CONCEPT ART AND GRAPHICS DEVELOPMENT FOR VIDEO GAME PUZZLE WORLDS

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Management and Production of Entertainment Industry

Computer Game Development

AIVIS LINDE

Qualification thesis

CONCEPT ART AND GRAPHICS

DEVELOPMENT FOR VIDEO GAME

PUZZLE WORLDS

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Performance and evaluation sheet

Qualification thesis

Datorspēles Puzzle Worlds vizuālās koncepcijas un grafisko elementu izstrāde

(Kvalifikācijas darba nosaukums latviski)

Concept Art and Graphics Development for Video Game Puzzle Worlds

(Title of the qualification thesis in English)

developed according to the study program Entertainment Industry and Production

(Title of the study program)

With my signature I certify that this thesis has been written independently. This thesis is allowed / not allowed to be published. (Underline the selected)

Author: student Aivis Linde ______________

(Name, surname) (Signature, date)

I recommend this thesis for defending. Supervisor:

Computer Arts, Animation and 3D Modelling lecturer,

MSc Animation and Visualisation, Līna Ivanova ______________

(Position, degree, name, surname) (Signature, date)

Allow to defend the qualification thesis of the study program Entertainment Industry and Production in the defence committee.

(title of the study program)

Director of the study program:

Lecturer, Mg Sc. Envir., Kaspars Šteinbergs ______________

(Position, degree, name, surname) (Signature, date)

Qualification thesis defended at Alberta College state final evaluation committee in ______________ 2014 and evaluated ______________.

The secretary of the state final evaluation committee ____________________________

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ANNOTATION

Author started to create the video game called Puzzle Worlds within Alberta College

study program Computer Game Development during an internship in the company called

Amber Storm. The game was created by the author and two other interns from February 3rd till April 25th 2014. The creation of the game also continues after the internship.

The qualification objective is to create graphics for the game according to the

developed guidelines and the concept of the game. The qualification tasks are: 1. Identification and analysis of similar game graphic user interface elements; 2. Creation of mood boards and style concepts inspired from existing games; 3. Development of graphics for the game;

4. Usability testing, analysis of the gameplay and summary of the results.

The qualification thesis structure consists of an introduction, the core content,

conclusions and proposals. The core content consists of three chapters and nine subchapters. The first chapter describes the research process, methodology, potential problems and solutions. The second chapter describes practical contribution and includes the development timeline. The third chapter describes usability tests, obtained results and their analysis. The

research methods used are literature analysis and game prototype test.

The main conclusions are:

1. Puzzle genre is a good choice as it is very appealing to a wide range of people. 2. The game GUI’s functional aspect is more important than the visual design. 3. Pre-production and research is essential for the practical actions.

4. Usability tests are necessary because players are the best indicators of mistakes. The main proposals are:

1. The developers should publish their game.

2. The GUI’s functional aspect and visual appeal should be balanced. 3. More time should be spent on the pre-production process.

4. The developers should do tests on as many people as possible.

There are 51 pages in this thesis, 1 table, 19 images, and 10 attachments, with the overall document size being 57pages. A number of 17bibliography sources were used.

The keywords of this thesis are: Game development, Puzzle game, Concept art,

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ANOTĀCIJA

Autors izstrādāja video spēli Puzzle Worldsprakses laikā uzņēmumā Amber Storm, kas notika Alberta koledžas studiju programmas Datorspēļu izstrāde un attīstība ietvaros. Spēles izstrādē piedalījās vēl divi praktikanti, un tā norisinājās no 3. februāra līdz 25. aprīlim. Spēles izstrāde turpinās arī pēc prakses.

Kvalifikācijas darba mērķis ir izstrādāt grafikas datorspēlei atbilstoši izstrādātajām vadlīnijām un spēles konceptam. Kvalifikācijas darba uzdevumi ir sekojoši:

1. Līdzīgu spēļu grafiku un lietotāja interfeisa identificēšana un analīze; 2. Mood boardsun stila koncepta izstrāde, iedvesmojoties no esošām spēlēm;

3. Spēles grafiku izstrāde;

4. Lietojamības testēšana, spēlēšanas procesa analīze un rezultātu apkopošana.

Kvalifikācijas darba struktūra sastāv no ievada, galvenās daļas, secinājumiem un priekšlikumiem. Galvenā daļa sastāv no trīs nodaļām un deviņām apakšnodaļām. Pirmā nodaļa sastāv no teorētiskās bāzes, metodoloģijas, potenciālo problēmu un risinājumu apraksta. Otrā nodaļa sastāv no praktiskās daļas kā arī ietver izstrādes grafiku. Trešajā nodaļā apskatāms lietojamības testēšanas process, tā iegūtie rezultāti un analīze. Izmantotās

pētniecības metodesir literatūras analīze un spēles prototipa tests. Būtiskākie secinājumi ir:

1. Puzlesžanrs ir laba izvēle, jo tas ir patīkams plašai publikai.

2. Spēles lietotāju interfeisa funkcionalitāte ir svarīgāka par tā vizuālo risinājumu. 3. Pirms-producēšana un pētniecība ir būtiskas sastāvdaļas praktiskajam darbam. 4. Lietojamības testi ir nepieciešami, jo spēlētāji vislabāk spēs norādīt kļūdas. Būtiskākie priekšlikumi ir:

1. Izstrādātājiem vajadzētu publicēt savu spēli.

2. Lietotāju interfeisa funkcionalitātei un vizuālajam dizainam jābūt līdzsvarā. 3. Vairāk laika vajadzētu ieguldīt pirms-producēšanas stadijā.

4. Izstrādātājiem vajadzētu veikt testus uz maksimāli daudz cilvēkiem.

Šī kvalifikācijas darba apjoms ir 51 lapa, 1 tabula, 19 attēli, 10 pielikumi un

kopējais lappušu skaits ir 57.Darbā tika izmantoti 17 bibliogrāfiskie avoti.

