Environments in Platform Games

The environments used in a game are an important part of what a player will base their initial impressions upon. When it comes to the mascot platformer, the environments, like the characters and other assets, are often bright with diverse themes.

I feel, however, that there seems to be a formula of environments that platformers sometimes fall back onto. This can be a negative thing for individual franchises or the mascot platformer genre as a whole because the environments may seem to lack originality, meaning audiences can get sick of seeing the same - or at least similar - environments over and over again.

Core Family and Extended Family Pt. 2

In my last post, I discussed the differences between the core and extended members of a mascot character's family. I felt that, before going on to any designing, I should determine which of these types I feel are good for a franchise and which are a detriment to the memorability, or whether there is actually a particular set that works especially well. 

Core Family and Extended Family Pt. 1

A lot of the family types I'm going to talk about are present in other game genres too, but for the sake of keeping things relevant I'll reference mascot platformers as much as possible when I discuss each character type. I might not cover every single character type but the idea is that most characters should be able to fit within one of these categories. 

I've split characters into 'core' and 'extended' types - core characters are those who are absolutely necessary for the game and extended family are characters who have been added to a characters' universe but aren't essential to the basic structure of the mascot platformer. 

Semester 2: Planning and Preparation

Semester 2 officially starts in a couple of days, so I've started thinking about how I want to proceed from my last semester's work - as per my Learning Agreement I want to look into contextualising a mascot character into a game/game franchise. 

This is going to include looking at families (so, the companion(s), villain(s) and the extended cast of characters that accompany a mascot - like Tails, Eggman and other characters in the universe of Sonic; or Princess Peach, Bowser, Luigi and other characters within the Mario universe, as two examples.) - I will look at the advantages and disadvantages an extended family can have on a mascot, and I will design some extended family for Russi.

Beyond that, it's all about the game that Russi would be in. This will include looking into environments, narrative elements, moral themes, art direction and mechanics, just to name a few things.

I'd like to format the above as a high concept design document, where I can add quick doodles to illustrate certain aspects like level design or individual abilities alongside text descriptions. 

I'm really excited to begin working on something more technical and conceptual in a different field to character design. Watch this space! 

Semester 1: Body of Work

The hand-in for semester 1 is but a few hours away and I've just finished up the last bit of practical work I want to submit for this term. Below I will detail my body of work: that is my Learning Agreement, my Essays and my Practical Work. All research-based work is spread throughout the posts I've made to this blog along more detailed insight to my development work.

Russi: Finalising the Design

After choosing an outfit I moved on to the final step for designing Russi: the colour palette. I began by researching some basic colour theory (see my previous blog post) and tried to apply that knowledge to creating a whole bunch of colour palettes - I feel like these palettes turned out a lot nicer since I had a slight idea of what worked together.

Colour Theory: Basics

Before working on colour palettes for Russi, I thought it was important to take a quick look at basic colour theory. Colour theory is a basis upon which art is created and is very important for marketing a brand. Below is a chart of some basic things I've picked up on colour theory. 

Russi: Further Iteration

Below are 16 different outfit ideas for Russi (the 8 from my earlier post: "Bunny Character: Iterations", along with 8 new ones). The general vibe I wanted to go for lay somewhere between "cute" and "cool", the iteration process has been about striking a nice balance between the two - some designs favour the cute, feminine attribute; some express more of a tomboyish, cool vibe and other designs are somewhere in the middle.