A game of Fists and Holograms

[holofist]

Rounder and Latch

Rounder and Latch by Jake Harold on Sketchfab

^^^Click the above link for a live 3D model that SHOULD have embedded but doesn’t seem to work in the timeline view ^^^

Hi! Sorry I haven’t posted much in a while, I’ve been doing a lot of modeling tests, character designs and general planning, as we start properly developing the game within the next month. I wanted to share these guys though.

Rounder and Latch are a couple of pesky antagonist robonoids you’ll encounter in a Holofist adventure. The main idea was to try and cross breed grounder and scratch with Bender from Futurama. One being a ball, the other being a tube. One tall one smole etc. That’s how you make duo’s, right?

Here’s some extra material:

[holofist]

Presenting Catkus! (The Cat Cactus)

What's always bugged me about games like Pokemon? Evolution. When I wus' a kid, I had me a special Tamagotchi. A dinosaur one, that grew into different creatures depending on what kind of food you fed it.

I loved the idea of this pet growing as I fed it each day. I loved looking for the subtle changes and additions that would indicate which type of Dino it would grow up into as an adult. It felt so alive.

Then Pokémon Red was released, and as a kid I was hooked, but at the start I was really confused about whether or not Charmander and Charizard were the same thing or not? I mean now as an adult that's known how Pokémon works for over a decade, evolution is just familiar and accepted, but if I think back to the feeling I got from the Tama, I feel like a little magic died when pokemons version of 'growing stronger' hit the scene.

This is something I want to bring back in our game. It's something I feel is easily achievable with 3D models by blending meshes over time and phasing in an animation pose with bones moved to alter a creatures proportions. In Holofist, things won't evolve, they will 'grow', and that gets me excited.

(Concept art by @iffykins)

[holofist]

Mindy and the Holo-Professor!

Today I decided to draw out some clean references of these two characters, Mindy being the player character, and the Holo-prof being your guide through some of the game. Both sporting their yellow/red/blue team colours proudly.

Both are wearing their HoloGauntlets; special gloves that all HoloFisters wear in order to battle their HoloBuddies. Did I say holo enough? HOLO! HOLOOOO!!

[holofist]

- Carolshell and Karahell -

Here's a couple of designs based around carousel horses, that are found in a fairground/theme park area in Holofist. They literally came from a discussion about how carousel could be worded 'Carou-shell' and be an armored horse, which devolved into 'carous-HELL' being an evil twin.

After actually writing that out, Carol Shell sounds more like a name for a turtle rather than a horse. fuck.

These sketches are of their baby and adult forms, not showing their teen and young adult form. All buddy's in Holofist physically grow and change level-by-level as you train them, rather than 'all of a sudden' evolution in other popular monster battling games. This was partly inspired by Tamagotchi's we owned as kids, which has also lead to mechanics based around feeding as you train to help your buddy's grow.

[holofist]

Wrestler Dinosaurs

Here's a couple of initial designs for two wrestler Holobuddies before @iffykins does her pass. I usually lay out the initial shape language/concept, then Jos gives it her own twist, overall collaborating like this cuts down on the overall time it takes to design a buddy!

[holofist]

Some initial colour pallets for Bouvine and Pieceratops. Every Holobuddy in-game will have several colour pallets attainable through breeding/raising-- black cherry? chocolate milk? You can count on it!

[kichiart]

Fiñata! I love this design by @theheartsman 

Its just so cute and I love sharks so really what did you expect?

[theheartsman]

HOLY-CRAP-A-MOLY. Now this I was NOT expecting– this is so wonderful. wow. Look at this fucker! LOOK AT THIS FUCKER.

@kichiart, you are fantastic and you can’t imagine how grateful I am that you brought this into existence.

[iffykins]

HOLY FUCK!! THERE HE IS!!! our sweet candy crushin’ shark son @kichiart thank you! This is amazing to see and tbh gives us newfound confidence in the design. And im in love with those extra rows of teeth you gave them and the way you rendered this out like DAMN!!!

[holofist]

This is absolutely wonderful-- and our first (not done in private by a friend) piece of fanart for the game! So it's extra-extra wonderful. I just hope we can match the life you've given him in your art, in game!

Also, [top secret stuff here] the way you rendered this is pretty accurate to the textures and shading used in-engine:

@kichiart you are amazing. Never stop.

[holofist]

Well, the first post on this new development blog might as well contain some art! Here are some character sketches for HoloFist, a monster catching/battling/raising game Set on an isolated --post Y2K-- island.

Match up the names!

- Finiata - Math Moth - Killhouse - Packoon - ChemSnail - Stalag Might - Track Down - Bovine - Piceratops - Batang - Schnocone - Cheer Beaver - Coin - Chuckles - Late Night - Carolshell -