BlueBoothStudios
joined
We love classic video games, and want to make inspiring, funny and engaging game experiences utilizing emerging student talent to make the world of gaming a better, more open place.
Blue Booth Studios was founded by Michael Morris and Brian Hoeksema on September 4th, 2012. Blue Booth works as an indie game development company, focused on providing new, commercial-grade video game experiences to our customers and providing valuable experience for student interns and other start-up companies along the way.
Blue Booth Studios is one of the first companies on University of Alberta's eHUB, and proud member of Startup Edmonton's Students to Startups pilot program.
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If the industry drive for more graphically impressive games has taught us anything, it would be that visually complex designs are superior to more rudimentary ones. And yet I know that many of you are already picking apart that logic with examples of how that isn't always the case. That is, as a small example, my point in this article.
When it comes to a characters color scheme - less is more. My rule of thumb is between 1 - 3 colors, anything more is too much. That may seem harsh, but when you think about memorable characters, you'll begin to realize this rule is followed more often than not. At least with characters you remember. Now I should be clear, this color limit doesn't include variants of color from lighting, shadows, and gradients. But keeping it to such a low limit makes the character immediately visually recognizable.
Let's go over a few examples. Meatboy is red and white. Consider Batman; his primary colors are either blue and grey, or black and yellow, or black and grey, depending on which version of the character you go with. The first two designs are better than the third - why? The two colors chosen are high contrast to one another, creating a visual color conflict, but natural variation in the colors give the eye enough detail to work with to buy the design as a whole. The colors themselves also highlight elements of the character - black has ties to night, darkness, and seriousness/brooding, and the yellow stands out as a flashiness that wars with the otherwise functional suit design, representing the flashy excesses of the batman character. In a similar way, your own character designs should focus on a few colors of high contrast with symbolic ties to your character.
Our design for Francis takes these lessons to heart - his colors are white, blue, and purple, each substantial in contrast, yet not so severe you wonder what happened to his clothes. The white represents Francis' innocence and purity, the blue represents his loyalty to his friends, and the purple hints at Francis' noble origins among the aristocracy.
Follow these rules and you'll be well on your way to creating more visually memorable characters!
PS. Mandatory half-hearted disclaimer about not owning Meatboy and Batman or any related works.
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Blue Booth Studios
1 member Developer & PublisherWe love classic video games, and want to make inspiring, funny and engaging game experiences utilizing emerging student talent to make the world of gaming...
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My ladyfriend is getting started in gaming again. Of course, she chose Dark Souls to start with. Now that takes some courage.
Officially bested Dark Souls, and I'm on the last boss on Demon's Souls. It's funny how difficulty changes as skill-sets for specific game-types improve.
Major projects are finally completed! This means we can finally get more in the way of updates again.
Meeting with marketing candidates went well. We have a few more candidates to meet later on, but things are looking promising!
Looking at two candidates to help with marketing - first meeting tomorrow. Excited!
In the meantime, "Witch and the Hundred Knight" continues to defy my (substantial) abilities to catalog it as a gameplay experience. It breaks so many rules. Opinion is moving from shocked to positive, however.
We just picked up our keys to the shared space at Startup Edmonton today for the Students to Startups Program, got in contact with a new marketing prospect, and got our legalese focused with feedback from Kent Greaves. All in all, exciting times!
Holy crap, "The Witch and the Hundred Knight" is WEIRD. Kinda awesome, but strange. Hands down the most profanity I have ever heard in a game, and The Witch is violent to the point of being mildly shocking.
I really don't know what to expect next. And that could possibly be a great compliment.
Just finished playing most of Dark Souls 2. And by most, I mean "finally got bored of things killing me in two hits." Honestly, it's a pretty solid game - Dark Souls difficult, but better balanced, better paced, and somewhat more newbie friendly without truly compromising it's difficulty (ie. you can get up to three chances to respec your character throughout the game). What did everyone else think about it?