More Inspiration

Final Fantasy VII

 

In terms of sprite designs, plot, and the overall exciting RPG experience, Final Fantasy VII played a remarkable role in influencing the game our group is making now. To this day, this game tells perhaps one of the most fascinating and compelling stories, and remains a fan favorite despite being nearly two decades behind in graphics and data capacity. With FF 7 also being the first game that I played, it was the first time that I learned that beautiful concept art could form the basis for simple sprites. The former played an absolutely essential role for the latter.

Pokemon Red and Blue

While Final Fantasy VII is nearly two decades behind in graphics, it may not be possible to compete with its level of graphics and complexity within the span of a semester, given the elaborate cut-scenes and mini-games it featured. Pokemon Red and Blue, also RPGs, were significantly simpler, with graphics that would hardly out perform the earliest video games, yet the game-play was positively addicting. Charmander's ember is remarkably simple, but super-effective.

Jack on the Throne: Cover Art?

I'm sorry that this image isn't finished yet. It is much more complex than any of the previous ones, and I've been working on it for hours. When it's done, I think it may function as a sort of cover art.

Castle and Nunn Concept

Here is a little concept art incorporating Nunn, the dragon, peeking in through a broken stained glass window of the castle.  I was just playing around on interesting ways of portraying the characters, so I thought having the viewer look through a window at Nunn, who is returning the gaze through the window, might be an interesting perspective.  The glow on the left is my attempt to suggest a flaming torch just outside of the visible picture plane.

Forest Concept

Eerie forest level concept but still with some of the humorous aspects like the drooling llama Mavis and a creepy zombie bunny popping up in the corner to give the scene some perspective.

Top-Down View Sample

This is a really general idea of what the top-down view for the forest scene would look like.  I would love to incorporate some really engaging textures in each level, but if that is not a visual style the group would prefer, that's fine by me too.  Obviously this scene would have obstacles on the path and maybe a few more details, but this was just to get a feel for the view the game player would have.

Forest and Cave level concept

Jack and the King, Colored In

Sprite Design

Here is the original sprite design with which the characters will be based in the actual gameplay.

Inspiration for Game Art

 I decided to draw inspiration from the image of Adam Smith in creating the king. I wanted a king that didn't have facial hair, lest that look too endearing. I thought it would be ironic to position the king, who thrives off of his monarchy, as the father of capitalism as well.

The main character Jack is modeled after a younger Karl Marx, who played a major role in the development of socialism. Marx thought socialism would occur in revolt of capitalism. In like manner, Jack seeks to overthrow the king due to his greedy and destructive actions.

Of course, Jack is designed to be a jester. But this particular jester was inspiration to me because I wanted a color scheme for my jester that communicated heroism. Red and blue traditionally do that very effectively.

Updated Dragon and Victoria's Knight Concept

I don't mind the Knight being pink, though I toned down the original color in favor of a lighter pink. Also, when I looked up dragon shields, there were thousands to chose from, so I thought that a llama shield would be more original, plus it fits the character. What do you think?

I colored the dragon in what is technically blue violet, though it appears very blue.

Obviously, for both of these I need to do a neater job before they're finalized, I just wanted to get a feel for reception to the color choices. I'll have Jack and the king up in color shortly too, but their colors are finalized already.

Victoria's Knight Concept

Here is the knight.  I went a little radical and picked out a pinkish scheme for the knight's attire.  Personally, I was visually disengaged by the traditional silver/gold knight garb and decided to switch things up.  I am open for suggestions but I think it's cool that the knight has the potential to be a woman (based on typical associations with the color pink).  I like how this color will contrast with the dull green background as well.  I left the shield blank because I want group input on an engraved design for it-- maybe the design could be an abstract dragon??  I would prefer for the design to contribute to the narrative of the game.  I think having small but significant details such as that will help the game stand out as unique.

