Character Design for Mobile Devices [Paperback]

Lawrence Wright (NFGMan) (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240808088 | ISBN-13: 978-0240808086 | Publication Date: June 30, 2006 | Edition: 1

Mobile gaming on cell phones and portable consoles is a huge business, and many characters have become design icons. However, the physical limitations of these small screens, and the technological challenges of different gaming platforms, mean that designers have had to become experts at creating characters with just a few points of light. Creating art for these devices is a completely different process than used when creating art for highly sophisticated 3D games. The difference between pixel art and art created for 3D games is two-fold: there are practical considerations that must be addressed as well as aesthetic considerations. This book will cover both subjects as well as examining the evolution of gaming graphics-explaining the significance of the changes we've seen in game artistry and what we can learn from examining successful icons and graphics created in the past. Character Design for Mobile Devices looks at the techniques, the inspiration, the technologies, and the creative challenges behind designing characters with only a few pixels at your disposal.

Filled with:
*Practical and inspirational tutorials that enable you to clearly understand the processes involved in creating art for mobile devices
*Timely and inspirational information
*Features over 400 full-color images to inspire and instruct

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Learn to design vibrant, identifiable graphics and recognizable characters with only a few pixels at your disposal!

About the Author

NFG Man (Lawrence Wright) is the human face behind two of the largest independent game sites on the Web, nfg.2y.net and gamesx.com. He has also run a successful game store and writes for some of the world's leading games magazines. He lives and works in Australia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (June 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240808088
• ISBN-13: 978-0240808086
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,477,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive title, but still a good book, January 1, 2008

By 

Grant Beaudette (Missoula, MT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Character Design for Mobile Devices (Paperback)

Judging by the cover of this book, which features numerous sprites from old 8 & 16-bit consoles, it's hard to tell what this has to do with character design or mobile devices. In actuality, "mobile devices" has more to do with old portable gaming systems than cell phones, (plus there's virtually no mention of PDAs or their content) and there's really no mention of any aspects of character design outside of compensating for any resolution or color limitations.

A more appropriate title might've been "Sprites: The Book" This book's purpose seems more geared towad pixel art in general and the mobile content angle was added because it's the platform where pixel art is still a technological necessity rather than an artistic choice.

But don't let all that dissuade you. Considering how little literature there is on pixel art & sprites outside of webpages, this book is a must-have primer on the history and mechanics of sprite work.

Sections include an overview of raster graphics, a brief history of portable gaming devices, (which if nothing else made me appreciate my old Atari Lynx a little more) breakdowns of the limitations of cell phones and LCD screens, profiles of popular pixel artists, quotes from mobile game developers, walkthroughs of creating a few sprites, examples of porting sprites between platforms, histories of pixel-heavy video game genres, (RPGs, Fighting games & platformers) as well as histories of classic sprite characters Mario, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Bonk, Arthur from "Ghouls & Ghosts" & Castlevania characters. There's plenty of knowledge to glean, even if it's not what the title might suggest.

If you're looking for specific instruction on developing mobile content, look elsewhere. But if you're in the market for a broad overview on sprites and pixel art, you've found a winner.