Creating Animations for the Game

In the past I have talked about the different characters and animations I have done in Piskel. I have not really talked about my process for creating sprites, so today, I wanted to talk you through my way of creating the sprites I need for my game. First, I brainstorm ideas on what I want to create. In this example I want to create a basic enemy for my candy-themed level, so I thought to create a piñata that will attack the player. I start with a basic outline:

Next, I start to add color and a personality to my creation:

I know that I want it to resemble a piñata, so I add lots of flamboyant colors that change between each other suddenly at different layers to give it this effect. Finally, I add a few minor details, like shading:

I know that these sprites may not look the best, but I am very proud of how most of these turn out because I am no where near being an artist and the fact that these even just resemble what I want them to be is enough for me.

Changing Concepts

I wanted to take this week's blog entry to talk about some many idea phases my project went through.  The concept of my game went through several different phases. At first I considered making a sci-fi themed game in which you play as a crash-landed astronaut on a foreign planet. The game play and visuals would have been an homage to the Nintendo game, Metroid. Another idea was for a 2-D stealth game, in which the player assumes the role of a secret agent, ninja, or something to that effect, trying to infiltrate an enemy base. Eventually, I settled on the idea of making a superhero themed game reminiscent of Megaman. Unfortunately, there are many aspects to this idea that will not be fully realized by the end of this school year. I will most likely only have one completed level to serve as a playable demo, but I will try to flesh it out as much as I can. This is actually not so bad, as game design is a rather lengthy process. Some games take over a year just to conceptualize the concept of a game.

I didn't really have a picture that related to what I talked about, so here's an animation for my medieval-themed villain that probably will not be used in the demo for the end of the year presentation. His name is Night Knight.

Coding in C#

One of the most difficult aspects of this project so far has been the coding. I had no prior knowledge on how to do it, so I have been watching tutorials and reading instructions on how to do what I want to achieve with my game. It is a very strange process and it seems almost like speaking a different language because you need to know what the terminology and phrases mean and do. So far, I have only really worked on one script, which is basically the programming for one aspect, which is the character controller. This allows the player to input buttons to make characters move and what not. Honestly, doing this by far is my least favorite aspect of the project. I have all of these ideas and goals for the game, but coding is such a long, tedious process and it is difficult to know what to type in to get the results that I want. I will continue to work hard in order to hone my coding skills.

My character script

Work on Level Design and Character Programming

Along with slowly working through the coding issues in creating my character, I have also been working on the aesthetic and game-play design of the level I hope to have complete in time for the presentations, a candy factory that houses a sweet themed villain, The Jaw-Breaker (changed from the old name, The Candy Man). I have created a small portion of the level below where you can see the work I have been doing. Nothing is animated yet, but the basic designs are there. Once I am finished, the Hot Cocoa will be churning in the vats to the left and be flowing out at the bottom, the machine in the background will have a moving meter and flashing lights, and, of course, the Chameleon will walk, jump, shoot, and slice his way through the level. Next, I plan on implementing enemies, mini-bosses, and bosses. After that, I will finish the level and add the animations, the music, and the sound effects. Hopefully I will have it ready to play soon so that I can have people try it out.

Here are some pictures of my work in Unity:

The level so far as seen in Unity

More of the level in Full Screen

Prgramming my Character

There are many different elements I want to code into my character. For starters, he needs the basic abilities to run and jump, which is by far the easiest part. This is so I can add in obstacles for the player to navigate through, similar to games like Mario or MegaMan. Next, I want him to have at least one basic attack, but I would prefer two if I can handle it. For one I need to program him to be able to shoot projectiles that fly straight, go at a set speed, and damage enemies or destructible pieces of the environment. For his second attack, I want him to have a sword slice that can hurt enemies closer to him, most likely at higher damage. The hardest part of this will be to program the animations to work in tandem with the code, so that that the Chameleon will clearly show what actions he is performing. Then, there are smaller elements that will add a lot of flair to my game. This includes sound effects that will play when he jumps, when he shoots, or when he swings his sword. I also want to have the Chameleon flash when he gits hit to show the player that they have taken damage. Something that I will tackle at a later date will be the UI, or user interface, which includes a health bar, amount of lives, or ammo. This will be a crucial part to the game because the player needs to know how much of those things they have so that they can accordingly.

Me working in Unity

A Change of Plans

Unfortunately, I have gotten behind on my project due to all the things in my life getting in the way. Because of this, I have decided to move a couple things around on my schedule to compensate for this. This, however, is not going to change my goal of finishing a playable demo by the end of the year. Here is my new schedule starting from this month until May:

January: Finish working on player code
February: Finish work on the demo level
March: Work on music and sound effects
April: Have people playtest it and fix any problems or bugs
May: Put anything else I need together and get ready for the presentation

I think that this is a much more realistic plan that I should be able to finish for the end of the year. As an update on the work I have been doing, here are some background and environment pieces I am going to use for my demo level that is going to feature the villain, The Jaw-Breaker.

Basic brick pattern in different shapes

Background element to make factory seem alive

Vat of molten hot cocoa

Music and Sound Effects

This month I plan to focus mainly on finding good and appropriate sound effects or making some of my own for my video games. So far, I am trying to find a good resource for this. So far, for stock music and sound effects, I have found Indie Game Music, a website created by Roald Strauss to help individual developers by offering free music and sounds. If I choose to make my own audio, I can either use PulseBoy, a Game Boy inspired program created by Roger Hicks and MAtt White, or Famitracker, a program that is inspired by the sounds and music from the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom. If I do end up making the music myself, I will take most of my inspiration from MegaMan, but also other great classic games, like Castlevania, Mario, and Punch-Out!! I feel that the sound effects, however, are going to be the hardest thing to make myself, as I have no idea how to even start. I will have to do research and figure out how to do it soon. Here are the links to the mentioned websites:
Indie Game Music:  www.indiegamemusic.com/
PulseBoy: http://www.pulseboy.com/
Famitracker: http://famitracker.com/

Here is an example of a good NES song I hope to emulate: