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Overview

The following pages discusses the design guidelines and decisions behind Hera and Athena, the first level 3 dual-handed dagger introduced into the game.

Final Decision

Stats

• Damage: 35
• Cooldown: 0.1 seconds
• Attack type: Melee
• Level: 3
• Craftable? Yes
• Materials - 1x Hera, 1x Athena

Design Inspirations

Inspiration 1

The design inspiration for this weapon was derived from dual-wielded daggers from Dota 2 as seen below. The items Sange, Yasha and Kaya, when put together, were considered a hybrid weapon as they combined the stats of all weapons and gave additional 'perks.' In terms of the design inspiration, we took the path of combining the two level 2 daggers in order to create a level 3 weapon.

Inspiration 2

Yet another inspiration taken in came from elder rings. In this case, the colour choice of both daggers was taken, given ideas into the different colours available. This together with research allowed us to come to the conclusion of the colours for the final daggers. Since Athena was the goddess of war, it seemed fitting that the colour for that dagger would be red (ruby). As for Hera, she was the goddess of marriage and the connotation provided off from a light blue (diamond) would give off a sense of calm and peacefulness.

Phase 1: Sketching

From the above sketching, the following weapon was created as the initial idea before user testing was completed. Below is an image of the initial pixil dual dagger creation.

Phase 2: User Testing

User testing was conducted on the initial design of the weapon to attain a better grasp of what other people thought about it. The questions were based on seeing whether individuals could initially comprehend what weapon was being depicted and then following with seeking advice on improvements that could be made to the static image.

User Feedback

Through user testing, one of the common feedback provided was that the daggers seemed to lack contrast between the colours of the sword. Given that the original idea was to simply display and get a feel of the two level two daggers together, this was something expected. Hence, this was what provided the basis of the first iteration of the weapon. Seen within the second image bellow, we notice that the original colours were made more distinct, following the idea seen within the preliminary sketches above - more emeralds and diamonds displayed on the sword to represent the 'level three' status.

After doing this change, some users continued to comment that a change of colour may fit the design better. Such is seen through one individual commenting recommending for a lapis lazuli look to contrast the gold or to have colours that represented the gods that the swords were named after. As such, we decided to iterate the design one more time to create a dagger that incorporated a ruby stance because of the bloodshed from the goddess of war (Athena) and diamond coloured stance to represent peace, calmness and tranquillity to represent the goddess of marriage.

There were a few comments replying to the testing stating that the daggers looked more like swords. However, I have decided to omit this point as users weren't given a comparison image of the person standing next to the sword making it relatively hard to tell which weapon it was.

Note that the user feedback raw data can be seen here.

Colour Scheme

Since this was a new design that incorporated jewels within the weapons the following colour scheme was created. The colour scheme was based off the primary colours on the colour wheel allowing for a decent amount of contrast to be formed. As there were two daggers, the following two colour pallets were created and followed.

Hera's Dagger

Athena's Dagger

Phase 3: Weapon Pixel Drawing

Original Layout
Iteration 1
Final Design

Weapon Attack Animation

After the creation of this weapon, we proceeded to create the animation for this weapon. In order for the design of the weapon animation to be integrated, we closely collaborated with the player team in order to come to a final design choice on the weapon effects.

Design inspirations

There were two main design inspirations for this, both of which had significant impacts upon the animations of our designs. These are as seen below.

Inspiration Number	Image	Explanation
Inspiration 1		This animation was considered as one of our inspirations as we really liked the way the animation seemed to flow. To elaborate, the swinging path of the animation seemed very smooth which is what our team wanted to imitate. Furthermore, we also took inspiration and considered the lightly toned colours of the swing. This would later be user tested on to attain a definitive answer.
Inspiration 2		The inspiration taken from this was probably more relatable for future sprints pertaining to when buffs are going to be added in. As can be seen, there seemed to be a glow effect upon the daggers that could represent a type of buff applied. This could go a long way when expressing the different buffs.
Inspiration 3		The inspiration taken from this design is the pathing of the daggers. Though there were several pathing options displayed within this, we thought that it would be a good start to incorporate just one of these into the attack animation frame and perhaps within future sprints, iterate the attack design if time permits.

Sketching

There were two major sketching phases throughout this sprint. This was because the idea was originally to design the weapon animation together with the body of the player sprite that was provided by team 06 - Player Team. However, after consideration of what the skills team had already implemented and as advised by team 06 of their user testing, we concluded that it would be much better to create the weapon animation to overlay on top of the player so that it would not matter what changes were made to the player sprite.

Sketch 1
Sketch 2

Pixel Art Animation

Iteration Name	Sprite Sheet	Giff
Pre-Overhaul Weapon Animation
Iterated Weapon Animation
Final Design

User Testing

The user testing questions can be found here.

Towards the completion of this task, user testing was completed in order to attain a better understanding of what improvements could be made to the animation. The goal of the user testing was mainly to get a feel for how users thought the pathing of the dagger swings were like and also to get a better view on whether the pathing colour should have been changed.

User Feedback

Raw data from user feedbacks can be found here.

As discussed above, during the first preliminary animation created, we were under the idea that we would animate the player hands together with the weapon to get a nice synchronisation occuring. However, after conversing with team 06 within the Weapon Animation on Player - 110 thread, we decided it would be best to overlay it ontop of the player. This is because it allowed for lesser dependency on the player team as it seemed rather irrational for the weapon team to reiterate their design everytime the player was changed. Furthermore, doing this also allowed for us to produce animations relatively quicker which is what inspired the first iteration changes seen above. Though we traded design flow and aesthetics, it allowed us to iterate upon the designs a lot faster as well as set a basis for future weapons to be created in the upcoming sprints.

Of the user feedback that was provided from both interviews and surveys conducted, there was an overwhelming amount of users who claimed that it would be nicer if the weapon pathing followed had some colours associated to it. Moreover that the specific colours should correlate to the colours on the two daggers. As such, this is what formed the basis of the second iteration after we had changed the design to overlay ontop of the player. Furthermore, players also seemed to respond positively towards the pathing pattern of the design which was a great point. Having said this, there was a minority of individuals who said that the pathing of the daggers seemed to 'cut off' the head of the player during certain points. Since this was a minority, it was decided that this was perhaps an opportunity to iterate the design yet once more in future sprints and to include more attack animations if time permitted.

Future Directions

Dagger Icon

As user feedback provided some ideas regarding the animation of this weapon, a potential pathway within the next few sprints could be implementing animated weapons into the game so that they aren't static. Inspiration from this sprint's user feedback will definitely be included and enhancements could be made upon this weapon to create more of a dynamic and interactive design.

Dagger Animation

As mentioned from user feedback, a possible option for exploration would be incorporating more animation patterns for this dagger. This would lessen the probability of individuals thinking that the dagger pathing chops the player's head off and also add to the dynamics of the game. For further weapon pathing options, the third animation provided above could also be used to gain inspiration.

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Author

• Caleb Ang
• GitHub: PurrplePandaa
• Discord: Annyeong Haseyo#8083
• Slack: Caleb Ang