This page is a write up on all the different skills I have learnt and/or developed throughout this unit, such as coding ability, art skills and ext.
Week 1
Monday 25th February 2019
Skills Audit
At the start of the project, we did a course review. We labelled all the skills we have and which ones we need to improve for this project. This is to see how we have developed throughout this course and to plan on what we will learn from the FMP.
I believe my skills are; organization with my work, presentation of work and great knowledge of the software we used.
But what I think I need to improve and hope to throughout this unit, is my art skills and to be able to make creative ideas that aren't too complex to execute.
I believe my skills are; organization with my work, presentation of work and great knowledge of the software we used.
But what I think I need to improve and hope to throughout this unit, is my art skills and to be able to make creative ideas that aren't too complex to execute.
Week 4
Full Profile View/Art Styles
As making a game with a story will require making characters, I decided to start making full profile views. They are when you draw a character from all views like the side, front and back. This helps for when you are animating them and you have a reference for how they look from the different angles.
As making a game with a story will require making characters, I decided to start making full profile views. They are when you draw a character from all views like the side, front and back. This helps for when you are animating them and you have a reference for how they look from the different angles.
21/3/2019
When doing concept art, I did a full profile view, where you draw a character from all sides of its body. At this stage, I have never done one of them before.
This first attempt went better than I expected. All of the viewpoints looked like they were wearing the same design and the bodies look appropriate for their angles. Although, I struggled to get all of them to the correct scale. Some were smaller than the original.
23/3/2019
I redrew the full profile view I did before, But this time using a different method. Instead of drawing each by abstract, I drew lines from the front view to the end of the paper. This allowed me to make my own guidelines for the length and proportion of each part of the body. This was successful, each viewpoint was the same proportion.
I then tried drawing a full profile digitally. I went on photoshop and then review it again using a graphics tablet. Using the line tool, I made lines to help with proportion just like I did on paper. This also came out well with all proportionally equal. The only consistent problem I have with the full profile so far is drawing the side view of the hair, but that will improve with more practice.
24/3/2019
I then did another profile view but with a different art style. This was also successful
Personally, I believe I have made much progress with a full profile view drawing of characters, and I will continue to do them as I develop more character designs.
Photoshop Brushes/Painting
As I will be experimenting with different artist designs, I will be learning more about the different brushes in Photoshop and which are good for different purposes.
26/3/2019
I then tried drawing a full profile digitally. I went on photoshop and then review it again using a graphics tablet. Using the line tool, I made lines to help with proportion just like I did on paper. This also came out well with all proportionally equal. The only consistent problem I have with the full profile so far is drawing the side view of the hair, but that will improve with more practice.
24/3/2019
I then did another profile view but with a different art style. This was also successful
Personally, I believe I have made much progress with a full profile view drawing of characters, and I will continue to do them as I develop more character designs.
Week 5
Photoshop Brushes/Painting
As I will be experimenting with different artist designs, I will be learning more about the different brushes in Photoshop and which are good for different purposes.
Brush
When making the first draft of a background, I decided to practice with a Photoshop brush I've only used once. a brush called the Kyle Rain Scatter. I used this brush when making a raining animation in units 5,6 and 7.
When using this brush again, I realised that this brush is also useful for making skies due to its brush shape beings made of small lines rather than a circle. It has a unique texture to it that to me, resembles tire tracks.
As I changed the design of the background, I didn't end up using this brush for the design again. However, in future, if I ever have to design a sky or water, I will consider using this as I do quite like it.
Painting Technique
A new skill with painting in Photoshop I learned was how much control you have with the colour pallet. I found out you can grayscale a colour more or in other words, control the situation of it. I found this out when I went on Photoshop and the colour pellet look different to how it normally does.
Normal
Current One
Eventually, I learned that this palette is for changing the saturation of the colours as if you were adding more and more white to it. This was useful for this first experiment, as I wanted to make a very desaturated background. I may use this skill more in the future if I have similar purposes.
27/3/2019
New Brush
After doing some research on monochrome art, I made a second draft of the background but using a different brush called Gouache ktw 3.
When making the first draft of a background, I decided to practice with a Photoshop brush I've only used once. a brush called the Kyle Rain Scatter. I used this brush when making a raining animation in units 5,6 and 7.
When using this brush again, I realised that this brush is also useful for making skies due to its brush shape beings made of small lines rather than a circle. It has a unique texture to it that to me, resembles tire tracks.
As I changed the design of the background, I didn't end up using this brush for the design again. However, in future, if I ever have to design a sky or water, I will consider using this as I do quite like it.
Painting Technique
A new skill with painting in Photoshop I learned was how much control you have with the colour pallet. I found out you can grayscale a colour more or in other words, control the situation of it. I found this out when I went on Photoshop and the colour pellet look different to how it normally does.
Normal
Current One
Eventually, I learned that this palette is for changing the saturation of the colours as if you were adding more and more white to it. This was useful for this first experiment, as I wanted to make a very desaturated background. I may use this skill more in the future if I have similar purposes.
