Very Literal ‘Placeholder Art’
Hello friends!
Welcome to my monthly newsletter, where I talk about things I’ve been up to in the worlds of indie gaming, and other creative and storytelling passions and interests!
The Museum of Everything
Long-time followers might remember me hoping that the prologue of The Museum of Everything could form an early concept demo which I can unleash upon the world at some point.
I’ve now finished writing the vast majority of the dialogue for this little beginning chunk of the game, coming in at around 15,000 words. I’ve also completed a very shoddy first pass at the programming, with placeholder artwork and characters/objects zipping around strangely because they don’t have any animations. It looks weird, but it’s nice to see everything coagulating into something approaching cohesiveness!
Note the very literal placeholder art.
Art Style: Still Flummoxing Me
With the writing and the programming of the prologue both about 80% done… I really do need to pin down what this game is going to look like, don’t I?
You might remember that six months ago I was busy weighing up my options for art style in the game, namely whether to go with a similar pixel art style to the one I used in The Beekeeper’s Picnic, or use a more illustrative style. I flip-flopped around, before ultimately chickening out and going back to the ‘ol reliable pixel art I used in Beekeeper’s Picnic.
Over the past six months, I’ve ended up feeling like that might have been a mistake (and this, friends, is why you use placeholder artwork rather than trying to make everything look beautiful from the start!)
So, what’s my thinking now?
Something I thought back in February is holding true: the Museum is effectively a character in the game, and it’s good to see her and the objects in her in full detail.
I have the existing skills to do something illustrative, so why not? Before making Beekeeper’s Picnic, I spent over a decade making comics, often educational comics for museums, charities and educational groups.
When people see a point and click style game with very retro pixel graphics, I think it’s natural to think it’s going to be a retro homage to the pioneers of the genre. While I hope fans of the classics will be able to enjoy it, I think that vibe would be misleading for Museum of Everything.
FInally, I had a go at doing some backgrounds and I’m so happy with them that, I don’t think I’m going to regret this choice.
(I can already feel Future Me who is months deep into doing hundreds of hand drawn animation frames frothing in protest, but she’s in the future…)
The Beekeeper’s Picnic
Ummmm so, I have something interesting going on related to The Beekeeper’s Picnic. I signed an exciting thing a few days ago. But I can’t actually share it yet.
Sorry! You will find out all about it next month.
The Future!
I think August is going to be spent creating more artwork for the prologue, and working on things for the aforementioned mysterious Beekeeper’s Picnic thing.
The Monthly Malkin
As usual, it’s time for me to say goodbye with a picture of my cat, Miss Malkin. She’s got a chunky wooden ball that she absolutely loves. She’ll bat it around chase it, try to get her teeth around it… and then suddenly she flops, tuckered out.
Here is is getting some rest after a play session, the ball just out of reach…
Hope you’ve all had a good month, and I’ll see you again in August!
