Graphic Design and 2D Animation

Character set and background tile for Battle for Wesnoth game

Assessment Details

This project provides evidence for the following standards:

#	Level	Credit	Title
AS90342	2	6	Develop and model a conceptual design in information and communication technology
AS90368	2	4	Demonstrate skills in information and communication technology
AS90773	2	4	Examine how technological practice is influenced by responsibilities to the wider community

Project Overview:

Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game with a fantasy theme in which the player takes any number of roles in a range of campaigns based in the fictional country of Wesnoth.

The game uses a top down, isometric graphics style and has an active development community producing new campaigns, maps, graphics for characters/units and background tiles, artwork and multiplayer scenarios.

You are being asked to design a character for this game and a background tile that is associated with your character and research a designer and techniques required to create this style of graphic.

You will be required to clearly identify and describe the respective target audience(s) for the project.

Specifications

The following elements must be present in your design:

Character:

a set of sprites that include:
base sprite (1 frame)
attack (at least 3 frames)
defend (at least 3 frames)
die (at least 3 frames)
Size of each frame: 72 x 72 pixels
Each frame saved as .png format
.gif animation showing the frames
together

Background Tile:

at least one tile that
relates to your character
conforms to the size constraint
and alpha channel of Battle of Wesnoth

Requirements:

Design Process

You are expected to demonstrate that you have worked through the design process to produce your final solution.

We expect to see:

brief documentation
concept sketches exploring ideas
project management evidence (timesheet, planning, milestones etc)
ongoing evaluation of your ideas
a final evaluation of your solution

Character and Tile

You are free to use an existing character and tile as a base to build from but the final result must be clearly your own work.

The character will need to be rendered to appear 3D, in keeping with the other game sprites.

Research

As part of your analysis you are being asked to research at least one graphic designer or graphic artist and explore the process they use to create their work. You may choose any designer as it is the process they use that is important. It is recommended that you also look at the work of designers/artists working with "pixel art" techniques.

You will also need to research techniques for creating small characters like this using a small amount of pixels to portray shading and texture.

Key questions you need to explore and discuss as part of your research are:

what does the designer do
how do they work with constraints
how do they communicate ideas with their
customer and get feedback
how do they plan their projects

Use this information as a base for justifying your design decisions and descibe how it has affected the way you work on graphic design projects.

Achievement Requirements

To achieve in this project you will be required to complete the following tasks:

Produce a brief using this project outline as a base
Produce a final solution that meets all the requirements of your brief
Produce a plan that outlines costs (time) and milestones that allow you to complete the project on time
Manage the project and your time using computer-based tools