Sprint 2

Overview

Complete the design of Player Sprite according to the Design Guide and plumber inspiration of Sprint 1. This document covers the design process and palyer sprite.

Inspiration of the initial design

Character and Story Concept

Scruffy from futarama

https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Scruffy_Scruffington

Joe from Oz9 podcast:

https://oz-9.com/oz-9-art/

First stage: Sketching

The concept drawing, based on the character concept, is not very Greek. But it fits the image of a plumber (hat, beard, bag, dirty looking) that was put forward in the first place.

Second stage: Greek draft

Based on the conceptual drawings, two character drafts were designed to fit the Greek theme.

Greek inspiration

Clothe Look 1:

https://libguides.brenau.edu/c.php?g=684125&p=4834713

Clothe Look 2:

http://www.historyofclothing.com/clothing-history/ancient-greek-clothing/

Refer to the draft of the costume design

First image:

Long hair, small knapsack (kit), sandals, beard, Greek men's clothing and Greek headband.

Second image:

Long hair, small knapsack (tool bag), another Greek men's clothing.

The second picture is too clean and rich to have the feel of a Greek laborer. Therefore, the first draft was selected to be converted into Pixel art.

The color draft:

Thrid stage: Transfer to pixel art

Three character designs with different elements (Pixel drawing draft) for user testing. The final character design needs to be improved based on the results of user testing.

Base Plumber:

Bald plumber:

Curly plumber:

Fourth stage：The final version of character

Iterate and refine character designs based on user test results.

Fifth stage：Finish player sprite

After determining the appearance of the character, design the player sprite.

The first edition:

The first version of the player sprite doesn't have three different actions for side view (left and right), and some pictures in back view don't have ears.

The final edition:

For smoother animation (0.5 frames), add action design to side view. And add ears for images that have no ears in the back view.

Sprint 4

Player Animation extension - Draft 1

To improve the exisiting player animation, the team decided to incorporate more movements for the player. Currently, the player only has the motion of walking towards the side. We decided to add more animation frames by:

1. Changing the movements of the player's hair so it's more realistic
2. Adding more standing positions for the player so it's more interesting and adds variety
3. Adding level related characters like ghost and pipes around the player to enhance the level theme

A more clear version of the character sprite can be found on: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPNnP02I=/?share_link_id=100998295221

User Testing

Aim

The aim of conducting user testing is to see if the extension of the player sprite is fitted into the theme of the game and to also see which addition of the player sprite is the most favourited. Surveys have been developed to send out to different teams.

Results

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4 o

Takeaway

• Most people liked all the designs, but out of the other choices, people liked the hair-floating animation
• The survey obtained even results for the floater
• People liked the additions to the animations as they are cute and add interest to the player
• Most people didn't have many suggestions for improvements, however, minorities suggested making the leg movement of the player more clearer, and more natural movements and also one suggested that the ghost floater is not that appropriate to include.

Taking in these suggestions, final decisions of the player animation will be made.

Final Player Animation

After the results obtained from the survey, the team collectively agreed to change the animation to incorporate pipe floaters and hair movements to make the player appear more interesting.

A clear version of the animation layers can be found on: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPNnP02I=/?share_link_id=708094513724