For this summative task, we will:
- Develop a Design Specification
- Complete sketches in your notebook
- Create a storyboard for your game
- Compare the storyboard to the design spec
- Develop an inspiration board
Develop A Design Specification
See specification examples here.
The spec should outline your target audience, what the game will teach, some of the aesthetics and tools you will use to create.
Click on the “see inside” button to see the costumes.
I found this sneaky toast character using some of the resources below. Check them out!
The “next costume” block runs through all the costumes.
I also changed the direction to left right so it doesn’t walk on its head 🙂
Copyright and Fair Use
Everyone knows that copying and pasting text is plagiarism. Did you know that the same is true for images, videos, and audio? Using other people’s work without written permission is called copyright infringement.
Luckily there’s The Creative Commons
Image Types
The two main image file types on the internet are “.jpg” and “.png”
The image on the left is a jpg file and has a background. The image on the right is a png file.
the image on the right doesn’t have a background. This is helpful if you want to place it on your own background.
To remove the background, you need to edit the image or download an image file that is a png. Don’t take a screenshot of the png. This will result in an image with a checkered background.
See below for how to remove the background.
Bevouliin Game Art?
Pixabay gifs?
Google Image Search
Pixabay ?
Open Clipart ?
PNG Tree?
Image Text?
*Tip– You can select multiple images by holding the shift key.
Create an 8-bit style sprite
Resize your Piskel project for best results.
Voices
Use the “text to speech” block in Scratch to make your project talk
Your can also use Read Loud
website where you can easily download any phrase that you type.
The Scratch sound module, which is built into scratch, is an excellent way to record your voice or sound effects for your games. Find a quiet room when recording.
Create MP3 audio files from text. Upload them to Scratch.
Read Loud?
Sound effects & Music tracks
Databases of creative commons licensed audio files. They can be used for free, but should be attributed. Downloading music from YouTube or any other website without written permission is considered copyright infringement (stealing).
Music for games
Audio Nauti
Pixabay Sound Effects
Trim mp3 files and use only what you need
Audio Trimmer
Here is an example of a speech bubble in use
“Thumbs Up”, by Paul, Licensed under CC by 2.0
Develop Design Ideas
For this task, we will develop:
-
sketches in our design book
-
a storyboard for the game
Here are some examples of student sketches. They show that the student is thinking through the design possibilities.
Simple sketches can be used. It’s important to communicate what you SEE, HEAR, and the FUNCTION in each frame.
Develop Your Final Design
Communicate the overall visual appearance of your game with an Inspiration Board
Use the ColorZilla tool 
to pick a color from any webpage for use in other apps. The color hex number can be noted on your final design.
Install it below.
ColorZilla
Outline of overall visual appearance
I will use a cookie as the sprite that guides the TA in the game. The Villi are going to be simple shapes drawn in the Scratch costume panel. I will sketch some of my sprites myself but some will be found on Pixabay.com.
My colors will mainly be in earthy warm tones and reddish tones that match the digestion theme.
Familiarize yourself with the command terms below.
