Baldur's Gate style game in development (Art side)

Hello

I am currently working on a 2D isometric game in the style of Baldur's Gate/ Infinity engine.
I would like some feed back and positive energy to keep me going. I have been looking at
the Unity engine in my spare time as well. I will try to get the 2D isometric maps into the engine
but I am not very skilled on the game engine side of things.

Currently making 1 map a week for a pitch (target is 50 maps).
I am open to making contact with people who share the passion for these style of RPG games.
I don't mind having a chat but at the moment I am working around the clock on art so I am not
free to work on any other projects.

2012-2014 prototype art phase.

Lock down art work phase.

















Maps completed many moons ago. I plan to rework them back into the map list.

 

Wow that's looking great. Keep it up dude.

 

Map set completed bar all the items and stair case system.
Found some more energy in the tank today.

Might have a break. Key word "might".

 

I've very excited about this as well, Baldur's Gate and Ultima Online were the primary inspiration for my companies flagship title. Anything remotely similar will score easy with me. Hopefully you include some deep story elements as well.

 

Looks great! I do love these games.

I will be watching how this develops, keep us posted.

Regards,
Matt.

 

I will release a small free map pack in about 4 weeks for Unity developers to use.
Hold onto your hats.

 

Ahhh love the BG style.
But the most important thing: the story. Do you have something in mind?

 

Started to work on the starting area (level 1) for the player characters.
This will be my classic deep forest scene before the mage tower.



Finished for the day.



I have to make each section of the forest different then join them up with a
pathway. I used my mage tower layout to speed up the construction process.

And over the weekend I bought a texture pack and started to kit out the Mage tower (level 2).
I have booked in the Mage tower for Thursday .

* Stair case to be built and cut in.
* Main door to be cut in.
* All items to be added (carpet, more tables, beds, chests etc...)



Close up to the in game level.

 

23/10/2012

Todays Progress.

 

Looks super!

 

One more for the day.

 

Awesome modular art man. Looks great. Can't wait to see more.

 

Those are realy good art, if i wasn't going to make an iscometric sci-fi, i would ask for your help, that's for sure

Good job man

 

24/10/2012

I am the one man army.

I am laying down the foundation for the whole 50 maps for the game.
Once I have completed the whole layout I will cherry pick out
maps to buff to final quality levels. A demo might be put into production
with my team of Kungfu coders in china (wifes cousin). However I have
to work out there diet requirements ($$$).

My hit list to nail in 4 months with 70+ hour weeks.

1. Pitch a complete design document
2. Pitch with a 1 map demo with some combat (1 class)
3. Pitch with all 50 maps in alpha stage
4. Pitch with 4-10 final gold level maps
5. Pitch with all the character and creature concept art.
6. Website redone/updated

2 maps today.
Done some new stuff so the results on the 2nd map are not to great.
Have to fire up some work in my texture department, oh thats me .





The concept art for the zone map where most of the game will be played until the final levels.

 

That looks very good! I just loved Baldurs Gate, so I'm really hoping you keep it up!

 

25/10/2012

Todays map. Expanding one of the area's at the moment.

 

26-10-2012

Witch Tower map update.

 

Looks AWESOME, this is baked light maps ?
or realtime at the moment ?

m;

 

Yes. Baked in Lightwave 11.
Love the new Lightwave 11.

The game is to be 2.5D.
2D maps like Baldur's Gate 1/2.
3D characters on top like TA.

 

26-10-2012

One more for the day.

 

27-10-2012

Interface work in the morning. For this I used my old work on a puzzle game to make the interface look ok in the Alpha Stage.

Time to get down to the metal and see what the game will look like when playing it.
Might add in a character for the screen shot tommorrow.

 

27-10-2012

Characters and items have been placed into the concept art.

 

29-10-2012

 

30-10-2012

 

31-10-2012



Items will be added later after I have completed my map list with the base map layouts.

