The Subservient Human
The idea
I knew when I set out to work on my thesis project I wanted to challenge myself. I have a vested interest in multiple types of media but video games most of all and knew I wanted to focus primarily on that. There are many disciplines involved when it comes to making a video game and my weakest skill yet is coding. The basis of my project had to be built on attacking this weakness. Unsure on how to do this at first I was stumped— until I learned about the Subservient Chicken.
The Subservient Chicken was a website dedicated to advertising the TenderCrisp chicken sandwich from Burger King. Created by The Barbarian Group, which is an creative advertising agency, the website essentially featured a man in a chicken suit that you could tell what to do— matching a “Have it Your War” campaign.
Right there it sparked an idea in my head. Create a digital space that can host environment assets and a 3D character the user can control. Essentially an interactive portfolio that can showcase character animations, art assets, and coding proficiency. Using a game program to do this also allows me to avoid using a guy in a chicken suit, luckily.
The original Subservient Chicken
Some test animations
Here are some animations I started testing with the original model I was going to use. Unfortunately the model wasn’t compatible with the system I was using.
The Process
Ultimately I decided to to put my anti-coding brain against the Unreal Engine. Learning how to code within its systems was a difficult experience but I feel a sense of understanding that I didn’t have before. An overall enriching experience.
About Hakan Hatipoglu
I am a team-orientated animator, aspiring video game designer, and storyteller. I am curious yet focused and am always looking to improve. I see the design process as something to iterate upon constantly.
Socials
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hakan14/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuM-20an2OCc7sbifIJHcfA/videos