How a comic book artist gave my game personality - Devlog 7

Devlog 7 - Just in time for the holidays (and i mean JUST). Subscribe for more ✌️
WISHLIST ON STEAM: store.steampowered.com/app/24...
DISCORD: / discord
TWITCH: / solomongumballtv
Follow josue on youtube: @xjosuecruz and ig:
/ xjosuecruz
Oepi on spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/3sHnJ...
Pyruvic Acid's game dev channel: @pyruvicacid3757
Pipers game dev channel: @RobinPipirs
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro & How I met josue
02:25 First meeting
02:58 Game lore primer
03:43 Josue explains the character design process
06:12 Modeling facial features (practicing)
06:52 Start modeling theo
08:10 The art of retopology
09:17 More modeling, zippers, gloves and more
12:30 Testing out the new model
13:28 Materials
14:30 Outfit stage
16:35 Start modeling Max
19:56 Substance painter
21:10 It's a secret
#unrealengine #devlog #gamedev #indiedev

[@bubblgumm8928]

For the clothing customization I think creating fake clothing brands like how Splatoon did it would be cool. Adds a lot to the world without requiring too much work. Plus you could have certain athletes be sponsored by clothing brands for more lore.

[@solomon-gumball]

Yeah this is something Josue and I discussed and I think would fit the theme of the game really well. Bookmarking this comment!

[@naamanborders4732]

​@@solomon-gumballjust started watching these so don't know if it was said already or not but will there be a mobile port?

[@bellingtoned]

Tha would be a good idea

[@PTKDWA]

niker comes in hot 💀

[@catioropulguento]

@@solomon-gumball What about making fake ads with the athletes for loading screens?

[@outercloud]

The new characters look so good! I feel like the lighting in game doesn't really do them justice since their colors get washed to a more whitish color than we see in blender.

[@lucbloom]

Upvote.

[@Marsnarchy]

Updoot.

[@protophase]

It could be worth it for him to look into post processing if he hasn't thought about that and up the saturation. I personally think the colors are great as is.

[@B4CKWARDS_CH4RM]

Definitely. A more cartoonish shading system would really make the characters pop

[@chr1stianblair]

honestly if it was cel shaded it would be soo fun like cel shaded with thick black outlining mmm.. @@B4CKWARDS_CH4RM

[@spoookley]

love that both of these characters are silent. there must be a scene where they interact & it just cuts back & forth to them looking at each other. no commentary on theo’s end, no thoughts behind max’s eyes.

[@JoeBob_Me]

if each character on the outfit screen had their own background that would be sick

[@The_Gabe]

I think having Theo‘s eyeballs look into different directions while racing would be a nice detail as well.

[@Goodgis]

Those new character designs are AWESOME! Fantastic work.

[@hop1805]

The new characters are all really nice! One thing i think would add some charm is to give each character a unique font on the character selection podium. Having the very sharp and angular font for Theo makes sense, but not as much for Wally. It could act as an extra indicator of everyone’s personalities with a different font for everyone!

[@catioropulguento]

Hey that's right! Just like Street Fighter 6 is doing.

[@dannyjarratt5414]

This video just came up in my suggested and I am so happy I watched it! My partner and I are big Snowboard Kids fan and this game looks like it could itch that scratch :) While I would personally love CGI cut scenes, voice acting and deep lore. Perhaps you could present the story in a dynamic comic drawing by Josue. Then its just a series of drawings of the characters talking. Maybe keep a few expressions for each character that you can reuse. Perhaps working with Josue or a writer to write up a storyline. There can be ways to add details through the writing of dialogue, which can built a world out extensively. Without being labour intensive. :)

[@solomon-gumball]

Glad you liked it danny! Yeah that's something we've discussed, could be really cool! Could be like a 3d comic book kind of thing with moving layers.

[@Campake]

The characters look incredible and add so much personality to the game

[@Demon0no]

This game is just the best display of "trust the process" of gamedev youtube. It just gets better every episode. Every time I think "hmmm, I'm not sure about that decision (yet)" it ends up changing the project for the better. Keep up the great work! Oh and happy festivities of course!

