Human Guard - UQdeco2800/2022-studio-2 GitHub Wiki
Inspiration
Before I decided to design the Human Guard NPC, I did some research and found some inspirations where the guards are wearing metal armour which is not fully covered. I decided to go with this type of design to go into my Human Guard design.
Draft
Above is a image of a rough draft on how the guard would look like. It covers the main features the guard will have to indicate that it is a guard and not a regular human citizen. In the picture, it shows shoulder plates that has straps going across the guard's body and an atlantic coloured skirt to fit with the theme.
First Iteration
Above is the first iteration for the pixel design of the human guard. It essentially has most of the things in the draft I drew which are a helmet, shoulder plates with straps going across the chest area, a medieval warrior skirt and I added some boots to finalize the look of the guard.
Second Iteration
In this second iteration, everything is mostly the same expect that I increased the size of the character model and added an 'A' birthmark/tattoo to his left arm. It is to signify the loyalty they have towards Atlantis and they are devoted to keeping Atlantis safe from evil creatures and enemies.
Final Iterations
This final iteration is where I added some animation to the design where the Human Guard's torso is moving up and down to signify that they are breathing. I also added blinking animation so it looks more realistic and natural.
Collaboration with Weapons/Items Team
The above images are collaborations that I have done with Weapons/Items Team (Team 4) where they had produced an item for my Human Guard NPC. I had requested to have an item, preferably a weapon of sorts, to show that the guard isn't just standing around and slacking off but shows intimidation and ready to fight off anyone who tries to fight against them. The first image (left) was a test between Team 4 and I to see how the items will come into play with the animations. The image on the right is where we managed to finalize a weapon and how the guard is holding it to show dominance and intimidation.
User Testing
I did some user testing on the final iterations to go about on how the Human Guard relates to the theme of the game. The first image is asking about if the Human Guard resembles as a guard/Greek guard and majority of the responses were saying that it does have some resemblance.
The second image is asking about what they think about the animations and if there is anything to improve upon. The majority of the responses liked the animation of the blinking and breathing and most of them suggested to have some changes on the Human Guard's hand. They suggested to have some hand animation as well so the weapon doesn't look awkwardly placed and doesn't look as lazy when carrying a weapon.
Future Directions
Based from the user feedback, further iterations will be done in the next sprint. In future sprints, I would potentially user test more in between my iterations so I can improve my designs and decrease amount of iterations.