[260822] REFLECTIONS: This Week at Funny Fintan
[INCOMING COMMUNIQUE]
Hello I.M.B.E.R,
It's purple day, time for some Incolablog! Welcome to the REFLECTIONS special issue of This Week at Funny Fintan, the only media to officially broadcast outside of the milky way, and your number one source of news on the progress of Incolatus. This week at Funny Fintan, we look back and reflect one last time before the demo premieres.
You are Imber
Let's start off with a look back at you throughout the years. Imber was conceived in 2020 as 'protagonist' and evolved many times since.
2020
The first 'protagonist' concept while very foreign from what we know today as Imber, shows important first incarnations of ideas that we'd come to understand as part of Imber. This concept was the first attempt at a combination between tech and streetwear which would become much more prominent in the 2022 design, but also features elements that were dropped like samurai-esque armour plates and a long flowing cape, the latter of which did persist for a fair while.
This blue beauty was the first concept iteration by Saturn and displays our general attempt to wrap our heads around exactly what we wanted 'protagonist' to be. A very blocky design which we knew needed revision, this concept featured the long flowing cape of the concept design, but mostly dropped samurai theming,
The next iteration of what was now called "Imber" featured a newly red colour scheme, and a general tech and block-ifying of the cloth represented in the previous design. This was the accepted design for Imber for the majority of 2020, and work was started on modelling this design to create a real asset, though this process was never finished mostly due to my general 3D modelling inexperience at the time.
Nor originally made for the Imber character, this image was a large shift in how we thought of Imber's design, as a grand and imposing force, not just as a blocky and skinny figure. Notable here was the introduction of actual smooth and round surfaces in knight-like armour which would carry on in spirit but not in its entirety.
2021
Infamous within the studio for how long it took to finish, the first 2021 design of Imber brought streetwear back to Imber in a big way, sporting baggy pants and tall boots in combination with winding fluid pipes and a much-refined helmet silhouette. This drawing was never fully completed, as it was agreed the design needed another pass to reinvigorate dropping confidence levels with Imber's design.
This is the design that you will be most familiar with. This improved version featured a spiritual return of the cape as a black cloak this time, and more confident and further techified and solidified versions of the blocky armour pieces, infused with a smoothness that carries through to rounded arm pieces and a continuation of the fluid pipe idea.
Cloakless version*
The projected texture style really showed its weakness in this model, but it looked great in motion!
Even though it passed in motion, we weren't fully in love with the first-person model's low level of detail. This year, a point was made to focus on the fidelity of the first-person view. Everything is a learning experience!
2022
As one of their final contributions to the team earlier this year, Saturn produced yet another re-design of Imber, this time with mobility in mind, bringing back strong street-wear aspects of some of the earliest designs.
Due to our focus on gameplay and polish this year, a full-body model wasn't created, but rest assured that strong attention was paid to what matters; the first-person model. This is Saturn's concept art detailing what the arms would look like from different views.
Here's what they look like modelled and animated. Can't wait for you guys to get your hands on this. Only a week away now!
Developer Insights: Primordial Sludge
By Zia Daud
This week at Funny Fintan, I’m going way back to the distant year of 2020, to explore the first build of Incolatus!
We’ll take a look at all of the pieces that made up this archaic build, starting with the gun which was unique to this build, the Hand-cannon.
It was semi-auto and fairly slow, but it packed a punch. The model was done by Jane, and the concept art went through many iterations by the weapon and character designer at the time, Saturn.
The handcannon could one-hit-kill the ancestor of the Ormyk, who at the time stood (not walked, or ran) proudly in all of their default glory. If they caught you in their line of sight, they would track your location exactly and turn and look at you while shooting a projectile.
These enemies were not a challenge or any fun to play against at all but they, like the rest of this 2020 build, formed many of the behind-the-scenes foundations that are still in use today. The projectiles are technically the same as the ones we’re using today, but with optimised code and better visuals.
You can take a look at the 2020 build here:
That's All Imber!!!!
For Funny Fintan Softworks, I'm Jane, saying:
It's going to be a long week.
Thank you for tuning into another issue of This Week at Funny Fintan, to keep up to date with the game you can follow our socials and keep it locked right here on Incolatus.com for more issues each week! We'll see you at Pixel Expo NEXT SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Until then... Just. Don't. Stop. Moving.
-Jane 🌸
[END OF COMMUNIQUE]