The Beginning

Hello Silver Shrimp Reader,

Welcome to Phytopia’s first game development log! This update seems simple now, but I hope it’s the start of something monumental. Before I get into the models, story, and details, here’s a quick background on Phytopia, Silver Shrimp Studios’ new indie game. Phytopia is a 3D action-adventure game following a curious time traveler. He passes through a variety of different time periods, each proposing a different setting and challenge. Throughout the game, the player must collect Pytopium (a mysterious and valuable resource) through stealth and puzzle solving.

Also, I’ve been working extensively on a story that will provide a solid base for Phytopia. However, to avoid spoilers for those looking to play the game (that means you!), I’ll only be describing broad ideas here. These devlogs will focus on programming, art direction, and game-play design.

For my first devlog I’ve created some concept renders of the character and a placeholder title page so that you can get an idea of the project. The majority of my renders are created in Blender, which is free, open-source, and quite powerful. Click here if you want to learn more or download Blender. After modeling, I send these to Unity, the game engine I’m using for the project (the result of an extensive debate). Phytopia’s art follows a simple cartoon style that is easy to understand and allows me to build different worlds that can’t exist realistically. This includes the abstract scene in the title banner (1a.), which I’ll continue to refine into a cohesive style.

I’ve also created a character concept for our adventurer, whom we’ll temporarily name Zero. (4a.) With comic proportions and a simple design, I’m aiming for Zero to be a character that players connect with through travesty and triumph. As a time traveler, Zero has access to highly advanced technology, and I wanted to reflect that in his gear. In particular, his time-traveling suit (As opposed to a space suit - who knows what you could encounter while time-traveling?) This will have a number of abilities, like changing colour. This is likely between the grey and white shown in (3a.) and (3b.), but potentially an unlimited range of colours. Zero also carries a multitool, similar to a phone crossed with a Swiss Army knife from the future. 

A helpful trick that saved me texturing time is to export one texture and rely on UV wrapping to make shapes line up afterwards, rather than using 17 different textures for one concept model. This works particularly well in a simple style that uses a few select colours, so I’ll be using it a lot in the future.

Finally, the most challenging part of this concept was the eyes. Zero’s eyes are heterochromatic, aka two-coloured, and comically large. I’ve created a number of smaller, colourless, and inverted variations that don’t quite fit. Do you think his eyes fit the style? Let me know in the contact form your thoughts on his eyes, or any other comments and suggestions. 

I hope this has been insightful and I’ll see you in the next one,

Silver Shrimp