"Reliq" Development Blog

Sprint 1:

During the first sprint, the initial plan for the whole team was to decide on the genre, art style and influences of our game. We knew immediately that we were going to go with a 2D format with a 3/4 top down view as there wasn't enough time for 3D art and animation in the designated 6 weeks that we had. On top of this, we had no designated programmer which meant that Nico was left to do the programming and design aspects for Reliq. We agreed as a team that we would prioritise and list all of our tasks in different columns on Trello and label them clearly with what sprint number they were completed in. By applying this agile method of using a scrum board to allocate and record tasks for each sprint, it allows the whole team to see the overall progress of the game but also which tasks have been in the project backlog for a while and need completing once individual tasks are done.

Daisy and I quickly agreed that we would try to split the art for Reliq as equally as possible and pick up on tasks as need between each sprint that were listed on Trello. I took on the environmental art and Daisy worked on the character art. Our main inspirations for Reliq overall were Corpse Party, Resident Evil 7 and Pacify, however, Daisy and I took the most inspiration from Corpse Party for the 8bit art style and horror atmosphere.

The initial tasks I was assigned were to design the walls and floor of the map. This task was very high priority because the sooner we had a blueprint of the entire game level roughly mapped out in Unity the sooner we could build upon it with pickup locations, door locations and enemy walk cycles. I researched what photoshop settings were ideal in order to create my own pixel art since it was an art style I hadn't explored before and applied them to all the art I created for Reliq. Such as a 50 by 50 pixel canvas size and what tool to use. During the first week I had several art assets drawn up and ready to be implemented into Unity via GitHub, which I also learnt how to do with some help from my team.

Overall I'm happy that the team came to a quick consensus on what game we wanted to create but also how quickly we delegated roles and tasks in order to get a solid head start on or project. To improve individually in preparation for the next sprint I want to continue drawing up environmental art assets ready to be implemented during Sprint 2 so this keeps up the project productivity but also provides practise at drawing pixel art. My plans for Sprint 2 are to get a lot of environmental art assets completed that will help make the map more interesting to the payer by breaking up and diversifying the scenery.

Sprint 2:

During sprint 2, I completed a large portion of the environmental art. Mostly wall decorations that would help provide some variety within the map such as mirrors, paintings and blood splatter. As a team we heavily focussed on how we wanted to incorporate several horror elements from both eastern and western cultures to add diversity into our game. for example, the main enemy of our game was directly inspired by the monster called the Krasue from Thai folklore. We also chose to keep the gender of our playable character open for interpretation to allow players to project themselves onto the character without any gender bias as well as to add further diversity so our game would tie into our essay assignment.

I also completed the environment art for the wine cellar section of our map. I created a barrel and several wine bottles and implemented these into unity via GitHub. A problem I ran into during this week's sprint was how to colour the mirror to make them look reflective without them actually being reflective which would be complicated to program. I ended up colouring the mirrors in a light grey and tried to paint on small light reflections to make them look like mirrors as best as I could.

To improve upon my work before the next sprint I want to create more complicated artefacts to scatter around the map. Artefacts such as a suit of armour and vases in order to emphasise the Victorian atmosphere we are aiming for in Reliq. This will also tie into the narrative of Reliq since the ghosts within the game come from the haunted artefacts that are collected within the manor. The team is working hard and we have been keeping track of the work we have all been completing on Trello. My tasks for the next sprint are to continue adding environmental art assets and to begin researching for my essay.

Sprint 3:

During Sprint 3, I completed all the remaining environment art tasks I had been assigned on Trello. The most challenging artefact I had to draw was the suit of armour. I had to redraw it several times as it was extremely challenging trying to draw a rounded human figure using square pixels. I tried making the armour more squared off on the edges to try and make my task easier but the suit of armour looked more like a robot as a result. Adding several tones of grey and white to the armour was also challenging because I had to paint all the reflections in the same direction on all the armour pieces. I did this because for light reflections to make sense they'd have to come from the same light source hitting the armour and the same angle. Doing this with nothing but square pixels was again really challenging for me as understanding how light reflects upon human anatomy is challenging on its own let alone in a restrictive art style.

I also created an iron maiden to add into the horror elements we were including in Reliq. I researched several images of real life iron maidens but also iron maidens that have been designed for video games such as Amnesia. The spikes were hard to define using pixels and shades of grey as depth is hard to create with a limited colour palette and a small canvas. After a few drafts and some feedback from my team I'm happy with the end result. I created extra artefacts; a vase and a bowl. I tried to make them look like antique porcelain ceramics by using a classic blue and white colour scheme. Finally I drew up a few additional wall decorations such as a sword display and some shelves and implemented them all via GitHub into the art branch. To improve upon my work for the next sprint I want to catch up on my work for the essay and the itch page as the art tasks this sprint took up a lot more of my time than I expected. The team are working hard and the game is coming together quickly, sounds have been added to the game now and a lot of the game mechanics such as the door and key pickups have been completed.

Sprint 4:

All the environment art was completed by Sprint 4 so my plan for this sprint was to focus on essay part of my assignment. Later into the week I was tasked with drawing up the game map. I used the initial floor layout image that Nico had sent at the beginning of the project to ensure that the map is exact to the in-game layout. The map took longer to draw out than I expected and we ran into an issue regarding the use of fonts, which the team discussed with our tutors. The consensus was that we were allowed to use fonts in photoshop for the notes and map as long as they were pre-set in photoshop and not downloaded off of the internet as we would run into copyright issues even if we referenced the font. Once I drew up the outline of the map layout, I then colour coded and labelled each section of the map and implemented this into the game. The amount of art tasks has declined towards the end of this project since I got a lot of the tasks completed and implemented earlier than expected. My plan for the next sprint is to ask the team if there are any extra art tasks to complete or if Daisy needs any help completing her tasks on top of continuing with my essay.

Sprint 5:

During Sprint 5 I had to pick up an extra art task from Daisy since she had a lot of animation to do and I was free to pick up tasks since mine had been completed early. I read what Nico had written for the note narrative we were yet to implement into the game and I decided to keep elements but rewrite the narrative overall. There were 5 notes in total and 5 separate narrative paragraphs to go with each note that would then be found by the player around the map. I wanted to create a gradually unnerving and unsettling feeling as the player find and reads each note in order. I wrote the notes as if they were pages from a diary recounting events in order to provide some exposition for why the ghosts are in the manor. I wanted the notes to be descriptive and to create a clear image of what emotions the writer of the notes was feeling and what events they were experiencing. Once my version of the narrative was written I checked it over with the team, corrected a few grammatical errors and then began to draw up the note background before overlapping the text on top in photoshop. I implemented all 5 notes into Unity via GitHub and then picked up two more art tasks. One was to draw up one more artefact which was a gem and the other was to design some art for our itch page. These were completed and implemented by the end of the week, leaving sprint 6 free for final completion of any last minute work and a last minute collection and check of all the components I have to submit for my assignment.

Sprint 6:

During Sprint 6 I collected all the components I needed in order to submit my assignment. These were the game files, the game testing feedback forms, the blog, supporting screenshots, the itch.io page link and the essay. With all these checked over individually and with my team, I was ready to submit my work. Upon reflection, if I were to redo anything to improve upon Reliq as a whole I would space out my art tasks more evenly and start writing my essay from sprint 2 instead of just gathering research. I have found that once I have at least my intro written up then the rest of the essay is easier to write. I would also try to complete both my art tasks and my written work evenly rather than place all my art work as a higher priority over my written work. This would mean that I'm not doing the main bulk of all of my written work at the end of my project.