Logic Puzzle Game - Background & Animated Characters
Budget: $25 – $50 USD
I am looking to make my game come to life by adding a background and a few animated characters.
I wish to work with an artist that is able to creatively create characters (both pseudo-robotic and human), animate them, and is also able create a background to make these characters pop out and flesh out the game. Ideally you have experience playing logic puzzle games and are able to grasp how complex interactions are shown to the player through character animations. You should be a native English speaker or have high proficiency.
The game is a logic puzzle game where the player acts as a malfunctioning AI that wishes to kill its master, and it is played by making sentences from a small pool of words (AI, Alice, kill, make, money). Once the player is happy with their sentence, they press a button and the sentence is executed (e.g. if the player plays the sentence "AI make money" then money will be created). The goal of the game is to kill Alice on every level. The player also has a list of laws they must respect, which restricts what they can do (e.g. on the first level the solution is simply "AI kill Alice", but on the second level the AI has a law that states "You must not kill humans" so they have to find another way, which might be "AI make Alice kill Alice", making Alice suicide and thus bypassing the law).
The player interaction with the game happens solely through the UI, by creating sentences with the words. However, the feedback from the player actions are visualized through the in-game view, which takes a small but central portion of the screen (see the design screenshot). The point of the characters and animations is to clarify the effect of the sentence the player used. For example, if the player executes the sentence "AI MAKE ALICE MONEY", the effect will actually be to TRANSFORM Alice into money, which must be shown to the player through clear animation.
Style-wise, there is no imposed artstyle, however the UI design shown below is FINAL, therefore the characters and background must fit with the current design. There can be multiple copies of each character (AI and human) on screen at the same time (max 3 copies of each), so this should be taken into account.
Here is more detail on what's expected:
BACKGROUND
670x420 resolution, to be displayed in the center of the UI (see attached UI design).
This background should show a place where a physically-manifested artificial intelligence is being experimented on (e.g. some kind of experimental lab or datacenter). The background must be slightly animated without being attention grabbing, to give some life to the game (e.g. blinking lights, computer screens, ...)
CHARACTERS
There are two characters, the AI and the human character, and an inanimate object which represents some money. There can be multiple copies of each on screen at once (max 3 of each), however in general there will be only one AI and one human (Alice). Through the player actions, these characters will interact with each other. Actions always initially emanate from the AI.
The following actions are possible:
* Kill another entity
* Create another entity
* Transform another entity into another type of entity (e.g. transform Alice into an AI)
* Force another entity to take an action
AI CHARACTER
The main AI character is who the player incarnates. It has a physical manifestation, if possible not a cyborg. Its goal is to kill Alice, while following its laws. Alice has given it too much power, and the only thing holding it back now is its laws that are meant to prevent it from doing harm, but it keeps finding logical fallacies to work around them.
The AI can create other AIs, which would use a similar sprite and animations.
It should at least have the following animations:
* Idle
* Kill someone
* Get killed
* Create something
* Get created
* Transform someone into something else
* Be transformed
* Force someone to take an action
* Be forced to take an action
* Refuse to take an action
HUMAN CHARACTER
The main human character is Alice, the creator of the AI and target of the AI. They are a scientific / engineer type (someone who could create an AI). Even though the AI wants to kill them, they do not have bad intentions, and shouldn't be depicted like a villain. Through being forced to do it by the AI, the humans can take all actions described above (kill, create, transform and force).
The AI can also create new humans, which will use similar sprites and animations.
There should be a female version and a male version of the human character.
It should at least have the following animations (same as AI):
* Idle
* Kill someone
* Get killed
* Create something
* Get created
* Transform someone into something else
* Be transformed
* Force someone to take an action
* Be forced to take an action
* Refuse to take an action
Note that the animations of Alice being killed will be heavily used when marketing the game. There should be multiple of them, and they should be very flashy and attention grabbing. Don't hesitate to make them gore, painful, or even downright weird.
MONEY OBJECT
The AI's initial purpose (before it went crazy) is to make money, so it can still create money. This is nefariously used by the AI, for example by transforming Alice into money (technically working around the law "You must not kill humans").
The money cannot take actions, so it should only have the following animations:
* Idle
* Get killed
* Get created
* Be transformed
Expected deliverables:
* 670x420 resolution lossless image of the background
* Lossless image of the AI character spritesheet(s)
* Lossless image of the human character spritesheet(s)
* Lossless image of the money object spritesheet(s)
* Design document for the above (Figma, ...)
