Much of my work time this week has been spent creating new assets for my game mod. Having decided on a pixelated art style, I decided to buy Aseprite (which was luckily on sale on Steam!), and started experimenting with the program – within a short space of time I was comfortable with it. Having previously used Photoshop for pixel art, I appreciat Aseprite’s simplicity and clean interface, allowing for more creativity in art creations. In particular, I am a big fan of the feature which allows you to enter tiled mode, which makes it much easier to create repeating patterns. Following along with a YouTube tutorial (MortMort, 2018), I was able to create a basic tile set with which I can construct levels (fig.1). I am happy with the end result, and I think it has a fun, chunky style which fits the aesthetic I had in mind. As well as this, I made some basic sprites, including small and large bushes and a teddy bear which will operate as a collectable (figs. 2, 3, 4).
(Above, top) Figure1: The basic tile set made in Aseprite. I would like to eventually add more tiles to allow for different environments, such as caves. (Above, left) Figure 2: Small bush made in Aseprite. (Above, middle) Figure 3: Large bush made in Aseprite. (Above, right) Figure 4: Teddy bear collectible made in Aseprite.
Thanks to Unity’s tile palette feature, I was able to replace all of the tiles in the 2D game stub within a matter of moments (fig. 5). I am really happy with how it looks overall, and the tiles all repeat seamlessly. When playing, the character now looks especially out of place, so I will need to begin working on replacement sprites that fit in more with the pixelated aesthetic.
(Above) Figure 5: The 2D game stub with all tiles replaced with my own created assets and some collectables / scenery implemented.
This week’s lecture was on developing systems and the concept of emergence. I had never considered the recursive nature of systems, and how they can be imbedded within one another. It was also fascinating to study emergence, and how by definition, it is impossible to design for this, rather it is a ‘by product of intentional design’. I would love for my game to be able to allow for some form of positive emergent gameplay (without being considered a bug), but that will be largely dependent on the amount of systems I implement, which will likely not be a lot due to it being my first game. Additionally, the examples shown of cellular automata and flocking algorithms were mesmerising. It is very impressive what can be achieved from basic principles; weather effects, water currents, fire spread, moving crowds and traffic to name a few.
The Unity workshop had a lot of new information. I have been largely working in 2D, so ProBuilder was a lot to take in. From the demo given by Paul, it seems to be a very powerful tool in aiding with 3D level creation. I took some time to experiment with the FPS game example provided, and moved around some enemies, changing values such as health and speed, however I would like to give the project more dedicated time when I have the chance to. I had been thinking of creating a Skyrim (2011) dungeon using the Bethesda Creation Kit for my 3D level mod, but depending on how I get on with the engine, I may likely decide to create my mod using this versatile package.
Moving forward with my 2D mod, I would like to implement a collectable system, where the player can pick up the teddy bears, and have a counter tracking how many they have left to find. I would also like to create new sprites for the player character and extend/change the level’s layout. Lots to do!
References:
MORTMORT. 2018. My Tileset Workflow (Pixel Art & Gamedev Tutorial) [YouTube user-generated content]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btnH0x7_1g8 [accessed 29 October 2020].
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.