My new design and title screen for "The Gunslinger" came out really well. I used a lot of the concept images I had taken during the palette assignment and put them to work here.

The finished product was this:

The title of the game is there and the classic "press start" that you see in almost every game. I wanted it to be simple and to represent the type of game it was. That's why I kept it simple and added the main character, Roland, walking way off in the background. The player can follow the footprints in the sand to his position.

The colors I used were the same as before. A lot of yellows, some oranges, and a ton of browns. This was to give the planet and landscape the desert feel. I wanted the viewer to think that there was constantly dust and sand blowing around. That this was not any normal desert, that this "alien" desert was much harsher than we are used to here. 

Here are the concept images:

The second image I cropped the sky and planets out of and then added them to the background of the first. I moved everything over in the skyline and took the colors ad blended them. The colors in the first picture I used more than the second because I wanted more of a familiar desert feel. Not that I didn't want it to feel Alien (that is always my goal) but I want the player to instantly realize this is a desert planet. 

I then added the text and placed Roland at the end of the footprints with a blur. This made him look further away and more mysterious. I really liked the particular way he turned out. 

My updated designs I felt came out really well. There were a lot of things I wish I knew how to do but unfortunately do not. What I did know however, I applied.

Here is my old and updated game cover/poster:

I added a new 3D text to make the letter stand out. I think in a final design I would remove this though because after a while it began to bug me. I put in a background of Rolan walking through the desert to give the player an accurate depiction of what he is about. A contrast to the Gunslinger focal point of the cover. I also blurred the background to give it the effect that he is standing in front of fire, perfect symbolism for what the player will be doing.

The second poster I did was not in my original design. It was just a minimalistic idea I had that I wanted to come to life:

This actually may end up being what I go with, as much as I like my original idea I'm a BIG fan of simplicity.

Now this one needs work as well but I wanted my poster to be as simple as this so I will be screwing around to see what works.

Here is another new version of a previous picture:

A third one:

All of these I changed up the colors and made them more appropriate to what the game was about. The second picture I put in a better background and changed the color designs of the guns. I added colors and turned the greens into blacks and silvers.

I also took the crows and moved them from the foreground to the background. I felt they were too distracting.

The third poster I took the old purple palette and almost completely removed it in favor of a more black and white look. I brightened the moon and made it look less like an alien planet and more like a desert. 

I started working on the palettes with the individual posters I did. First I took one of my favorite games and took out the color scheme:

I love the art design and style of Wind Waker. The blues and reds all look great together and work REALLY WELL. It gives the game the perfect level of cartoon/cell-shading/atmosphere that you come to expect from a game of Zelda.

The Blues blend together into the Ocean/Ganondorf, the Red blends into the title and boat. The yellows are the graphics and clouds while the Greens are link.

My Gunslinger ones are completely different. There almost no similarities between the two designs. Wind Waker takes place in the Ocean and Gunslinger takes place in the desert. Geographically polar opposites.

Therefore the color scheme is much more about yellows and reds and less blues and greens.

Here is the poster I made. As you can see it consists of pretty much only three colors, and even two of those are similar is scope. The yellow and orange blend very nicely together and gives the viewer the idea that the game takes place in the desert. The black blends the Gunslinger and Crows together giving a dark outline and perfect symbology. 

In line with the previous poster I have the second one here. It has the same yellow more-or-less, and black. Both I pulled off the original piece and put in here. Again they give the impression of a desert. 

Here I changed it up a little. The background picture I stole off google and used. It shows an alien landscape in a desert somewhere else in the universe, perfect for the plot. The fact of the matter is the Gunslinger does not take place on Earth yet it's not a Sci-Fi game. It is more in an alternative universe to ours. Therefore the landscape and planets will be different, as well as the people and creatures the player encounters. The color scheme here portrays the coming night-time and the full scope of the desert. It goes on for miles and miles and the blues create the idea that things have distance will simultaneously showing how different it is in this landscape. 

An addition to my post on Tuesday. Here are a few things I've been working on.

A potential poster/game cover:

And the weapons used in-game:

And finally the landscapes:

Roland's journey is one of loneliness. He does not have any companions, and even when he does he is never attached to them. He always knows that they will weigh him down and in the end be a burden.

