isometric game.
26/2/24
first ideas
Immediately, I had an idea for the isometric game, it's a loose concept and I have no idea if I will use it for the project but it's what first came to mind...
The idea is an abandoned mansion that the protagonist has to explore because [lore]. Each room is locked with a puzzle needed to figure it out, with passages full of enemies to introduce a stealth aspect. The twist is every door will lock when you go through it, meaning you cannot turn back. The concept of a horror puzzle themed isometric game is loosely inspired by the mobile spin off of the little nightmares series, very little nightmares. It works very similarly to little nightmares but on a smaller and isometric scale. I'm planning to do a simple puzzle solving game with horror elements, I hope. The game will likely have most of it's enemies and style based on old almost Victorian architecture with the enemies all following a similar premise.
This is of course just a base idea but I think has potential to become a finished project. Though I'm given the option to design, programme or do art, so I could really take this concept in any direction I wanted. Choosing art could mean doing research into the styles of the mansion and enemies which I could do well, I think?
I think the concept of the room you were just in being inaccessible is a nice spin on a regular puzzle solving or horror game. Although a lot of horror games have point where you cant go back, being trapped inside this mansion. You'll get lost and won't be able to get back to where you were so you'll work towards a new area which could be dangerous is a good way to make suspense. Also with the added aspect of the possibility where there could be either an enemy or a puzzle, not only adds to the fear but also helps shake up the game so it isn't repetitive.
4/3/24
So for research there is a few ideas of games I want to research, the first one is the aforementioned very little nightmares, which is an isometric game with puzzles like what I came up with, the art style is very simple
GDD
Inspiration
Very Little Nightmares:
Little nightmares is a game that I've liked for quite a while now. The style has been very captivating to me and is probably one of the games that got me to appreciate the design aspect of games more, so it was really a matter of time before I ended up taking inspiration from one of their games, and coincidentally enough they have an isometric game. It's a simple puzzle solving game with a horror setting which inspired the base idea of my game, but I decided since my game wasn't an app I wanted to flesh out the mechanics more.
The game has a very cute yet eerie style which fits my idea, making a game like little nightmares cute isn't an easy task but the game manages it very well. I think it's a great way of making such a rich and extravagant game into something so small, and I feel I wanted to do something similar, taking inspiration from a game like little nightmares but making it on a smaller scale.
What I plan to take from this game as inspiration is the general art style, the idea of a horror themed puzzle game, and the idea of making a very complicated style simple.
Luigi's Mansion
The style of luigi's mansion definitely has an effect on the style I want to do for the game, as it is the exact aesthetic I was going for. The style is the typical mario style but with more detail and the game being set at night helps create an atmosphere that makes the game feel like no other mario game. the american-victorian style is definitely something I wanted to achieve with the style of my game.
Alot of the scenes in the game are very dark and dingy but still feel light hearted enough this means it still feels cartoony enough while having that slight creepy edge, this balance is something that I want to achieve with my game and taking the chibi style from very little nightmares I like to think that I achieved it.
I wanted to translate the general aesthetic of luigis mansion into a pixel style while still keeping true to the vibe of the original.
DITDC
There's a game my friend often called die in the dungeon classic played that I think had really interesting pixel art designs and I hope to use inspiration from that to make the enemies of my game, I love how all the enemies are based around bugs yet they're all so varied and unique, another thing I like about that games art style is the way the take bugs and create characteristics with just the way they look, especially with facial expressions. all of this is something I'd love to incorporate with the enemy designs I will be doing for my game.
13/3/24
I wanted to create a mood board for my character so naturally I took to Pinterest, I started with colour palettes and chose a sunset like palette, after that I tried to look for pictures of people who would later inspire her appearance, the top left image was probably my main inspiration for her face and hairstyle, her outfit was inspired by the other photos there and the rest is just her overall vibe, the pictures of cherries inspired her name, I also took inspirations from fashion styles like y2k and mcbling, I also included photos of artists Solange and SZA to give her more character and personality.
20/3/24
I had great difficulty even knowing where to start and I felt really alone but I asked my friend fin for help and he gave me the website piskel to make sprites with and I've slowly been marking my first 2d sprite, I started by trying to figure out the basic shape which wasn't the hardest to figure out.