Kvalifikācijas darba atslēgas vārdi: Spēles izstrāde, Puzles spēle, Koncepta māksla,

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INTRODUCTION

Author started to create a video game called Puzzle Worlds within Alberta College

program Computer Game Development and Management during an internship in the company

called Amber Storm. The game was created by the author and two other interns from February 3rd till April 25th 2014. The creation of the game also continues after the internship.

In the beginning author wants to briefly introduce the reader with the game itself and the development team so it is easier to follow the production process. Puzzle Worlds is a 2D puzzle genre game, which is room based and it has a square area. The main idea was influenced by the already existing puzzle game Adventures of Lolo. The player can walk around, move, collect or interact with different type of objects and battle with the enemies – froze and move them around or just shoot and eliminate them. The main mechanic in the game is to open a portal and move to the next room by collecting a crystal. Puzzle Worlds is developed by three people – Delvers J., Poriķe A. and Linde A. Delvers J. is the idea author of this game and works as a programmer, he also inserts contents and cooperates with the designer and artist to build levels. Poriķe A. is the game and level designer and she also works on the character development. Linde A. is the author of this thesis and is the artist who works on graphic development.

The author believes that all the development stages of the video game are very important. The game could not be powered without programming and development of mechanisms. Also the game and level design creates the gameplay exciting and meaningful. But the author believes that particularly his subject, research and development of graphics, is very important nowadays because a player first sees the introduction screens, menus, characters and the game level visual designs and only then he/she examines mechanics and the quality of game level designs.

User experience or usability has been a very topical subject in different interactive design areas and it is also very important for the author to think about in the game development. This is particularly important if in the future the specific game will be adjusted to smaller sized screens with even more limited space than computer screens. How much information or graphic elements would it be possible to show and in what sizes. An on-going concern for the author is how to create a player-friendly and clear game environment.

The qualification theme is Concept art and graphics development for video game

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The qualification objective is to create graphics for the game according to the developed guidelines and the concept of the game.

The qualification tasks are:

1. Identification of other similar game graphic user interface elements, their analysis determining advantages and disadvantages, creation and implementation in the game; 2. Creation of mood boards and style concepts inspired from existing games;

3. Development of graphics for the game;

4. Testing of the first playable game prototype and analysis of player gameplay and orientation in graphic user interfaces, summary of the results.

The research methods used are:

1. literature analysis;

2. game prototype test on a person unrelated to the game development. The main resources used are:

1. Pardew, L. Beginning Illustration and Storyboarding for Games;

2. Fox, B. Game Interface Design;

3. Feldman, A. Designing Arcade Computer Game Graphics;

4. Rider, R. Color Psychology and Graphic Design Applications

5. Seegmiller, D. Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition

6. web page developer.android.com;

7. web page unity3d.com.

The qualification thesis structure consists of an introduction, the core content,

conclusions and proposals. The core content consists of three chapters and nine subchapters. The first chapter describes the research process, used literature, potential problems and solutions, proposes solutions for achieving the objective, justifies the choice and describes used methodology. The second chapter describes practical contribution and includes the development timeline. The third chapter describes usability tests, obtained results and their analysis.

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1. ANALYSIS OF GAME GRAPHICS AND GUI

1.1. Review of literature

There are many sources where this topic has been discussed and researched by other authors – books, different types of publications, researches, internet web resources and others. In order to better understand the chosen theme author researches and analyses its theoretical aspects and reviews the opinion of professionals in this field who have researched it before.

Since the game primarily can be included in the puzzle genre, author offers to take a

look at what has been said about this genre. Examiner.com (2012) offers the following

explanation:

“Puzzle games usually focus primarily on the players’ ability to figure out or memorize patterns and solve various forms of puzzles. Players enjoy the intellectual challenge of solving problems and answering riddles inside of games.” [9]

While Feldman, A. (2001) states:

“Unlike the other arcade game sub-genres, puzzlers [puzzle games] don’t necessarily rely on fast reflexes to play or enjoy. They certainly can, but usually they tend to stress clear, coherent thought over fast action in order to accomplish the various objectives outlined by the game.” [3, p 6]

He also notes:

“Puzzlers are chameleons of the arcade game space. They can essentially take on the look and feel of any genre described here and still be considered a puzzler because of their emphasis on thought and strategy rather than hand-eye coordination.” [3, p 7]

This genre was chosen because it has proved itself to be appealing to a wide range of people. Author agrees to first explanation by Examiner.com that many players enjoy the intellectual challenge. He believes that many people play puzzle games to escape from everyday life. Author also agrees to Feldman that many games contain at least some of its elements, whether it is a simple 2D mobile game or a complex 3D RPG. The author has observed that it is also very popular nowadays and some of the top games are actually puzzle

games.

Author’s qualification theme is Concept art and graphics development for video game Puzzle Worlds. Based on that author determined the qualification objective, which is to create graphics for the game according to the developed guidelines and the concept of the game. Pardew, L. (2005) in his book states:

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“The concept artist is responsible for designing the visual aspects of the game, and works hand-in-hand with the game designer to craft the foundation upon which the game will be created. This foundation is called the game design, and it is the document that defines all of the aspects of a game. [..] Game designs include extensive amounts of art to help the game developers create the final game. Some of the art typically found in a game design includes:

• Game layout charts

• Storyboards • Level layouts • Environment illustrations • Character designs • Model sheets • GUI1 designs” [1, p 1-2]

Author believes that Pardew’s division of art in game design is very accurate. He also wants to note that in larger companies there are often separate artists who are responsible for each task of the game art. However in smaller companies one person is more likely to do several of these tasks. Author thinks that Pardew’s provided list is a guideline rather than obligatory amount of art that needs to be included in the development process. As mentioned before this is more of a typical division, but author considers that these tasks can take a different form. Author wants to break this down and look a little deeper into every aspect of the graphic development theoretical point of view. Pardew, L. (2005) about Game Layout Charts writes:

“The first task for the concept artist and the game designer is to lay out the game in a game layout chart. This chart is a visual representation of the game, showing how it will be played and all of its components. The purpose of the chart is to help the development team understand how the game goes together. This is particularly important when game development involves a large team.” [1, p 2-3]

