An Adventure In Artsy Fartsy, with Jonathan Elliott, Part Two

// December 6th, 2012 // Comments Off // Monster Loves You!

Today we’ll be touring monsterdom and a few of its locations with a few of our native body guards. May I introduce:

Grishnak

Pufflescum

and Crushmaw!

They’ve been socialized, so they’re docile…for the most part. Please don’t touch the monsters, or…anything you see that matter. Here we go!

Your Hovel
This was the first completed in-game background, so it’s somewhat of a favorite child, being that it was one of the first times we were able to see the monster world. It’s also neat to explore what the inside of a “civilized monster’s” home might be like – what little knick knacks and whatzits a monster might have laying around or hold dear. Certainly not like the uncultured swine from Znak (shown later on our tour).

Morsel Vat
Next stop is the *reads list* Morsel Vat! How are monsters created? Like so! This was a fun piece, though most of the prelim design came from our narrative captain, Dan Brainerd. This is the birthing tub for morsels, which are infant monsters. It was interesting to think of the vats as pots of stew that have to be watched over, with ingredients added at just the right times. Also interesting is thinking of what happens if too much of an ingredient is added. Maybe that’s what the second bag is for.

The Wild Meadow
I like the wild meadow because it says a lot without a lot of detail, unlike most of the other backgrounds. It’s one of the last monster areas before the player reaches human civilization, so it has an odd, surreal calmness about it, sort of where summer vacation ends and the looming shadow of public school terror begins. Or, a pretty field, whichever.

Znak
Znak is a special place. It is one of the oldest monster towns, so old that residents have hollowed out husks of the oldest monsters to live in. It’s old. It also smells weird. Maybe the monster equivalent of going to your grandma’s house? Or maybe a village of outcast heathens. Hm…  Anyway, it was fun to create because it looks so much different that the rest of mainstream monster society and implies an interesting monster sub-culture.

Scrape Goat
It knows.

That concludes our monster tour! This wouldn’t have been possible without our noble guards so lets give them a round of applau…wait, nonono, no clapping. Crushmaw got excited last tour and….ate everyone. So, goodbye, ha! Ha. Get out. Don’t turn your back, just smile and walk backwards. Goodbyyyye!

We’re Going to PAX Prime!

// August 23rd, 2012 // 3 Comments » // DRP, Fun Stuff, Indie News, Monster Loves You!, Ugly Baby

By this time next week, we’ll be setting up for PAX Prime. I (Ichiro) am heading out on the 29th of August, and will stick around until the 3rd of September. With us will be Rohit (aka Leo) and Jonathan. Sadly, Elliot (DRP’s tech lead) will not be able to make it, but I’m thinking we should set up a two-way live stream on a mobile robot.

Anyway, while we’re out, here’s our checklist:

1. Be part of the Indie MEGABOOTH

30 indies. 30+ games. Here’s the trailer:

2. Grab a Bite with Valve

You know a publisher loves indies when you say, “Hey, want to meet with a bunch of us for dinner?” and they say, “Sure — when’s good for you?”

3. Show off DRP

“A massive, angry robot fires banks of lasers at an orphanage, slicing it apart to the horror of thousands of onlookers. You emerge from the wreckage on your jetpack, and blast at its weak points, breaking it apart like you’re dismembering a boiled lobster.” So goes our press release. And we’re ready to show off some of the latest Titans we’ve been creating. [Website!]

4. Show off Monster Loves You!

“You’re a young monster, orphaned by humans who now wear your parents as luxurious pelts. You live in the village of Omen, and your favorite snack is human toes.” We’re still working to polish the PAX Prime build with Radial Games, but it’s working on PC and iOS! Haxe for the win! [Website!!!]

5. Show the Ugly Baby?

Development is fascinating (read more about the PCG component here), but lengthy. Will we get to show off a snippet of the game at PAX Prime? Time will tell. [Website!!!!!!] Here’s the latest background test:

And So!

There you have it. If you’re in Seattle, come say “howdy”! Here are some shots from PAX East:

Sadly, Alicia (left) is staying in MA for this one. Kate (right) will be at the SEGA booth with her brethren and sistren at Owlchemy, showing off Jack Lumber.

Connect via @dejobaan and Facebook.

An Adventure in Artsy Fartsy, with Jonathan Elliott

// July 30th, 2012 // Comments Off // Monster Loves You!

Ichiro: I’m just going to let Jonathan Elliot introduce himself.

Jonathan: <insert Dejobaan introduction to its tall and handsome drawing-person and /or what the post will be covering.>

Ichiro: Okay, so this is a post about the background art development process in our upcoming Monster Loves You!.  I will mix you a drink while Jonathan regales you with all things.

Step 1: Sketchy!

Jonathan: This is how every masterpiece starts: with squiggly lines everywhere and no real clue as to what I’m doing. We only know that this drawing will resemble a house! Or the inside of one. Who knows! Moving on…

Step 2: Lines!

Jonathan: Yesss, now we’re on the ball. Lines like these help people understand what they’re looking at. They’re so helpful I might even use them later. Maybe. At this point, I’m even considering going so far as to add color(s) to the piece, which may or may not be a good idea. Let’s find out.

