Ciacco is a creature inhabiting the planet Gula, which you had the pleasure (or the pain?) of meeting if you played the Space Tail demo or the prologue Lost in the Sands. It is a voracious beast, one of the last members of its species to inhabit this exploited, desert planet.
The original script design was about meeting a big, winged, voracious pig. Early scribbles on the pages are remnants of early conversations about this design. Not all ideas were finally used - as in the picture in the middle, where Ciacco puts his ear to the wall and reaches up into the cave to find the fugitive. All ideas, however, were united by the assumption that Bea, as a small creature, would use her senses, agility, and narrow cave corridors to lose the monster. After some discussions, documentation was created, often with simplified drawings to give an overall picture of the sequence.
The first level blockout was also created. The sequence was already playable - and the simplified, geometric Ciacco reacted to our scent in real time. Visually, however, it left much to be desired.
Meanwhile, graphic designers created the first concepts of a terrifying pig. However, we still had a lot of work to do before such a beautiful-looking monster would chase Bea in the game.
Based on the final sketch, an exact 3D model was created. Now the only thing left is to put textures on the model, animate it and implement it to the level that awaits in the game engine. Sometimes the animations needed to be prepared for a quick reference - like the one below, where Ciaccio wakes up and tries to catch Bea when she's right under his nose!
After adding the animation, Ciacco was ready to hunt for Bea. You can meet him today by running the demo. And if you want even more Ciacco - play the full version of the game, which will be released on November 3!
P.S. The aforementioned sequence, when we sneak into Ciaccio's lair to retrieve the teddy bear, is not the first time that we can see the creature in the demo. Observant players could see him before, in one of the first areas. Do you know which moment we are talking about?