CSC 331 Final Project

1. CSC 331 Final Project Imaging and Animation

2. Ideas and Collaboration For every image implemented, an equal amount of creativity was needed to come up with it. The creative storyboarding process was just as important, if not more, than the final product. When the creativity was at a low, ideas were taken from actual pictures of the campus.

3. Data Gathering Periodically, pictures were taken of campus buildings and recognizable structures to “cartoonize” for the game. These images were also used as inspiration for the level designs.

4. Cartoonize me, Captain! = Before = ----------------------------- = After = A light pole level 2 scrolling object.

5. Typical Level Breakdown

6. Main Character The main character was created by modifying an pre-existing sprite collection. Not all animations were covered, so some of the images are completely original.

7. Main Character II The main character started as an idea taken from another sprite. This shows the original sprite compilation.

8. Minor Enemies The “test” robot generated enough interest to keep its model and simply modify it for each level. This saved a great deal of time and brain power.

9. Bosses: The Transformation

10. Bosses: Part II

11. Animation The key to animation is capturing natural movement. Sometimes this involved a volunteer moving while it was sketched out. Walking animations were particularly time consuming because many things go into a walk. Arms and legs move in opposite but equal amounts.

12. Where the Magic Happens!

13. The Finished Product Not including the main character (since some of the images came stock), Dr. Hain was the first walk animation I have ever completed. It looks slightly awkward because he is facing in a different direction than his body.

14. The Finished Product II Mr. Snow was the next candidate for my walking animation. His walk is slightly less awkward because it appears that he is facing the way he is walking. This improvement could also be attributed to my practice from the animation of Dr. Hain.

15. The Finished Product III Dr. Zhou’s animation took some thought. Since she faced the camera, a walk animation would have been increasingly difficult. Since the level theme was The Matrix, a little creativity went a long way. Both animations have added texture brushes to create (in the teleport instance) smoke and (in the attack) a sort of force field texture.

16. Conclusion What I have learned from this experience: • Organization and experienced leaders are key to working in a large scale programming team. • Coming up with ideas for content is half the battle of actually producing content. • Animation is much easier when you work with layers. • The game doesn’t have to be addicting, but the process of making a game certainly can be.