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Case Study:
Painted Escape
Painted Escape is a multimedia project whose concept I developed back in 2016. After playing through various Pixel RPG Maker games, I was enchanted by the storylines and characters.
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Painted Escape follows the character "Red" as she tries to escape from a museum. Her story is told in different forms of digital media, leading to an exploration of the multimedia production pipeline. Currently the Painted Escape Animatic Trailer and Painted Escape Unity Demo has been developed.
Skills
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Animation
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Illustration
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Video Editing
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Game Design
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Game Development
Tools
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Premiere Pro
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Photoshop
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Procreate
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Unity
Roles
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Me (Solo-Project)
Concept
The project involves capturing a moment of the story in different types of media. The concept is suspense, mystery, and thriller, so the color palette will be mostly dark and characters will be in a much more simplified style.
A large inspiration for the project is based on the game "Ib" by kouri. Although there is no relation in storylines, many elements are similar.
Animatic Trailer
The scene I wanted to capture is the very beginning of the story where "Red" is starting her journey. This animatic will act as a "trailer" of sorts to the entirety of the multimedia project.
Game Demo
The game demo tells the background story to the entire Painted Escape universe. It follows the main character Red in a museum where the player learns about her true origins.
Pre-Production: Storyboarding
Goal: To create a suspenseful trailer that entices the viewer to explore the rest of Project: Painted Escape
In order to achieve a trailer style animatic, the beginning goal was to set the scenes and the plot of the storyline. The setting was established, the main character selected, and her goal was defined.​
The middle of the animatic includes the build up to the climax. The goal here was to build suspense. Sound and transitions become a big component in creating that atmosphere. "Jump scare" like sounds are used with quick transitioning scenes.​
The goal in the finale is to deescalate from the climax and to introduce the cliffhanger. The character will "escape" into an unknown fate.
Pre-Production: Animatic Outline
Goal: Frame and outline the animatic​
A short animatic draft was created in order to judge feasibility and to finalize the timing of each scene. The sounds were also incorporated to create suspense. Overall, the goal of this draft animatic was to visualize all the elements together.
Production: Sketch
Goal: Create a black and white sketch of the animatic
A more refined sketch of the draft animatic was created with the drawing style finalized. At this stage, layers were set up in order to allow for easy coloring in post processing. Much like the previous draft animatic, everything was created as a "layout" for the final scenes.
Post-Production: Animatic Color
Goal: Add dynamics and coloring to bring to life the animatic
Post-production coloring was added via procreate under the color palettes previously designed. A light "painting" style was used to keep to the theme.​
Goal: Add dynamics and coloring to bring to life the animatic
Post production dynamics were included thanks to peer feedback. Such feedback included camera dynamics such as zooming, panning, and bobbing, to reduce static scenes. In addition, slight motion was included such as this scene when the main character opens the door. In adding these details, vibrancy and life is added to the animatic.
Animatic Conclusions
The overall goal of this project was to create a trailer introduction to an ongoing multimedia project. Since a full smooth animation was not feasible, an animatic was used instead to execute the scenes.
As a trailer, key elements were established in order to introduce the project. Such elements included settings, main character, antagonist, and light plot elements.
The animatic was presented as a trailer since the effect goal was to attract an audience to the story of these characters. Elements such as a title and cliffhanger were used in order to introduce a complete trailer with an incomplete storyline.
In addition, several elements were rearranged from pre-production in order to fit the flow created in production. This includes a small scene change and the placement of the title. These decisions were made through personal criticism to fit the "trailer" theme.
In conclusion, the animatic reaches satisfaction in building suspense and establishing the project's story elements. If given more time and resources, and animation could be created.
Game Genre
RPG, Horror, Puzzle
Story/Mechanics
A modern museum setting with no set time period. Follows Red as she travels through the museum in search for keys to unlock the black door. Enemies are unique to each level, with increased difficulty as the color progresses. Some doors may have main puzzles instead of enemies. She has a drive that something behind that door is important. Perhaps something to find or the outside world to escape. Mechanics include dialogue interactions, item interactions, chase scenes.
Art Style + Inspiration
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Ib by kouri
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Lone Survivor by superflat games
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Ellen by Red Mount Media and Antarsoft
Art + Assets
All art assets were created by myself in Adobe Photoshop and Procreate. The style I wanted to capture was 2D pixel art. In doing so, the process of creating art assets would be quick and a large focus can be placed on story dialogue and level design. Pixel art will also make it much easier to designate hit boxes and active areas. Since the game design involves simple shapes, the style chosen helps in the overall dynamic and flow of the game.
Final Products
Animatic Trailer Process
Concept
Introduction
Game Demo Process
Final Products
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