evaluation for my game animation

1. Evaluation
Adam Lepard

2. Research
• When I was researching other games for my animation I looked at frames were used to
make fluid animation in older fighter games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat
and realised that there were too many frames used in the animations for me to make in
just two weeks so planned to used brush tool while animating the characters attacks as
this would give the impression of faster motion and researching these games helped
me come to that way of animating.
• When I was looking at the designs of the characters in the fighting games I realised that
most characters wear either extremely bright clothes or very dark clothes so they stand
out against the background which something that I used to have my characters look
suitable for the game when planning and designing the characters.
• I also looked at a fairly recent fighting game called Pocket Rumble which had simple
looking yet effective character designs which I noticed however when working on my
game I had made my background too detailed so simple characters didn’t work so
instead of starting over I decided to make detailed character designs which drastically
effected the time it took me to animate.
• If I had more time to research I would've analysed games with more simple
backgrounds so I wouldn't run into issues. I would also look more at how how the
characters actually move rather than just frames of animation so I could see what I
want my finished animation to look like when it’s moving.

3. Planning• When I was planning my game I quickly decided that wanted to work on a fighting game as I liked the
thought of making an interesting looking character designs and animating attacks in the game but I knew that
it would be challenging to animate in two weeks especially if I was using detailed characters so I tried to plan
my thoughts on how I could effectively use my time to do as much work in the game without losing my style
which was a bad decision as it meant that the characters took ages to animate.
• In my mind map for the fighting game I decided that I wanted to have sound effects for punches, the walk
cycle and the special move which I didn’t get to implement into the final game as I didn’t have enough time
however I was glad that I added a background song to game as I had planned to make this on the last day of
production and although it’s fairly simple I think it suited the game with its fast pace.
• I planned the colour schemes of the characters fairly early as I knew that the boxer character was going to
have a purple and gold colour scheme as these colours are associated with royalty and I wanted this
character to be the king of boxing, the other character had colour scheme of pink and white because I
wanted the gangster character to stand out with bright colours. I liked these colour schemes because they
made the characters look a lot more like traditional fighter characters because of their flashy colours.
• I think my main weakness in my planning was how I planned my backgrounds as I saw that most fighting
games had extremely detailed backgrounds which is something I tried to replicate with my background and it
worked surprisingly well but it also meant that simple characters looked wrong in this background so I used
more detailed character designs which slowed down my production time and meant that I needed to be
careful of how I managed my time.

4. Time Management• As I had made my characters more detailed than I wanted to it meant that I needed to manage my time carefully in order to get
finished on time as it would take me longer to animate. My management of time was fairly good as I planned to spend 2 days at most
on my background before working on my characters which was something I managed to complete in the time I set myself while
managing to have a lot of detail put into the design although if I had spent less time working on the background I think the finished
product could've turned out better because I would've had more time to animate the characters and their design would be able to
look better as a simplified design.
• When I was planning my time management I didn’t think about how the characters would to suit the background so I had planned to
make the characters before the background but luckily I realised my mistake and made the background first so the characters
wouldn’t be too big or too small which was helpful when animating the characters
• If I had more time to work on my product I would’ve worked on the attack animations of the characters as I managed to complete a
walk cycle for both characters which I was happy with but I only got to have one character that made attacks in the game as I was
running out of time to animate so I didn’t get to give the gangster character any attacks which would’ve helped my game to look like
a fighting game as the characters would’ve actually been fighting. I managed to quickly make the boxer characters attacks by using
the brush tool to imply fast motion which although it was clever I also would've changed if I had more time as it would’ve made the
animation look faster if I could animate more frames in the characters attacks.
• If I had more time to work on the product I would also work on the sound design in the game as even though I planned to spend a
small amount of time on the sound I only managed to make a song for the game when it would’ve been nice to make sound effect for
the characters walking, punching, damaged and the special attack in the game as it would help my game be more authentic.

5. Technical Qualities• I put lot’s of effort into the pixel art in both the background art and the character design in my game as I wanted to
be able to draw the animation in a style I felt comfortable with which meant that I had to sacrifice time in order to
make the animation a smooth as I could although because I had to change so much in each frame it meant that the
length of animation had to be shortened. It took so much time to finish the walking cycles of each character that I
only had time to give attack animations to one character as I knew it would be too complex to animate attacks for
both characters and finish on time so my main issue with the pixel art in my game is that it was so detailed that it
became difficult to animate smoothly while trying to finish on time.
• I think the design of the boxer character stood out because of the purple and gold colour scheme and detailed design which made them
look similar to characters out of fighting games like street fighter, although their animation could’ve been smoother I think I did a good
job animating them for time I was given. I think the design of the gangster character was unique because of it’s bright colours although
it didn’t stand out as a fighting character unlike the the boxer that resembles a typical fighting character because of their long hair and
basic colour scheme. Compared to games such as street fighter the background in my game is nowhere near as detailed however it’s
clear that I tried to make a detailed background because of the texture added to the wall and the buildings.

