PxlPlz

Scary Slimy Baddies

July 2, 2012

Nothing really exciting to report.  I’m working on some enemy behaviors and trying to put together ideas for enemies that look similar.

Here’s my (perceived) problem: I want players to instantly be able to identify that a baddie is indeed “bad” and shouldn’t be touched. Casey and I have been through a couple different type of concepts, like spikes, and animals, but nothing has really stuck for me.

A good baddie, for me at least, has to be both lovable and something that will scare you to touch. I think some IPs theme their enemies very well (Castlevania – if it’s an animal or a movie monster, don’t touch it. Humans are Friendly). Some IPs don’t, but we’ve grown up with them, so we know the good guys from the bad guys (in Mario, everything looks cute so it’s hard to tell initially who is friendly and who isn’t).

Anyway, I’m of the mind that all of the baddies need to be themed similarly so we can identify them, and they need to look dangerous.

Here’s my idea: I’m playing around with the idea that all of the baddies should be coated in sludge, and kind of drip all over the place. Think Venom in Marvel Vs Capcom.  I’m not 100% sure how this will work in the engine yet, but I have some ideas.

This can bring up some cool story elements too.

For example: Squidly and Squishy have always been cursed, but that’s never come across very well.  If we go down this route, I’m starting to think that maybe the chain should be represented by the same type of slime as the baddies.

This is just a quick photoshop drawing of an idea superimposed on a screen shot, but I’d be nice to get some impressions on said idea.

It’s not a GREAT drawing, but hopefully it gets the point across. Any thoughts? Too simple for baddies? Not scary enough? How about slimy fish, and bats, and octopi?

Entry filed under: Concept Art. Tags: .