All In The Name of Style

Hola, good Bala folks?! It’s David Houston, concept artist and philanthropist on the weekends checking in this week with the good people of the world. I hope everybody has been well, as is par for the course. Just remember to take it one day at a time and eventually the rough patches will be behind you. So stay positive and keep working hard baby! 

Now for the meat and taters, with the Bala squad  turning it focus on E3 prep for Prisma, we haven’t had much way of the ability to advance our game; but that doesn’t mean we’ve been doing nothing. The Overlord thought that now would be a good time to eek out some promotional stuff and let the world know about the awesomeness that is Bala.  So that’s pretty much what we’ve been on! 

Angelica came up with some nice stuff that have all the good Bala info on it, and I’ve stepped in with a nice style piece to help plug the game, behold!

What we have here is Life Witch facing off against our first level boss time witch (coming soon!).This is a basic take on both of their default attacks, as they stand within a twisty time void of sorts. The style of this piece is a little bit more to how I draw personally, which leans more towards realism than the actual style of the game itself. But that’s basically what Angelica wanted, she told me to do what I do, and thus I did! I’m also a sucker for dynamic, action type sequences so I went there to make it look cool!

I tried my best to capture the nuances in both their personalities within the piece so that the viewer could get a good idea of who these cats might actually be! Time Witch is a very reserved and reluctant combatant, so I tried my best to make her appear as she is unsure about what she’s doing.  Her face is tensed up as she pulls away from the battle, while peeking out from one eye. Her body is also in an escape like pose too, as if she would rather run away then engage in conflict.

Life witch on the other hand is a bit of a whack job, she comes off as the aggressor despite being the one who was “wronged” by the other witches. I tried to give her a very strong pose with good balance, to help drive that home. I also gave her scarf the raised arc position that is common in animals with hostile intent to add to the aggressor feel. She also is sporting a nasty smile, that helps to point out that despite the danger of the situation, she is amused by it all.

Welp, that’s that for now kiddies. Until next time, wishing you wealth, health, and insight!

ROCK YOU LIKE....um Rocks?

Hello everybody! It’s the Heavyweight Champion of the Universe back in the ring for another edition of the Bala blog. I hope everyone is healthy and working hard. Stay vigilant as the finish line nears closer, there’s nothing to it but to do it, and that’s what I’m going to do…right now!

So I’m doing rocks…

Welp, that's all I've got time for this week...well I suppose I could illuminate the subject just a little bit.

These rocks are actually pretty important due to the fact that these suckers are sprawled ovr the entire map, so Angelica wanted some pretty interesting designs and looks, which can be pretty hard to do, because afterall…it’s a rock. So I did my best to come up with a swirling whimsical looking thing. I also took to writing runes all over them to help add to the fact that they come from a magical place. This was actually a pretty tedious process made even more difficult by the fact that they had to be seamless; but I won’t lie to you and say it wasn’t fun. I like whispy, flowy things so it was cool to cook up the design.

Well, that’s the ballgame for this week! Until I catch you next time….

Wealth, health, and insight!

Hitting the Wall

Guten tag, Balla followers!! It’s me Captain Concept with yet another entry to the blog! So as usual, I hope everybody has been doing well out there, the weather been erratic and thus far so stay safe out there. Keep grinding away and making good things happen!! 

Okay so what’s on the list this week? Glad you asked. I hope you’re ready cause this week’s answer may shock you! I have…more concepts!!! Yay!! *Ahem* So, what I was working with a more finite look to some of our tutorial level areas in terms of actual structures.  So the kid broke out the old Crayola’s a.k.a Photoshop and got to it.

What we have here is a concept for and enemy room, the idea is to have it look like it use to be the part of an old castle or some mystical place like that so I set up a few rounded alcoves and such to show that these places might have existed long ago. Because of that, they are also brittle as hell covered up in moss and other gunk (maybe a vine or two if I feel fancy!). What we also have here is the large wind door; it follows much the same rules as the rest of the ruin concepts. Gunk, grime, and a vine if I want some flavor. I did plaster the wind icon on the door to help the player see that it is related to the windmill structures in the game (they also have the same emblem). 

Finally I came up with a few ruin walls and sign posts that are sprawling with ancient text to help add potential depth and mystery to the area. It is pretty good all things considered, because I feel like they are quite charming! I also tried to sneak in our fish guardian representation on the walls to show that these ruins might be theirs, or at least they’ve been there for some time.

That’s all from me this week people. Remember to stay tuned for more Bala hotness!

Wishing you wealth, health, and insight, ja ne!