Talk Notes
- The team collaboration consisted of Sam Noire, Bobby and Steve.
- They picked Kenneth Grahame's story of Wind in the Willows because they wanted to start with a well-known, loved story that carried depth and emotions.
- They said that they didn’t need to use a huge team of people because they had such a good collaboration with just the three of them.
- Parts of the story had similar aspects relating to the team’s lives, they were able to draw their own experiences, emotions and feelings into the production of the story.
- It is important to add a sense of humour to the story "people like to laugh; they will appreciate you for it!" The story was already a very comical one so it was important that the team could add funny interactive moments and games to the app so that it adds to the overall feel of the book.
- A lot of mathematical modelling was used in the production. In order to make the components move without using animation, they had to take apart all the elements that made up an object, such as a train, and then re-build the object with the separate elements programed to move.
- The app was produced in 3 to 4 months using software such as Objective C, Coco 2D, Chipmunk physics and Photoshop.
App
Production processes:
- Find the story and familiarise the team with it.
- Produce thumbnail sketches and storyboards to develop the visual side of the story.
- How are we going to make it feel and look like a book? - They used an old looking paper effect so that the pages connected to the age of the words; they wanted the story and the look to work together, whilst contrasting to the shiny and new look and feel of the IPad.
- The team developed the way the characters looked through a series of several drawings each. They said that they let the book surround them so that they could get a substantial feel of the way the characters should look; they apparently walked through the door one day and just appeared in their final forms.
- All of the animal characters in the book carry a lot of emotion and feelings; they have human characteristics and were built and designed with the personalities of people.