Author agrees that this step is very important in large teams. He believes that it can help to build the structure of the game and better organise the game flow. It can also help to keep in mind the main ideas of the project. However he thinks that in smaller teams, where it is easier to communicate instead of creating layout charts, they can simply write down some basic ideas about the game, for example about levels and their flow. Later on during the work process everything can be created based on what was written or felt logical and correct for the

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game idea concepts. Author thinks that storyboards also can be a great help in game development. Pardew, L. (2005) on storyboard topic writes:

“Storyboards are series of sketches that indicate how sequences of events should take place. In a way, they are similar to cartoon panels because they have pictures with captions explaining the scene and any possible dialogue. In games, storyboards are used to show how the game will work. [..] Storyboards are also used to define cinematic sequences in a game. Often story elements in a game are developed by using short cinematic sequences. These sequences are linear video clips, and they are often as sophisticated as any motion picture.” [1, p 3-5]

Author thinks that in the game development there is not always a necessity for storyboards as it would be for animation or movie production. He thinks that it depends on the game itself, whether the game has a story or not. Author believes that storyboards can help in linear type of games. He agrees to Pardew that storyboards need to be used if the games have in-game cinematic sequences or cut-scenes. Then they can help to better overview the story flow and to make all necessary choices before the final rendering. Otherwise he believes that it would be more time-consuming or more expensive to correct the finished work. If the game is more technical than story driven, for example a top-down puzzle game, it does not necessarily require a storyboard, it rather takes the form of level layout designs. Author finds it important to mention Pardew’s, L. (2005) description of the game level history in this context:

“Games are often broken up into levels. The term level has its roots in the beginning of game development, when games were restricted by technology and could have only a limited number of graphics loaded in the game at any one time. Each time the player moved from one area to another, the old graphics had to be eliminated and new graphics had to be loaded. Therefore, games were broken up into areas. Usually they progressed from simple areas to more complex ones as the player learned how to play the game.” [1, p 6]

Despite the fact that technology has evolved and it would be possible to create more complicated levels, author believes that it is a good practice to create separate game level divisions into the game. Author thinks it helps to create better order and structure in the game just as this qualification thesis has chapters and sub-chapter. Pardew, L. (2005) on this topic continues:

“Level layouts are drawings created by the concept artist to show all the elements in a game level. These elements include a map of the terrain and all interactive characters

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or objects within the level. Often these layouts are drawn to scale on grid paper or with the use of a grid in a digital drawing program.” [1, p 6]

Author believes that creating level layouts can be a huge help when designing game levels. It gives good overview of the game area and in this way the game maps can be easier to structure. However author believes that sometimes there is no need to create a map of all the game territory in a single layout. In some games levels can be little separate puzzles and can easily be created independently. Since the author mostly researched top-down games, he thinks that part of the level layout creation can also be development of an overall concept that would visually unify the game. He believes that it can be done by creating environment illustrations. Pardew, L. (2005) describes this process as follows:

“Environment illustrations are full-colour illustrations of a game environment as it will be seen in the game. [..] Environment illustrations help the concept artist communicate to the development team the feeling and mood of an area. They are used to show color schemes, as well as greater detail in critical areas that is not possible in the level layout.” [1, p 7]

Author thinks that environment illustrations are similar to the story boards in the way they can be used. He thinks that it depends on the game style and view whether they are necessary. Author believes that these illustrations may not be made if level art is very simple 2D

graphics and it does not seem necessary to create them. Author thinks that instead of creating illustrations to communicate the feeling and mood to the development team, sometimes it is enough to create mood-boards. They can contain other game visual graphics as references, different photographs and colours suitable for a game. Mood-boards can be a huge help for theartist to develop colour schemes for the game. Fox, B. (2005) writes the following about colour:

”One of the major challenges when working with color is finding a set of colors that work well together. When colors look good together, the effect is often referred to as color harmony.” [5, p 45]

Colour is very important to create an appealing artwork whether it is a painting or game graphics. Author believes that the creation of a limited colour palette that would be used for the whole game can help to achieve a unifying mood. There are many tools that can be used or different techniques that can be applied to achieve harmonious colours. But the author believes that the easiest way is to select the basic colours that would be necessary for the game and create a table of transitions. Then a black fill layer can be applied at different opacities to achieve several shades. Author thinks that this can decrease the colour saturation

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and bring the colours closer to each other providing a more harmonious look. The same thing can be done using a white fill layer in order to achieve the same effect with lighter shades. As some objects can require a larger variety of hues, the palette can be improved with additional colours. Author believes that colours can also be blended between themselves to achieve more interesting colour variations. He also thinks that Rider, R. (2009) gives a good advice on using colours:

“Good design incorporates color in all its subtleties—shade, tint, hue, and chroma. Designers should use color to relate with their audiences, rather than as a tool for psychological manipulation.” [2, p 12]

There is a great amount of information available on colour psychology, and a lot of research has been done on this topic. It is good to be aware of it, however author agrees to Rider’s opinion that great amount of research should not be invested in finding what colours are liked more and how each hue affects a human emotionally or psychologically. Instead the colours should be chosen based on what would be necessary for the game environment to be clear and easily comprehensible. They should rather be used to help to communicate with the player. Game artists can use widely known colours as guidelines, for example the red colour is commonly used to indicate something unpleasant or dangerous but green colour is used to show informative contents. Author believes that it is also very important to choose the right colours when creating the game characters. A good character design can make the whole game appealing for the player but a not so good character design can ruin it. Pardew, L. (2005) on this subject writes:

“A character design is a sketch of a character that will appear in a game. Characters are people or creatures in a game that are controlled either by the player or through artificial intelligence. [..] The process of designing characters can sometimes be extensive, with the concept artist creating multiple sketches before coming up with just the right design for the game. Once a character design is chosen, the artist will usually create a detailed color rendering of the character.” [1, p 8]

Author agrees to Pardew and thinks that a great amount of work should be spent on creating the characters. They will bring the game to the life and it is especially necessary when creating main characters of the game, because the player will spend most of the time looking at them. It will be easier for the player to connect with the character and complete the game if it will be more appealing. Author believes that if the main character is good designed it will speak for itself and will perform a variety of functions such as advertisement of the

