Platform Video Game

Limbo, Braid, Slender, Super Meat Boy, and Fez. All these games have one thing in common and that one thing changed the gaming community forever. Independent video games or indie games for short got their nickname through their creators, which are independent game developers. A lot of these game designers usually work with a small group and sometimes with just one or two people. Most of these developers usually begin pitching their ideas at Kickstarter, which is known for the largest funding platform for projects such as animations, films, and of course, games. Once, the indie developers’ reach their goal for funds, they begin creating their game. Their budget would be very low, not unlike big video game developers that have been in the field for years. So, these indie developers would tend to create a type of game that is easy and fast to make. Majority of these games are platform games, because they are easy to program, design, and render. The biggest advantage of platform games are most of the design are 2D art and the reason why indie developers choose to go this route is because, 3D art takes a lot of designing, preparing, and rendering. Deadlines aren’t really a problem when it comes to indie games, but the budget won’t be enough for such a big project.

The video above is an example of what a platform game would look like. The project was to create an animation that resembled to the style of Limbo, a popular black and white game. The art in Limbo are all silhouettes and the project’s goal was to create that same exact look. The game that I created is called Prey And Pray and it is about giant mutated insects that chose humans as their prey. All the art, except for the running character, is original and was created in Adobe Photoshop CC and I animated everything in Adobe After Effects CC. I used the principles of background design to my knowledge to create the illusion of atmospheric perspective. The images at front are darker than what is behind it to create that effect of the mountains being further away. I also made the mountains at the back move slower to create that realistic feel. Overall, I am happy with the outcome, I thought that it looked a lot like Limbo and I hope to create something as great someday.