Week 3
This week we got our finalised team with Ethan and Fiona joining our lineup. As of right now this is the team we are rolling with provided nothing dramatic happens that should change it. I have set up a whatsapp group that will be our basis for communication under the name ‘TeamName’ (if it was not obvious coming up with names is not my strong suit). We have a meeting coming up next Thursday so this week I tried to get things together as to what I want this project to be.
I came up with the idea that the main character should be made of ice and melts as the stage goes on, incorporating the depleting meter that I mentioned in the previous week and the players job is to get to the end of the level before they melt with slight meter replenishes being granted for doing things such as defeating enemies. This concept is simple to understand but still if executed properly have enough depth in its playing for players to get addicted and come up with their own creative ways overcome the games obstacles.
The gameplay style I of course still want to be similar to those old games I mentioned in the week previous to this and so I believe a 2d platformer with a heavy emphasis on speed will be the best way to realise my vision.
One goal for me in this is I want a product that is appealing to people outside of the module and the best way to capture an audience is for your product to have a good presentation. From talking to other teams this is not something many of them are taking into account and so I think that this is a way I can get a leg up on the competition.
And so I got to studying these old nineties mascots and got to asking myself made these designs so effective and Iconic. I nailed it down to two factors.
- Their use of bright colors to immediately catch your eye such as Sonic’s bright blue pr Mario’s bright red.
- Exaggerated proportions, characters such as Sonic and Mario have not very human heights and enlarged body parts where they can show expressions such as their head.
And so this is what I have at this point a character with a short body and a big head that looks like an ice cube. To make him look distinct and unique I decided ti give him a scythe as his weapon for combat as well as a little cloak so he does not just look like a basic stick figure. I believe i ticked the box for something simple and effective for our player but theres still a lot to go with this design since I will need to consider how this looks in pixel art as well as deciding what colours would be most effective for this design. This will all be developed next week.
Tasks at Hand
- Complete the player design and sprite.
- Have this all ready for the meeting for the meeting on Thursday.
- Try to then create a distinct art style around the player you create and set up a mood board so other members get the idea.
- Give everyone on the team their roles.
What I Learned
- What made those designs of the ninties so effective and that it is not an easy thing to replicate.
- This field of study can be extremely stressful and I am already anxious of our time constraints as we move in to week 4 with only a player design concept to show for it.