Yes, you heard me right. Or would that be "Yes, you read me right"? I digress.
Seeing as it was all but confirmed in class that we would be having to skip over into the world of Tumblr for the upcoming year, I've finally fought my way out of activity apathy in order to cobble together a background and logo to slap onto a new blog after seeking out a premade template that would at least allow SOME flexibility in appearances.
So yes. I won't be posting on here any more. But of course, I'll keep this blog alive for the purpose of maintaining a link to my first year of studying.
For the new blog, follow the link below~
http://frank-connell-pdgd.tumblr.com/
Showing posts with label Personal Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal Blog. Show all posts
Friday, 18 October 2013
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Rolling into Year 2
It hasn't officially begun /just/ yet. Tuesday marked Induction Day where we got reintroduced to the building and a rough outline of how this next year is going to pan out. And overall? I'm incredibly excited. To the point where I rather wish that next Tuesday would hurry up.
Found out a little more about how we're going to be working on our game ideas as well. While I initially felt a little bummed out that we have themes to adhere to, I've since given it some actual thought and realised more or less that in the actual games industry... the odds are that such limits would be imposed anyway. Furthermore, it can actually prove more of a challenge to design something within constraints then running wild with the old imagination. Constraints do give rise to surprising bursts of creativity if one takes the right attitude towards it.
As such, I think I've already worked out a rough idea of what I can be doing. But alas... January is a long way away! I'm hoping to at least formulate a plan in that time, however - a plan of what to make that doesn't push too hard but instead steadily forms the foundations of design and programming and art that can be used to later make more complicated things.
We've also been given the flexibility of working either in teams or alone. I'm going to sit on the fence for a little bit longer in terms of what I want to do here - I'm not averse to working in a team, but I can never help but wonder if I might just learn more by working on my own. Equally, I'm thinking I probably will want to swap between tech demos - maybe make the first on my own, work in a team for the second et cetera. An open mind is important.
From now til December, we're going to be learning as we have for the past year, albeit with more subjects compressed into a month rather than 4/3 months for each. I'm personally looking forward to learning a bit more from all the disciplines, though I can sympathise with those that have subjects they want to do more than the ones they don't. The next term could still be a game changer.
Good times, overall. Looking forward to it!
Found out a little more about how we're going to be working on our game ideas as well. While I initially felt a little bummed out that we have themes to adhere to, I've since given it some actual thought and realised more or less that in the actual games industry... the odds are that such limits would be imposed anyway. Furthermore, it can actually prove more of a challenge to design something within constraints then running wild with the old imagination. Constraints do give rise to surprising bursts of creativity if one takes the right attitude towards it.
As such, I think I've already worked out a rough idea of what I can be doing. But alas... January is a long way away! I'm hoping to at least formulate a plan in that time, however - a plan of what to make that doesn't push too hard but instead steadily forms the foundations of design and programming and art that can be used to later make more complicated things.
We've also been given the flexibility of working either in teams or alone. I'm going to sit on the fence for a little bit longer in terms of what I want to do here - I'm not averse to working in a team, but I can never help but wonder if I might just learn more by working on my own. Equally, I'm thinking I probably will want to swap between tech demos - maybe make the first on my own, work in a team for the second et cetera. An open mind is important.
From now til December, we're going to be learning as we have for the past year, albeit with more subjects compressed into a month rather than 4/3 months for each. I'm personally looking forward to learning a bit more from all the disciplines, though I can sympathise with those that have subjects they want to do more than the ones they don't. The next term could still be a game changer.
Good times, overall. Looking forward to it!
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Personal Blog - Basic Sprite Tutorial
This is more or less a poor tutorial about how I put together a spritesheet. For drawing spritesheets is one thing, but ensuring that each frame is in sync with the other frames is something else entirely. I'm going to stress that there is probably a quicker and easier way then the way I'm going to be showing today, but providing a starting point for further exploration is beneficial in itself, so~
This will also feature some animation principles which I think will prove useful and informative.
Right. So. Sprites. The first thing I'm going to say is to start out with considering the size of your game window and how large you want your sprites to be. Working with pixel art, a single pixel is obviously going to be tiny.
In my own effort, I decided to work with 3x3 pixel squares to maintain a simple look while increasing the size just enough to make the sprite look right. You don't want to make your sprites TOO large for your game window size, otherwise you'll be limiting how much screen the player can see beyond the player sprite (and enemies, if applicable)
Colour is very important to consider also. If you think about Mario or Megaman, those sprites feature very simple but contrasting colours, which is important to stop a sprite looking like a block of pixels rather than a character. I'm using largely monochrome colours, but I've made the shades distinctive enough that they don't blend together.
