Random Artwork

I draw knights and fnaf characters :) feel free to give me any tips and criticisms https://beastinthecave.itch.io/ https://www.youtube.com/@BeastInTheCave

[beastinthecave]

This morning I was reminded that 'The Green Goblin's Last Stand' existed.

I would be surprised if someone else hasn't used that one frame as a reference for their own sidestep oc art before.

[beastinthecave]

RELEASED A NEW GAME ^-^

Wayward Travels by BeastInTheCave

Travel through empty worlds in this post-isekai adventure.

Finally published the short IF game I was making.

A while ago I promised to release the scrapped outlines for my IFs in interactive form so more of these experimental works will be coming out soon.

I hope they'll fill the void as I continue to slowly chip away at my larger projects.

[beastinthecave]

Made this for the "no dialogue jam." Ended up missing the deadline since work has been taking a lot of my energy.

Learned a ton about godot's UI though, so there's that.

Maybe I'll release this post-isekai game alongside fabled, the huckleberry cyoa and the bird knight dungeon crawler walking sim in some kind of bundle.

Hate selling my trash so it's prob gonna be pay whatever you want.

[beastinthecave]

I'm back. And it did not even take me multiple months to find work. Hurray.

It turns out that a full-time job is not the key to happiness. I never would have guessed.

Anyways, anyhow, anywho, let me bitch about AI again because if I see another 'author' talk about AI 'assistance' I will bite somebody.

The separation between 'plot' and 'prose', like chocolate chip cookies, is merely an illusion of the mind. Prose in a novel mostly exists to convey the plot, and important plot beats in turn spotlight good prose.

Plot and prose should constantly be bouncing off each other. Outsourcing one to AI *always* results in writing that rubs me the wrong way.

In my experience, there's something demiurgic about creating art. I like to approach writing and drawing and making games like trimming an ungrateful hedge that refuses to return the love I pour into it.

You start out with this heap of ideas. They branch and intertwine with one another, growing on their own like little weeds. My job is to turn this wild bush into a shape that is almost recognizable.

So, anything that exists in my tiny, single-plant garden without my knowledge exists without my permission. Anything that lives in my garden without me knowing *why* it is there is a possible pest, poised to ruin everything I have tirelessly worked on.

I hate the thoughtlessness, the lack of drive, and foremost the overwhelming lack of confidence that comes with using generative AI for anything. I hate looking at Artificially generated cocks. I hate to see that shit clog my feed. I hate to see it all over the interactive fiction tag on itch.

I can only pray to myself that I remember to-

Oh, right, I'm making game. Game just a glorified digital pop-up picture book. Other games releasing soon too. Might release together as big collection. Or maybe I'll keep them locked away in the vault.

[beastinthecave]

I just remembered that I'm still alive ^-^

My to-do list has also has only grown bigger and bigger. Mostly because I can't bring myself to deal with the tedium that accompanies the final stretch of any project. Guess this is karma...

I think part of the issue is that instead of actually unwinding when I'm burned out, I instead move onto a new 'temporary' project, which is really stupid. To compound my ever lasting misery real life keeps fucking me in the ass as though I were the average ao3 writer.

At this point, a roadmap on my games would probably look somewhat like this:

Weird short lizard hidden object game (It shouldn't take more than a day to develop)

Fabled (the game is basically finished. I just can't bring myself to look at it anymore)

The Huckleberry's dungeon crawler that has been in the works for a while now

The walking sim game with a bird knight as the main character (the 'look' for the main character is older than this tumblr account lol)

-Sorcerer's Eulogy (I have a semi playable outline. I just haven't gotten around to it)

Abhumans: Forgotten Heroes (Also got a playable outline for this one.)

Abhumans: Double Life part 2 (I have a new outline. It ain't playable though)

I'm genuinely beginning to wonder whether doing this whole game making thing is making my brain work worse. Like, I physically can't think of anything else. When I play a game I'm looking at which design principles I can steal for my own games. Whenever I'm reading I'm always paying attention to the word choice and sentence structure to figure out how I can improve my own writing on technical level, rather than paying attention to how they service the actual story.

