For the next couple of blog posts, I thought I would talk about the projects that I submitted for component two for Creative Design Practice, as they have been taking up a lot of my time shortly after component one up until recently. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances on getting COVID (or the VID I like to call it these days), I had to ask for an additional 16-day extension to finish my work to the standard that I wanted it to be whilst battling the virus. Nevertheless, I felt that all the projects I worked on for this component (four independent projects and two group projects) are solutions that I am proud of.
Additionally, I really challenged myself in many aspects, whether it be composition, choice of colour or other elements that I usually don't use often. I intend on further developing some of these projects either for my exhibition piece for the degree show or procced to use within my portfolio as they all showcase a wide range of skills.
This project, in particular, I created this project on a whim, to begin with. During development week, I was really nervous for my Professional Practice portfolio interview because I didn't have a lot of video game project-based work, especially in the third year. I haven't had a chance to develop Krungles yet because I focus on either Design Management & Practice or other projects for this component in Creative Design Practice (mainly the group projects). Therefore, I decided to create a concept for a mobile app game targeted toward young girls as there isn't a lot of media directed towards this audience, especially ones with spooky undertones.
When it comes to the video game's narrative, it will tell the story of a spirit witch called Luna, who has lost her powers and memories of her past. Throughout the game, you must explore the enchanted forest and retrieve her memories back. However, there are many dangers, including elemental snakes, evil crows and other witches that stand in her way. Can she do it on her own and find her magic again? Or can she rely on her familiar forest deer (she can't remember her familiar's original name) to fight them off? – Genre of the game will be Horror Platform/Puzzle Game that would be of course suitable for children.
I hadn't had the chance to experiment with UI or Interface design other than the FunGuy project earlier this academic year. But even then, that project was primarily focused on learning new software called "Aseprite". I also thought this would be the perfect opportunity to conduct this brief to expand my game design related skills – other than just concept art and promotional material.
While working on this brief, I primarily focused on logo design, UI/Interface, and concept art – character/creature and environmental art. I chose these different solutions for the brief because they allowed me to expand upon the skills that I learned from the FunGuy brief and the Ludum Dare for the UI/Interface and create something bigger rather than just the buttons or some icons that would be overlaid the gameplay.
I chose Logo design also to have more of a branding appeal to the overarching project and learn more on how to approach making a logo as I often struggle with this as I tend to overcomplicate the design. Even though I am confident in my illustration and concept art skills, I wanted to include elements within this project by creating designs that I usually don't illustrate. This was mainly showcased within my background and creature illustrations. I tried to render my pieces more and make them appear more textured and more developed, as sometimes I could be pretty lazy when at the colouring stage of my illustrations. I also wanted to continue this workflow because it worked well last time when illustrating for my comic book about Greek Mythology in the second year.
To conclude this brief, I would like to say it was unexpected but felt like a breath of fresh air because it gave me a chance to not think about a project for too long and too profoundly than it needed to be. Not to mention the outcomes I created, I am super happy. I would be using them as examples of some of my best work because I made design choices I wouldn't normally do, including making a mobile phone game rather than a console/computer game.
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