Step 3: Color(s)!

Jonathan: Bam! Somewhat success! So, a base coat, for all you soon-to-be artisty types, students, etc is your best friend. This is where we make big, smart, cigar smoking, executive color decisions. We do this now, rather than getting teary-eyed later when we figure out we’ve been detailing for 4 hours and haven’t gotten anywhere, give up on the piece and never see it again. True stories, there.

Ichiro: Gentle reader, I’m back with your Strawberry Cosmo. I won’t judge.

Step 4: Highlight and Shadow!

Jonathan: Easy peasy, lemon… something.  Anyway, now this picture has some depth. This is also under its own layer, just like the line art and base color. Again, doing things this way is keyyyy. This will make it easy to change these little details if I need to, rather than getting sucked into the prementioned bottomless pit of detail over-correction.

Step 5: Details! (1 of 3)

Jonathan: Now things get fun. This is where we get to throw in all the little tidbits that make the picture look like serious business. I’ve also bumped up the saturation on the base color because it looked about as exciting as gum on a sidewalk. Now it looks like freshly chewed gum on a sidewalk.

Step 6: Details! (2 of 3)

Jonathan: Oho! Now we’ve done leveled up. Tons of questions answered here: “Doesn’t water usually reflect things?” According to science, yes. “Doesn’t a limited light source usually create more extreme illuminations and shadows?” Also yes, I guess, so, fine, we’ll add that too. “What happens when the monst…”  No more questions.

Step 7: Details! (3 of 3)

Jonathan: Mmmmm… effects. A friend mentioned the piece looked a little flat. I said he was wrong and secretly proceeded to remove all flatness. Anyway, this is an easy, fun fix. Setting a new layer to “overlay” with low opacity, and strategically spot-painting on some black or white gives us much more depth than we had before, and makes the piece less flat, something I figured out entirely  on my own. Anddd, finished! We’ve gone from an indiscernible series of squiggles to a thought out, fully rendered piece.

Thank you much for reading this and looking at pictures. Any other questions / concerns / critiqes (critiques which I will deny the existence of, only to implement later) may be directed in email form to: stickman.design@gmail.com. *Wave*

Ichiro: Do what he says, and nobody gets hurt.

Monster Loves Your Story/Event/Dialogue Trees

// May 31st, 2012 // Comments Off // Dejobaan News, Monster Loves You!

Monster Loves You!, the upcoming RPG/Tamagotchi-like being co-developed with Andy Moore, progresses with news of its narrative trees. This narrative is where the bulk of the game content and heavy allure will be, Andy says. Therefore, he wants to make sure the text is robust so that players have a rather fresh experience each time they come back to play.

Andy presently has some working choose-your-own-adventure dialogue boxes that are all designed by custom JSON. Since many visual workflow editors such as the one pictured above (NOT from Monster Loves You!) export to XML/JSON, we’ll have a really slick and easy-to-use content generation tool.

Once Andy hammers out this tool, he will be able to hand it over to Ichiro to work on content. Andy aims to have this implemented by the time Ichiro returns in several days from France!!

Dejobaan and Radial Games Impregnate You with a Monster

// May 18th, 2012 // Comments Off // Dejobaan News, Monster Loves You!

We are working with Steambirds-creator, Flash dev extraordinaire Andy Moore of Radial Games on Monster Loves You!, that’s part Tamagotchi, part RPG, and 100% awesome game for mobile.

We interviewed Andy for his perspective on Monster Loves You!’s development. He describes it as “Not one that’s cheap and full of those little draws that get you to come back just because they said so. No, no! This game is better than that. We want to make a version of the game that moreso relies on content to draw the player back than anything. I think it’ll be a blast.”

But just how did Radial and we begin courting? Andy recalls, “I think we both awkwardly just kinda looked at our toes at the high school dance and neither of us wanted to ask each other out. But one day we got drunk and just blubbered over each other, and next thing I knew I was pregnant with this game!”

What’s with the name Monster Loves You!? The name was actually “Alien Baby” for the longest time. Andy shares, “We finally got sick of it and started an email thread, bouncing random ideas off of each other. As soon as someone said ‘Love’ I think it struck a chord; we knew we wanted the game to have the kind of attachment that makes the player more attached to the creature. We kinda riffed off of that for a bit and ended up with ‘Monster Loves You!’. I think it’s a Dejobaan-y style game name.”

As for why this game is “being,” Andy says it will offer something that currently doesn’t exist. “I think the closest I’ve really come to playing an enjoyable ‘pet’ game is The Sims 2, which was an excellent title but just demands WAY too much of my time. I want a similar experience – something with all that drama, character development, and ups and downs… but that I can play on the toilet.”

We asked Andy what the world should know about him, and he was extremely modest. “Aw shucks. I don’t think the world really needs to know about me, in general. I’m just a dude that’s trying to make a good game that people will enjoy. I don’t particularly care if I end up living out of cardboard box if the game flops, but I’m trying to avoid that too.”

This monster… loves you.