Art Lab 4: Backgrounds!

CIS 300: Introduction to Computer Game Design - Fall 2006

Backgrounds are a crucial component of any computer game.  They create the mood and atmosphere for the user experience.  It is up to YOU as artists to convey your team’s vision to the player. In this lab, you will create a background in the theme of your game. It’s time to start thinking about what kind of art you want to put in your game.  Focus on developing your own ideas about how you want your game to look.

For this lab:

• Make a side to side scrolling background
• Think about how the mood of your art corresponds to your game/levels/difficulty/story
• Share your art with your group 
• Think about things to keep in mind

Things to keep in mind:

• Backgrounds (for this lab) should wrap around and scroll
• Background style should be consistent with other artwork
• Character should not be camouflaged in the background (unless your making a chameleon). Backgrounds should allow your character to stand out without being to dull.
• Color Theory says: far away objects look bluish and greenish (cool colors!)
• Backgrounds make the game interesting and attractive! Don’t make a boring blue screen background. Have fun with it J

Techniques:

• Wacom Painting
• Matte Painting
• Textures and tiles

Matte painting is used in photography and special effects film making to combine two or more image elements into a single final image. (Used in Star Wars and Lord of the Rings!)  You can use it to combine photos/pictures to create a complete scene.    

Reference/Stock Photos Online:

• http://www.morguefile.com/
• http://freestockphotos.com/
• http://mattepainting.org/

What to turn in:

• Background.jpg
• Due: Friday, Sept. 29, 2006 at 11:59 pm.