New Original Art - "Isometric Stone Age Hut"

I've recently been mulling over the thought of someday making an RTS. I've always loved the little huts from the original Age of Empires. Something about them just resonates with me...

Stone Age Huts from the original Age of Empires (1997, Ensemble Studios)

As a proof of concept (by which I meant, proof for myself that it was plausible) I decided to try and draw an isometric style hut of my own. Seems simple enough, except that before you can even begin you must first consider the plane upon which you will draw.

So step one wasn't actually, 'sketch out a hut', but rather, 'create a convincing isometric tile-set'.

It's not a lot to look at, but to create a repeatable texture that doesn't leave obvious seams is quite the task. The above could still be improved a great deal, but for this exercise I decided it was good enough.

On to the hut itself:

Mimicking it's use in AoE, I designed this tile as a stand alone 1x1, "house". It is supposed to be cheap and easy to build at the start of the game, so you don't want it to be too big since it is likely to be repeated all over the map.

Similar to AoE's hut, I've included a couple items around the hut proper, including the obligatory fire pit, a tanning rack to the left, and some very small and hard to distinguish tools laying about.

Next came the animation.

A simple little hut is nice, but if you want to bring a world to life it needs to be in motion. Luckily, it was pretty straightforward doing this with the hut. As in Age of Empires, I've animated the fire pit. Someone lives there, and without spending too much effort, we can convey that fact with some twinkling orange pixels and a smoke trail bending in the wind.

Unlike the AoE hut, my hut is done in a pixel art style since that is what I'm familiar with. It definitely gives it a more cartoonish appearance, opposed to the semi-photo-real look of AoE.

I'm not sure this is what I would go with if I were to do an RTS for real, but it's a possibility. It certainly makes it stand out quite a bit when compared to its inspiration.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have something else cool to show off soon!

New Original Character - "RP-3213"

RP-3213, charging up!

I love video games. And I love making stuff. Unfortunately, making video games is hard. But over the years I've acquired a certain set of skills that allow me to do the next best thing... create video game art. Specifically, imagining characters.

A transparent version, to use as an avatar!

Ever since I popped in Vectorman for the first time, I've been entranced by the thought of 16-bit robots running around and doing awesome stuff. So what better place to start than with my own, admittedly less badass, robot character?

A close up, for those interested.

I present to you, RP-3213, a unicycled, slender fork handed, glowing automaton. His purpose is as mysterious as his origin. Perhaps he does taxes for his owner? Surely the answer resides in the manual sitting upon the counter top there. Or maybe he's used for detecting dangerous chemicals? Why else would he be near those flasks of mysterious liquids up against the wall?

Or maybe it's all a coincidence and he is simply charging there, because it's the nearest electrical socket.

All these questions and more will most likely never be answered because I'm too lazy to create a narrative.

Stay tuned for my next original character, here, on the Digital Odyssey.

- Cooper