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Gameplay Video

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UI code

This image shows the code I put together to set up the buttons. The two different button are for changing the head and then the backgrounds. To add a higher level of detail, I have added a flipped version of the button so it is like the dial is turning when the player presses the button. I have also added sound to include another fun element. I search for static sounds on FreeSounds and found the perfect ones that set the scene.

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More Animations

As I have been making a lot of progress these couples of days, i completely forgot to showcase these extra animations. It has been very tempting to just make loads of heads as that is where I can add extra detail which I enjoy, but to make randomness 'even', I made sure to make one of each. So I have: impatient dinosaur/monster, astronaut messing with their visor and a funky skeleton. When mixed with the other animations, they look really silly and fun which is what I wanted to achieve so I am happy with them.

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Backgrounds

I wanted to ensure that there was a variety of different backgrounds, ranging from quite detailed to just plain colour to really showcase the character animations.

Considering the fact that I only spent an afternoon coming up with these, I am very happy with the result. I'd say my favourites are the underwater one and the stage!

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Unreal Setup

I have now added all the animations so I have looked into how I wanted to display them and implemented this. I really like the idea of a have a retro TV and having the character change when you press one of the buttons. Therefore, I did some research on how I'd like it to look and found these two reference. It got me thinking about whether I could also have backgrounds too to add to the level of detail and depth. Below, you can see what I have come up with and I think it came out really well! I used skew on the text I found to make it look like the brand, and added the dials which act as the button to input the random characters and now backgrounds!

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Astronaut Neck Problem

I found an issue when I had imported all of my animations. For some reason that I am yet to understand, the astronaut sprite doesn't connect to the torso in the way the other heads do. I spent a while fiddling with the Photoshop file and how I exported it but this wasn't solving anything. So I took the initiative to find another solution, it definitely isn't the most efficient at all but I think it does the job considering it is now barely noticeable. I went into the character viewport and add a very thin cube behind where the neck would be, this connects the two sprites and accommodates the issues without spending too much time on it.

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Unreal Time!

As we are heading into the last couple of days that we will have time to work on this project, I thought it was finally time to start importing my animations into Unreal and setting up the code to make it work. I originally went into it with the idea of using data tables like in the workshops we have done but it turns out there is a much quicker and easier way of doing it. I used arrays for the heads, middle and legs and set up these with custom events so I could reference them with a button. In the viewport, I made sure to set the default sprites so that there was one spawned when the game started. Now I want to go in and set up how I will displays these animations.

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Mermaid Animation Complete?

This afternoon I have been spending a lot of time making this animation really flow together, I want this as mermaid's movements always look fluid as they are underwater. However I have made a few variations and now can't decide which one will be final. So here are my thoughts:

This one looks very clunky and doesn't flow well at all

To improve this one, I added one extra frame which made it start to look like how I wanted it

I added another extra frame which made the flow more effective

This final one looks the best as it is more 'realistic' to what a mermaid tail would look like underwater.

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Anti Aliasing

I encountered a problem as I was trying to rotate and transform the tail for the different frames of the animation. When it moved it made certain pixels go more transparent which was frustrated as I wanted it to be a seamless movement, I tried lot of different options of what it could be until I asked my peers and found this very helpful article. It solved the problem instantly as it was just a box that needed unticking which is why I missed it! It will now be easier to change the tail to fit with the frames more realistically.

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Progress!

This is where I am with at the moment with the mermaid tail. I like that it has the movement already with the position of the tail which makes me think it will look very effective when it's animated.

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Mermaid References

The next sprite will be legs so I wanted to do something completely unique. This is because so far with the animations I have made, each section has had a silly version then a toned down one, like the frog head against the bubblegum... For that reason I decided I am going to a mermaid tail! This will add a cool element of a floating half mermaid character which will look really cool. I picked these references as it has showed me how detailed and simple I could be with it and I would like to find the perfect balance of both.

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Final Animation

I am so happy with how this come out! I think it is very effective and looks distinctive. I made sure to take time and really find out what would make the animation more realistic, which gave me the opportunity to get the blink frame just right. I feel like I've already showed good progress with all the different designs I have done as they keep looking better!

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New Sprite

I went into this sprite with the thoughts of making something fairly basic so I went ahead and started with a basic face shape and then added the hair which gave it a lot of character. After these two elements it was deciding how the facial features should look which took some time to figure out. It has come together well and I am happy to move onto the animation now.

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Chewing Reference

For my next character sprite, I really wanted to someone chewing bubblegum. I think it's because it's something that you often see in cartoons and it looks good even though it's fairly simple. As quite a few of my other sprites are a bit more comical and colourful, it will be effective to have a simpler one!

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Banana Shoes Animation

I think this animation gives the effect I want and looks silly and unique. It will work well with the other sprites, especially since the plain trousers give the other elements of the overall sprite a chance to shine as it separates the funky colours up a bit.

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Banana Shoes

I really like how simple but effective this looks. it didn't take too long as I knew all the detail would go into the shoes. One feature I did add were the bruised spots which makes it much more recognizable. This is because without them they just look like yellow elf shoes!

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Third Sprite Ideas

As I have now completed one top and middle sprite, I think it's a good idea to have a look at what I could do for the bottom. I rally like the idea of making something as comical as the last two as I find it more fun to make and it fits with the theme! I want to do make the legs to do with falling or slipping over which reminded me of the way the characters in scooby doo run. It would be funny to replicate this but I would like it to involve an element of silliness so my plan is to make a sprites struggling to stand straight because of their banana shoes!