Tuesday 23 July 2013

Its been a while, but certainly not forgotten...

Hello faithful Bloggers!!
This is just a little post to keep this dusty blog alive. 
I have been soooo incredibly busy since the start of 2012, I don't know where to begin. 
This is just a little update for now to briefly keep you up to date. 
For the last year and a half i have been art directing the 2D art for a video game called "Broken Sword- The Serpent's Curse" which is the 5th game in a popular series which began in the 90's.
We successfully campaigned via Kick-Starter to make this game, and ever since have been working day and night, every day for the last year to get it made. It's coming along really well and the reviews we are receiving so far are really encouraging.
 I can't show much yet as we are keeping everything tightly under wraps and I am so strapped for time right now, i really dont have the time to post everything. I'm actually writing this post whilst I'm waiting for my computer to save a giant panning piece i have been drawing and painting for the last couple of months... (So far the pan is over 30,000 pixels and can take over 30mins to save on a pimped out Mac with no other windows or files open!! ).
I just wanted to show a couple of examples of how the game is progressing. 
The first image is the line and tonal guide from another huge panning piece I drew last year. This is just a small section of it with the main characters, (George and Nico) sat at a Cafe. It is actually currently being painted up by one of our background painters right now as I type this message.
As Art Director, I dont get as much time as i would like to draw and paint up full scenes by myself, as I am overseeing a whole team of artists and currently making changes and corrections and and artistic decisions. I work very closely with our director Charles Cecil, as well as with a team of very talented artists from all around the world. It is my job to make sure that the hand drawn environments look as good and as polished as possible, as well as staying true to the original Broken Sword games and Charles' vision. 
The next two backgrounds are examples of how The Serpent's Curse compares to the original Broken Sword games. We want to remain true to the original games, and fans of the series will recognise the 2nd picture form the original games as "Nico's Apartment". We have wanted to remain faithful and almost play homage to the original scenes, so that when fan's return to Nico's Apartment, they will instantly recognise where they are, but see subtle changes as Nico's character has evolved into 21st century. So here you can see the example of how the new backgrounds are looking compared to the originals. The new backgrounds are being drawn and painted to a double HD quality, so every fine detail will be clear for fans to study. I have really wanted to push the level of detail and quality in these drawings to another level. I want to give the fans hidden easter eggs and reasons to play the games over and over again, each time discovering something new which they hadn't noticed first time round.  




Ok, i said i would keep this short because I really need to get back to painting this monster of a background. If you are interested in seeing more of the game and general Broken Sword Trivia, there is a wonderful blog which is constantly updated which has been put together by one of our fans. "FAN-BLOG" or you can check out our Kick-Starter page.

I'll finish off with a couple of drawings that I have recently scribbled whilst waiting for my giant panning piece to save. There is window right next to where i sit when i work from home, and the neighbours next door have a beautiful giant dog. I think he is a Great Dane, but I'm not too sure.... All I know is, he is lovely, and he has attracted my attention when he is in the garden. So as i wait for the my file to save, iv been keeping my fingers busy doing some doggie doodling. Here are a couple of my favourite doggie scribbles. I'll post more next time, but for now, enjoy :)


Any way, like always, thanks soooo much to all my faithful followers and all the lovely comments and feedback I receive. It is all very much appreciated and keeps me inspired to keep on creating. I promise I wont leave it sooo long until the next post and hopefully next time, I'll  be able to show a bit more development on Broken Sword and more of my own personal stuff.

Until then, Thanks again.
Much love,
TCat.x

14 comments:

eré said...

Good to know that your lack of posts are because you're busy with such nice stuff to do. I can't wait to see more.

Seema Virdi said...

really cool post! This game looks pretty neat!

Jampix said...

Fab work Tori as always :)

Jampix said...

Fab work, as always:)

Gangxxter said...

"I want to give the fans hidden easter eggs and reasons to play the games over and over again, each time discovering something new which they hadn't noticed first time round."

So cool :) What I love most about Broken Sword is that I constantly discover new stuff in the games, even today although I've played trough the originals countless times by now. Mostly I discover new lines of dialogs or sometimes even new ways to solve puzzles.
Seeing that this aspect of "discovery" will be enhanced by finding new stuff in the backgrounds of Broken Sword 5 really makes me happy inside :)

The backgrounds look really gorgeous!

Btw, nice sketches of your neighbours' dog! He/she looks really majestic ;)

Jampix said...

Hi Tori, lovely work as usual :)

Heather Dixon said...

This looks fabulous. And, glad you're back!

Jampix said...

Great work Tori, I hope all is well :)

Martin Bergquist said...

Amazing work Tori and congrats for such a great project to work as a AD on. I have high confidence you will pull it of greatly.

Cheers

Martin Bergquist said...

Amazing work Tori and congrats for such a great project to work as a AD on. I have high confidence you will pull it of greatly.

Cheers

Martin Bergquist said...

Amazing work Tori and congrats for such a great project to work as a AD on. I have high confidence you will pull it of greatly.

Cheers

Martin Bergquist said...

Amazing work Tori and congrats for such a great project to work as a AD on. I have high confidence you will pull it of greatly.

Cheers

Martin Bergquist said...

Amazing work Tori and congrats for such a great project to work as a AD on. I have high confidence you will pull it of greatly.

Cheers

"TORI CAT" said...

Thanks for all the lovely comments guys!!!
Sorry for the late reply- I honestly struggle to find 5 minutes to my self lately- but all for good reasons- will have lots of new art work to show in the next couple of months (hopefully all in time for CTN).. Like always, thankyou all so much for the wonderful support :)

*Eré-
Thanks for your comment- hopefully i wont keep you waiting much longer ;)

*Seema Virdi-
Thanks!! Hopefully all the broken sword fans will be happy.... I cant speak for the animation or the game play, but as long as the backgrounds look good- i will have done my job well and the fans will be impressed!! :)

*Jampix-
JP- Thank you sooooo much!!! Means alot coming from you. Hope you are well?? Looooong time no speak. Hope you are ok and keeping busy!! Congratulations again for becoming a daddy again!!! You really will be busy now!!! Would love to see you and work with you again some time in the near future!! Much love!!! oxoxo

*Gangxxter-
Really hope the game lives up to your expectations.
I have been working very hard with my team of background artists to make the environments something special and something that will be enjoyed for many years to come. Hopefully we dont disappoint!! ;)

*Heather
Hi Heather- thanks!!! I'm still pretty busy- no rest for the wicked- but plan to get back to regally posting in the not too distant future :P

*Martin
Hi Martin, Thanks for your comment.
I really hope the game comes together and makes the fans happy. Alot of things have been way out of my control and I can only speak for the Hand drawn side of things. (Backgrounds and Layouts) but hopefully it will all come together nicely. Its been a great experience and iv certainly learnt alot :D