concept project space shooter

By: Tara Sundström / November 02, 2014 /
Program: Graphics
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The final assignment for the course Game analysis and Game design is to make a design for a space shooter game in groups. In my group we are six people that all need to take different roles for the assignment.

The roles are:

Lead Art
Lead code
Lead sound
Game designer
Producer
QA

We divided the roles between us and I got the role as lead art which means that I am responsible for the visual of the game.


The groups also got two different words that had to be somehow part of our space shooter game. Our group got the words Dragon and oscilloscope.We also had to comply by some rules.

The rules are:

2D game
Atleast 3 different power ups
single target
atleast one projectile
Pc-game

We started by brainstorming around the words and came up with creating a music game since the oscilloscope is an instrument that can be used for music instruments to visualize sounds and works with different frequencys. We then started to think about using these frequencys as our projectile and that our dragon would use these sound frequencys as a weapon. Since normal dragons usually make fire we decided that our dragon would have a special ability to create sound instead of fire.

Gameplay

The player plays as the dragon and are making music by exploding monsters with different sounds.
When the player explodes the monsters with the right sound and time, it creates a song. The player can also choose to create an own song by choosing which monsters to explode and when. The game can be used as a music production tool where the player create own songs or as a challenge where the player try to complete the game as perfect as possible and get the highest score. The player gets visual feedback that enhance the music and there will also be different layers where the player start off with some tones and build it up at next level until the player are finished and can hear the whole song.
 

Narrative

Our dragon is a special dragon that cannot shoot fire like the normal dragons and there for is seen as a outcast by the other dragons. But one day the dragonplanet get invaded by a new type of monsters that are immune to the other dragons fires and its then up to our hero dragon to defeat them since the only way to defeat the new monster is by sound frequencys.

Paper prototype
 

Our first assignment was to create a paper prototype for our game that would show the mechanics and feeling of the game. We decided to make an paper prototype with glassbottles filled at different levels to make sound when hitted. We also made a paper roll with monsters in different colors painted on the paper roll.
The glass bottles have different colors matching the monsters and when the monster appear on the paper roll the player have to hit the right color on the glass bottle that is shown on that particulary monster.

The powerups on the paper prototype is a mix of different colors and if the player manage to hit all the colors on the powerup the player get another stick to hit the glass bottles with. If the player manage to succeed another powerup the paper roll goes slower for a few seconds.

Visuals


Our visual goals are to give the player the immersive experience of combining music with art to build an explosion of colors. The art style starts out as a black and white, dark environment and with a mystical feeling. The reason for choosing a black and white environment is to highlight the darkness and hopelessness in the world before the dragon starts to sing. When the monsters explode by the dragons singing the colors splatter on the world and also colors the enviroment, making the world looking more beautiful.
We also wanted the luminescent colors to show really clear in contrast to the environment so that was another reason of choosing a black and white enviroment.
When the player starts the game and makes the music in the world, the enviroment starts to get more and more colorful. The art style of the dragon is very dark but with clear turquoise luminescent light from the dragons body as well as emitting from the mouth of the dragon when singing.
The art style focus on a realistic view of the environment, but it also have some fantasy elements like the sprites, the luminescent lightning and the dragon. 
 The first quick sketch of the game
 First sketch of the dragon


About Tara Sundström

2014  Graphics
Tags: 2014