 

2-11-2012

 

I loved the Baldur's Gate series and Icewind dale. It was hard to find anyone to play with as you had to be a hardcore nerd to understand how to play the game. Much of the game mechanics were highly unintuitive. I'm not saying streamline it down to stupidity (like most modern AAA games) but try to make it a bit more approachable than the balder's gate games. Such as, have some explanation for the player as to know what to do if a party member dies and have the AI settings be better explained. Also make sure there are detailed explanations for what each stats effects and also on spells and abilities have details about what stats effect them.

Will it be multi-player co-op? (internet, lan?)

Will you use the cliche D&D races, or make new ones? (Do you make character art also?)

Looking awesome so far, don't stop.

 

I just have to say I love your art-work. Good job.

 

3-11-2012

A weekend map for today.





The game rules and plan will be online in 3-6 weeks (website).
Working as fast as one man can .Not stopping but I have to pace myself or I will burn out.

My wife is helping were she can but she is 7 months pregnant.

Some puzzle game work from 2007 me and my wife worked on (we hired a coder).
Didn't make enough money back to keep the coder . Team
disbanded I got a hair cut and a job.

 

You have some talent, keep going. Making assets for a game is a huge part of the work for a project. I'd even say it's more work than the programmers do. Plus it draws attention to your game more, so keep making art and you should be able to get more people interested in contributing.

 

I have a artist brain so when I look at the code I think "wow that looks like a ton of work".
This art above is my bread and butter.

RPG type games have "insane" levels of art content as each area is different.
A clearer picture of the game art wise will appear over the next 12 weeks of work.

 

4-11-2012 Map

 

Yeah, for RPG, the art is often the game. The environment, world, and milieu is so phenomenally important, so I totally agree with that. You seem to be a good bit on the way with the art. Like I said above, it looks fantastic. I'm sort of approaching my RPG attempt from the angle of writing the frame without touching the art. Hopefully that will work. But I won't have goodies to show like you do.

 

I am slowly working on the world and story as well.
Hardest thing is switching my brain from art mode to story/writing mode .
Solution -> make more maps

 

Going to focus on small maps with more detail now (yes the stairs are missing ).
Happy with my mega maps at the moment, time to work up the detail.

5-11-2012

 

Very nice, loved baldurs gate.
Will there be outdoor maps as well?

 

They are booked in for next week atm .
I am pretty happy with my indoor maps.

 

Yes, they look very good!
Exciting to see what you can do with some outdoor maps : )

 

Because of how your game is sectioned off (meaning you can go through any door and have the player arrive at the door of any other map) you have huge flexibility to work with. You don't have to worry about the game design document or story at this point. Keep a foggy idea of your story in your head and ride this map making wave for all it's worth. If you over-think it all too soon the idea may become stagnant and you will lose motivation. You can always work on the story after you have a huge library of map assets finished. Also, nothing inspires a good story like art. I recommend you let the story evolve in your head until you have made most of the art for your project first.

 

6-11-2012

 

7-11-2012.

Wizard meeting room 1.
This is where my team will meet to plan the game

 

If you haven't played this: http://www.gog.com/gamecard/the_temple_of_elemental_evil I would recommend it for you.

 

Yeap totally agree. The plan is to get a story writer in and let them do what they love.
I like "high fantasy" art and story lines.

 

Have a look at my puzzle game design documents .
40+ pages for a match 3 with Free art as well.

http://www.silkjade.com/Lightforge/Puzzle-Pack/Puzzle-Pack-home-1.html

http://www.silkjade.com/Lightforge/index.html

 

I really like the look of this game. I cant wait to see more

The Puzzle game design docs seem mint too

 

You want to know who really works hard its us indies out here (I have nothing but respect for the indie).
Can't say much for teams on 10+ million budgets making erm some really bad stuff.

Here is what I am up against.
I eat UI art for breakfast.

You know all I really think I need in the art team is (wish list).

1 gun animation artist
1 gun chracter modeler

Thing is I can do that too .

I had a look at the BG2 team = HOLLY SMOKES !!!
A army.

