A screenshot from the game.
Although all my art did not make it into the game due to time constraints, I will be showing my development in this post.
The daytime background with animations of the flashing 'open' sign and flies around the bin bags.
The evening version of the background with animated flashing signs and streetlamp, and motorcycle headlight.
The night background with twinkling stars added!
To start off, I created rough concepts for the side-scrolling environment that the game would take place in. I gathered many references that I felt suited the neon-light city aesthetic we wanted.
The incorporation of colour into the rough sketch. I wanted to replicate the bright neon lights that Tōkyō is famous for! I experimented with a high rise city background, but decided that a city street would be more effective.
An example of how I gathered real reference images from Google Earth and then made pixelated versions based on the real buildings. The sign reads 'Tonkatsu' meaning Japanese Pork Cutlet, signifying that this building is a restaurant.
The three variations I made of the finished background.
All the animations of the main character of the game including an idle, run, attack, combo, knock down, and revive animation. All the characters I created share these animations.
The first version of the main character. I ended up changing her design as when we conducted playtests, the players thought she was a schoolgirl rather than affiliated with a gang. So, I made her more extreme!
The idle animation.
The attack animation.
The secondary attack animation.
The combo animation.
The run animation.
The dash animation.
The knocked out animation.
The revive animation.
I also created an uninjured version of the main character that initially was intended to be used before the character got into any conflict.
Additionally, I made a moderately injured version of the main character too to once again show progression up until the extreme version.
An alternate version of the main character, created for a second player to play the game. There are variations in hair colour, shoe and earring colour, make-up and scar placement.
Idle animation for the tutorial character who helps the main character learn how to fight! She is a more experienced member of the Bōsōzoku gang, so her design is a bit more mature and reflective of this.
Full animation of the boyfriend enemy character. Because he is a humorous character, I made his pompadour very exaggerated! He was based on the 'yankii' subculture of Japan.
The full animation of the mum enemy character. To show that she is older, I made her taller, with a more mature style.
The full animation of the generic enemy. I fashioned these characters after the Yakuza, with flashy clothes and chest tattoos.
All generic enemy colour variations.
I also created some UI for the game! Here is a loading screen icon, in the shape of a motorcycle wheel!
The secondary character with the health bar UI - green being player health, and red being the enemy health.
The textbox! We decided on this design as the bright red accents drew the attention of the player to the textbox and made it stand out from the background
'B-S-ZOKU' - Pixel Art and Animations
'B-S-Zoku' is a a fast-paced 2D beat em’ up side scrolling game with narrative, set in the late half of the 20th century in Japan. This project was inspired by the real-life Bōsōzoku gangs prevalent in Japan in the 1980s. The game was created by a team of four during a quick 2 week period for a MA Game Art University Assignment about rapid prototyping and iteration! You can download and play the game here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uouq5Xun9B4IYJpz1HSTtkWfgc-vnAUI/view
I worked fully on all art assets for this game, and it was my first time creating pixel art! It was a really rewarding and fun experience, and I am proud of what I created in such a small timeframe! I also have a blog in which I spoke about this project! This can be viewed here: https://adelelouiserichards.wordpress.com/blog/