(CONCEPT JAM) - Retro Redesigns!
polycounter lvl 17
There's a serious vacuum of 2d buzz in p&p despite it being host to a bunch of badass artists. So this is a thread, primarily, for the 2d guys, but no experience is required. There's no competition, just a broad theme for us all to work on and share.
We all work on our own stuff in school or work and our own threads, so this thread is intended to offer a unified subject we can all enjoy working in. More than anything else, it's a community building thing, and a chance to see how your fellow polycounters approach the same subject as you.
2)- Try not to post any images in this thread except on-topic artwork you've created. Everything else should be links -- no clutter if someone just wants to look through the thread. So basically, your concepts or paintovers for other people's concepts only.
3)- The subject is going to change pretty regularly, but I want to avoid a strict schedule or deadline. Expect a few weeks per subject -- if you get bored, go ahead and say so. I'll put something new up whenever interest starts to fade on the current theme.
4)- Critiques and recommendations of all kinds, to the thread or eachother's art, are encouraged in here. This is about us all having fun and getting better, and in many ways its a collaborative process. If you have suggestions for inspiration links or any other changes to the brief, let me know!
Encouraged:
-Do as many concepts for as many unrelated games as you'd like!
-Fleshing out gameplay elements could be fun. Are you redesigning characters from Fable as RTS units? How does the game work?
-Don't be afraid to invent new content or remove major elements from the game; look at XCom or Bioshock -- remakes and spiritual successors have blank checks to reinvent the wheel.
-Remember that this is about art, and principally design. Do whatever looks or sounds cool!
-CHANGE THE ART STYLE. This is about a game how YOU'D make it, not a slavish reproduction of the original.
-Post anything, as big or small as you'd like. If you only have the time and inspiration to redesign one gun from Quake, go for it anyway! If you want to post an entire design document/pitch for a remake, go for it!
Discouraged:
-Try to stay away from just drawing a well known game character with a different hat. The goal is to re-create here, not make fanart -- let loose! If it has to go to one extreme or the other, it's going to be more fun for everybody to make an exciting, original design that has almost nothing in common with any of the games than draw a perfectly on point piece of fanart.
-Maybe try to stay away from fighting games, too, only because they have been done to death around these parts.
Inspiration:
The major inspiration, for me, is Niklas Jansson's work. He's posted an ton of excellent redesigns of games to suit his style and tastes over the years; this is a good starting point for inspiration.
Additionally, some of the big, commercial remakes are worth looking at.
We all work on our own stuff in school or work and our own threads, so this thread is intended to offer a unified subject we can all enjoy working in. More than anything else, it's a community building thing, and a chance to see how your fellow polycounters approach the same subject as you.
Guidelines:
1)- As long as you're following the current theme, there are no submission guidelines or rules to your images -- post what you want to show, whether it's a wip, a finished concept, or just a little visual idea. Think of it like a group sketchbook in that regard. The brief is a set of GUIDELINES. They can be bent or broken. But try to stay within the spirit of the subject.2)- Try not to post any images in this thread except on-topic artwork you've created. Everything else should be links -- no clutter if someone just wants to look through the thread. So basically, your concepts or paintovers for other people's concepts only.
3)- The subject is going to change pretty regularly, but I want to avoid a strict schedule or deadline. Expect a few weeks per subject -- if you get bored, go ahead and say so. I'll put something new up whenever interest starts to fade on the current theme.
4)- Critiques and recommendations of all kinds, to the thread or eachother's art, are encouraged in here. This is about us all having fun and getting better, and in many ways its a collaborative process. If you have suggestions for inspiration links or any other changes to the brief, let me know!
########## THEME 1 - RETRO REDESIGNS ##########
-Pick any game or game asset more than around 5 years old-
-It's getting remade, and you're the creative director-
EVERYTHING is subject to change -- you have full creative license here.
Don't quite like the setting? Change it!
Don't like the art style? Change it!
Think hyrule 20,000ad is what the games industry really needs? Make it!
-Pick any game or game asset more than around 5 years old-
-It's getting remade, and you're the creative director-
EVERYTHING is subject to change -- you have full creative license here.
Don't quite like the setting? Change it!
Don't like the art style? Change it!
Think hyrule 20,000ad is what the games industry really needs? Make it!
Encouraged:
-Do as many concepts for as many unrelated games as you'd like!
-Fleshing out gameplay elements could be fun. Are you redesigning characters from Fable as RTS units? How does the game work?
