Pebble’s Pursuit Blog
This module was a collaboration with game design, in which 4 animation students and 3 game design students would create a short game demo. Almost just an idea as to the potential for a full game. As my skills were centred around 2D animation this was the medium I wanted to approach this project with.
Roles:
Alyssa – background artist – Village
Corr – backgrounds and props artist – trees, barrels and levers
Asia – character design and animator – pebble character
Scott – character design and animator – shaman character and NPC’s
On the first day of selection, we narrowed down 2D games and just games in general we loved. We looked at a bunch of games like Ray-man and Super Mario as our inspiration. We developed this idea of a rock character that slowly crumbles as you progress through the game and liked the idea, the pitch was almost described as a speed runner 2D plat former. We fleshed out our concepts which included our main character ‘Pebble’ as-well as the kind of world we wanted our game to take place in. I had expressed the idea of taking our Pebble through a Scandinavian village, somewhere suited to the likes of Norway but with a mystical twist. When we had these ideas, all set in stone in was time to assign our roles. I was in charge of NPC characters and the design of our Shaman character that would assist Pebble in his pursuit through the game.
This module was a collaboration with game design, in which 4 animation students and 3 game design students would create a short game demo. Almost just an idea as to the potential for a full game. As my skills were centred around 2D animation this was the medium I wanted to approach this project with.
Roles:
Alyssa – background artist – Village
Corr – backgrounds and props artist – trees, barrels and levers
Asia – character design and animator – pebble character
Scott – character design and animator – shaman character and NPC’s
On the first day of selection, we narrowed down 2D games and just games in general we loved. We looked at a bunch of games like Ray-man and Super Mario as our inspiration. We developed this idea of a rock character that slowly crumbles as you progress through the game and liked the idea, the pitch was almost described as a speed runner 2D plat former. We fleshed out our concepts which included our main character ‘Pebble’ as-well as the kind of world we wanted our game to take place in. I had expressed the idea of taking our Pebble through a Scandinavian village, somewhere suited to the likes of Norway but with a mystical twist. When we had these ideas, all set in stone in was time to assign our roles. I was in charge of NPC characters and the design of our Shaman character that would assist Pebble in his pursuit through the game.
Designing the Shaman
For the design of the Shaman, it was important that she looked good and felt appropriate standing next to pebble. We looked at games as stated before like Mario and the Ray-man series, in terms of proportions and its overall aesthetic. We also wanted our character to be instantly recognisable by silhouette and something that was iconic yet simple. As Asia was designing our Pebble character, we worked together so that our characters paired well with one another. We in particular incorporated design elements like huge, proportioned heads that lent into the overall look of the game but also made our jobs in making our striking silhouettes a lot easier. We got to play with shape language and exaggeration that way which also made sense for our games target audience which would’ve been kids to young adults between ages 6 – 17 years. As we were designing our characters, we had to keep that in mind, doing our best to avoid designs that had any sharp or edgy features and keeping our characters soft and almost cuddle like by incorporating round elements and shapes into the design. For my Shaman character I referenced using the likes of Pinterest to nail down that Shaman vibe, which was very creepy, mysterious and very tribal. As Issac in our group (game design) was developing our script for the narrative of the game I looked to him for the direction we were going to take this character. Do we contrast our pebble character with the Shaman as this looming almost intimidating figure or someone that was more of an assisting character that would help Pebble along his journey towards the objective of the game. We decided to create a softer more welcoming character that plays with an aura of mystery or uncertainty. A character that was rather an aid than a character that would just send him on his way. But it was also a way to incorporate the character into the gameplay and use her as not just a character whose purpose was to push the narrative, but also to inform the player with the features, abilities and controls that the player has going into the game. So, this gave me a good base to build the character from as I had an understanding as to how the character was going to operate in the game.
