A Braver Prince

Using all of the illustrations I made before, the Braver Prince game is almost finished. What's left to do is to refine some parts of the layout, as well as make prettier buttons.

A Prince in the forest

Finished most of the workload on Braver Prince, my new choose-your-own-adventure comic/game. This weekend I managed to build a quick pc version of it, with lots of work still to be done. The prototype needs to have an official start screen (not a 30-second doodle start-screen), as well as some fancy transitions from panel to panel. This will be done in parallel with the main project, which is to put all pages on a huge illustration with little paths going to the different plot lines. This of course won't be as scary as it may sound... :)

Royal Playtime

I started working on the pages of my choose-your-own adventure comic, "Braver Prince". The wildest part will be in picking the colour schemes, since there will be lots of elements that need to fit together well. For the sake of the composition, I chose to keep the palette of this first shot simpler by using the same base colour on the crown, castle, frisbee and picnic table (which would also mean they are made of the same material. Weird).

I decided to keep the prince red because of how it would complement the environment, instead of what colour would best characterize him. Since he is young and care-free, the most philosophical choice would have been yellow or light orange, but it looked bad in the environment and red would be the second best choice.

The same rules apply to the puppy, but I didn't want to make them the same colour. As a result, the dog's colour became a variation of the prince's colour, and it also fits the character very well.

For this project, I want to push the art-style to something more strong than subtle. With this in mind, I will need to remind myself to crank up the saturation on that lime green while still keeping the colours in balance...

Beginning of a Prince's Quest

The legendary College Final Show is approaching and ambitious projects are being prepared... For mine, I knew I wanted to make an awesome illustration, but this might mean that my game-design side wouldn't be exploited at all... so to solve this I will be making a Playable Illustration!!

It does sound funny more than it sounds fun, but the recipe for it will actually be quite easy. It will be a choose-your-own-adventure game, in the form of a comic with multiple paths. Since this will have a lot of little narrative branches going in different directions, it will all be laid out on a really big poster.

The art-style of this project will be simplistic, with the biggest focus on Shapes and page composition. The colours will be bright and punchy in order to give an impact. I won't reveal much of the story for now, but the image below showcases the main character and a couple of usable ideas for the world.

I will post all concepts and work in progress over on my Instagram @andreas0express, so you can keep in touch with how this develops.

The big updates will also be posted here, so I'll see you next time... :)

Happy Astronaut

I almost finished colouring all of the pages for my comic-game Astronawoot. It was a bit challenging to take on the total of 56 pages, but it was also really exciting.

 The best practice was to set a minimum number of pages to colour per day, in my case 4, and do more when possible. This made it into a total of 12 days of colouring, including the big finale tommorrow...

To keep things simple, my art process only contained choosing and applying flat colours to each area, then use a transparent black on top for shadows. Here is one of the pages I made today:

After all these are done, I'll go back to the file of the black&white project and replace the pictures, as well as add more features...

Fast comic page colouring - A brighter astronaut

I started colouring up Astronawoot, an initially black and white game I released online in february. It's a comic-based choose your own adventure game, with the original still playable here. 

The trickiest challenge in this was to find a style that would look pretty from further away (due to how the panels are built), as well as allow me to draw it really really quick, so I can cover all of the 56 pages by myself in less than a month (it's not as scary to do it than it is to say it). 

With those in mind, I managed to find the best style quite accidentally, while painting a shape with a darker colour. Seeing the strands of colour next to each other, I knew I hit something precious. Also in order to make the effect applicable to any area, I paint with transparent black, this way not having to constantly pick a darker shade of the current colour. I started getting the hang of it, so I'll be back with more... :D

Game Exploration - Polytopia

With Polytopia, I felt that simplicity and joy of game-making present in indie games, combined with the wish to show the world and its history in a new light.

How it all starts

You find yourself at the top of your little town. Proud Leader of a tiny 1 square world. There’s also that feeling of something hidden from you. Beyond the visually-satisfying low poly white Fog, there is an echo almost screaming “More”. “Explore Me”.

The call is answered.

And there’s so much to do.

Game Elements

You notice the great Resource. It’s portrayed as a little Star, because it will help you reach them. Metaphorically. You are ok with looking at the sky, but the Unseen is what excites you more. Time to go beyond the Fog.

Faced with such a big task, help will be needed. Using the Resource, you summon a fellow townsfolk to help you explore. It’s great to use it for things like that. But, looking in the corner of your vision, you notice something bigger. Something way more vast than your understanding.

The Tech Tree

Oh. This is certainly new. Everything. Well, you are an Oumaji, so riding geometric Zebras is a piece of cactus cake, but fishing?? You always wandered what those little underwater fellows are used for.

For that purpose, you use the Resources of a new day to learn this wonderful art of Fishing. With that done, opportunities open. Your whole town can benefit from it. But the local glory can wait… it’s time for the Unknown.

Conquering Villages

Breaking through the mythical fog, your view becomes blurred by the wonder. The flora is amazingly different, and the ground is covered in a cold white thing. You also notice a settlement. A tiny modest village, lacking its own identity. A thought crosses your mind. The Oumajis would be capable to survive here. And prosper.

Fighting

Things were going well. The fresh fish brought wealth to your hometown and its buildings, you advised your officer to conquer a new village found nearby, and you’ve just converted this one… When they showed up.

With pointy horned helmets and dull grey clothing, the strangers present themselves as the Bardur tribe, rulers of the Snowy Lands. Humph. This will not be easy, but at least the number next to their head shows you they are not immortal. And they will fall.

The World is Ours

A lot has happened and there’s still an infinity left. While the tides of War wash over the gates of the Bardur fortress, the cities produced enough resource for a real seafaring experience. After a port was built in your northern city, maybe your Tribe can form a fantastic fleet and crush the rest of the Bardur, however many of them might be lurking in the ancient Fog. There’s an entire world to discover, conquer and experience. And if at any point your empire will fall, or conquer so much that the world overflows in a void of boredom, the Gods of The Beginning will arrange you a new world and a new empire. A new fate.

The Gods of the Beginning

Before the birth of the World, some things have to be decided. A Nation, a variety of Rivals, and the most thrilling of all, how much the Odds favour or despise you. This is a place for new origins, and where this particular story will end. It’s up to you to discover the rest. The ever-changing lands of Polytopia have something lingering in them forever. The Fun.

Short disclaimer: The Battle of Polytopia doesn’t have the amount of cheesiness and sweet words found in this overview. It has its own mystic appeal, but it’s simple, fresh and lovely. Since I believe there’s always something life-related behind experiences like this, I had to write my own perspective on it. Be sure to share this with anyone who loves or would love Polytopia, and enjoy playing life.

-Andreas