Project Portfolio
Knight name: eg Citadel Knight
Introduction
In this project I need to make a knight character based on the game Shovel Knight. The character has to be related to an ecological issue example like deforestation or global warming or water pollution. First thing was looking into the game to get a feel for the game like the art style and mechanics like movement, attack for shovel knight afterwards researching the processes of how shovel knight was made and what it took to make the game happen.
Case Study: Yacht Club Games
In my case study for Yacht Club Games I looked into the origins of Yacht Club Games why, when, where and what happened to create Yacht Club Games and how the Shovel Knight was made and the who where members of Yacht Club games that made Shovel Knight like what their roles and skills were in the making of Shovel Knight and put all the information in infographic most of the information I used is from the Shovel Knight book Blood, Sweat and Pixels. Link to infographic.
Research: Blood, Sweat & Pixels
Introduce your work on the questions from the chapter on Shovel Knight in Blood, Sweat and Pixels. Include your answers to all of the questions for the reading on Shovel Knight here.
Character Deconstruction
In the deconstruction I need to pick one of the shovel knight characters to break it down in terms of the colours it is using and the features of the character like what it looks like and if it has a noticeable silhouette to make it stand out from the rest of the characters in the game.
Colour hex code: 000000 black, fcf8fc white, ac1000 red, fcb800 yellow, e46018 orange
By the name he looks like a King he's got the crown and cape usually colours like yellow and red are associated with royalty his Knight cause of the knight helmet and armour
The pose King Knight is making is having his legs spread out with both hands on the hip and sort of standing proud or cocky with his head staying back a little and his chest being a bit push forward.
Transcription and Comparison of Visual Style
Include your work on transcribing characters using different pixel art styles.
Link to art style swaps.
Game Analysis: Structured Play
In the structure play either me or someone else played the game called shovel knight where we looked into the different things about the game and taking notes of what the character is like the movement, colours and shape and the game like the story of shovel knight and environment of the game. Link to structure play.
Research and Development
This is your research and development section where you should include and discuss all work undertaken in planning and developing your ideas for your Shovel Knight character. This should include all mood boards, mind maps and brainstorming, plus any other documentation. In each case, ensure that you give context to the work by briefly explaining what it is and what you were trying to do. Where relevant, include any reflection you had on how this helped you develop or refine your ideas.
During the initial stage of my planning there was I a few ways I saw the character ecological issue theme for the character can go like deforestation or nuclear waste their was other options I could have gone with but I find the this option more applying like deforestation characters could be based on the heavy machinery that moves the cut down trees around the character was going to be big and slow and armoured during some of the sketches I did in the beginning tried to make one which I would say it was good drawing but I thought to myself like how would I be able to turn it into a sprite and eventually I dropped the idea. Another idea for the deforestation character was to make animal characters like a goat or a monkey and have most features a human would have like a body the character was going to be a quick one may be small or averaged sized human with it being lightly armoured and have them be the guardian of the forest that protects the forest and everything in it from anyone that would do them harm but over time the character became a villain. When it came to nuclear waste there were few ideas that included a mutated character with a hazmat suit with a little bit of uranium spilling out of the hazmat suit and a few ideas on a mutated animal character.
Mind Map on environmental theme
Research on environmental theme
Moodboards
Further research
Further exploration of Shovel Knight’s visual style
Consideration of colour palette and limitations https://lospec.com/palette-list/shovel-knight-nes the colour palette the limitations of 5 colours
Exploration and consideration of sprite size limitations is the biggest sprite in Polar Knight idle is width 81, height 76. Shovel Knight idle width 34, height 32. Final design width 55, height 46.
Work on readability of designs
Work on animation, posing and gesture (this could be in the form of any sketches or research undertaken)
Costume, props and accessories (including mood boards, sketches or other experimentation)
Initial Ideas: Thumbnails
Introduce and include all initial exploratory work on your Shovel Knight designs. This should be in the form of your initial thumbnails exploring ideas, including annotations of key features, colours.
During the beginning of the drawings I was a bit wrapped up with the idea of having the characters as human with different styles of armour, weapons and colours but later I would try and experiment with non human characters. The first few drawings on the top left should use a bit of colours that stand out like the machinery colours in my moodboard whilst having the last few drawings to blend with the forest.
Further Development: Sketches and Key Art
Add all of your development work for your ideas here. This should be the work that you have done to refine your ideas and should include:
Refined concept sketches of your strongest ideas
Key art for your boss character, exploring different poses
Experimentation with sprites (shape, pose, colour)
Outcome: Idle Sprite
Introduce your outcome for your designs. You should make sure to include the sprite at different scales to demonstrate how it would look on screen but also so we can see detail.
Include a lineup with the other characters from your team and / or other Shovel Knight characters.
