Hello.
It's been a while since I last posted. But I have something to show you.
Me and my friends are working on a game called The Penarium.
Here you play a kid trapped in a carnival ride full of lethal traps and machinations.
I do co-designing and art for this project.
Here are some concept art pieces (which gradually blend into final art in my case)
The game is set around the 20's. A time when carnivals, circuses and funfairs were legit entertainment for locals.
It was also a time when magic was still truly magic and the unknown greatly outshun the known.
I watched some episodes of Carnivale and that inspired me a lot.
First I started making a colour palette.
I usually use the same one for all my games but since this game is such a strong setting I wanted to capture.
I'm not super good at making palettes but this is what I started with: (And a darker variant for the background)
Then I doodled up a character . I thought it would be fun to see a heavyweight kid outrun all those deathtraps.
Making him a ginger was the next move and I thought it would help to make him stand out from the background.
Then I made a circus tent arena for the background. The game has dimensions that make it fit for smartphones.
But 960x640 was just so huge! I don't have the skills to fill up such a canvas with gorgeous detail so I cut it in half.
Also the background was just too dark. It made the player stick out but the big picture it felt off.
Then I made a brighter variant but the tent made it look like the player is performing a circus act.
That is not the plot. The plot is that of a kid who is involuntarily trapped!
So I took away the tent and replaced it with a sky but with the ring it still looks like an arena.
Also I played with the colours of the sky and that is the phase I am in right now.
I might replace the sky for a tunnel and give it something of a tunnel of terror joyride feel.
But I also really like the simpleness of the sky.
I'm also playing around with the appearance of the player but maybe a Spelunky style character choice is even better.
I'm also still on the fence about applying outline.
Here's my twitter. I regulary post wip images there:
https://twitter.com/ThomasNoppers
