Creating a storyboard

The opening sequence to my game

As we are now on the stage of our project were we are thinking more about our games design document there are different elements that we should be including in it to give people a clear idea of our game. One of these included a storyboard of some kind. I had an idea of what I wanted the opening sequence of my game to look like but I hadn't actually drawn anything to do with it yet. I did start off by drawing a rather rough and awful sketched out version which I wasn't very pleased with so I decided to work on a clean and neat version of it in Photoshop were editing would be so much easier. The final storyboard can be seen below with annotations on each scene.

Thinking about the build up of my game

Designing an interface

Once I had a very clear idea of what I wanted my games style, level, characters, and objects to look like, along with font I will be sticking too, I decided to move onto my interface design. These were important to include in the games design document as it is all well and good showing what the game play will look like but you also have to think about the other interactive part that builds up the game and helps to make it what it is.

I began by planning out would we be the four key interface scenes I would need to include in my game to make it function properly. The first was a title screen (the first image seen below) which would give the player a brief 'introduction' to the game and the main protagonist, Light. The second was what the player would see in game and the different options they would be able to interact with. So, in the second image, you can see an example of what the level design and in the top right there is an icon that shows how many orbs the player has collected and in the top left, you can click 'pause' and it will take you to a pause menu. The pause menu, image three, shows different options that the player would be able to interact with or different customisations you can make to the game so for example the display or audio options. Finally image four is an example of what screen will pop up when the player has completed the level. It will give the player information of what their progress was, so for example, how many orbs they collected or if they were able to save the lost creature. There are also two options available for the player, to either replay the level they just completed to collected all the missed items or to move onto the next level.

Briefly looking at the design of sprite

Angles and actions of Light


When I was thinking about my design of my character Light, I began realising that in my game design document, the reader would want to see more than just one image of Light and that they would need to see variety in positioning and angles, instead of just sticking to a plain quarter turn. One of the main things I really needed to design was how Light would fight off Dark's henchmen, I knew that I wanted Light to be able to 'hit' and destroy them and I had a idea in my head but I really needed to get it down digitally.

The idea was that Light would shoot out little orbs of light energy that would hit the henchmen and cause them damage. I had a little trouble coming up with a design but I finally came up with the idea of a multiorb looking ball that would spin round when fired and would only be able to travel a certain distance so that the player wouldn't be able to fire it from miles away and hit the henchman. Also I wanted the player to only be able to fire 3 orbs at a time before there is a 5 second resting point and then can fire again. 3 hits will be able to kill the henchmen and release the orb they have eaten.

Starting on my GDD

Choosing a font and creating a cover


As I started to progress further with my prototype, concept art and tweaking my level I knew it was time that I began focusing on my game design document which is a crucial part of our BA4 brief. I already had a rough idea of what I wanted to document to look like, colour scheme wise I planned to stick with black and white and possibly different shades of grey to keep with the theme of the game and make sure that the document looked neat and as professional as I can get it.

The first thing I had to get sorted was the different font I would be using throughout the document.
We had been reminded countless times that a font alone can really set the feel of the game we were designing and that we must stick with something that is atheistically pleasing and easy to read as having a overly complicated or unreadable font will put people off. I began by going through the different pre set fonts available in Photoshop and making a list of them, which is the first image seen below. I didn't think any of them really suited the style of my game so I went on the hunt for new downloaded fonts from '1001 free fonts' to see if I could find some new designs. The ones I found and liked are in the second image below. These all seemed far more stylised and less plain compared to the pre set fonts but this did now give me a large amount to choose from.

After downloading a load of new fonts and struggling to choose one, I moved onto creating my game design document's front cover. I had an idea in my head to have a image of Light facing away from the view and looking into the darkness, where, just ahead of it, would be a floating orb and then the title would sit at the top of the page. I did try and attempt this layout but unfortunately as Light has such  a simple design, this positioning really wasn't working well as you only got a vague idea of what the protagonist looked like but, as they are such an important part of the game, I wanted their image to be seen more clearly so I had to think about something else. I then began working on a design that would show Light in the centre of the page but also kept with the simplistic design of my game. The finished result can be seen below with my chosen font.

Iterations of my work so far

Changing designs and prototype aspects


Throughout this project, I know that it is a key element to make sure that your ideas and concepts aren't written in stone and that you are free to explore and experiment with different designs. I have now gotten to the stage of the process where I am showing my designs and partly done prototype to my classmates to try and get useful feedback and criticism about my game and what I could do to improve on it.

