Hey folks! Welcome to the latest installment of the Legends of Phantastica development diary! As promised, we’ve got a look at the latest playable character, the Brawler, as well as some of the monsters that infest the titular Clockwork Tower! First things first, as promised in the news, you’ll want to know what’s up with the delay of game.
Without throwing anybody under the bus, we’ve gone through some unfortunate staffing issues over the last several months in some particularly crucial areas of content development. Turns out we had a lesson to learn when it comes to hiring some folks, but with that lesson learned and some amazing new team members on the roster, we are back in action!
Speaking of new team members, here is the latest playable character in the game, the Brawler.
The Brawler is a member of a native tribe, local to the region in which the Clockwork Tower has appeared. Trained from a young age to be a tracker and a warrior, the Brawler has a keen survival instinct and tremendous physical strength.
He’s not all brawn, though. Thanks to his people’s intimate connection to the land, and his own connections to the spirits of his ancestors, he can summon powerful Earth magic to his cause, as he makes his ascent through the tower.
Now you may recall from our previous development diary, that the methodology in creating our characters for this game has involved a good bit of back-and-forth between Phil and Raf to create the Gunslinger.
Not so, in the case of the Brawler! This character was realized in one take, so to speak. Phil knocked the concept out, and our new sprite artist, Ramon Rabang, nailed the sprite work down in less than a day. That’s right – less than a DAY. This guy’s FAST, and we’re super fortunate to have found him!
Of course, with a character like the Brawler, there’s a lot of detail that can get lost in the translation to sprite form. In the old days, features like that half-sarong simply wouldn’t work, because computers and game consoles worked with pretty limited memory, and so they’d simply flip a sprite instead of illustrating and animating two distinct sides of a character.
Today, we aren’t bound by those limitations and thus, those kinds of unique details can get into a character without issue.
With that said, here’s the Brawler in his in-game incarnation! You can see that the thick hand wraps, arm band and half sarong all show up cleanly and clearly, and we don’t actually sacrifice anything in terms of fidelity between the concept and the final sprite, which is a testament to Ramon’s skills!
Of course, we’ve told you about the skills that the Brawler has when it comes to dispatching the creatures that inhabit the Clockwork Tower. But all those talents are useless if there are no monsters to use them on, right? So we’ll close out today with a look at a few of the monsters you’ll be brawling with in The Clockwork Tower, as designed and animated by our good friend Conrad Schmidt.
Enjoy, and we’ll see you next time!
