Concept
For this assignment, I created a self-portrait by video game character select screens. Instead of trying to make it realistic, I represented myself as a simple character with stats such as energy, luck and focus.
I also wanted to add some sort of twist, so every 15-20 seconds there is a chance for the screen to switch to a different one.
Code I like
The part I’m probably most proud of is the hair. At first, I thought it would be simple to make, but it ended up taking a lot of experimenting to get it to look the way I wanted.
I started with an ellipse behind the head to make the main shape of the hair. I then used several triangles for the strands at the front and the spikes on the side. A lot of it was just changing coordinates, seeing how it looked, and adjusting them again until I was happy with it.
//hair
fill('black');
triangle(116,251,132,247,124,269);
triangle(130,247,149,244,140,272);
triangle(147,244,165,244,156,268);
triangle(163,244,182,247,173,272);
triangle(180,247,198,253,188,268);
triangle(123,238,90,244,120,263);
triangle(115,260,87,263,112,287);
How Was This Made?
I made the portrait using basic shapes like rectangles, ellipses, triangles, arcs, and lines. I built the character piece by piece, starting with the head and body before adding the hair, face, and character information.
After finishing the normal character screen, I made a second version for the “YOU DIED” screen. I used a variable called isdead to decide which one should be shown. I then used millis() to keep track of time and random() to give the sketch a chance to change between the two screens every 15–20 seconds. Most of the process was experimenting with values and coordinates and then looking at the result. If something looked wrong, I would change the numbers and try again.
Reflection
I enjoyed this assignment because I could make the self-portrait about something I like instead of just trying to recreate my actual appearance. Turning myself into a character-select screen made it feel more personal, and I liked adding the random “YOU DIED” screen as a small unexpected part of it.
The hair was probably the most annoying part to get right, but it also ended up being the part I was happiest with. If I were to improve the project, I would spend more time on the character itself by adding more details and making the body and face look better. I would also add more possible causes of death instead of always showing “Missed Deadline,” so that the death screen could be different each time.