Artifact 6
So our game
project is coming to an end and most of the graphical part is finished for
our final version. Even though it feels like we could have done so much more if we would
have the time, I feel happy and very proud about of own and first made game for the game designer education.
So this week I
am going to write about my work on the menu screen. For the beta I did a menu
screen with a simple font. I used a moon and sky artwork that Lisa in my group had made
for the outdoor level in the game that sadly never got finished due to the time limit. On top of it I drew some simple forest trees and added some shadows . The menu screen
had the options “Play”, “options”, “credits”
and “quit game”. The menu screen was enough for the beta but now when we are
working on our final version of our game we wanted it to be a bit more suiting.
When I
started on the final version of our menu screen I was thinking that some clear
bluish colors would fit very well since the gameplay is consisting of colors
in different blue shades on the cave level that the player fly through. Therefor I decided to go
with one of Lisas other background pictures with a forest and a cave. The colour
theme for Lisas picture was in turquoise and greenish shades which fitted
together with the colour scheme in our game.
My first vision was a very colourful and clear
background that oozed of blue mist and a clear crisp sky with stars but after
some communication together with the group we decided that the strong blue hue
was clearly out of the colour range from the rest of our games colours. So I then started to experiment with the turquoise colour combined with the darker clear
blue and it gave quite a nice effect.
I started to work on our logo and realized that black did not seem to fit together with
the rest of the colours and I wanted it to stand out more so I changed the logo to
white. I then added some effects called “Bevel and Emboss” and “Drop shadow”
and changed the shadow effect until it met my groups expectations.
When I
started to work on our game menu text I tried a lot of different fonts and
after around 17 different options I decided to go with the font “Papyrus
Regular”in size 18 pt.. I added the same effects as for the logo and putted the menu text
to the middle under the logo. We had decided that we was not going to use the "option" in the game menu text and instead have a "highscore" option so I changed that.
After that
was done I started to work on the details. I added some stars in different sizes across the
menu screen and I painted some mist. I then worked on the saturation and shadows and
I used tools such as “dodge” and “burn” to get a more glowing effect to the stars
and for getting shadow edges around the menu screen to focus the players eyes
more to the middle. I also painted some shadows with the "burn" tool on areas where needed and some glow effect with the "burn" and "dodge" tool where it was suited.
When I was
happy with the look I experimented with where the logo and text would best be
placed. I first placed them on the left side of the screen but later decided
that middle seemed to give the player a more balanced visual.
As a last
effect I added one of the fireflies made by Lisa, to work as a mouse pointer
and I also duplicated it four times to get it to show more in contrast to the
background.
Background picture made by Lisa:
Background picture made by Lisa:
Final version
Hello Tara
SvaraRaderaI will start out by saying that this was a well written and structured blog post which provided a clear notion of what and how you worked with chosen artifact. I think it was a good choice to improve upon the beta start screen. It sets a good tone and it looks good, however it seemed like it was missing something. The final result you present is a lot more compelling to look at and provides a more interesting start screen. Which is very positive considering it is the first thing the player sees, so it needs to look noteworthy.
You mentioned that you used an already existing image of the forest and the cave when starting to work on the final version of the start screen. I believe that it would be been a good idea to show the original image to get a better grasp of the changes you applied. You describe t well but visual aid is always a good thing. To take it further, some step by step images and/or discarded iterations. An example could be the difference in the clear blue vs turquoise color scheme you mentioned.
I think the white logo/menu text was a good choice. It provides a good contrast towards the background and is easy to digest. However the blue bug which works as a selection marker feels like it blends too much with the environment. Strictly looking at the image I was unsure whether it was part of the background or an actually marker. A suggestion could be to make it brighter, tinting towards white. Since both the logo and the text is white, making the bug the same color might provide a sense of unity to the beholder, further enhancing the relationship between the objects. Adding some animation or slight movement to it would also be cool, since it is representing a live being, not an inanimate object.
These are of course minor nitpicks. The screen looks very solid and gives a polished impression.
Good luck at the final presentation : )
/Tony