Hey Guys!
Concept Art for Neutrino! Hope you enjoy. I'll explain a bit of it too for context.
A lot of Neutrino was just environment concepts. So I've included a lot of that process.
Originally it was a Cognitive Fitness game where the user manipulated the ball by shifting weight to different plates that moved the ball. When we changed the controls to tilting the iPhone, it pretty much changed the game look too. So more slopes, chutes, half-pipes, and less platforms. It's a game that takes place almost BELOW the subatomic level so I took it in a more icey, cold, space-like direction to make it colorful but yet hauntingly unfamiliar.
Neutrino himself is a ball, which has barely any character. Originally he was meant to be just an object to roll around, with no personality, but as we evolved the story he took on this kind of adventurous personality and when the 3D model was rigged up we realized that the plates could be used as arms and legs, and the center ball as an eye.
In the game he transforms from a ball to a plane, to a slingshot, a hovering UFO, and uses the plates to grapple. For the 2D videos I simplified him into a flat wheel with an eye in the center.
Environments were filled with striking colors, a palette that could be enjoyed by girl gamers and guys alike. Some of the original art was too dark for people so we lightened it up to make it more appealing to casual gamers. Each world is different and follows a theme, but all are tied together with things like black holes, stars, swirling vortex centers, and floating islands.
The world designs and skyboxes were inspired by two or three things, one was the art of Android Jones, who is a master of digital abstract. He uses a lot of weird shapes and mixes of vibrant color to create emotions. I also listened to a lot of things like The Mars Volta, Dragonforce, and Neverending White Lights to a certain extent. Here's all the skyboxes in the game.
The Antineutrino Boss was fun to make, he came after the Neutrino design so I wanted him to look like the Neutrino but at four times the size and four times the intimidation. He has a big eye that gets framed up by two plates that function as eyelids, so he can be angry, he can be shocked, or even better, unimpressed. That's about it for now!
5 comments:
Im gonna have to start by saying that this game looks great and there is no sugar coating the fact that your blood and manly brawn when all out with its balls out hands down.
Lets start from the top.
img. #1:
I really enjoy the pallets for the ice area - the lava mountain also is very nice, i think the thing i enjoy most about this is the sharp distributions from color to color - it especially works for the ice and gives it a feeling like the ice has been shattered and re-frozen and shattered again for ages.
To top it off is the awesome black hole warp gate off in the horizon, simple effect that completely conveys what its put there to do. ps. i dont remember the booster chamber in game? heh
img #2:
The characters in this game are soo simplistic and completely effective. One thing i like most is the simplified 2d version that has the plates in a circle surrounding him and he has an eye in the center - lots of emotion coming out of that cyclops! hah again color choices are great - especially the Nuclear green effect at the bottom.
img's #3-4-5-6:
These environment designs are simply killer. Across the board - color choice, textures, simple and flowing shapes. Oranges on greens - purples on reds, monochromatic - some really sick choices here man they look fantastic. Also another thing i really like is how some parts of the image will be just sketchy and the others appear much more rendered. Reminds me of Ben Templesmith in a way - however he does rough inks that are rendered once in a while.
Img's #7-8:
These two are a bit different style, something for promotional reasons perhaps? I find that Image number 8 feels weaker in concept than image number 7... but that might just be because image #7 is one of my favorite drawings you've ever done.
First off its built of very simplified shapes, secondly the mood is conveyed not only by the content but also by the choices of colors and shapes - silhouette enemy shining a foreboding orange light on the small protagonist - the sharp shadow thats being cast and the harsh textures that are used all work towards the same goal beautifully. I find this image also reminiscent of The Incredibles concept art which I was a HUGE fan of. This image is gold , great work and a fantastic portfolio piece.
#8 with a bit more rendering could be just as sweet, i would suggest starting by adjusting the position of your characters, perhaps pushing the enemy further back and having the Neutrino appear to be flying into screen - a bit closer to the viewer with some in your face blasts of energy, could be an opposite feel (as if now that he is more powerful he is taking the higher ground and dominating the fights).
The final image which appears to be the "cover" for the game ive got a couple of notes about. Not that it really matters now haha.
I just wanted to say that I am in love with the name of the game and the font shape and colors. Very futuristic, very YTV ben ten - alien type fonts, pretty pro looking. The background is pretty solid, im not a huge fan of the fire but the Colossal beast in the BG is very effective.
The neutrino himself here appears to probably be the 3d model, if not it doesnt look like your style of art really heh, I think it may have been a better choice and more effective to do a bit more (not necessarily dynamic) but effective pose in a 2d image. This is a dynamic pose but its not incredibly descriptive. (even his flying pose or something would have been pretty cool).
A little late, but just some ideas haha.
In conclusion (considering this was quite the essay)
These images and this game clearly has your blood, sweat and tears in it. Im totally pumped for it and as a friend im proud of you, i realize that the development time dragged on but when it comes down to the art and imagery of this game id say its top shelf and some of your best work.
Im looking forward to playing it some more and i hope that the company was able to provide a solid engine to support the attractive esthetic of this game.
im out.
-cr
Woah. That's a lot of text! Thanks Curtis! Really good feedback. I agree with you on #8, I was trying to accomplish what I'd done in #7. Didn't succeed as far as I'd hoped. But I threw it in more because I like the flying neutrino in there. As for the promotional art, I didn't really use that too often, maybe for some myspace advertisements, but for the most part I used the ball mode.
Thanks again!
I've got to agree with Curtis when he says this is some of your best work. This rocks my world. I could totally feel a dragonforce vibe on some of those and the colors you combined together overall is like a whole bag of awesome. I really enjoy your skyboxes, I can't stop staring at them, its very captivating! Your hard work payed off big time.
Tim! You did it!
Thanks Ben! Yeah the skyboxes are what I enjoyed the most, its all photoshop effects and brushes, really fun stuff to make. The world 'suns' are really just some messy gradients with the TWIRL filter a couple times over, made this neat spiral pattern that I used everywhere in the game. You can play it on myspace free, its only a trial though and not the full thing.
tim, i just picked up neutrino tonight. the best thing about this game is your art, hands down. you should be proud, cuz. congrats on your first title!
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