StumbleBumps Unite Sprint Blog 1

The first sprint blog of Stumblebumps Unite was perhaps the most learning of development I’ve ever had. I was assigned as not only the 2D artist, but as the designer for the menu assets. The first thing I worked on was sketching out what the buttons could potentially look like.

Much to my surprise, both the producer (Donovan Ty) and designer (Micheal Szolowicz) liked these buttons and even suggested some new ideas with how they could function. They took notice of the sketchy borders, and suggested having those animated for the future. I gladly agreed with them, and it made me feel quite proud of myself.

The next thing I worked on was designing what the level select menu could look like. With both Donovan and Micheal’s guide, I looked at the level select menus from both Fall Guys and Mario Kart. Using that foundation, I drew up a sketch of what the level selection could look like

This was one of my trickier assignments, as I was unsure how to portray the selected level. After looking at the presented guides, however, I came up with this design. While this was approved, I did receive notes about a high score that was meant to be there. I also received notes about the selection having multiple rows instead of a carousel-like selection. However, despite those notes, I am still proud of what I came up with.

The last assignment I worked on during this sprint was my first true asset for this game. Instead of a sketch to lay an idea out, I was tasked to make some stylized buttons. More specifically, I was tasked to make the sliders for the music and sfx options.

I was quite nervous with this, since I had never created 2D game graphics. This was my first true attempt, so I gave it my all with this. I used gradients to help it stand out a bit, and I used the signature color for happiness, yellow. When I presented my work, the positive reception caught me by surprise. I was even more surprised hearing that Donovan and Micheal wanted to use my own writing as the game’s main font. I was honored by this request and accepted the task for the next sprint.

During my time with this sprint, I learned things that I never expected to learn about. This includes menu design, using Jira properly, and even the beginning of creating my own font for the game! As the team gets ready for Sprint 2, I feel like my learning experience is only the beginning. I can only hope that I can meet the standards of Donovan and Micheal, and perhaps even make myself proud along the way.