Green Warden: Week 7 – Mini map
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So this is the seventh week of this project! I think it is starting to show a bit, everyone is growing a bit tired no matter if things are going well or not. But there is not much to do besides keeping on working! This week I have worked a little with the mini map for the game. Originally it was just an exact replica of the actual game but in smaller version. This meant everything was scaled down, from the dryad to the patterns on the ground. During the ALPHA presentation we got some feedback on this, mainly that the mini map was difficult to see and that it was difficult to fully take in what was going on. This was probably mostly due to all of the patterns. They look good in a larger size but when scaled down they just become a huge clutter. So we decided to simplify the mini map a bit! Here are some different concept sketches I have made so far.
I wanted the border around the map to look like the rest of the HUD, in other words, like it’s made out of branches. When Nayomi made the sidebar art she used different greens and turquoise to make some spots behind it to give it some more life. I have tried doing the same in my concept art here and I kind of like the result. For now, the background is just a flat green similar to the shade the ground patterns have. Originally I just made different colored dots for each of the plant units. I made the melee one green, the ranged is yellow, the impact one is purple and the spread is blue, to match the colors of the plants in the game. I do not know if we will be able to have a different color for each plant unit or if they will all be the same, in which case they will probably all be green.
The dryad has a yellow/greenish egg shape as their icon, because their head is roughly that shape. I made some different concepts for the enemies, and I have not decided on which to use yet. I tried to make the shapes similar to the head of the enemy Eva has already made, and to give it the same color as the goblin. I would like to make the enemy icon a bit pointy to make it seem more dangerous. I am still working on the life tree icon as well. I did not want to make it a tree, so I tried making it a circle and I also tried making it look a bit like a flower, which will probably not work. I made it glow a bit on the mini map, we will see how it turns out in game when it is finished.
I experimented with having the background a flat green and the icons having patterns, though I do not know if it will work. Like I said, this is all just concept art, so we will see how it turns out when it is done.  |
