Researching Lionhead the Company

I have decided to stick with the Art Test I have been most thinking about, which was Concept Pre-Visualisation. Out of the ones I was maybe thinking about this was the one that most stuck in my mind and made me exciting thinking about what I could draw, it would also help me work on my weaknesses with environments and allows me to play to my strengths which is my imagination.

Here is my own timetable set by myself, I think it gives me a decent amount of time between each stage of the process.

WEEK ONE

• Research Lionhead Studios
• Collect Research
• Make Mood Boards
• Sketch Ideas
• Create Thumbnails
• Do Colour Studies

WEEK TWO

• Start Basic Iteration
• Think Up Costume Ideas
• General Concepting
• Come Up With Ideas For Final Pieces

WEEK THREE

• Start Final Images
• Finish Everything Off.

To start this I will do my research on the Game Studio, although I have done previous work based around the fable games, I didn't really look into the Studio or really try to emulate the style they use.

"Lionhead Studios is a British video game developer, formerly led by Peter Molyneux. It was acquired by Microsoft Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a god game with elements of artificial life and strategy games. Black & White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after Mark Webley's hamster, which died not long after the naming of the studio.
Black and White was followed up with the release of an expansion pack named Black & White: Creature Isle.

Lionhead then released the popular Fable, from satellite developer Big Blue Box. In 2005, Lionhead released The Movies and Black & White 2. On 6 April 2006, it was announced that Lionhead Studios was to be purchased by Microsoft. Their most recent game to be released is the HD remake of Fable, Fable Anniversary, which was released on the 4th of February 2014. Lionhead was a privately held company until October 2004 (shortly before the suspension of B.C.) when a consortium of investors, including Ingenious Ventures, IDG Ventures Europe, and technology firm Add Partners, made a significant investment into the developer.

This at a time when the company was in severe financial straits, as they had overrun development on two projects, Black & White 2 and Fable, and also canceled B.C. and a project with Jeff Minter named Unity. Between September 2005 and April 2006, Lionhead successfully released two titles, Black & White 2 and The Movies, as well as an updated version of Fable (entitled Fable: The Lost Chapters). These titles did not achieve a massive impact in sales, and this left the company vulnerable to a takeover bid.

In April 2006 Lionhead Studios was acquired by Microsoft, signalling the end of independent development, and a focus on Microsoft's proprietary gaming platforms. Lionhead is a fairly independent part of Microsoft Studios, which has also acquired Rare Ltd. and Bungie Studios (Bungie Studios became an independent studio in late 2007, shortly after the release of Halo 3)." Wikipedia, (2015). Lionhead Studios. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015].

 Here is a list of the games they have made/plan to make.

The Studio creates very stylised games that you can easily recognise as their games, the Fable series in particular is styled in a very 'yee olde' style with a very English flare as far as the landscape and comedy goes, as the Studio is located in Guildford the team took design influences from the location and building around them they feature prominent British celebrities to voice their characters in game, such as Ben Kingsley, Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Naomie Harris, Zoë Wanamaker, Bernard Hill, Nicholas Hoult and John Cleese. The art style is quite whimsicle, with soft colours that remind me of the old Constable or Turner paintings. Their characters are fairly cartoon-like and not realistic.
          Lionhead.com, (2015). About Us - Lionhead. [online] Available at: http://www.lionhead.com/the-studio/about-us/ [Accessed 7 Jan. 2015].