away by those jagged encapsulations forcing this man-man abomination.”
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Calypso grants his request, completely. Without the ability to differentiate the worlds apart, NOTHING becomes an even further outcast and eventually loses everything. He is finally labeled insane and put away (this time with a heavier prescription).
Level:
Based upon a mixture of current and 1980s L.A. where the story of the original game begins.
Decaying urban indoor and outdoor settings. Verticality navigable through ramps, jumping gaps, or falling. Features hidden areas, health regeneration platforms, environmental hazards, secondary weapons, and ammunition pickups.
Urban Trench:
Freeway on/off ramps, drainage canals, warehouses, and dusty residential side streets. The city outskirts are nestled between downtown and desert hills.
Environment:
Falling and water hazards (single and multi-player), the flooding canal (single-player).
Secret: Hidden location to a military-grade transport elevator. Above is the Griffith Observatory. The “Griffith Grounds” stage is not available for Multiplayer (local) until the player has discovered the area by accessing Calypso’s underground tunnels connecting the drainage canals. Faces off,, they become playable in Single and Multiplayer modes and are added to the character selection screen.
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References:
Images were found online or taken by hand. Do not re-distribute.
Overview of the original title: https://twistedmetal.fandom.com/wiki/Twisted_Metal_Wiki
Osm Parac
Story Tie-in
OSM: "They always say don’t bring your work home with you. I made half the shit in the lab right here in this one! Don’t take nothing home with me. Psh."
Too many days up maybe. He railed a line and grabbed a cold one to get some fresh air and throw his pill into the drainage ditch like ways. It was one of the few times places could crank it up, and raise a finger to this world. Offering through frantic screams breathing. He'd let them leave. He could almost feel his tattered boots straining through the human wash and animal filth, runoff of grime from both sides, straight down into the dirt, and downhill through the urban trench. Natural, right past his front door. He almost found some peace in the thought. An overabundance of chaos, and watching the binding agent to this world slowly float downstream, mixing with the stars.
OSM: "There’s no fucking peace in this place. I'll get back. I'll find a way."
As if returning to his eyes, he brushed it off, lowering his hand and snatching his keys from hidden between the finely organized mess of wires and undisclosed technology. His lab was far enough away from the city to not get the lights, and from the hills to not have his view blocked. A centered reminder that on both sides, the lay of the land is to go behind, get up in, and stand over, who, or whatever it is that gets in the way of, gives the power to, or provides the feast.
Remembering their "prescription" to "his" affliction, he cracked the beer. Something to wash it down, just in case he decided to take one for fun. They stick in his throat.
OSM: "I'm stuck here for now anyway. At least for now."
Hitting the fresh air, he stepped into a world lit between day and night. Unable to perceive time or space, the only perceivable reality was the small change of hue upon the horizon, reaching out, he found himself again. Bringing his hand down to watch his downtown office explode before him, and the distortion within it, as his body was thrown through the auto-fogging security glass. Calm awareness made him smile, a sensationless event lengthy enough that prisms of color danced off the beads of glass, amid splintered wood and a shredded "cats on mopeds" calendar that used to be Karen's desk.
Nothing was different after the accident. Except for all the damage to the office. What the hell happened anyway? Even he was surprised he lived. He just remembered starting to slip.
Major changes:
At this point, it could connect the story anywhere except the final portion. This could open this situation that leads up to meeting with Calypso and give a bit more backstory to the condition he suffers/or the reality he has become a prisoner, to his medical examinations and the pills he is forced to take to keep him grounded in reality/from returning to his peace. Or it could be after the meeting and prior to the middle section and the "slipping" could be due in part to agreeing to drive in the first place, discovering some connection with Calypso's abilities beyond reality, or as a potential agent of calypso after beating the game with Osm Parac. Potentially using that as the unlock for the Griffith Grounds stage, where he turns the version below, and uses further undisclosed technology to control the other 2 phantom vehicles of the 3v1 tag team taking place on the grounds of the observatory.
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Horizon Material is no longer a close-range matter re-arranged.
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In his desire to return, he created a link. A mind of insane ability stretching infinitely outward, distorting reality to connect with a world beyond, causing a targeted explosion when severed.
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Though if departing from the TM franchise, it could easily be a vehicle reverser. Think dissolve and flip the player, with small damage from the re-arranging. Annoying, and possibly deadly. A good use for the landing spot of roof-top ramps, or to return someone to the right, or away from health pads.
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It also comes to mind that the front-end special weapon may be a little too similar to Darkside since an equal amount of that damage came from the semi ramming the other player hoping for the special to hit since it was so short ranged.
