Skin Color

I've had a very quick go at making a skin colour picker, it's basic but gives an idea of what we can do.

Past Week

I've been away this weekend, but before and after I have focused my attention on this group project. I told Chris last week I'd have a look at the character customization which I did. After several very long sessions, and almost all nighters, I got considrably stuck so Chris said not to worry about it and he would take over the coding for that. I turned my attention to the graphics I drew for the character customization last week, and felt they were not satisfactory, they felt out of place and although I'm not an artist I decided I can do better so I re-drew them. This took a long time alot longer than I expected but I am much happier with the result. They don't look great but a lot better than they did. This time I drew them into photoshop using the path tool, which confused me at first but after some practice I think I've mastered it's basic use. I then shaded the items and made them look a bit more realistic. I hoped to get a female version completed for Wednesday but this impossible, due to time and feeling very demoralized at the thought, I think unless Chris is desperate for the graphics over the next few days I'll have a break from drawing clothes and hair and go for a walk....

Below are some charatcers I created using my new drawings.

Update

I've been quite ill this week and every time I try and do some work my mind seems to hit a brick wall and I lose concentration. Saying that though, I've still managed to get the band screen in the game which Liam made and I've added the incoming and outgoing money mechanics which happen every hour depending on opportunities, properties and items the player has.

The only thing I'm worried about at the moment is the fact that the game doesn't really reflect Dizzee too much, it just seems like another Mafia Wars clone. I'm gonna have a look over that this week as well as finish of the main screens (inventory and character customization). Next week I'm going to start adding sounds in and the week after that will be polising and getting Tier2 content in if we want it in.

I had a look at character customization in regards to skin colour and while it does seem easy, trying to read what to do didn't go down well this week. As soon as I knock this cold on its head the game will get back to 100% production in time for hand in.

Symbol for chris

We needed a symbol to show when you've leveled up to the tier 2 of jobs, so I went a way and made some, dunno if they're any good?

Character Selection

So I'm doing the character select, from scratch, drawings and code (with Chris' help).
I've completed, a basic man model, and I've drawn what I think is enough accessories and clothes to give enough variety, there is about 27 unique items I think, which obviously would equal hundreds of different permutations. Here is the basic model with two characters I've created just quickly to demonstrate. My drawing isn't great but once it's all working with script etc I can always go back and improve them, it's not quite an xbox avatar!

Facebook connect

If we can't get the game working with facebook connect, I'm not sure what kind of finshed product we should aim for? Should we go into a bit more depth with some of the features? maybe actually make a character creation thing, etc? Or some kind of save feature? I dunnooooooo

Symbols distinguishing between good and bad pt2

Last week we discussed the problem of items that are the same but you get better versions of. Eg a mic you start off with a crappy one then get a better one, this type of item is slightly different to things like vehicles; you get completely new/different ones e.g old car then limousine.

Colour was suggested to help distinguish, I had chosen blue as the colour for items and I wanted to keep this umbrella colour so that you know it's an item. I came up with the star system last week which quantifies how good your mic is, but we needed a colour that let you know it's upgradable. So I've experimented a bit, I added colour to just the bottom so that left the majority of the item blue colour. I included an arrow pointing upwards that hopefully indicates its an item that you can upgrade. I tried a few different colours and didn't really like any of them till I tried tying it in with the stars. I think the two on the far right do work well and I've included the stars to help illustrate. It may not be a perfect solution but I think it's on the right lines. The ones on the left are not good I don't think, I've just included them to show my thought process behind it.

Jobs Symbols

I've created the symbols for the jobs, I chose orange as it's part of the colour scheme for the game, and orange just seemed to suit.

They are left to right;

backing music for tv ad / music at a cafe lounge / play at a carnival / headline at the carnival / gig at local club


gig at local pub / office party / house party / local radio interview / school disco

local support act

Opportunity Symbols

I've created symbols for the opportunities. I chose to give them a green look (items = blue, jobs = orange etc) I thought green was a good choice cause it's usually a positive colour so I think it marries well to opportunity. It is something that enables you to advance (go) through the game after all.

On the left it's "local sponsorship" and on the right it's "support local band"

Tweaked the symbols

I've tweaked the symbols slightly and given them a white stroke, I think this makes them stand out more and gives them a more cartoony/Dizzee feel. I've done it to all of them but thought theres no point in showing them all so I've just got a mini selection to give an idea.