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game. Author thinks that Seegmiller, D. (2004) gives good advices on designing the game characters:

“Using stereotypes. To add a degree of familiarity to your character, you can

carefully use stereotypes when appropriate and not offensive. [..] Fooling the audience. Don’t try to do this. Make bad guys look like bad guys. Make the monsters threatening, for example. [..] Being sensitive. Always remember to be sensitive and careful when you are dealing with and using cultural and symbolic elements in your creations.” [4, p 46]

The author agrees to Seegmiller that stereotypes need to be used very carefully because nowadays a lot of games become too stereotypical and therefore very predictable. Stereotypes should rather be used to create characters and environment familiar to the player and not to fool the audience as Seegmiller continues. Author believes that artists should try to design characters according to their required character personality while trying to create something more or less original. The author wants to add what Seegmiller, D. (2004) has written:

One of the easiest ways to communicate your character ideas is by using comparison. If the character is soft and delicate, make the character round without many angles. If the character is rough and ready, the design should be made of angular shapes. [..]

Build characters out of basic shapes. Just about everything we see in the world around us can be built out of a few basic shapes: cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinders. Try to base your character on these basic shapes. [4, p 47]

Regarding characters, the author agrees to Seegemiller’s opinion to keep things simple and clearly show that these characters are not so friendly. Therefore enemies should be designed edgy, angry expressions, sharp teeth and nails etc. However, the author thinks that if the idea or context of the game allows doing differently than it was described by Seegmiller, it can be done. Otherwise, if there is no such justification, it can confuse the player. Seegmiller, D. (2004) also writes:

“Providing scale. Remember to give a clue as to the scale of your character. If you create a giant, you must place something near him to give a sense of scale. Without anything to identify the scale of a character, the audience will have no idea of its size. [..]Connecting the character to reality. Make sure that there is some connection to reality. Your character needs to have a point of reference. If you create something that is unrecognizable, your audience will not relate to the character.” [4, p 46]

Author thinks that providing a scale for characters differs on the game type and style. If puzzle

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itself rather than creating a visually realistic game. For example if the playable area of the game is a square, which is divided into smaller squares or units, each object can fit into one unit and they are more like checker figures on the checkerboard rather than real objects. They are not scaled to each other and do not fit into a specific measurement system. However, the author agrees to Seegmiller that if the game was based in the real world, it should use a measurement to provide a unitary scale to the game objects and characters. Usually part of character designing process is its arrangement into the model sheet. Pardew, L. (2005) on this subject writes:

“A model sheet is an orthographic, detailed drawing of a character or object used by the development team to create the character or object. Model sheets are like drafting plans in that they show multiple views of the character. [..]Most include front and back views of a character. Some model sheets also include side and top views, particularly if the character is a quadruped. [..] Sometimes model sheets are created for important objects in a game. [..] A good rule in game design is to create a model sheet of any object that plays an important role in the game.” [1, p 10]

Author thinks that this subject also varies on the game type. If the game characters or objects will be seen only from one side, as it is common in some of puzzle genre games, then there is no need for model sheets. But for some games it is simply a necessity to create the characters from all four sides so that they can walk forward, backwards and also to both sides, then it is obvious to create a model sheets. Also usually characters are made from all four sides into a model sheet so that other people, rather than just the creator, can work with them more easily whether it is 2D animation or 3D modelling. However, objects in the 2Dtop-down games can mostly be seen from one view only so there is no need to create model sheets for them, but if it were a 3D game, then it would be necessary to create them. Author also thinks that it depends on the game development team and whether they find it necessary to create model sheets.

Another major task for game artists besides game graphic creation is to create GUI

graphics. This task usually is done in cooperation with the game designer and programmer who bring it to life. Pardew, L. (2005) in his book writes:

“The GUI (Graphical User Interface) is made up of the onscreen game elements that are used to give the player information or allow him to navigate through the game. [..]

The GUI needs to perform a function and, at the same time, it needs to be cohesive with the design of the game. Sometimes the GUI is as important to the mood and feel of the game as the rest of the game art is.” [1, p 11]

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Author also wants to add discern of Fox, B. (2005) that GUI needs to be functional. He writes in his book:

“Even more important than the visual aspect of interface design is the functionality. A poor interface can ruin the entire video game experience. The game experience will be negative if the user is confused and can’t figure out how to navigate the front-end menu or if he can’t understand where to find information while playing the game.” [5, p 2]

The author agrees to as Pardew and Fox that the game GUI needs to be both practical and visually appealing but mostly practical. The author thinks that GUI needs to be as simple as possible, so to speak invisible. It should be self-explanatory not something that the player should spend time on studying. Author believes that if GUI is well designed it will blend into the whole game design. Game developers should invest additional time on designing GUI and on its usability tests because who will better test it than the users. Author agrees to Pardew that GUI should be cohesive with the whole game design and look – it should reflect the visual theme of the game. At the same time author also agrees to Fox that it should be more practical than visually impressive. Author believes that nobody wants to spend most of the time understanding how the GUI needs to be controlled while the time could be spent on the game itself, unless the GUI is a huge part of the game. The same could be said about the

HUD. Author foundPardew’s, L. (2005) explanation useful to describe this topic:

“An important part of GUI design is the heads-up display—or HUD, as it is sometimes called. The HUD is comprised of all the onscreen interface elements present during normal game play. This display is primarily used to give the player critical game information, such as health status or the current score. [..] HUDs are tricky to design because they must look nice while remaining unobtrusive to the rest of the game. They usually occupy the edges of the screen to allow the main play action to take center stage.” [1, p 12]

Author believes that developers should give even more attention when designing HUD.

Player will see or interact with it during the game. As author wrote before that GUI needs to reflect the visual theme of the game he thinks that the same should apply also to HUD. It should be designed in a way that will not distract the player from the game and also pull him out emotionally from the environment of the game. Fox, B. (2005) also writes:

“No one likes to read a lot of text when playing a video game; therefore, text should only be used when it absolutely necessary.” [2, p 87]

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The author thinks that there are different players who prefer various types of games. If the game is specific and requires a lot of text, then it is appropriate to use it but the author believes that numerous games do not. This could especially be said about GUI. Author thinks that if possible text should not be used for GUI and HUD, as Fox writes only if absolutely necessary. The developers should rather use commonly known symbols instead. But author believes that the chosen symbols should be tested on people to make sure that they are easy to understand. However this subject depends on the developed game.

