Visual Design - Game Design Essentials - page 83

concept artist usually includes color as well, because that can be such an impor-
tant component of how the visual fits in with the game's look and feel. Color
choices are often made based on how photoreal or stylized the game will look,
so including them during the concept phase is a significant step.
Designer and animator Richard Sternberg started with this information for
the game Frozen, created by Star Mountain Studios:

Backstory (Lore) The story places a novice reporter, Samantha (Sam)
Bloodworth, in Antarctica. Sam must reach safety after a volcano has exploded,
stranding her on the remains of a shattered ice shelf.

Demographic Everyone (no specific demographic).

Gameplay style Puzzle with a strong storyline.

Sternberg began with a modified Poser model to sketch in the initial design
for Samantha. Figure 4.1 shows the original concept for Sam: a loose pencil
sketch (left); the vector art adapted from that sketch, for cleaner line work
(center); and the final color version, which was painted in Photoshop (right).

FiGuRe 4.1 Development of the character Sam from initial pencil sketch to line art
(created as vector work in Flash) to the final version, painted in Photoshop

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For the gameplay, Sam needed to be adventurous and athletic, on the young
side, and dressed for the brutal weather that is prevalent in Antarctica, hence
the dark glasses and parka (seen in the final version at right in Figure 4.1).
There is enough realistic detail to help get across quickly that she is in a cold
and dangerous environment; however, the bright colors and her energetic look
work well with this being a lighthearted, fast-paced game.
Sam was designed as a 2D character and subsequently animated in Flash. The
game Frozen is Flash based.

the software pro-
gram poser allows
artists to pose a 3d
model of a human
or a wide variety of
animals in various
action positions as a
drawing reference.