GUITAR HERO: THE ASIAN TOUR IMPLICATIONS OF AN ASIAN

GUITAR HERO: THE ASIAN TOUR
IMPLICATIONS OF AN ASIAN LOOK FOR THE GUITAR HERO
VIDEO GAME SERIES
MASTER OF INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY
THESIS
PRESENTED BY HARYATI MOHD EHSAN
i
To the Graduate Faculty:
I am submitting herewith a project written by Haryati Mohd Ehsan entitled Guitar
Hero: Asian tour, Implications of an Asian look for the Guitar Hero video game series.‖ I
recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development, with Specialization in
Art Creation.
_________________________________
PROF. DAVID CHERRY
Supervisor
I have read this Project
and recommend its acceptance:
____________________________________
PROF. NICK HEITZMAN
Advisor or Second Reader
Accepted for the Faculty:
_________________________________
PROF. GARY BRUBAKER
Deputy Director, Academics
SMU Guildhall
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GUITAR HERO: THE ASIAN TOUR
IMPLICATIONS OF AN ASIAN LOOK FOR THE GUITAR HERO
VIDEO GAME SERIES
A Thesis Presented to the Graduate Faculty of
The Guildhall
Southern Methodist University
in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the degree of
Master of Interactive Technology
with a
Major in Art Creation
By Haryati Mohd Ehsan
Haryati Mohd Ehsan
B.A in Graphic Design
Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all I would love to express my gratitude to my wonderful supervisor Prof
David Cherry for assisting me throughout the process to complete this thesis. Never
forget my fellow friends from Cohort 14 in Guildhall at SMU for encouraging me to
move forward and for the nice critique on my work. The credit also goes to Kesi who
fixing my grammar and spelling mistake while in the process on completing this thesis.
Last but not least to all my friends and the volunteers who spent their time to answering
my research questions, thank you so much for your time, you guys are the best. For my
future reader who reading this thesis, I hope this thesis will help you a little bit on your
future research. Thank you and all the best.
Mohd Ehsan, Haryati
B.A in Graphic Design,
Universiti Teknologi Mara,
Malaysia,2008.
M.A., Master of Interactive
Technology, The Guildhall at Southern
Methodist University, 2011
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GUITAR HERO: THE ASIAN TOUR
IMPLICATIONS OF AN ASIAN LOOK FOR THE GUITAR HERO
VIDEO GAME SERIES
Supervisor: PROF DAVID CHERRY
Master of Interactive Technology conferred May 1st, 2011
Thesis completed October 31st, 2011
Guitar Hero video game series are well known as a video game that fully based on
Art and Music from the Western Rock culture. Despite of the differences of culture
across the world, Guitar Hero series are the most successful title when it comes to the
music based video game genre especially in Asia. Even though the series are acceptable
in Asia, but the lack of Asian identity in the video game did cut majority of the potential
audiences to play the games. Therefore in this thesis, the author is discussing about the
implementation of Asian culture in the existing Guitar Hero video game series and
whether the fusion between Asian and Western art style for this game will be accepted to
both Western and Asian gamers who embraced these cultures. The author hope that with
the success of this research, the developers and publishers will broaden their horizon on
art design in the game across every culture to attract more audiences and increase the
profits overall.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv
List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii
Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1
Background of the Study ........................................................................................ 1
Problem and Purpose Statement ............................................................................. 4
Research or Project Question .......................................................................... 5
Significance of the Study ........................................................................................ 6
Definitions............................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2: Literature and Field Review .............................................................................. 8
Literature Review.................................................................................................... 9
Field Review ......................................................................................................... 15
Summary ............................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 51
Data Collection and Procedures ............................................................................ 53
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 55
Chapter 4: discussion and conclusion ............................................................................... 76
References ......................................................................................................................... 81
Appendix A: milestone schedule ...................................................................................... 84
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Appendix B: SURVEY MATERIAL ............................................................................... 87
Vita.................................................................................................................................. 113
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Age .......................................................................................................... 56
Table 2: Ethnicity.................................................................................................. 57
Table 3: Occupation/education related to game industry ..................................... 58
Table 4: Occupation/education art related ............................................................ 59
Table 5: Years playing games ............................................................................... 60
Table 6: hours per week playing videogames ....................................................... 61
Table 7: Are you familiar with Guitar Hero?........................................................ 62
Table 8: What type of gamer are you when playing Guitar Hero videogames? ... 63
Table 9: Are you familiar with the quality of art in Guitar Hero? ........................ 64
Table 10: Do you like Guitar Hero art style? ........................................................ 65
Table 11: Is it important to customize your character? ......................................... 66
Table 12: Is the choice of venue important to you? .............................................. 67
Table 13: Does the concept art for Guitar Hero: Asian tour appeal to you? ........ 68
Table 14: Comparison of quality between original Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero:
Asian tour concept art. ........................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Table 15: Would you enjoy playing a level based on this art? ............................. 70
Table 16: Would you enjoy playing a level based on this art? ............................. 71
Table 17: The effectiveness in using Asian design elements ............................... 72
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Otocky: Famicon Disk System (1987) gameplay ..................................... 9
Figure 2: Konami‘s GuitarFreaks game arcade .................................................... 10
Figure 3: GuitarFreaks Append 2nd Mix for PS1 menu screen............................ 12
Figure 4: GuitarFreaks Append 2nd Mix animation ............................................. 12
Figure 5: Dance Revolution arcade Japan 1998 gameplay ................................... 13
Figure 6: Guitaroo-Man PS2 (2008) gameplay .................................................... 14
Figure 7: Guitar Hero complete kit (2005) ........................................................... 15
Figure 8: Character customization option in Guitar Hero series .......................... 17
Figure 9: Metal Head‘ Axel Steel ......................................................................... 17
Figure 10: Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) and Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society/
Ozzy Osbourne) .................................................................................................... 18
Figure 11: ‗Black Metal‘ Lars Umlaut.................................................................. 19
Figure 12: ‗Immortal‘ band- Black metal ............................................................. 20
Figure 13: ‗Punk rocker‘ Johnny Napalm ............................................................. 20
Figure 14: Sid Vicious (Sex Pistol) and Jorge Herrera (The Casualties) ............. 21
Figure 15: ‗Alternative Rocker‘ Judy Nails .......................................................... 22
Figure 16: Judita Wignall of (Halo Friendlies/ Scouts of Saint Sebastian) and LynZ, (Mindless Self Indulgence)............................................................................... 23
Figure 17: ‗Hard Rocker‘ Casey Lynch ................................................................ 23
Figure 18: Linda Lou (vocalist and guitarist) with ‗Cockpit‘ band ...................... 24
Figure 19: ‗J-Rock girl‘ Midori ............................................................................ 25
Figure 20: Linda Lou (vocalist and guitarist) with ‗Cockpit‘ band ...................... 26
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Figure 21: Dream stage; Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock ..................................... 27
Figure 22: Desert stage, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock .................................. 27
Figure 23: Grey stage, Guitar Hero: Metallica ..................................................... 28
Figure 24: Park stage, Guitar Hero 5 .................................................................... 28
Figure 25: The Spiders, earliest Japan rock band (1960s) .................................... 30
Figure 26: Champloose at Chakra Livehouse, Kokusai- dori, Naha, Japan (2008)
............................................................................................................................... 30
Figure 27: X-Japan and Malice Mizer (1980s ...................................................... 31
Figure 28: B‘z and L‘Arc-en-Ciel (1990s) ........................................................... 32
Figure 29: Asian Kungfu Generation (2000) ........................................................ 32
Figure 30: Orange Range (2000) .......................................................................... 33
Figure 31: Cui Jian (1980s)................................................................................... 34
Figure 32: Tang Dynasty band(1990s) ................................................................. 35
Figure 33: M Shariff and The Zurah (1960s)........................................................ 36
Figure 34: The Swallows (1960s) ......................................................................... 37
Figure 35: Search (1990s) ..................................................................................... 38
Figure 36: Rising star Rock performer in Malaysia (from above left: Meet Uncle
Hussein, Hujan, Anna Rafali and Faizal Tahir) .................................................... 39
Figure 37: kimono fabric patterns based on Ukiyo-E ........................................... 40
Figure 38: Kimono, traditional Japanese clothing ................................................ 41
Figure 39: Hanfu and cheongsam; Chinese traditional clothing ........................... 43
Figure 40: Phoenix and Dragon, Chinese mythical creatures ............................... 44
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Figure 41: Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet heavily influenced by Hinduism
culture) .................................................................................................................. 45
Figure 42: Traditional motifs influenced by nature .............................................. 46
Figure 43: Nyonya kebaya; a culture fusion between Malay and Chinese people 46
Figure 44: Ethnic groups in Malaysia ................................................................... 46
Figure 45: Anna Rafali performing with Kebaya, Malaysian traditional clothing 48
Figure 46: Gackt and Orange Range, some of the Japanese rock bands implement
traditional cultures in their performances ............................................................. 49
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DEDICATIONS
This thesis is especially dedicated to my family, Mom and Dad who
always supporting me in everything that I do, and to my little sisters who inspired
me to write this thesis. Lastly to all Guitar Hero fans out there, Rock On!
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This chapter introduces the background and context of the study, the problem and
purpose of the study and its significance. It concludes with the methodology used, the
limitations of the study, and specific definitions used throughout this paper.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The Guitar Hero series is a series of music videogames developed by Harmonix,
Neversoft and Vicarious Visions. First published in 2005, this game series introduced a
new type of gameplay in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate
playing in an actual rock band. By hitting the colored buttons on the neck of the
controller in time to the color coded notes that scroll on the screen, the player looks like
he is actually playing a guitar. The most interesting mode in Guitar Hero games is
‗Career Mode‘ where the in-game bands travel to various venues and unlock new
contents such as songs, characters, stages, and music items.
