Summary
With a whole new team, I created a game with my personal portfolio and this session’s five requirements in mind.
Role
Code/Character Design
My experience in this role is designing a fitting player character artwork and moving animation for the game’s theme and personality.
Intention (SMART Goal)
S – Learn how to make a creative and logical character design for the team this will require input and feedback from my team members since the product will be a collective result of our skills.
M – I will know that I made progress with feedback from the teammates during the production time as well as the judges involved in the process.
A – I’m familiar with tools such as Photoshop, and have years of experience with designing my own characters as a hobby (Dungeons and Dragons, original characters of other people, and online concept prompts).
R – This goal will help me further myself with this field and get to know in-depth about a field I’m interested in.
T – The deadline for this goal is February 21th, when Session 5 ends.
PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY
Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)
Training Sources
To export game-ready animations from Photoshop to Unity, you press “image” (in the top left corner, then press image size, then an options box opens up and you multiply the pixel width with your number of frames.
Then make a new Photoshop file then type in the right dimensions for your sprite sheet (that would be the number you got in the first step) into the width box.
A white rectangle should show up but this doesn’t give any indication to where you’re supposed to put the sprites. go up to “view” then press “show” after that press “grid”, which will make the placing of your images easier and more accurate.
Head back over to your file with your animation, use the lasso tool on your first frame and then copy it and then paste it on the grid. then repeat this step until all of your frames are in place.
To save the sprite sheet, press save as and save it to your desktop or Google Drive.
1:39 Interface, going through where all the options are
3:54 Layers
7:08 Shape tool
8:05 shift to move it one direction
9:08 Transformation tool
12:08 Effect options
17:44 Image editing
24:39 Filters
27:29 Using texts
0:07 Clipping mask definition
0:20 How to make Clipping Layer
0:41 In-depth factors of Clipping Layer
For more information on tools Photoshop offers, visit the official site.
Project Timeline
This is my general plan for Session 5. This is not set in stone, the schedule can fluctuate to fit the situation. The items are priority listed and thus will not change in order.
PRODUCTION – ACTION
Escape of Communism
Skills Commentary
I made the character sprites and animation using Piskelapp and Unity animation function so it would communicate to the player about the game states. They can be seen in the left-center area of the screen.
I also made some of the buttons on the credits scene. While my creation is not seen in the video, an example of the button used can be seen when the player clicks on [PLAY] to be transported to the game scene.
POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION
21st Century Skills
Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)
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- I was able to create creative character designs for the Player Character and the KGB enemy. The contrasts of the character elements (tall/short, skinny/overweight) helps the player easily define the difference between the two.
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Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)
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- We used the Scrum framework for workflow and efficiency, with me as the Scrum Master. We were able to communicate more clearly about the game.
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Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)
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- During Pre-Production week, we compiled links to helpful videos for our roles. The videos were about Unity animation and sprite tools, Photoshop Tutorials, and designing a good character.
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Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)
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- I was able to experience a whole new group composition, expanding my communication skills with a variety of types of teammates.
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Reactions to the Final Version
“Creative Explosion! Beautiful Sprites / yellow windows” – Brian Favorite
“I like the way the characters are shadows” – Charles B.
Self-Evaluation of Final Version
The game is about running on an infinitely generating platform while dodging the gaps. The mechanics were simple, requiring a spacebar press to jump. The game is unexpected, the concept behind our game is unique. Our game was credible because it derives from the historically researched USSR. The game did intentionally leave out a question for the audience, ‘why is the man running from the KGB?’ Since we can ask this, the game does have a story, even though it’s currently unexplored in this iteration.
What I Learned and Problems I Solved
I learned how to make animations on Unity, how to make scene transfers and button functions using scene numbers. I was able to solve credits buttons not being implemented properly on all scenes (it was repetitive and the UI Coder was busy) by looking up a guide and educating teammates that had spare time.
Grammar and Spelling
Used Grammarly for grammar checks.
Editor
Ari M.: Pre-production section
Charles B.: Production and Post-Production section