Contracting Artwork for Your Game
by David Michael

Example Art Spec

Terrains and Variations

Total Terrains: 9

Total Terrain Tiles: 233

Terrains

Plains/Grasslands
Hills
Mountains/Rocks
Forests
Jungles/Tropical Forests
Swamps
Ocean/Open Water
Rivers*
Deserts

*The Rivers terrain is optional and may be replaced with the Ocean/Open Water tile.

Terrain Transitions

The transitional pieces will be overlays. Thus, a solid color should be used where the underlying terrain may show through. Variations are based on NSEW directional combinations. Additionally, there should be NW-NE-SE-SW "corner" directional combinations.

Grassland/Coastlines (32)
Desert (32)
Swamp (32)
Hill (32)
Mountain/Rock (32)
Forest (32)
Jungle (32)

At run-time, the different transitions may be "stacked" based on the terrain type of bordering cells. The terrain precedence for stacking is:

Jungles, Forest, Mountains/Rock, Hills, Swamps, Deserts, Grassland, Water.

...

Units

Total Units: 8

Total Unit Tiles: (6*44)+(1*24)+(1*64) = 352

Units

Infantry, scout, cavalry, settler and militia units should be rendered from a side view. Catapults and ships would look better with a perspective similar to the facilities (I think).

Settler: Peasant with Ax
Militia: Un-armored Soldier with Spear and Buckler
Infantry: Armored Soldier with Sword and Shield
Archer: Un-armored Soldier with Bow and Quiver
Scout: Un-armored Soldier on Horse with a Sword and Buckler
Cavalry: Armored Soldier on Horse with Sword and Shield
Catapult
Ship (sail-powered)

Unit Variations & Animation

Standing at Attention: 4 facings
Attacking Animation: 4 facings, 5 frames each
- (Ship has no attack animation)
- (Catapult only needs 3 frames)
Reloading Animation: 4 facings, 5 frames
- (Catapult only, can combine attack animations in reverse)
Dying Animation: 4 facings, 5 frames each

...

Final Graphics Format

48x48 pixels
...
The images should be delivered as True Color BMPs, with the final 256-color palette to be determined when all artwork is completed.

Quotes

Contents

	Introduction
	Art Spec
	Quotes
	Contracts

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