The player has the option to select one of several pre-created avatar characters
who represent the player performing on the stage during gameplay. The characters can be
customized by using points earned from successful performances. There are also Standby
Characters ready to be selected by the player, each representing the look of a different
variety of rock music genre such as Heavy Metal, Punk, Alternative Rock and Pop Rock.
Every venue in the game has its own unique settings based on the rock music style that is
performed on each stage.
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In the past five years, the Guitar Hero franchise has published six series (not
including expansion packs) which introduce legendary rock bands like Guitar Hero:
Metallica, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Every series offers
numerous rock songs which originally came from successful artists and popular rock
bands across the United States and Europe. The Guitar Hero videogame series combines
uniquely original gameplay and an awesome selection of rock songs with beautiful
graphics and visual effects. This compilation has caused the series to be recognized as
one of the most popular music theme genre video games around the world.
The popularity of the Guitar Hero game series also has significant impact in the
fields of music and education. The series has become a useful learning tool in music
education. Some of the rock bands also use the influence of Guitar Hero games to
introduce their songs to a much broader target market across the world, increasing music
sales for both new artists and old. The series also presents the songs, fads, and fashions
of the rock culture in the United States and Europe to the videogames audience on the
other side of the world, Asia.
Asian people have been introduced to rock songs since early 1960‘s when The
Beatles was the huge phenomenon of the time. In Japan, there is a special rock genre
created by Japanese known as „visual kei‟. This rock genre started to gain popularity
during the 1990‘s by combining the styles of glam rock, punk rock, and gothic in one
genre. Visual Kei Rock groups such as X-Japan, Dir En Grey and Luna Sea are widely
known around the world despite the language barrier. Across Southeast Asia in countries
such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, Alternative Rock is the most
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popular genre. Popular rock bands like Meet Uncle Hussein, Hujan, Sheila on 7 and
Peterpan are just a few of the well known bands using this genre for their songs.
At first, Asian rock bands were heavily influenced by the United States and
European cultures in their songs since Rock music is originally from the west, but some
of the cultural elements are not appropriate to the Asian people. More recently, some of
the rock bands in Asia have begun to find their own identity by implementing traditional
Asian music in their songs. Some of them also introduced the uniqueness of Asian rock
through graphics and packaging design. Their music videos are often made in interesting
locations across Asia and serve to introduce the Asian culture to audiences around the
world. Thanks to the effort of these bands, rock music from Asia, and the art associated
with them, is starting to be known and gain in popularity in the homeland of rock music,
the United States and Europe.
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PROBLEM AND PURPOSE STATEMENT
Despite the popularity of the Guitar Hero videogame series, all the songs and
styles are derived from western cultures (primarily the United States and Europe).
Although Guitar Hero is widely accepted by Asian videogame fans, there is still no effort
by its publishers to introduce Asian rock songs into the series. As a result, the game‘s
saturation into Asian markets has not been as strong as it could have been if Asian
consumers had been presented with a version that reflected their own culture.
Guitar Hero‘s art department tried to win the heart of the audience in Asia by
introducing a character named ‗Midori‘, a cute female rock star from Japan, in Guitar
Hero III in 2009, but the effort was less than successful. The name of the character was
Asian, but her appearance was not. One version of the game did add a ninja suit as a
bonus costume for player avatars, but that, plus one Western looking character with a
Japanese name, has not been enough to introduce the breadth Asian Rock culture in the
videogame itself or to signal to Asians that they are a respected part of the game‘s target
audience and are not being bypassed or ignored by the game itself. More could be done.
Asian Rock does not come from a single country. It taps into the art, music, and
cultural heritage of the many countries that comprise Asia and is strong, rich, and
powerful as a result. It is waiting to take its place in the world market.
If the developers of the Guitar Hero series were to create a new edition, still using
the popular music of Western culture but also employing Asian art, concept, and design
in ways that might make it interesting and acceptable to the traditional Western target
audience, such a cultural mix might allow Asian audiences to feel more ―included‖. This,
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in turn, may result in a win/win situation where Western and Asian audiences are pleased
with the product and the publisher and developer are pleased by greater revenue from
increased penetration of the Asian market. This thesis proposes a project as a proof of
concept for this idea.
Ideally, an entire working level should be created and test
marketed. That, unfortunately, would require a full team of programmers, engineers,
designers, and artists, and such a team is not available. The author can, however, create
the art that would be needed and test that for its effectiveness. For the purposes of the
project, then, the author shall create character, accessory, and environment art assets
(such as a stage) from concept to finish for an imaginary version of Guitar Hero which
will show famous rock celebrities and bands on tour to famous sites and venues
throughout Asia. Traditional Asian art, fashion, and design will be employed. The name
of the game, aptly enough, shall be Guitar Hero: The Great Asian Tour.
Research or Project Question
There are several questions yet to be answered during this process, such as:
1) How can one combine two significant cultures that have a lot of contradiction
between each other in this game?
2) How can one implement the Asian cultural styles in Guitar Hero‘s art design and
make them acceptable for both Western and Asian target audiences?
3) Will one be able to introduce the Asian culture itself through the art? What should be
done to make that happen?
5
Answering these questions will enable one to collect data as to the process and
procedure of creating art of quality sufficient for use in such a game as Guitar Hero and
to collect data as to whether art based on traditional Asian culture can be used to
successful advantage in such a game.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Asia is the biggest continent in this world and consists of many cultures. The
videogame industry in Asia has steadily increased in past years and has reached billions
of US dollars in revenues recently, In Japan, China, and Korea, the profit revenue in
2008 was USD6.26 billion, USD2.75 billion and USD1.7 billion respectively. In the rest
of Asia, the revenue in 2006 was USD14 billion. The numbers show a potential for
increased sales and profits for The Guitar Hero series should they be able to attract a
greater share of the main target audience in Asia. The series itself has been used as one of
the mediums in music education. By implementing Asian culture in this game, it is hoped
that this unique combination can introduce this exotic culture to the younger generation
in the future.
Overview of Methodology and Limitations
For this thesis, all the works were analyzed using quantitative methods. The data
gathered, explaining the source of idea and progress of the works based on the timeline
given from start to completion. All the process to complete the thesis will be made in
Adobe Photoshop CS4, then the survey questions were made based on the concept art
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and passed to the volunteers to be answered in Guildhall at SMU, New York Comic
Convention and also via online through author‘s website. Their answers determined the
success of this research.
In the process of making the Asian looks, all characters‘ costumes and accessories
will be made based on the traditional era from 3 different Asian countries: Malaysia,
China, and Japan. The unique patterns, accessories, and traditional costumes from each
country will be modified to into a new casual and modern look, suitable to wear on stage
for rock performances. The art style will focus on creating characters that are able to
blend with the existing characters and costumes in the Guitar Heroes series and can
potentially be used as the design for the next Guitar Hero game. A stage for the
characters will be created based on Asian architectural designs and motifs.
DEFINITIONS
Gameplay –
the features of a computer game, such as its plot and the way it is played, as distinct from
the graphics and sound effects.
FretOne of several ridges set across the fingerboard of a stringed instrument, such as a guitar.
Avatar A graphic identity you either select from a group of choices or create on your own to
represent yourself to the other party in a chat, instant messaging (IM) or multiplayer
gaming session. An avatar is a caricature, not a realistic photo, and can be a simple image
or a bizarre fantasy figure.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE AND FIELD REVIEW
The Guitar Hero series is the series of music video games developed by
Harmonix, Neversoft and Vicarious Visions. First published in 2005, Guitar Hero is
recognized as one of the most popular music video games around the world. Despite its
popularity around the world, all of its songs and bands are from the United States and
Europe. Even though the games are widely accepted by Asian videogame fans, they are
not the top choice of Asians because Asian culture is not represented in the games,
making it difficult for Asians to become fully immersed in the environment or in the
action. Rock culture has existed in Asia since the 1960‘s when The Beatles came into the
scene. Rock songs in Asia have not just copied the western songs. They have evolved to
include the uniqueness of Asian culture in music, design, and fashion sense.
As one of the most popular music video games in this world, the Guitar Hero
series has introduced and popularized many rock songs from the United States and
Europe. It has been on the market for five years. It is time now for the series to
introduce the richness of Asian rock culture
gain a wider acceptance in the Asian market.
8
to the rest of the world and, in so doing,
LITERATURE REVIEW
For this thesis, extensive research was conducted into the Guitar Hero videogame
series from its origin to the X-factors that make this game so popular around the world. It
is interesting to note that, although Guitar Hero is based on Western culture, rock music
simulation games originated in Asia. The history of music games goes back 20 years ago
to the first rhythm based game, called Otocky. It was developed by interactive media
artist, Toshio Iwai for Famicom Disk System in 1987. The game is a side scrolling
shooter which enables the player to pilot a ship and fire projectiles by using different
notes which are quantized in real time to the basic background music. This means the
player adds his own beats to the music to defeat his enemies. Otocky is known as the first
videogame to include creative/generative procedural music, giving the composer (player)
the freedom to create different compositions.
