Wadjet Eye Primordia - A Point and Click Adventure - Now Available

[Victor Pflug]

The artwork is really impressive. However, I think the black circle on one of the pictures (a shadow?) is a little too stark. Maybe make it somewhat transparent, in case that's a shadow.

It's an early test SS, that sprite with the lame shadow will be changed (I should probably have mentioned this already, none of the screenshots really reperesent the final versions)

Care to share some details on your painting process, the tools you use, the software? It reminds me a lot of those Discworld covers, I can't remember the name of the artist...

I plan on detailing my method of making graphics sometime down the track, time permitting. In short I start with a pencil sketch using an HB clutch pencil, (I usually use some photographic reference for the sketch too) I scan then paint it in Photoshop CS4, resize in MS Paint, then I do some light detailing and touchups in CS4 again to finish.
Also Josh Kirby is the Discworld artist I think you're thinking of, he's a great painter.

It'd be great if you could turn this into a developer diary, maybe even include some notes (in written or spoken form) like they did with the Blackwell games.
Also, what engine are you using? AGS?

Well I've been keeping a private journal, but it's mostly just rambling littered with obscenities... I'll keep this in mind though.

And yes, AGS all the way.

 

[Jaesun]

Well I've been keeping a private journal, but it's mostly just rambling littered with obscenities... I'll keep this in mind though.

That right there would make you a friend of the codex immediately, and grant you many many followers of this prestigious online magazine. Granted, in the long run would be really bad PR wise.

Was ignoring my question about this being free intentional, or do you not have an answer to this yet?

 

[Victor Pflug]

Was ignoring my question about this being free intentional, or do you not have an answer to this yet?

Unitentionally ignored, sorry- I tend to space out a lot. In reply to your question; Primordia will be released as freeware.

I do plan on making some boxed hard copies for posterity, I might sell a couple online if there's any interest, who knows.

 

[soggie]

Was ignoring my question about this being free intentional, or do you not have an answer to this yet?

Unitentionally ignored, sorry- I tend to space out a lot. In reply to your question; Primordia will be released as freeware.

I do plan on making some boxed hard copies for posterity, I might sell a couple online if there's any interest, who knows.

Here's what - if you can put in a boxed edition with your drawings printed on glossy postcards, AND with a nice and wacky manual, I'd be willing to fork out $20-30 for it.

 

[Quilty]

snip

Thanks for the answer. One more question: do you use a drawing tablet when coloring it in Photoshop or do you do it with a mouse?

I agree with soggie, put some effort in the packaging and the goodies (a poster would be damn cool) and I'll buy a boxed copy as well.

 

[soggie]

You got 2 confirmed customers. Why not do a pre-order now, and if it exceeds the minimum quantity of copies needed for your printer to start work, go ahead and print them. If not, you can always do a refund. If not mistaken paypal allows you to do that. I'm not sure if there's a time limit to it though.

 

[ghostdog]

Your artwork looks awesome as always, Victor. Too bad your other project got scrapped.


So...things I like to see in adventure games (apart from a good story, of course) :

• Logical puzzles that blend nicely with the story/plot. No goddamn puzzles just for the sake of puzzles (myst, I'm looking at you) and no stupid shit like : use pulley on chicken - use chicken with rope - use rope with frying pan, to fix your spaceship's engine.
• Some non-linearity and different endings that come from earlier choices and not just form just a choice in the end. --> thus : C&C, replayability.
• Player death. In many different ways. To punish silly choices like "Use hairpin with electrical plug". And of course a comment from the game, about your death, is mandatory.
• A journal about your exploits so far.
• Full 3D environment, bump mapping, realistic lighting/shadows, eyefinity support.

 

[Victor Pflug]

@Quilty&Soggie -
Hell, I'm going to do a nice oil painting for the cover art anyway, some kind of pre-ordering for hard copies sounds like an excellent idea. Expect this soon.

@Quilty -
I borrowed a friend's tablet (Wacom Intuos 2, A3) to help with the graphics for Primordia (coloring the backgrounds, sprites, some concepts). I can use a mouse for this part of graphics creation, but it's a hell of a lot slower and the results aren't as good. The only time I favor the mouse is when I'm animating the character sprites.

