Gamify Yourself – Part 4: The Graphic Design
Once you know what story your game will tell, and how it should work, you can start with the graphic design. This is where you will decide on how your game will look. Even if you’re not that gifted when it comes to design, you can (and should) play an important role in the process, afterall, you are responsible for the concept. In this article I will show you a way that leads to the graphic design you desire.
In order to make a usefull graphic design, I have taken the following steps. These are quite general steps that do not only apply to games, but have a much wider use.
- The moodboard
- Sketching
- The Actual Design
The moodboard for my game. Check Google for more examples
Copy and Paste: The Moodboard
Whenever you have an idea on what a design look like, it’s important to make your ideas as concrete as possible. Especially when you work with a graphic designer or an illustrator. Putting your ideas into words will probably not be sufficient enough.
It’s better to illustrate what you mean; Find examples that express the look and feel of your ideas and create a moodboard out of it. Use google or tear apart some old magazines and then make something that looks like the picture above.
Here’s what I did. I’ve started fantasizing on what my game should look like. It should refer to
Sketching: Create your own style
Sketching is research, as easy and fun as research is going to get. Just get yourself a really large piece of paper, a pencil and go!
Eventually you will create something that will even blow your own mind.
You can’t go wrong with a sketch. There’s one thing to keep in mind though; trie not to be too much of an artist. Your drawings don’t have to be beautifull. The only thing that matters is that you try to translate the stuff in your head into stuff on paper. It’s a check to see if what you had in mind actually works on paper.
Usually, your ideas don’t really work on paper. It allways turns out different from what you had in mind. That’s OK though, once you are sketching you’ll find that there’s a lot of other ways to work out your concept. Eventually you will create something that will even blow your own mind.
That is, as long as you’re prepared to sketch whatever comes to mind!
Search Google for sketches!
The Actual Design
A lot of times, people start with designing. If you’ve started with making a mood board and several sketches, the design should be really easy.
One part of my graphic design. Notice how the buildings and other elements overlap each other.
Because of this composition, it becomes clear how the different elements appear together within the game.
The key for a good design is to be consequent. So, when you design your character, think of what all the characters should look like.
Are you going to use lines? How thick should those lines be? What color should those lines be? Should the lines be round(ed) or straight?
A good design leaves no room for another to fill in. The style, the format and the apearence of all elements should be clear. If that is the case, and your design looks awesome, you’re done!
Do you want to know how to build/program the game in Flash like I do? Then check out the tutorial on AS3 Game Tutorials.
Other articles on gamifying yourself:
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: What’s Your Story?
Part 3: Functional Design
[swfobj src=”https://edwardkobus.eu/https://edwardkobus.eu/httpdocs/wp-content/uploads/GamifyYourself-EdwardKobusV002beta.swf” width=”608″ height=”468″ required_player_version=”9″]
The game so far: Click on the game with your mouse, then move around with the arrow keys
Geplaatst op: juli 9, 2013
Zo werkt Studio Edward Kobus
Globaal werkt Studio Edward Kobus volgens 3 stappen:
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Duidelijkheid voor iedereen, een goede start.
2 – Naar de tekentafel en feedback;
Aan het werk! Wij leveren een voorlopig product en geven je ruimte voor feedback.
3 – Het eindresultaat.
Je feedback is verwerkt. De oplevering geschiedt volgens afspraak.
