Crimson Candy - First semester project (end of 2019) - 2D animated
Our first semester project in art school was a 2D platformer. It's about a cute little girl that sees everything with "rose-colored glasses" on, whereas the true world around her is much darker and gory. Our team liked to play with a project with two complementary aspects. In this project I was responsible for character designing, character animation and some 2D VFX.
Annie is our main character in this setting. She and her parents live deep in the woods, but from time to time her parents help out as healers for the people in the village. One day, to save the life of a child, they have to reveal the truth behind their healing potions and herbs: magic. Soon the village demonizes them. The family tries to protect their home by setting traps. In the end the father dies protecting his family and the mother, severely wounded, uses her last magic to keep herself alive to take care of their little girl. She now looks rather ghoulish.
In her trauma Annie's powers awaken and subconciously creates a colorful and cheerful world around her so she can forget. Even her mother seems back to herself.
The game starts when Annie's mother calls her for dinner. Annie has to avoid the traps in the mansion to reach her mother. The bubble around her is a visual feedback of her own world and turns traps into harmless items.
The bubble effect for Annie.
Annie's run animation. 8 frames.
Annie's death animation. If she gets hurt in the level, she loses control of her untutored magic and the world she created inside the bubble collapses and takes her with it.
The mother inside and outside of Annie's bubble.
Title screen animation. A few parts like title and background assets when Annie turns cartoon-ish are left. These were created and put in later on by a co-artist in the team.
Lightning effect for the outisde of the mansion that would be visible through the window glasses.
Spritesheet Run
Spritesheet Burst
Trying different styles to get a better picture of Annie and the era she lives in to adapt the environment.
Annie's mother in a different style.