I tried using a bit of colour as a start
finished sprite
I wanted to do a wood texture but I didn't use a reference so it was mostly guesswork, if I had to give an inspiration I'd say most of my understanding of pixel wood came from Minecraft but other than that it was just guessing what would look right and I think for the most part, I wanted the colours to be muted to fit the sort of creepy style I was going for. I did a light middle ish and dark shade to use for shading and changed their brightness to fit each side.
adding carpet
I added carpet, I wanted to do something simple as I didn't have alot of space to work with, I do like the pattern I ended up doing as I think it fits the vibe of the game without standing out to much, it just fits with the wood texture in a way that feels natural.
I'm a big fan of the smokey wood and cold purple I used for the sprite, good start
I started making the main character taking inspiration from my mood board, her outfit is inspired by the y2k mcbling aesthetic which I showcased there, I took different clothing pieces from the different outfits as I didn't feel any of the outfits on their own would fit her enough, I had a lot of fun putting the outfit together and accessorizing her, I feel character design is one of my favorite aspects of games design and I had a lot of passion put into cherry's design, as well as the sketch I played around with the background which was a start to finding what colours would look right.
22/04/2024
for the colours I used the colour palette I had on the moldboard which I used in the top and accessories, but I decided to go with a more muted palette for the rest of it as I felt it fit the aesthetic better, I really like how it turned out
The real challenge was trying to make her in a chibi style as that's something I hadn't really tackled before, I used a reference of the villager from animal crossing new horizons as I adore the style of that game and I felt it would be a good baseline for this new style I was going for. the proportions were heavily inspired by acnh villager but I still tried to make it more my style, I also simplified the design taking away the more complicated features as to bring attention to the ones I felt were more quintessentially her.
I had the chibi design down, now all I had to do was make the 2d sprite, which being completely honest wasnt actually that hard. I started with figuring out a basic shape, starting with the head I created a basic wound shape, the afropuffs were easy to replicate in a simple way, and the rest of the body ended up being just simple shapes I thought looked right, it ended up looking very cute almost like a plush version of my original design.
The walking animation wasnt very challenging, I put the leg up a bit and edited the arms to look like one was infront and one was behind, I also added a headbob for an added touch to make it feel less wooden and more animated.
With all the sprites I had made I tried making a hallway, the tool on unity was quite hard to figure out but eventually I figured it out. I really like how everything looks put together and I think it fits the vibe that I was going for really well. but there is definitely more that I need to add, switches for example.
[Post Mortem]
www, wdgw, wwdd, overall
What Went Well
This project was really good for me developing my artistic skills in different ways, and trying different art styles which I hadn't delved into previously and venturing into level design a little. I absolutely adored making the mood board too. I also tried animating which I haven't done much at all before. Cherry, the main character of the game, had a concept stage with a mood board which helped me come up with a more fleshed out design, I feel that this shown growth because I've always struggled with planning beforehand when it comes to creating characters or a game concept, I normally dive into it without planning which isn't the best.
What Didn't Go Well
I ended up rushing the entire blog because I didn't update my blog regularly. I didn't do as much work as I intended and although I was very proud of what I did I felt like I could've done more. I also felt a bit lost throughout a lot of the project because, although I had the concept down I think I didn't plan enough and just went right into it. I think that's something I really need to improve at as I tend to not plan before I do things which leads to me feeling lost in the project. Learning new skills was also an issue and I had to ask for help with a lot of things, I wish to avoid that in the future. For example when creating a level I struggled multiple times putting the pixel art I did in the level, which meant I asked for help. I feel like I would've been able to get more done if I didn't ask for help, when I did ask for help people would be busy and it would've taken less time if I wasn't so dependent on other peoples help.
What I Would Do Differently
I would update my blog more regularly and try to do a lot more work and research so I don't feel so lost trying to come up with ideas for the game. I would've done much more planning for every aspect of the game, I need time to fully flesh out ideas and concepts in future. I would try to do the research first to get it out of the way and so I could use it in the project. I would have also tried to document more of the process when creating things for the game.
Overall
I felt I handle this project pretty well but there's also a lot of improvement left to be done, I developed a lot of my skills which I felt were lacking but I still faltered in a lot of places which made the project good but not excellent, I felt like a lot of the project was rushed and I needed to update my blog way more often. I believe this project showed a lot of growth within my work in this course but I have a lot of improvement to do, but I do think I'm developing my skills and learning how to do projects better while creating something I'm actually quite proud of.
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