The Missing Link

Okay, enough talk about inspiration. I'm taking a break from that for now.

In 2011, I drew amoebas like this

How exciting would that have been? This wasn't my ideal design. Oh, how I wanted to create some fantastic world that grabbed you by the neck collar and drew you into the game...

But I didn't think I could do it. Super-high-quality graphics, I figured, were too high for my skill level.

Throughout 2011 the game unfolded (in the form of ideas, not anything playable). The story was becoming not only complex but very, very deep (VERY DEEP!). Somehow these faceless masses of tar would no longer suffice.

I made very simple storyboards in a Sunday-paper-like comic style, filling up several pages. I drew eyebrows on the amoebas' faces to communicate what they were feeling.

That would do for now.

Initially, here's how I would create backgrounds: I'd take a picture of an outdoor scene, add a “blur” effect, and paste that in the game. Never actually tried that...and that's because I gained more confidence.

These blobs needed faces. You see, "The Amoeba Of Light" is an allegory about how Jesus Christ came to the earth, sacrificed his life for us, and allowed us to be lights in the world (i.e. be a source of good and change in the face of all the evil around us). The amoebas themselves represented humans.

Therefore they needed to vividly express themselves. Here's how I drew them:

And that would do for now.

I have to imagine if these guys were on a billboard ad. Or a banner in the center of Best Buy. Would they be memorable enough for someone to say, “Oh, there's Amoenu...or Wisenchyme”? There lies a big reason why they needed to change again.

Each character has differently colored eyes. And I chose to vary their shapes a long time ago. But I wanted them all to have strong, notable faces that people would remember.

The final alteration:

(That's Amoenu). And from then, practice, practice, practice, pencil lead, eraser, more practice, and more pencil lead. I finally came to something I was fully satisfied with (more or less) for each character.

That's how I got here.

Hopefully this post was inspiring to you. Next week, I'll make one last point of how my game was inspired.