27/3/2019
New Brush
After doing some research on monochrome art, I made a second draft of the background but using a different brush called Gouache ktw 3.
This brush has similarities to the Kyle Rain Scatter, having an almost identical texture and brush shape. However, it appears to be much more thick and potent, having a lot less space in it.
Painting Technique
Before I used the brush Gouache ktw 3, I wondered what would happen to it if I turned the Flow and Smoothing down. So I decreased both to 10.
After I did this, I noticed that the brush's colour became very translucent and saturated. I then wondered how I could use this.
I drew on a particular area with the colour black in the same area. What I saw was that the more you painted on an area, the darker that area was. This could be very useful for shading as this wouldn't require me having to manually change the opacity of a colour.
It also appears to be good for mixing colours together, as with it being translucent and having gaps, it allows the colour under to be seen still. I probably won't be using this skill as my game will be in black and white, however, it's still a useful one to know.
3/4/2019
Today, I started on my vectoring experimentation. First I learned about the key thing to watch out before starting the task of vectoring a character. Which is to make sure not all lines are joined, as the vector machine will cut out all the black lines and if there is something like a head, it would cut it off.
So I put one of the characters from my game on Adobe Illustrator and followed the steps of a guideline sheet to prepare the line art for vectoring. I uploaded it to the laser cutter and let it do its work.
The outcome was a stencil of my character. However, the head did get cut off due to me not un-joining the lines there although the body was fully intact.
Using the stencil, I spray painted the shape of the character on different pieces of card with different colours to create different effects.
I started off with using simple and single colours:
Then I started to mix the colours which created unique effects:
Painting Technique
Before I used the brush Gouache ktw 3, I wondered what would happen to it if I turned the Flow and Smoothing down. So I decreased both to 10.
After I did this, I noticed that the brush's colour became very translucent and saturated. I then wondered how I could use this.
I drew on a particular area with the colour black in the same area. What I saw was that the more you painted on an area, the darker that area was. This could be very useful for shading as this wouldn't require me having to manually change the opacity of a colour.
It also appears to be good for mixing colours together, as with it being translucent and having gaps, it allows the colour under to be seen still. I probably won't be using this skill as my game will be in black and white, however, it's still a useful one to know.
3/4/2019
Today, I started on my vectoring experimentation. First I learned about the key thing to watch out before starting the task of vectoring a character. Which is to make sure not all lines are joined, as the vector machine will cut out all the black lines and if there is something like a head, it would cut it off.
So I put one of the characters from my game on Adobe Illustrator and followed the steps of a guideline sheet to prepare the line art for vectoring. I uploaded it to the laser cutter and let it do its work.
The outcome was a stencil of my character. However, the head did get cut off due to me not un-joining the lines there although the body was fully intact.
Using the stencil, I spray painted the shape of the character on different pieces of card with different colours to create different effects.
I started off with using simple and single colours:
Then I started to mix the colours which created unique effects:
Week 9
As I want to improve on the game that I made in my last unit, I will be attempting to learn much more skills with Construct 2 and have features in it that I have never done before.
Coding On Construct
I looked at 2 different videos that talked about how you can make a loading screen inside a game. Both sued a similar method however, there is a clear distinction between them.
Method 1
There is something called the Loader Layout in the properties menu. When this is turned on, It makes all other layouts in the project load while the first one is being displayed. You are able to make a visual representation of this using text and a bar.
You first make a text and make it say "100%". Then you make a box with a reasonable width.
Secondly, you turn the loader layout on.
Third, you go on the event sheet and type this code.
This tells the text and box to read the progress of how much of the project is loaded and the text changes along with the width if the bix to correspond to this invisible counter.
Then you just start your game and it should have a working loading screen.
Method 2
The coding for this one is much less complicated, as for this method, instead of it actually loading up the game it more of acts as an illusion of a loading screen. This method merely obtains the look of one and does not at all track the progress of the layouts being loaded and thus the time it lasts for is completely up to you.
First, you make 3 boxes. 1 thin one that will be the loading bar, 1 that's long on that will be the background for the bar and one last one that will be used to determine how long the loading screen will last.
Second, your code for its width to increase by 5 for every tick(an invisible counter In the game)
And that's the basic way of making it. You can add to this by making backgrounds for the whole screen, adding animations that help evoke that the screen is loading and ext.
This, like method 2 of the loading screen, this technique is more illusionary, as the cursor isn't actually changing and instead, it's just being turned invisible and using an object to track where it is. However, the method still works just as if it was really changing, and it's very simple
This is a very interesting skill to learn and I will be using this skill In my project.
1) Developing Loading Screens(SD1)
(Bibliography-"5R")
(Bibliography-"5R")
I looked at 2 different videos that talked about how you can make a loading screen inside a game. Both sued a similar method however, there is a clear distinction between them.
Method 1
There is something called the Loader Layout in the properties menu. When this is turned on, It makes all other layouts in the project load while the first one is being displayed. You are able to make a visual representation of this using text and a bar.