Figure 1 Otocky: Famicon Disk System (1987) gameplay
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Music video games genre based on guitar simulation began about 10 years ago
when one of the popular game companies in Japan, Konami, introduced Guitar Freaks
into every game arcade in Japan back in 1999. The game was developed by Bemani. It is
a simulated arcade game with a controller that looks like an electric guitar. The game
consists of music predominantly from J- Rock and J-Pop genres. The game was so
popular in Japan at that Harmonix became interested in bringing it to western markets
and offered to help Konami develop a music game using a guitar controller for
PlayStation2 (PS2), Guitar Hero was, then, produced in 2005.
Figure 2: Konami’s GuitarFreaks game arcade
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Even though Konami was the first company to create a guitar simulation
videogame, and even though it did so many years ago, its Guitar Freaks franchise was
never introduced outside the Japanese market. Compared to Guitar Hero, the Guitar
Freaks series only offers songs from local rock and pop bands from Japan. ―It‘s very
niche, and doesn‘t really translate into who the videogame player is in general‖
(Interview with Bryan Lam, Red Octane 2008). The song choices were only popular with
the Japanese population and did not really suit the taste of American gamers at that time.
Aside from that, Guitar Freaks is only available in a version that must be played in game
arcades, therefore the guitar simulation technology was initially tied to the game arcade
environment, and not many non-Japanese videogame fans were willing to spend most of
their time playing the game in an arcade.
Konami tried to bring Guitar Freaks videogame out of the game arcade and into
the Playstation 1 (PS1) console in Feb 24, 2000, but it was only available in the Japanese
language and, therefore, failed to attract major audiences outside of Japan. One of the
flaws of this game is its graphic quality .The animation is poor, static, and unattractive.
Even though the players used controllers which look like guitars, they never had
the level of immersion that made them feel like actual rock stars. There are no characters
and environments that create the rock atmosphere in the game. Thus the game looks dull
and boring.
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Figure 3: GuitarFreaks Append 2nd Mix for PS1 menu screen
Figure 4: GuitarFreaks Append 2nd Mix animation
Despite of the lack of graphic quality in Guitar Freaks, Konami did really well
when they‘re introducing Dance Dance Revolution arcade game in Japan back in 1998.
In that game an in-game character shows the player dance moves so the player can move
and dance along with the character. The environments change according to the mood of
the songs chosen. Dance Dance Revolution is so popular around the world even though
12
the game mostly uses J-pop songs. It is available for multiple consoles including PS1,
Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, PS2, Xbox and Wii. Its gameplay is based on a simulation
similar to Guitar Freaks, but this game has attractive graphics and an entertaining
environment. Because of this, Dance Dance Revolution really allows the player to
become involved with and immersed in the game. This shows the importance of having
attractive characters that move and interact with the players during the game. The
environments also help in creating the mood to the player to keep playing. The Guitar
Hero developers used this formula successfully for their first Guitar Hero game in 2005.
Figure 5: Dance Revolution arcade Japan 1998 gameplay
Another interesting Music video game created in Japan is Guitaroo-Man. It was
published by Koei in 2002 for Playstation 2 (PS2) and had a semi-realistic environment
but a cartoonish looking character. The art style is really unique and weird, representing
the Japanese pop-culture at the time. Guitaroo-Man is based on the story of the main
13
character, named U-1, and his talking dog, Puma. U-1 uses the power of his Gitaroo
(Guitar) to save the universe against aliens. By having such a storyline for the characters;
the player feels a purpose, becomes involved with the characters, and tends to spend more
time to finish every mission, level, or task instead of simply trying to finish the song to
get better marks.
Figure 6: Guitaroo-Man PS2 (2008) gameplay
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FIELD REVIEW
Figure 7: Guitar Hero complete kit (2005)
When Guitar Hero was first introduced in 2005, it easily attracted major
audiences by using the formula of success that had been achieved by the previous rhythm
games genre. This game is extremely successful. It is chosen by the author because of
its major influence in the music videogame industry. The Guitar Hero series has been the
main platform to introduce new songs from rising rock stars and to resurrect the image of
existing legendary Rock bands like Metallica, Aerosmith and Van Halen to attract
younger audiences to their music. Even when Harmonix created a new version of game,
called Rock Band, which game still used elements from Guitar Hero before moving on to
create its own identity later. Even though Rock Band comes close as its main
competition, Guitar Hero has been able to maintain its popularity by releasing more
popular songs and downloadable features from the website.
15
The formula of the Guitar Hero series‘ success has many elements. Players have
easy access to the game on home consoles such as PS2, PS3, and X-Box. They do not
have to go a game arcade. Guitar Hero also hit its target market by using the music of
some of the greatest bands of all time, including the songs that were already well known
to the majority of rock fans from United States and Europe. Of equal importance with
these factors is the fact that its graphic quality is way better than previous guitar
simulation games like Guitar Freaks, allowing enhanced player involvement and
immersion—making it more fun.
Characters customization in Guitar Hero series
One of the most important features in the Guitar Hero series is the ability of
players to choose
characters as avatars and customize them according to the player‘s
taste. It has always been one of the basic principal of videogames to let the player take
control and that is what makes Guitar Hero so successful.
It allows the player to
customize pre-created characters to represent them as avatars performing in the game. So
far, there are more than ten original characters have been designed by the Guitar Hero art
team. Every character is designed based on a particular genre in rock culture, and many
genres are represented.
16
Figure 8: Character customization option in Guitar Hero series
When the first Guitar Hero game appeared in 2005, it introduced several
characters including:
1) The „Metalhead‟ Axel Steel
Figure 9: Metal Head’ Axel Steel
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Alex Steel is one of only a handful of characters to appear in every game in the
series. His clothing style and attitude in the game represents the Metal
Headbanger style by showing his long hair, strong build, sharp metallic
accessories, and torn jeans. He also appeared as an awesome guitar player, a fan
of motorcycles and skulls, and a man who loves to party.
Alex Steel was inspired by some of the popular Rock solo guitarists in Heavy
Metal or Thrash Metal genre such as Mick Box (Uriah Heep), Dave Mustaine
(Megadeth), Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society / Ozzy Osbourne), Phil Campbell
(Motorhead), Kirk Hammet (Metallica), Kerry King (Slayer) and Dave Murray
(Iron Maiden).
Figure 10: Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) and Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society/ Ozzy Osbourne)
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2) „Black Metal‟ Lars Ümlaüt
Figure 11: ‘Black Metal’ Lars Umlaut
Lars Ümlaüt is one of the characters from the Guitar Hero series representing the
Extreme/Black Metal genre, particularly the Scandinavian regional scenes like Germany
and Norway. His distinctive look can be recognized by his face paint, typically called
―corpse paint‖, his black leathery pants, and dangling metal straps and spikes on the hand
and shoulder pad, representing the extreme fashion style of this genre. He is inspired by
the look of the band, ―Immortal‖, from Bergen, Norway
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Figure 12: ‘Immortal’ band- Black metal
3) „Punk rocker‟ Johnny Napalm
Figure 13: ‘Punk rocker’ Johnny Napalm
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Johnny Napalm represents the punk genre in the Guitar Hero series with his
incredible Mohawk hair style, tall, slim, and lanky body with tattoos, and he does not
usually wear any shirt while performing on stage. He wears the torn up jeans and
sneakers appropriate for punk rock artists. Punk rock is a rock music genre that
developed from 1974 to 1976 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia
expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive clothing and hair styles like
Mohawk and Skinhead. Johnny embodies the true spirit of punk rock with his signature
swagger and skills. His aggressive behavior on the stage and when performing is very
intense, showing the real attitude of a punk rocker. This character‘s mannerism was
inspired by the Sex Pistols‘s bassist, Sid Vicious, and The Casualties‘ vocalist, Jorge
Herrera, whose hair is fashioned with a spiked Mohawk.
Figure 14: Sid Vicious (Sex Pistol) and Jorge Herrera (The Casualties)
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4) „Alternative rocker‟ Judy Nails
Figure 15: ‘Alternative Rocker’ Judy Nails
Judy Nails is one of the regular characters since the start of the Guitar
Hero series. She represents Alternative rock with the combination of gothic and punk
rock look in her appearance. She stands out from the other characters in the series due to
her distinctive black smoky eyes and lips, striking red hair, and clothing with metallic
accessories that are a
―must have‖ for every rock artist. Her appearance has changed
from time to time in the series, but she still maintains the combination of gothic and dark
with something striking and attractive in her clothing styles. The Judy Nails character
was inspired by Judita Wignall of ‗Halo Friendlies‘ and ‗Scouts of Saint Sebastian‘. She
also shows a strong resemblance to Lyn-Z, the bassist of ‗Mindless Self Indulgence‘.
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Figure 16: Judita Wignall of (Halo Friendlies/ Scouts of Saint Sebastian) and Lyn-Z, (Mindless Self
Indulgence)
5) „Hard Rocker‟ Casey Lynch
Figure 17: ‘Hard Rocker’ Casey Lynch
23
Casey Lynch has been a regular character in the Guitar Hero series since
she was first introduced in Guitar Hero 2 . She represents the Hard Rock genre in
the game. She is always dressed in dark leather pants, the most popular outfits for
the Hard rock artists like KISS and Aerosmith, and a jacket with a black bra
underneath it. Her distinctive look is her dirty blonde hair with bangs and black
choker necklace. Her personality was inspired by Linda Lou, lead singer and
guitarist of the LA band, “Cockpit”.