One of the greatest difficulties nowadays the author believes for developers are the different devices and their resolutions people nowadays use. The Unity manual (2007) advises users to create textures using the power of two:

“Ideally texture sizes should be powers of two on the sides. These sizes are as follows: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048 etc. pixels. [..] Non power of two texture sizes generally takes slightly more memory and might be slower to read by the GPU, so for performance it's best to use power of two sizes whenever you can.” [12]

The author believes that the Unity manual gives a great advice on this subject. Therefore graphics should be created in large scale and later down-sized as necessary for specific platform. The actual screen sizes of different devices are grouped in small, normal, large and extra-large according to Android Developers:

“The small size screens require a resolution of 120 dots per inch (dpi), extra-large screens require 320 dpi.” [10]

Because of the same reason to down-size in the future, the artists should start with the use of 320 dpi for all the game graphics. Android developer guide also warns:

“Be aware that not only do different devices operate in different orientations by default, but the orientation can change at runtime when the user rotates the device.”

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Author believes that this could be avoided in the games if they would be designed for the wide, also known as landscape orientation. And also to avoid difficulties of changing the layout, UI and other graphics, games can be fixed to run only in landscape orientation. However this also is game sensitive subject and depends on the game type that the developers are creating.

The author concludes at the end of the Literature Review that there are many people before him who have researched this theme and acknowledge it as significant. Author has reviewed only a small amount of the resources available but in his opinion the most necessary information for his qualification paper theme Concept art and graphics development for video

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game Puzzle Worlds. It confirms authors proposed opinion that particularly his subject, research and development of graphics, is very important nowadays.

1.2. Analysis of similar game graphics and GUI

The first task or solution to achieve the objective author set was to identify and study other similar game graphics and graphic user interface elements. Author also set to determine their advantages and disadvantages. As this task helped to set further game graphic creation, author finds it important to look at it in more detail. He researched and studied a large amount of different game graphic solutions but will look briefly at only a few of them that were the most important in graphic creation process.

As the base idea came from the game Adventures of Lolo, author looked at it first. He discovered that the game was done in 2D graphics made in top-down view. Author found these solutions to be suitable also for his game. Fig. 1.1 below shows a screenshot of the game

Adventures of Lolo.

Figure 1.1 One of the levels in the game Adventures of Lolo [6]

An interesting observation author made was that the floors, paths, walls and water can be seen from the top view, though characters and objects can be seen from the side view. In this way

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the game has a visually unrealistic feeling, however everything is comprehensible. The author found this idea attractive and implemented such an unrealistic perspective also in his created graphics. The goal of the game is to collect all of the hearts in every stage and then get the ball from the chest to open the door to the next room. [7] Author noticed that in Adventures of Lolo there are doors in the walls that can be opened to move to the next level. Author’s created game also has a level to level system but in his created game there are mostly outdoor environments. To solve this problem he chose to create magical portals that will teleport the main character from level to level.

Tripple Town is the next game that was studied by the author and also by the game programmer. They noted that this game consists of game tails or in other words the background consists of individual segments that are put togather establishing one continous picture. Fig. 1.2 shows a screenshot of Tripple Town game area.

Figure 1.2 Screenshot from the game Tripple Town [14]

Developers got an idea for a mechanic from Tripple Town – the game characters will move from one field to another. For the author it also gave an idea to create the graphics for paths

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and rivers as tails. In this way the tails can facilitate the creation of paths and rivers. After researching Tripple Town author decided that one segment will contain only one object at a time. So the research of this game also helped to set some base rules for the graphic development.

One more game that inspired the author was The Binding of Isaac. The author noticed that the creator and the artist of this game Edmund McMillen chose a similar path for the game view, which is top-down. The HUD of the game attracted the author’s attention. [11] Fig. 1.3 below shows the screenshot of the HUD from the game The Binding of Isaac.

Figure 1.3 Screenshot from the game HUD for The Binding of Isaac [15]

He liked an idea of the HUD beeing placed at the top of the screen so he decided to use the same solution in his game. As author discussed before about text exclusion from the game

GUI, he noticed that in The Binding of Isaac HUD some of the elements are shown with symbols and numbers. For example it was done for the collected money, ammunition and keys for the doors. The idea was consistent with author’s and he addapted it for all of the

Puzzle WorldsHUD and GUI elements. This was not the only solution he adapted from The Binding of Isaac.

One more solution the author found suitable for his developed game was the game control tutorial. Fig. 1.4 shows a screenshot of the control tutorial in game The Binding of Isaac.

Figure 1.4 The tutorial from game The Binding of Isaac [15]

Author found it very simple and cleverly done - the tutorial was simply embedded into the game environment floor. After doing the game test it showed that the user was confused about the controls that need to be used. As Puzzle Worlds was set to be very simple and self-explainatory, this discovery felt consistent with Puzzle Worlds developed concepts and similarly will be embeded into the game.

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One more idea for GUI that the author borrowed from another existing game Kingdom Rush was this games GUI visual compatibility with the overall game mood. Fig. 1.5 shows a

Kingdom Rush screenshot with the GUI.

Figure 1.5 Screenshot with the GUI from the game Kingdom Rush [13]

Author found it nicely made and pleasing to the eyes – the unity between the game environment graphics and GUI. So it was decided to try to achieve such unity in the author’s created game. He also created wood-like icons, menus and HUD elements. Such a choice will help for the players to better dive into the game emotionally.

1.3. Review of problems and possible solutions

Within the qualification thesis author wants to review potential problems so he can find corresponding solutions for them as soon as possible. As he developed Puzzle Worlds within the college as part of his studies and the only invested value was his time, then it is the only investment that can be lost. But if there were other investments like money, then it would be very important to find the best solutions as soon as possible. The author believes that

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solutions need to be possible to realise and cost effective. He thinks that the solutions need to solve the problem occurred instead of creating more problems.

