Blending Styles (Samer Hills, Art and, Aesthetics)

     If you have been reading this blog over the years or following me on Twitter for a long time you probably know by now how much of a 3D nerd I am and how much I love 3D modeling and computer graphics. You probably know by now that this is a topic I talk about often and how much I especially love to brag about my own 3D graphics, art style, and or other 3d/graphical-related work.

     Well, the time has come once again as I write yet another blog post about my cool 3D art style. This blog post will serve as a little preview of what to expect from my upcoming Samer Hills games. One of my biggest goals as a game developer has always been to develop my own unique graphical art style. A graphical style that is a distinctive feature to my games. One that does not look like anyone else's or attempts to replicate the style of a console. A graphical art style that is recognizable and as soon as someone sees it, would be able to tell that it's "A Samer Khatib game". After what feels like forever of development, I eventually finally achieved this "unique" graphical style that I have been wanting to create and ended up calling it the "3D Signature Samer Style" or "3DSSS" for short. This is the style that I will consistently use in all my future and upcoming Samer Hills branded games. I even wrote a post about it not too long ago actually. You can check it out here if interested: Signature Samer Style 

     

     Today, I want to talk about and showcase how I can take my newly found art style and effectively blend it with other art styles and or aesthetics. And, the "3DSSS" is designed to be versatile in the sense that it does just work and can blend together really well when mixed with any other style. Moody, atmospheric, horror, retro, bright, colorful, cartoony, etc. 

     For example, in my upcoming game "Samer Hills Toxic Turtle" (more info & Steam page for this game will be revealed later on) - We are going to go for a "Silent Hill" aesthetic and blend that in throughout that entire game. So, moody, foggy, kind of depressing and atmospheric kind of look. You know, the works. Here are some early example previews:

     Toxic Turtle will go for this aesthetic to show that Samer Hills can pull off this moody look. However, this is an example of just one game. Not all Samer Hills games will be foggy, depressing Silent Hill wannabe-looking games. Here are some examples of completely different aesthetic blends that give off completely different tones and moods:

      No two Samer Hills games will be the same and I hope to create a wide range of different experiences with each new release. By taking my "3DSSS" and mixing things up, a lot of different graphical styles can be achieved and the possibilities are endless. I can't wait to share more and really get the ball rolling with Samer Hills.

     You may disagree but personally, I think it's safe to say that I really got graphics, the lighting, the atmosphere, and the style down. With all that said and done, none of this matters because, in the end, the gameplay is king.

     Now, for the really important question. Can I design games that are actually fun and entertaining to play? That's up for you to decide. Thanks for reading and more updates coming soon.

I made this turtle... His name is Frog.

Found my HAPPY ZEN place.

Was bored the other day. Cracked open Blender3d and created a new character. Made this turtle you see here. His name is "Frog".

Early WIP Blender Renders

Why is his name Frog? Isn't it a turtle?

Final Model In Unity Engine.

Look at that constant facial expression it has. So chill. So relaxed. This turtle is obviously either super high or really drunk to the point where he doesn't even know what he is. So... lets just call him Frog from here on out. My newest character. Frog the turtle.

Also, I made it possible to customize his skin for unlimited color variations and combos!

What am I doing with my life.......................

Virtual Snowconesolid Avatar Version 2!

Not too long ago I introduce one of my newest character models Virtual Samer Khatib as well as a complete "Making Of" blog post which covered the full process of how I created the character from start to finish. In my more recent blog posts such as this one and this one I have been talking about a new game project as well as sharing a ton of early screenshots from the games development. In the blog posts I talk about focusing on quality texturing and modeling this time around. I also mentioned that I want to use my new Samer Khatib character model for the new project.

After focusing a lot of time on the new game environment, I looked at my character model and began to notice how out of place and inconsistent he was with the rest of the scene. After all, I did originally just do a very basic texture job on the original character model which only included solid colors. So I decided to go back to the character model and re-work a lot of areas that could be better or improved. 

Before showing the new updated version of Virtual Samer Khatib here are some screenshots of what version 1 looked like:

Blender Render

In Unity Engine

Boxers model

Clothes model

So just simple basic clothing and regular solid colors. I liked it. It still looked good in my opinion. But for the purposes of my new project, I want to be as consistent as possible with the visual art style. I took some time and experimented around with a variety of image textures

until I was able to properly get down a good efficient texturing style that would work out for my model. 

Experimental texturing screenshots:

not final

Virtual Samer Khatib V2:

Originally I was planning on just re-working the textures, but I actually ended up re-reworking almost the entire model and then some. I fixed a lot of clunky areas in the model, added new geometry and adjusted verts to give the model's body a more defined shape, the hair has been adjusted and isn't as flat, I modeled new clothes with multiple materials for the model, the feet are better, I optimized the model to work better in game and made the entire thing more unified and easier to customize in the future.  Okay, time to stop bragging. Drum roll please....

Alright, here is V2 of Virtual Samer Khatib:

NOTE: This is without any lighting or post fx in Unity Engine

V2 Boxers outfit

V2 Striped pajamas outfit (also made color variants of this.)

V2 Badass leather jacket outfit (was originally suppose to be suit/tux. I might ditch the bow-tie. I guess it can be both a suit and a leather outfit really)

I spent waaay more time on re-working the new and improved model than I wanted to but it was very well worth it and i'm glad I did take the time to improve upon the original model. I am very happy with the results. This is a very nice update to the original character model and I might continue updating him even further in future projects as well.

More soon!

May Updates+ cool NEW game progress + New Screens

     At the end of April I mentioned that I was working on a new game project and showed some early screenshots. I have made a lot of progress since then and the project is shaping up very nicely. I am working on it each day, little by little, polygon by polygon. Haven't decided on a name for it yet and I don't have any gameplay or trailer to show at the moment but I am very proud of what I have so far. Mostly, I am very proud of the modeling and texturing, the overall quality and work I am putting in this project is a major step-up from my previous game Potato Thriller (which has been out for over a year now, originally released April 1st 2016) 

With that said, I have really changed over the last year as a game developer. I took a step back for a while, looked at the many design flaws Potato Thriller had as well as many of my older games. I sharpened my skills as a developer and 3d artist, learned new skills and am becoming more serious as a game developer. I love creating and putting my work out there but I want to get better and better each time I do it. I want to continue improving my skills so that I can create more well built games. I have said this many times, but I am very passionate about being a games developer and it is an art form that has consumed years of my life now. It is just something that I keep coming back to. Something that I want to master. 

Alright, that was kind of an out of place random rant that was kind of all over the place. I always seem to do that in a lot of my blog posts for some reason. (I feel like I have said almost the same things in older blog posts also.) Anyway, quality. Quality is my primary focus on this new game project (and is something I want to always achieve in my future titles as well as everything else I do). I really want to make this game perfect and fun. Every aspect of it needs to be good quality. The graphics, the gameplay, the atmosphere, the entire experience! I want to create a game that is unique and nothing like any of my previous work. 

Game Updates?

     Umm.. I don't really feel like typing anymore. Kinda wasted this post being all "I am so passionate about games! I respect the art form!" So, uh yeah.. i'm working really hard on my new game. Here is a bunch of screenshots from development. BAM!

Also, you can use a FREAKEN COAT HANGER as a weapon in game! I am the very first game developer to ever do this! (I think I am at least)

The game will be some kind of a bizarre/horror-ish experience or something like that. I don't know man. I'm still working on it. 

MORE UPDATES SOON!