-Don't be afraid to invent new content or remove major elements from the game; look at XCom or Bioshock -- remakes and spiritual successors have blank checks to reinvent the wheel.
-Remember that this is about art, and principally design. Do whatever looks or sounds cool!
-CHANGE THE ART STYLE. This is about a game how YOU'D make it, not a slavish reproduction of the original.
-Post anything, as big or small as you'd like. If you only have the time and inspiration to redesign one gun from Quake, go for it anyway! If you want to post an entire design document/pitch for a remake, go for it!
Discouraged:
-Try to stay away from just drawing a well known game character with a different hat. The goal is to re-create here, not make fanart -- let loose! If it has to go to one extreme or the other, it's going to be more fun for everybody to make an exciting, original design that has almost nothing in common with any of the games than draw a perfectly on point piece of fanart.
-Maybe try to stay away from fighting games, too, only because they have been done to death around these parts.
Inspiration:
The major inspiration, for me, is Niklas Jansson's work. He's posted an ton of excellent redesigns of games to suit his style and tastes over the years; this is a good starting point for inspiration.
Additionally, some of the big, commercial remakes are worth looking at.
Replies
I'm taking a look at the classic 360 degree shooter series Descent. Vehicles are way outside my comfort zone, so it should be fun.
It's been a while since I've played it, but as far as i remember you play an elite fighter pilot, clearing out some kind of space mining facilities of EVIL ROBOTS and blowing them up. On the way, you have to rescue stranded miners. This is a killer idea, visually, that was largely let down by art design and technology.
These are the major things I'm thinking about changing around:
1- Scale and speed. The game had a pretty confusing, abstract sense of scale, similar to Doom. But throwing in ships and giant space robots made the whole thing pretty wonky. I want to take ownership of this and use it lot more clearly. The player ship is going to be scarily tiny and nimble -- to me, descent is a game that is more about speedruns than anything, and I'd want the player to feel empowered to fly like a daredevil in my remake. The robots would stay big and chunky.
2- Setting. Rescuing the miners is pretty cool thematically but pretty weird in game -- they're giant men in space suits standing in gigantic, open spaces weaving their arms, and the robots seem completely indifferent to them. It's jarring at best. I'm thinking of visually fleshing out an on foot element to the game, where you fight through smaller facilities within the mine superstructures to rescue stranded scientists, miners, and soldiers.
This is all I've got so far -- my first take on the player's ship, which is visible in the first screenshot I linked above. I think this is a little bit plain, but it's fitting most of my visual goals. Something I had in mind the whole time was keeping it looking very functional -- in the game you can soak up a fair amount of damage, so I didn't want any exposed parts that look like they should get knocked off in one blast. Everything needs to stay chunky and tightly fitted together.
-I bullshitted the perspective a lot because I'm not very good at it and just don't have the time before work.
-Collected weapons would mount on the bottom of the ship, close to the center. All of the action when weapons are fired would happen right around the player's field of view.
-The protagonist would fly it laying face down, right in the instruments. I need to draw that.
-Hopefully this is not identical to any existing ship designs. I dont play many flying games -- the primary inspiration here is the f22.
Gonna try to keep this thread warm until the real talent starts dropping images:
Definitely out of my depth on trying to design a spaceship. This took me hours, and doesn't have very much going for it.
The basic concept for my Descent ship redesign.
I tried to avoid greebling or pointless bits and bobs, and instead focus on arcing and interlocking forms that suggest a kind of animal elegance. I definitely didn't knock it out of the park, but it's not too awful for my first shot at a vehicle design.
(The very much not in perspective far side of the ship is pretty unprofessional even by my standards, I'll edit a fix into this post at some point.)
I'll try to participate!
Glad to see someone tackling golden axe, too. I always thought it was a pretty ugly game -- and while I sorta liked beast rider's take, it veered awfully far off course.
At this point I'm not planning anything major - I want to redesign Ricky, Dimitri, and Moosh - the three ridable animal companions from the Oracle Series Zelda games. I'm hoping to turn them into massive beasts, possibly transformed into Twilit versions of themselves as happens with many creatures in Twilight Princess or something of the sort. Hopefully that fits in with the idea of the current theme?
Might not actually finish anything, but I think it could be fun to fool around with.
Here's some roughs for some Moosh related possibilities. Just trying to explore my options. (Sorry for the terrible quality, no scanner or decent camera for a few days).