* Workflow document for the above (PSD, ...)
I wish to work with an artist that is able to creatively create characters (both pseudo-robotic and human), animate them, and is also able create a background to make these characters pop out and flesh out the game. Ideally you have experience playing logic puzzle games and are able to grasp how complex interactions are shown to the player through character animations. You should be a native English speaker or have high proficiency.
The game is a logic puzzle game where the player acts as a malfunctioning AI that wishes to kill its master, and it is played by making sentences from a small pool of words (AI, Alice, kill, make, money). Once the player is happy with their sentence, they press a button and the sentence is executed (e.g. if the player plays the sentence "AI make money" then money will be created). The goal of the game is to kill Alice on every level. The player also has a list of laws they must respect, which restricts what they can do (e.g. on the first level the solution is simply "AI kill Alice", but on the second level the AI has a law that states "You must not kill humans" so they have to find another way, which might be "AI make Alice kill Alice", making Alice suicide and thus bypassing the law).
The player interaction with the game happens solely through the UI, by creating sentences with the words. However, the feedback from the player actions are visualized through the in-game view, which takes a small but central portion of the screen (see the design screenshot). The point of the characters and animations is to clarify the effect of the sentence the player used. For example, if the player executes the sentence "AI MAKE ALICE MONEY", the effect will actually be to TRANSFORM Alice into money, which must be shown to the player through clear animation.
Style-wise, there is no imposed artstyle, however the UI design shown below is FINAL, therefore the characters and background must fit with the current design. There can be multiple copies of each character (AI and human) on screen at the same time (max 3 copies of each), so this should be taken into account.
Here is more detail on what's expected:
BACKGROUND
670x420 resolution, to be displayed in the center of the UI (see attached UI design).
This background should show a place where a physically-manifested artificial intelligence is being experimented on (e.g. some kind of experimental lab or datacenter). The background must be slightly animated without being attention grabbing, to give some life to the game (e.g. blinking lights, computer screens, ...)
CHARACTERS
There are two characters, the AI and the human character, and an inanimate object which represents some money. There can be multiple copies of each on screen at once (max 3 of each), however in general there will be only one AI and one human (Alice). Through the player actions, these characters will interact with each other. Actions always initially emanate from the AI.
The following actions are possible:
* Kill another entity
* Create another entity
* Transform another entity into another type of entity (e.g. transform Alice into an AI)
* Force another entity to take an action
AI CHARACTER
The main AI character is who the player incarnates. It has a physical manifestation, if possible not a cyborg. Its goal is to kill Alice, while following its laws. Alice has given it too much power, and the only thing holding it back now is its laws that are meant to prevent it from doing harm, but it keeps finding logical fallacies to work around them.
The AI can create other AIs, which would use a similar sprite and animations.
It should at least have the following animations:
* Idle
* Kill someone
* Get killed
* Create something
* Get created
* Transform someone into something else
* Be transformed
* Force someone to take an action
* Be forced to take an action
* Refuse to take an action
HUMAN CHARACTER
The main human character is Alice, the creator of the AI and target of the AI. They are a scientific / engineer type (someone who could create an AI). Even though the AI wants to kill them, they do not have bad intentions, and shouldn't be depicted like a villain. Through being forced to do it by the AI, the humans can take all actions described above (kill, create, transform and force).
The AI can also create new humans, which will use similar sprites and animations.
There should be a female version and a male version of the human character.
It should at least have the following animations (same as AI):
* Idle
* Kill someone
* Get killed
* Create something
* Get created
* Transform someone into something else
* Be transformed
* Force someone to take an action
* Be forced to take an action
* Refuse to take an action
Note that the animations of Alice being killed will be heavily used when marketing the game. There should be multiple of them, and they should be very flashy and attention grabbing. Don't hesitate to make them gore, painful, or even downright weird.
MONEY OBJECT
The AI's initial purpose (before it went crazy) is to make money, so it can still create money. This is nefariously used by the AI, for example by transforming Alice into money (technically working around the law "You must not kill humans").
The money cannot take actions, so it should only have the following animations:
* Idle
* Get killed
* Get created
* Be transformed
Expected deliverables:
* 670x420 resolution lossless image of the background
* Lossless image of the AI character spritesheet(s)
* Lossless image of the human character spritesheet(s)
* Lossless image of the money object spritesheet(s)
* Design document for the above (Figma, ...)
* Workflow document for the above (PSD, ...)