From the beginning of this course we have been introduced to skills and programs that I hope to continue fine-tuning. I am especially looking forward to develop artistically with new character, environment and asset designs. Concept art is a very important aspect of game design as it creates the focus of the theme and personality of your game.
My role in Courage is the visual designer; I am responsible in the creation of the character and making the game as aesthetically pleasing as I can.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT/ANALYSIS PHASE
PITCH
These are the slides of my game pitch.
INTERVIEW PROCESS
Concept artists are responsible for the look and feel of the game by creating characters, creatures, environments, and all other assets vital for the game. They work closely with the art director to maintain consistency in visual style, theme, and genre. They also create storyboard art and should be skilled at producing artwork quickly in order to keep to the schedule. They may also create highly polished visual arts for promoting the game and influencing customer impressions.
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Cover Letter:
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Interview Review:
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INDIVIDUAL ROLE and PRESENTATION
My role in Courage is the Visual Designer;
I am in charge of designing characters, enemies and assets for the game. I am
responsible for producing enough detailed sketches for the modeller to generate
a 3D replica and the level designer to plan the environment theme.
My focus will not be limited to the
characters and enemies; I will also be working on the main menu and health bar
designs. The main menu is the first thing a player will see when entering the
game, showcasing the genre and giving a glimpse of what is to come.
INITIAL GAME DESIGN
The very first meeting of the game we
discussed the different concepts and elements we could incorporate. We wanted
the game to have an artistic flair similar to Don't Starve as we thought the game was
similar in genre and personality; creepy and quirky.
We wanted something
playful but still have elements of mystery, adventure and unnerving.
We decided to showcase this with cliché obstacles/enemies (bats, blockades) and
a shadowy entity known as the ‘Fear.’ A dark shadow that would follow the
player around with only sounds (growls, scratches, etc.) to make itself known,
the figure would become more dangerous the lower the Fire Bar/Fear Bar went. Initially,
we had the idea of a Fear Bar would add a new level of concentration and
anxiety, the player would have to navigate the halls and every time they
encountered an enemy/obstacle the fear would increase like Amnesia: The Dark Descent (insanity bar).
The Fire Bar was mentioned in my pitch and would slowly diminish like a countdown, leaving the player in total darkness –vulnerable to the ‘Fear.’ The main character was originally going to be black and white with a “sketch” texturing, he also had a defense mechanism in place where he swung the fire to destroy and ward off enemies.
Unsure of the time we would have, we planned to have six levels starting from the cellar to the staff bedrooms, the levels were simple mazes with assets to show them apart. The level would be in full colour while the player was grayscale, vice-versa. The closer the player got to an enemy/obstacle the louder a sound would get (with unsettling music undertones to keep you on your toes). We thought this would be a great indicator for oncoming enemies you would face.
The Fire Bar was mentioned in my pitch and would slowly diminish like a countdown, leaving the player in total darkness –vulnerable to the ‘Fear.’ The main character was originally going to be black and white with a “sketch” texturing, he also had a defense mechanism in place where he swung the fire to destroy and ward off enemies.
Unsure of the time we would have, we planned to have six levels starting from the cellar to the staff bedrooms, the levels were simple mazes with assets to show them apart. The level would be in full colour while the player was grayscale, vice-versa. The closer the player got to an enemy/obstacle the louder a sound would get (with unsettling music undertones to keep you on your toes). We thought this would be a great indicator for oncoming enemies you would face.
We also wanted to include “Trapped Friends.”
These were the fundamental objectives to your quest; whether you would save
them or yourself.
In order to keep track and ensure work was
completed we scheduled a weekly meeting to showcase the work we were allocated
to the group. This would allow us time to plan the next stage and go over changes
that would need to be made.
Due to the feedback from teachers we had to
rethink much of our initial decisions. They were unsure of the Fear Bar as we
were unclear of how we would incorporate it smoothly in to the gameplay. The
idea came back to life a few weeks in, our programmer worked on a prototype
that linked to the Fire Bar. As the Fire went down, the Fear would rise *we
changed to name to Courage Bar*. By conserving your Courage* the Fire would
diminish. This added a whole new dimension to the game. We now had an increased
element of concentration and difficulty by making the player focus on balancing
their Courage* and conserving their Fire.
