🎮 Assignment: Nintendo Game Design Project (Advanced Environment Focus)

Project Overview

You’ve been hired by Nintendo to design a brand-new video game.

Your job is to create a fully developed concept, including characters and cinematic game environments that feel like real gameplay.

🎯 Project Requirements

1. 🎮 Game Concept

Create a clear, original idea for your game:

• Title of the game

• Genre (adventure, platformer, horror, puzzle, etc.)

• Target audience

• Short storyline (1–2 paragraphs)

2. 👾 Character Design (Minimum 5 Characters)

Design at least 5 original characters.

Each must include:

• Full character design (front or posed view)

• Name

• Personality

• Backstory (short paragraph)

• Role in the game (hero, villain, sidekick, etc.)

👉 Encourage variety:

• Main character

• Villain

• Supporting characters

• NPC or creature

3. 🌎 Game World + Scene Design (5–7 Scenes)

Create 5–7 detailed scenes from your game that could be used as a preview or trailer.

Each scene should:

• Show a different environment or moment

• Include characters doing the game

• Feel like a real “screenshot” from gameplay

Examples:

• Opening world

• Boss battle

• Hidden area

• Action moment

• Calm/story moment

👉 The goal: your scenes should look like real screenshots from a game, not flat illustrations.

🌎 Environment & Scene Requirements 

Create 5–7 scenes from your game.

Each scene MUST include:

🔺 1. Perspective (REQUIRED)

• Use 1-point, 2-point, or atmospheric perspective

• Clear foreground, middle ground, and background

• Objects scale correctly with depth

👉 Examples:

• A road/path receding into the distance

• Buildings or structures in perspective

• Overlapping elements to create depth

💡 2. Lighting (REQUIRED)

Every scene must have a clear light source:

• Where is the light coming from?

• How does it affect objects and characters?

Include:

• Highlights

• Shadows

• Contrast

👉 Push it further:

• Sunset lighting 🌅

• Night scenes with glow 🌙

• Dramatic spotlighting

• Fog or atmospheric lighting

🌫️ 3. Depth & Realism

Scenes should NOT feel flat.

You must include:

• Foreground elements (close, detailed)

• Background elements (less detail, faded or blurred)

• Use of:

  • Blur (Photoshop)

  • Opacity shifts

  • Color fading (atmospheric perspective)

🎬 4. Cinematic Composition

Think like a game designer:

• Is this an action moment? A quiet moment?

• Where does the viewer’s eye go first?

Use:

• Rule of thirds

• Leading lines

• Framing (trees, doorways, etc.)

🛠️ Software Expectations

Use the following where you see fit:

• Adobe Photoshop → for lighting, depth, realism

• Adobe Illustrator → for characters, assets, clean design

🔥 Advanced Requirement (NON-NEGOTIABLE)

At least 2 of your scenes must be highly rendered “hero scenes”:

• Strong lighting effects

• Advanced perspective

• Highly detailed environments

These should look like something from a real game preview.

🧠 Mini Skill Expectations (What You Should See)

Students should be applying:

• Drop shadows correctly (not default effects)

• Custom lighting using brushes/gradients

• Depth of field (blur)

• Color grading (overall tone of scene)

• Perspective grids or guides

🎨 What “A-Level” Work Looks Like

• You can clearly tell where the light source is

• Objects feel placed in real space

• Scenes have depth (not flat layers)

• Lighting adds mood (not just visibility)

• Perspective feels believable