WEEK 5 | Animamundi

WEEK 5 - 8th March

Progress Updates, Asset Review, Creation and Development in Unity

Monday 8th March

This week we will be continuing with Asset Creation and reviewing the quality of this as we progress.

WORK DUE THIS WEEK

Refined Art Bible

Continue with Asset Creation

I will review Charismas first set of assets once posted in Slack.

THE CONCEPT (I will also refine this within my Project Proposal page)

During the last 4 weeks we have been establishing an appropriate concept for the vertical slice, involving designing our own puzzle interactions and art style. Using this during Week 4 we were able to refine our Project Scope and now have a clear idea of our expectations for the project.

To assist my development, I feel it will be useful to note down the concept for Anima Mundi to refer to If I am ever in doubt and to establish this on paper.

PITCH

"Experience a journey of self-discovery, by completing puzzles and restoring beauty within your environment"

BRIEF OVERVIEW

Anima Mundi is a 2D mobile exploration, puzzle-platformer game where players take on the role as 'Shaman' in order to light up the environment and restore its beauty. To do this, players traverse an 'air region' and must complete the necessary environmental puzzles by using their two special abilities.

MECHANICS

Their two abilities consist of: Gust and Boulder throw.

The 'gust' will be used to produce a gust of wind in order to move and rotate objects.

The 'boulder throw' will be used to fill gaps and break objects.

CONDITIONS

Players must complete each environmental puzzle before they can progress to the next region and essentially, every lantern must be lit before they can complete the 'level'.

WEDNESDAY 10TH MARCH

This week I made the art bible accessible to all team members and will focus on updating it after the first asset review.

Within the Art Bible I have updated mood-boards/reference images and added more explanation into how to achieve the expectation of our assets. Please refer to this for more detail!

BEGINNING BRIDGE CREATION

This week I am continuing the process of designing the main bridge for the first game puzzle. I am aware that in order for the player to successfully walk across/through the bridge I needed to create each layer separately, which makes it easier for the programmer. Because of this I am taking a little bit longer on it than expected.

CHOICE FOR DESIGN

I have designed the Bridge inspired by the style of traditional Japanese Architecture and referring to my mood-boards taken from the Art Bible at all times. The colours used are shades of those from the final colour scheme to ensure all assets correspond and avoid clashing. I have used my knowledge in Colour Theory to experiment with 'monochromatic' colours and shades to add shading and tone to my design of the bridge however, this will be emphasised during lighting production.

AIM FOR COMPLETION

I aim for my assets to be posted within the next week, where I will then assign the next set of assets to myself and Charisma. This week I have been focused on completing the bridge design which is the first interaction in the vertical slice so I am to provide the team with my best outcome.

PROCESS

SOFTWARE: Adobe Illustrator

BRUSH TYPE: Round Brush Tool

BRUSH SIZE: 2pt and 0.25pt for outlines.

I have made sure to use the shade of red taken from the original colour palette and painting the bridge in a similar style to the traditional appearance of Japanese architecture.

REVIEW OF ASSET DESIGNS - 10th March

I will be performing regular reviews of each asset to ensure the style is the same to prevents mis-matching/clashing colour schemes and an unattractive appearance.

To ensure we were along the right lines I reviewed Charismas first set of assets and made suitable changes.

Charisma sent through her designs for the following:

Platform Islands

Lanterns

Clouds

I am very happy with the outcome of these assets and so are the rest of the team!

The variation between platform shapes make it much more interesting for the Player while traversing the environment and we intend to keep players engaged at all times!

CHANGES/ADJUSTMENTS

In terms of expectation and appearance I need to provide Charisma with some feedback in order to make appropriate changes:

LANTERNS:

The appearance of the lanterns are perfect! Next Charisma must create a version where the lanterns appear on as well as off. This way they will fulfill their purpose within the vertical slice and turn on once players complete each stage of the puzzle.

CLOUDS:

The clouds appeared with a thick outline and didn't quite match the art style of her other assets! Via Whatsapp we discussed her concern with her cloud designs and concluded that she would reduce the size of the outline to keep the style consistent. I am happy with Charismas efforts towards asset creation and she has shown determination throughout!

EVALUATION / MAKING TEAM AWARE:

I have updated Charisma with her next steps and we have come to an agreement as to how she will progress with this. Charisma will be working on creating the lit up lanterns as well as refining her cloud designs to suit the environment. Using this information I will update the asset list and feedback section accordingly.

UPDATE ASSET LIST/REVIEW

I have made sure to update the asset list with new information in order to keep the rest of the team updated about the development of assets.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w07y71xNHjl7GFcYKodi4pgAAp3s-mzV05Y0VSCCuks/edit?usp=sharing

THE TEAM AND THEIR TASKS

Molly was required to create draft ability animations and to begin rigging the Shaman. (Player movement)

Molly began animating the Idle movement of the Shaman and we all agreed that we loved the outcome of this! Kiera assigned her next steps to carry on with the variations of player movement such as Walk, Jump and using the specific abilities.

Molly also presented the way in which the Boulder and Gust would appear in the environment and did this through a little animated prototype. She expressed concern for the style of the Gust however we agreed to keep it like this and make changes if necessary during our first scene test!

CHANGES/ADJUSTMENTS

After review, it was brought to our attention that the boulder may have been difficult for players to walk over for example during the 'bridge puzzle interaction'.

Molly suggested rotating the boulder so players would be able to walk over the flat object rather than how it appears on the left.