Currently the game is developed for Windows PCs but later it will also be ported for

Android based hand held devices like smartphones and tablets. In authors opinion the biggest problem is one of the greatest difficulties for all the developers nowadays as he wrote before - the different devices, their screen sizes and resolutions. For him this is the greatest problem to solve because he is inexperienced in this area, and it takes a lot of time to be solved. Author needs to create graphics and make sure that they can be viewed in the best quality on as many devices as possible. For the solution author firstly looked at the Android developer website and their recommendations. They give advice to declare which screen sizes the created application supports, as they write that it is possible to ensure that only devices with the screens supported by the author can download author’s application. They continue that declaring support for different screen sizes can also affect how the system draws the application on larger screens. [10] Author believes that this is one of the possible solutions but he thinks that there are pros and cons to it. As for advantages, the application or in this case the game will be seen on the selected devices in good quality as it should be. However, a disadvantage is that the game will be available only for a limited number of users. Author looked further and found another solution. Android developer site recommends providing different layouts for different screen sizes. They continue that by default Android resizes the application layout to fit the current device screen, and that in most cases this works fine. They write that in other cases UI might not look as good and might need adjustments for different screen sizes. They give advice about larger screens that the author might want to adjust the position and size of some elements to take advantage of the additional screen space. They also give an example about smaller screens - the author might need to adjust sizes so that everything can fit on the screen. [10] Author believes that providing specifically adjusted graphics and UI for the necessary screen sizes is the best possible solution. Although it will take extra time to provide all the adjusted graphics, it will guarantee that the maximum amount of users will be able to download the game and see the graphics in the best quality. This refers to both – Android devices and Windows PCs. As author already wrote in the previous chapter, it is necessary to work in the power of two scale system and to create the largest possible graphics sized 2048 x 2048 pixels. Afterwards these graphics can be down-sized for the necessary devices and resolutions.

Another problem that author faces is the use of text in GUI icons and GUI in general.

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absolutely necessary. [5] The author wants to use commonly known symbols instead. But this kind of choice can confuse the players if the symbols chosen are misleading in some way. Author believes that the solution for this problem would be many tests on people for the chosen symbols. The players would be tested and interviewed to hear their thoughts and make sure that the symbols are easy to understand. Author wants to note that the tests and interviews will apply to the whole game.

These are the major problems for the author, but there are several others, which were revealed through the first game test. One of them for example is related to the game controls because the test subject did not understand which keys should be used. Author can solve this problem by visually including the tutorial for the game control use in the beginning of the game. Further details of the test can be viewed in the third chapter.

1.4. Proposed solutions for achieving the objective and justification

of the choice

The qualification thesis objective is to create graphics for the game according to the developed guidelines and the concept of the game. To achieve the objective author proposed several tasks to solve the objective.

First of them was identification of other similar game graphics and user interfaces. As this was the first time the author had to deal with such objective he wanted to be acknowledged with other existing games and what visual solutions are chosen for them. Part of the first task was their analysis determining advantages and disadvantages. As the Puzzle Worlds was inspired by several existing games, author first started with their analysis. This analysis helped to understand what direction to choose for example it was decided that the game will contain 2D graphics and will be made in top-down view. He analysed other games as well and the studies of them helped to understand how specific graphics are made and what visual solutions should be made. UI was also researched in existing games. It was done to find pros and cons to make sure what solutions will work in his developed game.

Next task or solution for achieving the objective was the creation of style concepts inspired from existing games. As written before that existing games were researched and the pre-production concepts were done to communicate with the development team as there were several variations for different graphics. As part of this task was also mood-board creation. It was done to create colour schemes for the different chapters of the game and to communicate with other developers overall mood for the game.

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Another solution to achieve the objective was development of graphics for the game. Author believes that this task is speaks for itself and do not need justification. Without it the objective could not be achieved as it is the objective itself.

Final task or solution the author set to achieve the objective was testing of the first playable game prototype and analysis of test subjects gameplay. This task was done partially because the game prototype was tested unfinished. The author at the moment knew most of the errors that need to be corrected and tasks that need to be finished however it was done to justify the author’s confidence in his presumptions and make sure if the author and other developers have not missed something that needs to be finished.

1.5. Methodology

Research methods used by the author are literature analysis, qualified as monographic method or analysis, and the game prototype test on a person unrelated to the game development, which is qualified as a qualitative research method.

Author began with the literature review. This method was chosen because the author wanted to find out what other specialists have researched and discussed on his subject before. The research was done as a part of the game Puzzle Worlds development. He found it logical and useful to research only subjects that were related to the creation of the game. At the beginning of the analysis author created a structure and created a list of topics that will be reviewed and analysed. They included pre-production of the game graphics such as chosen game genre research and analysis, concept art, game graphic development, character concept art and development, GUI development and technical requirements for the development of the game. The author reviewed detailed information on each subject and analysed it from the view point of a game artist for the game Puzzle Worlds.

The next step by the author was the identification of the necessary resources and literature, which met the requirements of the chosen subjects. He reviewed different resources and digital books available on the internet. On one hand these resources were chosen because of the easy access. On the other hand most of the specific information nowadays has been published online or in the form of digital books. Author researched a lot of resources and books but as many of them discuss very similar information, he chose to review only those, which look at the information most accurately and closely to his chosen subject. The author started with the internet resources. He was already familiar with the theme so he looked first at the guide for developers of the game engine, which was chosen for the game development.

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The next logical choice for the author was to look at the provided information on the guide for the operating system, which was chosen for Puzzle Worlds development. Finally author reviewed books by various authors who have written about the chosen theme. Some of the books were freely accessible on the internet but others were available through online libraries. The author briefly red over the information and had a closer look at the chapters, which immersed into the topic. But in his review author shortly quoted only the most specific and appropriate parts of the chapters. After the quote, whether from an online resource or a book, followed authors view on the basis of the developed game. At the end author concluded the researched information.

