Devlog 5- Isometric Pixel Art- Fantasy and City!
For the last month and a half I’ve been putting all of my focus into pixel art and building the world of the game. The game takes place between two “worlds”- the real world in which the main character lives, and a fantasy world that they visit when they dream. The dream world mirrors the real world as it represents the inner turmoil of the main character and their view of the world and their real life acquaintances, and I’ve laid out the “real” city and the fantasy town in similar ways to represent this.
Uptown city vs dream area
I figured this would be a good time to get a bit into the overarching story of the game- the main character (currently unnamed, I always feel far too much pressure in naming characters) is having a hard time coming to terms with their father’s illness, and frequently finds escape in playing video games. Then, one night, they dream of a fantasy world that feels similar to the real one, and find out that their father is in fact, king of the land in this world, and is also ill in this land. The spirit of Lord Lunacy, an old king from almost a thousand years past, is using his power that should be used to protect the land to instead ensue chaos and deteriorate people’s minds, and has even turned on the king when he tried to confront him, causing his illness. The king’s right hand man, Leopold, has requested the main character’s help in finding old artifacts that each of the last 8 ruling kings have owned, as only direct royal bloodline can detect these items in the world. These items should have the power to save the king from his mind illness and he will have the strength to once again face Lord Lunacy.
On the journey to find these items, the player will find many friends in the form of party members- each of which is the dream representation of someone from the “real” city. One of the characters I introduced in the most recent video, the pirate ranger called Art, is the main character’s friend in the “real world”, that frequents an old abandoned arcade located in the city.
I’ll show you the art I’ve created for each area, for both the “real life” area and the fantasy dream world version- Please note, I have NOT designed the walk animations for the real life version of the main character so they won’t always be going around in a blue cloak in their real life also, but for the sake of showing what I have done so far it’ll seem that way!
The shop area of the fantasy dream town is a little bigger, and houses 4 shops, while the “real life” city only holds one shop, a basic grocer’s.
I decided for there to be only one shop for the real life city instead of replicating all four from the fantasy town as in our modern times one shop usually sells everything, while as the fantasy town goes by more medieval times where people had specific trades.
There is a “downtown” area connected onto the shopping district, with an inn/bar also!
The bar in the fantasy town has more of an “old inn” feeling, whileas the city bar is more of a modern looking spot, although both are incredibly similar in layout.
The uptown areas are connected to the castle/main character’s house, and also a road that leads to a run down arcade/games parlour area.
In the fantasy version, this building is an old games parlour that’s out of business, whileas in the city version it’s an old arcade.
The interior of the city arcade will be used for a tutorial area for the basic combat of the game, as Art will have fixed up one of the old arcade machines for the main character to try. The games parlour for the moment doesn’t have so much of a function, but I’m leaving these areas open for possible implementation of minigames if this proves to be something I have time to add!
The castle in the fantasy world actually represents the player’s house, although the front yards are very different!
The inside of the castle and the inside of the character’s house are a bit different- the main character’s house has modern areas-such as a bathroom, fancy!- and an upstairs hallway while as the castle only has one large main room and a small staff kitchen, similar to something of more fantasy medieval times.
The “King’s room, or main character’s parents room, has some similarities also.
For the main character’s personal room, I wanted to add personal touches to the real life version in particular, to show the potential inspirations of what could inspire a dream so vivid.
It’s been a long time of creating new art- I also have a new party member to show (Leopold, the king’s right hand man- and secretly the greatest monk town), but as I haven’t added the animations for them into the game I will show that next month.