Hello fellow Saeges!
We are very excited to have you here on Steam with us, right as we begin a new stage of our adventure. We are Jorge (Mr. IrrSoft) & Di (Mrs. IrrSoft), the developers of the game, and from time to time we'd like to share with you some small behind the scenes peeks at Farmwand, some teasers of things to come, have some fun discussions and all sorts of community activities here in the hub.
Today, as the first such post, let's talk about a favorite cozy topic of ours : Animals!
(And in case you are wondering, a Saege is a magical, human-looking creature that can cast spells and brew powerful potions...and yes, that would be you, the player!)
The creative process
Our team is tiny and as such we don't have firmly established roles. We both do a bit of everything, though we have our main strengths. Mrs. IrrSoft handles most of the early drafts for the designs as well as the 3D art while I handle most of the finished drawings and the programming side of things.
When it comes to animals, we try to find one that we both love and that can fulfill a purpose either in the game (get resources, provide some fun challenges, look adorable) or simply to make the world seem more alive. Then we look at tons of pictures of the real animals before we draw them in our very simple, doodly style. Reduced to their most basic shapes, yet still easy to recognize:
But sometimes, like with the chicken above, an idea that sounds just too cute to let pass presents itself. What if chickens were just, basically, eggs with legs? :D
We model them in Blender, using a very low-poly count (since we want Farmwand to run even on slower PCs and for you to be able to have dozens of chickens if you want to, because who wouldn't want to?)
Animating them takes a while. Depending on the animal, some other sections of their body may have little bones that need to be animated too, like the feathers on the baby chick's head. That little tuff has to move!
Mr. IrrSoft is the main animator, and he sometimes makes drafts for the movements on paper, sometimes he just gets the feel for it while creating it, and on some occasions you can see him pretending to be a chicken or a goose around the house, just to get the motions right!
But once the animals are designed, modeled and animated...what can you do with them?
Love your animals!
In Farmwand, some animals will give you resources in exchange for keeping them happy and well cared for. Cows will give milk, pigs will find truffles, hens will lay eggs...you get the idea. But they are living things that deserve some love!
We are making a huge effort to make sure that most if not ALL animals can be pet, many of them with different animations depending on the context. Feeling very attached to a particular cow? Why not give her a unique name, or even better, a customized collar or hat?
Want a pet? Why not get a cute dog or a cat, take them on your adventures and teach them some tricks? You may find some cute little puppies and kittens for adoption on the community board in town! Or maybe you can give a home to that sweet, sweet stray that followed you around after you pet her head :)
Maybe you want a more unique kind of companion, like a raven or an owl, or a magical bird! Or maybe you will just pack a bit of honey and try to bribe that mighty looking bear into a friendship. The possibilities are just endless!
Which kinds of animals are you more excited to see? What kind of things would you like to know in more detail? Let us know, and we will try to cover it the next time.
Until then, thanks and have a lovely weekend, dear Saeges!