2D Game Research

Super Meat Boy

 [Team Meat]

 

I really like the timer mechanic to super meat boy. The idea of the game is to make it from the start of the level to the end and rescue a character called bandage girl. The idea behind bandage girl is that she is made out of bandages and meat boy is basically just meat, he is bleeding everywhere. He needs bandage girl to complete him. Once you make it to the end of the level you are given a time in what you made it in under. I think this mechanic makes player want to keep replaying the level to get a better time. I think it makes the game slightly more competitive.

I think the art style of super meat boy has some cartoon like features with vector style graphics. I like this art style a lot and it keeps the game feeling fresh and simple so the player can focus on the game mechanics while keeping the fresh clean look to the game.

The levels aren’t too complicated to look at. Your view distance for the whole level is really high so you can see all around the level without having to move there first. This helps you plan out your exact path in which you will take to complete the level in a good time.

There are obstacles in the levels that can kill you. Things like spiky balls will spin and try to make your path way to the end of the level more difficult. Avoiding these should not be a problem if you have some practice at jumping around them.

 

Team Meat. (). Media. Available: http://supermeatboy.com/media/1/Super_Meat_Boy/. Last accessed 17th Nov 2014.

 

Limbo

 [Chris,2013]

 

Limbo is a 2d sidescroller game using silhouette assets. You have to make your way through the level without attacking anything until you move on to the next level. You have obstacles that you can move to help you climb up things and progress onwards. The game is put into a number of levels that you have to each seamlessly complete to finish the game.

The game is made entirely out of silhouette assets. No colour is in this game. This creates a very moody look to the game. It fits the title of the game and what it is about. The idea of limbo is about it being very empty and wiped of life. The greyscale silhouettes make this feel empty without colour. It’s like someone has turned out the lights and you can’t see anyone anymore so you ju8st have to keep moving on to try and find things.

As show in the picture there are giant spider creatures that can come after you in the game. Again these add to the spooky, creepy look and feel to the game. It puts you under a bit of pressure to run quicker through the level and gives you less time to thing when having to do puzzles within the level.

 

Chris Priestman. (18 October 2013). Playdead confirms that Limbo is no longer a PS3/Vita Cross-Buy game. Available: http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PS+Vita/Limbo/news.asp?c=54620. Last accessed 17th Nov 2014.

Book Research

I read the book, ‘The Hobbit’. It is a fictional story of the journey a young hobbit takes. This book was written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the same author that wrote the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is set far back in the past where horses where the main use of transport. This book has a good selection of fictional beasts and monsters. It got me thinking of ideas for monsters in games and how they would look. This was good research for developing ideas because it had some very good descriptions of environments and general old time feels. This got me thinking and imagining ideas for games. It was great reading because without the picture it gets you to imagine so much more that what you can see. You create your own world on your take of the book. [Tolkien,2013]

 

 

Reference:

J.R.R. Tolkien (2013). The Hobbit. London: HarperCollins. p1-389.

Film Research

Shrek the Third

I watched Shrek the Third and took a few screen captures of certain bits that I thought looked good for environments designs. This film was great for researching stage props and environments. It has some long scenes at the start and the finish of the movie that I managed to get pictures from. I really like the cutouts on the stage that are propped up from behind. If I was to do graphics for a game with this style to it I would add the little triangle prop up behind the cutout props such as trees. This makes it look like it is just a flat graphic on a cardboard or wooden sheet.

Thumbnail Sketches

 

 

I drew out some thumbnail sketches for characters, environments and props. I started on the main character being the player. I knew I wanted to give him a set of armour in some form so I drew out many different designs with helmets, shields and swords on. I wanted to keep a cartoon whimsical style and feel to the whole of my drawings. With my enemie designs I tried to get a monster look to them . I think my designs look very cartoon like which is great because I am going for a cartoon art style with them.

 

Player (Hero)

 

Enemie (Boss)

 

Princess

 

Props

 

Mobs (Other characters)

Environment Pictures (Primary Research)

I went out and took pictures of various different environments. I chose a few that I liked the most. I wanted to get a lot of outdoor environments with plants and bushes in. I think the pictures I got capture the mood very well with a variation of day and just going night time. The colours in the pictures are very vibrant and bold, especially with the green bushes in. I like this a lot and I think this will catch the attention of players if it was in a game.

 

Free Writing

I did some free writing where I would just constantly write ideas down on a page of a notebook. This helps generate ideas because you are constantly writing something and one thing will lead to another.

 

 

Mood Boards

I designed a few mood boards to help me generate ideas for a 2D game.

 

Environment Mood Board                         Hero (Player) Mood Board

    

 

 

Boss(Enemie) Mood Board                        Princess Mood Board

    

 

 

Props Mood Board

 

I collected all my references for my mood boards in a word doc. Mood Board Reference

Mind Maps

I drew up a couple of mind maps to generate ideas for a 2D computer game.