Total Defenestration Devlog 2
This version of the game features most of the art that I've made over the last week or so. My approach to the art of this game is minimalist. As a text-based game with decision-making in it, I don't have the time to make art for each individual slide or narrative occurrence. Instead, I made visuals for the major moments of the game. The main menu, the event in which the player dies, and the beginning of each chapter (of which one is fully complete, one is in development, and one hasn't begun development yet), are the 5 pieces of art I've made at this point. I may create more art later as more notable moments require it.
I also created 2 color palettes for the game. One dark, for the main menu, as well as the title cards for each chapter, and one light, for the actual decision-making and narrative segments. I wanted the color palettes, as well as the art style depicted in the visuals to feel minimalist, like something you'd see in an instruction manual, factory sign, transportation sign, etc., with simple icons of a person in a situation. This adds to the humorous tone of the game when you see a minimalist rendering of a ridiculous situation. I want the art style to feel sophisticated and simple, to juxtapose the ridiculous situations the game has. I wanted to make a game with all the aesthetics of something serious and normal, with totally ridiculous and silly content.
I made all the art using Adobe Photoshop. I found a free icon of a person online, and then I went into photoshop and altered their position to fit the situation I was going for, and created my own icons using Photoshop for all the other art elements that appear. I also obviously changed the colors of everything to fit my color palette. I'm not a good artist, and the style I'm going for is very professional, so I knew that just editing things rather than drawing them by hand is the way to go.
Since my last upload, I've figured out the narrative for the entire game. In the devlog for my previous update, I only wrote part one and knew the setup for part two, but now I have a clear idea of the entire narrative of the game. I'm not sure that a lot of my core idea has pivoted or changed since my last post, however, I am more open now than before to a smaller game. In my last devlog, I complained about how I wrote part one so quickly, and I wish I made it longer. I mentioned that as I wrote, I just naturally wrote myself into part two, and out of part one. Now, knowing how much is required of this game and how much time I have to finish it, I am perfectly fine with a tightly written game that isn't as big as I wanted it to be. So now, as I continue writing parts two and three, I plan on having the same approach to those parts as I did to part one, rather than taking a more ambitious and long approach narratively.
Below is some of the art I've made:
