MY CREATIVE PROCESS
Inspiration
When thinking about what I wanted to base my Capstone Project on I started by thinking about what inspires me most as an artist, what I came up with were hand drawn videogames such as Hollow Knight, Cuphead, and Ori and the Blind Forest. I also looked to classic Japanese art as a main inspiration as I wanted to base my work in that style. Finally I looked to modern Japanese animation (anime) to see how movement and environments are designed and created.
Attention Management
When working on staying on topic and focusing my attention on my work I would use strategies outlined in the Arts Research Practicum such as Killing Your Darlings, exercising before working and the Pomodoro Technique. A lot of times I would find myself working late into the night conducting research and rendering my work so I would listen to music to stay focused and awake.
TECHNICAL SKILLS OF VIDEOGAME DESIGN & ANIMATION
CONCEPTUALIZING
When creating the concepts for the world and characters of my game and animation I started by exploring Google Arts and Culture and creating some works based on some classic pieces that I could use as a starting point when designing environments. For character creation I researched Japanese mythology as well as the history of samurai. I used the mythology for the design of the Oni, Imp, and Wolf Yokai. I ended up creating the main character based on a generaliztion of various samurai throughout history with some additional inspiration from the character Guts originating from the anime Berserk.
CREATION OF SPRITES AND BACKGROUNDS
When creating the sprites and backgrounds for my game I spent hours learning photoshop alongside the video animation feature within the software. I took keyframe outlines from online sources to redraw my character to create the individual frames of animation for each action such as running, jumping, attacking, and idle. For backgrounds, I imported the concept art I created based on the classic Japanese pieces I found in the conceptualizing phase.
SCRIPTING AND GAME DESIGN
I spent a lot of my time learning the coding language C# as well as the development engine Unity in which I learned how to import the sprite animations as well as the background layers I created in photoshop. I also spent multiple hours learning how to create a parallax effect for backgrounds in which they would give a believable effect of distance. While I also learned about the technical aspects of game design I also learned about effective game design and began conceptualizing the overall gameplay and design of the game which are crucial aspects for player enjoyment and retention.
PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION
The previous sections focused mostly on game design and animation, however I spent a ton of time learning how to create more classic frame by frame hand drawn animation. This started with learning the Twelve Principles of Animation, Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Staging, Straight Ahead, Follow Through and Overlapping Action, Slow In & Slow Out, Arcs, Secondary Action, Timing, Exaggeration, Solid Drawing, and Appeal. I went through and spent time learning each principle as well as practicing each technique in Photoshop.
Storytelling and World Building
The rough story I created for my game/animation follows a samurai living in the Sengoku Era in Japan. One day while walking through a town he comes under attack by demons. After slaying a few imps he is sent to the Japanese underworld Yomi-no-kuni where his soul is split from his body. While there he encounters a Yoki that takes the form of a wolf, the player will be able to switch between the characters of the wolf and the samurai as they adventure deeper into the underworld seeking to put an end to the ancient evil dwelling there. I plan on fleshing the story out more by delving further into my sources about the history, culture, and mythology of Japan. I have also taken inspiration from the classic Dante's Inferno while writing the story for Bite & Blade.
Sparking Creativity
When I would hit points where I was stuck or did not know where to take my project next, I would go back to the inspiration phase. I would spend time analyzing media that originally inspired me before I began work on my project. I played through Ori and the Blind Forest, a beautifully hand animated game, I watched the animes Cowboy Bebop and Attack on Titan, two extremely popular and well regarded shows with well polished animation, interesting characters, and compelling stories. Finally, I would also go back to Google Arts and Culture and spend time practicing the visual techniques I observed from the classic Japanese pieces.
MY RESEARCH PROCESS
LITERATURE REVIEW
I began my research by exploring various collections of classic Japanese art in Google Arts and Culture. I also used YouTube as a major tool for conducting my research as there are multiple very informative channels that have entire tutorial series on the topics that I needed in order to do the necessary work on my project.