Task 1

This task was to create a cover for either a game or a movie. My game is called
The Chronicles of Squeaky Cheese Droppings and is about 3 mice (named
Squeaky, Cheese and Droppings). The target audience is mainly older teens, as
this game is rather violent and brings the events of the time of the three blind
mice to the present day. This will most likely be played by males between the
ages of 14-19.

To create my cover, I first obtained a PS3 game cover template. I went onto
Google Images (http://images.google.com) and searched for Call of Duty Black
Ops. The image I chose was (1). I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended to edit
and create my cover. I first selected all but the top bar of the cover (the actual
Black Ops cover) and deleted all of it. I then applied a similar gradient to the
blank section to look somewhat the same as the top bar that displays “PS3”
using the gradient tool.

I then thought of the title and decided I wanted to actually show the three blind
mice. Therefore I searched, on Google, for a mouse that was cartoon-like. The
image I found was (2). In Photoshop, I used the magic wand tool to remove the
white background to only leave the mouse. I then selected the eyedropper tool
and chose the same colour as the mouse and coloured out the eye, in order for
me to use the text tool. I typed out a lower case “x” and moved it over the area
where the eye was. I then dragged this layer into the cover document and
positioned the first mouse in the correct place, after using the Edit > Transform
> Flip Horizontal function in order to have the mouse facing the right way. I then
duplicated the mouse layer 2 times to get the other 2 blind mice and positioned
them accordingly.

I then thought; I wanted to make the cover more interesting and decided to find
an image of a pile of turds, to represent the third mouse Droppings, who will be
the main character in the game. Again, I used Google to find the image I wanted
and found (3). I opened this image in a new Photoshop document and used the
magic wand tool to remove the white background and then dragged the layer
into the cover document.

I next added the chosen title with the chosen font on top of the turd pile. (My
choice of font is explained in Task 3).

For the final cover, I then added the stamp created for Task 7 by using the brush
tool.

(1) http://daxgamer.com/wp-
content/uploads/2010/07/COD-Black-Ops_PS3-
FOB-600x689.jpg
(2) http://www.how-to-draw-cartoons-
online.com/image-files/cartoon_mouse.gif
(3) http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k9YRGIDlJZw/SfSS04PTgyI/AAAAAAAAAlo/eLLiubNSO6Y/s320/turd
.png
Task 2
I next had to create a storyboard for my game. I drew out, with no to little words,
a 6 frame story that can be used as a trailer or teaser for the game. It is, initially,
one scene of the game. Moreover, it depicts the whole story extremely basically.

Briefly, the story starts off with three blind mice and two of them are taken away
by the queen (in this case, the queen is a cat, because there is no other better
predator of mice). The remaining mouse – Droppings – thinks of a cunning plan
and acquires a sword and thus his mission is to kill the queen. He does so, as
shown by the last 2 “frames” (scenes) from the storyboard.

I wanted to make the storyboard simple, to allow for flexibility within the design
and creation of the game.
Task 3
The font I chose for the final version of my cover is called Olde English and I
downloaded it from daFont (http://www.dafont.com).

Here is an example of what the font looks

like:

I chose this font because it resembles the older, medieval days of Britain, when
the wise noblemen rebelled against Queen Mary I. I believe this font is suitable
as the game is set within that era of older Britain.
Task 4
For this task I had to compare raster and vector images. I will first explain what
each one is. A raster image is a grid of pixels or points of colour that are
viewable by a monitor or paper. These types of images are generally stored in
image files with varying formats. A vector image is created using points, lines,
curves and shapes. These sorts of images are represented based upon
mathematical equations. The files store these as mathematical formulae.

Below are my comparisons of raster and vector image using my pictures; one of
me and one of scenery. The first one is of me, and is shown below:

I then imported the file into Adobe Flash CS5 and used the Trace Bitmap
function. I changed the Colour Threshold to 50, as shown in the image below:
The result of this change is shown below:

It is clear that the image has become more like

a painting (more cartoon-like). The image is still clear and is obvious it is the
same one. So there is not a lot of distortion when making it a vector image. I
then changed the colour threshold to 125, and the result of this change is shown
below:

This new image is far more distorted and

very unclear. It makes the first change look like the original image. There was
too much of a change and the vital details such as the face cannot be
distinguished.
I then did the same process using a scenery photograph. The one I used is
below:

Again, I imported the image

into Flash and changed the colour threshold using the Trace Bitmap function. But
this time I accidently changed it to 52, so compensated later on and used 127
instead of 125. The image below shows the first change in values:

The result of the

change is shown below:

There is a distinct difference between this

image and the original. Again, the image seems to have been painted, rather
than a photo but it is still clear as to what the image portrays. I then changed the
colour threshold to 127 and the result of this change is shown below:

This image is totally indistinguishable, as the

river as merged with the path and the overall brightness of the image has
decreased greatly. The colour threshold was too high and therefore the image is
not clear.

