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Manipulators
🕑 Added 2020-06-29 01:29:17 +0000 UTCDear Insane Children,
One of the ideas we're working on for enemies in Asylum is a type of machine called a Manipulator. They are Illusion Engines - capable of shapeshifting and scene building. And we'll encounter them right at the start of the game in the Circus (Denial) Realm.
Omri sent over some sketches (main images Above) for early designs to which I replied:
Sorry to tell you but the design of the steampunk wheeled arm-whirling enemies in AMA... is among my Least Favorite of all enemy designs in all of the games. Why?
First, I hate the idea of enemies or creatures with wheels. I prefer legs, flying, etc. The wheeled enemies in AMA were not from the core design team - they were done by some rogue artists at Rogue (rogue-ception).
Second, I am not a huge fan of humanoid looking robot/enemies in Wonderland. So the top hat, the eyes... don't really work for me. And the honk-honk horn nose... also not doing it for me.
What I do like... the spider arms. Which has me thinking... something more akin to a spider - something that weaves a web of lies and deception.
Perhaps a handful of multi-legged insect bots? A spider, a centipede, and a fly? All designed to help create an illusion (like flying, moving holographic projector type enemies)?
We then got some ideas from Alex...
To which I replied:
I like the Spider/Cup thing but not the top hat part of that design. Can we try a couple of these without the hats? It makes them look goofy and not-at-all-scary. These things are supposed to be evil.
I like the *concept* of the hand (man = hand) but I am not a huge fan of the execution. Feels like there's a version where the hand + spider design turns into something interesting. Maybe a direction to explore?
Please, god, no, NO tread/wheel creatures. Make It Stop.
And treads + hat = No^No
At the same time, the team is working on concepts for the Chaos Monsters...
This would be the Chaos Powered (inspired?) "stuff" that's taking over Wonderland. We previously wrote about how these creatures, which are basically made of fractal tentacles, will infect and control host creatures (friends and foes).
I wrote these notes on the topic:
My preference here ... any of the designs with HEAVY emphasis on the tentacle aspect of the enemy design. The other elements confuse the message.
Imagine we develop a procedural engine (in-game) for the creation of tentacles branching out from "infected" enemies. Early on in the transformation the enemy is still clearly visible inside - and just sports a couple of tentacles popping out here and there. But the longer its allowed to transform... the more it becomes just a mass of tentacles. At some point the tentacles take over in locomotion - so that a Card Guard (as an example) is swept off his feet and carried around inside the mass of writhing tentacles. At this point, the thing becomes as much a threat to other Card Guards as it is to Alice. And it is able to consume (and grow from) anything it snatches up in its grasp.
The idea here is that the faster Alice kills these things the better. Wait too long and a single Chaos Tentacle Beast can grow to consume everything in sight.
And I think the tentacle beasty concepts provided by Omri (above) do a good job of capturing those ideas. In direct response to Omri's concepts I wrote:
This works. It's a bit too orderly. Needs to be more fractal and Chaotic but it is in the right direction. It would be helped by smaller tentacles and tendrils growing in connection with the larger ones.
I like it! :)
Dario is continuing his work on the interior of The Moon.
Good looking stuff!
And Joey has updated the Alice model reference image based on your feedback.
We're going to send this to Roman (the 3D Modeler) to get him started on the 3D Model.
Lots more art, design, and production going on. And we'll have a Live Stream later in the week to cover everything.
Also... we are making progress on Business Development - but I sadly can't say more than that!
From Shanghai with Tentacles,
-American
Comments
Death of Ink
Surprising to know you didn't like the Automatons from AMA. Though I see your point, and I did find the Eyepots to be a more fitting enemy for that part of Wonderland.
The treadmill duck thing looks good, if you don’t like wheels that should just be it’s idle pose and when it moves it opens out into legs and walks
Sarah McKeegan
I like the manipulators and the blobs are cool!
THATS PERFECT!! it would make for a visually appealing enemy but also differentiate it from the tentacles of the Queen!
I liked the color suggested by RedBreloom under Felipe Bodeya's comments as a way to make the tentacles stand out from the Queen's aesthetic or the ruin. It could also move the way paint and paint thinner do when mixed... https://gfycat.com/discreteartisticelephantseal
Now we just need a flame thrower to burn the tentacles away
I love the teacup spider! I can see the hat going either way, but the base design is great. I am digging the idea of the chaos tentacles taking over! I agree on no wheels. the Wheelers in Return to Oz have a creepy factor at first but become goofy when exposed
I’m actually absolutely in love with the top-hat wearing mechanical teacup spider!
I flipping love all the chaos options!! The red is the perfect level of intense and mind bending!
I agree with Lucky Dragon, I like the top hat on the spider. And I love the Alice outfit!
Wendy Jaa
Just please do not put spider eyes in this game or I will absolutely die. They are my waking nightmare.
Alex's 'steam smoke screen' - storm from a teacup?
Loving the concept of tentacles associated with chaos. I feel a little of the same with Felipe on the red with them though. Inky black is how I imagined them, but then that runs up against a few other thinks that have been done in sci fi and horror fiction in the past.
Lucky Dragon ‘She.They’
Hasn’t she always been the source of tentacles in Wonderland?
The concept of tentacles absorbing enemies and going berserk is great, but I feel that the red colour makes my brain associate them with the Queen of Hearts, is that the goal?
Lucky Dragon ‘She.They’
Btw, I actually like the hat, otherwise it’s just the Eyepot again.
The new depiction of Alice's body is looks way more organic, I like it
Lucky Dragon ‘She.They’
I love the teapot monster, and the new Alice model is a great improvement. I approve.
