BA2a - Week 7 Summary

> Group Crit Session and Feedback

> Creating Graphics and Artwork

Group Critique Session and Feedback

Yesterday I had a group critique session where we were asked to bring in what we had currently done with our pitch documents. These were the slides I presented, which were fairly polished however still in the drafting phase, especially with switching layouts around and creating higher quality graphics/artwork.

Title Page > Feedback: Keep it. Looks clean and not too cluttered.

Overview

> Feedback: VERY cluttered. Need to add more white space and take away the contrasting rings/white strokes. The icons could be placed elsewhere and aren't necessarily needed. The in-game shot should be much bigger.

Gameplay > Feedback: The text isn't needed, the images are enough to describe the gameplay. The mouse cursors should be removed as it draws too much attention away from the gameplay.

Captains

> Feedback: Get rid of the black box as it doesn't fit too well with the theme and is quite distracting. Remove the in-game screenshot and make the page as if it were a character selection screen, with arrows directing to each character for example.

Levels: > Feedback: The overall UI isn't needed in the images, only the background art themselves. Each background should differentiate from each other more. The times of day should be written above each box to clearly explain to the viewer.

UI: > Feedback: Because the UI is seen on the first 'Overview' page (in-game screenshot) and is easy to understand when looking at it, a user interface page isn't needed and should be replaced. It was suggested that I extend upon the gameplay and add another gameplay page.

Colour Scripts

> Feedback:

The shapes seem very confusing and should be replaced with a gradient, as it can really misplace where the viewer is looking. Instead of writing 'House Style Colours', I should have pie-chart like circles depicting colour wheels for user interface, title screen e.t.c.

Art and Design: > Feedback: Should be replaced with something else as it seems like 'filler content' (which I agree with completely!). I suggested that I change this to represent a level select, which would be before the levels page.

Music and Audio: > Feedback: Good layout, easy to read. I need to make sure I can add audio to the PDF/Presentation to make this page presentable.

Platforms:

> Feedback: Even as a very work in progress page, the tutors liked the simplicity of it but recommended that I only needed to show one platform. As I can use symbols to define what else it can be played on.

Group Critique Session and Feedback

In this post I will highlight the artwork and graphics I have completed for my mid-unit review presentation, as well as the final Pitch Document.

Level Backgrounds

One of the most important things I needed to create was the level backgrounds, which were visually based on different times of the day (including the light phenomena the Aurora Borealis). Each background appears in a certain level at random within the game.

This is the process I used in order to create the clouds quickly and efficiently:

1. I firstly used an image from Google, cut the background out and then duplicated it.(Image Source: https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1345/906420777_31969ad24b_z.jpg?zz=1)

2. Then duplicated it again to form a tileable background.

3. After this, I brightened the clouds and edited them to appear more saturated, as well as making them appear like they haven't been duplicated in the middle.

4. Finally, I used a Photoshop filter, drew over them myself, added a sky and used a soft gradient to blend the bottom and top half more.

Final Backgrounds in Order from Top to Bottom: Day, Dawn, Sunset, Dusk, Night, Aurora Borealis

UI Portrait

The red bar indicates health whereas the green represents the level timer.

Why green and red?

I chose the colour red because it's commonly associated with a health bar in games, as well as in medical symbolism (such as the red cross). I chose green for the timer because I felt it matched the overall theme of my game and pitch document being green and brown. Although it is commonly used as a stamina/energy bar in games, I used the clocks to indicate that it was representing time instead.

Airship Visual Updates

This image shows my quick airship designs which I drafted in comparison with the final versions.

Why green and red?

The friendly ships appear green because I feel its a very neutral colour, with positive connotations. For example, representing the Earth and a positive 'tick'.

The enemy ships are red and black because they have negative connotations such as danger and death, hence why I have also drawn a skull and crossbones on them.

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