Re-mixing PC graphics for iOS

Blog posted by Ste Pickford on Wed, 01 Dec 2010
Subject: Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint

I had a bit of fun last week re-doing some of the PC Magnetic Billiards graphics in the Blueprint style for the iOS version of the game.

The graphics on the left are pop-ups from one of the machines in the PC version that tells you if you've done a good or bad shot. This machine doesn't appear in the more streamlined Blueprint game on iOS, but we decided to add some floating scraps of paper that come on screen to tell you if you've done a bad shot.

The originals were done completely in Photoshop, using fonts and effects. For the iOS Blueprint versions on the right I printed the PC versions out really small, and just traced over them with a thick pencil then scanned them in. I find it very enjoyable to mess about with pencils, paper and masking tape and spray mount, after years of sitting in front of Photoshop with a mouse in my hand all day.

John wanted to come up with unique names for all the various shot types and events in the game, to give the game the feel of an old, traditional game, with a bit of history and mythology, like golf.

A Noddy shot is when the cue-ball doesn't connect with any other ball at all (losing a Life only).

A Duff shot is when the cue-ball you fire hits the wrong coloured ball first (wiping the Tariff and losing a Life).

A Hack shot is the same as a Duff shot, but the cue-ball goes on to connect with a similar coloured ball (wiping the Tariff only).

We've been on a mission for a few years now to get more hand-drawn graphics in our games, as a move away from the standard, shiny-slick look that most video games go for, and as a way to stamp our personality on our games a bit more. It's an unfortunate coincidnce that 'doodle' style games have become fashionable on the iPhone, as it looks like we're jumping on a bandwagon, which isn't the case.

Tags: graphics, indie, game development, ipad, iphone

Follow up post: Cluster reward logos

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