[h2]Bánk: Writer / Designer - "They came from the void..."[/h2] Mothmanaut was the first opponent we came up with, so it became a kind of mascot for the project. This is totally fine because it's a great and perfect description of the game itself and the kind of enemy philosophy we envisioned for the project. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/1fbaad17bc7971489fe781e13c7edfb4bf9ac7b5.jpg[/img] The thinking behind it was to avoid the methods used in most science fiction horror. There will be no space zombies, no Alien-like creatures, and no Lovecraftian cosmic horrors. Well... there are traces of all of them, but in terms of look, enemy behavior, and overall vibe, we wanted something unique and memorable, something like what writers and filmmakers dreamed up in the golden age of science fiction before the 80s, before Alien or Star Wars hit the silver screen. That's how the idea of the astronaut turning Mothman was born, or botanists turning into flower-headed mutants, and so on. (of course, we were also influenced by later cinema, especially The Thing, to name just one) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/0f266526076d176ded88d8a7fabb07a723ec577f.jpg[/img] With Mothman, or Mothmanaut, it was clear that we wanted something that was both creepy and weird, but still had something likable, or rather, pitiable. We were looking for a feeling that perfectly balances the two. We didn't want players to just see a hideous, disgusting monster that they reflexively want to kill. We wanted the player to both fear these creatures and in some ways feel sorry for them. If we can achieve that, we've hit the target. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/c9cac866b3a480daf94b31c9eb6927fbb63228cd.jpg[/img] These creatures will attack us, but if the player observes them and what they are doing, they will notice that they are looking for something. For each other? Old friends? Family members? Their old selves? We don't know. All we see is them wandering up and down the station, calling out in their own language, as if to someone or something they can never find. Tita (2D and concept art) did a great job of bringing this dual feel to the first designs, which Beni (3D models and animations) was able to perfect even further. Now they tell us in their own words how they created the creature. [h2]Tita: Concept art - "Sci-fi and folklore collide"[/h2] Mothman is inspired by the 70s sci-fi genre. As he is a half-human half-insect creature, I tried to keep these two main features in his design. I really like Mothman's folklore by default so I wanted ours to look similar: big red eyes, black fur, some wings, and of course lots of insect tentacles. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/e14bedaf073b5e51900075bf58bb269f94e10631.jpg[/img] From these, I created the final version, and to make it even scarier I placed the mouth vertically on the face and painted the clothes thoroughly with a lot of blood. Of course, there will be many versions of Mothman in the game. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/e6fd75645fad1605a710d451c812332d787b58c5.jpg[/img] One of them is this over-mutated amorphous mass, for example. You can only see its basic features of it, everything else is a runny mess. The idea here was to show that the concept is completely different, that requires a different kind of movement from its faster, two-legged counterpart. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/dc1977e4cb95dbb60446f9bf342ce1ef5f579cec.jpg[/img] [h2]Beni: 3D models and animation - "The devil is in the details - and the lack of them."[/h2] Modeling the 'Mothmanaut' enemy was my first task on the project. I was given a detailed visual design from Tita, which I then had to reimagine in a style that was most reminiscent of the visual world between ps1 and ps2. (and late 90's, early 2000's PC games) To achieve this I tried to create it with a relatively low polygon count. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/521dd6081420b383dcec429d6442719ff4a767ea.jpg[/img] Due to its simplicity, the model itself was not very convincing, as most of the work consisted of texture painting. It was at this point that it really took on a personality and began to look more and more like a "real" Mothman. (If there is such a thing. Although many people think there is.) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/0f0091a1ea597703657ac4cebe37b96df4cd47e7.png[/img] Again, I worked on a smaller scale and ensured that the more important body parts, such as the head, got more detail. My favorite part about low-res textures is the inability to paint every little detail, so the player's imagination has to fill in the missing information. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/dcc12fa73cdbc6ba04291f462d78696c92b4002d.png[/img] After a little dirt, the first enemy was assembled and used as a template for the other character models in the game. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43467429/010d8783e08ec9dbfc3b2f8c3d22d98883309155.jpg[/img] Check out the Artstation pages of Tita and Beni: [list] [*] [url=https://www.artstation.com/tpizvor]https://www.artstation.com/tpizvor[/url] [*] [url=https://www.artstation.com/benituli]https://www.artstation.com/benituli[/url] [/list] Follow us on Twitter for more in-depth game dev information: [list] [*] [url=https://twitter.com/RetroSpaceGame]https://twitter.com/RetroSpaceGame[/url] [/list] [i]Do you think there should be similar detailed posts on creatures, locations, or gameplay mechanics in the future? If so, please let us know in the comments and of course share and spread the word about the game, which will help us a lot![/i] [h3]Thanks for your attention, we'll be back soon! Until then, don't forget to Wishlist Retrospace![/h3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/2067820/RetroSpace/ [i]The Wild Gentlemen[/i]