Animating Indie

Alright, still haven't figured out a better name for our character, so he remains Indie - who happens to be discontentedly sitting next to me while I write this. Now that I've refined our hero's physique, I am focusing on how he moves.

In the first set he is doing a very simple thrust. This thrust animation will be used for small weapons (i.e. branches and daggers). The bottom picture shows him with a more cumbersome weapon; the bag of rocks. I imagine that this weapon will require a decent amount of wind-up, but will carry a much stronger punch than other weapons available at that point.

My plans for the game heavily focus on the weapon system. I want the player to slowly accumulate an entire arsenal of weapons, each one with different strengths and weaknesses. However, instead of starting out with "the legendary reforged sword of the ancient folk given to him by his grandfather the Uber-King", I want Indie to have to basically scrounge for weapons. He might be forced to start with a broom handle, or a butter knife, or - as posted above - a bag of rocks. Only after visiting his grandpa at the old-folks home does he receive the aforementioned blade.

Main Character

Big day for the game today. The picture posted above is the refined model of our main character. I have a long tradition of not assigning my characters names until my script is finished, and in the process of being made into a feature length movie. For now I’ll call him Indie after my son.

In addition to finishing little Indie, I also wrote the first chapter of the game while in the shower this morning:

Due to various circumstances not detailed in this opening narrative, Indie has lost all of his family members in unrelated calamities associated with 9th century life. He lives with his grandmother Oldpenny deep in Rainy Forest, where the two of them work a fledgling shrimp farm.

Indie sits stroking a dog looking creature while his Grandmother plays with what can only be described as an early etch-a-sketch. All of the sudden a series of loud "bangs" shake the cottage to its foundation. Indie slowly opens the front door to reveal an armed retinue of royal soldiers. The most official looking of the group opens a scroll and reads the following:

"On this day of Marche the 7th, 9th century England, we formally present you the following charges against his majesty's realm. One Cynthia Oldpenny is found guilty of owing taxes in the amount of 20,000,000 golden duckets. How do you plea?"

"Oh deary me" quivers Indie's grandmother.

"Let the record show that the defense has entered a plea of sweet colloquialism. This land is hearby taken into possession of the state and will be sold at auction the 15th of this month unless, of course, you can provide the 20,000,000, plus interest and penalties.

The soldiers pick up Indie's grandmother and carry her out of her home. Indie's mission is 50% clear, he must find a way to raise a crapload of money before his cottage is repossessed.

Dwarf Eyes

Here are some Dwarf sketches. I had originally wanted to make the dwarfs (dwarves?) blind, kind of like the mole men in old Marvel Comics. Although once I was finished, I threw in my signature tiny ovals without thinking. They looked so cute with the eyes that I couldn't stand to change them. I also had originally planned on making the dwarphs evil, but - again - the eyes.

Is Sanrio hiring?

Character Roughs

Here are some roughs of the main character. As you can see, I have placed the images on aged paper to make them look better than they are. This is an old artists trick. The character has elements of Bobby from Bobby's World, which is an old cartoon that I loved as a kid, but would probably dislike as an adult. I also have elements of Windwaker Link. I'm looking forward to colors.

The Beginning

I have this dream about making a computer game. This dream always starts the same way: I'm sitting in front of a blank sketch pad. I stare at the pad for a few minutes and then start frantically drawing. I draw for hours and hours until my hand cramps and my wife asks me to take a shower. After I'm finished, I look over the pages of drawings and I see... nothing.

You can fill in the blank as to what nothing means, but this is the story of my game designing life. Ever since I was old enough to watch my friends play Mario Brothers (my parents wouldn't buy me a Nintendo), I have thought to myself "I can make dat, more juice pleeez". But wanting to create video games puts me in a very saturated majority, one giant pond where I am a very small fish.

But this has been a dream of mine for a while, and it will remain a dream until I try as hard as I can and succeed... or fail, or do o.k. Either way, I am at a point in my life where I need to put all of my heart into this and see if it's possible.

Ok, well I think I've said enough for 95% of the people who don't read this blog to be completely bored, so I'll end it here. Thank you for visiting!