Update!

I recently realized that I have a misguided idea that it's only appropriate for me to blog when I have something big and/or important to say. Well, that's just silly. And since it's pretty much just me and my hubby reading this blog anyways, who's to say I shouldn't post about mundane stuff like what we had for dinner last night.

Just kidding, that might be a little too boring after all...

But...if it were really delicious and I posted the recipe maybe it could be interesting...hmm...

Anyways, I digress. The point is, I'm going to be posting about anything I feel like from now on, not just things that seem "worthy"! So if anyone is actually reading this, look forward to more posts (probably, if I get time to write them) from here on out!

On to the update!

So, things have been pretty crazy lately...thankfully in a good way! The summer and beginning of fall have been largely dedicated to game development around here - both fun "indie" development and less fun but more profitable freelance projects. The Rhythos RPG Builder kickstarter didn't succeed back in May, but David still has plans to move forward with the project and try again at some point. However at the moment he's focusing more on Deity Quest. And I'm doing the writing for it (but not the art)!

Deity Quest is an awesome new game that David designed over the summer.The game is an RPG, with elements from dungeon crawlers and roguelike games. You play as a young new god named Tyrus, who recently graduated (#2 in class) from the Ethereal Academy after 100 years of study...and you have to convert/recruit followers, use them to fight enemies, and compete with your rival, Ryga (who graduated #1 in class). It has some similarities to Pokemon since there are over a hundred different follower types, and you can "convert" enemies to become your followers, level them up, give them new equipment, etc. etc. The game is super fun and addicting, even for us developers, which is a good sign! Also, we are working with some really talented guys on this project: Chase Bethea is doing the music and sound, and Santiago Ocampo has been creating the original artwork.

The writing for Deity Quest has been very enjoyable so far. I'm working from an outline written by David, so I basically get to jump right into my favorite part of writing: details! The game is in eight parts/chapters, and I've finished the first part, and hope to get to at least part 4 within the next few weeks.

While I have been doing some writing for Deity Quest, most of my time lately has gone into "real" work, and Havencall! Havencall has been progressing a little slowly, but definitely moving along at this point. We recently decided to move the release date to March 2014, to give us enough time to make it great. Here's an IndieDB article from a couple days ago with a bunch of new art, info, and updates: http://www.indiedb.com/games/havencall/news/update-and-changes . The article features this new background that I finished recently:

I'm becoming increasingly aware of a problem with the length of Havencall's development - the longer I work on this game, the better at art I become, and the worse the earlier scenes start to look in comparison. By the time I finish the game I feel like I'll have become so much better that I'll want to go back and re-do all the earlier stuff...

But I guess if I keep improving that whole cycle would then start all over again!

...In the end though, it's great that I'm becoming a better artist, so I'm not going to complain too much. Here are some more Havencall scenes from the article:

Lately, I feel like I'm developing a much better grasp on the visual direction with this game. Earlier I was mainly focused on just getting the scenes done in a way that worked in the game. Now, I'm constantly asking myself: "how can this scene be as interesting and unique as possible, while still working in the game?" You'd think I would have started off by asking that, but sometimes we don't think of the obvious when we're doing something new and a little out of our element. But at least I got there eventually. And good things are happening with this new perspective - it makes me more flexible and makes the work more fun, too!

I could probably write a lot more about what's going on in my life the past few months, but for now I'll leave it here and save other things for other posts.

Except for kitties. They belong in every post. : 3

Havencall Update, Long Post(s) in the works...

First of all, check out the latest Havencall development update on IndieDB, which has a lot of art and animations and a new music track!
http://www.indiedb.com/games/havencall/news/april-development-update
A few things from the article:

In other news...it has been a WHILE since I updated my blog! But interestingly, that is not for lack of writing posts...the posts just haven't been published! Why in the world would I do that, you ask? Well, here's what happened:

The other day, I was struck with a great idea for a blog post: all of the things that have been on my mind suddenly coagulated (woah, weird word) into a brilliant guide/personal reference about staying motivated. Yeah, really original, I know. But this post was going to be different! It was going to have lots of nitty-gritty details and get really cognitive, and be really personal and of course, super awesome!

So I started writing the post. And then I realized I needed to write an outline and some notes so I didn't forget all the ideas I'd had. And then I wrote for quite a while, and somehow, the simple topic of "staying motivated" morphed into the massive subject of "staying motivated, productive and balanced in work and life" And somehow it had developed into several large, distinct sections. Before I knew it, I was starting to feel like I could write a full book. Or at least, more than one little blog post.

