Year's 2 and 3 Games Art and Design Blog: Ba6: Focus 1 Reflection and Bibliography

Like the previous projects, Ba6 focus 1 has been very beneficial and I feel I’ve grown in a number of different ways. At the beginning of the project I had not really used Stencyl much, having hoped to use it last term but in the end not having enough time. However after having worked with the software for that past two months, I have begun to understand how to achieve not only sidescroller genres but the creation of other games which is something I am going to explore further in my free time. Of course, Stencyl is not entirely perfect as I discovered with the error that appeared when my game became too big so this has made me doubtful of whether I shall use it next year.

That error with the software also leads to one of my biggest frustrations with the project – that I couldn’t create more levels, add enemy characters and debug the small non crucial issues with the game (Wall jumping for example does not run as smoothly as I would like at times) because I spent that planned time in fact rebuilding all of the previous months work. Nevertheless though despite not having enough time to achieve more than I would have liked, I certainly feel as if I have created all that I wanted to, in a high enough standard.

Furthermore I feel as if I’ve grown as an artist and designer by applying my art in a physical sense rather than just as concepts. Despite this though I did create a singular piece of concept art just to round of the project and add to my portfolio.

Finally as the project has been about specialism, I think that at heart I would like to remain a 2D artist, which is a broad statement as the industry is built upon a number of distinct roles be it environment, character design, assets, commercial artwork, etc. However ultimately something which I have felt at the end of each project is a sense of enjoyment and growth no matter how I’m creating art – be it the silhouettes and iterations of BA4: Focus 2 or creating assets using a fast workflow so I would be happy in any role involving 2D art. If I have those kinds of feelings all that I need to work on is advancing my core skillset because I still think my artwork has a long way to go before I’ll be ready for the industry so this will be my next step over the coming year.

Project Bibliography:

Outland Gameplay image. Available from:

http://fronttowardsgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/Outland-Trailer-Released.jpg

(Accessed 24/05/12)

Bastion Gameplay Image. Available from:

http://supergiantgames.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Bastion_E32011_0004.jpg

(Accessed 24/05/12)

Bunny My Honey cover image. Available from:

Image Sourced from: http://www.readeo.com/wp-content/uploads/Bunny_My_Honey_Cover.jpg

(Accessed 24/05/12)

Spyro the Dragon 2 Gameplay image. Available from:

http://www.emuparadise.me/fup/up/37594-Spyro_the_Dragon_2_-_Ripto's_Rage_[NTSC-U]-1-thumb.jpg