Game design
Lesson 3
Storyline development
Introduction
In this lesson you will develop the character and storyline for your game. You will illustrate your concept art to support this process.
Watch the video for an introduction to the lesson.
Understanding the tasks
Rating the tasks
This lesson contains a few activities. Each activity will have one or more tasks. These tasks have been given a rating.
Some of the tasks in this lesson are must do. These are important to help you understand the introductory ideas or skills.
Have a go at the should do tasks and reach out to your friends or teacher if you need some advice. These will usually take a bit longer to complete than must do tasks.
Could do tasks will probably take you some extra time and might need you to get creative or problem solve. We strongly encourage you to try these.
Activity 1 - Exploring character and storyline
Note: While we have linked to games in this activity, any other pages or other material linked to beyond these pages are not endorsed by the department.
Task 1 - Play
Not all successful games are popular for the same reason. Some games are highly successful because of their challenging gameplay, and others because they feature interesting characters and storylines.
Spend a few minutes playing each of the games below:
While you are playing each game, check if they have challenging gameplay and a clear storyline.
Complete the interactive quiz to check your understanding of gameplay and storyline.
Task 2 - Storyline
Sometimes games use their story to teach the audience about a topic or deliver a message.
Analyse the way the gameplay and story engage the audience in Stop Disasters. What can the audience learn from the game’s setting? What does the gameplay teach the audience?
Use the Stop Disasters Google Slides template to complete this activity.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Task 3 - Stop Disasters classification
Think about the gameplay of the Stop Disasters game. What is the appropriate audience for this game? What if schools used games like this to teach?
Develop a ratings classification for Stop Disasters and provide consumer advice for the audience.
Make a use case for this game – who is the best audience for this game?
Use the Stop Disasters classification Google Slides template to complete this activity.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Activity 2 - Your storyline
Task 1 - Game design storyboard
It is time to start developing your own character and storyline.
Name your game and script a short overview.
Develop your main character; describe their characteristics and features and sketch them.
Develop a storyline for the game. It needs to include your character, up to four obstacles, scenery for the background and a moral.
Use the Game design storyboard Google Slides template to complete this activity.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Task 2 - Five Ws and one H
Summarise your game's story using the Five Ws and one H Google Slides template.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Task 3 - Gaining feedback
An important part of the development cycle is getting feedback at different stages of design.
Show your storyboard to someone else for feedback.
Describe your target audience, storyline and moral.
Ask them to critique the game from the point of view of the target audience.
Use the Rose, thorn, bud Google Slides template to guide your discussion and record the feedback.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Activity 3 - Game art and illustrations
Note: While we have linked to videos in this activity, any other pages or other material linked to beyond these videos are not endorsed by the department.
Concept art is a visual representation that tells a story or conveys a certain look. A concept artist visualizes characters, environments and other items, and creates images of these things based on what they think best fits the story they are bringing to life.
A few examples are shown below. (Use the small black dots under the image to move to the next image.)
Task 1 - Graphic design techniques used in art
Watch the three Adobe Design Principles videos to understand how to create illustrations and lay them out.
Demonstrate your understanding of the key terms used in the videos, by completing the drag the words interactive below.
Understanding the Rule of Thirds | Adobe Design Principles Course
Duration: 1:09
Understanding Emphasis & Contrast | Adobe Design Principles Course
Duration: 1:14
The Principles of Proportion in Action | Adobe Design Principles Course
Duration: 4:08
Task 2 - Design your concept art
See if you can develop some concept art of your own. Think about the storyline that you have developed for your game and see if you can draw your character, landscape and any items or enemies.
Task 3 - Digital technology as an art medium
There is growing popularity among artists to use digital technologies to create interesting visual art. Two of these interesting methods are pixel art and low poly. Low poly means a low number of polygons make up the image. Both methods reduce the amount of surface detail in a picture, to bring greater focus to other elements like lighting, contrast and texture.
Look at the examples of pixel art and low poly images below. (Use the small black dots under the image to move to the next image.)
Use the Pixel It website below to create your own piece of pixel art imagery. You can do this by uploading a photo you have taken or use your concept art drawing from task 2.
Handing in your work
Don't forget to hand in the work you completed today!
Your teacher will have told you to do one of the following:
Upload any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your Learning Management system (MS Teams, Google Classroom for example).
Email any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your teacher.
Make sure you keep any handwritten work you did in your exercise book or folder as your teacher may need to see these when you are back in class.