Games Development / Task 2

25/09/2024 - 13/11/2024 / Week 6 - Week 8
Iman binti Kamarudin / 0364014
Games Development / Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Task 2: Art Asset Development

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LECTURE

Week 4

During class, we had an exercise where we created a game based around shooting food at animals that would spawn and despawn within a specified area.

Week 5

This week we had a tutorial in class. We followed 'Chapter 3' to create a side scroller runner game with animations and sound effects.

Week 6

This week we had online class during which we had a briefing on the details for the second task.

Week 7

We had our class online again this week and conducted an exercise on creating a player controller for a 2D game. 

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INSTRUCTIONS

TASK 2

For task 2, we had to begin the development phase of our game idea. Mr. Razif said since there was a lack of mockups, it was hard for him to imagine which game idea would be better so he left it up to me to choose. I decided to go with the second game I proposed but change it slightly from angels to aliens.

Fig 1.1 - Game Design Document PDF

Story

Introduction Story Dialogue:

“Long ago, our kind travelled the galaxy in search of a better home.

After aeons of exploring, we finally found a planet uninhabited and peaceful so we settled down. Just a short stop away was another planet, Earth.

We made contact with the beings that lived there called ‘humans’. Although we had meant no harm, they treated us with hostility and banished us from their planet forever. “

The story takes place aeons after the introduction scene.

Novula crash lands on a planet that her kind had deemed ‘hostile’. With her ship being unsalvageable, she takes a risk to get closer to the beings that inhabit the planet to see if there is a way for her to get back home. At their ‘dome city’, she meets a researcher who is enthusiastic about the presence of an extraterrestrial and vows to help her get back home. The researcher tells her of old temple ruins that were apparently made to worship her kind. 

Together, they head out to explore the ruins and find relics that could help her get back home. However, Novula must defeat hollow humans and the guardians of the dome cities that roam about. At each temple, Novula finds out more and more about the ‘Goddess’ that they used to worship, Alina. 

In the final temple, which seems to still be intact, Novula faces a mutated human. The human, Aeshlys, tells her the story of how she came to be ‘like this’ and then they engage in a battle. Novula must defeat Aeshlys in order to access the artefact that can send her home.

Characters

Novula

Novula is the character which the player is playing as throughout the game. She is a reckless and curious alien who ends up running away from her colony to avoid her 'fate'.

Fig 2.1 - Novula Concept Art

Fig 2.2 - Novula Sprite

Fig 2.3 - Novule Idle Animation

The Hollows

The Hollows are 'zombified' humans and are the player's short-ranged enemies. They move slowly but can 'shoot' short distance projectiles.

The Hollows are humans from Alina's cult that weren't immediately incinerated by the apocalyptic explosions. Instead, they were kept alive by the Goddess' blood that filled the air.

Fig 2.4 - The Hollows Concept Art

Fig 2.5 - The Hollows Sprite

Aegis Guardians

The Aegis guardians are the military force in the dome cities. They are the player's long-ranged enemies. Their goal is to eradicate all the Hollows outside the cities and keep mankind safe. They wear protective helmets so as to not breathe in any radioactive fumes that still linger from the 'apocalypse'. 

Fig 2.6 - Aegis Guardian Concept Art

Fig 2.7 - Aegis Guardian Sprite

Goddess Alina

Alina was captured when her civilisation came to Earth to greet the humans. She was taken to be tested on without anyone noticing, however a group of people helped her escape her captors. They believed her kind were far more superior than humans and were sent as guides. Eventually, they turned her into a symbol of worship for their cult.

After years of being hidden and worshipped, the pressure and loneliness got to her and she longed to be with her colony once more. Desperate, she experimented on her most devoted human companion to alter them to look like her kind but it wasn't good enough. Not able to take the pressure and guilt any longer, she ended up blowing multiple explosives and dismantling her cult.

Her existence is known throughout the game however the players will never actually meet or interact with her as she died long ago. She haunts the narrative.

Fig 2.8 - Goddess Alina Concept Art

Aeschlys

Aeschlys was Alina's most devoted companion. She helped her to escape and would be the first person Alina would confide in. She willingly let herself be experimented on so that she may be half of the person Alina was, however it was excruciatingly painful and left her as disfigured.

Since Alina's 'sacrifice', she has grown to resent the Goddess and vowed to become a powerful figure that should be worshipped instead. She is able to spawn in 'The Hollows' and use the 'star power' from the alien colony to attack.

Fig 2.9 - Final Boss Concept Art

Fig 2.10 - Final Boss Sprite

Backgrounds & Tilesets

For some of the environments, I'm using free asset packs. Sources: brullov & itch.io

I changed the size of the tiles and also the grass color to be green.

Fig 3.1 - Final Boss Background / Source: Free Game Assets (itch.io)

Fig 3.2 - Final Boss Temple Ruins

Fig 3.3 - Final Boss Broken Walls #1

Fig 3.4 - Final Boss Broken Walls #2

Fig 3.5 - Temple Pillar #1

Fig 3.6 - Temple Pillar #2

Fig 3.7 - Temple Pillar #3

Fig 3.8 - Falling Spikes

Fig 3.9 - Temple Tileset

Fig 3.10 - Green Forest Tileset / Source: brullov

Fig 3.11 - Yellow Forest Tileset / Source: brullov

Fig 3.12 - Forest Background #1 / Source: brullov

Fig 3.13 - Forest Background #2 / Source: brullov

Fig 3.14 - Forest Background #3 / Source: brullov

UI & Items 

The inspiration for the heart bar was the Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wild heart container design. I wanted the shiny and gold aspect of it but less 'medieval' and intricate.

Fig 4.1 - LoZ BoTW Heart Container

Fig 4.2 - Health Bar

Fig 4.3 - Heart Item

Fig 4.4 - Full Spark UI

Fig 4.5 - Used Up Spark UI

Game Level Concepts

Fig 5.1 - Level One Concept Scene

Fig 5.2 - Level Two Concept Scene

Fig 5.3 - Final Boss Concept Scene

FINAL

Fig 6.1 - Presentation Video

Fig - 6.2 - Final Presentation Slides

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REFLECTION

My experience with this task was quite hectic. I definitely feel like I may have been a bitttt too ambitious but I really wanted the storyline of the game to be somewhat good and interesting. Coming up with character designs was really tough as I had to create a whole new alien species and I haven't created any original character designs in years. It was also really difficult making and animating the sprites because I have never made any pixel art in my entire life. There was a point were I was contemplating on switching over to normal 2D art but I wasn't sure if that was gonna make my life worse or better so I just stuck with pixel art.

I'm quite satisfied with the character designs and storyline that I've come up with so far. Although, there's still quite a lot of things I need to work out regarding the gameplay mechanics. While this task kept me up at night and really stressed me out 24/7, I feel alright with what I've settled on so far. I just hope that animating isn't going to be as painful as the character designing (in denial).