For those interested in exactly what we’re looking for, here’s a handy-dandy reference guide.

Asset Delivery and Resolution

We’d prefer receive completed assets in a layered PSD, though we can work with you on a delivery method if that’s a problem. Our game’s resolution is 640×360. Bosses generally should fit in the rightmost third of the screen while leaving enough clearance for the ground (approximately a 256×256 to 320×320 square), however this isn’t a hard maximum or minimum. Understandably, some boss designs could fluctuate more or less within this zone. You can see an example below that shows how our test boss was put together. All of these boss enemies will require being designed with pieces in mind so we can implement them in our skeletal animation system. Ensuring joint housings are adequately covered and that there’s enough clearance for limbs to move naturally is a must.

Boss Assets Will Need to be Cut Into Parts

You can see an example below that shows how our test boss was put together from a collection of parts (Left Arm, Right Arm, Wing, Leg, Gun, Head, And Torso). All of boss enemies will require being designed while keeping in mind that they’ll need to be cut apart so they can then be implemented in our skeletal animation system. Ensuring joint housings are adequately covered and that there’s enough clearance for limbs to move without looking weird is a must.

Colors and Palette Info

We’re using the Unity engine, and we are not using a strict color palette; however, we are faking the use of a color palette by intentionally limiting the number of colors we use while drawing sprites. We generally use four shades for each color represented. For example, the image below shows some of our smaller enemies where painted regions use 4 shades for lighting:

• • a bright highlight
  • a “default” base color
  • a medium shadow
  • a heavy shadow

Our art-style uses a clean, non-grainy aesthetic, influenced by traditional hand drawn cel-animation and clean cartoon-ish pixel-art. Broad lighting hits all objects from their front and slightly above. The design of vehicles and robots themselves are informed by the look of 80s/90s Japanese animation and the genre’s affinity for clean and bulky details.

All of our assets are slightly skewed toward the camera and are not perfect side-views. The front and sides of objects are visible, but not the top or bottom. Occasionally a pure side-view may emerge for particularly thin, small, or pointy designs (when it looks best).

If additional information is required, please feel free to contact us.