Hello this is the second designer blog for the game Elementalist being created and produced at Chico State within the Computer Animation and Game Design major. My name is Dylan Levy-Gantt and I will be sharing my thoughts on the production process and the general direction the game is moving. 

Starting off, the first two sprints for the game resulted in amazing work and productivity for the team. There was also as successful play test to show off base movement mechanics that was very well received. Everyone is extremely passionate to continue creating the game and along the way have been able to collaborate on the design process and ideas for style changes. This production process has been a great experience and I'm here to show off the amazing work produced by the team. 

First off I want to show off the design direction of our characters from our extremely talented 2D artist Michael.

In Elementalist, the main feeling I want players to have is that they are controlling a powerful element that is freely moving and capable of many movement options. In this first concept art, Michael drew the water elemental spirit which will represent our blue character. The water spirit will be able to do floaty jumps and freeze enemies with his water aura so I wanted a character that feels like it was born from a tornado of magic. 

The next character in line is the Earth type character that can bury himself and launch rocks at enemies. Michael was able to create a very nice looking rock spirit with the body connected to the ground in order to convey the ability to bury into the land and become one with the level. This character iteration is meant to make the player feel like he/she is a strong elemental spirit with a lot of capabilities in movement and attacks. These character concepts are great because the game is very quick and I want the player to be able to control something that is bursting with power.

Next I would like to discuss the progress in level design because this game is heavy on platforming and finding your best way throughout the levels.

This sprint we had a play test of the main mechanics of the game so to accompany it we had to create our first full level. This picture above represents the hub world that you can traverse to go to the other levels in the game. This layout resulted in a fun, puzzle-like map that the player was free to use their movement mechanics as they please. Allowing the player to traverse freely is a huge part of the game and one that needs to be expanded upon in later iterations. This level, however, served its purpose and was a great proof of concept for how the game will play in the long run. 

Moving forward, I would like to highlight the amazing textures and map skins the team has produced for the game to fully feel like a real nature theme. These textures are the result of going after a scorched earth theme, and a lost sands theme. This resulted in modular and dynamic blocks that can be turned any number of ways to get a different texture in order to border the screen correctly. I really like the efficiency of this process because it allows us to get multiple skins for different areas of the map with little extra effort. These themed blocks will be crucial to game feel and general map theme. Very nice!

Last up I want to highlight our amazing animations for the main character from the animation team. Above is the idle animation that will have the character randomly flex when remaining idle for a certain amount of time. This animation was inspired by Captain Falcon of Smash Bros' because he is bursting with power, similar to the characters in  the game. I am extremely satisfied with the work and effort put in to this animation from the team and I hope to see more in the future. 

Next up for the main character is the dash animation which highlights the characters speed and precision. This of course is inspired from Naruto because of the swift nature and powerful demeanor this animation shows. Again, the animation team is working super hard on this project and it is really showing well.

Overall this production process has been a great leap in the direction of the game and how the game artistically feels to the player. We had our first successful play test and the speed feels great to the player. Looking forward to the development of the game even further.