So that's what I've decided to do! I will do a series of blog posts about, basically, how to be awesome! :P Or at least, what helps me stay motivated, productive and balanced (mentally & physically), and stuff like that. Look forward to it!

Process Journal: Ruins Interior

I recently finished several mini-scenes for Havencall. Here I'll go through the steps I took to create this one:

I used a a wacom tablet and photoshop. Interesting tidbit: I painted this scene 100% with the same photoshop brush: a "chalk" brush that is in the default brushes set, with opacity jitter set to pen pressure in the "transfer" options.

1. Set up

I've put down some messy lines just to figure out what kind of scene I am going for. The perspective is all off, but I'm not worrying about that at this stage (perhaps I should be?). I'm just getting down the general idea.

2. Blocking In

Now I've taken a big, soft-ish brush and slapped down a couple colors on a new layer, one for the basic shape, and another to define where the light is coming from in the scene (mainly from above here).

3. Background

I slapped down a quick background in a layer below the walls.

4. Defining

At this point I'm defining the shapes of things without the original lines. Here's where a lot of the perspective issues are getting fixed (hopefully).

5. Adding

Adding more stuff to the scene! Keeping the direction of the light source in mind and staying loose and relaxed.

6. Variation

Adding texture, cracks, and more colors to increase the realism.

7. Details-Pass 1

More texture, more colors, more cracks...

8. Details-Pass 2

Here I've continued adding details, such as patches of moss here and there. I've also defined the puddles better, added a piece of foreground rubble, and added a big light shaft streaming in through the broken roof. I also have Aura in there to double check that the scaling and colors work together. It's pretty much done at this point!

9. Final Adjustments

All I've done here is fiddle with the levels, exposure, etc. a bit to make it a little more dramatic. And it's done! Here are some close-ups of the finished scene:

And that's it!

=^_^=

Process Journal: Drawing a Dream-scene

This scene...

...is one of the first drawings I made for Havencall, so I really wanted to get the atmosphere of the game right. The scene being portrayed here is within Aura's dream, so it needed to be a little surreal and magical. But this place is also more than just a dream - it is a world of mystery and wonder - a place Aura is earnestly searching for. Here are some of my notes on the process of making this piece. Tools: Photoshop + tablet.

As usual, I start with a few thumbnails to find the right layout. All I knew for certain at this point was that I wanted the landscape to be rough and jagged, and I wanted the sunrise to be a central focus.

I figured leaving the valley more open, as in the second thumb, was a better idea, giving the light from the sunrise a long unbroken "aisle" to shine down, for added drama.

 Enlarged the second thumb and added some detail to the mountains. As you can see, up until this point I'm just using a round hard brush with the opacity controlled by pen pressure.

 Refining the shapes and values. Now I'm using my favorite photoshop brush...which is a secret! maybe you can guess it though...:P. I also have opacity controlled by pen pressure again. I decided to have the clouds come in at this somewhat unusual angle, for drama and to convey the "otherworldliness" going on here.

 Now I've added the two figures in the picture. I actually spent quite a while here experimenting with different positions/poses for Aura (unfortunately those didn't get saved). I had her floating, full body, in a couple different poses, but neither of them seemed right. It made her feel too far away, disconnected from the viewer and felt awkward because she seemed to be part of the overall picture but really shouldn't be. In the end, all these problems were solved by placing her much closer to the viewer, as if we are looking over her shoulder.

 Here I've added the first bits of color using a blending mode. Again going along with the dream/surreal theme, I wanted the colors to be extremely vibrant and almost unnatural. At this point, it's a little extreme though...

 Refined the colors in the sky and the cloud formations. At this point I also enlarged my canvas a bit, and you can see some of Aura's different layers.

 Here I flipped the canvas, because I felt that being drawn into the picture by Aura from the left would be more natural for us left-to-right readers. I also did some touch ups to Aura's hair and clothing. It's fully colored now, but that valley needs some serious work...

After a lot of painstaking tiny tree painting, it's nearly complete. Just a few final touches like the river, mist and sun rays left:

EDIT: recently, my awesome hubby showed me how to make this scene read better by adding a nifty post-processing effect of his creation:

More dramatic, right? Now on to the next hundred Havencall scenes. I'm not even exaggerating.

...well maybe a little. :P

Feel free to follow me on Twitter, and check out my other work here!

*^_^*

Natalie