1. The background uses all blue colours, a stark
difference from the white and skin tone of the ninja.
Itʼs a gradient that moves up, from dark to light, with
structures shown with darker shades of blue. These
structures and the gradient give the impression of
platforms, that the game has an up and a down.
The ninja figure drawn in a vector art style, and is
coloured white with heavy shadows. The shadows
are achieved through toning, with a shade of gray
laid over the white to represent shadows, and the
black lines getting very thick. Especially dark
areas are totally filled with black.The thick lines
and cell shaded look is designed to make you
think of comic book art, giving the impression that
the game will be a comic book action adventure.
This comic book vector look is an interesting
choice, as it doesnʼt represent the in-game pixel
art graphics.
The eyes form an interesting focal
point, as they are coloured green,
which doesnʼt appear anywhere else
in the image. It creates a tiny pin
point of contrast that really draws the
eye. The skin tones around the eyes
have the same effect, as they feature shading
thatʼs quite a bit more detailed then the rest of the
image, with about six different skin shades to show
the shadows and the highlights. The point of this is
to build tone and character. With our eye drawn to
his face we can see heʼs angry and ready to fight.
This, along with the strong blocky shadows on the
body show that itʼs a dark, dramatic character.
In terms of perspective the throwing star and the hand
that threw it are big focus points, both because they fall
on the diagonal lines of the image, and because
perspective wise they are at the front of the image. This
use of extreme perspective and foreshortening again
emphasizes the action in the game and shows a
dramatic comic book-like style, moving away from the
flat pixel art were you wouldnʼt see such perspective.
Interestingly the whole
logo goes against the
graphics of the game.
The comic vector art
with a dynamic
perspective is a large
leap from the flat pixel
art featured in-game. The logo
exaggerates the game, amping up key
features like the combat and action,
and ninja theme, in order to sell the
game and bring it to life.