This is why the player will only really ever experience one character. This is perfect though because the player will become Roland in the game. They will project themselves unto the character and feel more a part of the game.

The story line will follow the books to an extent. I will change things up a little bit to make it more exciting and to add more action. I would also like to add a steam punk element to the plot. It could work really well with the initial idea and give the game interesting weapons and enemies.


For the most part the player will be doing two things:

1. Traveling. In the beginning of the game the player is given the mission he will have the whole game. "Capture the Man in Black." This man is fleeing from you and you as a "Gunslinger" or "Bounty Hunter" are after him. But the player doesn't know why, you will only discover until later that Roland is not after him for the bounty but much more.

2. Shooting. Roland is a master of the double revolvers. Honing his skill for years just to get the title of Gunslinger. His prowess will be similar to the mechanics in Red Dead Redemption with the dead eye and other perks.


He will encounter villages as well, and nomads in the desert.

And other Bounty Hunters.

 

Eventually uncovering the truth behind Roland. In the end you will be shrouded in mystery, discovering a brave new world and killing A LOT of people. 

My idea for my game was to bring to life the world of Stephen King. His Dark Tower series are a group of books that are my favorite ever.

This world takes place in an alternate plane to that of Earth. In the beginning you are in the desert and the main character Roland is trekking across chasing down "the man in black."

Roland is a bounty hunter who is a cross between an old west gunslinger and a sci-fi Jango Fett. His nickname is "the gunslinger" and his past is haunted by atrocities that he committed. His skills are unmatched and he was born to fill the roll that he has.

The game will be a basic live action RPG where the game is sandbox style but it is not open for you to go anywhere. It focuses a lot of the story and plot, as well as realism. I want the people to be immersed in the story and to "become" Roland. 

There's a few things we'd have to worry about especially copyright. However, I may make the game unique enough to go around this. 

The concept:

The final outcome of my quick-start guide actually ended up being nothing like any of my thumbnails. It wasn't that I didn't like them, far from it, it was just that when I began designing the final product my mind just went in a different direction.

I really, really liked the end result. It was simple, black and white, and left almost no room for error. It was a little more wordy than I would have preferred but it was hard not too when my goal was to explain a game to them. I did not want to leave the user guessing.

Some of the new images I used were these: 

I was lucky I didn't have to go with/through too many images. The bottom three are pretty self-explanatory; they're pictures of rock, paper and scissors; the basic components of the game.

The top one however is a picture of Confucius. Now rock, paper, scissors was neither invented nor has anything to do with this Philosopher. However, I wanted to put him in their because he is an easily recognizable Chinese figure and many of the people around during the invention of the game do not have pictures. 

All I did was put these images together with a suitable font and the rest kind of sorted itself out. 

When I began the process of designing this quick-start guide I wanted it to be as simple as possible. My goal was for it to be just a few words, and as many pictures as I could manage.

Another important concept for me was to allow for the user to read between the lines. With a game as easy as rock, paper, scissors it's hard to make a confusing guide. Even so, it is feasible. I solved this issue though with making every thumbnail impossible to screw up.

Here it is:

The first row of sketches were my original attempt to create a mostly visual explanation. With as little words as possible and as many pictures as I could manage.

The second row was a more normal take on the guide. This row features mainly headers, and sub-texts with the steps to winning rock, paper, scissors.

Third row and fourth are a combination of the first two. I had about an equal amount of pictures and words in each and I played around with the designs until I got my favorite few images. These ones are not super simple, but simple enough to be minimalistic but leaving no room for error.







Research:

The images I used can be seen in the sketches.

This one in particular: 

I took the hand designs in this image and utilized them in almost every sketch I did. I really liked the way the artist made the hands in a very black-and-white concept.


This picture:

This one became the concept behind thumbnails seven and three. I liked the circular design and the way it could be put into the quick-start guide to show how to play the game. Just a simple re-design and some added shapes and it could be the basis of the finished product. It is probably my favorite one to get my idea across.

This final image:

Was the other idea behind seven. The actual rocks, paper and scissors I couldn't really vibe with but in the end it really grew on me. The hand symbols along with the actual objects were an interesting take on it and simple at that. With less than three words between every single image, this picture became the background plan of most, if not all the thumbnails.

All these images were crucial in the ten designs I presented, even though some are better than others.