Level Environments Concept Art

The first level is the forrest, home of the knight and Mavis the trusty "steed" (llama).  I wanted some humor in this level, as manifested in Mavis.  I agreed with the group that a bright, flowery forrest scene might appear odd and not cohesive with the atmosphere of the rest of the game, so I darkened the forrest from the more meadow-y scene I had initially designed it as.  The dull green theme of the forrest hopefully will make the characters pop.

Above is the generic scene of the cave (middle level) in which the mage dwells.  I was unsure of how dark to make it, but generally the cave should be dank, dark, and dreary, save the glow of the energy/magic the mage employs.  I included the proposed hand/book obstacle Anna created throwing some magic into a cauldron to help give some context.  I have hand drawn sketches for this level too, and my main vision is a smoky, eerie area with different size spiders and webs to help create an illusion of space and depth in the environment.

Above you can see some pretty basic concept art for the castle (final) level of the game.  The castle is where the king and dragon dwell and so I wanted to make it a dark place but still a little opulent.  I think and edit I will make is to make the stone a lot darker to give the scene a more eerie atmosphere.  For the actual game I can tone down the colors more so that all the focus is on the main characters and their battle.  I like the contrast between the red and green complimentary colors as well as the triangular stained glass pieces against the rounded forms of the windows to create some dissonance in this tension-filled environment.

Concept designs by Anna Lyon

This was our final layout for Jacks outfit. We decided three colors rotating within the outfit. Blue and black give him a serious feel and red too balance it out.

The king is going to have simple colors. Light blue for his cloak, blue and gold for his crown. We are still thinking about the hair color whether snow-white hair was going to blend into his rim of his cloak. Maybe darker color hair? We set his hair to be more gray then white in this picture. The king is also going to be wearing a purple crystal around his neck which is going to be radiating light onto him.

This is my final layout of the mage boss. I wanted him to look very dark so i made maybe his face to be made out of dark smoke? Looked the best in the end.

This could possibility be a poster design or a home screen. We could add jack getting more items as you process and return to the main screen. The screen shows all the areas you will have to process in the game (woods, dark area and the castle). This isn't finalized just a showing of the layout.

This is going to be jack's main weapon. We have to still think about how big we are going to be making it compared to the main character.

I will want to think about how many mechanics we are going to have for each trap. I think we could have interesting twists with having some obstacles able to jump over while others grab you in mid-air.

I really like the idea of having some towers in the game but i wasn't sure how it would work verse the main characters height. How tall are the towers going to be verse jack who is suppose to destroy/avoid them?

Main Characters

Here is the protagonist, Jack, who looks to avenge the deaths of the townspeople in the town that was burned down when he was a child. Ten years later and armed with his boomerang, Jack has his sights set on the king.

The main antagonist, the king who ordered the burning down of Jack's town ten years ago. He wields a powerful medallion that allows him to control Nunn, the powerful dragon that leveled the town.

Nunn is the dragon that burned down Jack's village, though not by its own initiative. Nunn has traditionally protected the kingdom and served the king, acting as an ultimate military defense. It is said that Nunn fully obeys the rightful king without compromise.

as basic a concept as it gets

Pictured above is Victoria's sketch for the sprite of the character of the knight, whom players will battle first in the game.  Yes, he rides upon his trusty, drool-y, llama Mavis, but do not be fooled-- Mavis is a beast made for battle and the knight is a challenging foe for protagonist Jack to face along his quest.

Welcome!

Hey there, and welcome to the development blog of Master of Nunn (working title). Master of Nunn is a game in development for Android platforms by a small team of St. Mary's College of Maryland students for COSC438 - Game Design and Development, and ART333 - Art for Video Games. Here we'll be posting regular updates on the progress we've made for the art and coding of the project.

The coding team:

• Ryland Newman
• John Allyn
• Kyle McLoughlin

The art team:

• Clifton Harris
• Anastasia Lyon
• Victoria Gottleib