Project PULSE Art Book

Table of Contents

★ Introduction 1-3
4-5
Our Team 1
20-25
★ Our Style Guide 8-9 26-33
10-11 34-43
★ Character Designs 12-13 44-45
6-19 14-15
16-17
Character Selection Menu 18-19
Melody
Bass 20-21
Harmony 22-23
Percussion 24-25
NPC Design and Creation
26-27
★ Enemy Designs 28-29
30-31
Oozy Enemies 32-33
Oozy Enemies
Boss 34-35
36-37
★ Weapon Designs 38-43
Melody’s Sword
Bass’ Hammer
Harmony’s Bow
Percussions Blaster

★ Environment Designs
Environment Props and Procedural Assets
Lighting
Procedural Block Creation

★ Credits

Our Team

We’re Jellyfrog Digital, a team of Savannah College of Art and Design alumni of Interactive Game Design. We created the game
almost entirely remotely over the course of 35 weeks in 2020-2021.

1

Introduction

Project PULSE is a rhythm combat multiplayer game where you and your friends must save your city, Jamford, from
dastardly slime villains. Your band must use the power of music, teamwork, and blunt objects to smash these slimes out
of existence.
In Project PULSE, we want you to have your own story, which is echoed in its features:
★ Save townspeople
★ Scavenge for money and weapons
★ Procedurally created city, where every new game is exactly that, new!
★ Up to 4 people can be in the band, but you can also go solo.
★ Upgrade your weapons to create your own riff to the music. You can experiment with combining sounds for killer

combos and better functionality as a band.

2

3

Style Guide

Modeling

Models are trapezoid-like in shaping, where models are thinner at the bottom and taper out towards their tops. All
edges are skewed from perfect geometry. This means there are minimal right angles and no perfect shapes.

Texturing

Colors and shading are very graphic. The colors are bright and inspired by the models’ real life counterparts, but are
greatly exaggerated. Textures become more visually interesting through the use of smaller visual noise & roughness detail
added onto the maps, and roughness is used but doesn’t get as shiny as reality. Most edges on the models are highlighted

4 with pink through the use of curvature maps; this adds onto our style by giving it a somewhat cartoony feel.

5

Menu Art

Concept

Because our team is a band, we thought creating a character selection screen out of their stage would be most fitting.
They’re a band with a forced grunge aesthetic, as they are against the main power player of the town, RezoTech. Their stage and
secret hangout spot is in the junkyard of Jamford’s unsightly suburb, where they play out of earshot of their parents and other
authority figures.

Functionality

Players can choose one of our four players. Once they have selected one, they can select their weapon from ones they have

6 unlocked in the past or their default. The players start the game close to the selection stage in-game.

7

Characters

8

We wanted four characters, each representing a musical element as well as a combat type.
We chose to make them based on four high school stereotypes: preppy, goth, nerd, and jock. In
order for them to stand out from a distance and in line with our game’s art style, we chose to give
them four distinct colors, by what fit their personality the best.

9

Melody

Style

Melody was the first character we created, so she was
the test subject for much of the style experimentation. To fit
her into our environment’s style, she has “chunky,”
exaggerated, and geometric features. We also wanted the
characters to have different body types and silhouettes.
Melody has chunkier limbs and is rounder than Bass and
Harmony, in both her body and clothing. Texturing was also
a huge part of matching the style of the environment, being
stylized and painterly to match. Because the game is shot
from a ¾ angle and a little far away, we wanted the
characters to be mostly blocks of color, primarily their main
color. For Melody, her primary color is yellow. She also has a
shape to distinguish her, which is a star.

Character

Melody is modeled around the ‘preppy/cheerleader’
archetype without going too stereotypical. She is meant to be
the glue, or the one who brought together, all of our other
characters. She’s the leader of our band, because every else
admires her tenacity.

Playing Style

Melody is the close-range fighter who attacks with her
giant sword. She creates the Melody of the song, as her
name implies, so she has the moderate fighting and dashing
speed. Her special attack is a dash attack, where she can
slash multiple enemies in a row with one sprint.

10

In Game

11

Bass

Style

Bass is the second player we created. Her style is
‘anti-Harmony,’ she’s very tall and has sharper edges. We
wanted her to be tall and lanky to juxtapose her playing type,
the heavy-hitter. We also wanted her to be visually
distinguishable from all other players from a distance, so her
color is red, she’s tall, and very lanky. She also has a shape to
distinguish her, which is an ‘X.’

Character

Bass is modeled around the ‘goth’ and punk rock
archetype. She’s usually a loner, but she was brought into the
band by Melody, who didn’t like seeing Bass alone everyday.
She acts as if she doesn’t care, but she’s secretly very happy
to help out.

