Outland Wanderer
Devlog: Design, Style and Comfy Vibe
Hey there. My rambling cooldown is up. So... Another rambling related to the game... kinda?
If you have been here for more than 2-3 patches, I think you can notice there's a lot of changes to the design of our beloved characters. And the main 3 of the lusterfield had already fallen into my hand of redesigning.
and TLDR: I'll do a lot of overhauls and update to old aesthetics.
I think the reason why I feel the need to change my characters is just that I've improved over time. I think my art style has matured to a degree that I can distinguish when and what features I feel I should use. For example... Ole! I think Ole is the one I had the most trouble pinpointing his design. And when you see his evolution over time. I think you'd know where's the problem there. I just don't have a consistent character design. At the point where the first two art were made. I have completely no idea who Ole is. I have no plan for him. I don't know where he lives. And he's just a janitor, or someone who take cares... And because of this, often time his design elements are very inconsistent. The colour doesn't mesh that naturally, and his facial features are... wonky. Throughout the development, I explored who Ole is, he's the keeper of the shopkeeper, he is the young yet mature-minded helper of the village. He's kind yet there's still a mysterious somber hinted in his speech (of course I'm not spoiling anything not in the game yet). And his relationship with other characters especially Haskell. These weight in his character helped me sculpt what he is going to look like. An iguana lizard with his dewlap/flap like a beard, vibrant colours of his scales hidden below the ordinary clothes. I think it works better for me to go through the design from scratch and the process is extremely fun when you see the result. In this case, story comes first, and then the visual.
Another thing is the player. I've had a lot of previously scraped designs that I'm not gonna show... but just imagine where the dragon is completely different, with completely different colour schemes and stuff. That was PC, there was nothing wrong with him but I just didn't went with it I guess. But now I think everyone remembers the dragon/goat/wtf hybrid thing from the release version of the game. And welp... this time. The Intention is more apparent, my previous drawing just sucks, the anatomy is wrong, his back is bent too far backward nipples are too prominent, and overall, when I draw his clothes, his anatomy is so wrong I cannot draw a clothing that don't look wonky as well. So I made a change that fit more properly with my current style.
I think some people are often confused as to what species PC is... And the answer is just dragon/goat maybe? I didn't have a species in my mind when I drew him, and he certainly doesn't look like any real animals out there... So I'll say maybe he's just a hybrid, a species from another world and this is kinda the approach I went with his backstory. Just an outlandish(?) species out there, lost in the outside world. Of course, I think more people would be interested in the transformation/gradual change of his design. It's just that I went with a more cartoonic way, because he's supposed to be a stand-in for the player. I went with a more generic design rather than prominent features. I think you can feel it from the softer edges and curvier lines, it is just the vibe that I wanted in the game, campy and comfy environment that makes you feel like being a part of it, or feel that you can shape who this guy is. Of course, that sacrifices a lot of personality or uniqueness, in favour of his harmless and innocent design. And... that's true. I think currently... he's not as expressive as I wanted him to be, and some attributes to my inability to draw facial expression. I think a challenge for me right now is not really changing his design to dragon-like, but just to make him more expressive, more alive, in the CG you see.
I think among artists there's a lot of bad stuff that... I guess people just do not want to show because they look really bad. And I guess I have that too. But instead of art years ago, I've got art like... 4 months ago? And still I'm kinda embarrassed to... look at them again. And now that character sprites are changed. I think you may want to ask if their CGs will change too? I think the answer is Yes! I'll change them. These artists can just shove those old art under their bed, but I gotta live with new players stumbling upon them every day. And I guess I'm just too embarrassed. So... yes, earlier CGs will be changed. Hopefully I won't need to redo them like 4 months later. Or else I'll be very angry >:c
So... here they are! A lot of poorly put together pics with no backgrounds. Even worse than my college presentation! WOW!
The conclusion is...
I've learned a lot... from making this game, not just coding everything from scratch, but the aesthetics, character design and general story building. I think a lot of it comes down to my own preferences. but... I think after every iteration of design of a character I learn much more about them. I feel much more connected just by looking at them. And now with the new characters I can draw them with their stories in mind without feeling the need to redraw. Of course, the characters are designed to be huggable, lovable. But I think I've made them so warm and fuzzy to the point that, I think it'll make a lot of people happy, or happy in another way. And this learning experience is really something I cannot imagine to learn from just drawing something. And I'm grateful for every one of you who gave me advice/criticism of the art. Because I'll always strive for not getting my ass embarrassed from bad anatomy. So... yeah... I'll keep learning! And hopefully you'll love to connect with everyone in the continent of Mokken!
Thank you so much again for reading! This is just some fun behind-the-scene things and thoughts, nothing too thought-provoking.
Next Update comes in a week, and now my rambling cooldown is down!
Comments
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NGL, the first MC character looks pretty sick (the reddish orange one), but if you were going for a hybrid, I can see why it doesn't fit. Your improvement is quite inspiring!
Haha~ I actually kinda like the first one as well~ but I went for a more generally appealing (I think) route that can take up more customisations...
Everyone has their own preferences and mine is more on the mid point or towards left on that dragoon to cartoon line, instead of the current right one, but it's more important what you as the creator feel happy doing. You know, because it keeps you motivated.
