Obsidian

The original concept of this game was a creature catching game with horror themed creatures. I wanted to create a creature catching game because I love creature design and character design. With the genre, I would be able to expand on a wide variety of designs and behaviors. Due to time constraints, I decided to make it a very short adventure where the player is trying to escape a dungeon. All of the present creature designs are found in the second area of the dungeon.

I chose pixel art and some 8-bit music to get a bit of a retro aesthetic and to lean into the nostalgic Pokémon-like feel. I also decided to increase the size of the creatures to 64 x 64 pixels or greater, which puts it right on the edge between more realistic and pixelated.  Outside of Pokémon, my influences are games like Stardew Valley that have a cozier feel, a podcast called the Magnus Archives, Subnautica and other things that I’ve enjoyed along the way.

The goal for the monster designs was to skirt the line between the approachable and the unsettling. I think the completed designs like Toed, Caterpeeper and the Rat capture that feeling pretty well while the others likely need a bit more work. I took a lot of inspiration from the objects around me, previous work I’ve done and specific feelings that I wanted to capture. Caterpeeper has a lot in common with some of my undergrad work, including one large eye that replaces the face. Toed was trying to follow a heavy feeling. I started with an elephant skull and through multiple iterations and a squid stuffed animal, ended up as the miserable blob you see in the project. The rat was lovingly sketched by a friend who studies biology and parasitic infections.

It’s been so fun watching this project become something tangible and seeing the excitement from those around me. I intend to keep working on it to create something fully realized.