You first make a text and make it say "100%". Then you make a box with a reasonable width.
Secondly, you turn the loader layout on.
Third, you go on the event sheet and type this code.
This tells the text and box to read the progress of how much of the project is loaded and the text changes along with the width if the bix to correspond to this invisible counter.
Then you just start your game and it should have a working loading screen.
Method 2
The coding for this one is much less complicated, as for this method, instead of it actually loading up the game it more of acts as an illusion of a loading screen. This method merely obtains the look of one and does not at all track the progress of the layouts being loaded and thus the time it lasts for is completely up to you.
First, you make 3 boxes. 1 thin one that will be the loading bar, 1 that's long on that will be the background for the bar and one last one that will be used to determine how long the loading screen will last.
Second, your code for its width to increase by 5 for every tick(an invisible counter In the game)
And that's the basic way of making it. You can add to this by making backgrounds for the whole screen, adding animations that help evoke that the screen is loading and ext.
2) Making Custom Cursors(SD2)
(Bibliography-"6R")
(Bibliography-"6R")
As I wanted to make many aspects of my game carry a theme, I decided to learn how to make my own custom cursor, as this will help with that goal.
So I looked at a video and followed all the steps to make one.
Step 1) You add the mouse tool
Step 2) You Import Or Make A Cursor Desing
Step 3) Make the size of the game 25,25 pixels, as this is the average size of a normal cursor
Step 4) Code for the cursor style to be set to none. This will make the original cursor invisible. Then you code for your cursor design to constantly sets its position exactly where the mouse is (X and Y position)
After that, the objects should move and acts as its own cursor.
This, like method 2 of the loading screen, this technique is more illusionary, as the cursor isn't actually changing and instead, it's just being turned invisible and using an object to track where it is. However, the method still works just as if it was really changing, and it's very simple
This is a very interesting skill to learn and I will be using this skill In my project.
3) Copying Layer To Different Layouts(SD3)
(Bibliography-"7R")
(Bibliography-"7R")
As my game will give things like HUDs, I will need all the objects that makeup them will need to be on every layout. So I thought I would try to see if there was a way to copy layers to different layouts to save time. And I found a way of watching a video from the official Construct website.
All you have to do is enable the global layer in the layer's property. What this does, is overwrite every single layer in the project with the exact same name. This makes all of them acquire the exact same properties and objects.
They don't appear on the edit page, and can't be edited themselves unless the original is changed.
This is a very convenient and handy skill to know, as it will help save time and prevent me from having to manually copy over objects. I will use this for all my HUD, such as my pause menu and save screen.
4) The Pathfinding Behaviour
I was watching a series of videos that was talking about all of the behaviours. The pathfinding one was one that I'd seen before but never used.
The Pathfinding Behaviour is a Behaviour that allows objects to independently travel to the position of the person's choosing. It will avoid solid objects and it does this as Construct makes an invisible grid when the layout starts and any cell that has an object will be labelled as impassable. The steps of using it are
1)Make solid objects and the object that will be moving
2)Alter the properties to make it move in your preferred ways, such as the speed, the cell size which changes the size of the cells of the invisible grid and the cell border which determines how much cells around an object will be labelled as impassable.
3)Code for how you want the object to find a path to move to, here I used the position of the mouse and triggered it to follow the path when its clicked.
I found this behaviour quite interesting, as using this I can make an object move to any place I want without having to move them myself. This can be used for many different things, such as making things follow the player to being able to guide an object to wherever you want.
1)Make solid objects and the object that will be moving
2)Alter the properties to make it move in your preferred ways, such as the speed, the cell size which changes the size of the cells of the invisible grid and the cell border which determines how much cells around an object will be labelled as impassable.
3)Code for how you want the object to find a path to move to, here I used the position of the mouse and triggered it to follow the path when its clicked.
I found this behaviour quite interesting, as using this I can make an object move to any place I want without having to move them myself. This can be used for many different things, such as making things follow the player to being able to guide an object to wherever you want.
5) The NoSave Behaviour
The NoSave Behaviour is a behaviour that prevents objects applied with it from being saved in its current state when the game is made to save. This can be used to either prevent certain objects from loading back on the screen such as pause/save menus as they will revert to their original state. They also can lead boost loading times, they help limit the amount of system information from being stored.
6) The Shadow Caster Behaviour
The Shadow Caster Behaviour is a behaviour that makes objects cast a shadow from the position of the light source in the layout. This can be used to aid with any object that is supposed to be a light source in your game.
1) Add the shadow light object to the layout. This is the light source(s) for all of the other objects that will be casting shadows.
2) Apply the Shadow Casting behaviour to the objects you want to cast shadows
3) Then you can edit the length of them to your liking.
The Persist Behaviour is a behaviour where the state of an object remains the same unless coded otherwise. They will never return to their initial state. This can be used for games where the player interacts with an object (like a treasure chest) and its new states have to stay the same even when you return to the layout.
7) Persist Behaviour
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