Figure 18: Linda Lou (vocalist and guitarist) with ‘Cockpit’ band
24
6) „J-Rock girl‟ Midori
Figure 19: ‘J-Rock girl’ Midori
Guitar Hero series also introduced the one and only Asian rock character from
Japan named Midori. She made her first appearance in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
and became a regular in the series representing the Asian rockers. Her appearance was
influenced by the local Japanese rock genre, well known as J-Rock or Visual Kei. She
sports a cute and cheeky attitude and wears a Japanese school uniform as her costume on
25
stage. She also has a ridiculous hair color like flashy green or sometimes bright red. Her
accessories are sometimes outrageous, like a giant bow on her head or bunny ears, this is
just one of the ways to show the craziness of Japanese rock bands like ‗An Café‘ and
‗Scandal‘ when it comes to its fashion and styles.
Figure 20: Linda Lou (vocalist and guitarist) with ‘Cockpit’ band
Environments and venues in Guitar Hero series
As interesting as the characters look, Guitar Hero series also offered exciting
venues and environments for the Rock performances in the game. As noted, these were
important to the success of the series in that they fostered player involvement and
immersion in a way that previous rhythm based games were unable to achieve. The
venues vary from fantasy based to locations such as Times Square in New York and even
prison. Each environment is designed based on a specific rock genre, appropriate to the
group on stage at that location.
26
Figure 21: Dream stage; Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Figure 22: Desert stage, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
27
Figure 23: Grey stage, Guitar Hero: Metallica
Figure 24: Park stage, Guitar Hero 5
28
Rock Influence in Asia
Since this thesis deals with the impact and effect of cultural differences in artistic
styles upon player immersion in a game, specifically whether use of game assets based on
Asian designs and styles can be as functional and acceptable to Western audiences as
assets based on Western culture have been in Asia, it is appropriate to examine a
sampling of art, design, and styles from Asian cultures. To represent Asia in this regard,
Japan, China, and Malaysia have been selected as appropriate due to the significant
impact of their art styles within Asia and worldwide.
1) Rock history in Japan
Western rock has been popular in Japan since the 1960s, when the Japanese bands
like The Spiders and The Wild Ones were influenced by the most popular Western rock
bands of that era, such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. The Mod
fashion subculture originated in London, England addressed the ―fashion-obsessed and
hedonistic cult of the hyper cool people‖ (Wikipedia,2011)
29
Figure 25: The Spiders, earliest Japan rock band (1960s)
At the end of the 1960s, the Japanese began to adapt western rock songs into
their traditional folk songs. That led to the development of Japanese country rock which
became popular in the 1970s.
A band from Okinawa, named Shoukichi Kina &
Champloose, blended Okinawan traditional music with a strong Western rock influence.
Figure 26: Champloose at Chakra Livehouse, Kokusai- dori, Naha, Japan (2008)
30
In the 1980s, Boowy was the first Japanese rock band influenced by alternative
rock and inspired many Japanese rock bands at that time including mainstream bands
such as Glay and The Pillows which are still popular till today. Also during the 80s,
Japanese Metal rock began to rise and gave birth to the new genre, Visual Kei,
represented by the most popular Japanese rock bands ever, such as X Japan, Buck Tick,
Luna Sea and Malice Mizer. Visual Kei artists are well known all around the world
because of the uniqueness of their fashion and stage presentation.
Figure 27: X-Japan and Malice Mizer (1980s
During the 1990s, Japanese rock musicians, such as B‟z, Southern All Stars, and
L‟Arc-en- Ciel, achieved great commercial success when rock genre became popular and
widely accepted by its fans in the late 1980s. All commercial rock songs are well known
as J-Pop and often used in films, television advertisement, and drama series in Japan.
31
J-Pop‘s popularity led to much criticism by the rock fans in Japan who said that J-Pop is
too consumerist and shallow.
Figure 28: B’z and L’Arc-en-Ciel (1990s)
Nowadays underground Japanese rock bands are more likely known for Indie
groups like FLOW, Orange Range and Asian Kungfu Generation who have competed so
successfully with the bands of the 1990s that some of them have become popular not just
in Asia but all around the world.
Figure 29: Asian Kungfu Generation (2000)
32
Figure 30: Orange Range (2000)
2) Chinese rock Dilemma.
Usually referred as Mandorock and Cantorock depending on the song‘s language,
rock influence in China is significant. At first, rock songs were used during 1980s
for politic propaganda by the Communists
until the Northwest Wind anthem
―Nothing to My Name‖ was first performed by Cui Jian, which introduced into postrevolutionary China a whole new ethos that combined individualism and direct, bold
expression. Since then Chinese rock bands began to gain popularity.
33
Figure 31: Cui Jian (1980s)
During the 1990s, a Chinese rock band called Tang Dynasty, whose styles were
comparable to British Heavy metal, successfully sold their debut album, ―A Dream
Return to Tang Dynasty‖, selling over 2 million copies throughout Asia, including
Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. In this period, Chinese rock bands embraced glam
rock styles with pretty face, long hair, jeans, silver accessories, and black leather
coats for their attire as well as grunge styles. These influences from Western countries
have shifted the attitudes of many of China‘s intellectuals, and they are starting to
neglect Chinese traditional and rural culture.
34
Figure 32: Tang Dynasty band(1990s)
Due to this fact, the Communist party banned many of the songs created by
Chinese rock bands, but the underground scene started to grow since that. English
language is widely used by the rock bands to express the words that Chinese lyrics
cannot, and also to provide crossover to the Western music market. The turning point
for rock in China was Cui Jian‘s performance with The Rolling Stones in 2003. This
performance opened the genre to the rest of the world for the first time.
3) Rock movements in Malaysia
During 1965 to 1971, the music and the fashions of The Beatles and other British
Rock and Roll bands had a strong influence on many Malaysian rock bands. In Malaysia,
the term Rock and Roll had been localized into Malay language as „Pop yeh-yeh‟. This
genre was popular, not just in Malaysia but also Singapore and Brunei. At that time this
genre was dominated by one popular rock band called M. Shariff & The Zurah which
maintained its popularity until the 1980s.
35
Figure 33: M Shariff and The Zurah (1960s)
At the end of the 1960s many Malaysian rock bands tried so hard to imitate The
Beatles that there are not so many varieties of song choices at that time. Those bands who
tried to look and sound like The Beatles introduced the name „Kugiran‟ which is an
abbreviation for ‗Kumpulan Gitar Rancak‘ into Malay language.
In the English
language, this would translate as ―Rhythmic Guitar Bands‖. Not counting the vocalist,
these band were comprised of five members: a lead guitarist, a base player, a rhythmguitarist, a keyboardist, and a drummer. ‗Kugiran‘ rock bands have produced many well
known songs. One song, entitled ―La Aube‖ and performed by The Swallows, was
featured in a radio station in Germany and stayed there for a while in the German pop
chart.
36
Figure 34: The Swallows (1960s)
In the late 1980s, slow rock, Heavy metal, Hard rock and Blues gained popularity
in Malaysia. Popular rock bands from the West, like Scorpions, Led Zeppelin, Deep
Purple, and Def Leppard, were some of the major influences on the Malaysian rock
bands at that time. M.Nasir, the song writer and producer from Singapore, played a role
shaping rock music in Malaysia. In 1990s, he produced local commercial rock bands like
Search and Wings, the most legendary Malaysian rock bands to this day, well known
throughout Southeast Asia.
37
Figure 35: Search (1990s)
In the mid-80s and mid-90s, other Malaysian rock bands, using genres such as
punk, hardcore and ska were moving underground under the glamour of pop music. The
underground scene in Malaysia at that time was really strong and slowly gained many
music fans and followers throughout the period. At the end of the 1990s, after gaining
much support, these independent bands, such as Butterfingers and OAG, started to work
with major music record companies and brought fresh sounds and new evolution to the
Malaysian rock music industry.
38
Today, independent rock bands, such as Hujan and Meet Uncle Hussain, as well
as solo rock performer like Yuna, Faizal Tahir and Anna Rafali have gained much
popularity due to the uniqueness in the music composition of their songs and also due to
their appearance which is different than just typical Western influenced rock bands.
Figure 36: Rising star Rock performer in Malaysia (from above left: Meet Uncle Hussein, Hujan, Anna
Rafali and Faizal Tahir)
39
Introduction to traditional cultures of Japan, China and Malaysia
1) Japan
Japan‘s culture has greatly evolved over millennia from the country‘s prehistoric
period to its contemporary hybrid culture from Asia, Europe, and the United States. Since
the 7th century, the Japanese developed its own unique style in painting, calligraphy,
ikebana (flower arrangement) and sculpture. Ukiyo-E, a painting style that uses
woodblock prints, became popular and widely use in fabric patterns for Japanese
traditional clothing.
Figure 37: kimono fabric patterns based on Ukiyo-E
40
The traditional Japanese clothing also distinguishes Japan from all other countries
around the world. Kimono means ―something one wears‖ and is the traditional garment
from Japan, wearable both by male and female, although men mainly wear darker or
muted colors while women tend to wear brighter colors and pastels with floral patterns.
Figure 38: Kimono, traditional Japanese clothing
41
Kabuki is one of the most popular traditional theatres. It originated in the Edo
period during the sixteenth century. It is only performed by men, including the feminine
characters. Martial arts, such as Karate and Kendo , are some of the Japanese culture that
is widely known in the whole world.
2) China
China‘s traditional culture is one of the oldest and most complex cultures aside
from that of India, with the culture varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces.
Today there are fifty six distinct recognized ethnic groups in China, which results in a
wide variety of artistic styles and designs. Chinese traditional art encompasses all types
of architecture, fine art, folk art, poetry, porcelain pottery, and performance art. Its art is
distinctive for its symmetrical pattern based on its Yin and Yang principal, meaning
‗balance and harmony‘. In architecture, the Chinese use the art of fengshui, to create good
luck to its owner. It too evidences balance in composition.
