Characters photoshopped

Here is my good character/main character for my game. I haven't been in for the sessions so I haven't really been able to do anything like everybody else which is my fault. So I drew this a couple weeks back to catch up with the work and I had taken a picture of it so I put the image I had taken and put it into photoshop and cropped and used the quick selection tool and just cut the character out in general. 

I did the same again with the bad character I had previously created.

Written synopsis of game concept.

I have created the main character for the game and have named him blast bot. I have gave him this name as his ability is to blast out water. I have gave this robot hero the ability to blast water as the bad character I have created has the ability of fire. This main character is able to float within the water and can blast water at objects and other characters. I gave this robot a submarine base kind of feature that able's him to float and can make him move up, down, side to side. I have gave him a helmet so that this character looks courageous and brave towards other characters and I have chosen not to give him a face as he has the helmet on and I dont think he needs one. I chose to use the color design of dark blue as it will still be able to be seen within the water level. Also purple and grey. All of the colors go together nicely.
I have created the bad character for the game and I have considered trying to make him look as evil as possible. I have gave this character the ability of fire as it is the opposite to the main character and can be defeated as water beats fire with the elements. I have made it so this character can throw fire balls and I have displayed this by drawing the character holding a fire ball in his hand. I have chosen the color scheme of this character to be orange to represent his fire ability and have then gone with the color grey again as it fits in with orange nicely and also the color grey is a dark ish color. This character can also hover around as I have gave him the ability to fly also. For this characters facial expressions I have just drew triangles for eyes and added eyebrows so that it displays this character is angry/ unhappy and I have added some sort of ninja mask to show that the only features visible are the eyes and eyebrows. The wizard I have drew has his hood up and the shade of the rest of his face is blacked out to make this character look more mysterious.
The 2D level I have created is 90% of water and when creating this I realized that I had given the wizard fire ability so wouldn't be able to even be in the water so I have split the level in a way so that 90% is water and then on the other side of the split is land. I have made it so that to get through to the other side of the split you would have to get through a door which doesnt include water near that. I have also included obstacles so that it isn't easy to get to the other side of the level. I have placed boxes, platforms, and water animals that could harm the main character and disrupt his goal of getting to defeat the wizard. I have created a button that will need to be blasted in order to open the door and there will be a time limit on how long you can open the door for. On the 10% of land there will be little creatures that could disrupt the main characters objectives again and then I will be including one platform. In the 90% water side of the split I have also placed an ability that will give the robot legs so that It can walk on the dry land split.
The secrets of this game is the button that needs to be blasted to open the door to the other side of the split. The other secret is the other ability that will give the robot legs to walk on the 10% that's not land.
The accessories for the world I have included are, piranha's and crabs that will try and harm the main character along the way. I have included the platforms which the ability and button will be placed on. I have placed boxes so that they're just obstacles the main character will have to climb over. I have created the door in order for the robot to get to the 10% that is not water to get to the wizard. Then I have given the main character the water blasters so that he can blast the wizard and other objects and I have given the wizard a staff so that it can blast fire at the robot to harm it.
The whole aim of the game is to get through the 90% water split trying to find the secret that will open the door to get to the 10% of land where the robot will need to be in order to dispose of the wizard with the use of other things that will be trying to make it hard for the robot to do what it is needed to do.

16/11/15- Pre production sketches.

So for this stage of the lesson I have picked to create the scenario with the robot being the hero, the wizard that needs to be banished from the level and then the scene of where there is 90% water.

THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD CHARACTER:

I then researched on the wizard as I thought It would be the best starting point for me. I looked at wizards and seeing as this wizard I needed to create had to be the bad character of the game, I figured this character needed some sort of weapon or something that gives it a ability and makes it a challenge for the robot to defeat. So I then searched up some staff's on Google and looked at a few examples of them and gained inspiration to create a type of staff but change it up abit with the design's and the type a little bit. I then started to sketch the staff first just so I then had some idea of what the wizard would be holding on the sketch of that. I sketched it so that with the colours of the staff emerald or diamond it looked like the power of this staff was the elements of fire and water combined. I changed it up completely and then ended up with this outcome.

Here is the links for my inspiration with the staff;

https://www.google.co.uk/search?newwindow=1&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=wizard+staffs+cartoon&oq=wizard+staffs+cartoon&gs_l=img.3...0.0.0.70445.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.img..0.0.0.ePWWjtW7WEA#imgrc=GgYwKIJ_ZNvNiM%3A

https://www.google.co.uk/search?newwindow=1&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=wizard+staffs+cartoon&oq=wizard+staffs+cartoon&gs_l=img.3...0.0.0.70445.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.img..0.0.0.ePWWjtW7WEA#imgrc=DO07QtvN0Mg9qM%3A

Here is my sketch of the staff I created from it.

