Design & Development
Week 12:
Asset Creation
Tuesday 17th May 2022
WEEK 12 -
TO DO: CREATE SKI LIFT ANIMATION
​
PURPOSE FOR ASSET CREATION
We ran into a few issues with the previous Ski Lift Animation as Kiera struggled to Export the animation in Adobe Animate. Because of this and to prevent not getting this done on time, I have taken it upon myself to restart the Ski Lift Animation and complete this by the end of today. The purpose for animations in our environment are extremely important and essentially bring the environment to life, rather than just being a still image.​
​
WHAT WILL I BE DOING?
I will be creating the ski lift animation on Photoshop, similar to how I have previously animated other assets. This'll allow me to separate the animation into different groups and layers, which may take time considering our expectation of the animation but I am determined to get this done so we have it in our game environment by the end of this week.
REQUIREMENTS
The requirements for the ski lift animation is to sit on the first environmental scene nicely in between mountains, to bring the environment to life through movement.
To summarise it's function:
-
Animated GIF
-
Constant loop
-
Consist of around 3-4 ski lifts/cable cars
-
Use Kiera's Ski Lift designs/assets
ART BIBLE:
Using the art bible I am going to be referring to what is expected from the ski lift animation, as well as how it should be placed in the landscape.
​
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mVUOl7Mt3DrgoiZUx6gmh0OBPtaEllsJTBagcd8yn_w/edit?usp=sharing
​
ASSET TO USE:
To create the ski lift animation, I'll be using Kiera's original ski lift assets as we found no problem with the style of these assets and were happy with the final outcome!
MOCKUP INSPIRATION:
During Asset Creation in the Easter Holidays, I created a series of scene mockups to prepare us for asset implementation into the game environment. Looking at different placement ideas for the ski lifts, it'll be easier for me to make the animation knowing where exactly they'll be positioned and at which scale.
REFLECTION
Considering the composition of the environment, I feel the animation would look best on the top left of the screen, filling in the white space that players will see when the environment is projected in front of them. Similar to the top left mockup, however I feel it should be made slightly bigger and consist of around 4 moving ski lifts.
PROCESS:
​
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Photoshop
​
Timeline > Video Animation
​
I used Adobe Photoshops 'Timeline' feature to create a video animation of the ski lifts, I prefer to do it this way compared to a normal frame by frame animation, as I am able to see every layer much clearer. I began by placing three ski lifts positioned on one line, and continued to duplicate the the ski lifts, in a slightly different position each time. By the end of it I had almost 100 different groups of ski lifts, but it was worth it. Surprisingly, it didn't take me long at all! As the final ski lift reached the end of the page, I deleted the asset and continued to do this until all ski lifts were gone. I then looped the animation 'forever' and exported it.
THE FINAL DESIGN
REFLECTION
I'm happy with the outcome of the animation, however it doesn't loop back round very nicely. Ideally, it would be best if the ski lifts were to come back one by one on the line, but this would require a lot more time which I don't have at the moment! As I already have scheduled tasks to fulfil, Kiera and I have agreed that this is a suitable placeholder for now, and if we choose to refine it for the Degree Shows, we will do.
​
NEXT STEPS
Tomorrow, we are carrying out setup testing for the final time and playtesting, as well as capturing clips to finish the trailer and gameplay demonstration video.
​
Access to this can be found here:
​
​
​
Further documentation for this week:
