Concept art I have been drawing some Concept art for my main character. He is a ranger so I have been experimenting in Photoshop. I have also been using pencil and paper to explore different positions and armour.
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Lives and Health bars. I have been working on putting lives and health bars into my game though game maker. Firstly I did the health bar. I did this by creating a health bar by setting "health" to 100 and by using the draw even and action to make the health appear on the screen. I then went onto making the health bar go down a value of two each second, this makes the player rush as they are under pressure. When the health bar goes down to zero, the game changes room to the game over the room. I also did a similar thing with lives. Each time the enemy hit the player it reset the both of them and takes one of the player's lives.
Lives and Health bars. I have been working on putting lives and health bars into my game though game maker. Firstly I did the health bar. I did this by creating a health bar by setting "health" to 100 and by using the draw even and action to make the health appear on the screen. I then went onto making the health bar go down a value of two each second, this makes the player rush as they are under pressure. When the health bar goes down to zero, the game changes room to the game over the room. I also did a similar thing with lives. Each time the enemy hit the player it reset the both of them and takes one of the player's lives.
Working with scores and counters. I have been working to make my game have and display a score. I did this by making the player collect the yellow counters. As they collect the counters the game destroys that object and adds a point to their score, then this is displayed in the bottom left-hand corner.
Main Menu for demo To make this main menu background I first had to make a file on photoshop that was 620 by 480. I started off with the sea to give myself a horizon and a point of reference. I then moved onto the sky, I started with a dull gold colour and then added a lighter tone of the same colour to add a kinda cloud texture. I then used the blur tool on the sky to soften the lines of the extra layer I put on it. Next, I added the sun using a soft edged paint brush after I had the basic shape of the sun I used the smudge tool to spread out the shape parallel with the horizon. After that, I again used the blur tool to soften the edges. I then moved to the mountains and did the same thing for the both of them.
Beep Box Today I have been playing around with beep box and trying to make two different samples of chiptune, one for a title screen or village (slow) and one for battle and intense moments in a game (fast). My slow music sample My fast music sample For the slower sample I have used a low tempo to relax the players and make them feel safe, however, the faster one will put them on edge and make them panic. Each of these samples would be used in their respected places to make the game more atmospheric and immerse the player. These samples wouldn't be appropriate in a sort of triple-A game, they would be used on a retro 16bit game.
Working progress background. I have started to design a background for a city rooftop platformer type of game. I have used layer aspects to give the background a bit of a cartoony look armed towards younger children. I used the select tool to make rectangles and then filled them with colour with the fill tool. I added a glow effect to the layer with the buildings which makes it look like the city is glowing.
Pixel art in Photoshop Today I have been working in Photoshop to make pixel art for sprites. To do this I have used a few tools to add shape, tone, and texture. To start with I had to make the file 32 by 32 PPI. I could have used any power of 2 as that is what the restitution go up in. (16, 32, 64, 128, 256) After that, I started to make the shape using the pencil tool. I had to use the pencil too because it makes a hard line instated of clouring colouring and spreading to other pixels. After making the basic shape I use the pencil tool again to colouring in the lines and go over them. A finally I used the dodge and burn tool to add shading and texture to my artwork. I did have a few problems with finding the correct colour for the meat cleaver which as made it very poor and low quality.
Music and Sound Design in Gaming In this blog I will be talking about the effects of sound on games, how it can set an atmosphere, mood and alert the player of a threat. I will be listing a number of games with awesome sound design and soundtracks. The first game I will be talking about is Portal. Portal uses sound in a number of ways and most of the sounds are very memorable, for example, the portal gun, jump pads and the turrets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIKR1p6YvsE https://youtu.be/YFekhE70vEw?t=2 The music that plays while you're flying through the air after going on a jump pad makes you feel like your life is in serious danger, it does this because it has such a high tempo. After you have completed the game, it teats you to one of the best songs in all of the gaming, Still Alive. https://youtu.be/RthZgszykLs?t=55 This song is such a good send off after the final boss and is one of the most memorable songs in all of gaming. Now moving on to...
Learning the basics of Game Maker Studio. Today I have been learning the basics of game maker studio. I have made a basic demo game where a floating eye is chasing an orange block. I have developed my own sprites using Photoshop. I have given these sprites individual events and actions. This made my game interactive and have mechanics. I have programmed the monster eye to attack and follow the player no matter where it goes. This, although looks very simple, is the base for a simple but fun game.
My game review on Metro 2033 Redux. The game-play. The game-play of Metro is a mixture of a normal fps survival game and a horror run. It explores the physiological effects that a post-apocalyptic world would have on anyone. It does this by making the player feel very weak and powerless. for example in some of the final stages of the game, there is an enemy called the librarian that is basically impossible to kill. The only way you can combat it is by looking it dead in the eyes and praying it leaves you be. If you attack it, it will go into an ape-like rage and kill you. The story You play as Artyom who leaves his home metro station to search for the mysterious "dark ones" who have been attacking other stations. He becomes a ranger on his travels and finds out that the dark-ones are trying to contact him. You also find notes (which are collectables) that expand the story and fills in blanks and also explains things from Artyom's view. The...