Shaman concepts
After the I got these first designs out of the way in was time to narrow it all down, we looked at elements we liked as a group and what we didn’t like. We were all very conflicted, but one thing was certain and that was we loved the idea of having a necklace or some sort of mysterious jewellery incorporated into the design, almost like the character casts spells and that was how Pebble was eventually created. So, we borrowed a design element from pebble that being its little necklace and tied Pebble to our Shaman character. After mixing about elements that we as a collective group liked we settled on our first design.
Initial design of the Shaman
Our biggest concern was the age of the character, were they going to be young or old and experienced. At first, we went with our younger character because of her smile and overall welcoming appearance. After feedback from our lecturers, the design to them didn’t feel like it was lacking very much of that wizard-like quality, from this I went back to the drawing board. We figured the younger character wasn’t well suited and opted for a character that was on the older side. The other designs of the undead were designs we liked but it didn’t feel like they entirely belonged in the universe of our game, so the older Shaman was definitely more suited to our pebble character.
Final illustration
I then created this final illustration that incorporates our design language of the soft elements of the character, along with its mystery with the design element of necklace. Having those big eyes were a key to the friendly nature of the character. I got rid of the crow as it meddled with the shape language and silhouette. The colour palette was also a direct influence of Asia’s pebble design, having this slight blue, cold tone to the colours. The tribal elements were illustrated with the use of the of the face paint on the character, again influenced by Norwegian culture that I had researched.
NPC’s & Walk cycles
Next was to take the designs of my NPC character and animate their walk cycles. I wanted to make sure that the designs also reflected and matched the designs of our Pebble and Shaman character, utilising the art guide I produced to match colours and the thickness of the lines in the characters stayed consistent throughout alongside their proportions too. With the child villagers sharing similar features such as the size of their heads and same colour of hair. However with the mum and dad character I wanted to create some differentiation, with the dad being portrayed as tall and lanky as opposed to the mum character which is portrayed with slightly thicker, smaller proportions and a walk that feels a bit slower and less exaggerated. The walk cycles came with a challenge but one that was definitely more rewarding in the end as I found the full loop of a walk was much harder to nail down than I realised. But I feel these were all successful in terms of adapting to the art style intended and maintaining the look and feel of the villager’s original concepts.
Shaman Sprites and Poses
Presentation and application of feedback
During my project, I kept Aodhan in the loop about the direction of the game and where we were taking it. This included updating the design of the shaman when given feedback about the design lacking the flair and nature of the character and what we as a group intended for it.
I also sent him updates on my animations and went back and forth with him. As I corrected any imperfections that were pointed out such as when I struggled getting my animation to loop properly and fixing or adjusting poses to get my timing right.
Communication of teamwork, organisation and self reliance
It was important that we kept each other updated as a group, ensuring that we kept our vision for the game intact and to make sure we were all on the same page. We kept each other up to date when meeting in class and organising group calls to inform each other if any changes were made or brainstorming alternative solutions and ideas. We also made sure to separate group channels for the games design students so they could effectively communicate to each other separately from animation students and same went for all of us. At one point we needed to make alterations to our art style when going from our intended approach which was to have a line-less style with a use of shading as a way of communicated form on our characters. We decided to make the change to this by going with a line-art based style. We used a colour of navy blue just so that the style would feel lighter and would emanate the tone for the overall game and would compliment the softer bouncy feel of our characters. I made sure to communicate with my team and made sure that Asia was also on the same page as we needed our characters to match the art style we planned out and it remained consistent.
Final Reflection
I really enjoyed working with this group of people, I loved the early process of brainstorming and developing the overall design of the game and how the player would play through it from their perspective. Developing the style of the game was also extremely enjoyable, creating the concept for a world for our characters to live in as-well as their style and the overall vibe of the game. I was very fortunate to have a group of people that were as excited as I was to make this game. We all seemed to have the same goal in mind and with effective communication I believe we created a game that we all felt passionate for. It was definitely a lot of fun, and I learnt a lot from working with others especially collaborating with those of a different course and subject as-well.
Portfolio & Gameplay
Gameplay – Pebbles Pursuit
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-JXrzBdpZDaKULC5Obp0IhfX9q_DtbO1