My Final Game, Concept Art & Artist Interpretation

Click here to play my final game. Hope you enjoy it

https://googledrive.com/host/0B3SAmWyF6_KfMTRyRWZMelJ4Q2s/index.html

Also here's some concept art of the game.

Artist Interpretation

This is my interpretation of Fritz Scholder's horse picture, (I did a wolf instead of a horse)

This is my attempt of an interpretation of Jaune Quick-To-See Smith's heart picture, (I did spiders instead of ants)

This is my design for a business card. (I had the idea for the name and logo for a while, I've only now been able to use it)

Evaluation

Evaluation

For my FMP, I have made a four level game based on Native American culture. The story of the game is that your tribe has selected you to be the Shaman and your final task involves going on a vision quest to reassemble the Totem pole and walk amongst the spirits in the spirit world. However on the way you encounter a familiar face and discover a demon from your past. The main character's name; Akecheta, is a name with the Sioux Indians which means "fighter" and since you can chose to fight at the end of the game it is rather fitting.

Originally I intended to only do one level. however; the program I used (Construct 2) couldn't handle all the sprites I was using so instead I decided to split it up into four levels. One level for each animal you can turn into.

Whilst I was creating this game I found a lot of reference material. I got a book called Black Elk Speaks, I met a couple of Native American Indians who gave me a lot of cool and useful information. I also had the opportunity to have a walk with real wolves for my birthday. I took a lot of pictures, most of which are on my blog.

All the research I did and all the reference material I found were very useful. The two Native Americans I met taught me a lot of words in their language; some of which I have used in my game. They also taught me about balance, as in where there is a predator there is pray. This inspired a mechanic in the game involving pray in my game.

I feel that as I worked on this project, My skills on Photoshop as an artist. have improved exceedingly. I wasn't able to draw landscapes before now I can. I couldn't get the proportions right when drawing people either. Now they actually look human.

For most of the design work, I used Photoshop and for the rest, I used pencil on paper. I used a bit of shading to add a more 3D look to the design. I used a variety of bright colours with the animal spirits in an attempt to show that they are good spirits, and I added a glow to them to make it apparent that they don't have a physical body. With the wendigo I used darker colours to make it obvious that it is the bad guy I also gave it a smoke effect rather than a glow to make it seem corrupt by darkness.

This is not an educational game, however I did want people to experience the spiritual side of Native American culture, with my own story ark. I believe that I was successful in conveying this into the game because there is a story in there, and I did make the theme as accurate to the culture as possible.

I am satisfied with my final piece. I think it has turned really well, despite a few setbacks. I can't think of any part of the game I am proud of in particular, I am happy with how it turned overall. If I could go back and do it again, I would make the conversations a lot shorter but other than that I am happy with the result. 

Visiting native american indians

John and Pauline's Teepees built from 12 buffalo hides and a lot of sticks in their garden

John in one of his Indian outfits

One of Pauline's many beautiful bead work 

John's flutes each with different tones 

Here are some pictures I took at a "Wig-Wam"

Here's some stitch work that Pauline did 

Another one of John's outfits 

John playing the flute

A bag that Pauline and John made

this is a herb called "Sage", it is used to ward off dark spirits the term being "Smudge"

Front and back of a coat that Pauline made you can see the eagle from earlier

Here are a few pictures I took with them at their house

Me holding a ceremonial spear

A map of native american tribes 

A poster on spirituality

Research

Research

For my research I started by looking on the internet for anything to do with native American culture and history, and I found a professor at Coventry University called Dr Darren Reid who is a historian of early America and American popular culture and who also has a passion for Native American Indians. So I emailed him and he kindly emailed back explaining that American Spirituality is a very complicated subject. He recommended that I read the book, Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt, which I bought from Amazon. It is a first-hand account of life among the Sioux at the turn of the twentieth century and it pays a lot of attention to the religious and spiritual beliefs of these people. I have found this book to be helpful in understanding their beliefs.

I then found a married couple called John and Pauline Jerzyszek who live as Native American Indians in the UK. After a while of searching I eventually found where they live and wrote them a letter explaining about my FMP and what I wanted to do with the game and they very kindly contacted me and agreed that I could meet with them. So I went over to them and spent the day with them and got lots of information about the Sioux Indians from them. They have spent a lot of time in America and Pauline could actually speak Sioux fluently. They make their own beaded jewellery and garments which were amazing.

They taught me some Sioux words which I have used in my game, they allowed me to take photographs of them and their artefacts and teepees. Their American Indian names are Running Bear and Small Warrior. I learnt a lot about their spirituality for example when you take something from the earth you have to put something back for example; if you take a branch from a tree you have to sprinkle some tobacco on the ground and use the branch to make something.

All teepees are built and owned by women and if they do not want someone to come inside then it will not happen, and all teepees must face East (the rising sun) which I have done in my game. They made a suggestion to my game that I might want to consider with regards to my animals for the totem pole. The human totem is always at the bottom and I must have a balance with the animals as in if I have a predator then there must be a prey, for example as the Coyote is a trickster, the bear is a healer. The design of totem poles are very personal and individual to the family or tribe, they a story of the tribe/family history.

Apparently we all have a white and black wolf in us that are fighting – one good one bad- and whichever one you feed is the one that wins. 

They have 2 languages one for men and one for women (a bit like the French).

The number 4 is a major number it represent the seasons and the colour of man.

The moon of the popping trees means springtime.

Smudging is a word that means to get rid of dark spirits, which they do with the herb called sage.

A shaman means to walk in 2 worlds.

