Proposal

I intend to recreate a scene/level/starting zone from the renowned and acclaimed game “The legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” from the year 2000. (N64/PS1) I will recreate it in 3D, bringing assets and textures up to modern standards. The goal is to have the re-envisioned game recreate the emotions and senses to a higher level then what where experienced by players in the original. The reason behind this project is to achieve the visual messages that the game may not have been able to achieve due to the limitations of the N64 system. The game deals with the 5 stages of grief: denial and isolation, anger, depression and acceptance. I will look at what works and what doesn't. I’ll do what’s necessary to get the message across more effectively.  

The scene to be recreated will be the tutorial/starting area from the game (clock town), it will be the first zone that the player will experience game play in. This is the area that the player will be most familiar with and will most likely contain their most prominent memories. The assets will be created in Maya and imported into UE3/UE4. The textures will be created in Photoshop, crazybump and Xnormal. I will display my work via screenshots and with a walk-through/walk around video.

I will look into remakes and the lengths to which developers go to recreate a game that appeases fans and new audiences. This involves looking at techniques which games developers use to up-res, remodel and re-envision game environments, while keeping the core theme. This will require analysis into the texture work, lighting and composition/form of the scene. I’ll use screenshots, in game reference and hopefully original models in software to help construct assets.

EDIT: The idea is not to recreate the environment to produce higher fidelity, but to create a playable space that evokes the feelings of grief that far outweighs that of the original.