INARI Progress – Capstone; Fall 2022

Release 1:

Proof of concept mockups created to show possible art direction. My team preferred the first option (Fall 2022)

My most important contribution to Inari through the development of its first release was aiding our director in art direction. I was responsible for pointing the art team in possible directions we could take the game's art style, eventually narrowing things down to the style you see in the mockup. Many of the stylistic choices seen in the mockup are based upon traditional Japanese printmaking techniques, particularly with regard to the paper texture and the lineart style. We plan to take particular care in the linework of our sprites. The mockup also provided the team with a problem that needed solving: Inari, our protagonist, has a color scheme that makes him difficult to see on dark backgrounds. This meant that we gave him a light to follow him around for the time being, though we may make his scarf glow in the future. The alternate versions of the mockup play around with the paper texture, different lineart styles, and showing Inari without the light behind him.

Early environment concept (Fall 2022)

Early environment concept (Fall 2022)

Early environment concept (Fall 2022)

As the only person on my team creating environment art, it fell on me to research Japanese architecture. Our director initially asked us to create assets that fit within the Taisho Period, but I found that a lot of what she was looking for aesthetically didn't fit within that period. I instead pointed her toward the late Edo Period, which suits our aesthetic needs much better. In the earlier stages of our project, we weren’t sure what we wanted our level to be like, which gave me a lot of free rein in terms of what I could draw with regard to concept art. The first piece I created shows a building in the far distance that I thought could be the boss’ building while the second piece I created is something we plan on implementing in the final version of the game: a bridge over water with lanterns beneath it. Lastly, I came up with an idea for a possible checkpoint system: shrines, since our character is a messenger for a god.

Building concept (Fall 2022)

Building concept with components categorized and highlighted (Fall 2022)

We eventually narrowed down that we didn’t want to create a beat ‘em up game like we initially intended, instead opting for a fast-paced sidescrolling game. This allowed me to better focus on beginning to think of how I could implement the background art. Currently, I plan on making things more sprite-based instead of tilemap based. I believe that if I implement different sprites for things such as windows, doors, and props, it should be easy for us to eventually create houses that look different from each other.

The final two images are early ideas of possible art direction. I took inspiration for the lineart and shading style from a Pinterest board we created early on. We wound up opting for something similar to a traditional Japanese printmaking style and a sort of spiritual successor to Okami’s art style.

Going forward, I plan to begin working on the sprites themselves and begin working on learning how to utilize tilesets to make them as effective as possible. I feel like our team is on a good pace for the coming months and am excited to see where we go with this project!

Release 2:

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  Building structure 1

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  Building Structure 2

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  Building structure 3

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  Building structure 4

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  Doorways

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  Windows

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  Rooftops

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  Miscellaneous items

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  Bridge

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  Trees

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During the weeks leading up to Inari’s second release, I was responsible for creating environmental assets. The main idea was that, by creating different parts of buildings individually, the level designers would be able to make their own background buildings, adding diversity to the level background. The components I created can be categorized as main structures (seen in the first four images), doorways (second image), windows (third image), roofs (fourth image), and miscellaneous props (fifth image). The bridge and trees were specifically requested by the level designers.

My goal with this release wasn’t to have sprites fully finished as much as it was to make it possible for the level designers to at least somewhat envision what the final product might be. For the next release, I plan on making it clearer which objects are platforms by coloring them and ideally a few other things as well. I would also like to finish the lineart on a few of the sprites so that it coheres to what was outlined in the style guide.

Release 3:

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  Main building 1 var 1

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  Main building 1 var 2

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  Main building 2 var 1

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  Main building 2 var 2

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  Main building 3 var 1

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  Main building 3 var 2

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  Main building 4 var 1

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  Main building 4 var 2

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  Rooftops var 1

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  Rooftops var 2

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My job for release 3 involved coloring all the sprites I'd created in release 2. Two of my teammates were kind enough to lend me a hand since they'd gotten done with some of their tasks early, something I still appreciate very much. The hardest thing here was undoubtedly figuring out how dark or light the sprites should be and how much I should shade them given that our game doesn't have one sole light source. The rooftops also presented an interesting challenge of making sure that players know that they can jump on the rooftops. While it's something that hasn't completely been solved, I expect it'll be solved in the Spring semester once we have an actual backdrop aside from the buildings and otherwise.

I was also asked to create tilesets, something I hadn't done before. I learned a lot through this process and hope to finetune these sets over the span of the Spring semester.