Re: Art Questions? Ask The Builders!
Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 10:13 pm
We were all very eager to get Age of Dragons out the door, hot on the heels of Warlock Academy, which although we were really passionate about and loved internally, wasn't a hit with our players. This expansion was done very quickly and includes the last of our original character designs, and the remainder of finished but cut Warlock Academy Cards (not including cards we designed but didn't create). Here's a breakdown:
Units cut from WA:
1. Berserker
2. Loremaster
3. Master At Arms
4. Monk
5. Witchdoctor
6. Wizard's Apprentice
These units, though intended for WA, were revised and ultimately made more sense in AoD.
Loremaster Tarius, was actually designed well over a year ago, as you all know he appeared in many Crusader cards before his debut. He was just never interesting enough in terms of gameplay, to merit a release, until our lore caught up. In the end, his debut and the way we wrote him, as the explorer who returned having discovered the dragons, just made for a very compelling reveal.
In addition to the need for more interesting mechanics, these characters ended up being cut for many other reasons. For example, none of these characters are female and after Tournament of Champions, we instilled a very strict policy to be more diverse in our characters' race and genders.
The first unit to be designed for this expansion, was done much earlier in the year, when we were exploring whether or not we could even make dragons fun or not in our game. Dragons need to be epic and powerful, and up until now we were not confident we could pull it off, and so we tried over and over to get it right. The Crusader Drake, originally designed as the Ninjas Drake, was a play on Toothless, a dragon we figured would translate well to our style.
Eventually through the process, this guy was abandoned. He didn't return until the very end, after we had replaced him in the Ninja faction. Playing on the idea that he looked dog-like, we brought him back as the Crusader companion and made him white... and more crazy.
It's quite a metaphor for AoD in general, which really just came together very easy for us. We knew we wanted to a dragon expansion for a long time but the patience paid off, and gave us great confidence going into the next (and the next) expansion that we could really push the content and lore in our game to new heights. (Yes we're already chipping away at the next two.)
And so to say thanks for supporting us and helping us grow (I know you're hard at work getting all your friends to play as well so we can keep the lights on!) I have 2 gifts to share.
The first is the Photoshop file for the Warlock's Dragon, which was the first to be revealed. I know this is a fan favorite (or at least among those filthy Warlock players), and it really does represent a lot of spirit of the expansion and the art direction we went with across the game. In this file you will see how we go about making our cards, and can turn layers on and off to see how far we push everything until it's done. (In addition to all the dirty little mistakes we make and no one notices). I hope that you guys enjoy this file and hope that it may help you in your own creative endeavors https://www.dropbox.com/s/79xwdu1w7ly9u ... n.zip?dl=0
And the second gift, a taste of things to come: From us to you, thanks again for your support and enjoy the Age of Dragons!
Units cut from WA:
1. Berserker
2. Loremaster
3. Master At Arms
4. Monk
5. Witchdoctor
6. Wizard's Apprentice
These units, though intended for WA, were revised and ultimately made more sense in AoD.
Loremaster Tarius, was actually designed well over a year ago, as you all know he appeared in many Crusader cards before his debut. He was just never interesting enough in terms of gameplay, to merit a release, until our lore caught up. In the end, his debut and the way we wrote him, as the explorer who returned having discovered the dragons, just made for a very compelling reveal.
In addition to the need for more interesting mechanics, these characters ended up being cut for many other reasons. For example, none of these characters are female and after Tournament of Champions, we instilled a very strict policy to be more diverse in our characters' race and genders.
The first unit to be designed for this expansion, was done much earlier in the year, when we were exploring whether or not we could even make dragons fun or not in our game. Dragons need to be epic and powerful, and up until now we were not confident we could pull it off, and so we tried over and over to get it right. The Crusader Drake, originally designed as the Ninjas Drake, was a play on Toothless, a dragon we figured would translate well to our style.
Eventually through the process, this guy was abandoned. He didn't return until the very end, after we had replaced him in the Ninja faction. Playing on the idea that he looked dog-like, we brought him back as the Crusader companion and made him white... and more crazy.
It's quite a metaphor for AoD in general, which really just came together very easy for us. We knew we wanted to a dragon expansion for a long time but the patience paid off, and gave us great confidence going into the next (and the next) expansion that we could really push the content and lore in our game to new heights. (Yes we're already chipping away at the next two.)
And so to say thanks for supporting us and helping us grow (I know you're hard at work getting all your friends to play as well so we can keep the lights on!) I have 2 gifts to share.
The first is the Photoshop file for the Warlock's Dragon, which was the first to be revealed. I know this is a fan favorite (or at least among those filthy Warlock players), and it really does represent a lot of spirit of the expansion and the art direction we went with across the game. In this file you will see how we go about making our cards, and can turn layers on and off to see how far we push everything until it's done. (In addition to all the dirty little mistakes we make and no one notices). I hope that you guys enjoy this file and hope that it may help you in your own creative endeavors https://www.dropbox.com/s/79xwdu1w7ly9u ... n.zip?dl=0
And the second gift, a taste of things to come: From us to you, thanks again for your support and enjoy the Age of Dragons!