The Wanderlust Project (on-going group project)

[KrisWood]

Note: After posting this in the games section and getting virtually no feedback I am taking the advice of the one person who did reply and posting this in the WIP section instead.

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let everyone know that Slothworks Studio is actively in production of our proof of concept demo, The Wanderlust Project. After years of planning, and a few prior attempts at the project, things are finally coming together and we're moving forward.

The game is planned to be a fantasy worldsim (not an RPG!) which takes place on a world much like earth, but far colder, and far drier, and the equivalent of early 18th century earth technology. Magic exists in this world but it is extremely enigmatic and unpredictable, so is not a mainstay of the gameplay.

Rather than roleplaying as a matter of interacting with NPCs, doing quests and grinding levels, gameplay focuses on city-building, nation-building, and interaction between player created businesses, cities, nations, militaries, etc.

You can find more information about our project at: http://www2.slothworks.com

I've attached some of our latest concept art at the bottom of this post. Today's batch consists of character archetype thumbnails by E. Burns Wyand.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated, we'd love to hear from you all!

[softocean]

I suggest that you play with character shapes and proportions- right now everyone looks like a thin endomorph? I'm feeling that larger and smaller characters will add greater depth and variety. (see my sb for examples) I really like the variety of clothing styles and cuts - the "costume timeline" by Claudia Muller may be helpful.


My sketchbook is here

[KrisWood]

Thanks for the feedback! The reason they all look about the same size is that we're focusing on setting a style guide for characters at the moment that all future characters will be based on. Once we have a style solidified we'll start on more varied characters.

[Carbono]

The art by itself is pretty good. Firm and good lines, easy to see.

But the concepts by itself, i wont call them "bad", but they are pretty "common", they are lacking some unique flavour. We've all seen characters like these endless times before, i think you guys should aim for a more unique visual. Try to stay away from what has been done before, maybe search for some more obscure inspiration on the concepts.

[Zilant]

Continuing along the same train of thought as the above poster:
Since we're talking a cold and dry environment, maybe you could reference Arab and Eskimo clothing for inspiration?

Maybe some Gloves? Maybe incorporate furs? What about a Cossack Hat, or Shearling Trooper Hat, or other forms of ear-covering furry hat? Those belts on the Explorers would be a perfect place to clip on a Canteen, but Merchants are screwed.
Since they are Merchants, and probably have wares, maybe you should incorporate some Bags into the design?

[KrisWood]

Thanks for the feedback! The characters above are largely city dwellers and lowlands oriented, where temperatures are a bit warmer (4C in winter and 27C in summer along the equator). I'll see if we can come up with something more highland plains oriented next time.

Edit: I spent the day googling for what exactly clothing in colder climates on earth looks like. The following are some examples. Could you give examples of what you think would be interesting?

Inuits:
http://www.kitikmeotheritage.ca/Angu...g/clothing.htm
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/o...uitcostume.asp

Kalmyks, Oirats, Mongols
http://eng.ethnomuseum.ru/section69/27/110/230.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imageirat_Caravan.jpg
http://www.nypl.org/press/2004/russia2.cfm
http://www.mongolaltai.ru/jungar.htm

17th Century Moscow
http://faculty.washington.edu/dwaugh/rus/mayerb.html

18th Century Prussians
http://napoleon.gery.pl/taktyka/il8a.jpg

Women of the steppes in central Asia
http://www.sites.si.edu/images/exhib...teppes_jpg.htm

The largest disagreement amongst our artists thus far has been over whether or not heavy, bulky clothes are too formless to be interesting to players in our game. Can you think of ways to make heavy clothing equal cool clothing that players would actually want to use? We are already considering having regional variations in temperature based on altitude and season, so players may use some heavy clothing despite lack of "coolness" but we'd like them to be willing to choose heavier clothes because they look good too.