Making of the Daemon...

Demon Production

It's been about 4 releases since I’ve had the time do a creative process post, well here it is!

Before we get to that I want to give you a look at some of the things I have been working on.


Okay so now that that’s out of the way the Demon…. This first thing to look at is the Demon we are basing it on….This should be familiar to some.


Yeah, it’s a typical and straightforward version of a demon. So from there, I did some research and a bunch of rough sketches to get a feel for what I thought we could do with it.


Here is the sketch I decided to flesh out...


Here is the 2d paint start….



Close up on the head (my favorite part to work on)…

Then I make a side outline thinking about bone structure... This is used for the base structure of the 3d model....


And while there is a really rough 3ds Max version, he is the current sculpt which is a little more fleshed out…

1st 1/2 day: Blocking forms and figuring out how the parts fit together....

2nd 1/2 day..Changed the direction the horns faced at the suggestion of the Lead Animator. Much better!



So you may ask, "why only 1/2 days?" Well there is another thing I am working on 1/2 the time for R25. It's...It's...
No I can't tell you yet, but I will be posting on it soon!

I'l post more as it gets done,

Qball

 

Nice job so far. Can't wait.

 

All I can say is, "WOW!" This looks amazing. Great work! Very excited to see this bad boy in game!

 

I like it a lot, but for me the demon will be "good" if it ends up having AI that is interesting. I'd really like to feel as if it's constantly testing the caster. That it's trying to trick the caster into losing control.

I know this is outside the scope of the OP, but it would be cool if an aura around the demon cloaked what the casters HP and Focus count was. This might result in the caster running out of power to control the demon.

 

QBall rocks!

 

Remember this demon is actually a Chaos Demon and he is trying to create chaos. His core behavior is constantly changing his attunement so that his damage type and resistance is ever changing making opponents constantly have to shift strategy. One minute he's blasting you with fire and he's highly resistant to everything but water, the next he's slowing you down with ice and he's highly resistant to everything but fire. Also going to have him really play with teleporting himself and the players. Think of having Chaotic Step cast on you. Additionally he will use things like confusion quite freely along with doing things like flipping the factions of summoned / tamed pets. We don't yet know how much of this we can pull off but these are the "BIG" goals.

 

@Qball this looks epic, BUT your finest work is the clockwork pets They are so much cuter than I was expecting from the description - kudos to you!

 

I love the idea of the fight being Chaotic - the changing resistances is fine though I hope it has visual cues- but the teleporting around thing is a different mechanic that will make the fight unique. I haven't tried it in practice, teleporting could be more frustrating ha, but fighting a chaos demon, vs fighting a troll, vs fighting a wolf - having a unique feeling that says each is different will really continue to bring the world to life.

 

Purple Llama seal of approval!

 

Fantastique !

 

Oh he is wonderful Qball. As always you do such a great job. and *sighs* secrets to be revealed later. *taps foot impatiently* And @DarkStarr that sounds wonderful what you are going to try to do with our Chaos Demon. Lots of surprises ahead

 

I love the "Class of R20-R24" picture and cannot wait to meet your Chaos Demon ingame, Qball.

Mind you, I hope I've got a lot of fellow avatars with me when I do.

 

Looking good! I like the swept-forward look of the horns in the latest version. Sounds like he could be a nightmare to fight, although (though chaotic) maybe he should not flip his magic spheres while things are going good for him - maybe something he does when he is not clearly winning, so if you bring the wrong attunements and can't scratch him you cannot just wait until he flips into your wheelhouse? Just a thought, chaos should not be predictable in its change so you just wait to take advantage of it! Or should it? Mmmm...

Also hoping for a whole line of demons (or maybe not all chaos demons, maybe some devils without the sphere-flipping effect also?) eventually, some of the old classics and new variations perhaps, rather than "just" one demon (though he is looking fun! ). It would be fun to have perhaps a whole summoning tree to pull out different types of demons and such at some point, but getting beyond scope of the thread again, so big thumbs up on the demon artwork so far! And thanks for sharing again

 

Finally a proper 6-limbs reptilian creature ingame!

It's great, but I'm a bit perplexed why it has identical teeth and eyebrows.

Ah, well, screw you, it's chaos!

 

I love it!
I think it's awesome how you've decided to stay pretty true to the Ultima Source,

I like the idea of demons wearing armor.. though from various (&Ultima) lore, I believe they never wore armor because they are a 'proud' race who would think that the need to wear armor for protection is for lesser being than themselves.. So maybe any armor they do choose to wear should be purely for vanity and cosmetic reasons.. (either black or made of gold, or to look scary and such)..

I think they should have long black claws to match their horns.. and maybe do something fun with that spade-like spike for a tail!

Are demons interested in the clock-punk advancements that have been affecting the mortal world? Or perhaps it's clock-punk engineering that is the true secret behind controlling one of these otherworldly beings?

I don't know why, but when i look at your drawings, i keep seeing lightning arcing between the demon's horns... maybe this would happen when it is 'under control'.. or something? I just think it would look cool.

I also agree it would be great to see more variety - a bat-like version, a dog-like version (with tentacles), and so on. Fantastic work!

P.S. the secret is the wisps, right?

 

Hmmm.... I wonder, maybe the arcing between the horns might indicate which circle of magic the demon is currently active in... (would probably be a pain to code but might be an interesting visual queue).

 

Great job! I especially love the bayonet-like blade attachment on his horn. Very clever!

 

Cool stuff. Looks like these are all custom inhouse assets - any chance of some dev+ love and getting a creature asset pack?

 

I look forward to when I see a little one walking around doing its grocery shopping in Etceter.

 

Thanks all! Glad you like it so far.
Since Starr has answered the design side of the question you had, let me see if I can set some insight on the visual directions.

The armor in the concept was more about me looking for form in the shapes. I don't think this version will have not have armor per se . For him I am planning to disguise the human muscle structure and add something like "armored plating" to the demon outright. To get inspiration I found this little guy.

(But meaner grrrr....)

Nope not the Wisps, but I will see about getting those in this release too....

Amazingly, that is exactly the same idea we had in the kickoff meeting! We also figured out why it just felt right too....

However we decide to do it, we will find some way to tell the players what mode the demon's in during battle...

Qball