Principal Role: Character Artist/Animator
So in case you are curious just what was my role in the creation of Battle Blasters, this page should clarify things. My official title and role at Little Guy Games was Character Artist/Animator, which entailed design of all characters in Battle Blasters, and creation of all animated character sprite graphics in the game. Below is the line-up of all static character sprites included in Battle Blasters, as first drawn by myself before the animation process. The bellow image is shown at 100% scale.
Note: Still images of the characters seen on various screens in the game, such as the Character Select Screen, and the pre-match Versus Sequence, were not part of my role. These high-quality illustrations were done by the other Artist Evan Hilborn, who also handled the static images such as the stage backgrounds, UI/HUD, character illustrations, and promo materials.
Character Sprites
Just to clarify, a “sprite” is a 2-dimensional graphic used in games both 2D and 3D (an example of a 2d sprite in a 3d game would be the character cart sprites and road-side trees in Mario Kart 64). These sprite graphics will slide around the game screen and, when effectively drawn and animated, will help to sell the illusion of a character moving around in the game environment. The type of sprites used for Battle Blasters are called “Pixel Art”, meaning a graphic that is small enough to be able to see the individual pixels that make up the character. A typical character in Battle Blasters is around 80×80 pixels in size – a characters face may be as little as 12 pixels across! Drawing pixel art is a bit like using grid paper, and filling in boxes with solid colours in order to create an image. 2D Sprites and Pixel Graphics were employed in the early days of videogaming, arguable ending in the era of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). With the subsequent generation, ie SNES, resolution improved and the pixel became less of a constraint.
Sprite Statistics
- each of the 6 characters in Battle Blasters comprises 2 sets of sprite animations, 1 for the forward facing sprite and another for the back-facing sprite. Each animation set comprises roughly 25 frames. Thus, the total of sprite assets for the game Battle Blasters comprises some 300+ frames, each hand drawn!
- each character sprite uses a limited colour palette of about 40 colours and values per sprite, same for front and back versions
- the perspective employed in Battle Blasters is known as “isometric perspective”, also known as axonometric. In isometric perspective there are no converging lines, thus the character shown at the top of the screen is the same size as the character at the bottom of the screen. It is as though the camera is viewing the action from perhaps several hundred feet in the air, but zoomed in with a narrow angle lense.
The Characters of Battle Blasters
Battle Blasters comes with 6 unique and dynamic characters. Below are sprites of the characters in Battle Blasters as well as a short description of each, each shown at 200% magnification:
Jerett
Jerett is a nihilistic mercenary who utilizes advanced Altarian technology in order to decimate his opponents. An ex-marine, Jerett wanders the Universe in search of fortune and power. In combat, Jerett uses heavy armor and weaponry, wreaking havoc with his extremely proficient blaster that is grafted to his arm. Since birth, Jerett’s only purpose in life has been to become the strongest warrior ever known! He enters the Battle Blasters tournament to prove just that.
Special Ability: Battle Blade
Jerett’s Battle Blade is powerful and quick. It can be used defensively to block incoming shots, or offensively to score those quick shots.
Animus
Animus is a heinous abomination known throughout the Altar star system for his many crimes. Locked away in an orbiting prison cell for centuries, Animus finally manages to break free and make his way to the unsuspecting planet of Altarius. With his new found freedom, he decides to make an even bigger name for himself by becoming the champion of the Battle Blasters tournament.
Special Ability: Fire Storm
Fire Blast is a devastating move. Once Animus charges up sufficiently, he shoots two fiery shots straight ahead. These shots are almost invincible, and can only be destroyed by Jerett’s Battle Blade and B.R.O.C’s Freeze.
Maya
Maya is a highly skilled warrior princess from the kingdom of Altarius. Bound by her honor, Maya is prepared to sacrifice herself for the sake of her planet. She is ordered to take part in the tournament as a representative of Altarius. Though she is quite talented with a blaster, Maya’s true strength lies in her telekinetic ability to create reflective barriers that protect her from harm!
Special Ability: Shield Absorb
Maya’s shield takes some practice to get used to the timing, but it is a powerful asset. Not only does it protect you from standard shots, it absorbs up to three shots at a time and lets you store them as ammo. These absorbed shots will show up as orange squares. Be careful though, if you try to absorb more than three at a time, you will take damage.
Eno
Eno is a mysterious assassin who uses his incredible speed and agility to overwhelm his unsuspecting opponents. At a young age, Eno’s village was destroyed by a merciless marine, and his family was taken from him never to be heard of again. Consumed by his anger, Eno swore revenge on the one responsible. After years of searching through countless star systems, Eno finally tracks down the man who’s eluded him for so long, a mercenary competing in the Battle Blasters tournament!
Special Ability: Blast Formation
ENO can queue shots in front of him and unleash them all at once. It’s important to note that he can only queue up to three at a time, and any time he enters his queuing mode, he automatically recharges to full ammo. Queued shots are almost invincible until they are released.
Gabrielle
Gabrielle is an enigmatic young space pirate who crash landed on Altarius several years ago. Since then, she has tried desperately to return home. With no luck, Gabrielle began to lose hope. It was right around that time when she heard about a tournament that would be crowning a champion. Seeing this as an opportunity to return home, Gabrielle decides to use all of her incredible offensive abilities, and speed, in order to win the tournament.
Special Ability: Power Shot
Gabrielle’s Power Shot yields high damage. She must power up to use it, so make sure you can parry or evade while she’s charging. Getting hit while charging will cancel the charge up, but once it’s charged it will stay armed until you fire.
B.R.O.C.
B.R.O.C. (Ballistics Robot Optimized for Combat) was created by a team of scientists determined to prove that robots are the future of combat, and that trivial conflict between humans was unnecessary. With the power to obliterate any object in its path, BROC is programmed to compete in the tournament, in order to make an example of all the so-called “strongest warriors in the Universe”.
Special Ability: Freeze Attack
The Freeze attack is a projectile packed with liquid nitrogen. Upon contact, it will freeze his opponent leaving them vulnerable for several seconds. It will instantly dispose of any projectile in the game, making it a great defensive weapon.
Additional Roles
The great thing about working in a small company is the opportunity to do a variety of jobs. Below are the various roles I handled, listed in order of how much time I spent on them comparatively:
- Character Artist/Animator – design of all Characters for Battle Blasters; design and prepare character sprite animations for implementation
- Technical Artistry – devise solutions for graphic requirements, including character animations and more
- Lead QA – I personally conducted the majority of the Quality Assurance Testing and Bug Checking for Battle Blasters, including preparation and application of test plans; reporting and logging bugs using bug-tracking software
- Video Editing: Battle Blasters Trailer – I did the majority of the video capturing and editing of the Battle Blasters Official Trailer
- In-game Writer – I wrote all the post-match ‘quips’ which the player is shown after winning a match
- Documentation – I assisted in writing and editing of several documents related to the development of Battle Blasters, including design documents, requirement documents, etc.
- Design Team – I was a contributor to the general design of Battle Blasters