The Courage Bar being implemented meant
that we would have to rethink the characters defence and objectives. Instead of
swinging the fire to ward off and destroy enemies we looked back at the story
we were telling, the personality of the character; he’s a coward. The best
defence he had was to run, time his moves and avoid them. Having the Courage
Bar and Fire Bar meant that the player had to already make choices, we didn’t
have time to implement the “trapped characters” and thought it would too much
for one game –keeping it simple would render confusion.
We encountered problems with the ‘Fear’ as
we could not figure out how to make it an obvious Boss Enemy that would elicit
enough fear in the player. To make it more interesting we cut ‘Fear’ out and produced
an array of enemies with different movements that would force the player to strategize,
slow down but still be on edge because of the Courage and Fire Bar.
The levels were increased, they start easy
to give the player time to get used to the controls, and low level enemies are
introduced. As the player progresses, the levels objectives change. The beginning
of the level will introduce you to your main objective, the rooms will have
different gameplays (avoiding rolling barrels, collect the key to open the
door, increased enemies, etc.)
The visuals of the game were to be changed
as well. We had unrealistic views of how we would mix 2D texturing of the main
character in to the 3D environment (time wise, we didn’t need to complicate the
project).
TASK ALLOCATION and PRODUCTION SCHEDULING
We held regular scum meetings on Mondays
and Wednesday. Work was uploaded on Pivotal Tracker, M drive and a Facebook
page. Below is a simple calender of our expectations for each other -this was created in the first weeks of the project.
GAME PRODUCTION
I was in charge of designing the character
and visual theme of the project, collecting sounds and music, creating a
working menu that included the instructions, levels and credits and I was
allocated assets to be modelled and textured.
Before showcasing my sketches to my team
members (especially the modeller and animator) I had to search the best way to draw
up every angle of the character design. The characters personality had to be
represented in his stance; his slouch, walk, etc. as this would be the focus of
the character (the movement and pose –you wouldn’t be able to see his face).
I had the most trouble coding the main menu,
the instructions page made me want to cry. I had to research different ways to
navigate through the pages.
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The main issue with our group was the lack
of communication. We weren’t comfortable with each other as we had never worked
together –we had no idea the strengths and weaknesses and each members work
ethic. The first few weeks we didn’t showcase all our work and kept to
ourselves – even after meetings. It was slow progress and only until a team
member broke the silence of everything we should be doing did things change. We
made a Facebook page to place assets and questions for the days we weren’t
there.
GAME DESIGN and PRODUCTION - PROTOTYPE REVIEW
The prototype had a positive review; as our
first, it had the fundamental assets to showcase a playable level.
I was able to present the Courage Bar GUI
design (the first of many) and my main menu. I was unable to finish the
‘Instructions’ and ‘Level’ scenes so we could only show the ‘Welcome’ and
‘Play’ system.
The first level was a great maze to start with;
it gave a glimpse of the creepy environments and gameplay to come.
The GUI’s were still too small and hard to
see, we needed to lighten the stages and create larger assets, GUI’s, etc. to
make it easier for the player to pay attention as they navigated in the dark.
Below are the Courage Bar GUI's. Several were made and each was tweaked until the final image was chosen. Communication between the programmer and myself was implemented in order to make the bar visually acceptable (theme) and also work within the time frame of the fame.
The skull image had to be discarded as the orange timer kept shining through. Making it difficult to fine point the exact time it would end. Having a curved shape also made his job much harder.
PRESENTATION and PROMOTION
PRESENTATION
My role in the final presentation was to
finish a working menu system that would show the credits, instructions and
levels choice perfectly. It was my job to demonstrate the new options and how
they functioned; it also gave me the chance to showcase the design elements of
each room.
I think we were highly successful in the revealing
of our alpha game. The project was close to completion with just a few tweaks
in the character animation (the fact that he was walking up walls).
The characters animation and walking was
great, he slowed down the lower his light got and you could clearly see his “sketchy”
attire. Moving through the different levels and introducing new objectives,
enemies and gameplay per maze was exciting to show.
More of the group members could have talked
about the changes and new ideas that were implemented since we last presented
the prototype. This being, the new levels and contrasting features each held by
the level designer, the music and sound effects added to increase unnerve and
indication to an enemy, the programmers most complicated features in the coding
and how he went about fixing them, the different animations created for each
enemy and how the actions needed the players to think through every step. I
would have liked to talk in more detail on the character development and how we
were implementing the storyline.
PROMOTION
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