In this post I am going to cover the basics of many different file formats, because I learned a lot about them from the resources we were given since I did not have much prior knowledge. The formats I will cover are TIFF, JPEG, GIF, and PNG. First however, it's important to address the two main forms of image compression: lossy and lossless, two different ways to compress images. Lossy reduces the image quality in order to also reduce file size and permanently alters the final image. Lossless on the other hand does not reduce image quality, but also can't have quite as small file sizes. For the formats below, TIFF, GIF, and PNG all use lossless, and JPEG uses lossy.
TIFF - Tagged Image File Format. I had never heard of this format before. They have large file sizes, but are extremely easy to transfer from one platform to another. They can use either of the compression methods listed above. These could be useful to keep an uncompressed back up file when compressing something but also wanting to keep the full sized image. The full sized image would be of good quality, and for game design they could easily be used for advertisements. JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group. These are made specifically for photographs, and can maintain quality even when being compressed for the most part. This is because this format is designed to keep the important details and discard the less noticeable ones as it is compressed. This makes it very nice when an image needs to retain it's quality while still reducing the file size. However, file sizes are usually a little bigger. In a game, this would be best for anything that needs to looks very realistic, likely either reference pictures or advertisements. It also is what is typically used for scanned images which could be useful for game art. GIF - Graphical Interchange Format. GIFs use lossless, but they also reduce the amount colors in an image to just 256 different colors to save space. They don't looks as nice when printed, but are fine for computer screens. They are commonly used for animation, which could be incredibly useful for a game, such as to animate a character and their walk cycle. The simplistic colors likely will not hurt the game since most game's graphics aren't overly realistic. Also, GIFs use lossless compression which would be extremely nice since a game designer wouldn't want every mob's walk cycle to be such a big file that they ran out of room on their computer before they could finish the game. PNG - Portable Network Graphics. PNG is similar to GIFs and TIFFS but in some ways even better since it was designed to replace them, though it hasn't quite yet. All compression to the images can be undone. Like GIF, it's also good for more cartoon-ish art, but has many more colors. However, it doesn't have support for animation. PNG is the format that is supported by more recent internet browsers, and lets the artist keep exact details. This makes it perfect for most game art since it keeps details while still not needing to be photo-realistic. OTHER - There are a few other formats, but for the most part they aren't very important. BMP is a file format owned by Microsoft that practically no one uses and that would be almost useless. The RAW format is strictly for camera storage, and the file has to be converted once put on a different device. The most important of these miscellaneous files are the PSD, PSI, and other such formats for Adobe digital art programs. They're useful because they keep layers separate allowing for ease of editing, although they have to be converted to be used anywhere outside of Photoshop (or whichever program it is from), and it's recommended to convert them anyway just to have a backup file. The two main file formats right now are JPEG and GIF, though the latter is expected to be replaced by PNG. For a game, it seems that PNG would be the best format to use because of it's wide array of colors and ability to keep details even of less realistic art.
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This week we were assigned to read Gamasutra's article on character design. The article starts off explaining how many of the principles of traditional art are used when designing games, but in games the art simply becomes interactive. It makes an interesting point saying that small details are usually not important but instead the basic parts of the character (like body shape) are what really matter. I really liked how much it emphasized that character design should be based on what emotions you want your audience to feel, and that there are a multitude of different forms and images that evoke those emotions. Using things from life, such as leaf shapes, can add diversity to the characters since there are all kinds of shapes just found on plants.
This article will be useful for future character designs since it made me think in more creative ways about how to find inspiration for characters. I hadn't really thought about all of the different ways one thing - such as the leaf example - could look, which will be good for creating diversity while still having some similarities within a group of characters. The emotion approach that they use when creating characters really resonated with me and will definitely help me use more symbolism with character design. This week I started off with the goal of finishing the video game design layout project before Friday. I managed to accomplish this goal by the end of the week, and was pretty happy with my work. I had experienced some minor setbacks because I had initially overlooked what size each image needed to be and since most of the images I used were wider than they were tall, the size of the document messed me up at first. After rereading the rubric I managed to redo my work with the right size requirements, though since I had less time I am less happy with the results. However, I had finished by Thursday and thought my work was good enough, so I used Friday to put together the PowerPoint to display it. I finished just in time, something I am also glad for since we have to start on our end of quarter project on Monday, something I will need a long time for. Though it may seem simple, I learned how to move a marquee without moving what the marquee was highlighting by making an empty layer used just to move it.Working with the different design layouts helped me learn more about design elements and principles. It helped me get a feel for what works and what doesn't, which will help me in future work.
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AuthorHi, I'm Abi, a DSA student who likes games, drawing, writing, and acting. Archives
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