About Jazz and Azul
ABOUT:
Jazz and Azul is a single-player story-driven adventure game set within a world segregated based on music.
The narrative of the game follows two young children, Jazmine Fitzgerald and Azul Johnson, who struggle in a world physically divided in two. Both sides irrationally hate one another based solely on music presence. One side prefers the upbeat fast pace of Jazz where as the other side prefers their lives carefree backed with the smooth sounds of the Blues. This hatred and elitism, portrayed on both sides, has run deep within the people of this world, and has grown and manifested over countless generations. Eventually, after global bloodshed, fighting and many debates, a universal decision was made to create a colossal wall in order to stay apart. Caught in this conflict are the two protagonists, both situated on either side of this wall. Through a chance experience, on a random day, they managed to contact each other through walkie talkies they both possessed, and shortly after a friendship bloomed, despite both children living on either side of the wall. The game follows their adventures as they try to break down this obstacle, and end the segregation of both societies so that they can finally meet! Gameplay includes a combination of both puzzle-solving and music-based adventure.
Jazz and Azul was designed to inspire conversation and cooperation and encourage players to reflect on real-world issues. The core of the game draws heavy influence on music history and the culture of jazz and blues music. This game aims to expose players to the harsh realities caused by discrimination and tries to show how friendship and a learned understanding of one another can break this cycle.
BACKGROUND:
This was my 3rd-year university project, which I worked on with one other student. In the first semester of university, we individually designed games we thought could make a meaningful impact, halfway through the semester individuals grouped up in order to make more ambitious projects succeed. My teammate and I joined together towards the end of the first semester, in order to polish and refine this core idea. We collaborated to improve the gameplay and design, flesh out missing details and prepare ourselves for the following semester of development
Over the course of the second semester, we developed the entire game. Unfortunately due to lockdown we could not meet up and collaborate on many small scale parts of production, however, we both had individual jobs that we could work on separately where needed. My teammate designed the script and finalised the core experience of the game, additionally, she worked on puzzle design, produced storyboards and collaborated with voice actors to get lines recorded and edited to the standard we were looking for. My role on the team was to be the lead visual artist. I researched and designed the world’s style, the architecture of the buildings, chose the colour scheme and modelled each and every asset. Although this was my core role during development, my initial role was to help build upon the initial idea and help it come to a fitting conclusion. Besides my 3d work, I also produced 2d animated cutscenes with Adobe After Effects which helped break up the story into chapters. This was the first project I had ever been a 3d artist on, looking back on it I feel like we produced something with meaning, in a style that helped convey the game’s message.
Jazz side of the world.
This side of the world took on the upbeat atmosphere of Jazz music. They believed that Jazz music was a vibrant way to express themselves! They aimed to show this upbeat attitude through everything in everyday life, from the homes they live in to the colourful clothes they wear!
Jazmine's Room render 1.
Shop Interior.
Beyond the street.
Town centre.
Jazmine's Room render 2.
Houses based on musical instruments.
The streets at night render 1.
Jazmine's home town.
The streets at night render 2.
Blues side of the world.
This side of the world enjoyed the real messages portrayed in the sombre lyrics of Blues music. Whereas the Jazz side had to live upbeat lives, the Blues side openly allowed themselves to express their feelings, even if they weren’t positive. Although this world may come across as dreary, its occupants prefer the raw and mellow nature of every day life.
Houses based on musical instruments.
Outside render 1.
The town after dark render 1.
Outside render 2.
The Blues town centre.
Azul's home town.
The town after dark render 2.
The Blues side of the world.
Azul's bedroom.
The town after dark render 3.
Shop interior.
Character modelling
Besides modelling the environmental assets, I also had a chance to model characters! This was a completely new experience for me, although I had dabbled with 3D modelling just prior to the 3rd year of my university, I always went down the route of environmental creation. The characters fit the same low-poly design that the world has, the inhabitants of the Jazz side can be seen wearing vibrant saturated clothes, whilst those on the Blues side wore more muted dull colours.
