Long time, no lantern...

I've been a little quiet on the blog front, but will be getting back into it more over the next few days.

I completed the first prototype of the new look Lantern, and it went rather well. All the elements work, but need a lot of tweaking. From the feedback, two major things can be gleaned -

1) The controls need to be more...controllable. At the moment, it isn't easy to play, or understand.Fixing the controls so they are more accessible, and making sure all the elements respond realistically in the world is priority here.

2) Tighten up the graphics on level 3. Without an art-pass, the visuals look really dull. With that in mind, I am going to do a few thumbnails for the visuals, and see where it can go. I have completed the first run of sketches for the elements. You can view them below.


Also, you may notice the "C" crest on the gate...THERE IS A STORY!! Actually, it's part of a bigger story. We have been calling the main character Lantern Guy...maybe "guy" isn't the correct gender. This will be revealed in an upcoming post. You won't get the full story, but enough to make sense of the project, and why there might be mirrors and solar panels strewn all over the woods.

Besides this stuff, I will also be working on some concept images for James' Blockets. He asked for a bit of visual direction while keeping the stick-mannery that is prevalent in his design Doc.
Progress shall be posted soon.

Stay Tuned,
Zac