At the start it was fun, it felt as if I was getting more out of the media I'm smoking. But now it feels more like studying than enjoyment.

Worst of all, I keep making new projects because I actually want to finish something, but that just results in more unfinished crap. >-<

This is all to say that I'm most likely going to disappear again for few weeks/months. Gotta focus on studying and actually making money for a change. That way I can continue to pretend to be a real functioning human being. How embarrassing smh.

[beastinthecave]

I guess I'm kind of playing into the 'eyesore low poly game made in Godot' stereotype, but I like the look. It's distinct.

On a related note, the impact Cruelty Squad has had on Godot Games' art styles is fascinating.

More games that take inspiration from CS's visuals seem to pop up every day. Coincidentally, I just found out about Dungeon of Blood and Dreams yesterday and it nails that digital mixed media aesthetic perfectly.

The way pixel art, prerenders and digital paintings are combined into a consistent art style is awesome.

The only thing I don't enjoy about CS inspired art direction is how easily it can go from just straining the eyes to making them physically hurt. Busier levels in CS like the rich people yacht one come to mind :/

For this game I chose the Resurrect 64 palette by Kerrie Lake again, since it always comes in handy for more visually noisy projects. Mostly because the colors are not too oversaturated compared to other retro palettes.

Come to think of it, I don't recall having mentioned how much I love this color palette on this blog before. If I had to guess, I'd wager that it has been used on the majority of my recent projects. It's one of my go-tos.

[beastinthecave]

I decided to make a *small* walking sim for a game jam to decompress. It's scary how much about "proper" game programming one forgets after just a few months of focusing purely on html.

As of now I have blocked in most of the main buildings. Soon, I will have to do the art pass. Yeay.

[beastinthecave]

Had to take another break since I was starting to dread the very notion of having to write Fabled, and that is a bad omen for any long-term project's survivability.

Sure I could slog through and come up with something passable. However, it would not be something that I could be proud of. Too often I see creatives regard their works as products. I do not want to fall into that trap.

Whenever art is treated as a product, concessions have to be made that detract from the essence of what made the work resonate with audiences in the first place.

Pretentiousness aside, burnout is, like, the number one cause of death of most books and games that never see the light of itch io.

[beastinthecave]

I can't unsee how I gave the bear the body of a Minecraft wolf. I don't know why my brain did that -_-

[beastinthecave]

Another minecraft inspired painting. It's still a WIP. Don't know whether I'll finish it, since I gathered enough motivation to work on my games again.

[beastinthecave]

Tried experimenting with a more minecraft inspired look.

[beastinthecave]

Not much new to report on Fabled except that it's getting there. Actually, it's kinda funny how this was supposed to be a side project to test out a couple of new mechanics for my main games.

I find that I get sidetracked far too easily. Funny story, I nearly started a whole other project because I got the idea to recreate COG's UI in Twine.

The annoying thing about any creative endeavor for me is that you spend 90% of development on the last 10% of the game.

[beastinthecave]

The art for the cover is mostly done. I'll probably touch it up a bit later, but the current version will do for the time being.

I used the composition from 'Camelot 10000CE' as a source of inspiration. Love the vibe of that game by the way.

[beastinthecave]

Decided to stick to a tiled background. It distracts less from the text.

The character art is now being drawn with darkest dungeon's art style as the main source of inspiration. I think it's the best compromise between chibi and dark fantasy.

[beastinthecave]

I just gotta add the new art I drew, squash some bugs, playtest, and proof-read (again -_-).

Anyhow, here is more chibi art. Can't wait to let players torture these characters ^-^

[beastinthecave]

Another test piece...

[beastinthecave]

Took a break from making my IF, but now I have returned.

I think I finally figured out what was bothering me about the previous art styles so much.

The game is heavily inspired by indie Jrpgs. That means the setting is weird and completely anachronistic. The art has to reflect that strangeness.

However, I also associate Jrpgs with those chibi overworld sprites so the proportions I usually rely on just won't cut it. Plus the contrast of cutesy characters being in a dark fantasy setting should enhance the mood.

Most rpg maker horror games use this juxtaposition to their advantage so I've got a lot of sources to draw from for inspiration.