Still, I've to say the art change took me by surprise, and I feel like there's a bit of a loss of detail when the characters are more cartoony as opposed to having a more stronger linework. For example when you present expressions you have to exaggerate them more which further increases the cartoony effect - I think.
It's not like it's going to stop me from playing the game and it's by no means bad. Just different. I'm here more for the story than the art anyway so the art is just icing on the cake.
I still want to stress the art is very good, so no complaints about the art itself. You do you.
Hey! Thank you so much~ yeye I kinda didn't elaborate that much in the log, but I noticed that with the slightly more cartoony style, I kinda have to lose the details because it wouldn't look as good with the current anatomy I have. So, there's a little gain and a little loss that I can still acknowledge that. And to be honest, in the current design I cannot draw that much expressive expression just because of these restraints. I hope it is a net good thing, but I can see how some might prefer the former designs.
It was not what I intended the mc to look like, but I've gotten used to drawing like this. I'll try pushing back to the left once I get my drawing skill honed, so thank you so much for your suggestion!
It is a little wild how much progress you've made in so little time, and for real Ole's transition is impressive. You're easily one of the most motivated VN devs when it comes to improvement! Good luck!!
Haha thank you so much! I think it's good for myself to reflect on how much I've gone through this journey~ and I hope to improve much more in the future :p
tbh, as for a new studying student in art who has little knowledge in art but knows basic stuff from it, i envy those ppl who improved alot and knowing what they lack of. They improve alot and i mean alot, and fast(faster than me doing my assignment), and the realization of yours rambling how ur old work it compare to know is what satisfy me the most not bcuz of how different it is but knowing that u learned so much from it, u learn alot in ur previous days.
If its embarrassing to u then i understand that, but for me its just beautiful to see someone that is now grown decided to look back when they were smol like recalling how their story went through.
Anyways be sure keep growin up cuz ill be at ur back growin too >:) ill be comin back always for updates. Hav a nice year
Ahhhh Thank you so much! I'm not exactly embarrassed with posting my old art here haha, just that not in the actual game! I think it's hard to pinpoint what I exactly learned. Maybe just indulging myself in researches like european medieval history, aethestics, history to rely on when I do designs, some of them are inspired from movies, tv shows I saw. Some of them from inspiration from the internet. I think it's just that I spent more time planning or evaluating my game from the player's perspective. I guess it helped to make some cool dudes in this aspect.
Of course, I'm kinda proud of what I've been improving, especially when the starting point is kinda already high (I've been drawing for a year before making this game). And I guess I was excited enough to show them off, hopefully it would be a little useful in your venture in art. I think the study of aesthetic is kinda a big thing in making art. Especially commercial art (welp I think I'm making one) where the audience shapes the artwork majorly. I guess listening to people's opinions and suggestions really helps with fast improvement. And of course, criticism hits the hardest but the most effective as well!
It's the mindset that this is an everchanging game that helps the most, with single artwork you can just slack and forget about it. But with a game I'm very passionate about, I guess I just want to make everything perfect because I can change it anytime. So I have to improve upon any single details, despite my audience telling me it's fine haha!
Dang! You've only been drawing for a year prior to this game?! It is said that having a project is the best way to improve consistently, but seriously congrats!
It should be drawing digitally haha~ I've been drawing random sketches on and off for a few years. but only recently did I put a lot of time to try to improve... still I think I have a lot of rooms for improvement that only time will tell :p
im just a fan but hearing devs ramble has always been a fun thing to read, especially when you talk about your growth or just thought process behind ideas and characters identities and designs, another thing is when they just talk about other things that gave them inspiration like seeing an adventure movie that helps progress your creative process in making the main plotline or some other thing. it's just fun and I think a lot of people feel the same.
also, HOLY SHIT OLE'S CHANGES WERE DRASTIC. I can't imagine him as anything other than the current version because that's the one I've seen the most and relate to him most too but my goodness. (They all look nice though, maybe you could revive the old ones as future NPC's?)
haha thank you so much :p i think I've gotten one of the most drastic changes to the main characters out of a lot of furry vns haha. All the first 5 dudes underwent at least 1 redesign~ And they're pretty drastic too :p
Certainly a lot of the story/ backstory was inspired by media that i watched... but you know they're just at the back of my head. Maybe when i remember all of them I'll do another devlog and ramble ramble!
As for Ole's old design~ If i do revive them it'd be another redesign~ since they're still kinda similar :p Ole got redesigned in v0.0.2 so he's still relatively new to me haha, but surely i love the current Ole a lot more :3
as someone who is "Trying" to create a vn I must say I like to read throught thoses kind of posts. I dont know, maybe knowing that I m not the only one strugling a lot makes me feel better XD.
I just restarted to learn how to draw on tablet recently because I couldn't find an artist who would be willing to work with me on my project (wich is to be frank understandable ^^'). I am still sooo far away from realeasing the first real build of my game but I will get there... hopefully XD.
just look at how much this guy want to die XD.
Haha :3 I've definitely struggled a lot when I did a lot of redesigns and redraws of characters just to get the vibe right. And I guess one of the lesson is that don't be afraid of redrawing!
Regardless! I really like the vibe of your character right now :3 Style can be improved but vibe is really difficult to get right (for me at least), and I'll be patiently waiting for your VN to release haha :3
That is motivating thx bud. Let's just work hard then, both of us XD.