Beta Presentation -> Early Access (Showcase)
- Nathan Robinson (lead artist)
- Feb 19, 2018
- 2 min read
Despite the issues in the previous milestone we decided to stick to the plan and finish the game before the showcase, this would give time to make enough changes, from feedback, before final milestone and release. This also included a tutorial level to teach the player the game mechanics.
I created the town, tree and tutorial level sprites and finished off the backgrounds that remained from the previous levels, I also changed the size of the ship in the level 1 background.
I started to make progress with the VR after the group had decided on a low poly art style. I started on the terrain, based on sketches of the map in the design. I also created the improved orbs that the player would grab in VR and recorded all the narrations for each orb. After the terrain took shape I created the particle effects for the VR.
When the game was completed I was happy with the work I had produced. I had developed my skills through creation of over 500 individual sprites in pixel art style. I also gained transferable skills from Photoshop that I can apply to other areas such as texturing of 3D models.
The ‘low poly’ art style of the VR complements the game is something I felt lacked in the earlier approach to creating a ‘realistic’ landscape. The narrations could be something to change in the future as I feel I personally was not of the standard of a good narrator, e.g. David Attenborough.
Most of the game development went smoothly and was a very good experience, the only negative was the layout of the sprites but this only affected the very early stages and was not a problem once a layout was finally decided.
So far, the VR experience is up and down. From an artistic point of view, it is positive and immerses the player in a unique VR environment. However, it is hard to get the controls to feel natural and often certain aspects feel awkward, such as how to let the player rotate and setting speeds.
After feedback, people were genuinely positive about the game and felt that the tutorial helped them get used to the game’s controls and no one mentioned invisible deaths. Comments were made about the game looking good visually and running smoothly.
Feedback from the VR was that people were unsure of the controls and stated that having an option to allow the player to move vertically would just help grab the orbs a little easier.
Now the game is finished, if I could do it again I would start by altering a few of the early sprites and add more ‘scenery’ sprites, such as the icicles dripping off the roof in the ice level. I would also see whether there was a way to alter the hitboxes on some of the enemies, I also had to make alterations to the shapes so that players would not occur the invisible deaths.
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