1. Production Reflection
Spencer Fox

2. Process
Today I created the background for the first level.
I based it on the production experiment I did but
changed it to a daytime scene as well as adding
better background scenery like the different
layers of the Earth, ranging from mud and dirt all
the way to different types of rock, as well as
adding trees and clouds. For the roots of the
trees, I used both the pencil and paintbrush tools
to create a flowing and more realistic looking
representation. I even shaded aspects of the
scenery based on the light that would fall on it.
For example, the trees are lighter in the areas
that the sun reaches and are darker where they
are in the shade. I also added texture to the trees
as well to further the aesthetic quality of the
levels.
I decided to put so much effort into this as I
believe for this kind of project I would need
something that looked very nice, seen as the
music is not my strong suit.

3. Process
Today I created the sprites I would
need to create the main character.
This included making sprites that
were facing both directions, taking
steps with both feet and the same but
with crouching.
I also created the enemies that would
be throughout the first level of the
game as well as the main villain of the
whole game. I based them on some
of the search results that appear
when searching certain buzzwords.
I adapted them to suit the art style I
used to create the background.

4. Process
I’ve now designed some collectable items
into the game, coins and lives and two
elements that will make up the player’s
HUD, the coin counter and the number of
lives the player has remaining. I plan on
making the items disappear as the
character walks over them. I’ll then add to
the counter and the ‘lives left’ display. I
also plan on creating a pause menu where
the player can upgrade or buy new abilities
which they will pay for with the coins they
collect throughout the different levels.

5. Process
With the sprites I had now designed, along with the background, I
began animating the 1st level of the game. Along the process, I
designed a pause menu and an abilities list that the player would be
able to access throughout the game as they collect coins, which I had
designed before. I’m going to add a soundtrack and sound effects to
this level, making everything myself on beepbox. Now that the first
level has finished the animation stage, I’m going to design the main
menu, level select and loading screens.

6. Process
Today I designed the loading
screen, main menu, level select
screen and the screensaver that
appears at the very beginning of
video games. I also animated each
section to seem as though a player
is going through the game.

7. Process
I used the eyedropper tool to get the
same colour scheme from the pause
menu to create this section of the
animation. I created it all from scratch
excluding the characters visible in the
background. The light background
itself is at 90% opacity to allow the
characters behind it to be seen.
At first, I made the canvas size 120x80
and then once I had done the large
designs I increased it back t 1080x720
to add the text, characters and the
smaller designs added by the brush
tool. When animating this section, all I
did was add a white box around the
buttons that the ‘player’ was selecting.

8. Process
This was by far the simplest
section of the entire
animation process so far.
All I did was create a dark
background layer before
adding “loading”, using the
text tool and then creating
the full stops that I made
appear for short periods of
time before disappearing,
then starting the cycle of
appearance over again a
few times.

9. Process
Creating the main menu for the
game took longer than the other
sections before the level actually
begins. I started by using the colour
scheme from the pause screen, as I
did with the level select, but also
took the same green colour from the
grass during the level and then
altered it to get two new, yet similar,
colours for the buttons. I took the
sky colour, lightened it and then
filled in the title that I had added
using the same font that I used for
the dialogue in the game itself. To
create the ‘selection made’ icon, I
created another button, but
swapped the colours and then made
them flash back and forth during the
animation.

10. Process
Finally today, I made this simple
screensaver-style opening for the
game, as most games nowadays
have this type of screen before the
player actually gets to the menus.
To create it, I took the JPEG version
of the background of the level and
increased the size to make it so
only the right hand corner of the
map fills up the screen. I then
added the character in to stand
and add a more dynamic
atmosphere to the scene. To
complete this section, I added the
text at the bottom, making it
slowly flash.

11. Process
Today I rendered all the animation projects
from Photoshop into video files. Once I had
all of the files, I opened Premiere Pro and
imported each section of the animation.

12. Process
I added each of the video files into the sequence,
then added film dissolves to fade each section out
and add a short gap between each clip so that they
fade in and out of darkness.
After this, I hopped over to Beepbox, the online chiptune audio creator, to make the
sound effects. I created the walk sound, attack noise, landing sound, death noise, 3
different objective beeps and finally the selection jingle.
Now, the last and most difficult
section of the entire project, I need
to create the soundtrack for the
entire animation.
I’ve now added each of these sounds
into the Premiere Pro Project.

13. Process
I’ve now created all the music for the soundtrack using Beepbox,
to the best of my ability. I have exported the video with all of
the SFX (with the volume adjustment) and imported it into a
new Premiere Pro Project. I added each song into the sections
where I thought best, adding slow fades in or out where
appropriate. I chose to use some of the sounds I created for the
production experiment for this full piece as they were the best I
could offer. I also forgot to add the objective sounds in, so I
added them here. Once I was happy with all the audio linking
with the visuals I had created earlier, I exported it and uploaded
the final product to YouTube.

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvlARE_2_oU&t=2s