The second method used was the game prototype test on a person unrelated to the game development. Puzzle Worlds developers including the author of this qualification thesis considered several game testing methods. They can be viewed in the third chapter of this qualification thesis, but as the final method they chose individual testing for only one person. This method was chosen because the author and the developers were aware of the most of errors that needed to be fixed, however they wanted to compare their opinion with the test subject. They also wanted to make sure if there is something left unnoticed by them. Test subject was chosen a 21 year old girl. There were no specific criteria chosen for the test subject. The positive aspect for the subject was her prior experience in playing video games of various genres.

The person was instructed to speak out loud about any made actions, guesses on what should be done or what that made action will do. The person was also instructed to speak questions out loud as if they were asked to the developers only the answers would not be given. It was told that the developers will write down what they will hear or see and later will analyse the gained results. Testing process started as if the game had been already installed on the computer. Test subject needed to start by clicking the game icon. Further the author wrote down his observations and the subject’s spoken information. The goal of the test for the player was to play all of the made levels so far and also to test the in-game GUI. The results of the testing can be viewed in the third chapter of this qualification thesis.

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2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAME PUZZLE WORLDS

2.1. Development timeline

The game Puzzle Worlds was initiated to be developed within the internship of Alberta college study programme Computer Game Development and Management. The internship took place in a company called SIA Amber Storm from 3rd February 2014 till 11th of April 2014. The development continues after the internship within qualification thesis preparation and the developers plan to continue the work on the game afterwards as well.

Since the process between different development stages and developers are connected and runs alongside, for better overview below in Table 2.1. author has summarized information about the whole work process in a timeline. [17] The objective for developers was to create a working game prototype, but because of their lack of experience in such projects, development of the game was delayed.

Table 2.1. The game Puzzle Worlds timeline

Artist - Designer- Programmer. -

Week

No. Task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 +

1. The game base idea

development

2. The game design

concept development

3. The game visual

concept development

4. Programming

5.

The game mechanic development and implementation

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Table 2.1. continuation

Week

No. Task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 +

6. Character concept and

design development

7. The game graphic

development

8. The game GUI

development 9. Level concept development 10. Level implementation in the game 11. Character creation 12. Character animation

13. The game graphic

element animation

14. The game menu

creation

15.

The remaining graphic creationa and

animation

16. Testing of the game

prototype

17. Test result collection and analysis

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Table 2.1. continuation Week No. Task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 + 18. Prototype correction 19. Continuation of the game development 20. Attraction of finances

21. The game publishing

2.2. Practical contribution and its description

Although it seems that author’s objective is very simple and mostly artistic, it also requires technological and software knowledge. Since the game is planned to be released for a different variety of platforms (Windows PC, Android smartphones and tablets), he has a very important task – to prepare the graphics for a wide range of necessities. For example, author needs to prepare them in different resolutions. Also as the game development team is very small, author has to become acquainted with the game development engine Unity, which was selected for the game development.

For the practical contribution the author defined specific tasks, the first of them being research and analysis of games with similar visual solutions. As the main idea for the game comes from the existing game Adventures of Lolo, the author analysed it first and decided to create Puzzle Worlds using 2D graphics in a top-down view. It was also chosen because the game developers were already experienced in this field and felt confident about their capabilities. From his research author concluded that the ground, paths and water were portrayed as if looking from above. However, the character, enemies and objects were in a side view. This created an unreal sense of perspective. Following these conclusions, the author analysed other similar games. Based on the research he developed guidelines and the

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overall concept of the game, as well as decided to change the perspective of some objects. Fig. 2.1 shows a screenshot of the game in development process.

Figure 2.1 The screenshot of the game Puzzle Worlds

Puzzle Worlds is a puzzle genre game but author wants to note that the game Puzzle Worlds can also be included in Action-Puzzle sub-genre and RPG (Role Playing Game) genre, because it will contain some of these game elements, for example, shooting to eliminate enemies or potions to change the character look and gain different powers etc. Creators of the game wanted to make it more interesting and the chosen genres felt right for the game. Also, as he mentioned in the first chapter, this genre was chosen because it has proved to be appealing to a wide range of people.

Author wrote his opinion in the first chapter that he believes the creation of layout charts may be skipped if the development team is small. Instead of them before Puzzle Worlds

development, the author in cooperation with his team brainstormed on different game aspects and came up with a simple game design document, which consisted of fundamentals of the game – base mechanics, some ideas on game characters (protagonist, enemies) and their properties. It included base ideas on game levels and their flow, some objects that will be included and others. Because of the size of the team, they were able to easily communicate in the process of the development and change something if necessary.

The game developers had many discussions on the game format, user interfaces and story. Since the game play is very simple and quick the author advised not to overcrowd the

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game with needless introduction screens, menus, GUI elements and enormous cinematic sequences. Author rather wanted to engage the player into the game as quick as possible. He in cooperation with his team decided that it would be better if the game would not contain any dialogues, written or spoken, and also would not contain text at all (only if very necessary). Because of this there was not a great need for storyboards, and also the game form itself did not necessarily require storyboard art. All of the levels have the same look which is 2D top-down and they fill only one screen at a time. However the author’s task was to come up with an idea for a storytelling element, which could be as simple as possible. So instead of creating massive cinematic short films, he decided to create comic style image sequences or cut-scenes between chapters that would be of descriptive nature. Author begun with rough storyboard-like sketches and later will make digital versions that will be implemented into the game. Their task is to explain the story or give some hints to the player, which could not be done otherwise due to the format of Puzzle Worlds. Below the Fig. 2.2 shows one example of author’s first created concept for the introductory cut-scene. While Fig. 2.3 shows an example of a digital test version of the created concept.

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Figure 2.3 Digital version of the created concept

Author wrote his thoughts in the first chapter on game levels that they help to create better order and structure in the game. Puzzle Worlds is still in progress and currently the work continues on the game level creation. The game is divided in chapters, but chapters into rooms or levels. The unifying factor for the levels is their chapter environment – forest, desert, underwater, ice lands and alien ship. As author wrote before that the game level layouts can be a huge help when designing game levels, he started with them.Playable area was created in the form of a square, which was divided into smaller squares or units. Introduction levels consist of 8x8 units, but further levels are enlarged to more complicated 12x12 unit areas. The programmer in cooperation with the designer comes up with ideas for

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level concepts. Later using them the author creates game levels that can be implemented into the game.