During the making of the idle sprite I used one of my sketches as the base. The final outcome of my design is with an axe on the back of the character and the bow in one hand and in the other on the ballet, a chest plate, a hood and a cloak.
Body Swap
Add your body swap sprite, include an introduction and compare it to your original sprite. Show any development work such as sketches.
Make the sprite based on the key art I did with the body swap which includes both male and female when making the attack animation I made the axe swing. It was fairly difficult to determine how the female version should be or how.
Male Female
Attack Animation
Include your work on your attack animation as a gif, plus good quality images of each of the frames. Show any development work, such as sketches.
Boss Environment
Add your boss’ environment, include an introduction and discuss how the two share common themes visually. Show any development work such as sketches.
The boss environment for Ranger Knight is in the small forest with the two trees fairly close a hill/mountain covered in grass and trees with a small lake at the bottom and few mountains in the very far distance the environment is fairly closely based on the first boss fight between black knight and shovel knight with some change to make the scene a bit more different like the trees being a bit different but still using the same colours.
When doing the last drawing I was sort of aiming for a ruined castle with a wall missing a few bricks from the decay from no one maintaining it.
Project Evaluation
At the begin of the project we need to research what is and are ecological issue because the knight character need to be based on an ecological issue then research on the shovel knight game like character deconstruction like what pose the character is using what colours it uses how many pixels it is in height and width it is but also doing a game play deconstruction to see what the game is about like how it looks and the controls the mechachines and animation. My goals for the project were to create a sprite character of a medieval ranger and create an environment which would include a few hills and trees and clouds. The Ecological issue I picked was deforestation so when I was doing my first few design being medieval theme characters designs with one designs using brown, green, grey, black to blend with the forest like rangers or a sorcerer the other designs being more bright colours to make them stand out in the forest like knights red, grey, black, white and either yellow or blue as the final colour. After doing the medieval designs I attempted to make a design which would be a machine like a truck and would have the shape of a human body but after doing a few sketches I asked myself would this even be possible to be turn into a sprite for the game and eventually I abandoned the idea and when straight for the medieval ideas.
When it comes to how I felt about the work I did on the project I would say in some areas it was a lot to the point I wanted to drive myself through the wall but at the end of the day I am happy with what I did even though there are areas that could have been improved. When doing the Yacht Club Games case study it was a bit difficult to find any useful information on the internet and no one was allowed to look on Wikipedia. I looked into other websites but most of their information was not enough. As for the areas I enjoyed was the thumbnail drawings then afterwards go into Photoshop and add the colours and slightly change them I particularly happy with the first page of characters like the blue and red one and the yellow and red but on the second page the ranger I really add some quite a lot of details that I am happy with like add a some shading and giving him a bit of movement and not standing still.
During the research, planning and production phases everything went well except on some small areas in the phases that could have been improved like the yacht club games case study to add some more information to the infographic. As for the planning I was very much focused on the character being a human between something medieval or maybe being a robot truck with the shape of a human body but after doing a few sketches I dropped the idea because I thought it wouldn’t work and the idea being a bit of an ambitious one. As for the production, the only thing I think that could have been improved is the idle sprite because it doesn't feel like it is the same as the attack animation. Yes my outcome meet all of the requirements of the brief thought I was only able to do one of the stretch goals which was the boss environment but I wasn’t able to do the corruption knight.
I’ve learned that being an indie developer is quite a challenge at the beginning especially after I read the blood, sweat and pixels even after doing the kick starter and pulling whatever funds they still come very close to the breaking point. The skills I have developed during this project are my drawing skills when I was doing the thumbnails of the knight drawings or the robot truck and my animation skills when doing the attack animation for my character to anticipate how each frame would go to fit in the animation. The skills will help me if I decide to go down to pixel animation or any sort of animation to be able to anticipate how the character would move or my concept art drawing skills whether it's a character or environment. The skills that I need to develop are my pixel art drawing skills and my thumbnail drawing skills as well as the anticipated skills on the part of when animating and being willing to explore all possibilities before making a choice. The knowledge and understanding I have developed are the process of any project done in the feature like research then planning and production also the knowledge and understanding on indie game development and on how the characters and environment should look within the close proximity of the shovel knight game.
If I were to do the project again I would try to push other ideas on what the character can be like I said when I was looking into the potential of making a massive robot truck sprite but with the limits of how big it can be. At one point I did consider a character like a monkey covered in armour being based on a character that exists in a game called league of legends the character name being Wukong but I didn’t do it because all of the knights in shovel knight didn’t have a visible face and wear a mask or helmet. I did consider a simpler character idea at the beginning like a lumberjack character but I thought it would be too easy of an idea to do for the deforestation ecological issue or maybe doing a different ecological issue theme like nuclear waste the character being a mutant in hazmat suit or flooding. What I can apply for the future is to try and explore more opinions before I narrow it down to what would be the final idea for the character and also do more sketches.
