The run animation is 10 frames long, just enough to capture the key frames for each part of a run cycle. I may make between frames at a (much) later date, but that’s a ton more work that isn’t necessary for now.
I was actually quite pleased with it even before the minor revisions, but it’s much better now. I fixed some highlights, adjusted some colors for more consistency, and added a subtle follow-through head bob by using a color smear. Original is on the left, the revised is on the right:
3 – 2019, announcing… EXEDO! (and plans for next year)
Well it’s been a while since I posted updates, but I’m excited to share a little info about the game I’m making. The game is called “Exedo”, which is Latin for “to consume,” and it’s a 2D sci-fi action platformer in the Metroidvania sub-genre.
The logo is pretty much set, but it will need some tweaks to ensure its teal glow is visible across various devices and in print. The game has 16-bit style graphics, so I went with pixel art in the logo that reflects the art direction (but in high resolution). The color palette is the same as the main character’s, and I think the aesthetic successfully evokes science fiction, something… alien.
Additionally, my city has a number of conventions for comics, games, sci-fi, and anime, so I intend on renting a booth at a few in 2020 to get some exposure, show off a demo of the game, and to sell some merchandise so I have more funds to continue development. Here’s hoping!
2 – 2019, January update
Holidays are a mixed bag. I immensely enjoy spending time with loved ones, and I was excited to do so after living states away from my mother for over a decade, but my anxiety about not getting my own work done was really wearing on me. As much as appreciate doing what I want for a living and love being creative, it’s not always easy. I have a hard time getting into the right mental space of properly exploring the worlds in my head again after years spent out of this mode. There are distractions abound, and I am to blame for most of them, but I’m finally in a decent routine again.
I was using an HP 2740P Elitebook tablet PC for most of my digital painting and sketching in the past, but it crapped out on me sometime over the summer before I moved and I had no backup tablet. I recently picked up a Wacom Intuous Pro and a slightly better, refurbished model of my dead tablet PC, an HP 2760P Elitebook. I got to work doing some drawing exercises and a digital painting of a heart piece from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, seen here:
I referenced an in-game screen shot, and it took about 5 hours. By no means is it perfect, as I think some of my line work and blending/glazing is a little messy, and I cheated by using symmetry to reflect half of the heart, but overall I’m pleased with it. Felt good getting back to my roots as an artist.
I had some trouble with the Wacom drivers in the new-to-me Elitebook, but I did some light programming to fix the stylus pressure sensitivity. It took longer than I wanted, but I couldn’t be happier with the finely-tuned responsiveness now, and I’m happy I get to use the modified stylus that I made in the past (more on that another time). Started working on new concept art for the upcoming game and reworking the main character design, but I can’t spend too much time on that until I make some more game mechanic decisions as I want to adhere to form following function. I also did some light storyboarding for a possible opening to the game.
Two or three times a week I’ve been sitting down to work on music. I spent several hours setting up my work environment so I could just open up the software and get into a good flow. I like to think I have an idea of how to produce music; to compose, tinker, jam, and convey, but I absolutely know I still have a ton to learn. So, before my sessions I’ve been reading up on theory, and studying some music and producers/composers that I enjoy.
When not being visually or musically productive, I’ve been further developing a master game document that covers everything from an elevator pitch, game concept and plot, to mechanics and dynamics. I’m well-acquainted with software project scope creep, and I recognize it happening all the time while I work on mechanics/dynamics and features, but I want to strike a good balance between big-picture brainstorming and refining a minimum viable product (MVP). For the end of 2019, the MVP is not the finished game itself, but rather: a game demo, decent promotional material, and a well-defined plan for growth– as those will help me get additional funding to realize a finished product in distribution.
1 – Conjure Vision is live
After years of dreaming about it, and working my ass off to reach this goal, I’m finally doing what I want with my life– video game development.
I’ve had universes growing in my head since I was a child, and committed parts of them to varying degrees in different mediums, but I always felt I lacked the talent to do any of them justice. I honed art and design skills my entire life, studied music theory and production for years, went back to school for 3D animation and computer science, and was a software engineer for some years after (specifically a principal software developer, tech lead, and human user interface engineer. I greatly enjoyed all of the problem solving in software development, but I got to a point where I wanted to solve my problems and to truly own my work. I dreamed of being creative again, and I was overcome with dread thinking about a life of not taking the risk to do what I wanted.
So I’m doing it. I worked really well with game dev teams in college: had a great time and we had good results for demos produced within a semester’s time, and then I worked really well with teams in software engineering, but managing others and owning a business are tremendous tasks unto themselves outside of producing one’s vision. And, as there is no actual income for developing a game at the moment, I couldn’t pay others even if I wanted to! So I’m doing it solo… for now.
In a year’s time, I plan on having a decent demo for the game. The website itself is a marketing tool, and in the near future I intend to offer merchandise featuring various designs for both Conjure Vision and the unrevealed game in development. The reason I’m writing a development blog is to track my progress for posterity and to provide potential supporters and investors proof of the work to establish my reliability.
There probably won’t be much to show before the end of the year, but I’ll be sharing more in a few months.
0 – Hello World
Fancy seeing you here.
I have so much to share…
Won’t you stick around for a spell?