6. Aural Qualities
• My main issue in the production of my game was time management as I spent most of my time working on my games animation
it meant that I only spent a short time on the production of the sound design in my game which left the sound of the game being
the weakest element of my work. I think that the music I made for the game was the strength of my sound design as it was fast
paced which matched the action in the game and it’s chip tune sound help emphasize the the retro aesthetic of the game. I
could’ve improved the sound design in my game by adding sound effects for actions in the game such as stomping sounds for
when the characters are walking and sound effects for the punch attack and the special attack would’ve helped the game seem
more authentic.
• Most fighting games feature a backing track which is made to sound intense so the player feels the need to attack their opponent
which is something I tried to replicate when working on my music for the game, I listened to some backing songs to games such
as Street Fighter and Pocket Rumble and noticed how the songs were fast paced in order to create a sense of urgency so after
listening to this I recreated the fast pace of these songs by using short notes and percussion sounds in BeepBox. The sound design
in most fighting games is exaggerated to give impact to whatever action is taking place in the game which is something I would’ve
added into the game if I had more time to work on the sound design as it would of improved moments such as the characters
punch and their special attack.

7. Aesthetic Qualities: Game design
• When I was working on the animation I tried to make it look as good as
possible which was one of the reasons that I made the character/background
designs as detailed as I did. I think my character designs were creative as I tried
to make them as interesting as I could by having the boxer wear a crown for a
belt and the gangster wearing bright colours this gave the designs personalities
while giving the traits such as the boxing gloves or the suit to show their roles
in the game. If I could improve the designs of my characters to make them look
better I would’ve made them less detailed by giving them a more cartoon like
design, simplifying the colours I used and making them smaller.
• I made sure that when I was was designing the game the player would be able
to see the everything fine as I made the cityscape in the background with dark
shades of purple and grey and I made the foreground wall using brighter
colours and the character designs used the brighter/darker colours so it
wouldn't blend into the wall. I put a lot of effort into making the colours in
every section of my game different so everything could be seen yet everything
was visually appealing. I could've improved the aesthetic of my using less
colours as it could’ve given the game a more simple yet appealing style.
• The main strength in the aesthetic of my game is the detailed use of colours to
give the background and characters a appealing design. I deliberately used dark
colours is the background and fairly bright colours in the foreground so I could
use a range out colours and shading for the characters. I think the main
weakness in the aesthetic of my game is how the game is animated as I needed
more time to draw the characters movements because of the amount of detail I
put into the design it meant that the animation felt less smooth which decreased
the retro fighter aesthetic of my game as it meant I needed to finish the games
quickly as I was running out of time.
Basic colour scheme, colours
stand out so the character
resembles typical designs for
fighter games
Animated movement in belt
and hair in each frame
Detailed use of
colour and
movement
Detailed use of colour
to show how the
character moves
Walk cycle and
injured animation
Punch attack
and special
move
Bright colours to stand out
from the background
The suit implies that
the character is a
gangster

8. Aesthetic Qualities: Character design
Detailed used of colour to
show shading on clothing
and skin
Animated movement in
clothing and hair
similarities differences
Aspects of the design such
as the gloves and belt
show that the character is
a fighter
The street fighter
character has a
shadow
My character faces
sideways rather than
facing the player
The street fighter character
is more detailed
My character has less
movements and
attack animations
Both characters have a
specific colour scheme

9. Aesthetic Qualities: Front cover
• When I was working on my front cover design I
wanted to make to make a simplistic cover that
displayed the game as a retro style fighting game so I
DaFont to get a font that used pixels as it implied a
pixelated game which was the style I was trying to
achieve in my game and my cover. I achieved the
simple aesthetic in my front cover by using one
drawing as the central focus of the front cover. I drew
an image of an arm of the boxer raised up as it
conveys to the viewer that it’s a fighter game as the
boxing glove implies action and fighting. I decided on
the simple style of the front cover as I thought it
would create intrigue as it implies that there's more
to the game.
• The front cover has a simple colour scheme of red,
yellow and a black background as these colours stand
out to the viewer. I think the main strength of the
cover is the simple design out the raised arm as it
clearly represents the fighting theme of the game
while intriguing the viewer with it’s simple design.
The main weakness of the cover is the font that I
chose as although it suits the pixelated retro style of
the game the drawing of the arm is more detailed
than it so it feels like the two don’t match which
makes the design look less appealing.
Pixelated font, capital letters so the tittle
stands out
Red and
yellow colour
scheme
The boxing
glove show
the fighting
genre of the
game

10. Audience Appeal
• My target audience was for older teens as fighting games appeal to people that are competitive and want to succeed in winning
fights against their friends. The game psychologically appeals to an achiever type because of the competitive nature of fighter games.
My game would appeal to teenage audience due to the style of the character designs which stand out due to their bright colours. The
music in the game could appeal to my target audience as it’s fast pace would hopefully make the player feel more excited to fight in
the game.
• The main aspects of the game that could be seen as unappealing by this audience would be the rough animation due to the detailed
character designs, the other thing that could be seen as off putting is the absence of sound from the characters walking and from
attacks as this would take away from the impact of landing an attack on your opponent. If I had more time to improve the game then
I would work on the animations of each character to make the fights look more aggressive and I would make sound effects for
actions and movements in the game as this would help the player feel more immersed in the game.
Health bars
Detailed
background
Character designs
with colour
schemes
Special attacks
Fast paced music to match
the action of the game
Animation for punching and
injury
No sound for
attacks or
movement
The animation is
less smooth due to
detail in the
character design
I animated less attacks
than I wanted to but I
was running out of
time