The next thing to consider before getting into the work itself is to consider in advance WHAT sort of actions your game will allow the player to perform. In this example, the player is able to walk and jump, as well as be hit by enemies or the environment.
At this point, I wouldn't be too precious about how aligned your sprites are. I tend to make copies of one sprite as a measuring point for height, and a line to keep the sprites on an even level... but that is about it.
Ooooh. Animating. Because a single picture isn't going to be good enough in most games. This is where I will be hitting on some animation theory, so buckle up.
In terms of traditional animation, a rate of 24 frames is the standard for movie quality animation while modern standards mostly hover around 12 frames per second. Depending on how fluid and how quickly you want your animated sprite to be, you can easily get away with even less frames... for example, in the original Super Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi only have three sprites to represent their run cycle.
In my case, I'm sticking with six frames of animation. Animated at a sufficient speed, it will still look fairly smooth without too much work. One must also keep in mind that making individual movements vary too much will make the sprite look like it is moving far too fast. Equally important is to remember to treat the first frame of your animation as also being the seventh frame. Because after the sixth frame, the loop starts all over and so to keep your animation smooth it should flow back to the starting image. Gosh I can't write.
This is also where having copies of seperate pieces of your character will come in handy. And again, I don't consider this point to be especially important in terms of syncing all of the sprites into precise frames. You will want line to keep your character's level consistant, but that is about it.
And yes, the above should show why it isn't that important to keep your sprites in frames just yet. Some will take up more space than others. Hopefully it also shows why it is a good idea to draw an individual sprite for each state before you try and animate them - you have an automatic starting point to use as a basis for the rest of the frames you'll be animating.
Because it is really easy to end up with each picture accidently jumping left and right during an animation cycle.
My way of countering this is to find which of my sprites takes up the most space, which will then become the standard point for the rest of the sprites to fit into.
In photoshop, I cut and paste this sprite into a new file, and then changed the canvas size to the size I want to animate at. In this case, I'm sticking to 160x160 pixels. The sprite should remain in the centre of the file, and voila. I change the colour of the background so I can place multiple copies of the same image into rows and columns.
Then it becomes a case of aligning the other sprites over the newly created template. In my case, I mostly used the head as the basis for where I wanted to place each sprite.
Of course, now you can stick it in game and see how it animates. You may find some small mistakes that need correcting or iterating on, but you know what to do now, so. V:
This will also feature some animation principles which I think will prove useful and informative.
Starting out
Right. So. Sprites. The first thing I'm going to say is to start out with considering the size of your game window and how large you want your sprites to be. Working with pixel art, a single pixel is obviously going to be tiny.
 | ||
| As you can see, this is my first sprite drawn with single pixels. Far too small. |
 |
| Still not very large, but in a 800x600 screen, it'll be the right size. |
Colour is very important to consider also. If you think about Mario or Megaman, those sprites feature very simple but contrasting colours, which is important to stop a sprite looking like a block of pixels rather than a character. I'm using largely monochrome colours, but I've made the shades distinctive enough that they don't blend together.
Starting to make your sprites
The next thing to consider before getting into the work itself is to consider in advance WHAT sort of actions your game will allow the player to perform. In this example, the player is able to walk and jump, as well as be hit by enemies or the environment.
At this point, I wouldn't be too precious about how aligned your sprites are. I tend to make copies of one sprite as a measuring point for height, and a line to keep the sprites on an even level... but that is about it.
 | ||
| An example of drawing most of the sprites I'll be using in my project. Also included are earlier iterations of the Bill Dup sprite. |
Another pro tip at this point is to break up your sprites into seperate body parts on different layers so that you can experiment and recycle different pieces of body. This will save you time in the long run.
Animatimg Your Sprites
Ooooh. Animating. Because a single picture isn't going to be good enough in most games. This is where I will be hitting on some animation theory, so buckle up.
In terms of traditional animation, a rate of 24 frames is the standard for movie quality animation while modern standards mostly hover around 12 frames per second. Depending on how fluid and how quickly you want your animated sprite to be, you can easily get away with even less frames... for example, in the original Super Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi only have three sprites to represent their run cycle.
In my case, I'm sticking with six frames of animation. Animated at a sufficient speed, it will still look fairly smooth without too much work. One must also keep in mind that making individual movements vary too much will make the sprite look like it is moving far too fast. Equally important is to remember to treat the first frame of your animation as also being the seventh frame. Because after the sixth frame, the loop starts all over and so to keep your animation smooth it should flow back to the starting image. Gosh I can't write.
