Bivouac Urbain

Last weekend I participated in a video game making competition called "Bivouac Urbain". It was a pretty neat experience. The whole thing was set up outside in a park with included food, drinks and even a masseuse (I know what you're thinking and no, there were no happy endings of that sort)! There were also some bands performing on stage nearby. I was even featured on the local news!


Matt Fuzz performing his 8-bit jamz on a giant NES.

After a general theme was announced, each team had 48 hours to create a game prototype. Unfortunately, our team of 5 was unable to complete the game in time. The programmers didnt have much experience in Action Script, so although we had all the art done, none of it functioned very well as a game.



Our team. Easy to tell the programmers from the artists, ain't it?

The theme was antithesis. We chose to do Black & White VS Color. As a white glove, your character needs to jump from planet to planet and "infect" them with B&W paint while avoiding brushes that try to color you. Since white gloves on cartoon characters in the 30's was pretty standard, it seemed natural to have a white glove represent the forces of B&W. I thought it was neat to play as the conservative character who resists change and innovation.



The opening title screen.


An in game screenshot. A lot of the environment was done by the other artist on the team, Mike Bisson.


Concept sketches for the main protagonist, Handy.


Concept work for the enemies, later replaced by brushes.


One of the first concept sketches, done during our brainstorming phase.