I then went onto drawing the wizard. I went onto Google and looked at different types of evil wizards and one stuck out from the others for me and I knew that I wanted to draw it but re design the image. I then went onto thinking what I could do to change it. I thought straight away a colour change. I then I wanted it in some way to show that this wizards ability was fire so I made some of the wizards cloak orange, just on the ends of the sleeves, bottom of the cape and the bottom of the cloak. I then thought I would make the rest of the cloak and cape dark grey ish. Both of the colours worked really well together. I then went onto thinking what I could change with the character and I thought I would make this wizard looking in a sort of ninja style. I then drew this wizard with a ninja looking mask and it worked really well. I was so happy with this design. I then looked at the image I was looking
at and saw this image had no face so I then thought of putting some sort of facial expression on the wizard. I then thought back to Owain's lesson when we was drawing faces and back to how we show emotions with drawing facial features a certain way to make the effect of the emotion. I drew the eyebrows so that this wizard looked angry and I just then drew little triangle eyes. I then drew this character and then I decided to add to the character a bit more and I placed a fire ball in the wizard's hand with the other hand holding the staff I designed.
Here is the link for the original image that gave me inspiration;
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=evil+wizard+cartoon&view=detailv2&&id=F60413E11C17304DB7045D5CF153A2823FFE05D0&selectedIndex=4&ccid=kgiN7kiB&simid=608039401380184366&thid=OIP.M92088dee4881bc0374db5da53983cb14H0&ajaxhist=0
And here is the image I managed to draw for the scenario with the wizard character.

THE MAKING OF THE ROBOT CHARACTER:

So I then looked for inspiration to get little ideas from and the first one I found inspired me with the mouth and the shape so I was considering using it for the creation of mine. There was also loads of other examples of robots and I saw that they always have antenna's so that was something in mind I needed to include.
Link to first inspiration;
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=robot+cartoon&view=detailv2&&id=56C94B90E5316D75C96E663F25EC942D821C8E1F&selectedIndex=1&ccid=5JD2Nxkb&simid=607998393019862412&thid=OIP.Me490f637191b96aed11a2e59177ee3c5H0&ajaxhist=0
I then looked into a way of creating the eyes and I thought of using the ninja theme again but aswell making it clear that this robot was a good guy. I saw this robot and I really liked the look of how the eyes were and It made me think of making this robot into a ninja like my bad guy.
Link to inspiration for eyes;
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=robot+cartoon&view=detailv2&&id=63EEAC7CF07BA8F95A4B9BBB1106521E55B753EE&selectedIndex=9&ccid=mCY5Krl2&simid=607997899099998771&thid=OIP.M9826392ab976924ab28347a2274961e1H0&ajaxhist=0
 I thought to myself that I kinda wanted to make this head shape for the robot more like a helmet so that my robot looks like he's brave and courageous. I got my inspiration from this character below for the helmet. After designing this helmet, I scraped my first idea's because I preferred this one much better than what I was going to create before hand as I did actually sketch a little robot whilst blogging this and it looked way too cute to be a hero/attacking/defending robot.
Link for the helmet inspiration;
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=super+mario+bro+brawl+robot&view=detailv2&&id=206386F3A2ECAA6D4BE0C1295860C954325AA67E&selectedIndex=26&ccid=vWFpsO75&simid=608020151326541568&thid=OIP.Mbd6169b0eef9f783e50321fa6cf1461bo0&ajaxhist=0
I created the helmet and designed it so that it looks different and just added little details. I went to design the body and I was happy with what I had sketched. I thought to myself that with creating the world that is made of 90% water so I thought that Id give this robot a little submarine on the bottom so it can float across the water. The wizards ability is fire so I have decided to give this robot water ability's so that it can defeat the wizard. The wizard has a staff as a weapon so I thought I would some how give this robot water blasters or something so that it can defeat the bad guy.
After 20 minutes of trying to sketch this robot. I am finally happy with the design and now just the decision of the colour design for the robot.
I went with the theme design for this robot to be grey with a splash of blue considering his ability is the water element and It would go so well with the grey and its not too much so that it would blend in with the world made of 90% water. Here is the before and after images of the robot. With colour design and without.
BEFORE;

AFTER;

9th November, Research 2D and 3D platform games.

What is a platform game?

A platform game is a game that is 2D, where the gamer controls a characters movements such as jumping and climbing between solid platforms at different places on the screen.

When did they appear? 

Platform games started in the 1980's and 3D game plays started coming out in the beginning of 1982.

Why is the platform game one of the most popular game genres?

This is because the games are classical and easier than other genres. It was also popular with the whole reasons behind the game with the jumping and parkour features.


Do platform games have a specific target audience, what age range and demographics does the platformer appeal to?

They dont have a specific target audience but the audience that the demographic's platform appeals to the ages of 25-34. The audience I would say they are aimed at due to research is older generations that have grew up with playing the games whilst they were kids so then play them on when they have grew up. 