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Osm Parac's condition is an extreme form of something called Paracosm, only mixed with mad science and dimensional boundary-breaking among other distortions. Below are quotes from Newsweek and Wikipedia to help explain.
“In middle childhood, kids sometimes create paracosms—fantasies of entire alternative worlds. Kids revisit their paracosms repeatedly, sometimes for months, and even create languages spoken there. This type of play peaks at age 9 or 10, and it's a very strong sign of future creativity. A Michigan State University study of MacArthur "genius award" winners found a remarkably high rate of paracosm creation in their childhoods.’ (Newsweek, 74665)
“Paracosm: A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world. Paracosms are thought generally to originate in childhood and to have one or numerous creators. The creator of a paracosm has a complex and deeply felt relationship with this subjective universe, which may incorporate real-world or imaginary characters and conventions.” (Wikipedia, Paracosm)
I first found out about this subject in my Psychology of Creativity class during some extended reading research. I thought it was intriguing how multiple understanding could occur. It spawned more than a couple rough game concepts. But this story takes the concept, ages it, and makes it powerful to the point of physical manifestations of dual realities and the inability to distinguish them.
Alternate Appearances
Image 1 and 2: It wouldn't be outside of the realm of possibility for someone creating such classified technology to have a luxury sedan kitted out like Osm's alternate appearance here in the first image. It looks like most of the damage would come straight out of that front grill too. With a possible match for the current vehicle specs as well. Take your pic on the other thing.
Image 3: A bit more on the mutant end of days vibe from the 80s, I gotta give it to the guy for the shades though. Hot pink and black just go so well to a green nuclear wasteland. And that flat beam originator on the top looks perfectly aimed to destroy anything between it and the horizon.
Advertisements
MOPEDS DON'T GO ON THE HIGHWAY SUSAN!
These are currently unedited, or not color corrected. Placement would be inside cover left and inside back cover right for magazine advertisements. The skull explosion looks a lot like a beefed-up Mr. Grimm special move, and the terrain looks to establish Osm Parac's hidden lab location in the Urban Trenches between downtown L.A. and the Foothills with the observatory.
The first image would say something like "Mopeds don't go on the highway Karen!" and I haven't decided what the next one would say if anything.. but that's Karen. The one who had the "cats on mopeds" calendar. And a desk.. and office.
Dev Notes: Very loosely edited addition to Osm Parac's story arc. Decided to upload this to appreciate the nature of the document itself, as something meant to be a work in progress. And progress it seems, at least in this story so far, is never perfect, never done, and full of little things that slip the mind and stick in the throat. I loved the idea of re-vamping the OG, but it deserved to have a franchise and it got one. So maybe continuing the genre is a better idea. To support these ideas I've removed the "Twisted Metal" name from Return to Roots, except in the description to show the base game/franchise of analysis. But the desire remained and so the process began to return to the roots of creating a unique title, delivering core gameplay first, thoughtful weapon balance, level design that justified the vehicle stats and made special weapons special, outrageous driver backstories, a prize beyond reason and worth the body count, and lots and lots of twisted metal, and good old fashioned couch co-op. And a huge thank you to the man that implemented it over a weekend near the end of development in the 90s. You sir, rock. And with those in place, it wouldn't make sense not to include some sort of advertisements too. So, there we go. The over-the-top and artsy ad campaigns spoke a lot about the times, with their own presence.
I'd love to make this a demo at some point, but character and level designs will come much before, if ever, and infrequently perhaps at best with my other projects. For me, this is cathartic in a way. I'd love to keep working on, or the real game if there is one, but I have yet to hear anything solid. I've heard rumors of a new live-action series too with actors confirmed. Thankfully, I can say I created this GDD before that news broke, so I can rest easy knowing my heart is in the right place. Either way, if they do in fact exist, I'm going to be on the torn sidewalk couch next to the barrel fire with snacks and cold beverages to watch the live-action series, and ringing up friends to play the game all damn weekend. The timing would make sense to have both. But whether they will have both, how amazing they will be, and how closely tied to one another are is something I will have to wait to see. For now, I'll continue to design, and stay ready to drive.
Time to call time on this update. Up next would be to re-consider the vehicle and special power stats, and then possibly just call Osm Parac good for now. There are a couple of other drivers coming around from my MidJourney exploration of the themes. And on that subject, it's a great time to mention: None of the images used here were created by referencing the Twisted Metal franchise, its creator, or drivers from the game by name or link.