42
Figure 39: Hanfu and cheongsam; Chinese traditional clothing
Chinese traditional costumes, referred to as Hanfu or traditional Han Chinese
clothing, is a fashion from Qing Dynasty, China‘s last imperial dynasty. It is still popular
today and uses mostly red colors as a sign of fortune. The fashion evolved until the
nineteenth century when Cheongsam and Samfoo, a simple version for Chinese
traditional clothing, was introduced.
43
Figure 40: Phoenix and Dragon, Chinese mythical creatures
China is also popular for its legendary folk lore creatures like dragon and phoenix.
The stories and myths of these two creatures always associated with Chinese art and
literature has become a part of China‘s identity in the eyes of the world.
44
3) Malaysia
The culture of Malaysia is diverse due to its multiracial population. The varied cultures
of the different peoples are mixed within it. Art and music have a long tradition in
Malaysia, dating back to the Malay Sultanates era. Traditional art and pattern heavily
influenced by Persian, Arabic and British cultures create the unique motifs in its fashion,
carvings, weaving, and silver works. Before Islam, Malay people embraced Hinduism.
Performing arts like „Wayang Kulit‟, or shadow puppet shows, in English language were
popular until Islam came to Malaysia in the nineteenth century.
Islam does not allow
artwork that depicts humans, so plants and flower motifs became widely used. The
architecture of traditional houses in Malaysia has inspired modern buildings including the
tallest twin towers in the world, Petronas Twin Towers.
Figure 41: Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet heavily influenced by Hinduism culture)
45
Figure 42: Traditional motifs influenced by nature
Figure 43: Nyonya kebaya; a culture fusion between Malay and Chinese people
Figure 44: Ethnic groups in Malaysia
46
The society of Malaysia has been described as ―Asia in miniature‖. Every culture
looks distinctively significant yet harmonizes at the same time with the other cultures in
Malaysia making Malaysia very unique and deserving of the slogan, ―Malaysia Truly
Asia‖.
The fusion between Asian and Western Rock culture
Asian rock bands were heavily influenced by the Western cultures, since rock
music is originally from the west, but some of the Western cultural elements are not
appropriate to the Asian people. Western Rock is rough with few, if any, restrictions at
all, unlike Asian culture which is full with mannerism and grace.
More recently, some of the rock bands in Asia have begun to find their own
identity by implementing traditional Asian music in their songs. They also introduced the
uniqueness of Asian rock through graphics design and through fashion. Malaysia‘s solo
Rock performer, Anna Rafali, always wears „Kebaya‟, the Malay traditional clothing, at
every performance as part of her identity as a Malaysian rock artist.
47
Figure 45: Anna Rafali performing with Kebaya, Malaysian traditional clothing
Asian rock band music videos are often made in interesting locations across Asia
and serve to introduce the Asian culture to audiences around the world. Japanese rock
bands, such as Orange Range and Gackt, are some of the Asian rock bands that use
Japanese traditional culture in their music video entitled ‗O2‘, while Gackt does the same
with his song entitled ‗Returner‘. By combining Asian traditional culture with the sound
of rock music, the result is unique and entertaining to watch, for which reason Asian rock
bands are starting to be recognized and gain in popularity in the homeland of rock music,
the United States and Europe.
48
Figure 46: Gackt and Orange Range, some of the Japanese rock bands implement traditional cultures
in their performances
SUMMARY
Rock music is about its music, lifestyle, culture, and ideology. From the study
above it is amazing to see how rock music which came from the Western world touched
the people of the other half of the world as well. Asia is a melting pot of thousands of
cultures, and somehow the Asian people adapted to Western music without forgetting
their own roots. Right now Asian Rock music has starting to become known by the rock
fans from the United States and Europe, but all the Asian bands need right now is a
worldwide platform to show the uniqueness of Asian rock music to the rest of the world.
49
Guitar Hero would be a perfect vehicle introducing Asian rock music and its
culture to the world. Therefore, the goal for this thesis is to create the characters and
environment based on Asian cultures by implementing the uniqueness of patterns,
accessories, and traditional clothing from three distinctive cultures from three distinctive
countries (Japan, China and Malaysia) and mix it with the Western Rock culture to create
one casual and modern look that would be suitable for performances in the Guitar Hero
series, using the inspiration from traditional architectures from these three countries to
create the environments for the venue itself.
50
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
PROCESS AND DEVELOPMENT
The overarching theme of this study is the impact and effect of cultural
differences in artistic styles upon player involvement and immersion in a game. More
specifically, it examines whether Western audiences would be as accepting of art assets
and environments drawn from Asian culture as Asian audiences have been in accepting
art assets and environment drawn mainly on Western (American and European) culture.
More specifically still, it uses art created for the video game, Guitar Hero, to perform this
analysis.
Ideally, one would have a full team of artists, designers, and programmers
available to work over a period of many months to create and test a complete playable
mockup level of the game if one were to properly test this thesis. Since such abundance
in not available to this researcher, either in terms or time or manpower, investigation at
that scale must be left for future inquiries into this question.
This researcher must advance as far as possible toward that model [the complete
level] but do so within the limits of the time and manpower available. As this is written,
a date has already been selected for the Defense of this paper: the week of November
14th, 2011, a few months in the future.
51
If a complete level of the game were to be created, the steps in that process would
begin with a research and planning stage then progress through asset concepting,
modeling, unwrapping, initial texture creation, rigging of models for animation, creation
of animations, creation of an export model, importation of the model and basic textures
into the game, creation of material shaders in game to apply the textures to the models,
adjustment of lighting in the game, and a phase during which the level is played and
tested to find and fix defects. Realistically, the researcher has the resources to achieve
the first two of those steps at a professional level. So the aim of this project will be to
create and test a complete set of concept art which could be used to create a mock level of
Guitar Hero. It will employ Asian art and design in order to test the overall theory of this
paper.
If, during the process of creating these assets, it becomes evident that it will be
possible to proceed further—say to the stage at which models are created, unwrapped,
and textured—the researcher will do so and adjust this paper to include the additional
data.
RESEARCH
The game, Guitar Hero, were examined to determine how many assets of what
different types were needed to be created in order to create a level of the game. The
researcher attempted, to the extent possible, obtained a complete set of concept art
examples from the game. These examples establish the ―bar‖, the level of quality and
polish which must be reached by work created for this project.
Research was also conducted into Asian culture, art, and design. Asia includes
hundreds of countries, each with history and culture going back to the dawn of
52
civilization on this planet. The wealth of information could be overwhelming. In order
to bring structure to this research, investigation was limited to three of the largest and
most influential of the Asian cultures: Japanese, Chinese, and Malaysian. The goal of the
research was to identify Asian styles in art, design, textiles, and architecture that could be
used to produce a set of concept art for a mock level of Guitar Hero.
CREATION OF CONCEPT ART
Concept art for this project started as pencil sketches using traditional media.
Those were scanned and reworked in Photoshop to add finished line work, color, shading,
and textures. Final art were at a printable resolution of 300 dpi in jpeg format.
DATA COLLECTION AND PROCEDURES
The Review established that all games in this genre, prior to Guitar Hero, had
limited success overall and limited geographic saturation whereas Guitar Hero achieved
worldwide success, due in large part to the fact that its art assets, unlike those of its
predecessors, invite players into a world in which they become personally involved,
allowing them to become immersed in gameplay. Just as existing levels of Guitar Hero
were envisioned in concept art prior to their creation in 3D, this researcher created a set
of concept art envisioning a new level in an imaginary new edition of Guitar Hero called
Guitar Hero: The Great Asian Tour.
Theoretically, these art assets should provide
sufficient visual information to enable an audience to determine whether the asset set is
as effective as those used in the creation of current levels of the game and whether the
audience would be interested in playing the game in such a level.
53
TEST DESCRIPTION
Test subjects were shown two sets of concept art packages. One will be concept
art from a current level of Guitar Hero. The other will be the concept art created for this
project.
It is anticipated that some participants will be familiar with the concept art from
the existing game and some will not.
After viewing both packages of concept art, participants were asked to rank each
set from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest possible score) as to visual interest,
narrative/storytelling quality, level of professional polish, emotional impact, and whether
they would enjoy playing a level based on such art. Each will also indicate whether he
was familiar with the real Guitar Hero art prior to the test. One half of the test subjects in
each ethnic group will be shown the researcher‘s art package first, and half will be shown
the other package first. The researcher took note of that data at the time of testing.
PARTICIPANT SELECTION
Test subjects participated on a volunteer basis. Participants were screened to
insure that 1) they were age 18 or above, 2) were gamers, and 3) were familiar with
Guitar Hero, its art, and gameplay. Each was asked whether his experience with Guitar
Hero is casual, moderate, or dedicated and to list the number of months or years he has
played the game. Since ethnicity has a bearing upon the resulting data, each participant
was asked to state ethnic origin and, if Asian, whether he considers himself to be Asian or
Asian American. Effort was made to obtain as large an audience as possible. The goal
54
was to obtain 10 participants of Western ethnic origin, 10 Asian Americans, and 10
Asian. This was achieved.
TEST SETTING
Testing took place either at the Guildhall at SMU, at the New York Comic Con,
and online through the researcher‘s website [www.xanseviera.deviantart.com],
DATA ANALYSIS
After viewing both art packages, the participants were asked to answer survey
questions calculated to determine whether the set of concept art created by the researcher
was as acceptable as actual game concept art and whether the participants would enjoy
playing a level of the game based on those concepts. Data analysis, which follows, is
quantitative in nature.
