Week #1

-
Hey, it's Gary.

The first thing I did for my project was to make some quick game design documentation: this will act as a guide to the making of the project and store all the ideas I have for the game. It got pretty huge pretty quickly (6072 words, so far), but it was nice to get all my ideas on paper, so to speak.

Fig.1 - The game doc so far

The next thing I wanted to do was to make the prototype - this would just include the basic game play of a movable character, throwing 'bait', and interactions with one of the aliens. I'd yet to use Unity to make a 2D game so took some time to 'research' what was different. I learnt how to:
  • Use Unity's sprite editor.
  • Use Unity 2D specific content, like changes to animator controllers and altered components like Rigidbody 2D, etc.
  • Any Unity 2D unique workflows, like slicing a sprite sheet.
This formed the start of my prototype, with a movable character by the end of my research. For practice I sprited a Metroid from the Metroid series, which is a placeholder for the alien.
Fig.2 - Metroid sprite

I then made the functionality of the first alien, which now:
  • Follows the character and emits a particle effect whilst 'tame'. It moves faster the further away it is from the character 
  • Is tamed by dropping bait nearby it
  • Runs toward and eats the bait once over it (needs tuning)
  • Is in the background at first, tinted black by shadow. When bait is dropped it 'pops out' with a particle effect of leaves.
Fig.3 - Taming the alien

I also made the sprites for the 'bait', which you can use to tame and tempt aliens. As well as the idle and being eaten animation, which you can see above, it'll decompose after being left out for a while.
Fig.4 - Bait sprite sheet

I also made:
  • Some HUD elements (amount of bait the player has, nightfall timer).
  • Leaves particle effect.
  • A script which spawns 'trees' across the length of the level.
  • A script which spawns a random alien (once there are more than one).
  • A heart themed particle effect.
Fig.5 - Heart sprite sheet
Fig.6 - Heart animated

I made good progress for the first week. Of what I'd wanted to have done in the prototype I'm only missing the farm landmarks and their functionality like the pen, etc. Obviously a lot of art in the prototype is a placeholder for now - I will exclusively spend next week practicing pixel art by making art assets of what is currently in the prototype, such as:
  • Chests,
  • Items,
  • The alien,
  • Trees,
  • And art for more particle effects.
Fig.7 - Bait decomposition

See you then!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week #3

-
Image
Gary here. This week I remade and improved the script that controls the alien and got all the needed interactions working. I just need to make aliens 'wander' back and forth when not engaged in any activity. My other goal for this week was to create the sprites for the first alien: Fig.1 - Alien 01 sprite sheet Fig.2 - Alien 01 idle animation In addition I created some particle effects. Mainly, the constant snowfall on Europa. It consists of small, fast moving snow that go all the way down the screen as well as bigger, slower snow that disappears halfway. It needed to crumble up so I made a simple sprite sheet for it: Fig.3 - Snow sprite sheet I also gave items that pop out of chests (as well as the grinder and rocket) cool particle trails, using this sprite sheet: Fig.4 - Trail sprite sheet That and the snow look like this in Unity: Fig.5 - Particle trails I got a second alien working - this one must be fed until it is full, then will be tame. It
Read more

Week #2

-
Image
Fig.1 - Chest Hey, Gary here. This week was spent practicing pixel art - I started with making a chest that items would pop out of when found. It took me a very long time to get the sprite right (and that was just one sprite out of what would be an entire sprite sheet!). Whilst I'd likely get faster and better over time, it was too much of a risk to continue with this art style considering how many sprites I will need to make and I'd likely run out of time. Fig.2 - Revised chest I went back to a similar look I'd used for the bait, with large pixels and not nearly as much detail needing to be added (which to be honest I preferred, as its a more unique look). I made a few more throughout the remainder of the week, such as the: Fig.3 - Robot Food item Coin item Robot item A particle effect of question marks for when an alien is confused Stars that flicker in the sky (another particle effect) To prove my point, none took anywhere near the same amou
Read more

Week #10

-
Image
Gary here. This week I made the rocket, where tamed aliens can be sold for gold: Fig.1 - Rocket I also made the grinder, where tamed aliens can be churned up into delicious food: Fig.2 - Grinder I also worked on the mechanics for a couple of new aliens, like the new alien in figure 1 and 2 who just needs a tweaked idle animation to be finished. I didn't have time to do the character as planned, and hope to squeeze that in to next week in lieu; however, I will be home for Easter so I won't be able to do as much work as usual. Time I do have to work will be spent between making the user interface, and writing the report I have to do for the project. See you then!
Read more