Concepts and cover art I much prefer to do in oils, I like the smell of real paint.
Hell I'd paint the backgrounds in oil if there were time for it, but I paint really really slowly in oil (Sometimes wearing a jewelers magnifying headgear for detail) so each BG would take me around a fortnight to paint. Using pencils and then a tablet/photoshop, as I do now, I can have a background done in 12-24 hours.

@Ghostdog - Thanks man, and I think you'll see a lot of things from your list in Primordia, luckily my writer/puzzle designer Mark really knows his stuff and shoots down most of my stupider ideas.

 

[Quilty]

Thanks, I've never used tablets, but I'm thinking of picking up one of the cheaper models, like wacom bamboo. I don't really need any advanced options or tools, but since I'm left-handed I'm looking for one that won't get in the way too much.

If you have any bigger pieces of concept art or backgrounds, it would be great if you could turn them into wallpapers and put them up on your site with your game's logo on them. I know a couple of people who would love your art and would almost certainly use your art as a wallpaper on their blogs or use it as a profile photo on facebook or other sites. It might help spread the word, you never know. Make a profile page on facebook for your game, as well, that way it'll be easier to show it to others just by "liking" it. I know mentioning facebook is cheesy, but you never know, might draw attention.

 

[empi]

Looks great
I'm definitely up for buying a hard boxed copy with goodies and whatnot if the game is anywhere near as good as it looks right now. Last indie adventure game I bought was machinarium and along with a few other indie adventures it looks like the genre could be having a lovely niche indie comeback.
Keep up the good work!

 

[Victor Pflug]

Hi all,

I've now set up a donation/pre-order page on the site for those who are interested in supporting production for Primordia, or who just want a proper boxed version. Now, while I'd love to get into writing/posting some devlogs, ranting about various problems that have cropped up, and sharing my methods of working with everyone- I'm going to leave this sort of stuff for a few weeks.
We're at a pretty crucial phase of production now, Metropol backgrounds are on the drawing board, lots of design decisions to be made and instructions to hand out. I'll begin posting more info, graphical tidbits, hopefully some music and probably a video of some sort over the coming weeks (Although any videos will likely be forthcoming a little nearer to christmas). Also in the works will be wallpapers and other promo art, plus previews of some of the illustrations that are earmarked for our most generous patrons.

Speaking of dates and such, I was a little over ambitious with my 'late 2010' release date. To be on the safe side I'm pushing this back to february 2011 at the earliest, mid 2011 at the very latest (You really never know what will crop up and slow things down).
I'm going to be doing a fair bit more work on the game cover art and such for one thing, and there's just generally a whole lot more work involved in this production now than when it started.

I decided against having manuals printed for the game, it's a hell of a lot more hassle and work than the discs, box art or posters, so I'm just going to rule out game manuals virtually altogether(Unless I receive over a hundred pre-orders, then it becomes more feasible ). A basic boxed game pre-order package will set you back $40 USD, but this price includes postage.
The box art will be sweet though, the posters also very cool, and for patrons donating $100 or more their game will be shipped with an original concept illustration from Primordia. These will be fully rendered original illustrations, created using the highest quality materiels and also signed and dated by yours truly.
There are also a few other neats perks you get from donating, so if you like what you see and want to help us out (and can afford to, of course), be sure to take a gander at;

www.primordiagame.com

Thanks for your support and interest eveybody,

Victor Pflug

 

[soggie]

I'll donate $20 for now as that's all I can afford. Once my cheque clears, that is.

BTW, do you need help with the web design? I am doing this professionally and can lend some free help.

 

[Victor Pflug]

I'll donate $20 for now as that's all I can afford. Once my cheque clears, that is.

BTW, do you need help with the web design? I am doing this professionally and can lend some free help.

Excellent, thanks Soggie! I'll PM you about helping out too.

 

[Quilty]

Great news!

If you can post more screenshots or even something unrelated to the game from your portfolio, that would be great. I'm loving your art with the power of broship and I want to share it with others.

 

[Victor Pflug]

Great news!

If you can post more screenshots or even something unrelated to the game from your portfolio, that would be great. I'm loving your art with the power of broship and I want to share it with others.

While I'd love to post more screenshots, I don't want to show too much yet. I have several scrolling backgrounds as well though, so I suppose I could showcase one of those soon. Possibly Metropol.

