Bomboy - Marking Period 1 Presentation

Intention Definition & Exploration of Ideas
As stated in my themes for the year that influence my art, my area of digital media I am going to focus on is everything that involves the creation of video games. This includes Game Maker (to make the game), Photoshop (art for the game), and Word (planning/writing, GDD).
Planning
My plan for the whole year is to focus on making and near-perfecting a huge project (video game) and, when bored or stressed of it, possibly make smaller games or make digital art like last year. Based on that, my goal for the first marking period was to re-familiarize myself with Game Maker and Photoshop, create the game concept, start a little bit of the art, and type the GDD. Along with my major goal, I expect to put it on hold whenever I had to do something for a college such as a video or create my portfolio.
Producing
Well, I did do a ton of research on Game Maker again and looked up how to create a successful video game. With this information, I decided on the scope of my game, created the basic look of the first main character, and started the GDD. I did a couple sketchbook pages with my progress, ideas, and inspirations but here I am just going to post the important stuff.
First, my GDD can be found here: GDD Link.
Second, here is the Rogue character sprite:

It's a bit blurry because it's a really small image... sorry. Anyway, I created this character with the intent of keeping it a very traditional rogue (hood, dark colors, and daggers) and to give it a feature that stands out, I gave him bright green eyes. I was happy with the outcome, but now that I think about what I want to create, I wish I made a female. So the Rogue sprite may change, but if I were to do that, I think I will do it at the end when everything else in the game is completed.

Evaluating and Integrating

I did need the time at the beginning to understand the complicated Game Maker again and work my brain around having to create a whole game by myself, and because of that I do feel behind. I did not finish the GDD like I wanted to (but that may be because it's boring and hard). However, even though I did not reach my intended goal, I do feel that this first marking period was valuable. I wanted to make sure I set up my game correctly instead of jumping right in with the possibility of messing up. In the long run, I believe this was safer and is saving me from completely messing up and having to start over. Now that I have played with Game Maker again, I feel more confident for when I truly start coding, and having the GDD will prevent me from making huge mistakes, keeping me on my original goal, and not go beyond my scope (not adding the "what if"'s that will just extend and possibly ruin the creation of my game--they're dangerous).

ANYWAY, I am sorry because you told me not to write as much and I actually tried to do that but... sorry, I failed. Hope you had fun reading :D

Schedule - 10/10-10/14

Monday - No School
Tuesday - George Mason Video Essay
Wednesday - GM Video Brainstorm
Thursday - GM Video Watching (and crying)
Friday - You Must Choose

Bomboy - Artist Inspiration: Shovel Knight

     Shovel Knight is a 2D side-scrolling platform game created by Yacht Club Games. The player controls the protagonist as he collects treasure and fights the Order of No Quarter. The art decided on for the game is the traditional 8-bit style and chiptune soundtrack both in the style of older video game titles from the NES era. In fact, Shovel Knight mimics most of the style from older video games and even limited itself to the NES color palette and animation count. This means that the larger sprites were superimposed on a black background to keep the limit of colors available realistic. More NES limitations include camera shakes that only act on a single axis and a game interface that acts as a background layer instead of being overlaid on top of the gameplay. Actions available mainly involve Shovel Knight's shovel, which he can either use to attack enemies head on and dig up treasure, or aim below him while jumping to bounce on enemies. The goal throughout the game, other than the obvious fight through each level and defeat the boss at the end to progress, is to collect as much treasure as possible. This treasure can then be used to buy items in the game. In all, Shovel Knight is a successful 2D platformer that has achieved critical acclaim and has won various awards.

     These are the 8-bit sprites of the main character, Shovel Knight. The art style inspires me because I am making a 16-bit game and seeing the style in use helps me visualize and understand how my designs are going to look or fit into my game. I also did not realize how detailed 8-bit characters could become; I always thought 8-bit meant less details and a more simplistic design. I decided on 16-bit because I want to ensure the details in my game; my hope is to get my game as beautiful as some 2D games such as Shovel Knight.

     Again, my goal is to achieve this atmospheric and detailed world such as that the Shovel Knight lives in. Also, my HUD is going to be as simple as the one pictured above. Life counter, how many more levels until the decision, and a timer to calculate the points for how fast the players are going.

     Overall, this traditional 2D side-scrolling platformer has inspired my art, concept design, and gameplay functions for my own game. This game is rated 10/10 on Steam and also in my personal ranking of good games. While I've already started, I am excited to create my own characters, villains, and environments dot-by-painstaking-dot.

Bomboy - Schedule 10/3-10/7

Monday - Rogue
Tuesday - GDD
Wednesday - GDD
Thursday - GDD
Friday - No School

Nagle - Aries Reference Picture

I used this reference pose as a base for my Aries piece. All I did was Google "female reference poses" and I found this image on Pinterest by the artist Aomori. The link is here: Pose.

However, this is what I developed the base pose into. Hopefully you would agree that my piece is more developed and only holds a couple elements from the reference picture.

Bomboy - GDD

I am going to start the Game Design Document for my 2D platformer game.
First, here is a link to a GoogleDoc of my first attempt at a GDD: First GDD Ever. I am going to be using this same template for my current project's GDD.
Here is the link to my new GDD so you can watch my progress as I write it: New GDD.
Also, the GDD was introduced to me while I was at USC over the summer and my teacher has a website full of advice on how to write a well thought-out GDD. His website and that specific article can be found here: Sloperama.

Another person (or persons) full of advice are the Extra Credits on YouTube. They have a whole playlist of YouTube giving advice for designing games and I'm putting in some of those videos that have really helpful advice. Such as this one basically telling me how to keep myself organized and on track (and most important, motivated).

And this one that gave me advice on how to make my first couple of levels (rogue stealth levels).

In all, this sketchbook page is just announcing where I am at currently in my game making and also marking the beginning of my GDD.

Bomboy - Schedule 9/26-9/30

Monday - Rogue
Tuesday - Rogue
Wednesday - Rogue
Thursday - Finished Rogue Still Stance
Friday - Started Rogue Run Cycle