This is also where having copies of seperate pieces of your character will come in handy. And again, I don't consider this point to be especially important in terms of syncing all of the sprites into precise frames. You will want line to keep your character's level consistant, but that is about it.
 |
| Animation in progress. |
Making Consistant Frames
Because it is really easy to end up with each picture accidently jumping left and right during an animation cycle.
My way of countering this is to find which of my sprites takes up the most space, which will then become the standard point for the rest of the sprites to fit into.
In photoshop, I cut and paste this sprite into a new file, and then changed the canvas size to the size I want to animate at. In this case, I'm sticking to 160x160 pixels. The sprite should remain in the centre of the file, and voila. I change the colour of the background so I can place multiple copies of the same image into rows and columns.
Then it becomes a case of aligning the other sprites over the newly created template. In my case, I mostly used the head as the basis for where I wanted to place each sprite.
 |
| This isn't 160 by 160. I can't seem to open the file with the correct size, but the principle remains the same. |
With this done, I can then delete the template and be left with a clear background and all my sprites perfectly placed so they don't bounce about between frames. Success!
 |
| The mostly finished spritesheet |
Of course, now you can stick it in game and see how it animates. You may find some small mistakes that need correcting or iterating on, but you know what to do now, so. V:
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Personal Blog - An Aim For The End Of The First Year
Because I'm awake diabolically early today, and I have absolutely nothing better to do in a world where Visual Studio refuses to work on my current PC, I thought I might as well write this up.
I have a noble goal that I hope to achieve either by the end of the first year of Games Development, or maybe in the beginning of the second year. I wish to take an element of each section of Game Design, Programming, and Game Art to create a working one level game. Nothing elaborate.
So essentially, I'm going to take my level design from Game Design (As well as the game rules, so that would involve a character that goes from walking to running after a few units, sliding, and swinging), use C# and XNA from programming, and probably use some art from Game Art if it is applicable and/or possible.
Am I optimistic about it? No, I'll probably fail. But I'd like to at least try. It'll also be nice to use my unofficial mascot/alterego Bill Dup once again, a little fellow that tends to appear in my sketchbooks and some older projects.
I have a noble goal that I hope to achieve either by the end of the first year of Games Development, or maybe in the beginning of the second year. I wish to take an element of each section of Game Design, Programming, and Game Art to create a working one level game. Nothing elaborate.
So essentially, I'm going to take my level design from Game Design (As well as the game rules, so that would involve a character that goes from walking to running after a few units, sliding, and swinging), use C# and XNA from programming, and probably use some art from Game Art if it is applicable and/or possible.
Am I optimistic about it? No, I'll probably fail. But I'd like to at least try. It'll also be nice to use my unofficial mascot/alterego Bill Dup once again, a little fellow that tends to appear in my sketchbooks and some older projects.
Friday, 18 January 2013
Personal Blog - Life Drawing
Hey guys. Can't remember if this is the first blog of the new year, and I can't believe I've neglected this for so long. Hopefully I will pick up the pace again soon.
But I thought I'd make this blog entry today on the offchance anyone is interested in what I'm going to say (Unlikely, I know, but I don't want to take the chance.)
I'm going to be going on a short course in life drawing in February at a cost of £180, and I wanted to leave a link on here. Because I think that this could really be something others that want to draw could benefit from.
http://stockportartguild.com/realistic-drawing-courses-with-chris-clements/
And I know it says Stockport Art Guild, but the lessons are running on a Sunday in Manchester (Deansgate)... the Stockport Art Guild is a group that operates in Stockport, and their members do run little courses as well as life drawing and portrait sessions every week
In short, if you have the money and you want to learn the fundamentals, I think it would be well worth considering this course. Learning basics, gesture, lighting et cetera... the sort of skills that you don't really find in most art courses in this day and age (Given the massive emphasis on abstract art, which I imagine does help in an anything you do is still good sort of way)
But I thought I'd make this blog entry today on the offchance anyone is interested in what I'm going to say (Unlikely, I know, but I don't want to take the chance.)
I'm going to be going on a short course in life drawing in February at a cost of £180, and I wanted to leave a link on here. Because I think that this could really be something others that want to draw could benefit from.
http://stockportartguild.com/realistic-drawing-courses-with-chris-clements/
And I know it says Stockport Art Guild, but the lessons are running on a Sunday in Manchester (Deansgate)... the Stockport Art Guild is a group that operates in Stockport, and their members do run little courses as well as life drawing and portrait sessions every week
In short, if you have the money and you want to learn the fundamentals, I think it would be well worth considering this course. Learning basics, gesture, lighting et cetera... the sort of skills that you don't really find in most art courses in this day and age (Given the massive emphasis on abstract art, which I imagine does help in an anything you do is still good sort of way)
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