Moving on to module 4! It appears this module focuses on the sprite sheets. While the last focused on model sheets like this one:

It could use a bit more polish, but was my overall best. I think I will try and make this one portfolio worthy over the weekend and then move on to refining the sprite sheets.

So far here is what I have for a sprite sheet:

The black and red are the enemy troops while the grey/cyan are player troops. From top to bottom the animations for said sprites are: Idle, right foot, left foot, ready to attack, attack, death. I uploaded these to adobe aftereffects to test out animating the sprites with these poses. The right and left foot alternating can make a walk animation, while the others are poses for actions or events in the game. I look forward to seeing how I can improve these with the resources mentioned in module 4. So next week I get to work with animating in flash and plan to submit a swf file by the end of the week.

Whew big update, moving forward with things though and I am starting to think of features that will make my game idea unique and fun. Time to kick back and enjoy the weekend for now though!

This week I focused more on sprites. I had the concept art, so now it is down to model sheets and deciding how they will look in game. I will probably just use very simplified graphics rather than 3D models, though 3D models have the advantage of being easier to animate. In this case I just plan to have different poses to signify events like attack and defend, maybe an in between frame or two to smooth it out.

My partner has made a list of the assets we need and I already have a good start on that list. I look forward to getting the basics done for the sprites next week and maybe looking a bit more into the storyline of the game.

Here are some new concept art pieces for the game:

From left to right should be pretty self explanatory: Knight, Mage, Archer, these are the basic troops a player will control in the game. They of course will be simplified as sprites, but this is just a concept of them all to get things rolling. I think the best one of the bunch is the mage, The other two just didn't come out as well as I expected.

I am also putting together a story which will tentatively put the game at eight levels. More art to come later as I finish up module two of the workshop. Perhaps I can make a decent action scene to go with this "standoff" scene.

Introduction:

I decided to enroll in Westwoods Android workshop. As it started up I hammered out an idea, I wanted to take the best aspects I remember from some classic games and combine them to make a unique fast paced fantasy RTS. While I know there are already some big names for that genre, I figured it would be a good experience to try my hand at designing one for myself. I reviewed some of my favorite games like Ogre Battle March of the Black queen, and Brigandine to get an idea of what I wanted to do. I then drew up a game design document to detail the game. In essence I liked the two games mentioned earlier, but I wanted a more streamlined combat system with the same basic concept: defeat the enemy army, take their castle, advance the story.

After a bit of looking I found a programmer to help me implement my design and took it from there. I created sprites and the initial map in Photoshop. I also worked out an intro screen... I tried a bit of voice acting but my partner kindly informed me that while I was trying for evil and menacing I didn't succeed lol.

Some initial art for the concept is below: