SUMMARY
Role
Character Artist
Intention (SMART Goal) for the Session
By May 10, as part of TEAM 2, I will have evidence of making a sprite sheet for the main character by following a pixel art tutorial by Brandon James Greer for Session 5.
PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY
Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)
Pixel Overload has been doing pixel art for multiple years and has worked in multiple programs. He provides not only videos of himself doing pixel art but also tutorials that inspire others to follow suit.
Primary Source
The trailer for Mother 3 for Nintendo Switch Online is my main inspiration. It shows the glorious sprite-work for all of the game. The reason I chose this trailer over other ones is due to this is the official trailer. Although many of the other ones showed off cinematic scenes in the game, the official one shows off more gameplay, which I feel makes the person want to play more. They want to know why there’s a weird, mechanic gorilla, or why some snake is hanging on a ladder.
Secondary Source
My second source is the Undertale trailer. I find this one unique as it focuses on the humor of the game, adding more entertainment to it. People would want to play it because it gives them a laugh, it’s funny.
Training Source(s)
0:34 How to start off with animating
0:50 Why do most animations run at 12 fps
2:23 Outlining basic features of a character, then putting the “skin” back on them
2:30 How to outline a humanoid character and fabric/cloth
5:13 How to sub-pixel animation
6:12 Don’t restrict a character’s movement!
Project Timeline
Pre-production Milestones
- Make a Trello board
- Make a flow chart
- Get a general grasp of what we intend to make
Production Milestones
- Create the mechanics for the game
- Decrease the points on the to-do for each scrum
- Make a functioning volume bar (This thing is crucial)
Post-production
- Reflect on the experience
- Evaluate myself and my teammates’ work
- Prepare for the next session
Proposed Budget
A budget will be completed during Session 5, 2024
Pixel Artist – $21 an hour
Level design – $21 an hour
U.I. – $20 an hour
Sound/Music – $37 an hour
~$100 an hour
Evidence of Team Planning and Decisions
Place screenshots of the following…
Trello Board
Storyboard (FILM) (with comments for each role) OR other planning documents like sketches, flowcharts (GAME DESIGN), etc.
PRODUCTION – ACTION
The (FILM, SOUND, or GAME Creation)
Skills Commentary
POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION
21st Century Skills
Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)
Often a problem would come up in the game, such as a dialogue box not working when near the border of the map. In this case, a creative solution would be implemented, such as putting it on a parallax 0% layer to ensure it would always be over the camera. Such solutions required critical thinking from all of the team, along with some innovative problem-solving.
Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)
For communication, we all set up a discord group chat to communicate with each other outside of school. We collaborated, letting others know who was working on the game currently, to ensure that large progress would not be saved over small changes.
Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)
If there was an issue we could never get past, a common solution was to look up a tutorial on YouTube. I often found myself doing such, but along with finding a solution, I would also found an easier way to do stuff for other parts of the game, such as the Run Function piece of coding in Construct 3.
Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)
Production on this game helped me realize the full impact that everyone has on the game. Finding myself working outside of school till one in the morning on most days let me see how much my input on the game mattered. In contrast, my teammates didn’t work much outside of school, so occasionally I would take their place, as most of the sprites created were not of high quality. They granted me permission as I worked on them throughout the night.
Reactions to the Final Version
“I like the robust style of art, and you seem to have some mechanics down… [However], time could be spent in other areas like a shop.” – Advisory Member Hunter Deloney
This indicates that although the art was great, some of the time put into other areas could have been spent otherwise.
Self-Evaluation of Final Version
In total, the game could have been better. Honestly, though, I’m proud of what we accomplished. Even if there was no functioning menu system, we made a walking character, tons of great sprites, a fully functional battle system with health, a way to track money, and tons of RNG factors. I would say this was a great learning experience for me.
Grammar and Spelling
Grammarly
Editor
Mr. Le Duc