Introduction to Computer Game Design MDDN 243 Marina Voronova: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Unfortunately after all that time spent on cave and changing and developing mountain my group changed the idea. Apparently the cave is not gonna be used in the game at all. Instead we are going to make a sky level and the perspective should go well with Max's sky temple which is very different from the sketch I was relying on.

by Maximillian Kerr-Hislop

Also I had to make some sort of the tower instead of mountain. So here is what I thought would work.

Retrieved from: http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100104210332/zelda/images/3/36/Pyramid_(A_Link_to_the_Past).png

Guys liked it better, but wanted me to change the angles of the front diagonal edges (make it the same angle) and add one more.level to the tower. Also Max had the yellow tiles done in pixels only (no vector), so I had to redraw it as well. Also guys wanted the stairs to be straight (same width on every level). I mentioned that I might add some extra details like a handrail or something.

So now when basic stuff for the cave is ready I am working on the mountain. In class we decided what the mountain should look like. Tui (the leader of our group) drew some sketches and relying on those I started drawing the mountain in photoshop. The idea was to have it really tall 2-3 screen widths and character is supposed to walk up the stairs and get inside the cave

So here's what I came up with. And Tui asked me to fill the brown area with the rocks.

So here's what I got but it still wasn't quite satisfying. And I was asked to make it "less perfect".

So I tried to make a bit more random and less symmetrical.

Here is what I came up with.

My group seemed to like it, but asked me to make the bricks darker.

Cave inspiration.

My group mates asked me to make a cave. Unfortunately I don't know much about caves and not really sure what a cave in the game should look like and what could be in there... So I surfed the net for some examples and inspiration. Also I find it challenging because when you are thinking of a cave you are usually imagining the ceilings of it as this is the most interesting part of the cave, not the ground, but in our game we are using top perspective. So I am feeling a little stuck.

Retrieved from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/003._Cave_du_cur%C3%A9_-_Aqueduc_du_Gier.JPG

Retrieved from: http://www.explorecrete.com/crete-west/images/zoniana-cave-inside.jpg

Retrieved from: http://aceflashman.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/the-entrance-as-seen-from-inside.jpg

Retrieved from: http://gamesthatexist.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/cave-start-copy.jpg

Retrieved from: http://www.bigfuntown.com/Games/249.jpg

Retrieved from: http://cdn.wikimg.net/strategywiki/images/thumb/e/ec/Zelda_ALttP_Byrna_cave.png/180px-Zelda_ALttP_Byrna_cave.png

Retrieved from: http://www.blugadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/fairy_cave.png

Retrieved from: http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Legend_of_Zelda_NES_ScreenShot4.jpg

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

I showed my work to my group mates, and apparently they didn't like it because of the perspective of some of the elements. So I'll try to pay more attention to that further on.

So I added some grass and flowers, now it looks better. I am still not quite happy with the colors, even though it's getting slightly better.

Here's possible view of the screen. Just tried to put everything together and see what it looks like. It still definitely needs more details... Also I am not sure about the colors. It might be too depressing for a kids game.. So may be something brighter would work better

Some trees and bushes.

Stump

When I am thinking of a poisoned forest for some reason I cannot imagine it without stumps and some sort of dirty green-color kind of grass...

My frogie

Inspired by images below I drew my mushrooms and frog however I noticed that the image is super smooth and needs pixelation.

I compared my new pixelated version with the ld images and was quite happy with it. If I need to pixelate it more I can do it as I go.

Here's another element for the poisonous forest, the poison itself, glowing, spilled. I think that would look cool in a game as I usually associate glowing liquids in a round glass bottle with witches and fairy-tales, which, in my opinion, are appropriate for the poisonous forest area. We could possibly animate it. For example when character steps on the poison he loses health. Could be a cool idea to have a magician or something like that as an enemy and Rangi would have to defeat his magic powers.