A Brief Introduction.
The creative project assignment Brief can be split up into many individual questions, to start we will need to consider the who the client is. In this case the client is Unruly Ember. The aim of the project is to encourage the growth and improve engagement of youth in the STEM sector. This instantly crops up the question, What does STEM mean? Well STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The theme of the project is (soft) sci-fi and the target audience is young people between the ages 14-21. Finally the required product is and asset that emphasises the idea of fuel, oxygen for habitation this can be either a 3D model, game mechanic or a final digital art piece.
A Few of my favourite Sci-fi Content.
My sci-fi stimuli can be summed up in a short list as most of them are video games they are as follows: Destiny 2, Destiny, No Man's Sky, Alien isolation, XCOM 2, Halo series and the StarCraft Series. within this list we have a split of 3 styles we have shooters and RPG style's these would be Halo, Destiny we also have a Turn based game Style these would be StarCraft and XCOM 2 finally we have a inventory management survival style these are No Man's Sky and Alien Isolation. Yes all these games in the groups are individually different however I have just linked common traits between them. The useful ideas that can be used for this project are The use of replenishing fuel or oxygen in No Man's Sky and the ability to inhabit any planet But this is a short look into it.
No Man's Sky.
No Man's Sky is a survival game that is based in far future you are either unaware of you species or you are alien this is more of a cosmetic choice however you are somewhere in the universe with nothing but a shattered memory. throughout the game you with go from galaxy to galaxy and star to star to take on a few paths path for knowledge, path for truth and anything that is for your own personal goals for example get to the centre of the universe and as you do these tasks you must barter and harvest to survive this includes make homes and resting places all around the cosmos. Some key ideas that can be useful as stated before are the energy and oxygen systems where you harvest the land to sustain yourself.
XCOM 2.
XCOM 2 is a turn based game where you are a resistance against and alien government that is taking over the earth throughout the game you will be facing new challenges all the time as the environment is almost different every time and that combined with the difference in teams abilities each fight feels different. This kind of team based mechanics could be of use to the project as it could make and interesting game mechanic.
Alien Isolation.
Alien isolation is a horror survival game set many years into the future and you as a player go to a space station and that has be silent for a long time though out the game you will be fighting for your life this includes humans, robots and of course aliens.
Risk Assessment and Time Management.
Here Above is a Gantt Chart this is what I will be using throughout the rest of the project and will allow me to stay focused and not get too distracted and it also keep me from getting caught up on parts and come back to them as it shows there is a lot to get done. When it comes to the pathing and how well I have followed the Gantt chart I'd say that a lot of the early objectives went by a lot faster than to be expected.
Here Above is a SWOT chart this explains what I am confident in and what I might have some issues for example in the strengths section I say that I am confident in piskel and because of that I have chosen to do some pixel art work with the final outcome being a sprite of some sort.
Environment/Asset Idea Mind Maps.
Ideas Mood Board.
Further Description.
I have selected image 1 because it shows that how safe an environment looks the creatures may be more intense then considered. I have selected image 2 as it has a unique look to the plants and ground this can open up options to many ideas. Image 3 is a fabricator it is able to produce any item that is requested and it is a solid depiction to a sci-fi fabricator style. Image 4 is a photo of a robot and it give me a good look as to what a sci-fi robot may look like and what it may be capable of and it generates a lot of ideas for styles. Image 5 is a showcase of what tools may be like in the future and it give insight into styles and properties. Image 6 is a snowy environment on an alien planet and it shows me that there can be some similarities in looks for both our and alien planets.
Feedback Description
The Button above will take you to the feedback form that I had launched to help me on the project. To get things started this forms page got very little to no responses which made it fairly hard to produce a valid idea and concept. Here Below are the few responses that I was given to generate some useful ideas.
Concepts and Final ideas.
My final idea is that I will produce an sprite asset pack that will be one of either 32x32 or 64x64 these will only be set if I chose to take it into further detail. The software that I will be using will be piskel as this is easy to use and I personally enjoy using it and finally the file type will most likely be a .png as this is standard for asset packs
Further Description.
The images above show some games that have a similar design and style that I will be going after the one that I look to the most is image 4 Star bound as within the game you will explore different planets with different environments. As the brief says they will be inhabiting other planets and this leaves the possibility of the kinds of planets that you as a player might go to so it will give me a variety of choices when it comes to styles. A good mention for pixel art driven games would be terraria however it isn't on the mood board as it isn't sci-fi but its style of a free roam 2D survival fits the brief pretty well.
Some Concepts.
