To really get into the idea of this week’s project, I have design a project based on a basic online java script platform game so that I can quickly test that my ideas actually work and they aren’t completely farfetched or outlandish.
The objective of this design document would be to design a java script, fantasy, online role playing platform game. The target audience would be for 15+. This judgement is based on the blood and themes in that would be in the game as appose to any difficulty which would be beyond anyone younger. It should be simple to learn by anyone of any gaming experience but still be challenging enough for the most experienced gamers to find satisfying. The stylised art work would be done using Photoshop and the coding would be done using Applet which could be embedded into a webpage and hosted on an online server.
Screen size: The screen of the game itself will be 1000x600 pixels
Each screen will be composed of environment 25x15 blocks
Each environment block will be 40x40 pixels.
Environment blocks can be used to compose terrain, sky and obstacles. Terrain and sky must be tillable! The background may be a single Photoshop painting.
For example:
A brief example of how this could be put together:
To make sure the player’s avatar character remains the focus on the screen but is still in proportion with the environment, the characters must be 100 pixels tall.
A basic “naked” male and female character must be produced with optional hairstyles.
For example:
Note: when making these examples I realised how hard it is to work to this scale in Photoshop.
All NPCs will also be constructed from these basic shapes.
Each character in the game world will also need a set of clothing. Since the genre of the game of fantasy, the game will have your typical classes, Warrior, Mage, Archer and Rogue. For each of these classes, different clothing designs need to be made to fit over the top of the character. A male and female outfit of each design must be made. There should be a mix of top and bottom piece armour /clothing, and or robes so the player can mix and match.
In addition each character will need weapons for each class and they must be in proportion to the character.
Below is an example breakdown of a warrior class male armour, male mage class robes.
A basic “naked” male and female character must be produced with optional hairstyles.
For example:
Note: when making these examples I realised how hard it is to work to this scale in Photoshop.
All NPCs will also be constructed from these basic shapes.
Each character in the game world will also need a set of clothing. Since the genre of the game of fantasy, the game will have your typical classes, Warrior, Mage, Archer and Rogue. For each of these classes, different clothing designs need to be made to fit over the top of the character. A male and female outfit of each design must be made. There should be a mix of top and bottom piece armour /clothing, and or robes so the player can mix and match.
In addition each character will need weapons for each class and they must be in proportion to the character.
Below is an example breakdown of a warrior class male armour, male mage class robes.
As a Fantasy game carts and horses may be included in the background to add character to game but they must be in proportion to the character. Boxes and crates and other static environment equipment must bear in mind the 40x40 texture spaces for the foreground environment.
Trees and bushes for the background directly behind the character would also be an additional touch to give the game some depth to its otherwise flat appearance. Below is a example of how the pieces could come together in game.
Obviously this is just brief, but for town scapes, buildings will be need to be designed, a backdrop will also need to be designed, and enemies all MUST bear in mind their proportion to the characters and the size of the screen.
To mark the end of doing that design document and it's specifications, forcing myself to look at all the aspects of a game that an artist needs to consider and in maintaining a style is more difficult than i previously thought, especially when working with so few pixels. However, i well and truely enjoyed doing the example pieces and had to contain myself from actually making the game in the document. It was a nice reprieve from doing 3D work.
More project like this Mike. major thumbs up (y)
Trees and bushes for the background directly behind the character would also be an additional touch to give the game some depth to its otherwise flat appearance. Below is a example of how the pieces could come together in game.
Obviously this is just brief, but for town scapes, buildings will be need to be designed, a backdrop will also need to be designed, and enemies all MUST bear in mind their proportion to the characters and the size of the screen.
To mark the end of doing that design document and it's specifications, forcing myself to look at all the aspects of a game that an artist needs to consider and in maintaining a style is more difficult than i previously thought, especially when working with so few pixels. However, i well and truely enjoyed doing the example pieces and had to contain myself from actually making the game in the document. It was a nice reprieve from doing 3D work.
More project like this Mike. major thumbs up (y)
XD
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