2/5 - blog post 1

Introduction

This will be my first blog post for this semester! I was really excited to be accepted into WolverineSoft Studio, as I’m interested in character art and design specifically related to video games. I was particularly excited for this project, because I’m very new to a lot of aspects of game development and I really wanted to be able to both contribute to the project and learn more about game dev in general! Through these blog posts, I will showcase my progress, ideas behind the creation of different characters, and learning process throughout the semester.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been keeping up with the tasks assigned to me, communicating regularly with the art lead and other artists to ensure that I was working on what was needed. To create the concept art for the enemies, I spent time researching on the theme and finding inspiration, creating mood boards, and of course taking the time to iterate the concepts.

Onboarding Task (2 hours)

For the onboarding task, everyone came up with a theme idea for the game, which included ideas for the enemies, the player’s motivations, and idea for the location and overall mood. My theme pitch was a cyberpunk fighter concept, where the player is in a dystopian city setting where tech corporations are ruining the world. People have cybernetic implants and other technology embedded in their body, but it is slowly corrupting them. The enemies would consist of gang members, dogs, and automated security guards, and the player would use a sword that cuts through wires and disrupt the corrupted implants.

Even though I was unfortunately unable to make it to the meeting, everyone voted for their favorite theme pitch - and the cursed pirate theme was chosen. After the theme was chosen, all the artists were assigned to a squad to specialize in certain categories of art that would be included in the game. I was assigned to the enemies squad!

Theme Research and Inspiration/Department Meetings (6 hours)

For the cursed pirate theme, I started thinking about what kind of enemies might fit the game, and how they could fit into the story. Since the player was meant to be a cursed pirate, I thought that some of the melee enemies could be lost souls or crewmates that had drowned and come back to life. I looked online for inspiration, and compiled pictures and looked at other art online to gain inspiration for the enemies.

I also collaborated with the other artists to brainstorm and think about what kind of weapons might fit the telegraphed attacks. It really helped me to look at the other departments and what they were working on, which helped me think of what kind of characters would fit the moveset or audio sound effects best! I worked on the thrusting and lunging enemy, which I thought would be good candidates to hold a dagger or a spear. I also spent a some time playing the game Hyper Light Drifter, which had enemies with clear and telegraphed attacks - I based some of my enemy concepts on existing enemies in the game, such as the Crystal Brute. For example, since the lunging enemy attack had a very readable windup to give the player time to dodge, I thought that something like a charged spear attack would work well. Four hours were spent in team meetings and work sessions over the two weeks.

Drawing and Iterations (4 hours)

I spent a lot of time drafting concepts and sketches, such as what kind of weapons they would use based on the type of enemy they were. For the thrusting enemy, I first started out with the idea of a dagger or smaller knife, where for the lunging enemy I was thinking that a spear or lance would fit the enemy theme. When I was thinking about the

This sprint I found myself very busy in the studio in ways I had not forseen before joining WolverineSoft. Before I anticipated lots of programming to fill my hours but in reality as someone in charge of the department I found myself in more of a guiding role within the team. I really enjoyed this position but did miss a bit of the development aspects. So looking ahead to the next sprint my goal is to try to take on more tasks without taking time away from supporting other members and running the department.

For this first sprint, I found that I was busy in a lot of ways that I hadn’t anticipated. I think that the new work environment and getting used to collaborating with the other artists is really fun, and I really enjoyed learning more about the other departments and how everything comes slowly comes together. I also found that sometimes a week wasn’t enough to fully flesh out concepts, so I’m continuing to refine the enemy concepts that I have and creating a few more iterations of the thrusting and lunging enemies.

Total - 12 hours