Temple of the Water God
by Team Walrus
2D Puzzle Platformer
http://games.digipen.edu/games/temple-of-the-water-god
Environment Tiles, Props, Player Character design and animation, NPC design and animation
January 2013 - May 2013
I joined the team as the third artist. The other two were the background artist and the animator. I was to do the ground tiles and props. I began with a few concepts, which were put into the game for testing.
It was at that time that we were having trouble deciding on a solid character design. The art director and I met and worked on a style guide for the overall look of the game. After a few meetings and many iterations on the character, our animator left the team, and we still didn't have a solid design. I then took over as the animator and redesigned the character. We worked on the overall design in a meeting where everyone got to give input, then I went home and iterated on a few things, sending in option sheets to our team forum for voting.
Some of the variations were obvious, some subtle. The team was asked to pick 1-3 favorites, then I tallied the results. Anyone was allowed to veto a decision. In this way, we came up with a design everyone was happy with.
Some of the variations were obvious, some subtle. The team was asked to pick 1-3 favorites, then I tallied the results. Anyone was allowed to veto a decision. In this way, we came up with a design everyone was happy with.
Top left: the last iteration from our animator before leaving the team.
Second from left: the original design
One of the more controversial decisions was whether to give the character feet. Ultimately, I decided it would look better animated with feet.
Once we put out that fire, the next priority was to animate it. I animated it in Illustrator, and sent to a teammate for coloring so I would be freed to work on environment assets.
Once we put out that fire, the next priority was to animate it. I animated it in Illustrator, and sent to a teammate for coloring so I would be freed to work on environment assets.
This jump made it into the final build, but unfortunately wasn't in the game at the time we made the promotional videos.
I then set to work on the environment and NPCs. We used the same process of iteration and voting so that everyone on the team was able to have a voice.
The process was rather quick. I'd do some sketches, copy different parts onto each other for variations, then get some input. Using our forum, I was able to go from sketch to final product in about a day.
Here are some of the other assets I made.
The tiles had to be 64x64 px, and the other assets had to be the size of one or two tiles. The main character is 128 pixels tall.
The tiles had to be 64x64 px, and the other assets had to be the size of one or two tiles. The main character is 128 pixels tall.
My teammate Karyn did the final design for the shark that's now in the game.
Some of the art in the game was the product of collaboration, but everything on this page is my work.
I had hoped to do more work with the tiles instead of using the test tiles I made at the start, but given the time constraint, I had to prioritize. When I finally had the time to do them, it was too late to implement before the ship date.
I learned so much on this project, and I had a great team.
Some of the art in the game was the product of collaboration, but everything on this page is my work.
I had hoped to do more work with the tiles instead of using the test tiles I made at the start, but given the time constraint, I had to prioritize. When I finally had the time to do them, it was too late to implement before the ship date.
I learned so much on this project, and I had a great team.