Robotics VR

Robotics VR was first created during NJIT’s newly held virtual reality courses. The idea had been to offer a visual, interactive way to learn programming concepts, as the team had realized that some individuals have a difficult time understanding them. Since then, the idea has grown to become an application used by the Elizabeth School District to teach their robotics class. It has also been used in the open house show cases at New Jersey Institute of Technology.

This was the first team project I had joined since coming to NJIT. I was unsure of what exactly I could do to contribute to the team, as my programming skills weren’t very strong at the time. In the end, I used the strongest skill I had to offer at the time to contribute - drawing.

Rover turnaround sheet

For this project, I’ve done mostly concept art for the team developing the application. I had first designed the robot controlled by the user, Rover. I later designed a concept piece to detail the helm that the user would be placed inside. I used both Paint Tool Sai and Adobe Photoshop to create these concept pieces. I had tried my hand at modeling a space craft, although I ran into difficulties in reducing the poly count and the ship had since been replaced.

Just to clairfy, the 3D modeled environment was not done by me, but by a classmate I worked with.

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This is a progress video from initial concept sketch to the final design.

The Adventure Zone - Taako & Lup

I created a print of two characters, Taako and Lup, from the podcast The Adventure Zone. The print was inspired by a photo of two friends that had cosplayed the two characters. I changed the lighting in the print to give a warmer feeling to the image, as it was a gift to the two friends in question.

Final print

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Progress gif. However, the quality was reduced due to Photoshop having issues with making a gif at the initial canvas resolution.

Cross Horizons

Cross Horizons was a game I was working on during my Foundations of Game Production course. It was a 2D metroidvania game that never came to fruition. The story followed a young girl name Oriel who had to journey to temples of various gods to receive their blessings in order to save her village.

Much of my work was done in Paint Tool SAI and Adobe PhotoShop. The visual appearance of the game was inspired loosely by Celtic lore, so I used Celtic stories and culture to inspire most of my work.

Home screen concept art

The home screen concept art depicts a statue in the middle of a forest. The statue was to allude to the main antagonist of Cross Horizons, the god of death. The tower of stones are cairns. One of the uses that a cairn served was for burial purposes. The moss growing over the cairns and the statue were used to imply that the location had been untouched for a long period of time. The stream of light over the statue was also meant to further emphasize the importance of this seemingly unknown statue to the player.

Various blots in the concept design phase

Blots were the main enemies of the game. The name blot was given because of the idea that they would melt away with an inky animation once defeated by the player. From what I understood, a lot of Celtic mythology relies on nature, so I designed most of the enemies from animals, rocks, or plant. I then researched various tree illnesses and incorporated them into my designs.

Penumbra enemy. The lanterns would vary between three designs.

However, the penumbra enemy differs greatly because they are carriers that take spirits of the deceased from the living word to the Otherworld. They carry various spirits in the lanterns around their bodies. When they are lit, it indicates that they are housing a spirit. Penumbras are generally harmless and will only attack when the player hits them. However, they will not continue to pursue the player after the initial attack. It was also during this project that I had used Spine: 2D for the first time. Below is a brief progress video of rigging and animating penumbra in Spine: 2D.

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Two other blots were also created for the game. One blot, that I nicknamed loggy, was based on a rotting tree trunk. It would blend in with the environment until the player came around. It would then uproot itself and chase the player. It is a distance fighter, so it would plunge one of its roots into the ground and attack from beneath the player’s feet. Because of this, and the fact that it is a rotting tree trunk, it has a very low base defense and could easy be destroyed by the player.

The rock blot, nicknamed rocco, was made up of rocks. Because of the moss, it’s completely blind and only reacts if the player is walking within its hearing radius. Once the player leaves its hearing radius or stops moving completely, it will go back to a dormant state. It has a high defense stat, but an average attack stat.

Blight concept designs to final design

Blights were the boss enemies of the game. They were formerly blots that had simply grown and become more intelligent. They specifically lurk around temples of gods, almost as if they are guarding it. I had used Alchemy to find inspiration, which can be shown in the first silhouette on the far left. After creating several variations, I had finally settled on the design on the far left. The blight would be able to throw punches from a long range, but would have a significant recovery period. The player would be able to knock it’s arms off to reduce it’s ability to fight back. The blight would eventually fall to pieces and fade away shortly after.

Oriel was the main character of the game. She was a young girl from a village. She had no experience in fighting prior to the start of the game, so I had tried to keep an innocent, youthful appearance. I also wanted to reflect the idea that Oriel was a character that was not used to fighting. I tried to stray far from the first portrait, as I thought it looked too much like Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn. It also made her look older when Oriel was supposed to be roughly 13. In the end, I had decided on the third portrait, as was young, and also seemed more practical for a working situation.

The Adventure Zone - Kravitz

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Kravitz is an NPC character in the podcast, The Adventure Zone. The characters in The Adventure Zone were initially loosely described to allow fans to have fun with their interpretations of how the characters look. Kravitz was personally one of my favourite characters so I tried my hand at drawing him. He was described as “strikingly handsome, dark-haired man described as wearing a fancy suit.”

Below is a progress video between the initial sketch to the final piece.

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Lakeesha Character Sheet

Lakeesha was a blind design sheet I had made some years ago. My professor gave me a prompt of a character to design and I was told to design a character with the given details. Lakeesha is a soldier in a futuristic society. She is forward and practical. She always thinks of a thorough plan before doing anything. Lakeesha holds the leadership role in the squadron that was sent to explore a new planet.

Turnaround sheet

Head turnaround

Elizabeth "Lizzy" Garrick

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Garrick is a mechanic in a sci-fi setting.. She had lost her arm due to an accident and built an arm for herself so she could continue to do what she loves. She’s a tomboy, and loves hands-on projects.

Lizzy was a character that I had made up years ago. I was encouraged by a professor of mine to try my hand at creating character sheets. These sheets are several years old, but I felt it would help with measuring my progress when contrasting them to future works.