General Questions
Participants were screened to insure that 1) they are age 18 or above, 2) are gamers, 3)
Are they familiar with the art in the videogames.
55
1) Age
Age
100%
90%
80%
70%
50<
60%
40-50
50%
30-39
40%
18-29
30%
> 18
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 1: Age
Except for a 10 per cent variation in the Asian group, all participants were 29 years old or
younger with the majority in each ethnic group ranging between 18 and 29 years old.
This has significance in that it matches the main target audience of the original Guitar
Hero series which focused on young gamer audiences.
56
2) Ethnicity
ethnicity
Western
Asian American
participant
Asian
0
2
4
6
8
Table 2: Ethnicity
Each ethnic group had 10 participants.
57
10
12
3) Is your occupation / education related to the game industry?
Occupation/education related to game
industry
12
10
8
Yes
6
No
4
2
0
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 3: Occupation/education related to game industry
Only two Asian American and three Western participants had an occupation or education
related to the game industry. None of the other participants did.
58
4) Is your occupation / education art related?
Occupation/education related art related
9
8
7
6
5
Yes
4
No
3
2
1
0
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 4: Occupation/education art related
The majority of the participants had an art related background. This was viewed as a
positive factor since people with a background in art would be, at least theoretically,
better qualified to pass judgment on the quality and effectiveness of the researcher‘s art
package.
59
5) Years playing games
Years playing games
100%
90%
80%
70%
21<
60%
10 to 20
50%
5 to 9
40%
1 to 4
30%
0 (not a gamer)
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 5: Years playing games
Seventy per cent of western participants had ten to twenty years gaming experience
compared to thirty per cent of Asian Americans, and twenty per cent of Asians. All
participants had at least some game playing experience.
60
6) Hours per week playing games
Hours per week playing video games
100%
90%
80%
70%
21<
60%
10 to 20
50%
5 to 9
40%
1 to 4
30%
0 (not a gamer)
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 6: hours per week playing videogames
Most of the participants spend one to four hours per week to play videogames, but twenty
per cent of Asian Americans and ten per cent of Western participants spend ten to twenty
hours per week to play their favorite videogames.
61
Guitar Hero Questions
Each participant was asked 1) are familiar with Guitar Hero, 2) whether his experience
with Guitar Hero is casual, moderate or dedicated, and 3) whether he is familiar with the
art in Guitar Hero videogames.
1) Are you familiar with Guitar Hero videogame series?
Are you familiar with Guitar Hero?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Not at all
50%
Somewhat
40%
Yes
30%
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 7: Are you familiar with Guitar Hero?
Except for 2 Asian participants, all participants in each ethnic group were familiar with
the game to one extent or another. The fact that it was the Asian group in which there
were participants who were not familiar with the game underscores the researcher‘s
62
assertion that, while Guitar Hero has achieved some acceptance in the Asian market, it‘s
penetration in that vast market could be improved.
2) What type of gamer are you when playing Guitar Hero videogames?
What type of gamer are you when playing
Guitar Hero?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Hardcore
50%
Moderate
40%
Casual
30%
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 8: What type of gamer are you when playing Guitar Hero videogames?
Aside from two participants who did not play Guitar Hero videogames, sixty five per cent
of Asian participants are casual Guitar Hero gamers while twenty five per cent are
hardcore gamers. Seventy per cent of Asian American participants are casual Guitar Hero
gamers, and sixty per cent of Western participants are moderate Guitar Hero gamers. It is
interesting that the Asian ethnic group, while it had twenty per cent that had never played
the game, also had the largest percentage of hard core Guitar Hero players.
63
3) Are you familiar with the quality of art in Guitar Hero?
Are you familiar with the quality of art in
Guitar Hero?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Not at all
50%
Somewhat
40%
Yes
30%
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 9: Are you familiar with the quality of art in Guitar Hero?
Two [twenty per cent] participants from the Asian ethnic group could not respond
because they never play Guitar Hero. Almost half of the participants had some familiarity
with the quality of art in Guitar Hero series. Over half expressed full familiarity with the
quality of the art in the game.
64
4) Do you like Guitar Hero art style?
Do you like Guitar Hero art style?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Not at all
50%
Somewhat
40%
Yes
30%
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 10: Do you like Guitar Hero art style?
Sixty per cent of both Asian American and Western groups liked the art style of Guitar
Hero. Only forty per cent of Asians did. Overall, the art style was liked, at least
somewhat, by all participants except for one of the Western participants.
65
5) Do you consider it is important to customize your character?
Is it important to customize your character?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Not at all
50%
Somewhat
40%
Yes
30%
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 11: Is it important to customize your character?
A majority of the Western participants agreed it is important to customize one‘s
character, while half or more of the Asian American and Asian participants felt that
customizing character in Guitar Hero is not all that important. Two of the American
Asians responded that customizing character in the game is not really important at all.
66
6) Is the choice of venue important to you?
Is the choice of venue is important to you?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Not at all
50%
Somewhat
40%
Yes
30%
20%
10%
0%
Asian
Asian American
Western
Table 12: Is the choice of venue important to you?
Choice of venue is one of the elements present in Guitar Hero. Since one way of stating
the purpose of this paper is whether an Asian venue would be accepted or rejected by the
participants, it was important to ask this question. Asians are divided on the unsure.
Forty per cent felt it was not important at all. An equal number said it was important.
Forty per cent of Asian Americans agreed with those Asians who said choice of venue
was important. Forty per cent said it was at least somewhat important. Only twenty per
cent said it did not matter at all. In the western group, thirty per cent said it was
important. Sixty per cent said it was at least somewhat important, and only one person
said it was not important. Overall, choice of venue was, at best, only somewhat
important.
67
References to the Concept Art of Guitar Hero: Asian Tour Questions
In these following charts, the participants were asked to compare the researcher‘s
package of concept art with concept art from the actual game All the questions are rated
by number from scale one to five, with 5 being the top score.
1) Does the concept art for the Asian Tour appeal to you?
Does the concept art for Guitar Hero: Asian
tour appeal to you?
Western
1 (not at all)
2
Asian American
3
4
5 (A lot)
Asian
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Table 13: Does the concept art for Guitar Hero: Asian tour appeal to you?
NOTE: This question was asked in reference to the art package prepared by the
researcher. A majority of the participants from Asian and Asian American groups stated
that the concept art for Guitar Hero: Asian Tour is really appealing to them. Western
participants were divided but half did give it top marks. Overall, that majority of
participants said they like the art a lot. No one gave the art lower than a ranking of four.
68
2) Compared to the concept art from the actual game, the art for Guitar Hero:
Asian tour is…
Comparison of quality between original
Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero: Asian tour
concept art
Western
1 (lesser quality)
2
Asian American
3
4
5 (Better quality)
Asian
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Table 14: Comparison of quality between original Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero: Asian tour concept
art.
Based from the chart above, seventy per cent of the Asian participants strongly agree that
researcher‘s Guitar Hero: Asian Tour concept art is much better than the original Guitar
Hero concept art. The majority of all participants ranked it better than the original Guitar
Hero concept art.
69
3) Would you enjoy playing a level based on this art? (Assuming the music rocks)
Would you enjoy playing a level based on
this art?
Western
1 (Not at all)
2
Asian American
3
4
5 (A lot)
Asian
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Table 15: Would you enjoy playing a level based on this art?
Only a couple of the Asian participants said they would not enjoy playing a level based
on the researcher‘s art. The majority said that they would. Perhaps the two Asians who
responded negatively were the two who had never played the game.
70
4) To what degree do you relate any of these characters with yourself?
To what degree do you relate any of these
characters with yourself?
Western
1 (Not at all)
2
Asian American
3
4
5 (A lot)
Asian
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Table 16: Would you enjoy playing a level based on this art?
Western participants had mixed feelings as to how close they could relate themselves to
the Guitar Hero: Asian Tour characters.
Most of the Asian American and Asian
participants felt they could relate to the characters. This dichotomy is understandable and
is the reverse of what Asians and Asian Americans have felt playing the current game
since it has had virtually no Asian based art or characters.
71
5) The use of Asian design elements was:
The effectiveness in using Asian design
elements in concept art
Western
1 (Not pleasing)
2
Asian American
3
4
5 (very pleasing)
Asian
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Table 17: The effectiveness in using Asian design elements
Overall, every participant agrees that the use of Asian design elements in the concept art
is very pleasing.
72
6) Suggestions or comments about the Guitar Hero: Asian tour concept art.
In this section participants are free to express their opinion about the concept art. All
the comments are different, based on the participant‘s ethnicity. Below are the
comments and suggestions made by the participants.
Comment #1
“I would like to see more characters and more stage designs. They were all really
good, and incorporated the designs well”
Comment #2
“My favourite character design is China. It really stands out for me. I also
think that the guitar designs are a lot more detailed than most of the actual guitar
hero ones and the Japan one is much more visually interesting than the guitar
hero ones because it manages to stay true to the guitar form, but yet really
stylized. (Nothing wrong with having un-guitar shaped guitars, but it can get a
little boring after a while and it‟s nice to see something different.) My own idea
for improvement would be that the two male characters look quite similar
physically to one another (not outfits, they are very striking and I like them a lot)
it‟s just that they both seem to have the same hair colour and body shape, the only
real difference in the glasses. (Japan‟s headdress kinda gives the impression of
long hair so it seems similar to Malaysia.) Where as in the female characters,
they have different hair colour and body shape and drastically different clothing
73
styles. So maybe change one of the males hair colour. For the venue, again, I like
the Asian tour one more, it‟s something different and fresh from what has been
seen on guitar hero and seems very fun. I also love the drum pattern, very
beautiful and I think I like it even more so because it is inspired by the batik
pattern, it gives a real essence of the place, if that makes sense? Based on the art,
I would buy this if it was in the shops because it looks very, very awesome”
Comment #3
“It‟s so rad. I love it!!!!”
