Instructions for the game

I wrote the instructions and ran them by Becky, she liked the idea but suggested they were a little 'wordy' for kids, so I have simplified them.

To ensure I had covered all bases, to try and explain what the game was about, I made a list of the key components and purpose of the game, as well as the parts that link the game together.  I then made sure these particulars were put into the introduction.

The introduction and instructions will appear over the island, I layered Becky's image of the island in Illustrator, with a vignette and added a fine stroke and shadow to the text to make it pop out.

  

Countryside game - designs complete, ready to build into game!!!

Following a return look at the designs and consultation with Beck, I have ditched the details and brightened up the colours.

I used the gaussian blur tool on several of the layers to create various depth of field effects.  These were .ai files were exported to Photoshop to create a .psd with each version on a different layer.  Tis will be imported into Flash to flick between layers to simulate the aperture being changed.

I suspect I could have done the same with a new.ai file with each image on a seperate layer.  I have also exported the individual frames as .jpgs in the event that this should be a simpler way of moving between images.

Here are the designs in the .jpg format, in the new 1024 x 768 aspect ratio for the game build.  The viewfinder will sit on top of the designs.  I'll need to change the aspect ratio of the viewfinder also!

Small aperture

Mid aperture

Large aperture

Countryside game design

Here are two versions.  One I have used some Illustrator symbols for details.

Think I need to go away and come back with fresh eyes to see which I prefer.

It feels like cheating using the symbols, my artist's pride is telling me that I should draw these elements by hand... maybe for the purpose of the working presentation I can use the version with the symbols, then when I have time, draw the details myself.

Either way, whichever version we opt for, I will be producing 3 versions.  Each version will have varying levels blurred/ out of focus, to demonstrate the effect that aperture has on depth of field.

With 'cheating' symbols

simple versions

School Shop so far....

Not sure if we are using this as we are probably going to award a set piece of equipment upon completion of a game.  However this will be introduced in version 2.  The design still needs some edits.  I will export to Photoshop to add more shadow and texture.

I'm going to wait until the brand's colour scheme is agreed first to ensure uniformity, at the very least to be sure the designs do not clash with the interface that Becky is designing.

Even if we do not use the shop, it is still worthwhile designing.  We may use the kit designs as icons for the awarded items upon completion of games.

Had another idea that perhaps there would be a kit bag to show what the player had earned and is able to use, so the kit designs can again be used there!

Tweaks to the game viewfinder

I have had another look at the viewfinder graphics, this is the frame that will be used during each game.

I have added a little shade to the arrows. The object is not 3D, it never is in a camera, but thought it added a bit more eye candy. I did this using the 3D effect in Illustrator. 6 degrees on the X axis, 1 degree on the Y and Z at 0.

Using again Illustrator effects, I gave the viewfinder a friendly appeal with the bloat effect, set at 3.

I have placed an image in it to show you how it will appear with the games... beady eyes will spot this is a screen grab from Angry Birds... not my work, but certainly one of the games on my inspiration board!!