Mockup Frenzy #1: Mobility!

[AdamAtomic]

Welcome to Mockup Frenzy!



progFX had a great idea a few days ago:

I think most people would have to agree that mockups and/or game sprites seem to be the most popular submissions on the boards, and personally I find them the most fun thing to pixel. My idea for a weekly event would be to have people create game Mockups based on the current topic, and (Possibly) even have a set pallet or game type ie: Platformer, Shooter, RPG, etc. Just thought I would through out the idea, would be a nice thing to look forward to each week, and having a week to work on it would also be quite nice.

Mods and various other users agreed, and the Mockup Frenzy was born.  But wait!  What's a mockup?


A mockup is a fullscreen piece of pixel art that represents a "screenshot" of a video game.  Great examples include but are not limited to:

          
Artwork by Kenneth Fejer, Gary Lucken, and Kenneth Fejer respectively

The most important thing to notice is the attention to detail - GUIs, clear game mechanics, enemies, tiles, etc.
A good mockup can tell you more about a game than 10 pages of detailed design document!


So, every two weeks, we'll put up a new set of guidelines for mockups, including but not limited to:

1 - Size
2 - Palette/Color Limits/Platform
3 - Subject Matter/Play Style

After 2 weeks, all the submissions will be gathered into the first post of the thread for easy viewing, and a new set of guidelines will be posted in a new thread.  There is no voting, no winners, no competition except how great a job can YOU do.  Members will be welcome to submit entries after the 2 week deadline, but there could be massive delays in when those entries are rolled back into the first post collection of submissions.

Finally, please only submit NEW works to the Mockup Frenzy.  New works means ideas you started pixeling after the start date.  I think that's about it!  If we think of any more "rules" we'll be sure to add them.  Otherwise, have fun pixeling!

Ah!  One final note regarding the deadlines: we will collect the entries the day after the deadline.  We will try to do this late in the day, but because the moderation staff lives all over the world, it is conceivable that entries COULD be collected very late in the day on the deadline itself, depending on staff schedules, etc.  If you want to be absolutely positive that your entry is collected, then please post it early in the day, or even the day before.  Especially since there is no voting and no "winners", we will not tolerate any deadline-related whining!!

Thanks very much to everyone who chipped in ideas for this activity, and I look forward to seeing everyone's entries!

Haha, I just remembered something else.  Please post all finished entries to THIS thread.  Also, for now, you are welcome to post WIPs here or in Critique if you want help with specific facets.  I'd like it if we could keep this thread pretty informal and loose, since its not a competition and we'll be collecting the entries at the end anyways.  Thanks!


Mockup Frenzy #1

Mockup Frenzy #1 is a cell-phone themed session:

Resolution: 128px wide by 160px tall
Colors: 31 colors + transparency
Theme: "One Button" play
Start Day: August 15th, 2007
Deadline: August 31st, 2007
Notes: The theme this week is optional, but a fun challenge I think!  "One Button" can mean a few things.  In the strictest sense, it means that most cell phones can not detect more than one concurrent button press.  Plus, people usually just play with a thumb; so your traditional run+jump is pretty hard to pull off.  However, there is an emerging subset of games that primarily operate with just a single button press; see this handy link that Feron looked up for more ideas: http://www.gamasutra.com/upload/features/20050602/green_01.shtml

As this is the very first Mockup Frenzy, you are welcome to post any questions or concerns in this thread as we get underway


The Entries

Xion, sharprm, MaDsk8tard, Ryan Cordel, KAT:


Ian, Feron, Feron, Zach, Delgneith:


Noveroth, Judas, RhysD, infinity+1, elise:


ego, Schu, Arachne, yueprofile, Xion:



Helm, Dusty, ceddo:


am_pm, xavier_viiv, OzBlueShoes:

[Feron]

http://www.gamasutra.com/upload/features/20050602/green_01.shtml

this link really helped me come up with a concept, thought it was worth sharing as i struggled for a while to think about how to use the button.

[AdamAtomic]

Great link!  For this activity, especially since its the first, going with one button (whether its just one button total, or one at a time like in the bulk of phone games) is definitely optional, I just think its an interesting exercise 

[Dusty]

Well most cell-phone games have two buttons, one as an 'action' button, and one for back.

[ndchristie]

The vertical orientation for this (most one-button games, like helicopter or jumper, have a horizontal screen for prep time) makes coming up with the idea half the fun.  i've got some thoughts.....

[Xion]

Why does a mockup need a color reserved for transparency?

[Dusty]

I guess 'cause when you make a mock-up, you're keeping in mind the specs of the system you're making it for.

[Xion]

Robot Dungeon:
You are a robot who runs on gold.
In a dungeon.

A cookie to the first person who figures out the gameplay mechanic.
Except for those who already know, of course.

[Stwelin]

There is only one key, and it makes you turn right, because the robot is defective, and cannot turn left. And you have to switch little levers on the ground by walking upon them that drop pianos and anvils that kill the oil-thirsty knights trying to slay you. collect pellets for extra points!

[Dusty]

So this is literally one button? Not one button+directionals? Hmm, that is a lot more challenging than I thought, but my one idea would still work