Into the Storm

Art by Emperatriz Ung for 2D Art & Animation Final - Fall 2018

Use arrow keys to move, space bar for dash.

About the development / design...

The prompt: "Finally, a small smile showed on the usually emotionless person."

The idea for Into the Storm was to have a player character that was sad or in pain and in search of warmth or happiness. Some original brainstorms included a silhouette that was sluggish. I wanted to abstract the emotion of sadness or depression for simplicity and decided that the enemy should be a storm cloud. Some inspiration included Inside Out (2015), Inner Workings (2016), Every Day the Same Dream (2009), Zoloft commercials, and poetry by H.D. I had wanted the setting to feel broken or like it was falling apart.

It was wonderful to brainstorm and experiment with different ways to express the prompt, especially because it felt very much in the realm of subject matter I typically tackle in my creative work. I particularly enjoyed working on this character that didn’t have a full body, even though it was challenging. Without a visual design background, it was difficult to get the entire scene to look cohesive and I struggled to draw. I wish I had an opportunity to spend time on the game mechanics, level design, and audio. I think changes to those elements paired with the visuals made for the class would have better communicated the prompt.