Target Audience considerations and project impact:
For target audience considerations, we discussed that our game should be suitable for all audiences, with a fairly simplistic in-game style largely comprised of basic shapes. Though we still wanted our game to show locations like that of a human body, we did not want this to appear overtly gory or violent, instead abstractified in a cartoon manner based on real-world anatomy yet not graphic.
Additionally, we discussed the gameplay of our project in greater detail and decided that the game itself would aim for a more casual audience and would not have excessive difficulty or complexity, instead of focusing on the unique environment and theming it displays. As such, we want the game to appear visually intriguing and lean more heavily into the design elements of the levels, monsters and towers.
Developing Designs & Peer Feedback:
With my preliminary research into Microplastics done, I went about creating a handful of thumbnail sketches that reflected my ideas and the research I had done, with the Microplastic enemies bearing mandibles and abstract, parasite-like forms. I chose such a design motif due to the nature of the research I had completed, with my reasoning being that - as some Microplastics attach themselves to hormonal receptors - a potential avenue for design in our project could lean into the idea that these enemies latch onto and parasitise the surrounding environment. As such, mandibles, tick-like legs and other such design elements reflect this parasitic nature, inspired by real-world parasitic entities whilst being abstract nonetheless.
Initial feedback indicated that these designs may be too complex for our game, with the camera angle being pulled back, granting a large overview of the map that would dwarf the hostile Microplastic units. Additionally, as these thumbnails were finished, so too was additional research on the part of the group's Director, Seb. This research involved looking into different types of Microplastic, and as such I went back to create a new set of thumbnails based on these findings and the feedback I had received from my peers.
Seb's research, which was based on investigating the different types of Microplastic found within the human body, informed this second batch of thumbnails greatly. Whereas before my initial ideas were based loosely around the concept of Microplastic writ large, this second batch was more ordered, with different groups of thumbnails being made around the different types of Microplastic Seb had looked into: Pellets, Film, Fibres, Foam and Fragments. Seb also provided a handful fo thumbnail sketches showing potential ideas as to how these different types of Microplastics may function differently in the game, and I used these as a basis for design when creating my own sketches.
Additionally, taking feedback from my peers, I simplified the forms in these designs and broke them down into more primitive shapes, focusing on the silhouette of the silhouette of the design as opposed to more intricate details. This, coupled with the different technical features of disparate enemy types, allowed me to focus on the overall shape of the design and how said shape impacted the visual language of the enemy.
For example, the "Foam" enemies were described by Seb as "Starts [sic] off small but grows over time if not destroyed". In my designs, I drew inspiration from parasitic Ticks, with a larger "abdomen" that could expand as they grew over time. This resulted in the Foam enemies having a balloon-like shape, tapering at the bottom and flaring up at the end, which was highly different from the other enemy types. The balloon-like form also helps in illustrating how exactly the enemy functions, with this shape (perhaps further enforced by swaying, floating animations and a slow, breathing-like inflation/deflation) alluding to their unique mechanic that sets them apart from other Microplastic enemies.
Environment Design & Game Style:
The style of the levels in our project was also a matter of discussion: in keeping with our generally broad target demographic, we were unsure how complex the level design of our game should be. As such, I drew several thumbnail sketches showcasing potential levels for our project.
The idea of the levels being isometric was a frequent topic of discussion in this process, as we wondered whether or not such a level layout - isometric with different paths and towers on different layers or faces of the 3D scene - would be too complex for our Target Audience. As such, I drew two thumbnails for each level idea: though both are rough, one shows an isometric cut-out of the level itself, the other a flat environment without this isometric depth.
Ultimately, feedback indicated that this blend of isometric and flat levels was favourable, with levels being 3D shapes that bear a flat plane atop them in which gameplay commences. I feel this idea shows a unique presentation for level designs, particularly in the genre our game is a part of, and additionally leans into the medical-adjacent theming of our game, the style reminiscent of tissue cut-outs found in biology textbooks and medical diagrams, one of the initial inspirations I looked to in my first mood boards.
With this theming decided, I went back and redrew the "Esophagus" and "Heart" levels founding my thumbnail sketches. I produced several level ideas for each of these environments and additionally drew a rough lighting block-out over them to differentiate the background, midground and foreground regions.
Seb then produced a sketch for another potential level, which I did a rough paint-over of, adding colour, UI elements and a repeating background. This simple, quick alteration to the sketch illustrated how such a design may look in the game, and peer feedback indicated that we felt strongly about going forward with this level presentation.
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