Playing Style

Bass is our slow, heavy hitter, who fights along the
bass of the music. She has the slowest fighting and dashing
speed of the group, but she also inflicts the most damage
and sprints the furthest. Her special attack allows her to hit
enemies farther from her and allows her to do even more
damage.

12

In Game

13

Harmony

Style

Harmony was the third character we designed. As a
long range attacker, we wanted to give Harmony a smaller
more agile look. He is styled after a modern techy geek which
allows him to have a cool range of gadgets that give him an
edge on the battlefield. Various pockets and a satchel/quiver
were added to his design because the more pockets the more
places to store cool gadgets!

Character

Harmony is Melody’s younger brother. Although he is
the youngest of the group, he is extremely gifted when it
comes to tech. His nerdy appearance often gets him picked
on, luckily his large best friend Percussion always has his
back. The two can be found gaming and geeking over PC
parts often at the expense of the patience of Melody and
Bass. Harmony’s small size and technical know how makes
him a deadly adversary on the battlefield, he should not be
underestimated.

Playing Style

Harmony is a quick ranged attacker. He is extremely
agile bowman, with a high tech arsenal to back him up.
Harmony can harass enemies from a distance all while
dipping and dodging around the battlefield. His power attack
unleashes a salvo of high damaging arrows making harmony
a agile high DPS powerhouse.

14

In Game

15

Percussion

Style

Percussion was our fourth and final character that we
designed. Percussion is a close range-tank, so we wanted to
give him a large and armored up look. He is styled after a high
school jock with football shoulder pads to help him soak up
damage on the battlefield. This was all done so percussion
could easily be identified as a tanklike character.

Character

Percussion is the lovable, charismatic big guy of the
group. When he’s not at football practice, you can find him
sketching up designs of D&D characters and gaming with
Harmony. He cares deeply about the other members of the
group and will often charge head first into battle to protect his
friends.

Playing Style

Percussion is a tanky, ranged area-of-effect powerhouse
who uses his blaster to remove literal chunks of slime from his
enemies. Percussion’s close range blaster is devastating on
groups of enemies and can be used to damage multiple
enemies at once. When his power attack is activated,
Percussion launches a grenade from his blaster that does
devastating area-of-effect damage.

16

In Game

17

NPC Design and Creation

Concept

This is Kimberly, our female NPC. She has a less defined silhouette and average clothes to make her stand out less to the
players, so most of her concepting was to find out how to create a procedurally created NPC.

Functionality

We ended up creating a texture atlas system of color masks and opacity, alpha masks. A color mask could be selected to
project a pattern (such as stripes or stars) onto a t-shirt or skirt mesh to give us a number of different designs. Parameters were
given for different colors as well to give us a wide range of different patterns. Utilized together, we created a library of material
instances which could be referenced by our NPC system. This allowed us to have a wide range of outfits which could be randomly

18 mixed and matched with one another. In addition we created a range of hairstyles, hair colors, and skin tones to further expand the
library of available NPC looks that could be generated.

19

Oozy Enemies

20

For our enemies, we wanted a material that reflected their lore origins, being the result of a corporate experiment gone
wrong, as well as being visually distinct. We went through a few iterations in shape, size, and color. Eventually we settled on
utilizing a slime like material that had technological aberrations in its patterns to convey its place in the universe. The next issue
was finding a way to have our enemies both stand out as visually clear enemies but also fit our environment.

We utilized a reddish glow to denote them as aggressive creatures, while toning it to fit the environment. On top of that, they
were given a hard dark outline with a panning pattern to further push their techy origins.

Our slime material was applied to different enemies, some being mixed with pieces of the environment such as trash cans or
lawn mowers. This was to show its invasive nature on the word around it.

They were given glowing eyes to further separate their shapes and keep them visually clear to the player.

21

Oozy Enemies

22

23

Boss

24

25

Melody’s Sword

“As a rough and rowdy, yet elegant fast attacker, Melody’s long sword cleaves through her enemies like butter”

The elongated treble clef that
partially covers the blade acts
as a down swept cross guard
perfect for a sword made for
chopping. The star shaped
pommel is another call out to
Melody, as it is the geometric
shape that represents her
character.

Images left to right (top):
- Greyscale Sword model
- Grand Piano Sword

Images left to right (bottom):
- Electric Guitar Sword
- Synth Sword

26

27

Bass’s Hammer

“With each swing of her hammer, Bass sends mind melting soundwaves into the earth ensuring that her enemies know that this isn't just a
phase and that it is in fact a lifestyle. “

Held together by JB weld
and sheet metal. It’s
ornamented in spiked
wristbands to give it a hint of
personal flair, as well as to
inflict a bit more physical
damage to her enemies.

