Its All About Location, Location, Location

I've been working on a world for many years, but the only progress I have made is having the rooms made. The world has changed over and over and over again. These changes weren't just style updates or room updates. They were story changes too. The entire environment was changed! These maps will help you understand how much my ideas have changed:

Long ago, I had the idea to have a snow covered world. In this arctic location, I had unique snowy characters. This first world had all of the basic ideas for the upcoming ones. Most of my worlds' room ideas came to me while creating this world. (The random patch of grass on the left was because I didn't like having only snow).

Later on, I realized that one snowy game is enough and that having mine would be too much. I switched over to a warmer location with grass and bigger mountains and more trees. This world's colors were much better. Also, while some of the rooms moved to other parts of the island, many stayed put (some rooms were removed).

I had this idea of a world in the sky. I changed my island into a floating one. You may notice that it is very similar to the world before it. The only big change here is the new location.

Having a world in the sky was unique and all, but it really bugged me that there was no ocean. I wanted so badly for there to be an ocean around my island. I switched back to the location of the second island, but I changed the island shape and style as well.

The location of these worlds changes them very much. If you are making or plan on making a world, try to choose where you want it to be. Otherwise you could be like me and keep changing it until you find a good place to stay.

Stay put
—Alex Eskimo

Establish a Style: Part 2

So a few days ago a talked about keeping a consistent style throughout a project ( designpowerpoint.blogspot.com/2013/01/establish-style.html ). Today I will showcase a great example of this. The growing MMOG Kingdom Island started out with many rooms that all shared the same style. Here are a couple of rooms from the Free iOS version:

In-game snapshots of Kingdom Island iOS

Later on Kingdom Island released an HD iOS version that had completely new rooms! When they made the change, they made the change to every room (except one, but it still fit well). Here are the updated versions of the same rooms shown earlier:

In-game snapshots of Kingdom Island HTML

The designer, Qazar, did a great job in keeping the game's style consistent after the update. When you walk from room to room the style flows with you. Please go check out these designs in the game! You can play the game at www.kingdomisland.com/play or check out the forums at www.kingdomisland.com/forum It is also available in the App Store for iOS!

Stay consistent...please!
—Alex Eskimo

The PowerPoint Prodigy

Hi guys. Today I'm going to talk about how I got started drawing on PowerPoint. I've always been an artist, but one day in the summer of 2006 I stumbled upon a website with drawings of penguins made on the computer. The website and its drawings were created by a man that goes by the username of Qazar. I was astounded by not only the artwork but the medium. I found a video on YouTube of Qazar drawing a penguin on PowerPoint. I watched very closely to see what tools he used and how he made the drawings. I quickly adapted to the program and became familiar with the tools.

I then taught myself how to use more complex tools and how to edit the shapes. Other than the basics that I saw on that YouTube video, I learned everything by teaching myself. I learned not only about PowerPoint, but art itself (color schemes, perspective, shading). I became very fond of the program and later taught myself to make slide-by-slide animations and short movies. I even taught a class on how to animate in PowerPoint when I was in 6th grade.

I've changed immensely in the past 2 years in style. I've gotten a steady hand on making jagged lines with a scribbling mouse, and a logical system of creating smooth curves and sharp points with the freeform tool.

All in all, the PowerPoint experience is a learning one. There's always much to learn about designing, and PowerPoint is a great classroom for it.

Stay bright
—Alex Eskimo

One from 2006

Hi everyone. Today I want to talk about getting started. I started drawing on the computer about 6.5 years ago in 2006. When I started out, I drew things from the game Club Penguin. I was entertained by drawing penguins and rooms. I went into my PowerPoint files and found the oldest drawing that I have saved. Its not the first thing I ever drew, but its only with a few months of experience. Now, keep in mind that this was 6.5 years ago when I was only in 4th grade...

I almost find it funny that I used some of the default Word Art choices! I also find it funny that I used the curve tool so much...and I can't believe how often I used autoshapes...and what poor color schemes I chose...and my poor use of gradients...and my lack of shading.

As you can see, I've gotten better since I started out and I want you all to remember that you won't start out as a top-notch designer. Practice makes perfect. You need to keep working at it and you will get better and better.

Stay motivated
—Alex Eskimo

Establish a Style

Hi everyone! Today I want to talk about style. Have you ever noticed how a designer usually sticks to one way to drawing? If you're interested in games and game design you will see that each piece of the game is drawn in one consistent style. If you look at the popular MMO Club Penguin, you will notice that their early designs from 2006 and 2007 are all in the same style and when you walked from room to room, the style flowed nicely throughout your experience. Here I have the old dock and the iceberg rooms from Club Penguin:

Images from clubpenguin.wikia.com

Now take a look at the rooms now. Some rooms are newly updated from just a few weeks ago, but there are other rooms that haven't changed since Club Penguin opened up! Here you can see not only how the style has changed throughout time, but how the style actually differs right now as of today! When you go from one of these new rooms to an older room its almost as if you've walked into another game. Here is the new dock and the current iceberg:

 Images from clubpenguin.wikia.com

These new designs look great, but they aren't consistent with the older rooms. When you guys are out designing, please oh, please establish a style before you get too far into your career. Yes, your style WILL change as you develop as a designer, but if you are creating a collection of pieces (like you would when creating a game) the gaming experience is much more enjoyable when your designs flow evenly throughout the game. Whether your style is loud or quiet, lined or unlined, dark or bright, please stay consistent throughout a project.


Stay stylish
    —Alex Eskimo