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Title Animation

Once
I decided to announce the name for my game art project D_ROGUE, I planned to do a reveal animation to launch the title. This was an exciting challenge as I had not animated anything since my time at University.

Before I created the animation, I had to create a title logo and encompass it in a certain look and theme to fit the setting.

D_ROGUE is set during the late 70's. The decade of the personal computer, roller skates and disco.

I looked at ideas from the era to incorporate the new title into an animation (minus the roller skates). After some time researching, I found the personal computer idea kept sticking out for me. It wasn't because that seemed to be the easier-to-animate route (which it was anything but). However, I found its features fitting for the game and genre.

You may be wondering how does a retro computer fit into a survival mystery set out in the ocean then?

I'll get to that in a bit.

While looking for a font for the title from the 1970's, I found some illustrated images from NASA. The illustrations had quite bold modern-like lettering but without any serifs which created an imposing impression that fitted perfectly.

I just had to somehow find the name of the font!

When I finally found the font (or a very similar one at that) I used this as a base template to edit over in Photoshop, and finish to a high quality PNG (as seen here). I could then reuse this later in any other work I produce.

After some more R&D, I looked into the very first personal computers that became more common into the 80's; such as the Apple II, TRS-80 and the Commodore PET. The green phosphorus text and interface of the Commodore PC felt ideal to create the mood I was after.

Mysterious.

With this in place, I then created the animation using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere. If you have yet to see the animation video, I highly recommend viewing it here before I discuss it in detail below.


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Here are nine key frames from the final animation sequence. I got the idea, to incorporate the logo as a title card for a program starting up (the program being the project), after researching early personal computers from the late 70's.


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Above we have the initial splash screen image. The model of the Commodore is called CAT 09. A slightly modified version, I thought was fun to incorporate with an ASCII art effect (funky 3D text) I made in Photoshop.


                                                                                                                                          Jason Bartlett ©

Above is my version of the Commodore interface. Roughly the equivalent of a desktop screen, this is the search directory of early PC's. I created the movement of the cursor and static interference by using the timeline feature. In addition to this, I multiplied numerous layers with different opacities and subtle position changes.


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Here is the main title card. I took inspiration for the colours from the Commodore 64 (a later PC version with a palette of 16 colours). I really liked that the graphics of the 64 had this frame border to it. To create the glitch effect after the title reveal, I just had fun experimenting with certain warp and distort features till I was happy with the outcome. While also not forgetting the distinct interlaced horizontal lines and some extra static for good measure!

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I really wanted to push how distorted the image could get, to create a more unnerving glitch effect. I did this by playing around with certain features in Photoshop till I got an early result to that of the image above. I added a distort effect several times to half of the image (which turned out like a hellish water wake) and by accident, selected a blending mode that turned the pale ultraviolet to crimson red. Fantastic.

Finally, to complete animation, I had to render all the individual clips in Photoshop and then stitch them together in Premiere. To create the audio, I used a combination of techniques to achieve the retro sounds. From personal foley work from Uni, to free stock effects, I really enjoyed creating the accompanying sounds and creepy noises that help cohesively bring the animation to life.

So back to the question. How does a retro computer have anything to do with a survival mystery set out in the ocean? The Commodore CAT 09 has a key role in the game narrative on board the F/V Scully!

 More to be revealed in the near future!


Thanks for reading :)

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