akumi

Akumi Hunter - Dance

There will be many variants of Akumi even beyond the established versions!

Akumi Mercenary

She's happy this Akumiverse world is finally getting made!
This could also be dance she does when she gets a good bounty reward!

Akumi Merc - Special Attack

When you have monsters, you need monster hunters with powerful attacks. Only certain characters will have special attacks so if you have one, you're special.

And of course the exclusive character you'll get for supporting the development of the Akumi game will have a special attack as well!

Void Claw - Attack

Don't get them mad or they could snap...  O_o

Monsters - Void Claw

What have I been doing? Making monsters!!! And other characters.
We finally got a dedicated coder to make the game prototype. First thing we're focusing on, BATTLE MECHANICS!

Ever play Final Fantasy 12? Apparently, their "Gambit" system is similar to the game mechanic I want for the Akumi game.

OHHH things are moving my friends... dropping all other projects to focus on this ga...

Animation - Victory

Epic victory dance! I think these sick moves speak for itself. 

Have a fantastic weekend.

Onwards and Upwards!

-Miltonius

Animation - Male Base Run

Look at this beefcake go! XD

Animations - Shooting Range

Akumi clones practicing the shooting skills. XD

Some variants on how characters can shoot guns. I like the crouching, you don't see that often as a default attack.

Animation - Shotgun Attack

  This one was fun. Adding the empty shell really adds some satisfaction to this animation.   

Male Base Model

Working on the base male model and animations this week. It's amazing what a difference eyes can make to a design. 

Both styles will be used in game but which do you like more?

Victory! 100% Focus on the Akumi Game!

So a couple months ago an animation studio I used to work for (Renegade Animation Studio) contacted me about a some freelance work from a client they we're unable to accept. For those who don't know, animation is expensive because there's a lot of departments involved. So for a 5 minute animation, it was gonna cost this client 150K or more. So they recommended me as I can do the whole thing sol...

Monster Concepts

I still got quite a few base animations to show but I thought I'd mix things up with some monster concepts. The Akumiverse is filled with strange creatures and beings native to the land and from other dimensions. When reckless warlocks and mages use unstable magic, it cause all sorts of chaos.

You can see I I'm looking for our base baddie in the sketches above, like Aliens, I'm leaning to...

Animation - Magic Cast

 Base animations for casting an attack and/or casting a buff/debuff spell! 

Character Stats/ Ability Mockup

Okay so here's a rough mockup of how characters will function.  This is all subject to change obviously but this is a rough idea of how things will work. To keep things simple and clear, character will have 3 slots where they can modify their character abilities. For now, the 3 ability categories being: Attack, Defense and Magic.

Characters will start with unique abilities and stats,...

Character Concepts

Using my templates, trying to figure out caster outfits. Maybe variants of a magic using Akumi? Also a tech armored Akumi idea on the second page. :D
Last page is another version of Jade and Trena.

Battle Poses

When I'm sketching I'm able to be more loose with my ideas. I like the idea of each character in the game being able to feel unique.  This is why I wan to explore a lot of different poses and stances. Anything that gives the character life is is good!

This first sketch is important because it was the basis for the bouncy run cycle I was able to capture with my most recent Akumi run a...

Akumi Animation - Stab Attack

Here's a stab attack using the same effects just skewed to fit the new animation. You can see I can achieve a lot of facial expressions too. Lastly, the hands can come on and off the weapon without much trouble.

Akumi Animation - 2 Handed Weapon Attack

I love 2d animation styles so I want to really play with 2d effects. Here we I hand animated green fire effects playing at 24fps while Akumi herself is animated at 60fps. I think it plays well together. 

Akumi Animation - 2 Handed Weapon Stance

Another thing we'll be able to do is have character stand in an infinite number of ways depending on their fighting style or weapon. Here I have Akumi using a 2 handed sword.

Akumi Animation - Weapon Run

One fun thing that can happen with these animations is the default animations can be modified to fit a variety of character types. Here I have Akumi dragging an oversized 2 handed sword that's a bit heavy for her. XD

Made the second run animation look like something I did in AQW. :)

Akumi Animation - Run

Good news! My idea for a turning character model is way too complicated and wouldn't work for all characters. It could probably work if we we're making a single hero character. Why is this good news? Because now I can move forward on what we got. Progress!!!

More animations coming!

Onwards and Upwards!

-Miltonius

Akumi Animations - Idle

The past 3 weeks I've focused solely on the character animations for the game. Using the main character to start the default animations seemed fitting.  I've gone through a lot of ideas on how best to build this. It needs to be efficient, modular so it can swap out skins, animate well and look kick ass!

I'll be posting the other animations I have of her this week.   

Akumi Game Model

Oh Man it can be tricky to find that certain look you want for your main character. If you're not careful, it could cause paralysis by analysis.  Better to dive into chaos and figure it out as you go. I'm thinking the middle version is a good one to dive into. I think the tight ponytail gives her a look that says she can handle herself. The sword and gun help with that too. XD  &...

Character Models

Okay I know, I've made about a million character models now. But I'm pretty sure THIS is the one! A good balance, not too buff, not too skinny, not too young, not too old...  I should probably start making characters with these before I change my mind again... XD 

Jade & Trena - Future Characters

Despite these two not show up much in the Akumi lore, they are some of the oldest and characters in my art history.  The tech saavy hunter Jade and her beast woman side-kick Trena!
I want to make them a bigger part of the Akumiverse in the upcoming Akumi game. This is a duo cast I think could be really fun to bring to life again.

Cysero the Barbarian Blacksmith

Update: Forgot to make this public...

Cysero is always fun to draw for some reason. He's just full of personality without even trying.

Artix the Barbarian

A little tribute to the main man of Artix Ent. Barbarian style!

Dage the Destroyer

I've been on a barbarian kick lately. I grew up on Conan the Barbarian and loving muscle bound heroes.   Making these pinups is fun but also enlightening. I'm really honing getting to hone the art style I want to be in the game I'm making. 

Game Progress 

Me and Adam meet on the phone each Friday to discuss the game. Last Friday we spoke with a n...

Balor's Delayed Commission

Okay so I was supposed to do this commission last summer. But I only just finished it this week. 20 hours of work... 

But it look good! Thanks for the patience Balor.

The strict scheduling life works for me.

Onwards and Upwards!

-Miltonius 

Randomized Sketching: Game Content

Posting my new method for creating ideas and characters.  

• I start by lightly drawing a random shape.  
• Then,  I fill in the details of what my mind sees in those shapes.

For the examples above, I had in mind the category of what I wanted the shapes to be: monsters, robots, houses etc... 

So I also achieved another new skill this week.....