But, since you asked nicely here's an example of one of the 'machine UI' from Primordia. Basically this is what you will see when you interact with some of the different pieces of machinery/computers/consoles etc.
For one thing I wanted the player to get up close and personal with a lot of the twisted metal casings, corroding servo-motor assemblies and delapidated computer monitors that are scattered about the ruins and cities. Plus it's a good game feature to integrate from a puzzle solving standpoint.



Also here's a link to my CA profile- you will find two art albums of mine to the right. One with some random characters and the other is some work I did for the now defunct Indie RPG Cyclopean.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/member.php?u=115980

 

[Quilty]

Oh, right, you did the Cyclopean concept art, now I remember. The courtier and the redcoat ones blew my mind, those are incredibly awesome. Were those done in oils or digitally painted? I'm asking because I honestly can't tell those two techniques apart when it comes to your stuff, none of it has that blatant "this was done in Photoshop" look. Oh, and thanks for the UI screengrab, it's cool to see details like that, and it's always nice to be able to interact with the scenery.

 

[Victor Pflug]

The courtier and the redcoat ones blew my mind, those are incredibly awesome. Were those done in oils or digitally painted? I'm asking because I honestly can't tell those two techniques apart when it comes to your stuff, none of it has that blatant "this was done in Photoshop" look..

Both were rendered in pencil on A4 cartridge paper, then scanned and painted in Photoshop. Pretty much the same technique as I use to make the Primordia graphics, I just focused more on the pencil rendering and left out any resizing or refinishing. And yeah, I hate lame photoshop effects- I actually tried using a lens flare for the first time the other week, and I felt dirty for days afterward. *shudder*

 

[soggie]

The courtier and the redcoat ones blew my mind, those are incredibly awesome. Were those done in oils or digitally painted? I'm asking because I honestly can't tell those two techniques apart when it comes to your stuff, none of it has that blatant "this was done in Photoshop" look..

Both were rendered in pencil on A4 cartridge paper, then scanned and painted in Photoshop. Pretty much the same technique as I use to make the Primordia graphics, I just focused more on the pencil rendering and left out any resizing or refinishing. And yeah, I hate lame photoshop effects- I actually tried using a lens flare for the first time the other week, and I felt dirty for days afterward. *shudder*

Ah well, we all went through that phase.

 

[Victor Pflug]

Hey all,

Been too busy to update, but I recently made up a few wallpapers from my latest concept and background art, thought you may enjoy them.
We have a Primordial surprise in store for Christmas too, should be pretty neat, plus the site will begin to resemble an actual website rather than a nice backdrop with almost no info.
Anyway, I made three sizes of each wallpaper, and they're all available here;

www.primordiagame.com

Enjoy!

 

[Quilty]

Great update, thanks for the artwork. If you could take a few minutes every now and then to write up a kind of dev diary, that would be awesome as well. I know you mentioned you keep notes of some kind, so I guess it wouldn't take too much time to summarize your progress every couple of weeks or so.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

! Don't release this as freeware !
You have children? No ?
How are you gonna feed your future children?

Btw. if you are looking for a marketing expert, i'm your man. (free, for now)
(i have learned from the best )

 

[Victor Pflug]

Oh I'm writing Devlogs, I just can't get Frontpage to work properly!
I should be getting some help with the site soon though, and will have a lot more info there, including a development log.

Thanks for the input Quilty, glad you like the new art!

Oh and thanks for no asking me to up the res on Primordia too guys, I love low res, will always work in low res, and to hell with anyone who doesn't like low res!

 

[Victor Pflug]

! Don't release this as freeware !
You have children? No ?
How are you gonna feed your future children?

Btw. if you are looking for a marketing expert, i'm your man. (free, for now)
(i have learned from the best )

Well, the die is cast with Primordia. I decided to release as freeware for several reasons. The main one being the extra effort involved, effort that could go in the game itself.

I might contact you for my next project though, which will almost certainly be commercial. After all, a guy's gotta eat!

 

[SimpleComplexity]

Not too derail this thread too much, your next project is an adventure game too? I'm just wondering what kind of games you enjoy playing and what your game developing focus is. To be honest, i'd prefer you developing a cRPG but that's of course not in my will and requires much more effort. You might even want to hook up with VD (IronTower) or at least have a talk.

 

[Victor Pflug]

I adore cRPG's, and yeah, if I were to develop a cRPG, you can bet your ass it wouldn't be freeware!
If you see me suddenly becoming active in the Codex Workshop when Primordia is finished, you could probably guess why.