Week #030: Gemstone Dwarfs

Promotional concept artwork of Hugo and Trixie, the gemstone dwarf poster children.
Images represent a game currently in development.

Brave and burly, the Gemstone Dwarfs hail from cities of crystal grown on the water's surface. Using their mysterious ability to crystallize liquid matter through touch, they intricately craft their cities, expansive underwater mines, and can even walk on water!

Height roster in the game's discarded pre-alpha hand-drawn graphics style.
Images represent a game currently in development.

My philosophy while designing the dwarfs - as it is with anything these days - was breaking the mold. I feel that it's important for any media today to grab the viewer's attention with original ideas, and while games can also do this through unique mechanics, I feel that it's still important to explore these options from an artistic standpoint. I frequently feel that I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't.

Variations on dwarf appearance including hairstyles.
Images represent a game currently in development.

With the dwarfs, I sought to do this through both visual and character design. Most will still recognize them as the beloved stout warriors at a glance - like several of you did even from the early teasers. But when you dig deeper than that, you'll find that they're different from the usual mountain-dwellers.

Modeling sheet for the gemstone dwarfs.
Images represent a game currently in development.

I hope everyone enjoys this preview of the Gemstone Dwarfs coming soon to HTD! I'm currently looking into other methods of further exploring their background and just who they are as a race, so I hope you look forward to that, too.

Week #029: So Hum A Merry Tune

Development on ______ has been going slowly but steadily. It's a tricky thing, breathing life into a whole new race. Creating the human race for HTD was one thing, since there's really only one way to do humans in a game like this. But with other playable races, such as ______, I really wanted to find a way to make them new and exciting, while maintaining what everybody loves about the ______. This can be a difficult balance to strike, and I'm personally pleased with the results so far.

I'm really looking forward to working with some of the other race ideas that Evan, Josh and myself have had further down the line, too.

With progress breaching a third of the way complete on my end, I wanted to mark the occasion with an additional teaser. I won't keep this up too much longer; since I'm no longer creating the assets themselves, I really could have revealed the ______ a week ago. But where's the fun in that?

One thing I want to stress, as I mentioned, is that these progress trackers are only following my own progress, on the conceptual and character design levels. They don't speak for the development of the actual character models or in-game assets.

If you think that I've surely been up to more than this, though, you'd be correct. Sam has also brought me on board to build a cleaner interface for Pokémon Tower Defense 2! He plans to talk about the new interface this week himself, and I got clearance to offer up a preview to go along with it.

Images represent a game currently in development.

For those of you excited for PTD2, well, you should be! It isn't my place to reveal the details, but from what I've seen and heard, it should blow the first game away.

Oh, also, ______.

Week #028: Off to Work We Go

Week #027: Meanwhile, at SND Headquarters...

It sure has been a while. Again.

You can more or less prefer to my previous post on why things have been so slow lately. We're still hard at work to catch up to where we were before, but from what I've heard and seen, things are coming along nicely!

I was personally very happy with the vast amount of creative ideas everyone came up with in regards to pets. We haven't even had a chance to start going through to pick our favorites yet, but I can tell they're going to be a ton of fun to work with. But that doesn't mean that we're not still open to more ideas! Just be sure to direct such ideas back to that previous post, or wait for our next big call-out, to ensure that your ideas aren't lost in the shuffle.

Meanwhile, I thought I would take the time to share what the art team (we're a team now!) as a whole has been up to over the last few weeks.

Before Bill took his extended vacation, he was happy to lend his love for creatures to HTD. Sharing in my philosophy in regards to originality, however, he wasn't happy doing anything that might've been done before. This little guy unfortunately comes from before we decided on the change of direction in regards to the game's graphics, but the design will still see some life.

Images represent a game currently in development.

As for me - in between assisting Evan with the development of the new graphics - I've been working on creature designs of my own, including but not limited to the Reanimated Hero here. Most of the other things I've been working on are far too young in the development stages to be shown just yet, including my own "Project Endless", which is a story for another time...

Images represent a game currently in development.

As for the new graphics (can you tell I've been practicing my segue skills?), Evan has been hard at work getting the human males ready for action... again. It should be noted that this is a pretty early work-in-progress that was all I could grab at such short notice. For example, the final in-game graphics are still planned to be cel-shaded, and, you know... textured.

Images represent a game currently in development.

