27.02.10: Is it too late to change my idea??

ITS OK I'm not being quite that crazy, but following an incredible opportunity to meet with the external examiner mid-year, I have had a few ideas which I think could massively improve my project. He seemed impressed by my hand drawn visuals and concept art and we discussed how it might make more sense to focus the rest of my time on what I was really passionate about, as I was slightly unsure about how to proceed.

As such, I think I have found a compromise in which I can create a lot of material by hand, while also generating a strong 'final piece' as I discussed with Jay last week. I chose at the start of the brief to make as varied a project as possible, while I have reached the stage where I need to focus in on one central piece to avoid the entire FMP feeling vague and incomplete.

I have therefore come up with an idea whereby I will be able to combine all of my work so far into one central video by elaborating on my Sketchup area; to include a range of environments and locations. I will then make a detailed video of the map and layer on a character in the first person view in Flash. From there I can have the character interact with objects or NPCs, demo the combat, trade in shops, use the map I have already made and even switch to minigames such as the carrier pigeon.

My other major decision is to alter the visual style of the game to match the etched cartoons in the pamphlets I have been working on. I think this could make the game world unique, more charming and widen the audience to include younger users and families. I can therefore hand draw all of the visuals and make the end product more personal, more of a showcase of my abilities and more original.

The images below show my developed Sketchup environment with terrain. There is quite range of options for fog and shadows and i experimented with a heavy white mist and the warm sunrise as shown below.

You can also see the terrain I have built up around the castle, which while bare at the moment will be filled with trees and other buildings. You can also see the textures I have started to design, such as the grass pattern, which I have made to look hand-drawn and complement the cartoony style of the program.
The screen-shots have also been taken with the thick lines around each angle swithced off. I think it looks interesting but maybe not better. I have also experimented with the style of the black outlines and with smoothing of edges, which makes a massive difference to the terrain.