Dedication or Obligation?

Greets!

It's been a slow bit for me; let's talk why.

I struggled really getting into the art direction the twitter poll landed on. It's tough letting go of something you like for the sake of commitment. There is a balance between what I want, what I want to give, and what I do with user/player/viewer feedback.

One of the major components of my process this time is being open.  Open about how and what I do. Open to YOU; open about your ideas and choices. When I ask for you to decide on something is it obligation to fulfill your choice... or dedication to the choice we agreed to make together? There is a supremely nuanced difference in the two approaches, the connotation of the two words. Obligation. Dedication. 

I was willing to take the art in either direction, but I was not prepared to take it one way if I felt stronger about wanting the other more. There is a good, small lesson to take from this: be ready to go against your feelings IF you dedicate to let others help you develop your vision. In this case I want this work to be OUR vision, not just mine. Another way to see it is: if I can't get behind your choices then why did I bother asking for you to choose? 

If I ask for an opinion I get it. I can still do what I want. No harm no foul. 

If I ask for you to jump in and make a decision... I BETTER SURE AS POOP DELIVER on that.

So my view, my path is to be dedicated to the choices we make. That's important.

I took time away from digital art while I simmered in this thought. I painted. I wrote and planned. Then, when I felt ready to chunk into my art I looked hard at what I wanted to pull into the game. I have pieced together what I consider a fairly strong base mock-up here:

The framing was an important element here for me. I need a clear definition of two opposing sides in a balanced shot. I wanted the game's world to feel small and confined. Like you don't need to be concerned with the rest of the world... just this particular dark alley. 

Movie-wise consider... Yojimbo. The whole movie is just the happenings between rival gangs in what feels like a very small town.  It felt tight, like nowhere else mattered. This was a key element in storytelling: Make your world as SMALL as it will allow. Give the audience a trip down Franklin St. and not plane rides to Costa Rica, Dublin, Philly, Seattle, LA, Tokyo, and Antigua. You care more about your little bits than big worlds. You can spend more time there.

Having a detailed or even abstracted bg more than the immediate buildings, or an environment that  stretches beyond the browser window will build the world up too much. Framing it constricts the action. It keeps me in that small village alley.

The Flag markers on either side add depth to that window like I am looking into it... and games up the screen. It gives me the opportunity to add some animation flare and excitement into a point and wins for the players. 

The center top bar doesn't have a full use yet. It may be text prompts or a timer or just a logo that will go there. 

The dark colors were a thing I wanted to try for a while. I wanted to shift way from a "strictly primaries" color palette.  

I want ties to be resolved with player actions, adding a small but important digital/action change to the typical flow of RPS.

this is where TAPPING, WIGGLING, or SWIPING comes into play [dependent on what I can implement]. Ideally I want there to be a randomly generated choice from a list of possible actions; we will see where I can take that.

For now, thank you. I have the groundwork for a basic game prototype built into C2 and am testing the inputs. 

The month of November will be dedicated to installing the art assets and having the basic RPS in place with a full loop.