The first draft of the script is finished. Now I have a far better view on the final product. English is not my native language, so I still need to fix some errors of the script with the help of a friend. Because I haven’t done much environment designing yet, the script is still lacking some background descriptions. That’s why it’s a first draft.

Before I’ll explain the action plan, let me describe the final product.  

What do I mean by interactive animation? A narrative told through simple immersive gameplay. It will be fully in frame-by-frame pixel art animation, coded in Game Maker Studio 2. Every detail will go through a research and designing process. Gameplay will consist out of walking around and talking to NPC’s. Followed by surviving the desert, managing the HUD by eating and drinking enough. This will be combined with the retro mode 7 effect and other screen effects. I call it an interactive animation and not a game, because the focus lies more with the visuals and conveying a story than the gameplay. It will be around five minutes long.

For the action plan I have split the project into smaller components.
These components are:

Script
Characters
Environment
Dialogue Box
HUD
Mode 7
Screen Effects
Environment Animation
Logo
Main Menu
Code

Each component will go through a process of listing what needs to be done, research references, doodling some ideas, sketching, basic tests, designing the actual assets, animation, combining with other components, code, test code and bug fix.

The production bar illustrates the overall completion of the components. Every icon portrays a component. Most of the time, I’ll try to focus on one component at the time. Sometimes I need to combine components, so it’s required to work on multiple at the same time. The first components I’ll be working on are Script, Characters and Environment.

I hope this gives a clearer idea of my work flow. Lately I’ve been busy with working full time at a warehouse (not very interesting), but also working on a new showreel for an animation festival. I wanted to make this post a few weeks back, but I didn’t have the time. Next post will be more art and less talking.

Thank you for your time,

Sijbren Schenkels