Interstellar Tortoise

7/18/08

Um… Well… scratch that last entry. 

I did some more tests and decided to do all of the work as vector art inside Flash.  I came up with a really simple buy appealing style that I can create really quickly and should be able to reuse as much as the pixel art that I was thinking to do. 

This is kind of a big deal for me because I am so accustomed to doing things so detailed – This will be a huge departure from my usual stuff.  Here is why I’ve changed my mind:

1.       Small file sizes

2.       reusability

3.       this style is fast to make

4.       Its appealing to the average person

5.       I will learn a new art style

6.       It is totally portable to different file sizes

7.       I can create it right inside Flash

8.       It looks BEAUTIFUL on hi rez screens.

9.       It just feels right

(Journal 7.10.2008)

Well, I finally conclusively decided on the art style for the whole of the game. I started thinking about how nifty it would be if I could get a port onto the DS, and started thinking what it would be like to make everything at that screen resolution.

So I did a few tests. I realized that using the DS screen resolution could do quite a few good things me, as well as for the game:

• Drop the file size for the Art to roughly 1/5^th what I was originally thinking.
• Drop the time it would take to create each background at least in half.
• The production environment would be far more familiar for me – as this is very similar to what I was doing when I worked at Handheld Games. This would also make it easier to make time predictions for scheduling.
• This would make the game more portable into new environments.
• This would make it easier to reuse art in different areas of the game.
• This would make it easier to have a more consistent look throughout the game.
• This would keep me from doing anything too drastic artistically – and avoid alienating audiences.

So I am now committed to this. Its going to be great.