Behemoth Design
This is the base plot for Behemoth group Siren came up with without breaking with the aesthetic goal (feeling as controlling a big piece of machinery). The plot is intrinsically linked to the game art-style; the style was inspired by the plot as much as the plot was inspired by the art-style. This blog post will focus on the reasoning behind design decisions which try to convey an idea, a feeling, mood, atmosphere, etc. The concept of designing an organic being with flat triangles might sound strange, but it contributes to the style and add variations within the entities in the game. Organic and inorganic shapes are clearly differentiated. In addition, the colours of every triangle give a sense of volume and light in order to make it look less flat, although the style is still low poly origami inspired.  ADAPTATION For the Behemoth we needed 3 characteristics to meet and to adapt to the concept: A cannon, a shield and a fitting shape as player avatar at the left side of the screen. As the shape was a primordial part of the design, I parted from a top view perspective design and developed the spaceship-creature from it. It was vital for the ship to look ancient, majestic, and most of all, not evil, so several designs were discarded as they were too aggressive looking. The final design resembles some kind of sub-aquatic life form which keeps its energy in a shell. It’s a suggestive idea, as most of us have the general conception that turtles can live for a very long time, but most of us don’t know that the oldest ones are not sea turtles. So this design plays with general conceptions in order to be suggestive. Hours and hours of sketches and tests were made before actually choosing the final shape for the Behemoth. Before making a choice, it’s good to look for second, third and 20th opinions. The canon became an energy canon. As generic as that might be, is enough for understanding the general concept and the game mechanics linked to it, without over-complicating things too much for such a short game. The shield is a typical sci-fi spaceship energy shield, which is efficient, easily understandable (because popular culture) and good-looking. It is attached to a device, a shield generator, which can be shut down by certain enemies. We didn’t feel like we needed to innovate in that front.  WHO AM I? What is The Behemoth? As stated in the game concept, The Behemoth is an organic ship, which is symbiotically bonded to you, the player. You are controlling the Behemoth, but you also ARE the Behemoth in every practical sense. The whole concept tells us that the Behemoth has to majestically flow through the atmosphere with its titanic presence, as admired as it’s feared. The colour palette, in relation to the rest of the game palette, tries to transmit that sensation. It is in contrast to the inhabitants of the world a in contrast to the world itself. It is, in the end, a foreign entity.  The next post will describe the technique and tools used to create the behemoth sprite.  |