Some new stuff

After some contemplation, procrastination and education I realised I should probably start putting a lot more effort into this project. I have spent the last few days trying to refine a style that I will be happy and confident in using throughout the project. I think i've nearly cracked it but I am unsure of whether or not I just did one lucky drawing and won't be able to replicate it. It's pretty simplistic at the moment but I feel it has enough detail to allow me to get across the characteristics of, well, the characters.

Personally, I believe the animation and movements/mannerisms of characters are way more important than the design - I've seen stickmen with more life than paintings that had far too long spent on them - but I want to get a balance between the two. I'll get some more done then put some images up here.

Oh fuck, dragons!

They climb the dragon. The dragon wakes up. Oh fuck :(

Fairy tales and myths and legends and fables and so on.

Once upon a time, in a far off land, a girl was born in a small village. This girl was a strange child, as she never spoke. Her parents feared their child was mute, and tried everything they could to get her to speak. They brought in teachers, wise elders, doctors and priests, people from all over the land, but no matter what none could discover why she would not talk. Then, one day, a travelling musician was walking through the village, playing a tune as he walked past the girl's house. Her mother and father were sitting at the table, dejected, having lost all hope, when suddenly they heard the most beautiful sound coming from their daughters room. She was singing along to the music, a song without words or meaning but that still managed to touch their hearts. Of course, the musician heard this too, and with tears in his eyes knocked at the door of the families abode to see just what wondrous magic was afoot. The girl's family greeted him with open arms, and they spent the rest of the evening sitting together, him playing music and her singing along.

However, her voice carried far, and so beautiful it was that everyone in the village became entranced, gathering outside of the girls house to listen in to the harmony of her singing and the musicians instrument. Even the creatures of the land, the ground dwelling beasts and the wild beings of the sky all gathered around the house, their desire to hear the music running just as primal as the humans they stood beside. Eventually, the music came to an end, and the crowd dispersed, many going to their homes to reflect upon what they had heard, or to spend time with their loved ones after hearing such beautiful singing. However, one cunning man decided to take a horse and ride to the capitol city, to inform the king and queen about this child with a voice that captured the very essence of music. Upon hearing this, the king summoned the girls family and the musician to attend him within the court, and when they arrived he graciously requested that she perform before him. The girl was nervous, as though she did not speak, she was a clever girl and realised the gravity of the situation before her. Nevertheless, as soon as the musician started playing she couldn't help but sing along, her voice echoing throughout the great audience chambers and through the very souls of the people present.

Once the performance was over,

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Stuff happens, story advances, not majorly interesting, basically the queen gets jealous and orders the girl to be locked away.

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The girl sat alone in the tallest tower of the castle, in her tiny cell, wondering why this had happened to her. Her voice was a gift, and all she wanted was to share it with the world after seeing how happy it made people. This is not the life she envisioned for herself. All she desired was a tune to sing along to, and yet here she was, locked away from her previous life. The girl remained within the jail for ten years, with no visitors being allowed to see her. However, on the night of her 18th birthday, she dreamt of a world so vibrant and full of colour, sound and

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More stuff happens, the girl basically gets visited by the goddess of music, and she fashions her hair into guitar strings. The goddess sends them to the musician from the beginning, and the girl is executed. The musician is so outraged by the reaction to what is essentially the most beautiful music in the world, he travels to the palace in the middle of the one day of the year where the king and queen both attend upon their subjects, and the palace is completely full of people. The musician climbs onto the execution gallows, and starts to play using the guitar + hair strings, and the music resonating carries both the essence of his playing and the soul of the girl. It is the most beautiful thing in the world. At the end of his song, he plays a chord and all of the strings snap. He then hangs himself, and his last words to the population of the city and the king and queen are essentially that they will never experience anything as good as this again. The population realise it is true and spiral into recession and mass depression, the king and queen commit suicide, and the city is destroyed.

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Morbid ending but I thought the story was cool. I made it up :( I liked the concept but it turned out to be taking longer than I expected to write and frankly I got bored. It's not a concept for my game, just something I wanted to try. Thank you for reading.