Comment #4
“All the costumes are very beautiful. It seems there is much more efforts put in the
conception of the Asian characters than the Americans ones”
Comment #5
“I like the overall style and would like to see the outfits and instruments in future
games included within the western designs”
Comment #6
“The males are very female looking, not sure if that‟s appealing to a western
audience”
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Comment #7
“Love the detail. To modernize Asian components, details and accessories are
really necessary so I love it, especially how colorful the designs are, and the
cutesy feeling without being over the top (I have some outfits similar to some of
them)”
Comment #8
“Nice use of textures. Interesting combination of western/eastern”
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CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
DISCUSSION
General questions and Guitar Hero questions.
The general question section focused on the participants themselves. It was a
very good group with which to test the researcher‘s theories.
There were thirty
participants in all. Ten were Westerners, members of what we shall call, for the purposes
of this paper, the Western culture. Ten were Asian Americans, members of the Western
culture but with Asian roots. And Ten were simply Asians, people reared in Asian
cultures. By and large, their age range was the ideal target audience for Guitar Hero, and
virtually all were gamers. Most were familiar with Guitar Hero as a game and familiar,
to one degree or another, with its art style. If this was not an ideal test group, it was very
close. It is interesting that the Asian group was largely familiar with the game, even
though two were not. And no other ethnic group had any members who were not familiar
with the game. This reflects the worldwide popularity of the game but also the fact that
penetration of the Asian market is not complete.
The questions as to whether venue was important to the players was important to
determine whether there was any bias against creation of an Asian venue in Guitar Hero.
Apparently, there is not.
The question as to whether the participants could identify with or relate to the
characters in the Asian Tour concept package is significant to reach a determination as to
76
the success of the art in allowing the players to become immersed in the game. No ability
to relate to the characters would mean no immersion. With few exceptions, mostly in the
Western group, participants did, indeed, feel an ability to relate to the art and characters.
That being the case, immersion in the game would be possible, all other elements being
equal and in place.
References to the concept art of Guitar Hero: Asian Tour questions.
The questions in this section were more directed to the Guitar Hero: Asian tour
concept art that had been made by the researcher. The purpose was to show that, if done
properly, use of Asian art and design can be as acceptable to Western audiences as
Western based assets have been to the Asian audiences and that it can be as effective as
Western art and assets in achieving player involvement and immersion in Guitar Hero
videogame series.
Most of the participants liked the concept art prepared for the imaginary Asian
Tour version of Guitar Hero. Virtually everyone agreed that it compared favorably in
style and quality to the actual concept art from Guitar Hero, and several felt it was
entirely superior. Then, the big question: did they feel they would enjoy playing an
edition of Guitar Hero using those concepts prepared by the researcher? The majority of
those tested, across all ethnicities, said that they would, and many were excited at the
prospect.
77
But even though most of the participants said they can see themselves enjoying
the game with the new design, when it comes to the representation of every character as
their avatar in Guitar Hero videogame, most of the Western participants can‘t see
themselves related to the new character design. This is already suspected during the early
research that people from different side of the world will only familiar with the culture
that they‘re already in. This is shown not only to Western people but also the other part of
the world, but majority of the participants from other ethnics can see the relation of
themselves with the new concept art for the game.
In the end, participants were asked whether the researcher was successful in
combining Asian design elements with the existing rock fashion genre in Guitar Hero
series. Every participant gave the highest rank, showing that they were very pleased with
the new concept art that they saw and considered it the equal of art currently used in the
game. This really positive comeback shows that even with the implementation of Asian
culture elements, the design still looks appealing and attractive to both Western and
Asian audiences.
CONCLUSION
At the beginning of this project, the development of Japanese musically based
games was traced to the development of Guitar Hero, a western based game that achieved
worldwide acclaim, which had eluded those prior games, and it was reasoned that Guitar
Hero‘s success was due to its ability to provide players with an immersive experience
beyond anything offered by those other games. It was further noted that this sense of
78
immersion was due to a combination of elements and that, along with music and the fun
of using a controller shaped like a guitar, the art style and presentation was a key element
of this combination.
It was noted that, although Guitar Hero was known and played worldwide, it had
yet to fully penetrate the great vastness of the Asian market. It was theorized that one
reason for this might be the almost complete absence of any trace of Asian characters, art,
or culture in the game. That led to the thought that, if art in the style of Guitar Hero but
based on Asian design and cultural influences could be used to create a new edition of the
game, that edition might be more widely accepted in Asia, thereby benefiting the
company that produces the game as well as the many people who would be able to enjoy
participating in it.
There were, however, many questions about whether this could be achieved.
Could the researcher successfully achieve work in the style of Guitar Hero [which was
not a style she then used]? If so, could she do that while successfully incorporating Asian
design, fashion, architecture, and other cultural elements? Would Asian audiences find
this work pleasing? Would it enable them to identify with the characters in the imaginary
version of Guitar Hero? If so, then the researcher‘s theory might be proven right.
Another issue remained: Assuming success with an Asian audience, would a
game based on concepts of Asian influence be rejected by Western audiences? Would
they be able to find immersion in identification with the characters and enjoyment of the
environment? If not, then the producers of Guitar Hero might find greater penetration of
the Asian market but only at the cost of alienating their core Western audience. That
would not be an optimal result.
79
This researcher is pleased to conclude that her project has proven successful on all
counts. A full package of concept art was produced in the style of Guitar Hero but with
Asian elements and influence. Test data indicates that it was equal or superior to actual
concept art used in the game and that those who saw it felt they could relate to it and
would enjoy playing an edition of the game based on such art. It is noted that Western
test participants did not all say they found it easy to relate to the art and characters. This
was, it is believed, an anticipated cultural bias, similar to what Asians now feel playing
the game in its current form which has no Asian characters, art, fashion, or architecture.
It was also anticipated that this bias, while evident in the response from the Western
participants, would not be true for all members of that group. This proved to be the case.
A significant number of Western test participants felt they would have no problem
relating to the art and characters.
It is logical to conclude, therefore, that, should an edition of Guitar Hero be
produced using concepts based on Asian influences, it might well prove to be a key to the
door of the Asian market and still be acceptable to Western audiences. If both Western
and Asian audiences are pleased with the product, the publisher and developer could
benefit from greater profit overall. As a result of this thesis, it is hoped that publishers
and developers will broaden the scope of their efforts and consider use of art and design
outside of that which is available in Western cultures when developing future editions of
games such as the Guitar Hero series.
80
REFERENCES
Brady, Mark (2008).Next Generation Character Creation Pipeline. SMU Guildhall, TX:
http://guildhall.smu.edu/fileadmin/Masters_Thesis_PDFS/Art_Creation/BradyFinal_Thesis_v1.3.pdf
WikiHero. (2009). Midori character Guitar Hero III. Retrieved January 20, 2011, from:
http://guitarhero.wikia.com/wiki/Midori
WikiHero. (2007). Guitar Hero series. Retrieved January 20, 2011, from:
http://guitarhero.wikia.com/wiki/Guitar_Hero_Wiki
Wikipedia. (2005). Guitar Hero series. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Hero
Wikipedia. (2007). Visual Kei definition. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_kei
This Day in Rock. (2008). Rock music history. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from:
http://www.thisdayinrock.com/
Wikia. (2008). Videogames sale. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from:
http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_game_industry#cite_note-13
Grierson, Tim (2011). What is Rock music?A Brief History of Rock Music. Retrieved 30 January
2011 from About.com: http://rock.about.com/od/rockmusic101/a/RockHistory.htm
wikipedia.com (2011). Rock Music. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_music
Wikipedia.com (2011). Guitar Freaks. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuitarFreaks
fakeplasticrock.com (2008). Our Fake Plastic Ancestors. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from
fakeplasticrock.com: http://www.fakeplasticrock.com/2008/11/our-fake-plastic-ancestors/
81
gamespot.com (2000). Guitar Freaks Append 2nd Mix. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from
gamespot.com:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps/action/guitarfreaksappend2ndmix/index.html?tag=gallery_summar
y%3Btitle
Patterson, Shane (). The History of Music Games 20 years of rhythm-based rocking - from DDR
to Guitar Hero. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from GamesRadar US:
http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/f/the-history-of-music-games/a-2008060393437857045/g20080522122632765025
Davis, Ryan (2002). Gitaroo Man review. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from gamespot.com:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/puzzle/gitarooman/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssum
mary&tag=summary%3Bread-review
wikipedia.com (2010). Otocky. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otocky
Boyer, Allison (). Principles of Video Game Design. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from mania.com:
http://www.mania.com/principles-video-game-design_article_116425.html
Lee, Andy (2010). Artist Andy Lee portfolio. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from
AndyLeeStudio.com: http://andyleestudio.blogspot.com/p/portfolio.html
wikipedia.com (2011). Music of Japan. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://andyleestudio.blogspot.comhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Japan/p/portfolio.html
wikipedia.com (2011). Music of Malaysia. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Malaysia
wikipedia.com (2010). Malaysian rock. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_rock
wikipedia.com (2010). Chinese Rock. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_rock
Terdiman, Daniel (2007). Why 'Guitar Hero' is rockin' the game charts. Retrieved 30 January
2011 from cnet.com: http://news.cnet.com/Why-Guitar-Hero-is-rockin-the-game-charts/20081043_3-6218385.html
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wikipedia.com (2011). Culture of Malaysia. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Malaysia
wikipedia.com (2010). Culture of Japan. Retrieved 30 January 2011 from wikipedia.com:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Japan#Visual_arts
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APPENDIX A: MILESTONE SCHEDULE
Summer break schedule (May-July 2011)
Done
Date
Week 1
Deliverable
Description
 Sketches works start
 Student starts work on
Thesis/Project.
