Project Objective: An action game where the player moves along three horizontal parallel lines to limit movement so that I can quicken the speed of combat game play.
RESEARCH
Pixel Art and Coding
For my research I continue to review YouTube and Lynda.com. Both of these sites have provided me with great information. On Lynda.com I am able to focus and research on specific topics as it relates to Unity. I have found this to be very useful. Some of the topics I’ve been researching include loops, general programming habits, and creating classes. Another aspect of Lynda.com which has assisted me in my research is their asset store which I’ve learned about Cinemachine.
Cinemachine is an application for 2D professional camera tools for Unity that provide access to camera control at AAA game level. By using Cinemachine it should assist with some issues I’ve been experiencing as well as save some time. I am just starting to explore this and to understand how it could enhance and improve my final project.
My exploration and research on YouTube continues and I have discovered a number of channels which are dedicated to Pixel art. One channel which I have found to provide some simple direction is Brackeys (http://patreon.com/brakceys) . Through Brackeys there are coding tutorials, tips and tricks.
I have also researched channels dedicated to the drawing of anatomy. A particularly good one is ProkoTV on YouTube. This is led by Stan Prokopenko who is an artist and teacher and has created a number of instructional art videos.
A lot of what I’ve learned is how the animation design is essential to convey the essence of your characters.
Similar to Brackeys I have also spent time researching on MortMort which is also on YouTube but is also available on mortmort.net. This person also provides numerous tips and special ways to code line which assists in breaking down the Pixel art for line development. MortMort further shares how he goes about his game development using Asperite for Pixel Art, Photoshop for digital painting, Stencyl for simple 2D games and Unity for more complicated games. I found all of this interesting and additional topics for further research.
As I continued to research further into Pixel art I found a YouTube channel called “The Verge” which has a great documentary web series on Japanese designers. This is a Toco Toco TV and is an ongoing web series. The episodes are in Japanese but you can turn on subtitles. Each of the episodes are interesting and I find some more useful than others but in general a good resource for which is needed in game design. A few of the interviews I’ve watched include Yoko Taro, director of Nier: Automata which touches on his creative process as well as why his games feel a bit different than others or as I like to say “goofy”. Another is the director of Persona 5, Katsura Hashino which touches on creating a game in the city of Tokyo and being real-world focused. Toco Toco is now Archipel as they have evolved this channel but the interviews are still known as Toco Toco.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3zoY9LapZERsN7caDKqz0w/about