Here we have two ideas for the asset sheet the first one is a draft of a fabricator/crafting station of sorts as all of the assets I will make all of them will be separate from the background as this will allow the player or the developers to craft the environment to how the suit and the 2nd one is a draft of a life support system or panel that will be useful to the O2 balancing that will be in the game. The Third image is a design for a bed however this is one tile so it looks a little small so the finished project will be a 2 tile sprite. In terms of the description of these assets the crafting station has a base metal cube that is where it stores power to give it the ability to function and the three arms or fitted with three tools a claw to move and manipulate objects a drill to screw and drill objects in place and the last is a laser cutter that can also function as a welder below there there is room there is a resource hatch that if needed the arms will go under and get the needed materials. The Life support panel Has two 02 tanks slots that when fitted it will distribute oxygen around the itself it also will display the amount in it on the screen this I would like to make animated for both above and the 3rd image is well a bed with a sci-fi style to it.
Here is an Idea of my final design for a few different things like the crafting station for example I will be doing something similar for the life support sprite I am also going to look further into making character with an idle stance
Here is the First Iteration that I will be continuing to work on and will continue to document progress and issues. It will be 32x32 bit that way I can have a more simplistic style to it. I plan to have a walking animation and a jumping one as well.
As I continued I was inspired by art like these as they have a simple yet charming appearance to them. Also as I have trouble making walking animations for more complex sprites this will make it a lot easier.
Production Progression.
1.Here is the beginning for the sprite however it is not perfect as the legs and arms look a little bit off so that will be my next edit. This was so far created using the pen and mirror tool.
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4. After a small bit of colouring I decided to add some detail using the pen, lighten and colour picker tools, I would have a sample area that I would darken or lighten to what I need and then I would use the colour picker to get the colour that I have just made and spread it elsewhere.
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2.Here is the edit I had said I set out to complete and now it looks less "Floaty" instead it looks to be on the ground. The tools I used was the pen tool.
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5. Once I added some detail I made an idle animation to go with it, and to give it some life. This was mostly made using the duplication tool and the rectangle selection tool to manipulate the image in tiny increments.
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3.After I had sorted the helmet visor to not be so large I add colour to get an idea if what it looks like so far, Using the Fill and pen tool to colour areas.
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6. Following the idle animation I gave him a simple walking animation. Again This was mostly made using the duplication tool and the rectangle selection tool to manipulate the image in tiny increments.
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7. To complete the basic's needed for a sprite I needed a jumping one. And this was made using the pen, duplication and rectangle selection tools to manipulate the image in tiny increments and add a small simple affect at the bottom of his shoes.
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Progress So Far. (.Zip Files Below)
Idle
Walking
Jumping
Once I had complete the production of the sprite and its animations I decided to import it into unreal to see the out come and to do that I had ported them in as the textures above and then I had to extract the sprites to make them usable, however then I was just left with sprites so I needed to make them into a flipbook and as I was using the starter equipment in unreal I just had to import my flipbooks that I had just made into the already setup code that was for the basics of walking, jumping and being idle so I did so. However the collision on the sprite was way off so I had to edit that and make it so that he would not just float.
The Flipbooks
Here are two of the flipbooks that i have made to allow the sprite to be used in unreal these are simply made by getting all of the separate sprites that makes up the animation and selecting them all then right clicking them, "create" and then clicking flipbook.
File Management
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To the left is the file management that i had used within unreal to make it easier for a user to grasp and to simple be more organised
Download Test level Below
A Bit of the assets lore.
The asset that I have created is a space suit that is capable of withstanding high pressure and it has an oxygen recycler that will take the C02 and refine it into 02 and this also comes with a atmosphere purifier this will purify the chemicals around the suit and if there is 02 present in any form it will be filtered out and refined to be used this will allow for future survival on foreign planets. Also this suit has rocket boots to help the user to traverse difficult terrain with ease. Its Codename is I.M.P. Full Name: Interstellar, molecular Purifier.
These Thrusters on the suits feet will also allow him to get propelled when under water or even in open space this makes this suit reliable in most situations. The suit also comes with a camouflage that can be activated to hide if there is any volant creatures that are encountered, However It will not come with any fire arms as the intention of this suit is to explore and survive.
Review of the two weeks of production.
So, my two weeks of production wasn't too hard but was still a challenge as the goal I had originally set was too large for the time we had so I was set back as I had no REAL idea as to what my asset was going to be but then I got some inspiration to make a high tech suit from looking as the games I had researched beforehand Such as No Man's Sky etc, so that's what I had set out to do in the end however I then ran into another challenge I don't really like making limbs in pixel art as I find it hard to do. So, I had to make something simplistic which ended up being a bobble head style character but from here it was smooth as making the asset wasn't that Difficult Considering that the design was also simple the hardest thing I had encountered when making it was the jumping animation as I simply didn't know how I should make the character jump. In terms of if I think that my assets fits the brief? Yes I do think it fits the theme of STEM as it says into the lore above however this is subject to opinion.