[@julianbaker_E]

My hype for this game just quadrupled. Went from like oh this is cool from a game dev perspective to it actually being inspirational and something I really wanna play

[@Cody_Wolf1]

For the Story Telling issue: Maybe if you play through a character’s single player campaign, you get a trading card at the end of it that has like stats on it, their likes and dislikes- if we wanna get real into their backstory it can be like a holocard. One side shows their person for the camera, while the other shows their *actual* personality

[@pineball43]

i really really like this solution, telling the story of the characters through simple yet effective means

[@JoonyTv]

its genuenly crazy to me that it has *only* been a year, you work so hard, watching you slowly chip away at your game is really inspiring. not to overhype or anything, but if this is what single dev projects look like nowadays, youre setting the bar really high for tripleA titles haha

[@Riv3rz]

Suggestion on the outfit changer: you could change the scene for the character changer to be different for everyone (like a house for everyone) just to add some more lore

[@lucbloom]

Or the “team” lockers they stay in for the duration of the event. Like F1 pits. It could contain hints to their backstories and weird stuff that’ll make you question their sincerity.

[@hinoki.mp4173]

maybe even the font of the name could change for each character: In my opinion the spiky letters fit very well with Theo's personality, but with Max not so much. p.s. The characters look amazing by the way

[@nathanrey]

Ive been here from the start! Its crazy what progress I am witnessing! With black or white outlines Im sure the characters would pop even more, good luck!

[@solomon-gumball]

A couple people have suggested toon shading and maybe toon outlines. I'll certainly try them out a bit more! Gonna do a bit more level design and get the multiplayer demo ready first.

[@Orca4YT]

@@solomon-gumballmaybe in the character customization their could be a shading option.

[@chr1stianblair]

this and cel shading!!! do ittt@@solomon-gumball

[@semirionu]

A huge improvement in design, keep it up!

[@rkneebone]

Wow, amazing progress The character design from Josus and your 3d model just make the game come alive! One thing though; the way the characters skis can bring a lot of personality and can tell a story; ex Max could have skis which he found in this grandparents attic but Theo could have the latest stuff as as he is scared that without the latest stuff he is nothing. All adds depth without cut scenes Well done and love to see more

[@rkneebone]

Also the way the the shoes connected to the skis bit weird (I’m skiing right now and it doesn’t look normal)

[@Pvydrow]

what if the characters had a toon cel shaded shader applied to them so they can contrast with the stage's softer lighting, the shadow colors could be different for each map to better reflect the map's atmosphere as well! I love these models so much you're doing an amazing job with this project so far.

[@donkey_quixote2591]

a really cool Idea for the clothing customization screen, that kind of fit’s into the lore you said. Is too have the clothing that the user owns in a suitcase, which connects to how the athletes are traveling from all around the world. With the preview screen of the outfit being them entering and exiting a closet with the clothing they selected. This could also be really cool and a way to add a in-game shop, where maybe the players earn currency when they win a game, where they can go to this shop and buy from different brands, styles, and colors! this is just an idea but I think it’s a really cool way to keep up a replay-ability factor in the game!

[@solomon-gumball]

This is dope.

[@juliajello3558]

Your main character Wally looks like Jamie from the show mythbusters with the mustache and hat, it’s especially funny that you mentioned him being quiet too

[@mariiowo]

this goes to show the power of art direction in games, as this new art and character design really helped flesh out the game and made the game look 10x more polished! It really helps the game feel a lot less generic !!

[@crxd_dystopyr]

Beautiful ❤‍🔥❤‍🔥 having a different set of eyes on your project and different helping hands really makes a world of a difference doesn't it? Amazing stuff man, love the changes 🙌🏿🙌🏿

[@quincykoala3309]

I think it would be cool to have different vehicles maybe sleds and snowboards for example. Different vehicles could be glued to characters so maybe theo and a few others could have snowboards while the seal has ski.

[@panpukinart]

Wow, that's a fantastic upgrade. Josue is the perfect fit for your game, how lucky you found eachother!!!

[@steaklover575]

Great video! I love seeing your how story telling in these devlogs are improving immensely with each and every addition. Keep it up!

[@TriSoftGames]

Have been following for a long time and i gotta say man, you are really doing great, I dont vibe with the goth spin on the wolf but you have definitly inspired me to do more custom art for my game!

[@Tsupek]

17:26 I just imagine the walrus silently starring into a camera after winning, unblinking.. just staring....with only the slightest of smirks.

[@refreey]

it took me so long to see the old model in the corner lol, I was like "oh yeh this is good, good, good, good, OMG THIS IS GOOD". Such an improvement! Looks great :)

[@konstantinmiller6873]

I think that adding a fish lure item would be nice! Place it behind you and if an unfortunate skier enters the range a giant fish dashes from the ground, working like an alternative to the banana from Mario Kart

[@iguruza_no_marin]

i'm not a 3d modeller (just a furry artist) but i'd suggest toon shaders with crazy shadow colors! don't care about realism, just give theo (using him as an example because he's edgy) red shadows and have fun! it'll look great :D

[@teh_supar_hackr]

I'd imagine Cel Shading could work pretty well with the art style also

[@omegaadev]

Fantastic, nice job. The wait was well worth it.

