2D Game Assets

Here are images of the various different assets I created for the 2D game i decided to make them as simple as possible and stuck with a very cartoonist style. This art style really fit in well into the game world and was very similar to the art style of the characters that Musa had created.

Here is a basic cage which would be the starting point of our character on each level, this helps portray that our character is in a Zoo and he is trying to escape from his prison.

Here are a variety of different platforms which would be placed throughout the game. If you look closely at many games today you will notice that the same assets has been used multiple times, however each duplicate might be slightly different. This is method can save a lot of time when creating a game, so I decided to adopt the same technique and created multiple versions of the same asset as you can see here. Each of these assets can also be flipped and rotated to make it look more unique.

Here is a post I created which can be used to hold up the various platforms so that they are not just floating in mid air. Because we have falling platforms we could use this  post to suggest whether the platform is stable or not.

 

To ad more depth to our game we decided to add multiple levels to map so the character has the opportunity to explore a larger world. To a accompany this I decided to create a basic ladder which would aid the charecter in going higher or lower. Also with this asset if it is flipped and rotated can be layered to make the ladder longer making it a very useful asset for the game.

Because our level is set in a Gorilla enclosure I though I would create this swing rope to make the game feel  more realistic. This Rope can also aid our charecter it getting from place to place. But to make these much harder, the swinging speed and distant may vary making it more engaging and challenging.

And here is a basic portal which i created as just a mess around to play with the animation features in Photoshop. With this asset I created a basic 2 frame animation to make the asset more dynamic instead of being stiff and boring.

Initial Designs

Because I was charged with creating game assets, I first drew out a few simple sketches of a few of theassets I was asked to create. Here I have drawn a few ideas for different platforms and rope designs. Because our level is set in a Gorilla enclosure I thought it would be suitable that these assets would be made of basic materials like wood. To give the audience this impression I made the platforms look like they were constructed from planks of wood.With the swinging ropes i just played around with different types to see which one would look most suitable. I then went back to Chris to get his opinion and was told to go with a simple rope with a knot at the end.

Doodling Designs

To get a better idea of what kind of game we will be creating I sat down with Chris and we produced a basic map design for our first level. The design we had created was pretty simple, your character would start at one end and then travel to the adjacent end were the level will end. Along the way your character would encounter varies different tasks and obstacles such as enemies and difficult jumps. we also decided to add in a boss which you would have to defeat to complete the level and progress to the next world.

Here is the design I created with ideas and suggestion from Chris. By creating this design it helped me get an idea of the sort of assets I will need to create. Because our first level is set in a gorilla enclosure, I thought it would be suitable to design my assets with a wooden theme to give the audience the impression that they are in a gorilla jungle gym.

To Do List

After the presentation we sat down as a group and talked more about the different job roles we would each have to undertake. Because there were three artist in our group we decide to divide up the work load and designated each artist with a specific job. I was charged with designing and creating game assets, Mussa with  game characters and Connor with the backgrounds. After being designated with our jobs we were given a list by Chris detailing what he wanted from each of us.

Musa (Characters)

Main Character – Hippo

Friend – Elephant in little…toy…thing…box…truck? Something.

Boss 1 – Gorilla w/ panda head

Boss 2 – Decapitated Giraffe (Super large which you need to scale vertically)

Boss 3 – One Eyed Rhino with Two Horns

Final Boss – Zookeeper (Three Different Forms of Him)

Conor (Backgrounds Environments w/Nightmare Theme)

Portal Room (Box Area Outdoors)

Gorilla Enclosure (Horizontal Room – Arena – Outdoors)

Giraffe Enclosure (Vertical Room transitioning into the clouds / Jumping Puzzle - Outdoors)

Rhino Enclosure (Horizontal Room – Maze – Indoor Building)

Zookeeper Final Room (Enclosed Arena)

Jamie (World Assets)…

Three Portals for Each Boss

Larger Portal for Final Boss

Gorilla Enclosure (Outdoors); Flooring, Rope Swing Platform Thing, Floating Platforms, Ladders, Cage, Rock Surface Environment

Giraffe Enclosure (Outdoors); Flooring, Platforms, Breakable Platforms, Ladders, Rope, Building, Trees, Gates, Clouds, Trailer

Rhino Enclosure (Indoors); Fencing, Gates, Platforms, Flooring, Water Hole, Broken Trees, Toys, Travelling Cage, Posts, Maze, Air Vents, Lighting

2D Game Project

In our new project we were briefed on what our next project would entail. We were told that we will be assembled into groups once again and create another game, but this time in a 2D format. Because of this change it meant the designers in our class would be using a brand new software package called Construct 2, which is a game engine designed specifically for the creation and development of 2D games. As our fist task for the project we were told we would have to create a mood board composed of a variety of pictures displaying the kind of game we would like to create. We were also told once we had created this, we would have to present it to the class along with our ideas and thoughts on the game we would like to create.

Here is my mood board as I was quite unfamiliar with 2D games I decided to compose my mood board of the few games I had played such as Limbo, Rayman Origins and Abe's Odyssey. I also decided to add in other games such as Fez and Braid wish had a specific artistic style which I found very appealing. luckily i was able to find a group before the presentation which consisted of me, Chris, Connor and Musa. Because of this we were able to come up with a few initial ideas for our game which we presented together. For our presentation Chris had created a short power point document which detailed out initial thoughts and ideas such as a basic plot, theme and colour scheme. This representation can be found on IBM on our Group page. In addition I was a bit disappointed at first because I would not be using the new software package, but I could always download this software at home and practice using it in my own time.

Yellow week (Architectecture)

For this Yellow week we were set lose on the city center to take pictures of a variety of interesting objects and building which may aid us in the creation of our game level. We split off into different groups and were free to roam around the city but were told we had to be back at the meeting point by a certain time there are a few of the images I captured.