Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Brief
Tone of voice: Nostalgic, sarcastic, funny
BACKGROUND
List of Influences: Super Meat Boy Binding of Isaac Braid Bit Trip Runner/Beat Super Mega Worm Fez lostwinds Wario Ware Inc. 3D Dot Game Hero Zelda - Link to the past/Minish Cap Okami Pokemon
Indie Video games rose to popularity in 2008. Thanks to services such as Steam Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, low to mid budget video games are becoming extremely successful. Concise Brief: Propose and design the opening stage of a new independent video game. This should give an indication of how the game will look and feel: Settings, characters, animation, music and user interface should all be considered elements. BRIEF You have the opportunity to propose and design the early stages of a new independent video game to be sold through suitable digital platforms. You should propose the concept and mechanics, as well as developing an appropriate visual style for the game. Consider key characters and their environments. How will the player interact with them? Give an indication of the over aching plot and how dialogue could be handled throughout the game. You should also show how these designs could be applied to a national promotion campaign.
Storyline: Specs follows the exploits of Oli, a young boy from Land Lane, as he pursues his postman, Tom Snap, across the vast game world. Equipped with his magic glasses, Oli is able to transform into any of the game’s residents and make use of their abilities in order to progress further and retrieve his parcel. Along his journey, Oli will encounter a wide variety of the game’s characters who have also fallen foul of Tom’s clumsiness.
CONCEPT We want to create a game that is nostalgic but mindful of the developments which have been made in current indie games, which try to push old mechanics into the modern era. We will consider the graphical style of the game, and how the branding and characters can be applied across a publicity campaign. The deliverables will be combined into a pitch which should make the game elements clear to prospective developers. DELIVERABLES Style guideline publication Brand - Logo, colour scheme, typography Characters - Design and animation of the requested sample characters UX elements - user menus, icons and dialogue interaction. Promotion
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Research Activities Research is thoroughly collated in our research booklet (Can be found in shared submission folder) To understand the context, audience and particular visual language of video games, we had to picked apart popular indie releases to asses their strengths, weaknesses, mechanics, characters and visual style. To collate this research, we produced a research booklet which covers our investigation into the following topics: GAME ANALYSIS INTRO ANIMATIONS USER EXPERIENCE TYPOGRAPHY MAPS CHARACTER DESIGN DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS This research process gave us a much greater understanding of the visual elements needed to create a successful indie video game, and helped to contextualize the work we would be producing. From this we were able to break down the necessary outcomes which would have to be designed to create an effective and realistic video game pitch.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Artwork Sketches Before I started designing the characters on illustrator, I began sketching how I wanted the characters to appear on gridded paper which helped to recreate the pixel style in which the characters were made. By creating these sketches it made it easier to design the characters digitally. These sketches are also included in the style guide to show how the characters were designed before being created digitally.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Character Design To provide variation After establishing the format for the characters I was able to create a large variation of 50+ characters to fill the three maps I had designed. Indie games are known for including references to popular culture and I thought it was important to do this within the Specs video game. To do this I included characters which reference television shows, video games and some celebrities. Designing a large number of characters allowed me to create impressive banners and impact boards to promote the Specs brand. By create a repeating pattern I also used the characters on the front page of the style guide and the folder which contains it.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Character Movement For the animation I had to make the characters I had designed move. It was important that the animations moved smoothly by adding extra steps. Getting the characters to walk smoothly was difficult especially due to the characters side ways orientation. These animations were created by producing the separate steps on illustrator and uploading them to photoshop. The PSD files that I created could be simply placed into after effects to re create the animation and moving their position.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Level Construction: Levels are made up 20x20 sprite blocks, which are created in illustrator. There are 3 floor blocks that comprise the platform of the game. The centre of which is a gradient between the colours used for the top and bottom of the blocks. There are 3 different types of blocks below ground. Each of these is slightly darker than the one above. Depth is created by using the darkest colour in the block above to create a shadow, giving the map a 3D appearance. Levels are constructed in entirety in Photoshop using a snap-to-grid feature and smart objects, so if changes are made to one block they apply to the whole level. In total we constructed 3 example levels for our style guide and animation.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Distribution Platforms As the game would be digitally distributed, we created promotional banners for the three largest platforms - Steam, PSN and Xbox live. We felt that was important to show how they could be featured on each of the platform’s dashboards and help contextualize the game in a consumer-facing manor.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Style Guide: (Can be found in shared Submission folder) To present all of the design elements which we have both created for the project we produced a 26-page style guide. We designed this to be simple and thorough enough that it could be handed to a developer and they would have everything they need to make Specs a working video game. In it we present: Character Concept Art Final Characters Character Movement Level Artwork Level Construction Completed Level Artwork Custom Typeface Application of Typography UX/UI Design In-Game HUD Blur Mechanic Distribution Platforms
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Outcomes - Promotional Pack (Can be found in shared Submission folder) From our research, we found that game conferences were very important to the process of bringing an independent video game to market. They proved vital points to create interest from the public and other developers and even attract funding. This environment featured heavily in Indie Game The Movie, and we felt it was import to consider this additional context for our work. we create a pitch pack. As part of this, we designed and produced a promotional pack, with a custom folder that could be distributed. This contains our style guide, research booklet and specs paper glasses as worn by the protagonist of the game.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603
Animation (Can be found on labeled CD or at (vimeo.com/78468611) The animation was made to showcase the design elements we had created in a way that simulates actual game play. This helps to give our project an immediate visual context and allows us to communicate the core components and visual structure of the game clearly, in a short amount of time. This has been designed to support the style guide in aiding an outside company should they wish to move forward and develop the game.
Andy Foster (collab with Martin O’dea)
SPECS
OUGD603