[working title] Visual Style Guide

Team 4 Chunky Monkeys

Ethan Lindsay Alex Mitchinson Duthie Rowand 1303528 1302983 1403123 Game World Themes and General Style

The game C.R.A.C.K (working title) is a virtual pet game crossed with fighting type gameplay. The game is set in a modern-day run down neighborhood, where our alien, Kevin, who struggles with our language and culture is stranded. He must fight to survive the struggles of this impoverished world. Through his fighting he will earn money and reputation eventually working his way up form the bottom and finding a place for himself in this society.

The game has been influenced by virtual pet and fighting/battle style games such as; Pakka Pets, Cthulhu Virtual Pet, Pocket Mortys and Pokémon Go.

Image curtesy of Pakka Pets 2016, Proto Games.

Image curtesy of Cthulhu Virtual Pet 2015, NeuroCreativa.

Image Curtesy of Pocket Mortys 2016, Big Pixel Studios.

Ethan Lindsay Alex Mitchinson Duthie Rowand 1303528 1302983 1403123 All of the art work should convey a sense of a run down impoverished environment with a touch of sci-fi that represents Kevin’s personalisation of then environment around him. Some of the examples we looked at in terms of world setting include; Rick and Morty, Futurama, Bravest Warrior’s and Invader Zim.

Images curtesy of Invader Zim, Nickelodeon. Rick and Morty, Adult Swim. Futurama, Fox Network. Bravest Warriors, Frederator Studios.

The game is set in current times in an urban city, therefore the environments should draw upon crowded and run down metropolises found in the real world, such as Kowloon (walled city) or Hong Kong. The environment is used to mock pop culture through its design, similar in ways to the GTA franchise by using signage as satire. The city is reminiscent of Mega City One, Dredd (2012). A sense of overcrowding, crime and grittiness to be conveyed in the city environments.

Image curtesy of Dredd, 2012

Ethan Lindsay Alex Mitchinson Duthie Rowand 1303528 1302983 1403123 Environment Interior Backgrounds

Initially Kevin’s home is a run-down mess; cracks, drips, graffiti, grime and refuse to be present in each room he owns. Throughout the course of the game the home environment will be repaired and cleaned up. Inspiration for the rooms can be seen in, Blade Runner (1982) and Normality (1996) being grimy, crowded, and dark. The interior walls and certain assets have overlaid textures to give the environment a grimier look without having to put hours of work into detail. The colour scheme is highly unsaturated with the majority of the interiors having greys and dark versions of its respective colour. However interactive objects will be dark saturated colour with a toon design similar to Kevin himself which will make it easier for the player to distinguish between intractable objects and the background. The bright colours and toon design of interactive objects symbolise graffiti and the background being the hard rough grimy wall it is painted on.

Image curtesy of Normality, 1996

Ethan Mitchinson 1303528 Character Player Character

Kevin is an alien who is initially an unemployed slob. The player’s choices will change his behaviour and appearance as game play progresses. Kevin is pathetic yet admirable, an underdog. He is brightly coloured, may sometimes possess hair, body hair and has baggy eyes at all-times regardless of rest. He must be made in a cartoon design with black lines and little detail, this will help him stand out from his surroundings and make him easier to animate. Kevin’s design takes influence from Rayman (1995) and the Rayman Raving Rabbids (2006). His rounded figure, tired/crazy eyes and highly animated demeanour are central in Kevin’s design. Big round eyes make emotional expression easier, this allows him to communicate feelings and ideas to the pla yer. The design moved away from a foot to stubby legs as it makes animation easier and the character visibly cuter. Adding ugly aspects to the character helps give it a more pathetic look such as a snaggle tooth or toothy grin, tired eyes, fat little body and neckbeard. The colour scheme and eyes are inspired by Rick and Morty with bright colours and round eyes.

Image curtesy of Rayman Raving Rabbids, Image curtesy of, Rick and 2007 Morty, 2015

Ethan Mitchinson 1303528 Animation Techniques Character Animation

In order to make the animation process less time consuming, a puppet style was adopted; where the character would be made up of parts which could be repositioned into several poses for frames. This would also keep the visuals and size of the character consistent throughout each animation sequence. This style allows for a variety of different actions based upon the puppet part assets you have created, meaning you can use limbs from one action in another which saves time that would have been used redrawing a similar asset and, again, keeps the visuals consistent. Games which use this sort of animation style include Odin Sphere (Vanillaware, 2007), Rayman Origins (Ubisoft, 2011) and the recent Fallout Shelter (Bethesda, 2015). Each of the characters within these games has a library of assets; including varying limbs, facial features, hair, clothing and props; which allows a large variety of movements and animated scenarios.

Lindsay Images curtesy of Rayman Origins, 2011 Duthie 1302983 The character for C.R.A.C.K, like the sprites it was inspired by, has a selection of parts. Currently it’s library of assets is fairly small but over time, once mandatory animation sequences have been decided upon, new parts can be created and added.

The collection of parts can also allow for a Modular Animation technique, creating movements that flow smoothly, rather than posing the ‘puppet’ frame by frame, if preferred.

Images curtesy of Fallout Shelter, 2015

Lindsay Duthie 1302983 UI HUD and Menus

The UI should maintain the style of the general game setting. It should therefore represent a shabby sci-fi look. Studying the tech in Rick and Morty shows a good example of this, loose wires and tape holding parts together, also the greenish grey tones that represent metallic textures gives us a sense of cheap parts being reused in new ways. Kevin has brought some space tech from his home world but that will have been patched up and repaired here on earth and that needs to be conveyed in the designs.

Image curtesy of Rick and Morty, Adult Swim, 2015

Alex Rowand 1403123 The colour guide for the menus was inspired by Rick and Morty and Futurama Game of Drones. As explained above the metallic areas will use greyish greens but the menus should use a more inviting colour palette the use of pinks, purples, blues and greens together is used in several other games and give not only a sci-fi feel but ties in with the toon style of our game and is inviting for the pla yer by having good readability.

Image curtesy of Game of Drones, wooga 2016

Images Curtesy of Pocket Mortys 2016, Big Pixel Studios

Alex Rowand 1403123 Layout Mock Screenshot

The mock screenshot below showcases the display of the HUD and one of the animated puppets in the bedroom environment. This should be taken as an example of layout for UI, styling of character for animating and general look and style of environments. This example also demonstrates the use of varying saturation to highlight interactive objects.

The work shown is still under development and open to interpretation, final polishing will be taken up next term.

Ethan Lindsay Alex Mitchinson Duthie Rowand 1303528 1302983 1403123