Enemy Warrior
As of the time of writing, there is currently only 2 enemy types that only fit the theme of the first map - Prison Area. There is a large difference between the art styles of these enemies, main character and planned bosses. This can be seen by the different shading style and character proportions. The design of the bosses will fit closely with the main character with the exception of the Elf. To fit closely with the design of the main character, the Art Asset Guide has been followed closely and the main character has been referenced when designing these warriors.
Each warrior will match the theme of the Map that they guard. This will make the game more visually appealing and feel as though progress is being made with the designs changing throughout the game. Since the other maps have bosses that will be designed around the main character, having the elves populate those maps would look out of place so at least 1 type of enemy is desperately required.
From the general design of the character, more enemies with a variety of colours and styles have been created to populate the other areas of the map. The frames and reasoning behind the initial concepts can be found here Hell Warrior and Asgard Warrior.
Since the proportions of the enemies and the main character will be very similar, there needs to be ways to easily identify the main character out of a screen of similar entities. This was done mainly through the use of colour scheme of the enemies. Since the camera will be centred around the main character, it should be easy to locate the character with the distinct clothing colours.
Some sample enemy designs had been created and determined if implementation would fit the game well. Each of these designs had the theme of the maps in mind. These are only concept designs that would later on be developed into the complete set of animations required to create the enemy. The base frames would also be adapted to fit the maps.
For the warrior on the left (golden beard), it was decided that they would fit well with the deeper levels of the game due to the higher class clothing as well as the colour of the clothing. The weapon of choice was a sword, the use of a sword came off as more royal and higher class than an axe. Ideas for an axe wielding enemy are also being worked on, specifically for the Hel map due to the ruggedness of the area. The warrior in the middle (dark brown beard), could potentially use this as the theme looks similar to the Hel map. Some things to keep in mind is the visual clarity for the player due to the variety of colours.
After creating a design that would be suitable as a basis for the enemy designs, the artworks would need to be adapted for the directions of movement possible by the character. These would be the basis for the walking, attacking and death animations of the character.
The designs of the characters will be tested within the game later but the designs fit well with the main character, visually and thematically. The addition of these warriors into the game will allow for much more variety between the maps and this is important due to the repetitive nature of the game. These designs will later have their colours and accessories adapted to match the map well. The colours used will need to be considered however.
Due to the late addition of the maps into the game and no real way of implementing the enemies into the map as of yet. A questionnaire was based on the concepts behind the and initial concepts of the enemy design.
A set of images for the maps and initial enemy concepts have been collated and placed users have been asked questions based on them. A set of 8 people had been asked for their input. These subjects had a range of different backgrounds but most notably were within a 19 - 22 age group and also played games. Although this selection may be biased, it was similar to the target market for the game since they were the types of people who would play the game.
A summary of all of the feedback has been created for each of the questions they were all open ended questions.
1. All of the enemies were compared to the main character, other enemies that are currently in the game and the Norse theme. Each of the users were asked whether the designs fit with both the enemies and the main character?
Generally, the designs of each of the enemies were well received and was said to have matched the main character well. Due to the lack of background of the storyline as well as where each of the enemies were being placed such as Asgard and Hell, the Asgard and Hell characters were said to have deviated slightly from the general design. This was due to the drastic colour differences but it was understood later that these enemies were not commoners and there was some supernatural aspects due to Hell and Asgard.
Comparing the enemies to the elf enemies, many of the people had said that the enemies did not match very well, however the designs did match with the main character. Most people liked how the art style matched well with the main character and felt that the elves did not fit in well due to their drastically different proportions, shading style and animations.
2. Are the designs of the enemies too similar to the main character and will this affect visual clarity?
The designs for the Hell warrior and the Outdoor Warrior were easily distinguished and most people said that they would not have an issue with visual clashes between the enemy and the main character. This was due to the difference in colours and helmet styles even while they were using the same base body. This result was taken quite lightly since the subjects were not able to test the implementatation.
The Asgard Warrior was slightly more controversial due to the similarity between the maroon cape colour but changing this colour would mean that the enemy colour scheme would no longer match Odin, the boss. Others had not minded due to other differences between the characters such as using a spear, not wearing and helmet, a large shield and golden shoulderpads.
3. Each of the designs were compared to the map that they were to be implemented into and were determined if the colours of the characters would be visually confusing.
There was a drastic difference between the colour scheme of the Asgard Warrior and the map designed specifically for them as well as the Outdoor area. Some places of concern is the Hell area due to the dark floor tiles as well as the dark amour of the enemy. There is no real way of testing this at the moment since no Hell map has been implemented yet and this feedback would be considered later when more thorough testing could be carried out.
In the meantime, the design of the Hell character has had their armour around the chest area lightened to increase the contrast between the floor tiling and the enemy.
Most people were happy with the designs and determined that since there were no animations and implementation, it would be difficult to gauge if there were any issues. Again, some of the issues that had been discussed were also included here. The drastic difference between the Elf enemies, the Main Character as well as the Human enemies was quite jarring and justifying the differences due to species types may not slide well.
This user testing questionnaire had given us the go head on the designs of the enemies. The full set of animations can be found here: Hell Warrior and Asgard Warrior.