Contruction Begins - Unity Building

With mock sprites created for a number of background and interactive elements, construction begins on the first level. Using Nikki's original sketch and description as a starting point, assets were placed in a manor to test weather the layout worked well. While the visual asthetic seems appealing, the placement of stepping stones and rocks proved that the characters jump height and hit detection need to be recalibrated, and the placement tweaked. The current build, while labelled Level 1, is approximatly half of the level. No enemies have been introduced yet, and character interaction still needs to be implemented. The level, however, serves it's purpose of exploring what needs changing before final assets are created.

Fleshing out the Opening Level - Correspondence

While developing the opening level, discussions continued as to what else needed to be in the introduction, if the level should be longer, and subtle design decisions.

NA: "I was thinking the two levels will be like the green forest kind of thing at the beginning and showing the pollution, the second level being a darker more magical forest, kind of what I drew for the concept art but then having wires and cables taking over the trees. Kind of a 'Tron' vs. nature thing."

ML: "Nice. I've been experimenting with the mock up sprites to show a difference between the healthy trees and the polluted. Jumping straight from lush green trees to twigs seemed a bit preposterous in hindsight, so I have redrawn some of the assets with a duller pallet. Replacing the brown of the bark with a sickly gray, and the green leaves with a burnt orange/brown. May have to tweak the gray bark though once the wires and cables are introduced then so they don't clash."

NA: "Awesome. I was thinking at the end of one of the levels we climb a waterfall and at the top is a small conversation."

Mock Design Assets - British Ash Trees

When discussing the setting and story of Nimbus during our last tutorial session (23rd March 16), Ivan brought up the topic of endangered trees. Stating that the British Ash Tree was currently endangered due to fungal Infection and insects [http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/britains-ash-trees-could-be-wiped-out-by-fungal-infection-and-borer-beetle-a6951246.html]. With this thought firmly in mind, we began to rethink certain design aspects of the game with the British Ash Tree.

With an over arching theme of technology and

pollution destroying the forrest, the idea of using somewhat endangered tree's became a linchpin in using design to tell a story. Basic mock assets were redrawn to resemble that of Ash trees in various stages of decay. This works as a way to re-inforce the enviromental themes of the game, as it somewhat reflects the state of out current enviroment. Providing more depth to the plot.



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