Name and analyse 3 of the most popular Platform games, why are they so popular and what is the unique selling point of these games?

The most popular game is  Super Mario world, and it is so popular because the world map was colorful and featured loads of alternative exits that would lead them into other parts of the game (if on the game, leads you into another world) in different ways. The game was enjoyable, playable and is still a good game today since 1990.


The second most popular platform game is Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest. This game was popular because the features within the game where phenomenal. The music was described as hauntingly atmospheric and was known as one of the best sound tracks of all time created by David Wise. The graphics were sharper than number 1, the hidden secrets behind the game was made more clearer, and the level design made the players feel like the developers of the game was watching you discover the new game play with happiness. 


The third most popular platform game was Banjo Kazooie. This game was so popular because it was rare and one of the best rare games and in some ways was described as a clone to Super Mario 64. It was popular for the people who like to play mind games that makes you physically have to think about things and every move in the game they make is down to the gamers decisions. It was based on more exploring the game play and collecting things along the game play which interested most of the platform gamer's interests. The music again was described again as the best ever by Grant Kirkhope.


3 platform characters research

The first character I researched was Mario. In my opinion I would say that the most memorable thing about the character Mario would be his outfit and his Italian accent with his famous quotes, such as, 'its me Mario, lets a go' etc. I think that what makes Mario unique is the colors of his costume and how the costume is made/styled! I think it would be a main unique point for the color of the costume as the characters Luigi, Wario and Waluigi have the same costume but in a different colors so that doesn't make Mario's costume unique as Luigi as the same so Id come to the conclusion its the color and styled mashed together that is so unique about this character. What makes this character recognizable again is his color and style of costume with the red, blue, white and the splash of yellow. This character has normally a smile on his facial expression's to show he is a happy character and he has the big nose with the mustache underneath it that nearly hides the smile. The main features Mario would have in the game is the use of the main costume and the change of his costumes as a special ability is enabled.

The second character I have researched is Sonic the hedgehog. In my opinion the most memorable feature about Sonic would his special ability of super speed and being the blue hedgehog. I think that what makes Sonic unique is his ability to have super speed and his color scheme with him being blue. I think that what makes Sonic unique is his ability of super speed again, which his whole color scheme and red boots. Id say again the color is important as there is other characters on the game of Sonic, that some of the characters similarly look a like, for example, Amy and Knuckles are the same sort of form but they are different colors, Amy is pink and Knuckles is red. The feature that makes this character recognizable is his color scheme with the only piece of clothing he has with the red boots. This characters facial expressions normally has a smirk on his face as in to give the message that hes a good character and he knows hes good or that hes faster than any other character. The main features of Sonic would be his super speed which is the well known fact about Sonic.

The third character I have chosen to research is Spyro the dragon. In my opinion the most memorable thing about Spyro is that he is a purple little dragon character that is the hero in this game and is also displayed as mischievous but cute. I think that what makes spyro unique is that the character is meant to look mischievous but is also at the same time a cute looking courageous dragon. When I researched about Spyro it said that he is most known for his cocky attitude and stubbornness. The color scheme of Spyro is most noticeable which is Purple and the reason for him being purple is the fact that he can be seen on the green grass game play area's of the game as he was originally meant to be green. Spyro doesn't really have any facial expressions but I guess he does because when I look at his face I can see that he looks like hes up to mischief so I would say again its the use of the smirk to make him come across in that way. He also has horn's and spikes to show that he could be a threat to things which makes him look brave in some sort of way. I think the key item of Spyro would be his color and his ability to breathe fire which is expected because of stereotypes of dragons.

2nd November, Research and cute character creation.

3 Games with secrets.

1. Grand theft auto V

Grand theft auto V has so many secrets through out the game. This game involves hidden Easter eggs through out the game which are unexpected and can only be seen at certain times, or at certain locations, at a certain spot even on certain days of the week and dates in general. For example there is a UFO Easter egg on the game which can only be spotted above the location of Mount Chiliad, It can only be seen when you have completed the game play by 100%, when the weather on the game is cloudy and then at the certain time of 3.00am in the morning on the game play.

Another secret among-st the game would be the hidden cheat codes that can only be used on story mode.That are usually random combinations of buttons on the controller that would be hard to just remember of by heart. On this game the cheat codes involve codes that can spawn in random vehicles, make you randomly fall from the sky, give you unlimited ammo and health, change the weather, make the traffic unusual, make you run faster than usual and jump higher than usual etc..
 
2. The sims.

I haven't played the sims properly but i know there is also hidden cheat codes on the game which gives you more money as I have watched somebody do it on YouTube. I cant really write in detail about this game because I haven't really played it but this is all I know about. I then researched some more on the game and fount out there is hidden achievements for certain things on the game.