[@Isimarie]

For clothing customisation, as someone already said, a splattoon like store would be really fun. Especially if you’re already working with an artist I think you could come up with something really rad. This game looks super charming right now! I’m really looking forward to seeing it complete

[@michaeljoefox]

“Do you have any rubber walrus protectors?” ‘Call the poliiiiiiice.”

[@Partysol]

Dude as A character designer these designs look really cool!! You made a good choice looking up this artist to help ^^

[@gonzalofraguasbringas8617]

For character introductions or lore snipets, have you thought about just having Josue draw some simple panels and just have them (very lightly) animated. I feel like it matches the charm of the game, without adding too much to the scope.

[@skye4082]

I love how the ‘long email’ sent to the character artist at the start is just the script for around 6:15

[@NewbieTuwbie]

Wow that improvement was astonishing! Really goes to show how important it is to have a interesting style and a good concept artist

[@Bulled]

THIS LOOKS SOO GGOOOOOODDDDD! (i wont forget about the axolotl)

[@niuage]

This looks so insanely good! Such a good devlog, I really liked how you went after the artist after falling in love with his art :)

[@SilveImp]

I could definetely see this game going big. Personality in games is so important, so you chose perfect artist to help with that. Good luck on your project! Subscribed

[@bamlcd6122]

small interactions with other characters and their personalities adds a lot in terms of personalities. of course just a small thing, but it could be really cool to hear your character make a quip or jab at another's player's character to show not only that characters personalities but what their relationships are like with others. A small but impactful detail I always personally love to see in games. (also it would be funny to have everybody's characters bully each other occasionally lol)

[@darkfoxfurre]

An easy way to put different outfits on characters is to 3d model the full, bare body; and then shrink the body parts that are covered with clothing with a shape key. This will prevent the clothes from clipping through the body during animation, while giving the benefit of not having to add mesh to the body, if you wanted to have something like shorts or short sleeved shirts.

[@thegooberator]

The Beach boys are such a bop

[@On1onQueen]

When I first saw Theo's name on the character select I thought it was custom for him because it had that sort of gothic style. I think it would be cute if each characters name was written with a different font on the screen, or maybe even a mock-up signature if they're all media figures in some way! Goes along with a great comment about custom brands, leaning into the public figure aspects of their characters would give them a good amount if flare and style beyond their starting archetypes. I just found this devlog but I already love where it's going!

[@SuperGroat]

First devlog of yours i watch, it's super fun seeing these characters go from ideas to designs to 3d models, great job ! The result looks great and I think will help a lot in making your game successful

[@emiliano108]

Been watching since the first episode and I'm impressed with how professional these characters look. You and Josue did a wonderful job!

[@ayperosia]

This was a fun devlog, and a really good watch, will be wishlisting!

[@skulduggery1]

This looks absolutely FANTASTIC! seriously, stunning! This game is really coming along man.

[@SamRoblox_]

Your series is a huge inspiration to me! I have loved following the progression of your game and can't wait to play it when it is done!

[@MarcelE80]

I just found your dev logs and they are already one of my favorites!

[@artist-of-obsessions]

Oh wow! KZbin just reccomended this video to me, and I gotta say, I really enjoyed seeing the breakdown of all the work that went into designing these characters. And the game looks pretty neat!! I can't wait to see more

[@dasgehtdichnichtsan6555]

That's such an amazing project. My most favorite devlog on KZbin by far. Keep up that outstanding passion about your game!

[@Buraasen]

These characters are amazing looking! 🤩 Awesome work, as always, Solomon! 👍🏻

[@terminalgamestudios]

Dude, I'm following your project since the first video and I'm loving it more and more! You're getting so much better at everything you're doing and it's really nice to see all the effort turning into something beautiful! This game will be such a gem! Can't wait to play!

[@_ptr09_]

Hey, I‘m watching you sins your video were you showed us your dev jurney. I love to see how your channel grew and came along. It‘s also nice to see that you now have sort of a team. Nice work!

[@gumbo6598]

i absolutely adore the character designs and you did a great job translating them to 3d

[@ctyneee1507]

just discovered your devlog series and binged everything. so excited to see where this project goes from here on!