Author researched that sometimes full-colour illustrations are made to help communicate the mood of the levels with the development team. Instead author created mood-boards that also helped to construct colour schemes and organise the intended look and atmosphere of the game. It was decided that the game will have five chapters each representing a specific environment. The mood-boards were also very useful in creating a particular atmosphere in each of the chapters while still maintaining a sense of unity throughout the game. The next step was the creation of necessary graphics and textures based on the developed baselines. Figure 2.4 shows an example of a mood-board for the forest chapter.

Figure 2.4 Mood-board for The Forest chapter

Author wrote that mood-boards were a huge help to create colour schemes. He also explained his opinion in the first chapter - how to achieve colour harmony. His created colour schemes included some accent colours as well. They create a more interesting look and give possibility for a larger variety of objects. Fig. 2.5 shows author’s created base color palette for

The Forest chapter and Fig. 2.6 shows a preview of The Forest chapter with background, paths, water and different objects, which will be included in the chapter.

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Figure 2.5 Colour palette for The Forest chapter

Figure 2.6 A preview of The Forest chapter

As there is only one artist in the team, all concept art and graphic development was done by him, except the main character and NPC (Non Playable Characters) concepts and graphics. They were done in cooperation with the designer, who was experienced in the specific area so the team chose her for this task. Author monitored the creation process so that the characters would match with his developed visual guidelines. She started with many rough sketches for the main character and NPC, which matches author’s mentioned description of

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character design by Pardew. Later when the correct look was found, she rendered full colour pictures. Bellow Fig. 2.7 shows some of the created character sketches that were done by the designer and Fig. 2.8 shows a rendered colour version for one of NPC’s.

Figure 2.7 Puzzle Worlds character concepts by the designer Poriķe A.

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Author in cooperation with the designer has quite a hard challenge to create a visually

appealing and also practical main character and NPC’s. The process started since the

beginning of the game development, but it still continues. There were created several concepts for the main character and also NPC’s. As the game world was meant to be a fantasy land, author wanted that the main character would be more of a warrior type with a sword. After a while thoughts changed towards making the character more like a wizard, because it would give a slightly stereotypical sense of the fantasy world, as previously suggested by Seegmiller. However, the shape of the character proved to be unsuccessful for the game area. It was not original and appealing enough, therefore it had to be redesigned and is still in development process. In the case of enemies author wanted them to be self-explanatory so the designer created them with edgy shapes and angry expressions. Fig. 2.9 below shows two of these variations that were created in the beginning. The Fig. 2.10 shows some enemy concept drawings. And the Fig. 2.11 shows the redesigned main character model sheet.

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Figure 2.10 Enemy concept drawings made by the designer Poriķe, A.

Figure 2.11 The main character model sheet made by the designer Poriķe, A.

One of the parts of the game character creation was model sheets. One of them can be seen above. But in the case of objects, as author wrote his opinion in the first chapter, model-sheets were not made. The reason for it was that mostly in the game they can be seen from only one side. Fig. 2.12 shows an example of three game objects.

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The author also had to create the UI and HUD graphics and its elements. To accomplish this, author began with researching existing game menus and user interfaces, analysing their pros and cons. The game developers wanted the whole game, both visually and in usability, including GUI, to be as simple as possible. The author began with concept sketches and simple idea brainstorming. When the most appropriate concept was found he created a digital version. As the game story takes place in fantasy land, the author imagined that the GUI in some way could be like old wooden signs. He chose a wood-like texture as backgrounds with a metallic-like touch for the frames. But what relates to practicality, buttons and menus were reduced to a minimum leaving only the most necessary elements. Fig. 2.13 below shows one of the first digital concepts for the GUI before it was implemented into the game.

Figure 2.13 GUI tests for the game Puzzle Worlds

For the game HUD author wanted the same feeling and look as the rest of the game

GUI. Currently it contains a zone at the top of the screen with information about the number of ammunition the player has, pause button, which opens the menu, and restart button, which restarts the level. In the beginning it also contained information about health, but it was decided that there is no necessity for it at all, so this information was also removed from the

HUD. Restart button was placed in the menu, which opens when a player presses the pause button. In the development process creators realized that it will be used many times, therefore

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it was placed into the HUD. Author didn’t want it to take much space so it was created with a minimalistic touch. Fig. 2.14 shows in-game HUD in development process. Ammunition icon and the number need to be redesigned so that they fit better into the game atmosphere.

Figure 2.14 Puzzle Worlds HUD

In the creation of the GUI, author chose symbols instead of text. He used well known symbols that are nowadays common in many games. Others that are more specific to the game were more challenging to create as they needed to make sense. In testing process he realised that some of them are not very easy to understand so they need to be redesigned.

This is another task for the author - to test the game prototype and GUI on people without previous explanations. As game developers were aware of most of the errors that should be corrected, they have tested Puzzle Worlds mostly by themselves till now and only once on another person. Author introduces and writes more about testing and gained results in the third chapter Usability Tests and Analysis.

As the author mentioned in the first chapter, one of the greatest difficulties the developers face is the different devices and their resolutions people nowadays use. To simplify the task and be able to start the production as soon as possible they first decided to create the game for Windows PC’s. This choice was made because developers had access to the necessary devices. Later the game would be ported to other devices such as Android

phones and tablets. Also in the beginning the programmer was not experienced enough to be able to create onscreen controls. They struggled and did not know how to optimize the game graphics for different screen configurations. Therefore the artist’s job was to create large scale textures that could later be downs-sized and adjusted for different resolutions.

The author followed Unity manual guidelines that were also mentioned in the first chapter, and created all graphics 2048 by 2048 pixels. The largest number from the given examples was used because it is the maximal size that Unity supports and in the future it would allow to down-size the images for use on other devices of smaller resolution. After the research author followed the Android developer guide and designed the game for landscape orientation.