SERENITY

Conception and implementation of a 2D-game-character and their animation.

Overview

Type of project – Video Game
Context – Bachelor Thesis, University Study
Type of Game – 2D mock-up Game to showcase hand-animated Character
My Postition – 2D Animation, Character Design
Software used – Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Unity, Texture Packer

Team – Solo-Project
Production time – 3 Months
Date – Wintersemester 2020/21
Status – Finalised
Coach – Prof. Jan Berger

Video of animated character moving through Unity environment via a programmed character controller.

Description

SERENITY is my bachelor project, for which I decided to hone my 2D Animation skills by conceptualizing, designing and animating a game character.

To create an interesting character, I decided on a special environment and situation in which my character “Dísa” would grow and develop into a fleshed out idea.
The idea could be described as “Sci-Fi Vikings in Space” – I wanted the main character to be a young viking girl, starting her journey on a small homeplanet, from which she travels through space to find her parents and her lost tribe. Based on a loose backgroundstory, I started to design her character to be something between viking and Sci-Fi attire.

Her animations were first created in Krita, then in Clip Studio Paint. They were implemented into Unity via spritesheets and the script to control her as a game characater made use of the Unity Animator. While three animations (Idle, Run, Jump) made it into the game, additional three needed to be left in a rough stage to save time.
The animations were created frame by frame at 24 FPS and reviewed by my professor Jan Berger.