[@DaellusKnights]

I'm recently rededicating myself to getting serious with Blender (again 😅) and was searching for help with some particle systems problems I've been having when I randomly ended up here... and I am ever so glad I DID! I am absolutely IN LOVES with what you're doing and have already accomplished! 😻 Years ago when blender was still young, I dabbled for a while with making a game in the BGE (Unreal wasn't a free thing back then) so I have a little idea of the effort that goes into it. So far everything looks amazing and exciting! Definitely sticking around to see where it goes. 😻👍

[@losbopfos5637]

I really like your attention to detail on a project of this size and your dedication after almost a year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[@flareneegamdev]

This is looking awesome. I love the direction it’s going. Keep going! 🎉

[@pyruvicacid3757]

The quality of pretty much every aspect of your game and how it progresses is really impressive, even more so considering how it is a solo project. I hope that ram/sheep charachter will be added too, awesome designs!

[@brandi598]

I'm so glad you reached out to a character designer, so many game devs don't realize the importance of visuals in their game. The new designs look incredible and your modeling work totally brought them to life

[@paulkanja]

This honestly looks amazing!! Can't wait for more seasonal costumes. Some Halloween costume could get really wacky

[@AngelicMissMarie]

I think a very effective way of showing the personality of the characters would be things like short intros and endings in a more limited style like the storymodes of old Street Fighter games, it doesn't have to be anything elaborate and it wouldn't even have to be animated like the character intros for something like Cel Damage.

[@hollowedboi5937]

I love the outreach you did by checking out places you wouldn’t think to find good references or artists, working on a game with multiple people instead of only by yourself, and having a clear scope where you don’t want to spend years of your life on the game and are doing what you can by learning on youtube and other resources. It shows that even if not prepared for everything, you can always learn, and by relying on others strong suits you can collaborate to make and even better product faster than alone. Scope mostly as a game designer is absolute- everybody seemingly has a dream but spending the time doing it isn’t often thought of.

[@getintheoven]

Dude, you're criminally underrated! I cant wait to see the final product. And kudos on gaining a new subscriber (me) and wishlist as well!

[@Blanche_255]

love the emo wolf theo design and all the process of implementing it into the game is soo impressive this is so cool

[@bakeneo4781]

I think your game looks super cool. I love the art style and game play you're approaching. Personally, it reminds me of snowboard kids. I'm thrilled to see, how things turn.

[@Somethinginterestingthatiscool]

If you still want to go for a stylistic route for the UI there's lots of stuff you can do. One basic idea is when you turn on the game it's a scene of a snowy skiing track, but on the side there is a snowy lodge/hotel. Basically what I'm thinking is that the game will prompt you to "Press Any Button To Start" and when you do press a button a short animation of zooming into the lodge will play. Now for some of the stylistic ideas there are things such as the settings tab being the generator room that powers the lodge (A idea like this makes sense as they are both mechanical rooms, plus the outside of the entrance could have a cog sign indicating settings and also matching the fact that it's a generator room). You would just click on the door to enter the room and then you have the generator room scene as the background and the settings UI would pop up for you to fiddle with them. Other ideas are making the character customizer areas each contestant's bedrooms. So depending on what contestant you choose the background will change to their room. This also makes it so each room is uniquely based off the selected character's personality. For instance Max could have a bunch of pictures of his family, nicely nit sweaters and things to show his cute and light-hearted nature. As for you mentioning the little singleplayer missions that could introduce the characters, things like newspapers could be used. I'm thinking something like if you made a mission about Max getting introduced to the event there could be a newspaper about Max joining the event and how he is just a random competitor out of many known ones. These newspapers could just be on a newspaper stack, maybe a desk or places like that. Maybe the servers section could be like a almanac, or it could also be you going outside to a skiing track. If you want to add collectibles/trophies you could maybe make a trophy shelf that you can see in the lodge. Once you get a trophy and/or collectible it will then appear on the shelf. And if you go with this lodge idea you could also add small interactable things like a fire place that you can go to, maybe items you can interact with to make it even more cool and stylized. You could also add an idea that the competitors and random hotel goers can just randomly walk around the lodge giving it more life. These are just some ideas (Also If this was implemented I would maybe make a basic tutorial when you first open the game to show the player's the UI). And depending on the time you could add Halloween/Christmas/Any Holiday decorations to the lodge. If you were to do something along the lines of this though it should probably be after you get most the gameplay done, and you can spend time just polishing. If you do do this and want to do it now though I'm not gonna try to stop you or anything. Sorry for this really long comment. EDIT: You can also add some more worldbuilding in the lodge by maybe putting notes in it. These notes can maybe just have some tidbits of the character's stories, maybe it can have certain competitors opinions on each other such as some being scared of Max as he just never speaks but is always smiling. You can also add stuff like some symbols of the event they're taking place in and more stuff like that around the lodge.

