Roguish Riches – Jennifer Collins

- overview -

IT ALL BEGAN WITH A HACKATHON

Our mission was simple: make an awesome piece of technology in 12 hours. We wanted to make our project unique by using 2D and 3D elements to make a platforming game where you climb a tower. To make this work, we decided to use pixel art and make textures for the environment and used 3D modeling for the tower and the platforms. We won second place, and decided to take the foundation of our game and make it into a mobile app.

IT ALL BEGAN WITH A HACKATHON

Our mission was simple: make an awesome piece of technology in 12 hours.

We decided to take it a step further and make a game. We wanted to make our project unique by using 2D and 3D elements to make a platforming game where you climb a tower. As you move around a 3D tower, the camera moves to follow your 2D character. To make this work, we decided to use pixel art and make textures for the environment and used 3D modeling for the tower and the platforms. We won second place, and decided to take the foundation of our game and make it into a mobile app.

IT ALL BEGAN WITH A HACKATHON

Our mission was simple: make an awesome piece of technology in 12 hours.

- problem -

GRABBING ATTENTION WITHOUT STEALING IT

The mission of the game is to climb as high as you can and to get as many treasures and goodies along the way to the top. Since the game itself is difficult to complete, we wanted to make the buttons as large as possible without sacrificing screen space. When it comes to designing for mobile games, you want to keep your UI as simple as possible. We wanted simple buttons that could easily explain what they do without sacrificing style. We studied other similar games like Temple Run for inspiration.

- process -

ROYALTY, RICHES, AND MEDIEVAL CLASS

The game was a stylized 8-bit style. Due to the medieval feel given off from the tower For this, we decided to keep it consistent with colors associated with royalty. Deep reds and blues with dazzling golds. Primary colors also work great together and give the player a heroic feeling.

- process -

REDO, REDO, THEN REDO IT AGAIN OH, AND MAKE A FONT

We went through many iterations of UI and button design until the feel of the game and the placement of the buttons felt just right. To really punch home that classic 8-bit style, I made a font to a similar scale as the assets for that true vintage game experience.

- reflection -

HONORABLE MENTION BEST IN SHOW

I would definitely say that this project has helped me improve as an artist. In total, I made: the ability animations, remade the UI for in-game, resigned the UI layout with the help of Zachary, remade the 3D tower and platforms along with re-texturing them, made a new logo, made the app icons for iOS and Android, and decorated the tower with crabs, tombstones, flowers, and recolored the pot decorations.

We took our finished game to a Game Expo at our college and won second place overall. We were given great feedback, and the app is still available on Android and iOS stores.

- credits -

Cole Luther: character animation

Zachary McCormick: game designer

Ryan Flaherty: developer