US 12A — Computer Games — Character Design

Overview

Well designed characters are critical parts of most computer games. Good design includes visual aspects, animations, sounds, and interactions with the rest of the game world.

The assignment has three parts. The first is due at the start of your lab on Monday, Oct. 20. The second is due at the start of lab on Oct. 27. The third is due at the start of lab on Nov. 2.

Character Design, Part 1

On Oct. 20 you will turn in:

1. A one paragraph description of an original character. Note that you do not have to have a specific game for the character to be part of. Your description should include concept, back story, key characteristics, and details, as described in lecture.
2. Drawings or renderings of the character in at least three poses. These should be on one or more sheets of paper.
3. A draft of a finite state machine diagram of the character's behavioral repertoire. You can draw this by hand, or you are welcome to use any drawing software and print out the result.

Make sure your name is on every page! Staple your pages together and do not put them in a cover or binder.

Character Design, Part 2

On Oct. 27 you will turn in:

1. An update of your one paragraph description of an original character; only if you have made changes to what you turned in last week.
2. A print-out of one of your character's poses which you have rendered into an image file using a software package (e.g. Scratch or MS Paint). The image should be at least 32 by 32 pixels in size.
3. An update of the FSM diagram of the character's behavioral repertoire. Again you can draw by hand or with software.
4. An animation list. Each entry in the animation list includes the following information:
   • The corresponding state or transition from the FSM.
   • The concept, mood, or idea that the animation should convey.
   • The character pose (if any) that should be a starting point for the animation.
   • Notes on the artistic style of the animation (possibly not necessary if the pose makes this clear, or if the art style is described in the one-paragraph description).
   • The number of frames and the overall duration in seconds.
   • Whether the animation loops.
   • The approximate dimensions of the frames, in pixels.
5. A sound list. Each entry in the sound list mentions the corresponding state or transition, and briefly describes the sound.

Make sure your name is on every page! Staple your pages together and do not put them in a cover or binder.

Character Design, Part 3

On Nov. 2 you will turn in:

1. A Scratch .sb file in which your character is a sprite and its FSM and animation lists are implemented in scripts. You can implement one or more sounds from your sound list. You can have other sprites in this Scratch, but their images and scripts should be as simple as possible. Note that this is not a game, it is a "demo" of a character.
2. Anything you turned in on Oct. 27 which you want to update. It's important that your poses, FSM diagram, animation list, sound list, and Scratch implementation all be consistent.