[@infernal_smile]

I love how The game is coming out! And i can't get the idea of max wearing a woman overcoat evean after cheeking, out of my head

[@pedmonds2011]

I genuinely loved this process of the character models. You collaboration with other illustrators. Never tried Blender myself but I like your perspective on working on game development.

[@ThornShadowWolf]

Wow, looks amazing! I love the character designs so far.

[@MM-jm6do]

Wow, what a cool insight into a learner’s process! I loved this video

[@TheTacticalToad]

I always love seeing your dev logs

[@CompleteGodel]

Very cool video on the whole creative process also. Really going from idea to result.

[@anthonying]

Love the characters! They add so much uniqueness to the game!

[@GotchaVR]

Your progress is absolutely amazing!

[@Sucart12]

The outfit screen could be a locker room. Adds some story and feel to the game 🔥

[@Sluwaard]

Your game has come such a long way, something to be proud of for sure!

[@CosmicComputer]

I love your devlogs so much man!

[@lvm6464]

I have been following this project from the start. You definitely deserve more views. These new characters look amazing man. Keep up the good work and enjoy your holidays!

[@samhblackmore]

+1 for bringing the camera closer! Or a button press for different zoom levels? But the new characters look so great they would definitely stand up to scrutiny 🙂

[@UsernameTheName]

I’m loving the direction the game is going, I think it would make sense to add drafting as a feature given most racing games have it, also, just from seeing max with theo’s outfit I think it would be interesting if you could play with a certain character enough to be able to universally unlock their default outfit to use on other characters or something like that

[@Plunzi]

Another awesome update video. Keep it up and don't forget the glasses cosmetic hehe.

[@spacebricksstuidosproducto4122]

I’ve been watching you grow ever since your first video and I’m so amazed by what you’ve done in a year keep it up 👍

[@Gxmwp]

It's a crime that it took me so long to find this devlog series

[@uhhmir]

incredible devlog! i learned more about 3d from this video than most tutorials

[@thayerpreston8517]

Excellent video. Loved the in depth view of modeling and character development. Ps - long videos are fantastic !

[@solomon-gumball]

I love long videos too, just a lot of effort. If I had another version of me I would put him to work just making 20 minute devlogs every month 😂

[@HallowzDev]

Dude this style is so good! It looks very reminiscent to brawlstars but still having its own charm

[@pickleking4113]

Jez i love this style, this characters have so much personality. Im an animator i just wish i knew 3D animation specifically. I believe you should really try to reflect the characters personally through their movement and poses, stuff like that really bring a character to life!

[@MadstonMagic]

I was watching devlog 5 and saw you create little crates for items, but I figured.. I lowkey just wanna get my creative brain going so I came up with some funky little ideas: - Sparkling snowballs you rush through and get an item? You can mess with particles here and keep it more unique. - Bring back the flags, but to give a visual feedback, you can perhaps make it pop out some confetti and the flags fall down, then after a cooldown the flags get in place again with a silly animation and the next person can ski through. - Rotating ice crystals? Then when you ski through they shatter and you get an item. perhaps I think of more, I'll update this comment if I do lol EDIT: The minimap seems a little to hard to see, perhaps a dark gray/black outline around the track?

[@Catnado_22]

Just got here and i have to say, i already am in love with this.

[@backyy07]

Looking real good, cant wait for it to get released!

[@Gore-Labs]

Theo is absolutely glorious. I absolutely adore punkrock characters and Theo is *peak* character design. The fact that he’s a wolf, his facial expression, his clothing choice, it all makes the artist in me extremely happy.

[@flowerreater]

best gamedev project on youtube rn. i love this

[@eboatwright_]

This looks awesome! Great work :D

[@LenardoDivina]

This is super inspiring, the characters look amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[@Adamski-]

Holy shit!!.. Every now and then, i'll do like a deep dive into dev log content on youtube and i was just chilling, watching this video, really impressed by the character design (as it's something i want to get good at), and @ 13:00 my mind was blown.. THAT WAS YOU?? Holy crap your game has come far!!

[@williambuurmareyes8570]

OMG Ive been waiting for this video to drop since the last one I feel like this has been the longest wait. I've been watching your vids since the first one came out and I cant wait to see what the game looks like. I cant believe its been almost a whole year.

[@solomon-gumball]

Yeah it's been a while since the last one. Apologies. I'm hoping next year I can stay a bit more disciplined and get a video out every 2 months. Or once per month if i do smaller ones. Anyway thanks for continuing to follow, always makes me happy to hear when ppl have been following since the first one

[@larimarum-3546]

A custom idea would be one of those traditional swiss costume you see in old movies😂