More assets and some weapons!

Well, it has been a long process but our game is finally coming together. This week we had a great mock presentation of a stage 2 challenge we showed off our process and where we were in terms of art design and programming. the reason why we couldn't do a formal challenge was because we don't have a working digital prototype of the game yet. however the customization menus are up and running ad ryan and Jake are working diligently to create the map so we can show off our mechanics, we are hoping that by the time wednesday comes around we will have a working prototype to finally be able to show off our gameplay and potentially pass stage 2. Art wise the game is coming together quite nicely, this week i concentrated on some more art for the environment, as well as some weapons.


For the environment pieces i created ammo crates to put around the map. I designed this crates to look modular, and the contents are all modular as well so that we can change them around for variety. The ammo crates also have a top which i made for aesthetic purposes more than anything. For the ammo crates i looked at examples of how Deus Ex Human Revolution did their crates and the futuristic look they have to them. I also created a floor pannel that opens and closes, this will be the spawn tile.

I also created some weapons to show off for the demo i made a ballistic assault rifle as well as a revolver. I also made an energy rifle and an energy hand cannon. These weapons can be used to customize the mechs and they each have different in game abilities. I am still missing shoulder weapons both ballistic and energy but they will be implemented before class on wednesday.

Environments inspirations and art assets

This week marked the beginning of production of assets for the game. I decided to start out with the environment because i believe that the setting is just as important as the characters.

I constructed different pieces in a modular way that would stay true to my designs and the art style i had envisioned for the game. I looked at games like portal to see how the artists had handled a Research and Development lab setting as well as the color palette they used, i saw that they had muted colors and the pieces were pretty simple but put together everything worked well to create a nice lab atmosphere. Since our mechs are essentially prototypes being tested in labs by the government i figured portal's art would be helpful. So i had my setting and color palette but i still had to figure out the 2D art style i wanted to go with for this i turned to one of my favorite game series, Metroid.  Metroid Fusion to be exact is a gameboy advanced game but the art style is so well done i was really inspired by the way they use values to show volume as well as surface detail so i used it as a reference to make my panels and other assets for the environment.

During my disciplinary review with Joan Patel i was told that the art was one of the most consistent that she has seen so far out of the people that have come to her. 

Thats always good to hear. I have a couple more pieces to make for the environment and then i will move on to the weapons and the mech. I am really excited that things are taking shape!

Mechs And Presentations

This week i concentrated on researching organics in order to draw inspiration for the mechs. I looked at different plants as well as animals and organic materials that would help me reach a decision on what the mech might look like. I personally and i think the rest of the team agrees with me on this, would like to stick to the idea of mechs that we had started with because. This whole project started since way back in the MOBA game where we decided that mechs would successful protagonists because it would be easy to explain and show how the different weapons could be tailored to fit each mech thus allowing the player to customize their own. In this sense i want to keep the idea of the mechs that i have sketched even before, however id id find some ver interesting things that will help me make these mechs look more organic without losing the style that i am going for.

On another note this week we had to present our game in 15. We only had one speaker and we didn't have that much to show in terms of gameplay because we had just barely passed stage 1 and we have been working with a paper prototype for the Q&A. The presentation was alright sadly it failed to convey our intentions to the people that hadn't heard our presentation challenge for stage 1, namely professor Manley and the other teachers from the other section that were present. For our next presentation we will strongly consider having more than one speaker so that they can take turns relaying information and have time to get their  thoughts and ideas together before they speak so that all the facets of the game can be properly described. another important thing we need ASAP is a digital prototype so we can demonstrate our game properly as well as our customization options.

As an artist I have to not only define the main characters but also keep the art direction for the environment and the GUI in order to challenge stage 2. Next week i will probably put the mech designs to the side and work on the environment which represents a big part of what the game's look and feel is going to be.