2D Graphics
This is a 3D game, but you also need 2D graphics for some items such as menus, a logo screen and Heads Up Display.
Use your favourite 2D paint program to create your graphics. Some examples include Microsoft Paint, Adobe Photoshop, and Gimp (very similar to Photoshop, but free).
You draw everything from scratch in your 2D paint program, use a tablet or pen device to draw electronically, or even draw on paper, then scan it and edit using your paint program.
Creating a Logo screen (Splashscreen)
Most games contain a logo screen where the game creator displays their company name and / or logo. Sometimes this is given as an animated logo / image with sound instead of a graphics screen.
I decided to call my logo “RuzzGames” and used Photoshop to create it. It is shown below:
In order to create the above logo screen, I used one of my oil paintings that I created (yes I learnt how to oil paint for about 3 years – found it useful to learn about art and colours). It is the beach scene below and I did it on canvas. Then I used a scanner to import it into the computer – you may notice lines towards the right hand side as the painting did not fit on an A4 scanner – hence had to scan the right hand bit separately.
I then opened my scanned file in Photoshop, and used some of the special effects to distort the painting and create the “grey clouds”. I used a font for the name which has some 3D shadow effects on it. When creating your logo, just be creative and play with the software.
Creating a Menu screen
In progress…this will be a 2D image of the menu that the user can choose items to play the game. We may need several 2D images to represent each menu selection.
Creating a Heads Up Display
In progress…this will be a 2D image of elements to display. This could include health, lives left, etc.
3D Graphics
There are 2 ways to create 3D graphics as follows:
- use a 3D modelling program such as Maya or Blender
- use maths to create the models
I will use both methods in my game.
Also you can use either free or pay for 3D models rather than creating them. That way you can them load them into your game.
Sound, Voice and Music
To record and create your sound and voice, you can use a simple program such as Audacity and your computer’s microphone.
If you want to create music, Garage Band will do or if you prefer, you can use any other DAW software. I use FL Studio now as my preferred DAW. You can also use this software to record voice and sound effects, then do special effects on them. A good article to read from Samplifiedis about comparing two DAWs and which is right for you.
Note that you may also be able to get royalty free sounds / music or be able to buy them.