Entry 1: Basic Enemies
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My name is Jesper Karbing and I´m a graphics minor working as an artist in Group Jabberwock. I´m also Lead Sound. We are doing pixel art for our game concept, Behemoth, which is something I have never done before. The main aesthetic goal of the game is to make the player feel big and slow, like controlling heavy machinery. It is in regards to this that I design the enemy types that are encountered. I will focus on telling the player through the enemy design what kind of threat they pose and in what order to deal with them. Since our player character will take up 128px in height, I decided that the small enemies should be roughly 16x16px. There are two basic enemies and one special (which we will go over later on). The Drone Enemy is an unmanned robot flying towards the enemy player with the goal of crashing into it. Its core design is a triangle. This is to underline the simplicity and straight-forwardness of this enemy type. It is small, fast and doesn´t shoot projectiles; that´s the Shooter Enemy´s job. The Shooter´s core design is based on a T-shape. This is to clearly show to the player in what direction and how many projectiles it will shoot. The conceived priority here is to shoot the drones first since they deal more damage upon impact and fly faster. Thematically, these enemies are actually controlled by the good guys. The player steals their ship and they´re just trying to stop them from getting away with it. This means that the enemy ships can´t look too menacing or imposing in order to not break character. As I begin to make the initial design for the Drone, it comes to a tip that is symmetrically 2px wide. I make a second iteration which is more reminiscent of a fat rocket. Discussing with the Lead Artist, we conclude that the first iteration fits the best since despite being fast, it is also easily dealt with. I change the tip to 1px, making it look needle-like in design with two long, stream-lined wings and and a rocket nozzle.
Moving on to the Shooter, I made three different versions based on the T-shape with a few iterations each. The first one is based on classic space-shooters like Galaga. The second one is inspired by a tank, with a more pronounced cannon and threatening presence. The third version was inspired by a sword, where the blade is the cannon with a hilt. Once again, after discussing with the Lead Artist we pick the traditional look due to its rather simplistic and old-school design.
Thank you for choosing to read my blog. I´m hoping to see you again next week, reader! Cheers !  |