3. Secret of Monkey island

This game just reveals that there is generally a secret about the whole game as it involves the word secret in the title. I have played this game several times on Xbox, iPad and computer. There is a secret on the game where if you press a button it shows you hints on what to do on the film. There is hidden achievements along the game play. The whole game in general is a secret. You have to figure out everything along the game its more of a mind game and you have to pick up certain objects and use them on things and stuff like that so there is no parts where things are done for you. Then there is another secret about the ending of the game which is the 'secret of monkey island'

Cute character creation
For this I followed the tutorial on moodle and created the star, the alien and cloud characters.
I had to catch up with this so I didn't have any sort of help and I managed to create what I was needed sort of. I firstly created the star following the tutorial and I struggled at first with changing the color of the star from white to yellow but then I figured it out shortly after. I then went onto creating the shapes of the eyes and the mouth and I found that simple enough. I then struggled a little with the tongue/red part of the mouth that was needed to be made. It isn't the perfect semi circle but I couldn't try make this any better. I then just went with what I could do because really I should have been in the lesson when I could have had help. I then created the star and I was quite pleased with the outcome. I would next time improve with the star by making the mouth a lot more accurate and more efficient as it wasn't perfectly shaped on mine like it was on the tutorial. I also found it easy to round the corners of the star.

When creating the alien character I didn't struggle at all with combining the square and circle together at all. It took me a minute to look for on the windows but I managed to find where I could then combine them together. When I did I noticed that the black line where they both intercept was there and I couldn't get rid of it. I asked a class member if they remembered how to do it but unfortunate they couldn't remember so I had to deal with it. I then found it easy enough to create the 3 circles and then move them over to the monsters face. I knew what to do and I placed them onto the alien. It again didn't look like the tutorial but I tried my best with it and just dealt with it. It then came to creating the lips and again the problem was how I cant make the perfect semi circle and It then affected my outcome of the alien like it did with the star.

With the cloud I found it the most difficult! I really did struggle, When I started it was going well and then when it came to changing the transparency the cloud was a completely different shape that It was on the tutorial and I didn't know how to change it so I just went with what I had created. I then struggled with the shape of the eyes but they wasn't too bad I guess. The shape of the cloud was the worst. I then copied and pasted the stars mouth and edited it abit with the directing tool and I messed it up and I really in general struggled with this shape!

So these were my attempted versions of all 3 characters. They all went abit wrong but at least I did try with it and I did follow the steps and used the correct ways in which to make them but I couldn't use them as good as I didn't have help but that's my own fault.

Introduction to interactive media

The start of the lesson Owain started with explaining what interactive media was and told us some examples and how they're examples of it. He then explained what we are going to do for this unit.

Examples of interactive media:

Music creation

Video games

Websites

YouTube

We was then set a task to think about a game or app we have played or have and think about the secret functions of the game and we discussed some within the class.

3 Secrets in games or apps:

Hidden features

Cheats

Easter eggs

Hidden levels

Glitch's

Shortcuts

Cheat codes

Secret achievements

I have found out that if you type into google 'do a barrel roll' it rotates the screen and I never knew that. I already knew about the siri hidden features when you ask him/her something specific and it gives you weird responses. I know about gta secrets like how you can enter cheat codes to spawn cars or to make you fly etc. I knew about a secret glitch in one of the modern warfare's or call of duty's that if you run into a certain point in a map it glitches and goes underneath the map. I know of that whilst playing a game you can sometimes get random achievements for doing something on the game. I know that on gta there is certain Easter eggs on the game play that can only be seen at certain times in certain places like how on gta v if you wait till a certain time and go to the mountains at a certain spot there would be a dead girl hovering but you couldn't get too close otherwise it would disappear. 

We then went onto sketching and drawing characters. Learning about the guide lines and where facial features are placed to make it look symmetrical. We first of all sketched simple shapes on a face and created something that looked human. We then drew more complex shapes on the next face. We had a go at drawing straight lines with drawing the facial features to make a robot looking character.

We drew an oval and halved the face and drew a faint line and then halved the face portrait. We had to then halve the lower face below the line and from there constructed lines for the facial features. After listening to Owain helping us we then messed around with sizing of facial features and drew 3 of our own weird faces.

I have learnt how to construct a face and feel more confident with where symmetrically the features go on a face.

We then looked at faces with different expressions and drew them out for our self's. We then mixed two emotions together to try and find another expression. I mixed 4 different faces with emotions. I mixed happy + sad and got the out come of embarrassed, I mixed anger + surprise and got the outcome of shocked, I mixed happy + fear and got the outcome of relief, I mixed fear + disgust and got the outcome of frustrated and lastly I mixed disgust with fear and got the outcome of freaked out. I was shocked to see how by combining two emotions can create another which you don't expect. I was expecting the mix of anger + surprise to look a little different than the outcome of shocked.