Light Fall: Making of an enemy

Hello everyone! Today, Math decided to talk about his work routine when it comes to creating a new enemy from scratch. From the original concept to the real deal, he explains the process behind every step.

Step 1: The Sketch

For the sketch part, I try to base myself on real life animals or insects to make sure the enemy is realistic and recognizable at first sight. I usually draw from 10 to 20 sketches of the same enemy, trying different shapes and postures. I try to incorporate a tear drop shape as much as possible into my designs. If you look carefully, you can find that shape almost everywhere in the game (Hint: the main character’s head for example). If I’m happy with one of these sketches, I move forward to the next step.

Step 2: The 2D Model

This step is pretty straight forward. It is to determine the enemy’s appearance in-game: a flat silhouette with a simple color palette. I then check if there’s a good balance of shapes and colors. When everything is done to my satisfaction, I hop unto the next step.

Step 3: The Animated Parts

This step is crucial. Here I try to visualize the final animation in my head and break down all the body parts of the creature that will be animated. For example, if you look at the image above you can see that the wasp’s mouth has an undulated feel. To achieve this result, multiple parts were to rotate with a slight shift of timing. Therefore, breaking down the mouth in three small parts was essential. Once this process is done for the entire body parts, we’re off to the next step.

Step 4: The Animation

This is where all the magic happens. I take all the animated parts and put them all back together. I then animate their scale, position and rotation. Finally, I cross my fingers and hit the play button to see the final result. If it’s not to my taste, I go back and tweak some elements. Ta da!

I hope you all enjoyed this post and our new enemy :)

Take care!