I have provided Molly with a quick demonstration of how the boulder should appear once used and in this case, during the first interaction with the bridge:

Daniella was required to create variations of how the Shaman would appear. Daniella uploaded the Shaman facing two ways as well as the coloured Staff based on which ability is in use! I really love this idea as it differentiates the two abilities and makes the player aware of which one is in use visually!

Blue - Gust

Green - Boulder

We were happy with the outcome of the staff and appearance of the Shaman therefore next steps were for Molly to take these designs and animate the correct player movement with smoother animations.

UPDATED ASSET LIST - what needs to be done to ensure completion:

KIERA'S DEVELOPMENT WORK

This week Kiera has been focusing on finding and creating the relevant scripts to implement into Unity. For the course of the project, Kiera has assigned herself Coder and will be responsible for the outcome of the vertical slice in Unity. This means she will be working on coding each puzzle interaction and setting up the basic structure before we implement final assets. During this process she will also be scheduling sessions with a consultant to assist this.

Can be accessed here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EmgKArHv2wPZPe4dkQyJ11povTrypc6CCXF1mi1lr-U/edit?usp=sharing

Kiera has created a 'Version Control' log via Google Docs where she will be documenting her process in terms of assets tested in the scene, and noting down bugs/issues that occurred or any potential risk.

As we produce and test the quality of assets, we will be working simultaneously with Kiera as she integrates our finished assets into our vertical slice.

LIGHTING

Lighting is very important in 2D mobile games especially when our main focus in the beauty in the environment!

Molly suggested ways in which we could achieve this in Unity via 'Post-Processing'.

THURSDAY 11TH MARCH - SLACK CALL

EVALUATING TEAMWORK / WHAT I HAVE LEARNED?

This week we have struggled a little bit with feeding back and sharing work with team members. As well as this I feel our expectation for the vertical slice in terms of ability use and appearance may be a little different. I am concerned that this will lead to us developing in different directions!

To avoid this and prevent this from happening again, I feel it's necessary to lay out a plan and create an in-depth overview of our vertical slice. Also referring to the asset list and the expectations of each asset is exceptionally important while doing so.

Because of this our next steps will involve making this clearer and I will work on creating a detailed demonstration of the vertical slice, to ensure everyone has a clear understanding of what is expected from them. We must also encourage more communication between us and I will begin this by using Slack to ask for asset updates and progress pictures!

NOTES AND NEXT STEPS:

VFX on the game after its made - this means we won't need to consider lighting/shadows during asset creation. This is a much simpler way of implementing light into the environment after everything is made.
To better my knowledge and provide myself with training for future projects, I will research into Post-Processing and use of VFX which will be found here:
Blogs > Lighting.
We will discuss lighting in more detail within the later stages of the project. but for now it's great to have an idea of what is available to us later on.

NOTES:

Lighting is especially important in 2D games as we do not have light sources already provided for us, similar to a game in 3D.
Lighting can be used to add shadows and custom light sources to create a sense of depth and movement in the scene.
This is something we must prioritise in terms of achieving beauty within the environment and tying all of our assets together.
For now we will continue with asset creation and reviewing these assets as we progress.

END OF WEEK EVALUATION

ISSUES THAT AROSE

It came to mine and Kieras attention that we lack in a clear and understandable visual overview of the vertical slice. Because of this we have decided to focus next week on creating a big visual overview and walkthrough animation.

Also, the team seems to have drawn their attention away from Trello as we continue to post our assets via Slack! This is no problem as we are all happy and comfortable using the application for feedback/reviews. Trello didn't offer the same function as Slack which is why we have distributed most of our work via Slack for easy access.

WHY?

This way each team member will have a clear understanding of the expectations of our vertical slice - involving how the abilities will be used, at which time will the outcome of this take place and how assets should appear in the environment.

PROJECT PIPELINE/MILESTONES

This week we have focused on Asset creation and reviewing these as we went along. I have been using my asset table to provide artists with feedback and to keep track of this.

Kiera and I plan to create an overview for the vertical slice to demonstrate to the team how the gameplay will work, as there has been some miscommunication about this. We are on schedule to complete asset creation by Week 9, however next week will be a bit slower than usual as we have dedicated the start of the week to creating a detailed game overview for the team.

We must take into consideration our top priorities for the vertical slice and ensure we have enough time to undertake these responsibilities.

ARE WE ON TRACK?

So far we are on track and should continue with asset creation to complete this by Week 9. Additionally, Asset reviews have begun and should be regularly conducted until we are happy with the outcome. Using our finalised assets we are scheduled to begin scene testing on Week 8 - in order to do this we must complete and test our assets before proceeding with this.

WEEK SUMMARY AND REFLECTION

This week progression has been fairly slow however we have made some necessary changes that will help our development process considerably.

Our next steps will involve prototyping and creating a clearer overview of our vertical slice to keep team members in the loop with how everything will function.

The first asset review allowed us to differentiate between what we expect from the games appearance and what we would like to leave behind. I have also learned that regular communication with artists is extremely necessary to ensure we are all on track and work collaboratively to do so.

Most tasks were completed by the team for this week therefore Kiera (Team Leader) has provided us with follow-up tasks or new ones as seen below:

NEXT STEPS

DANIELLA

Continue with Controller Mapping

CHARISMA

Continue with Asset Creation with Emilia

MOLLY

Continue with Player movement - Animate Shaman to Jump

KIERA

This week researched into Parallax Scrolling and implementing this into Unity

Next task is to create a game storyboard/walkthrough with myself

EMILIA

Continue with Asset Creation

Work with Kiera to create game walkthrough and animate this to provide team with a clearer demonstration - how will the vertical slice appear and work?

How am I feeling?

Slightly stressed but nothing we can't deal with!