After my presentation I received some really helpful feedback from both of my tutors who were present at the time. They described two different visual designs that I should think about changing which would make their purpose a lot clearer to the player. The first one was to do with the thorny vines I had drawn into my level which at as a object for Light to avoid as the player moves throughout the level. They pointed out that, as it was a dangerous object, it shouldn't look so soft and have a relaxed curl to it and that it should look jagged and angular. This would help to portray to the player that it something that they should be avoiding, not approaching. So, in the first image below, you can see the changes I made to the vines and I honestly think they look a lot better.

The second thing that was suggest to me was to change the style of one of the orbs I had designed. My tutors pointed out that a size difference between the small orbs (point orb) and the Large orb (power boost) was not enough to differentiate the two so I would have to do something to make them a little more obvious. I didn't want to completely change my designs so I had a quick look into different 'point' objects in games to try and find a way to make the orb I had look different. A current theme that came across was a simple object with a icon in the centre of it, for example, the bright yellow boxes in the Super Mario series of games have a question mark in the middle of them. This helps to signify the player that the object should be interacted with so this is something I decided to incorporate into my design. I added a 1 onto the point orb so that the player knows how many points each orb is worth and it helps to make the designs not look too similar.

As I started making my prototype I was using the original level design I completed as I wanted to show what one of the simplest levels of my game would look like but, once some of my peers began to play the rough prototype, they told me that the level was not long enough and it just needed a little more to make it seem more complete as well as adding in a goal for the sprite to reach and a few more interactive objects. I took the advice on board and started to add onto my design, making the level a little longer so the prototype would have more to it and give a clearer understanding of the game play. 

Also, one of my tutors in the presentation mentioned that their maybe two many ways for a the player to die in game, for example jumping into the thorny vines, getting hit by an enemy or falling off a platform. This was a fair point so, in my design, I checked it over to make sure there weren't too many gaps between platforms for the player to fall down as this is one of the earlier levels and it isn't meant to be too difficult whereas in the later levels there will be far more difficult jumps for Light to make, making the levels more complicated than before. Even though this level is simple and there may not be a big enough gap for the player to fall down, I kept the leering darkness at the bottom to show that the threat is still there. It was also suggested to me that I add a thin layer of shadow to the top layer of the level to show the boundaries that the player can reach throughout the game. The larger level can be seen below with the added interactive sprites.


Older version of level

Newer version of level

My 3 minute presentation and feedback

My slides 


Today, after a few days of preparation, I completed a 3 minutes presentation which was me pitching my game ideas and concepts to two of my tutors, Mark and George. Below I have posted each one of my slides to show what my presentation would have looked at, I did leave one out though as it was a video of how the fading effect of my level would work but the slide just looks like a plain black so it was pointless to add it in. I was a little nervous about presenting by the whole thing was over with fairly quickly although I did forget to mention a few things about the game that my have confused my tutors a little bit but I hope not to much. They also mentioned that their were a few aspects that I needed to change in my design so I got working on making the changes right away.

Continuation of character concept art

Enemy and creature designs

As a continuation of my character concept art I began working on different possible designs for the recurring enemies of the game, Dark's henchmen. The henchmen are identical beings that have been sent out into the darkened forest to snuff out every trace of light that can be found and they began to do this by consuming any floating orbs of light they can find. Light will not be able to see these creatures in the level until the glowing orbs they have eaten gives out a faint light which will make the creature visible for a few seconds before they melt back into the darkness. The henchman are able to inflict damage on Light, three hits is enough to kill the player and bring them back to the most recent save point, but however, If Light is able to inflict 2 hits on the henchmen then they will fade away and leave behind a orb for the player to collect.

The first image below is a sketch sheet I completed with a few rough character designs for Dark's henchmen. I tried lots of different varieties of the character but I wasn't particularly happy with any of them and when I asked for feedback on the designs, I was told that none of them really suited the feel I was trying to give them which I completely agreed with, there was just something not right with them.  After a drawing rest period I went back to my designs and decided to give drawing something digitally instead to see if I could come up with a better concept. The second image below is my final design which I feel a lot happier about and I think it suits the style of my game a lot better than my previous designs did.

Also throughout the different levels, there will be a bonus task for player to complete which is completely optional. The extra bonus will be for the Light to find the frightened creature hidden somewhere in the level. This is simply added in as a extra task for the player to complete but also securing the representation of hope that Light brings. Below are some concept drawings of what some of the creatures will look like.