Dev Blog #3

22 Feb 2020Developer post

Source: Steam Community (opens in a new tab)

Hello once again!

Now that we have finished with the introductions to our development team in our dev blog 1 and 2, its time for a behind the scenes look at our development process! For this development blog, we are going to show how we came to the Plasma Dragon's final design concept.

For some dragons, we have a clear idea of what we want our species concepts to look like. Others take longer to develop and grow, like the plasma dragon.

For the Plasma, we started with a rough sketch. Our first idea was to base the Plasma off of a swallow, giving it narrowed wings with tail membranes that resembled a swallow's tail when extended. He also had some cute ears.

When the first WIP sculpture was done, we weren't quite feeling the design yet. It just didn't feel like it fit into the world of DoD. So we tried some changes.

We tried a few different head styles and tweaked the wings to be less swallow and more dragon, adding additional membrane and bigger wings in general. We still wanted to keep the narrow wings for speed, but with the support needed to lift the dragon into the air.

We also played around with his ears. Maybe long flowy ears connected by a membrane?

Yeah, no. Long flowy ears were not happening.

We decided to take a step back. What did we want out of the Plasma Dragon and how animals in the real world could help us bring it to life.

The Plasma dragon is stealthy and a silent stalker. So we looked at big cats and decided to use a black jaguar as our body reference. They are strong, strikingly beautiful animals, but can be deadly silent when stalking their prey.

Turning invisible is the Plasma's number one trait and it was difficult to think of a real world example to match its ability. The Flame Stalker has pit organs for detecting infrared thermal radiation, similiar to some species of snakes. The Inferno Ravager uses specialized pores running down its body which expels a gaseous form of its bile, inspired by the lateral lines of fish. For the Plasma, we decided to reference the skin from chameleons and cuttlefish. Both are well known for their color changing abilities.

As for the head, we went with one of Parrot's favorite reptiles, the Red-eyed Alligator Skink, for the reference. Their adorable large eyes and dragon-like head shape seemed perfect for our vision of the Plasma Dragon.

Some more tweaks to the wings and we were liking the overall feel of this new sculpture. Just a few more changes.......

And.......

Finally, after nearly a month of tweaking, re-sculpting, and re-designing, we finally had a Plasma Dragon design we were happy with and we felt would fit nicely into the world we are crafting.

All that was left was to choose the color, which was inspired by western fence lizards and the colors of the galaxy.

From a very rough sketch to the image you see above, we are very proud of what our small team and the support of our community was able to create. We can't wait to see this dragon living, breathing, and thriving in the world of DoD.

Dev Q&A

Here are our answers to some of the top Dev Q&A from our discord community! The channel will be cleared and open up once again for the next round of questions. If your question didn't get answered this round, feel free to post it again!

Question One

Q: Can we get an update on the animator?

Jao: The animator we hoped to hire in January, their previous contract was extended until April. In light of that news, we have been speaking with some other animators in case the preferred animator's contract is extended again. We hope to begin animating our dragons in April or May.

Question Two

Q: When should we expect to see the first three custom dragons and kickstarter dragons join the game?

Jao: The first 3 dragons should be in the game by mid to late summer. The first kickstarter dragons (Healer/Nurse/Bio) will follow soon after along with the Acid Spitter/Blitz Striker DLC dragons. The other Kickstarter dragons may not be in until 2021, it really depends on how quickly they make it through our production pipeline.

Question Three

Q: What is the reason for adding an additional placeholder model instead of reusing an existing model for the buff dragon?

BP: We actually purchased all of the placeholder models before the kickstarter was launched, including the model used for the buff dragon. Therefore, it cost nothing to use the fun, new model for our DLC test and it gave the community something to play with while we work to get our custom models in the game.

Question Four

Q: Would you consider doing a livestream of some of the visual work, such as Jia Hao's modeling or Jao making the megamap?

Jao: We will definitely consider it. You will probably start seeing more of the mega map in March.

Question Five

Q: Will clouds be added to the game, so dragon players can hide in them or fly through them?

BP: That is a really fun idea! Right now, it is not possible to fly into the clouds, but it would be something fun to add later on.

From the Community

Each blog post, we pick some of our favorite screenshots and artwork posted by the community to showcase here. Want a chance for your submission to be showcased on our next blog? Post it in the appropriate channels on our discord!