Venturing Out: Plagiarism Light

By: Matthew Nixon

Venturing Out: Plagiarism Light

    You should have fifteen games completed by the time you get here. You should be getting good at not only developing game mechanics, but at organizing files and folders, and naming your objects, files, and other things to make working inside a project more efficient. If not, try to work on it, because the bigger and more complicated the game, the more important it is to have things well organized. If you need a UI, try to make it as light as possible, like only using text.


In this section, the focus is on creating graphics. We recommend trying out a few different styles, pixel art, hand drawn, 3D, 2.5D… etc. Start somewhere depending on your art skills, like with everything else, practice will make you better. Some guides are here, they should help you get started if you need it.


Before creating the lists, take the time to describe the game in one paragraph. Get used to doing this because nearly all games start with a one paragraph description.


If you haven’t already, start up a twitter and other social media accounts and start sharing your work in posts, images, gifs, and short videos. Hopefully you’ve thought up a name for your studio and can use that as your social media name. Start getting used to building an audience. Get an email address for your game making, even if it’s only a hobby.


    The last level of this section is to make a completely new game, using gameplay mechanics and features you’ve already done. And by the time you get there, that list of things should be pretty big. Because the last level will not be a direct copy, and will be your own graphics, you might want to put that last game aside to finish development on if it turns out to be awesome.


Section Details

  • Scope: Two levels per game

  • Focus: Graphics

  • Tasks: Gameplay and level

  • Source Control: No source control

  • Total Games: 12

  • Release: Decent ones for free or at a low cost after polishing, set good ones aside for further development

  • Proficiency Level: Learning

  • Outreach: Share screenshots


Focus


The focus of this section is on creating graphics for the items, the levels, and the characters. If you need to create a HUD, then do so in the most basic way possible. Do not work or spend much time on any other element of the game that’s not gameplay, level, or art assets.


Advice


You’ll likely come across some GFX element that you’ll need to add in while working through the gameplay, I usually do, and this is fine. Don’t add in things that don’t belong. Try out different art styles, and mixing it up between 2D and 3D graphics and some in between.


    Unlike the previous section, it is encouraged to release some of these small projects to start getting a feel for releasing games. Take some of your better projects and polishing them up a bit by adding in a basic UI, some sound effects, and a music track or two. Try not to get too fancy and make sure you have the licenses to everything that you use. If you do decide to release a project, make a backup of it that lives off of your computer and/or add it into a source control. If you don’t yet have a company name, then maybe now’s the time to come up with one. It’s probably better to release these early games for cheap or free, but sometimes you might have something great. Kongregate, Itch.io, and Game Jolt are good places to release a smaller game, hopefully I’ll have more suggestions and helpful tips by the time I get here. At first, choose one per game, doesn’t have to be the same one for every game.


    Try to do most of these art styles. There are enough games in this section to do one of each and a little more. Doing them in the order listed should help ease you into doing art.


Art Styles

  • Minimal Pixel

  • 8/16bit

  • Pixel Art

  • Drawn

  • Rendered

  • Abstract

  • 2.5D

  • 3D Abstract

  • Low Poly

  • Stylized


Workflow


  1. Describe the game in one paragraph

  2. Make lists

    1. Game mechanics

    2. Art assets

  3. Create

    1. Make all the graphics

    2. Develop all the gameplay mechanics

  4. Make the levels and plant the items and mobs

  5. Polish and finalize


Level Five: Restyling

    Developing gameplay takes a lot of work, so does creating graphics. For these game challenges, just redo the graphics as they are in the same style but put your own spin on them. So Mario will still be identifiable as Mario, but should look different. You should still be making a list of all the gameplay mechanics since you’re going to be creating those. Then make a new list of all the art assets that will be needed.


  • Games with a complexity of 1

    • Action [Act] Active

    • Platformer [Plt] Active

    • Runner [Run] Active

  • Draw a few sketches of some of the art assets

  • Four games


Level Six: Pick up Mix

    Pick two games, make a list of all the gameplay features, then make a list of the similar ones and pare them down. Then take the remaining list and take about half from each game. Then make a list of all the graphics that will need to be made based on the new list. Do the graphics for the characters, the items, and the levels but keep them similar to the originals but in your own and/or a different style. Make a sketch or a few for each character before making the graphics.

   

  • Pick two games with a complexity of 1

    • Action [Act] Active

    • Platformer [Plt] Active

    • Runner [Run] Active

  • Take things from each list and create two levels

  • Draw at least one sketch of each item before creating the art asset

  • Four games


Level Seven: Respritely

    Pick a game and make your lists, but this time instead of keeping the graphical representations the same, change it up. Like instead of a ninja with a sword in Ninja Gaiden, make it a werewolf that attacks with claws in the same way. Change Link into a skeleton… just make things different instead of different representations of the same thing. Make sketches of each thing before creating it. For the main character(s), take one sketch and bump it up a notch by cleaning it up and adding in colors and shades.


  • Pick a game from 3

    • Adventure [Adv] Story

    • Fighting [Fgt] Sport

    • Puzzle [Pzl] Mindful (as long as it can be played without a menu)

    • Racing [Rac] Sport (not simulation)

    • Shoot ‘em Up [Sht] Active

  • Draw at least one sketch of each item before creating the art asset

  • Make a few higher effort drawings

  • Three games


Level Eight: Try Something New

    Think about the games you’ve made so far, then create a list of gameplay mechanics and features to create a new game. Keep the amount of gameplay mechanics down to about the same amount of items as the games you’ve been working on, probably less to give you a little more room for forgotten items. Then create a list for the graphics required and describe them a little.


  • Write a one paragraph description that fits a game from 1 or 3

    • 1

      • Action [Act] Active

      • Platformer [Plt] Active

      • Runner [Run] Active

    • 3

      • Adventure [Adv] Story

      • Fighting [Fgt] Sport

      • Puzzle [Pzl] Mindful (as long as it can be played without a menu)

      • Racing [Rac] Sport (not simulation)

      • Shoot ‘em Up [Sht] Active

  • Describe the art style

  • List out all the gameplay mechanics

  • List out all the graphics

  • Draw at least one sketch of each item before creating the art asset

  • Make a few higher effort drawings of each character

  • Make one game