Dado: Just saw your crits, good points raised. I definitely see what you mean about skipping the middle forms, I think it comes down to me not knowing the subject (planes) well enough.
I'll see about cleaning up those areas in my next revision!
Dado: good choice!
TwoListen: looks awesome!
To slip a bit closer to my comfort zone, I'm cooking up some designs for Hybrid Heaven, a 1999 game I have really strong feelings about. It's a very unique rpg, with an amazing, mma-pro wrestling style combat system.
Here's a gameplay video. A unique (for the time) feature was that each body part's attack and defense leveled up independently of the other stats, so your character would evolve to fit a certain fighting style. New techniques are obtained by having them used on you by enemies. I may see about portraying that visually, with bits of mutation creeping into the player character as they level up.
The game's setting is a sprawling, mysterious underground facility where aliens create all kinds of twisted, mutated monsters. The protagonist has been somehow modified by another, benevolent alien race. I don't remember the details. Tons of visual potential, which the game largely doesn't live up to. I'd like to see a much bigger sense of mystery and dread in the designs, and generally modernize it.
First two designs --
-One of the protagonist, Johnny Slater. I wanted to get away from the nonsensical, straps everywhere design and move toward something sleeker/more suitable for grappling. Too many handles on the old design, asking to get his face smashed in. I haven't quite settled on a detailed design for the suit.
-One of the first mutant type. My version is still pretty goofy, but aiming for a bit more monstrous. He's a starter enemy, so I tried to play up the awkwardness of his body whiles till keeping him looking like a fighter. Like he was an early, misguided prototype of an alien crab cage fighter creation.
A third character is sketched out, but not presentable yet.
used to play the shit out of this as a kid. ' CHELNOV_ THE ATOMIC RUNNER '. some samey shapes here but seems like it might be something fun to throw the scribbles at for the duration : :
.
will participate proper with crits and such after a sleeps
Tacit awesome! Love your style, man. Nice to see something a little more slowed down and formal from you, i can't wait to see more of these. Nice game choice, I've never heard of it, but it looks cool!
Feel free to join in. It's not a competition or a showcase for pros. If it were I likely wouldn't be here myself.
(in truth, i was stumped in what ideas to draw, andi really wanted to try this out and this was the only thing i could think of
So the basic premise is if you hve two players you can combine them together so that they shoot more powerful bullets. i just taken the concept, ZotE it abit, and designed a female and male styled robot. I wanted to go for a sleek (trying to avoid the term sexy) go for the robots originally so i had the female sketched up first. took around 40 minutes, and once the general idea was set i quickly sketched up my male one, which still needs alot more refinement (right hand pose is awkward... meh)
Dado, i like this a lot ore than your last two concepts, nice pencil work!
DeeKei, cool man! ZoE came right to mind. Would love to see a more refined version. Yoji Shinkawa is one of my favorite artists.
Toan from Dark Cloud. ( http://tinyurl.com/6kld4n8 ) I was thinking about something hiphop-ish modern-day, but keeping some of the elements like the Atlamilla and large gloves.
FinalDragon, cool! I could see it as some kind of an inner-city earthbound, could make for a very visually interesting game. Any ideas kicking around for the monsters?
AWESOME work here tacit. This last iteration is definitely my favorite as a main character, but the mask on the guy before was ultra cool too. I love the palette, nice retro vibe.
I'm gonna try to get some new stuff up here soon -- But posting seems tepid at best, are you guys interested in a new topic? Or still into this one and just too busy to post much?
Maybe more specific subject?
For example- "make redesign of Bomberman character in retrofuturistic genre"
To create more competition and raise the interest.
Iiii am just saying
for Bomberman. love that little dude. reckon i could find a way to draw the same things over again in his direction
. . . and i want to see conte and Razorb throw in some paints. keen
and yar ! bomberman go!
tactic
Razorb - Awesome! It's got a cool pixelated feel to it.
Conte, razorb, those are so damn cool.
I really dig the basic shapes and proportions of tbe blood redesign, the squat, wide shape is evocative of the games' sprites.
I'm kinda torn about whether to change the theme or not. A stronger focus like bomberman would be cool, but on the other hand it's still a redesign and totally within the current brief, and I don't want to exclude potential newcomers
Makkon, yes, get in on this! http://hardcoregaming101.net might be a good start -- will probably dredge up some nostalgia and give you some ideas.
Razorb, I seriously love those brush strokes of yours! What's your secret?
Maph: Hah! square textured brush and laziness! : D!