Gosh, I was really blown away by all the designs people submitted in the previous discussion thread. (And it's still going really strong too!) So after a bit of a delay (busybusy!) we're going to tackle the next topic which will be a bit more difficult to approach at first, but will evolve over the course of all the discussions. This discussion will take a bit more time to take off and fully blossom, but will be integral to the final product we want to compile. It's probably a good idea to throw out some preliminary thoughts and bounce back and forth to the other discussion threads for this one.
This week's theme is:
Story, Narrative, and Themes Design
Characters and Character Design
Art Direction and Interface Design
World and Level Design
Gameplay and Battle System Design
Character Growth Development and Encounter Design
Tertiary Gameplay Design (Mini-Games)
Analyzing the Total Experience
So what is art direction and interface design?
So in a nutshell, the art director needs to be able to wrap all the visual elements up into one comprehensive vision. This way it doesn't seem like one big sloppy mess of different ideas all incorporated into one project.
Kingdom Hearts is a mishmash of two different franchises with many different titles with their own art direction. Two very distinct approaches to art direction from Square's different Final Fantasy games and Disney's different animated films. What we need to do is create a vision for the original elements of our game that acts as the buffer zone for these two elements. While they clash in a good way, we don't want them to be two entirely different-feeling entities.
A good example of this is Traverse Town in which both Square and Disney elements interact with the original elements we introduce. So what we need to see here are various color palettes and examples of visual style (these don't have to be fully fleshed out ideas yet, since this discussion is going to extend over a large majority of the summer).
Keep in mind that this doesn't necessarily just mean that we're designing how things look. A great example of art direction is how Kingdom Hearts opening menu executes before you start the game by fading in softly with music and panning across different artworks to give you a certain feeling as you're loading up the game.
Orchestrating these moments is key to art direction as well.
As for interface design, this is also something that is going to evolve depending on the battle system that we create and what sort of character ability growth system we create as well. But still, it's nice to toss around preliminary ideas of what you'd like the battle HUD and menu system to look like. Try sketching out what Kingdom Hearts does already (which is a takeoff of the Final Fantasy style menu), and then try something totally new altogether.
Some of the things that would be included in interface design:
+ Opening menu design.
+ Party menu design.
+ Battle HUD design (The command menu, character portrait and HP/MP bars)
+ Character interaction with visual elements (ex. Glowy triangle that appears in KH2)
+ Text bubbles for dialogue or information.
+ Shop menu interfaces.
Examples of an interface (but used with a lot of pre-existing ideas).
[video=youtube;LCSFCZzRAt0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCSFCZzRAt0[/video]
[video=youtube;VUla09CeR5A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUla09CeR5A&feature=channel_video_title[/video]
[video=youtube;bKVKLPB8llo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKVKLPB8llo[/video]
So this week I'll forgo the prompts to see how the discussion pans out. If we need a bit more focus then I'll go and add them in.
Looking forward to your ideas guys!
This week's theme is:
Story, Narrative, and Themes Design
Characters and Character Design
Art Direction and Interface Design
World and Level Design
Gameplay and Battle System Design
Character Growth Development and Encounter Design
Tertiary Gameplay Design (Mini-Games)
Analyzing the Total Experience
So what is art direction and interface design?
Wikipedia on art direction said:"Various artists may create or develop specific parts of an art piece or scene; but a sole art director unifies the vision. In particular, the art director is in charge of the overall visual appearance and how it communicates visually, stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to a target audience. The art director makes decisions about visual elements used, what artistic style to use, and when to use motion."
So in a nutshell, the art director needs to be able to wrap all the visual elements up into one comprehensive vision. This way it doesn't seem like one big sloppy mess of different ideas all incorporated into one project.
Kingdom Hearts is a mishmash of two different franchises with many different titles with their own art direction. Two very distinct approaches to art direction from Square's different Final Fantasy games and Disney's different animated films. What we need to do is create a vision for the original elements of our game that acts as the buffer zone for these two elements. While they clash in a good way, we don't want them to be two entirely different-feeling entities.
A good example of this is Traverse Town in which both Square and Disney elements interact with the original elements we introduce. So what we need to see here are various color palettes and examples of visual style (these don't have to be fully fleshed out ideas yet, since this discussion is going to extend over a large majority of the summer).
Keep in mind that this doesn't necessarily just mean that we're designing how things look. A great example of art direction is how Kingdom Hearts opening menu executes before you start the game by fading in softly with music and panning across different artworks to give you a certain feeling as you're loading up the game.
Orchestrating these moments is key to art direction as well.
As for interface design, this is also something that is going to evolve depending on the battle system that we create and what sort of character ability growth system we create as well. But still, it's nice to toss around preliminary ideas of what you'd like the battle HUD and menu system to look like. Try sketching out what Kingdom Hearts does already (which is a takeoff of the Final Fantasy style menu), and then try something totally new altogether.
Some of the things that would be included in interface design:
+ Opening menu design.
+ Party menu design.
+ Battle HUD design (The command menu, character portrait and HP/MP bars)
+ Character interaction with visual elements (ex. Glowy triangle that appears in KH2)
+ Text bubbles for dialogue or information.
+ Shop menu interfaces.
Examples of an interface (but used with a lot of pre-existing ideas).
[video=youtube;LCSFCZzRAt0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCSFCZzRAt0[/video]
[video=youtube;VUla09CeR5A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUla09CeR5A&feature=channel_video_title[/video]
[video=youtube;bKVKLPB8llo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKVKLPB8llo[/video]
So this week I'll forgo the prompts to see how the discussion pans out. If we need a bit more focus then I'll go and add them in.
Looking forward to your ideas guys!