'Wanagi' this means a ghost spirit.

They taught me many words some of them are;

Wambli – Eagle                                                                            

Sungmanitutanka- Wolf

Sungmanitu – Coyote

Tanka- Big

Sunkloakan/tasunka- Horse

Sunka- Dog

Tatanka- Bison/Buffalo

Wakan- Holy/Mystery

Winyan- Woman

Sostio- Snake

Tonkala- Mouse/Deermouse

 

Pronounciation

S is pronounced SH

C is pronounced CH

T’s are soft and sound like D as in Dog

‘Ome’ endings sound like ‘Omee’

CC is pronounced as K

I had a really great day with John and Pauline, they taught me so much about this subject. They taught me how to play the flute and gave me one to bring home. They taught me that music comes from the heart and not a written sheet. John gave me a CD which he has copyrighted but he has kindly given me permission to use it in my game, once I figure out how to.

Sprite Sheet

Sprite Sheet

Here is a list of all the sprites that I used to create my game.

This sprite was made and used as a plan for the main character to help me create his walking animations. My goal was to make the players believe that the characters were alive and actual characters rather than images hovering across the screen. Unfortunately it didn't work due to a re-acuring issue which I had no idea how to fix, so my game does not have any animations. However as I was finishing creating the game, I discovered how I can fix that so I shall remember that for future projects. 

This sprite is the final design for the main character. His clothes are a hide brown colour because it is made from animal hide which is what native Americans actually made there clothes out of. The pattern on his poncho is meant to honer his tribe, He has earned each of those feathers on his head until he had the full head set and then he went away into the forest to begin his vision quest. There's some back story for my character. 

This sprite was the first one was made as a plan for the main character in wolf form to create his animations. It was a very basic design and I personally am not proud of it. I wasn't going to keep it anyway but since I'm not giving the characters any walking animations any more, as the program kept crashing every time I tried to add them in. This sprite was literally pointless. However in saying this it was a learning curve.

This sprite is my final design of the wolf spirit. This is an improved design of the wolf spirit and I think it's worked out really well; it actually looks like a wolf and the white glow effect I put on to it, really adds a spectral feel to the character which is what I was aiming for. During my experience walking with wolves, I found that they aren't as scary as they appear in fairy tails like Red Riding Hood, but more graceful, elegant creatures. I tried to interpret this into my game whilst designing this sprite.

This sprite is of my wolf whilst in tracking mode it is literally the same image as before but with the head facing the ground as if following a sent.

This sprite is my design of the owl spirit. The reason I chose an owl was because they are nocturnal creatures and the game is set at night. Also I found out that the whole owls and wisdom thing is actually not true, apparently owls are the dumb ones. I have taken this bit of knowledge and added it to the game. 

This sprite is for the owl spirit when in flight. As I mentioned before, I would have animated this if not for the issues I kept running into. Then again, the level were you play as the owl is basically flappy birds so I do believe that this will work out great anyway.









This sprite is the background for the game, the image is repeated a few times. The game is set in a forest at night so I designed this background to suit the setting.


















These two sprites are the foreground for the game they are repeated and swapped around a few times. I made a foreground so the game doesn't look so flat, I wanted to give the game a little bit of 3D to give the area a bit of depth.
















This sprite is grass, I used this to fill up the bottom of the screen.





This sprite is the ground the character walks on.






This sprite is the branch that the owl totem is found on. this branch is there just to hold the owl totem.











This sprite is all the branches you need to avoid as the owl spirit. If you hit them the level will restart.

This sprite is an energy blast that you can shoot as the butterfly spirit. I chose to make it pink because it is a peaceful colour, and the butterfly is a peaceful creature.

This sprite is a shield you can shoot as the butterfly spirit.

This sprite is the main character with the butterfly spirit on him. In Native American culture, the butterfly is is the symbol of change and represents the miracle of transformation which is one of the themes throughout the game. This fits in really well considering that the butterfly is the last spirit you obtain.

This sprite is the main character with the snake spirit on him. In Native American culture the snake represents rebirth and resurrection. I have used this in my game when you fight the ghouls which were human but then the snake turned them into the monsters. 

This sprite is the snake spirit attacking. the snake attacks by spitting out venom at the ghouls. The character is a good guy and the snake's is seen as a wave of energy which is spawned from the positive energy inside the character. However the snake is taking that positive energy from you and expelling it to destroy the ghouls, if too much energy is drained the wielder of the snake will be turned into a ghoul.













This sprite is the main character as a wendigo.



















This sprite is the dead body you find the snake totem on.












This sprite is the monster you fight as the snake spirit.


















This sprite is a pile of fire wood you build in the first level.











This sprite is the fire for the pile of wood.

This sprite is the ghost you meet at the end of the game.



















This sprite is the Winagi (ghost ball) you meet at the start of the game.













This sprite is the Human totem you find on the first level.


















This sprite is the Wolf totem you find on the first level.

This sprite is the Snake totem you find on the third level.

This sprite is the Owl totem you find on the second level.

This sprite is Shia Labeouf. I put this in as a little joke.
















This sprite is supposed to be a dear, you need to find this as the wolf to progress.














This sprite is a dear mouse, you can grab this as the snake to progress a lot easier.













This sprite is a hare, you can grab this as the owl to progress a little bit easier.













This sprite is an energy blast that you can shoot as the snake spirit. there is also a larger version.

This sprite is the teepee that you build at the start of the game.

This sprite is the energy blast that the wendigo shoots at you during the boss fight.














This sprite is the wendigo, the boss at the end of the game.