On the discussion of Character Sprites...
Added 2025-02-01 23:27:08 +0000 UTCI felt like sharing exactly why I designed the characters and then left them untouched for a while.
A lot of time has passed since I first started developing the character art. At that time, creating these characters was the very first instance of me truly delving into using sprites and spritework. Before then I had no idea how to even draw a plant. In a large sense, these designs functioned as practice more than final drafts.
The sample characters above were some of the best sprites I managed to create at the time, but over time I realized the flaws of my design philosophy. For starters, every character was drawn to be standing at the same pose; mostly because I did not know how to draw them at other angles yet. At the time, all I needed these sprites for was concepts and references.
There is a reason why I left these characters undeveloped and began working on other parts. I was not sure if I could make the environments match the characters, or have the characters compliment the environment at the time. Now that I have mostly finished the biomes, I plan to revisit the designs over the next few months. I essentially have to update their designs to be as realistic as the environments I am making, as to not break the immersion.
I apologize for marketing them so early in advance when literally nothing but them was developed at that point. Making them that early has helped me flesh out how it should feel to play as/against them. I am considering the idea of doing polls in the future where different characters can be selected, and abilities/ideas for their attacks as well. That is set for far in the future though, after the levels are designed.