A remnant of times past

Oh god it's a zombie or something I don't know. I am debating whether or not to use this design for something within my game, however I feel it goes against my original style decision by quite a lot, due to it looking a lot more Egyptian/mummy-like than anything I was planning to do. I just think he looks cool :(

Was thinking of perhaps having him rise up in the background of a level and just start fighting some gods or something, or perhaps he can be one himself...

This started out as a clothing idea for the main character but after I made half of his leg missing I figured it wouldn't really work so great.

Evolution of ideas

After a week or so of being focussed on this project and thinking about it, speaking with my lecturer etc, the project has evolved quite a lot in various directions. I have been exploring a few mechanics such as switching a weapon in between two characters, and having two characters of varying sizes which would have to work together to get past foes. One thing I want to play with is the idea of scale, such as by using the giant enemies in the game as platforms, while fighting the smaller enemies. As a huge focus will be on the battle going on between enemies in the skies and on the land I want the game world to reflect that, with the players having to avoid getting caught in the middle of fights between the two different styles of creatures.

I am also looking at the idea of the remainder of the human world working with your character, or at least, in the background, to fight against the smaller foes alongside you or to just provide background to the game. I am also debating the idea of some of the humans being a different size, with one race being smaller than the other by quite a lot, but both have to work together to defend their cities.

More to come later.

Final Year CGD

Hey guys. This is a blog letting me document my final year project at the University of Wales, Newport. I am on the Computer Games Design course as it may or may not say at the profile section of this page, and I am working alone to create a game, or at least a section of a game.

I currently have a few ideas and concepts for this, which will be posted shortly. I am intending the game to be in 2D although by the end who knows what will happen. I wrote a short story and then re-wrote it and tweaked sections, turning it into something i'm happier with but not 100% on yet. I will post it here as an introduction to the world this game is set in, and hopefully give you a glimpse into the style I will be aiming for with the visuals/narrative.

Read this through, and picture it as the opening animation...

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There have been countless tales depicting the many gods and demons of humanity, and yet there is still one story left to be told.

In a world far from here, celestial beings ruled the heavens while beasts from the netherworld roamed the earth. Humans lived a relatively peaceful life within cities upon clouds, protected by the kind and gentle creatures floating high above them, who kept them safe from the spiteful monsters of the land. The humans all followed the rule of the one King, whose family had been the leaders of humankind for thousands of years. The King and his family were thought to be blessed by the Gods, and by using a sacred relic passed down from ages past, they possessed the ability to commune with both the creatures of the sky and the creatures of the land.

The King had a beautiful wife, and together they were loved and revered by their subjects. The Queen gave birth to a son, and in the many years of celebration that followed the young prince’s arrival, life within the kingdom was better than ever. Many years passed, and the child grew older. He was a kind, intelligent and charismatic youth, and the populace believed he would one day become a fine heir to the throne. However, he was a curious child, always asking questions and exploring areas he was not meant to go. On one such outing, the young prince found himself deep within the castle, inside a lavishly decorated chamber full of precious treasures and paintings. Gazing around in wonder, his eyes were drawn to a box in the far corner of the room. The box seemed to call out to the boy, and upon opening it a voice leapt into his mind, promising him wealth, power, happiness, and anything he desired.

The young prince was overwhelmed! In his short life he had been the recipient of thousands of presents, and the love and respect f his parents and subjects, but the way the voice spoke to him evoked a primal urge deep within the child. The prince reached into the box and withdrew a short staff, as white as snow and covered in black glyphs. As he held it tightly he felt his thoughts begin to wander, his eyes misting over in a dreamlike stupor...

Far, far away, deep beneath the earth in a cavern of frozen fire and burning ice, dwelled a beast so foul that simply uttering his name was a crime of the highest order. The beast who had slept for ten thousand years. The beast who lived amongst the corpses of hundreds of foes, thought to be long dead for centuries. The beast who had waited for millennia for just one fleeting moment of weakness on the part of humankind.

The beast awoke.

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Well, if you read through the whole thing, thank you for taking the time to do so. Essentially i'm aiming for a storytelling/legend theme, such as the introduction to Wind Waker (Amongst other Zelda games) and Okami, both which speak about a hero from a long forgotten age solving the troubles of the world. It's not perfect and there's no telling if I will use this aesthetic and world but it's something I can at the least riff off and explore.