Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on the Power Ups for our game Trowl. I have been working with pixel art because it is stylish, it serves as a way for all the artists to have a consistent tone and it makes iteration a sport. The power ups are powerful buffs or one time instantaneous uses which allows the player to beat his or her highscore in the game. They are a lot of fun as well. The three Power ups I have been working on this week are the following:
Red Eyes, which makes the Owl protagonist go into an unstoppable rage mode which allows the player to charge into enemies to hurt them and one-shot Falcons. This power up lasts for eight seconds and will be scattered randomly throughout the level, same goes for the rest of the power ups. I chose a red because it compliment the eyes of the icon and an orange trim to make it pop and be unmistakably a powerup visually for the player to see.
The owl on the icon is not a barn owl like the protagonist and I made that choise because this owl looks crazy, like the protagonist gets when he Powers Up.
Megaphone, is the second powerful power up which is a full screen clear(nuke) that makes the protagonist screech and scare away all the predatory birds. This is an instant effect and it is activated immediately when picked up. I choose a megaphone with a “loud sound” effect coming out of it to make it clear that it is going to be loud for the enemies. This was chosen because the howl of a barn owl is really loud as it is and think what it could do with a megaphone – scare all predatory birds away, obviously. It has the orange trim just like red eyes to make it pop and be visable to the player.
The third but not least:
Stopwatch, is the third powerful power up which allows the protagonist to slow down time for eight seconds. This allows the player to dodge hazardous environments and predatory birds with ease. I chose a stopwatch because it is a classic way to take time and it permits the player to think “aha, this is a power up that has something to do with time” before even picking it up. I chose a light blue circle with an orange trim for this one as well. I think it sticks out well to the background and the player will have no trouble at all finding it.
Iam most happy with how they all turned out. I chose a stylish look for them to make it pop out from the rest of the environment in game.
Thats all, take care.
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