a still from my game
At the end of my junior year of high school, I chose to use my digital art skills along with my Javascript knowledge to create a 2D video game in my "Explorations Project". It’s pretty challenging and tedious to create graphics using just lines of code, so I chose to draw all of my assets separately and then integrate them into my game. Through this project, I wanted to be able to apply my drawing/art skills to a real project outside of Freestyle while also dipping my toe into possible career options for the future.
a gameplay of my game
Before I began my Explorations Project, my backgrounds and objects were visualized by simple shapes that I had created using just lines of code. In my opinion, these original graphics were boring and unexciting, and didn’t entice you to participate in my game. My goal was to eventually draw by hand every single item that appeared in my game.
I ended up developing my own color palette that applied to every single asset in the game. Designing each asset was more tedious than expected, as I ended up having to design characters, interactive objects, environments, text boxes, and even player menus. Check out some of my assets below!
Instructions Menu
Color Palette
Boat Design
Character Designs
End Screen
The most daunting element I had to draw was the map, as its coordinates and island locations needed to be precise in order for it to work cohesively with my code. In my code, I used collision detection code to detect whenever the player collided with objects such as the island, water, and the boat. These use very precise numbers, and if the location of an island on my drawn map was off, the game wouldn’t work properly visually. As a result, I had to really outline my map and prepare its coordinates prior to designing it.
Coordinate Outline