Another testament to my philosophy of originality comes from our newcomer, Josh. Spiders are one of those generic creatures that just makes me want to gouge at my eyes, and not because of arachnophobia. How out of ideas do you have to be? Spiders? You would never see giant flies as enemies (even though that would, by relation, make them an original idea). When Josh had the idea of a half-spider-half-octopus, though, of course I was quick to jump on board.

We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek at some of the ideas we've been working on for HTD! Hopefully once the new graphical system is in place, I'll be able to start bringing you more regular updates once again.

Week #026: By Popular Demand

(05-12-12) Update: We've been getting so many great suggestions that I decided to keep this open for another week before we start narrowing them down for a poll. Keep 'em coming!

It sure has been a while. On Thursday, Dan filled you in on the graphical overhaul and why things have been so slow for us lately. It's certainly been a busy, chaotic time.

But I'm happy to say that I feel more positive about this project now than I ever have. You shouldn't let this speed bump worry you, because things are looking up! I should also be sure to mention that there are absolutely no hard feelings from me in regards to this change of direction; I do not feel that my job with the company is in jeopardy, and I do believe that this change is the best for everyone.

Just what does it mean to you, the player, though? It is sad to say that very few of my graphics will be appearing in the final game now, but you should expect the same overall style regardless of this new direction. Dan and Evan seem devoted to sticking to that style, and you can be sure that I'm devoted to making sure everything maintains the same (or improved) charm.

This brings us to the purpose of this blog. I have no plans to discontinue it, but the amount of final assets you see may wind up being limited. What you can look forward to seeing is more concept art and test animations for characters and creatures alike. I'm planning to make a post highlighting just what myself and the rest of the art team (we're a team now!) are working on, but I didn't want to clutter this homecoming post and distract away from what everyone's really interested in...

Community Impact Opportunity #002:

Pets! That's Right... Pets!!!

Images represent a game currently in development.

OMG is it finally time!? It is. As you can see above, this little fellow is what I have in the works as HTD's first out-of-combat pet. The fun, of course, won't stop here, and we felt it only proper to let you, the players, decide on what kind of pets you want to have with you in HTD. Leave your demands in the comments and we'll sort through them, decide on what will work and what won't, and I'll create a poll in the coming weeks to narrow the choices down!

Please be sure that you're logged in to Blogger when you leave your suggestion, so that you can be properly credited if it comes down to your idea winning.

Until next time!

Week #025 and a Half: April Fool's!

For those of you that didn't figure it out, yes, yesterday's post was an April Fool's gag. Gotcha! There are a few things worth keeping in mind, though, of course, and that's why I'm here tonight. I didn't want to flood the post yesterday with all of this and wind up ruining the illusion.

- The real title screen is in fact under development. It just isn't high on our priority list at the moment. I'm still looking forward to sharing it when the time comes, and I assure you it's something completely unique, and not parodying any video games from the '90s.

- The complete flood of "first" posts yesterday was the result of me writing the post just before I had gone to sleep, and therefore couldn't approve any comments until I woke up. I always publish them all so that you can have an idea on how close to first you actually were, and so that it doesn't look like I'm playing favorites. Any comments throwing around obscenities in regards to people "lying" about being first (or in regards to anything, really) are unacceptable and won't be approved (unless I'm not paying attention). As before, since this is an unscheduled post, the First! Comment Scoreboard will not be in effect today.

- Now for the bad news (this part is not an April Fool's gag - again, this is why I didn't talk about it yesterday). As of Friday my tablet pen suffered a most overdue death, and as my luck usually likes to domino, the back-up I had stored for just such a day isn't working either. Luckily, I did determine that it's just the pen and not the entire tablet, so it's a cost that doesn't hurt as much as it could have. Still, I've been forced to take an inconveniently timed vacation, putting me a bit further behind how behind I already was. Obviously, this means light spells won't be making it in this week. In the end, I want to take a little time to play catch-up, and will be postponing further blog posts until I reach that level of comfort once more. If the hiatus winds up lasting long enough, I'll be sure to have Dan say something on the main blog once I'm getting started again, for those that don't follow here as regularly.

Until then!

Week #025: Every Game Needs A Title Screen

I may or may not have slept through my alarm in regards to last week's blog post. I hope this week makes up for it!

A lot of you have been eager to see less temporary title screen graphics for Hero Tower Defense. Taking note of the demand, I shirked my responsibilities, priorities be damned, and devoted my time to just such a project. Today (after some struggling), I'm happy to finally raise the curtain on the final graphics. I hope they don't disappoint!