Last weekend I took the opportunity to participate in a 24 hour game-making competition at the university. Though the majority of the other participants were Computing students, that did not mean my input as an Animation student would be overlooked. What I could offer my team mates were 2D drawing and 3D modelling skills.
The task was this - In groups of up to 4, you must create a game relating to the chosen themes within the next 24 hours and then present it to the judges and other participants. The judges would then present awards to teams with the best games. The judging panel consisted of developers and artists from games companies; Richard Welsh, David Saltares and Claire Moncrieff of Crytek UK, and Matt Hewitt, Steve McGagh and Ben Giacon of Rockstar Lincoln.
After brainstorming ideas and deciding on the type of game we would make, I knew that my role would be in creating 2D graphics for the game. So during the 24 hours (luckily I was allowed to take a few hours to go home to sleep!) I spent my time drawing and colouring characters for the game.
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| Me and my teammate Sean Oxspring during the Jam. |
Below is the artwork that I produced during the 24 hours of the jam.
The main character "Bob Bobson" has 2 variations, the second used for when he is holding an object.
This is a compilation of all the characters I created for the game.
And in addition, I created a couple of props used in the game.
Finally, here is some footage from the finished game. With great joy, I am able to say that our team won the award for "Best Use of Theme" and an "Honourable Mention" for which I am very grateful. I was also lucky enough to have a chat with Claire Moncrieff, who creates 2D art for Crytek UK, after the awards presentation about her career path and how she has achieved her role in the games industry.
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| Me and my team mates receiving our prizes. |
The experience was incredibly valuable and has shown me the basics of what is involved in the production process for video games, as well as the role of an artist within production and what sort of issues are raised when working with the programmers.