The process for creating levels had eight stages:[59] (1) an area is mapped out and described by designers; (2) an isometric concept of the level is drawn by a concept artist; (3) the level's models are made; (4) models are placed in the level and are then textured; (5) smaller objects are placed in the level, its lighting is done, and any final tweaks are completed; (6) the level being given to the designers, the clipping, luminosity, height, and search map are done; (7) creatures, items, traps, and triggers are added to it; and (8) its scripting is completed.[59] They found it quite difficult to keep track of changes

Eat some of this concept art you 4+ million $$ teams ****** hehehe

I do the lot.









I do the lot = Machine.
I have a 100 page design document too (with artist like spelling and **** grammer )
Hey but when your on a $50 budget a week you got to cut corners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur's_Gate_II:_Shadows_of_Amn

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn

Got to love this.

I can make my maps above in ----> 4-8 hours.
I also then go to work a night shift for 4-6 hours and get to bed at 1:00 Am in the morning.

Ask any one of these 40 people would they like to work 6 night shifts on top of there art work jobs.

Me VS ---> Da art army.

Art Director
Marcia Tofer

Concept Art
John Samuel Gallagher

Core Art Team
Dean Andersen, Matthew M. Goldman, Kelly Goodine, Yunkyung Kim, Arnel Labarda, Christopher Mann, Elben Schafers

GUI Creation
Todd Grenier

Additional GUIs
Matthew M. Goldman

Portraits and Promotional Art
Michael Sass

Additional Portraits and Promotional Art
Dean Andersen, Matthew M. Goldman, Todd Grenier, Marc Holmes

Additional Artists
Michael Grills, Rob Sugama

Special Effects and Background Animations
Christopher Mann, Russell Rice, Elben Schafers, Alex Scott

BG and TOTSC Reused Art Content
Scott Greig, Marc Holmes, Kalvin Lyle, Cassidy Scott, Daniel Walker

Lead Animator
Steven Gilmour

Animation
Rick Li, Enrique Deo Perez, Larry Stevens, Henrik Vasquez, Tony de Waal

Animation Director
David Hibbeln

Modeling
Lindsay Jorgensen, Michael Sass, Elben Schafers, Alex Scott, Cassidy Scott

Additional Modeling
Ryan Blanchard, Matthew M. Goldman, David Hibbeln

Cinematics Texturing
Ryan Blanchard, Matthew M. Goldman, Marc Holmes, Michael Sass

Additional Texturing
Yunkyung Kim, Rick Li, Enrique Deo Perez

Cimenatics Scripts
Steven Gilmour, David Hibbeln, Lukas Kristjanson

Cinematics Concept Art
John Samuel Gallagher, Marc Holmes, Michael Sass

Storyboards
Steven Gilmour, Kelly Goodine, David Hibbeln

Video Art
Matthew Fischer

Cinematics Animation
Steven Gilmour, Rick Li, Enrique Deo Perez, Larry Stevens, Henrik Vasquez, Tony de Waal

Effect Animation
David Hibbeln, Russell Rice, Alex Scott, Tony de Waal

Scene Set up and Lighting
Rick Li, Enrique Deo Perez, Russell Rice, Michael Sass

Additional Scene Set up and Lighting
Ryan Blanchard, Steven Gilmour, David Hibbeln, Larry Stevens, Henrik Vasquez

 

How nice it would be to have a team of fifty people. "Do this", and it gets done. "Do that," and you get zip files on Friday, hopefully on time. I came home today, tried to do some work, but there on my desk is about a yard of homework. It has to be done by tomorrow. The life of an indie, I suppose.

 

Done these maps for idea a few years back.
So I have done outdoor shots.
This was meant to be the entrance to the mine map chain etc...







I only had 128 meg of ram back in the day so work was pretty hard (22 and Unemployed so my
game budget was less then $50 a week).

 

Todays work.

8-11-2012

Going to have to hit up the texture department this afternoon as he is slacking off.
Oh wait thats me.



My turn based 4x on ice atm, hard drive G.



Some day baby I will thaw you out, some day.

 

9-11-2012