Images left to right (top):
- Greyscale Hammer model
- Grand Piano Hammer

Images left to right (bottom):
- Bass Guitar Hammer
- Synth Hammer

28

29

Harmony’s Bow

“This bow is the physical embodiment of revenge of the nerds. “

Harmony’s high tech compound
bow boasts a fast fire rate as well
as an explosive volley of arrows
that wreak havoc on his enemies.
The bow is styled after an alto clef.

Images left to right (top):
- Greyscale Bow model
- Flute Bow

Images left to right (bottom):
- Ancient Bell Bow
- Synth Bow

30

31

Percussion’s Blaster

“This blaster like its wielder, sets the edge in combat with its skull rattling pulses of energy. “

Percussion’s blaster shakes
his enemies to their core as
waves of sound rip through
the fibers of their being. When
powered up the blaster can
launch a high explosive
payload that turns slime into
mist.

Images left to right (top):
- Greyscale Blaster model
- Standard Blaster

Images left to right (bottom):
- Bongo Blaster
- Electric Blaster

32

33

34

Environment Props and Modular assets

Modeling our Props

Smaller environment props are required to fit in a normal city setting, encouraged to be interactive, and fits into the
personality of our game. This means that all of our models have exaggerated shapes and irregular edges, as seen in our
style guide. In order to give our models a softer feel, since they were often very geometric due to our style, most every
edge is beveled.

We wanted our city to feel lived-in and a little bit shabby, so we created a multitude of trash items, seating, signs,
cars and more. We also wanted smaller environment props to still be interactable, so for objects that can be thrown or
damaged, we could not delete bottom faces like one normally would. For every model, we had to think of how it might be
interacted with in engine, and if this could affect our modeling process.

35

36

Lighting

Mood

We wanted our city to feel vibrant, colorful, and futuristic, so we went with bold colored lights with dark blue-purple base
colors. We felt this lighting was important to capture the charm of the characters and world. Because our game is set during
the night, we used cool lighting to imitate a lack of light, but still allow the players to see easily.

Functionality

To draw the players eye, we made the the light brightest closer to the players. We also have a light on the individual player
characters to make the lighting most natural the closest to the players. This allows for the players to have the most visual
clarity. This was the most important trait of the lighting, due to the game’s multiplayer aspect.

37

Procedural Blocks and Landmarks

38

Procedural Blocks and Landmarks

Creating a Procedural City

Creating a procedural environment in a small amount of time requires patience, iteration, and concise design. Originally, our
procedurally generated city was entirely procedurally generated, which caused a plethora of unexpected designs and a city that just
generally didn’t look too good. After a rework in the second quarter of our active development cycle, we kept the road generation, but
reworked building generation. Any sort of building or part of the environment that creates the city was placed in a “hamburger format.” In
each block (the large sections of blue) different prefabs of predetermined lengths and widths were to be placed on top of each other.
This gave the artists much more freedom and created a city that looked very believable.

All cities have a variety of landmarks and points of interest, and we figured our city should be no different in that regard. While our
first pass at procedural generation gave us a large playground we often felt it was empty in some ways. In order to combat this we
created a number of special landmarks to appear in our grid of buildings. These landmarks ranged from soda shops, to schools, to high
tech shopping centers. When creating these landmarks we wanted to tell more of the unique story of our town and its position in the
story world. We wanted to convey the quaintness of our city while also showing off the high tech wonders of its world. We’d start with a
building typology and then brainstorm ideas from there. What type of shops do our character shop at? What do they do after school?
Where do people hang out? These were the questions we’d ask when developing our world. In the end we came up with several
landmarks to break up the world and give some visual interest as well as further tell our worlds story.

39

Procedural Landmarks

40

41

Procedural Blocks

42

43

Credits

Alexander Croom Collin Drilling

Lead Programming Environment & Weapon Art
Game Design Enemy Art
UX Advisement Voice Acting

Nathan ‘Zewei’ Malota Naomi Masterson

Project Management Art Director
Music Production Environment & Enemy Art
Programming Voice Acting
Voice Acting
Chris Spicer
Savannah Shuff
Environment & Enemy Art
Character & NPC Art Lighting
Voice Acting Enemy Animation

Claire Rodriguez Jamie Zerillo

Technical Art Environment & Enemy Art
Gameplay Programming Texture Art
Enemy Programming

44