Video game experiments
- 2. Process This was the first experiment I created on Photoshop. The genre of my final video game product is a run and gun game that is side scrolling. Therefore, I thought I needed practice making the background smoothly transition past so that it looked like the character is running. Firstly, to draw the background I used the pencil tool in pixels. Using the same tool, I drew the trees and ground. To make the trees look more realistic I used the dodge and burn tool to incorporate some highlighted and shaded areas. I wanted to create a character that would be similar and look similar to my final product that I had some practice before production. I copied the character from Google to help me draw the character successfully. Once again I used the pencil tool and the dodge and burn tool to help add more dimensions to the avatar. Whenever I made a mistake, I used the eraser tool in the block format to erase any mistakes. I drew the characters legs on different layers so that I could change the position of his legs as he ran. I started with his legs drawn like he is standing, then the legs change on the next frame to his leg raising and falling. This means there is a smooth transition of his legs going up and down to create the illusion that he is running through the forest. On each frame, I also included a bullet firing from his gun that would move position on each frame. To make the background move, I created a timeline with a new frame. After this, I highlighted a section of the background using the rectangle tool. Then on the new frame I moved the background towards the left. The highlighted area was then copied on the new frame filling the gap from where the background has moved. Last time, I struggled with making the background move, therefore this practice has helped me a lot. I now know how to make the background move smoothly with the correct tools.
- 3. Reflection • What elements of your experiments will you include in your final product? One element of my experiment that I will include in my final product is the genre of the game: run and gun. The concept of the final product is to shoot the disease which is spreading all over the city. Therefore, my experiment follows this genre and will be incorporated in my video game. In my experiment, I included a bullet that would fire out of the gun: I will also include this in my final product to create the illusion like the bullet is shooting out the gun and killing the disease. A final element I will include in my final product is the colour scheme. The colour scheme in my experiment is green and brown. In my video game, it will be set in a forest which means the colours and scenery will be the same, however they will be drawn in much more detail.
- 4. Process This was my final experiment. I did not have time to create any more, incorporate audio or colour due to college being shut for weather conditions. I wanted to create a simple concept that would be another way for me to practice moving the background in a smooth transition. To create this basic design I only used two tools: pencil tool on the pixel setting and the eraser tool on the setting block. I copied the design from Google Images and changed some of the shapes to influence the image to appear like a landscape. The only effect on this experiment is that I edited the background so that it moved in a full circle. Once again, I created a timeline and a new frame for each time the background moved. I moved the background to the left so that elements of the buildings were missing. I then used the rectangle tool and highlighted the areas that were no longer visible and copied them to fill the empty space on the right hand side. I did this technique several times until the background went in a full loop smoothly. After this, I exported the file into a GIF file type. Once the game had been exported I opened up the product using FireFox.
- 5. Reflection • What elements of your experiments will you include in your final product? The only element from my experiment that I will include in my final product is the moving background. Because I now have several practices on how to move the background smoothly in a full circle, my final product will also feature this. My final product will have buildings and architecture in its world, however in the clip I am going to create it will just be trees.