 Sketches proposal
shown and approved
 Feedback on the
sketches
Turn in to
(May)
Week 2
Committee
via email
Week 3
 Lineart for the asset
start
Week 4
 Lineart progress
shown and approved
 Feedback on the
linearts
Committee
via email
 Coloring process start
 Finish concept art
characters coloring
Week 6
 Coloring process
shown
 Finish concept art
stage coloring
Week 7
 Coloring process
continues
 Finish concept art
stage coloring
Week 8
 Polish and touch up
process start
Week 9
 Polish and touch up
process continues
Week 5
(June)
(July)
Week 10
 Polish and touch up
process continues
84
Signature
Week 11
Week 12
 Polish and touch up
process continues and
approved
 Feedback on the final
artwork
 Data questions
prepared
 Feedback on the data
questions
Committee
via email
Committee
via email
Thesis development schedule (August-October 2011)
Done
Date
Week 1
Deliverable
 Data questions
prepared
Description
 Student starts work on
Thesis/Project.
(August)
Week 2
 Data questions
revision
Week 3
 Data collection
Week 4
 Data collection
Week 5
 Data process
 Data gathering from
Guildhall and online
(Sept)
Week 6
 Data process
Week 7
 Data process
Week 8
 Data process
Week 9
 Final documentation
85
Turn in to
Signature
(Oct)
Week 10
 Final documentation
Week 11
 Final documentation
and fixes.
 Feedback on the final
documentation
Committee
via email
Week 12
 Final documentation
and fixes
 Send to supervisor
Committee
via email
86
APPENDIX B: SURVEY MATERIAL
Guitar Hero: Asian tour concept art – researcher’s version. (package 01)
1) Splash page
87
-
Asian art is always based on nature and by adding floral pattern in the
splash page adding the uniqueness on the cover art compare to existing
Guitar Hero cover art.
2) Guitar Hero: Asian tour logo
-
The researcher modified Guitar Hero original logo to suits with the Asian
tour version.
-
Font for ‗Asian Tour‘ is based from Japanese writing style.
-
The smoke effect behind the logo giving the edgy and dark style.
88
3) Characters
89
China:
-
Character position: bassist.
-
Rock type: Alternative
-
Costume inspired by Cheongsam, it‘s a body-hugging one piece Chinese
dress for women. Originally came from Shang Hai, China during 1920s
and was made fashionable by socialites and upper-class women. The
modern look combined with old fashion Aviator style to give her a cheeky
and active personality
90
91
Japan:
-
Character position: drummer.
-
Rock type: Visual Kei, Glam rock
-
Costume based from Harajuku style from Japan. It‘s a Japanese fashion
adopted by the teenagers and young adults in the Harajuku train station
area and its side streets which have many boutiques and trendy clothes
shop. This style is focusing more to Visual Kei, which refers to a
movement among Japanese Rock by the use of elaborate costumes,
eccentric looks and hair styles. The hoodie inspired from 1950‘s Japanese
monster movie Gojira, which has been stylized to given more ‗kawaii‘
(cute) looks. The traditional ‗kitsune‘ (fox) mask is a sign of cunningness
and the agility of the character.
92
93
Malaysia:
-
Character position: vocalist.
-
Rock type: Glam Rock, Punk Rock.
-
Costume based on Malay traditional costume ‗Kebaya‘, originates in the
court of the Javanese Majapahit Kingdom as a means to blend the existing
female ‗Kemban‘, torso wrap of the aristocratic women to be more modest
and acceptable to the newly adopted Islam religion. The costume
embroided with a traditional pattern from ‗Songket‘ style, Malaysian
traditional weaving technique that mostly used gold threads, specially
made for the royal families during early 600s.
94
95
Malaysia:
-
Character position: Guitarist.
-
Rock type: Alternative Rock, Punk Rock.
-
Inspired from Sarawak sub-tribe Iban, from Malaysia. The Ibans are
renowned for their „Pua Kumbu‟ (traditional Iban weavings), silver craft,
wooden carvings and bead work, Iban tattoos, which were originally
symbols of bravery among Iban warriors, have become among the most
distinctive in the world. Pua Kumbu considered being a sacred object
especially woven for lifecycle rituals, the curves and symmetrical looks
represents the nature and compliments with the circle of life.
96
4) Music instruments
97
Guitar concept
Bass- Japan
-
The guitar concept is based from Japanese folklore entitled ‗Hagaromo‘
(the crane wife). This design is inspired from Japanese Ukiyo-E traditional
art.
Guitar- Malaysia
-
The design is inspired by Iban musical instrument ‗Sape‘. The sape is a
traditional lute of many of the sub-tribe people who live on the long
houses that line the rivers of Central Borneo. Sape are carved from a
single bole of wood and given Pua Kumbu design that resembles human
and nature.
98
99
Drumset concept
-
Drumset decorations are inspired from ‗Batik‘ pattern. Originally came
from Asia mainly Indonesia and Malaysia. The pattern is drawn on the
cloth traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. In
traditional Batik, the pattern themes usually taken from everyday lives,
incorporating patterns such as flowers, nature, animals, folklore or people.
Almost all the dye for the clothes is natural dyes that give Batik a
distinctive indigo and brownish color.
100
Stage Design
Inspired from Japanese traditional God, Fujin (God of Wind) and Raijin (God of
Thunder). Both of them always depicted together, bringing destruction by their
hurricanes and thunderstorm.
101
Guitar Hero - original concept art. (package 2)
1) Splash page
Guitar Hero: World Tour – Original cover (October 2008)
102
2) Characters
-
All the characters are based from the existing characters in Guitar Hero
series.
103
104
105
106
3) Stage Design
-
Original concept art from Guitar Hero 2.
107
5) Instrument design
-
Original concept art from Guitar Hero 2.
108
HARYATI MOHD EHSAN (GUITAR HERO QUESTION FORM)
Research form
Age:
___ >18
___ 18-29
___ 30-39
___ 40-50
___ 50<
Ethnicity (tick one below)
___ Asian American
___ Asian
___ Western
Is your occupation/education related to the game industry?
___Yes
___ No
Is your occupation/education art related?
___ Yes
___ No
Years playing games:
___ 0 (Not a gamer)
___ 1-4
___ 5-9
109
___ 10-20
___ 21<
Hours per week playing games:
___ 0 (Not a gamer)
___ 1-4
___ 5-9
___ 10-20
___ 21<
110
GUITAR HERO QUESTIONS:
Are you familiar with the Guitar Hero videogame series?
_____Yes _____ Somewhat _____Not at all
What type of gamer are you when playing Guitar Hero videogame?
___ Casual
___ Moderate ___ Hardcore
Are you familiar with the quality of art in Guitar Hero?
_____Yes _____ Somewhat _____Not at all
Do you like the Guitar Hero art style?
_____Yes _____ Somewhat _____Not at all
Do you consider it important to customize your character?
_____Yes _____ Somewhat _____Not at all
Is the choice of venue important to you?
_____Yes _____ Somewhat _____Not at all
111
THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS REFER TO THE CONCEPT ART FOR
THE ASIAN TOUR:
(circle a number)
1) Does the concept art for the Asian Tour appeal to you?
Not at all
1
2
3
4
5
A lot
2) Compared to the concept art from the actual game, the art for the Asian Tour is
Lesser quality
1
2
3
4
5 Better quality
3) Would you enjoy playing a level based on this art? (Assuming the music rocks)
Not at all 1 2
3
4
5
A lot
4) To what degree do you relate any of these characters with yourself?
Not at all 1
2
3
4
5 A lot
5) The use of Asian design elements was:
Not pleasing
1
2
3
4
5
Very pleasing
6) Do you have any suggestion/comments about the concept art?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
112
VITA
Haryati Mohd Ehsan is a professional artist with two years of work experiences in
comic and game industry, was born in October 14th, 1983 at Petaling Jaya, Selangor,
Malaysia. Her parents’ names are Mohd Ehsan Amin and Rosnani Salimin. She attended
local university at her hometown, University Teknologi Mara, Malaysia and got her
Bachelor of Art Degree in Graphic Design there and currently she is a graduate student at
Guildhall at SMU in Plano, Texas obtaining a masters degree in Interactive Technology,
specialized in Art Creation and she will be graduating in December 2011.
During her involvement in art industry, she’s working as a comic artist for local
comic publishers, Art Creation Sdn. Bhd, and published four comics with them and won
several awards and attended major art exhibitions during her career as a comic artist. She
also worked as a freelance concept artist for small scale videogames and attended short
course in 3D animation, organized by Les Copaque production in Malaysia in 2009.
Interested to pursue her dream to be the videogame artist, she is granted the
scholarship from Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia to continue her master in
Guildhall at SMU specialized in art creation.
Permanent address:
33, Jalan Gembala Satu 19/9A, 40300 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
This thesis was typed by Haryati Mohd Ehsan.
113