It is best to have a colour threshold between 50 and 115 to acquire a decent

vector image.
Task 5
This task was to “do” the storyboard digitally, I chose to this in Photoshop. I
scanned my original, drawn storyboard in and then using a tablet and a hard
black brush, small in size, I traced over the lines, making a new layer for each
new frame. After the line art was done, I hid the actual drawn layer which left me
the newly drawn lines.

From here, I used the paintbucket tool and brush tool and coloured in the
drawings, making sure the mice were the same colour in each frame/scene. This
was the same for the cat and the sword.

I also used the text tool to add the mouse’s name – this was the only bit of text
that I used the text tool for. There is very little text within the storyboard.

I made the sword more realistic by using 2 different shades of grey within it, as
this can give a more 3D effect.
Task 6
For this task I had to digitally place myself on the Lady Godiva horse. In order to
do so, I first took a picture of the Lady Godiva statue, which is shown below:

I then had to take a picture of myself, sitting in a similar position. The picture I
took is shown below:

I edited these images in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended. Firstly, I used the Quick
Mask tool to cut out my upper body. I then dragged this layer into the other,
Lady Godiva, document. I had to resize “me” to fit over the lady. I then erased
any background that was surrounding me to make me look more part of the
statue. I also used the eraser tool to erase parts of me overlapping the horse
statue, as this gave the impression that I was sitting on the horse.

I then used the clone tool to go over the light areas on my right shoulder, as if I
had left it this way, it would contradict with the light direction of the Godiva
image. Once this was done, I used a small, soft brush with low opacity and a
light, yellow colour and brushed along the left side of my face to indicate
sunlight. This matches the lighting on the horse.

To blend me into the image, I used the blur tool as the horse itself was slightly
blurred. I used a relatively high strength and once done I looked more part of the
image, rather than just placed there.

To do all of this, I used my tablet (which I have only just started using).
Task 7
This task was to create an animation for the storyboard. I decided to create mine
using Flash. I used the images I drew for the storyboard for the animation.

For the animation I used very simple tools and techniques, being the text tool
and the classic tween tool. I started by placing three of my mice and adding
texting coming in. I followed the storyboard as well as I could, but leaving out
small details and the 5th frame.

To create all of the animations, the classic tween was used; by inserting a
keyframe n number of frames away from the main frame, and in the newly
added keyframe I re-positioned the element in question and created a classic
tween between the 2 keyframes. This causes the element to move/glide between
those number of frames when the animation is run.

For each individual element, I created a new layer. This made it a lot easier to
add new animations without interfering with others.
Task 8
This task was to create a stamp that was to put placed on our different products.
It was intended to be a smudge stamp as not a lot of stamps come out perfect,

Firstly, I created my stamp in Photoshop. I started by using the rounded

rectangle tool and drew a black rectangle. I then drew a smaller, white rectangle
within it. I then used the text tool to add my desired text, after merging the two
rectangle layers together.

I used the smudge tool with a high strength to create the smudging effect, trying
different types of smudges out; either small or large ones, or a whole section was
finely smudged. I got my desired stamp and it can be seen on the final game
cover and the Godiva manipulation.
Task 9
This task is a critical self-reflection regarding the development of this portfolio.

I believe I have completed all of the activities successfully, as they follow the
guidelines and effort has been put into them.

There weren’t many challenges met, but one such challenge was actually
thinking of a design for the front cover and the name and theme/plot of the
game (which is quite vital for this portfolio!) But apart from this, there were no
other challenges. There were minor hiccups in the sense that come the time of
me wanting to edit my storyboard, I couldn’t find my tablet.

I did not do all the activities timely. Most were done 3 days before the deadline,
due to other commitments and uni work. I wish I had spread my work (from all
modules) more evenly and not left clumps lying around waiting to be done.

If I was given more time, I would have added more detail to the final storyboard
and tried new and different techniques for the Lady Godiva statue
photomanipulation.

Previous experiences have helped me this term as I use Photoshop outside of Uni
so I had the knowledge of manipulating images and blending. I also took the
Flash Add+Vantage course which benefited me come the time of creating my
animation, but not greatly.

The material and lab tasks, I thought, were very beneficial. They taught me a
great deal about new ideas and techniques within Photoshop and Flash, and I
can use these for use in my hobby. I personally think the Lab Tasks were at the
right level of difficulty, as it varied amongst them.

The kind of task I would like to see is a free task, where the student has to create
his own game idea (not given from a scenario) and they must design a front
cover and the storyboards (and animations if they want). This will allow the
student to expand their imagination further and use the techniques learnt from
these task and apply them to the new task.